Latitude E-Series Anticipation Thread

1) I don't remember where I read it, but they were saying 5 hours if you do basic web browsing. I assume, since that is a Dell number, it means you don't have the disc drive installed, you have the screen turned all the way down, you're using integrated graphics, only one memory chip, have an SSD drive installed (they use less power...right?), don't have the back-lit keyboard on, no accessories install, bluetooth is off, WWAN is off, and you only touch the computer keyboard/mouse every 5 minutes. Realistically, I would guess around 3-4 hours for the 6-cell with integrated graphics and 6-7 with the 9 cell.

2) Their upgrade to 250gb 7200rpm is only $150, and the only drives on Newegg that come in below that mark is a Samsung and a Western Digital. Don't trust Dell's pictures on accessories, they are rather efficient (read: lazy) and love to use duplicates where ever possible.

 

Thanks for the information on the battery life and hard disks!

Looks like I'll have to end up getting a 9-cell battery for university use.

 

@Chevy95ZR2: Dell isn't really good with its upgrade pricing, especially for the business line. The "upgrade" to a 250GB 7200rpm drive should not cost $150 if you can actually buy those drives at retail for less than $150. It's the same story with RAM upgrades - they want $210 to go from 1GB to 4GB when you can find 4GB RAM at retail for about half of that.

 

I know, I originally was going to buy a Samsung 250gb drive for the laptop and sell the base 80gb on eBay, but when I saw I could upgrade for the same price and it would be under the warranty, I decided just to let Dell do it.

I've learned on memory, though, they want anywhere from $200-400 just to put 4gb in. If you do a precision, they want ~$1000 for 8gb. Now I know you can't get your hands on 4gb chips yet, but still...that's excessive...2gb sticks of DDR2-800 are ~$45 a piece, so around $100 when you do tax and shipping. Even if 4gb sticks are $200 a piece, Dell would still be raping you pretty bad.

On a side note, I looked at my order for the M2400. The LCD lid is listed as "Silver". I'm really hoping it is brushed silver, cause that is sexy.

 

In regards to the Latitude On feature, I talked to a rep and was told that its on all the Latitude models, not just the E4300 and E4200. Lets hope he's right, I guess I'll find out for sure when my E6400 arrives.

 

See my post in another thread.

We might squeeze 6 hours out of the 6 cell battery (with the X4500 graphics).

John

 

you may not know when it arrives, since latitude ON is not going live until mid september according to dell, and november according to engadget. clearly if it has a second power button though dedicated, you'll know

 

quick question -- is the accelerometer part of the drive itself for the free-fall sensor? or will any replacement drive be able to disable using this?

 

My understanding is that for these Dell notebooks, it is built into the HDD since some HDD configuration options have this facility and some don't. The alternative is to build the sensor into the computer so it will work with any HDD and the user can control the operation. My Toshiba R500 allows me to control the sensitivity level of the sensor and it works with a HDD without any built-in sensor.

John

 

When do you think is a realistic date for these laptops to arrive in front of your door