Latitude 5450 Owners' Thread

Let's start thread for this model.

And here my question:
Can't choose between
Dell Latitude E5450 i5 5300U/8Gb/500Gb/830M 2Gb/14"/FHD/4G
and
Dell Latitude E5450 i7 5600U/8Gb/1Tb/840M 2Gb/14"/FHD/4G

Main usage scenatio - software development (Eclipse, Android Studio, Visual Studio).

Diff in price is about $250. Will performance cost this diff?
Can I really feel it?

I don'n look at diffs in video (I don't play games and don't edit video often) and hdd (because I'll change it to ssd).

TIA

 

Based on the data here the difference in the CPU performance will be 10% to 15%. I reckon this is below the threshold you will notice without using benchmarks.

I would recommend that you go for the model with the slower CPU and put the savings towards an SSD which will boost overall performance and responsiveness far more than having a slightly faster CPU. You might get away with a 250GB SSD but I would recommend one in the 500GB range as SSD performance can slow down if the drive gets near to full. Leaving 20% or more unformatted space will help to maintain the performance.

You might also want to look at the E7450 which comes with an SSD although Dell's mark-up for a higher capacity SSD can be a bit steep.

John

 

I'm with John, I HIGHLY recommend taking a look at the E7450. I think you might find the i5-5200U and Intel HD 5500 graphics very capable. Order it with 4GB of RAM and upgrade it to 8GB (for about $25) when you receive it. I'd also suggest ordering the 14" FHD (1920x1080) Non-touch Anti-glare Display and 128GB SSD. On the US website, that combination totals about $1280. That also includes a standard 3-year Warranty included on all E7000-series.

One of the coolest things about the E7450 (and E7440 before it) is that a 500GB Hybrid hard drive is standard. The upgrade to a 128GB SSD is $70 but the SSD is a very small mSATA drive that connects elsewhere to the motherboard. That leaves a space open to install a 2.5" hard drive of any size you'd like for data storage.

The difference in materials, build quality and overall look/feel of the E7450 is substantially better than the E5450. The E5450 is a solid mid-level business system while the E7450 (and its little brother, the E7250) are a step-up in terms of look, features and materials. A 'loaded' E5450 ends up in the same price range as a E7450.

 

Only consider the FHD panel - the 1366 x 768 is in a lower league. But do your shopping at Dell Outlet where you should be able pick up a good deal with an SSD pre-installed. I would also note that the E7450, unlike the E7440, can't take an mSATA SSD in the WWAN because the newer notebook uses an M.2 slot.

John

 

John, as you and I both know, choosing the upgraded/higher-res display makes all the difference in the the world on a Dell Latitude. I recently resurrected my E6400 after almost two years of sitting in the corner collecting dust with a bad motherboard. I had just installed a replacement WXGA+ (1440 x900) LED display four months earlier and when I powered it back up it amazed me how good of a display it is. I've seen numerous E6400s with the standard 1280x800 display and the difference is amazing. I bought my mom a refurbished E6410 with the WXGA+ display a few months ago and the same goes for it. Dell's upgrade displays don't just have a higher pixel count, they are superior in brightness, contrast and every other measurable way compared to the base display they replace.

On the E7450, I would suggest that the OP get the Non-Touch FHD option, which will be less expensive and it is the best display, in my opinion. I ordered a E7440 from Dell Outlet about four months ago with the Touch display (it was a steal) and I ended up returning it. Maybe the E7450 has an improved Touch display over the E7440, but I'm just not a fan of touch displays anyway.

Forgive my ignorance, but am I correct in understanding that the E7440 can accommodate a second mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot? If so, I had no clue.

I'm planning to buy the E7450 in the next few months when I find a great deal on Dell Outlet. In the meantime, my 6430u just passed the two year mark in July and has plenty of life left in it. I doubt it will last 4.5yrs like the E6400 did before the motherboard died....and who knows how long it may last now that it's fixed. =)

 

I agree that the glossy touchscreen should be avoided unless one really plans to use it. Touchscreen also adds to the thickness and weight.

The specs for the E7450 at the back of the owner's manual show that the 1366 x 768 panel has horizontal viewing angles of +/-40° and vertical viewing angles of +10°/-30° while the equivalent data for the FHD panel is +/-80° and +/-80°.

Yes, you can put an mSATA SSD in the E7440's WWAN slot which opens up some extra storage options: Two SSDs or an mSATA SSD plus a 2.5" drive. The E7450 uses M.2 for the WWAN slot (maybe Dell were forced in that direction by whoever makes the 4G WWAN cards) but no one makes an M.2 SSD with the right size and interface (this may change as the M.2 product range increases).

John

 

The e5450's are a steal at the outlet right now. Look for one with a 90 watt adapter and it should the nvidia 840m in it - this also goes for the e5550 and e7450 with 90 watt adapters. Avoid the touch screen - these generally have lots of light bleed. The matte 1080p screen is really nice on the e5450 and e7450.

 

I just bought one of these for a friend's kid to be used at school. Are they any good? Specs are:

I5-5300
8GB
500GB SSD
1080p
Four -Cell

Not too bad for $450 shipped.

 

Just ordered one of these today from the outlet. I was using google spreadsheets on my dv5000t last night and it was just so painfully slow I that I decided to buy the e5450 on a whim (the 50% coupon was the deciding factor).

i5-5300u
4gb ram
128gb ssd (didn't realize it had this, but I'll probably replace w/ my 256gb plextor ssd)
windows 8 pro which I plan to upgrade to windows 10 post haste
1366x768
wireless ac
backlit keyboard

This is really just a stop gap until I can find real replacement or I get fed up of the lack of dedicated home/end keys. Speaking of which, can you remap buttons on this keyboard? If I could make the pgup/pgdn keys switch to home/end that would be golden.

Hope it works out. Should be here in 3-5 business days.

$359.50 w/ 50% of coupon applied
+ tax
- $60 gift card that I had received from a previous dell advantage purchase

 

Very nice price but shame about the low res display. If it's the same panel options as on the E7450 then it's in a much lower quality league than the FHD display. Some more RAM wouldn't go amiss either. I expect there's an empty slot.

I can't think of a reason why you can't remap the PgUp/PgDn keys to Home / End although I haven't had the urge to try this on my E7450. The loss of a full set of navigation keys compared to the E7*40 is one of the unnecessary steps backwards in the name of progress (they keyboard is overall better) but we can be thankful that Dell didn't also put PgUp and PgDn on the cursor keys.

John