Latitude 5450 Owners' Thread

I did check to see if they had a 1080p model available, but the outlet was filled with 1366x768p only at the time. To be honest I probably would have stuck with the lower res screen anyway. I had an e6430u loaner about a month ago for work and I imagine it will be the same poor quality panel which I think will suit my use just fine considering this is just a temporary laptop.

Also considered going with an e5550 but they only had one available with the base 5th gen i3 and a 1366x768 panel for the same price as the e5450 above. The one upside is they do have better quality aftermarket 15" 1366x768 panels available (I think LG even offered an IPS at one point at that size and resolution). Just for the heck of it I did a quick look at what panels are available in the 14" size (I already knew the selection was terrible going into this) and the there are a few decent-ish ones available. No IPS unfortunately.

Besides, If I finally find a decent real laptop my grandparents will end up with the e5450 and I'm sure they will appreciate the lower res.

Edit: Changing to a 1080p might not be impossible..maybe.

 

I've got a good LG IPS panel on my E7450. Moninfo says it is LGD046D / 3GPW0140WF3. It's fractionally better than the AUO113D panel that I had on the E7440 because the AUO's anti-glare coating was a bit aggressive. I would note that the AUO panel is not IPS but AUO's own technology. Look for high viewing angle in the description. I would expect the E5450 to use the same panels as the E7450 in order to simplify Dell's inventory.

John

 

If it's the same display used in the E5440, it's actually not as bad as most 14" HD (1366x768) displays I've seen from DELL.

 

Looks like the e5450 comes with the AUO B140HAN01 when purchased with the 1080p straight from Dell. I checked panel look and that model number is actually among the best in the 14" 1080p range (16.2m colors, ~300nits, 700:1 contrast) so that would probably be the smart decision. The only kick is that the glossy screen (which I prefer) is $20 more expensive than the matte. =\

From what I've read, single channel ram limits the integrated graphics by a not so insignificant amount so it looks like I'll have to add another 4GB stick if I wind up keeping the machine.

 

B140HAN01 is the other number in the AUO panel for the E7440. On paper the specs are slightly better but the anti-glare coating is worse. However, if you prefer a glossy panel then this isn't an issue.

Yes, single channel RAM does hit the integrated graphics performance, but 4GB is very much bottom end for Windows these days so at least another 4GB would be advisable.

John

 

Just out of curiosity, how much of a disadvantage would I be at with only 4GB of ram (for just general use and not taking graphics performance into consideration)? On my dv5000t I had 2GB but task manager showed as never nearing use of the entire 2GB (was running windows 7) and my desktop flies with just 4GB (again, on windows 7). Does 4GB or less of ram take that big of a hit on Windows 10?

 

Windows with only 2GB RAM is likely to be using the swap file on the hard drive. 4GB will have less use of the swap file depending on what applications you are running but, even with an SSD, a swap file is much slower than keeping everything in RAM. Anything to do with graphics guzzles RAM such as jpg files which are handled as bitmaps once loaded. A 4GB module isn't going to break the bank but the price might start creeping up as production shifts to DDR4. I would get the 4GB module and then consider the computer to be fairly capable of handling most work.

John

 

My outlet e5450 just came in. The laptop was not very well packaged but the exterior of the laptop is in pristine condition. My first impression is that the screen is much worse than the TN panel on my 10 year old dv5000t. I can even see some screen door effect which isn't present on my dv5000t. Just browsing the web with one tab open there is some steady fan noise but it's much quieter than the dv5000t so that's not a deal breaker. I cannot hear the fan over my desktop. (Edit: Just took the laptop into a nearly silent room of the house again and the fan was off.) The air coming out of the vent is fairly hot for not taxing the system at all though. Two finger scrolling is adequate but the new XPS 13/15 felt much smoother and more responsive when I tested those in store. Pinch to zoom is very choppy but there isn't much delay between performing the action on the touchpad and actually zooming on the screen. Pinch to zoom is also not a deal breaker since I did not even have this function on my dv5000t, and I personally do not zoom in terribly often. Don't read too much into my negative comments on the touchpad. I think it's very decent and much better than many other laptops I've tried.

Overall I would say it's decent for the price. I'll give it a few days to see if I can deal with the screen. So long as it doesn't cause headaches or give me eyestrain like the brief period of time I had a macbook air I should be okay.

The jury is still out on battery life too. The battery meter is estimating about 2 hours 37 min with the battery 80% full. I'm not downloading or installing anything. Only one browser with one tab is open.

 

I will definitely have to do some more testing with this battery. It seems to be draining terribly quickly. From reviews I was expecting closer to 5-6 hours just browsing the web, and those reviews had 4th gen processors with the 1080p screen.

 

Run BatteryInfoView which gives a read-out of the battery discharge rate. Around -6,000 mW should be easily achievable.

However, before trying much trouble-shooting put your service tag into the Dell support site and get the driver, software and BIOS updates. The Dell command / power manager is one that can directly influence the power consumption, but there may be others. Also, Windows itself may need some hours, possibly days, to settle down and stop doing housekeeping.

Once you have get everything updated then check the battery power drain again. It's sensitive to display brightness so check what happens when you change the brightness. Also run HWiNFO and check if the CPU speed is fluctuating. If it isn't check you are using an optimized power plan.

John