E6500 or Lenovo W500?

I am looking around for a replacement for my 4 year old Precision M70. It has it is well-built, has a fantastic keyboard, lovely 15.4" WUXGA screen, and strong (for then) but power-hungry gpu. The obvious replacement would be the Precision M4400, but in Australia the WUXGA screen is only available on the lower-gpu'd version the Latitude E6500. I don't really need an awesome gpu anymore, but do want a quiet machine, a great keyboard, good build and WUXGA. I have read so many unfavourable reviews of the E6500 that I am now considering the Lenovo W500. Can anyone comment or help me choose between the E6500 and the W500?

 

The W500 will provide much better battery life (switchable graphics), but the general consensus is that its WUXGA screen is pretty poor (rather dim and not very evenly backlit). The E6500 will have worse battery life but has better screen options.

 

Somewhere in this forum, a guy managed w/ the E6500 (LED, SSD and integrated graphics) to get 9 hours on a 6 cell battery - which is as good, if not better than any of the reviews of Lenovo's W500/T500 - even on integrated graphics (switchable). Maybe fill out the FAQ? What is your budget, usage, min requirements??

 

i would take the E6500 for the screen alone. the 2ccfl wuxga panel is simply stunning when u put it side by side with almost anything else.

did you try calling dell up? not all the options are available to be configured online. you could probably get the precision with the spec you want. they also discount if you bargain with them on the phone.

having said that, if you dont need powerful graphics anymore, the E6500 is a good option, with either the integrated graphics, which will give you less heat and better battery life, or the NVS160m which is a decent entry level graphics card which is based on the geforce 9300gs

oh yea, and the backlit keyboard is really quite good, much better than the distracting "thinklight" on the thinkpads

 

I do not have a maximum budget. I want a long-term replacement for a 2005 Precision M70 with 15.4" WUXGA. My priorities, in order are: quality of WUXGA screen, quality of keyboard, quality of build, then overall quietness in use (I will replace the HD with a SDD of my choice). I do not play games, but don't mind the freedom to do so - the W500 can switch between the integrated gpu and the dedicated gpu (to reduce heat as well as for reduced software needs), a great feature which the Dells surprisingly don't have yet.

 

yea i agree with you on that one. my m4400 would be virtually perfect if only it had switchable graphics

if quietness is a real priority, the W500 is probably a better choice.

to me the deciding factor was the better screen, and lower price on the dell

the dells also have the best bootup times in the industry, under a minute, vs other brands being at least 1min15 seconds or more.

the nice sliding access panel that makes up the base of the unit is also handy, just one screw to remove and you have access to the entire insides of the unit, great for cleaning out dust or doing upgrades. the 3 year onsite warranty is also much better than what you get on the lenovo's. its my main machine, so if anything happens its good to know the downtime will be very limited

 

afhstingray, you are are quite right about warranty differences. i have always been very appreciative of dell's "complete cover" and onsite service. because these beasts do break down. how about build quality? the USA Dell site has so many user comments saying the build and the keyboard of the new M4400's and the 6500 are not so good? the M70 is built like a tank...

 

i stood on the lid of my precision m4400 (it was a faulty one) and it flexed only very slightly.

the palmrest is plastic, but it feels good. the only bit that i feel is lacking in quality is the screen bezel, which is very thin plastic. however it dosent affect the laptops durability or structure because the back panel is nice solid magnesium

i love the keyboard! apparently the non-backlit one feels different, but the backlit one i have is brilliant. however, i have to say that the thinkpad keyboard is slightly better, albeit its not backlit.

thinkpad keyboards used to be way better than anything out there, but not anymore, dell appears to have caught up. not quite there yet, but getting there.

 

thank you. that is very reassuring. my present keyboard on the M70 is also brilliant. I actually prefer it to the ones on the thinkpads. I am thinking OK again about the E6500's...

 

I have the LED backlit Screen, simply awesome. The model i have is the same that my Macbook Pro had. No washout, clear and crisp and by far the best notebook screen i have used (well other then the MBP but it was the same)

The keyboard I have is the backlit version. Although nice, (like it better than the Thinkpads) it has a little flex and for some reason causes some issues and I end up typing on a different line (hard to explain but I have not examined what the problem is).

Build, fit finish, excellent, it feels solid. I upgraded to 4 gigs of ram and a 320 gig drive myself, no issues.

I use this as my main PC at home and work. At work it sits in a docking port (no issues with sleep or anything) hooked up to two monitors, at home I look at the screen. I find it a pleasure to use and just looks so much nicer than the boring Thinkpad design.

When my company upgraded I looked at the W500, even had one in the office for a demo. It was ok. I did not find the build quality that great, flex in the palm rests etc (think the older T4x series was build better). I was a nice notebook. I just had an option and wanted something, well nicer looking. And for some reason it just feels huge.

If I had to buy another Notebook, I would pick the E6500 Dell again