Latitude E4300 first impressions

I just checked one out in a store, and while I didn't have as extensive time to observe as some here, I have to say the screen looked fantastic. I didn't see any light bleed and next to a TFT screen it looked vibrant, bright, and sharp. All together better than I was expected based on what I've read in this thread.

 

Thankfully, this thread has been tending back toward reasonable assessments, and away from the hyperventilators.

 

Glad to hear that Dell has fixed all the early production problems.

 

Like what? Keyboardflex: still there, HDD-issues: still there,..

 

hi there,

can anybody provide more information on the heat and hdd issues?

how hot does it get and under what load does it get hot? does it get hot on the palm rest and/or at the bottom, so that you can't use it on your lap anymore? or is it just blowing out hot air?

what does hot exactly mean? what's the core temperature and the temperature of the hdd when it gets "hot"?

what about the hdd, is it just a loud unit or is it somehow placed unproperly inside the chassis, so that vibrations are affecting the case?

and finally a question concerning the missing latch on the lid: are the hinges strong enough to keep the lid thoroughly closed when you carry the notebook around in a backpack for example, or is the lid clattering on the chassis?

thanks for responses!

 

I've read these forums and reviews for years now and it's helped with many purchases for myself, family and friends -many thanks!

As far as the E4300 goes....I just received one a few days ago and like it enough to get another for my partner. I wouldn't be paying full price for it though - but at a significant discount (which many people seem to get through Dell) it's good.

I'm no expert on laptops but I've seen more than 20 close up in the last few years with work, family and friends - usually setting up or some troubleshooting....so here's my two bits worth on a few specific issues:

Heat - warm sometimes, but not hot (I run the 80GB not the SSD). My Tecra M4 does get hot - no comparison
Keyboard - mid range. I don't have the backlit option and there is a bit of flex in the bottom right if you're looking for it, but it doesn't bother me.
Screen - compared to a tablet screen I'm used to it's fantastic. Next to a new Asus M51 - very comparable, the E4300 has a matt finish where the Asus is glossy.

Other than that it really feels pretty fast and responsive - even on 1GB RAM and Vista (I'll upgrade when it's cheaper).
It's mostly use it docked at work and at home, but for when I do take it away I look forward to it's lightweight.

 

I don’t think so. I have received my E4300 two days ago; the quality of assembling is absolutely terrible. I’ll take some snaps, it is incredible - I think they are using hammer only, the parts are indirect, I have never seen something like this . I can compare it with Mivvy M310 (MSI) - there is the quality of workmanship much more higher.
(And the HDD 160 GB/7200 is very, very loud).

If compared to my 3 years old Asus, it is +100 g heavier (not 1500 g, but 1640 with 3-cell battery), very ugly and the price is 1,5x higher. I am not sure how it will finish.

 

I have no idea what this means

 

Well, if you go pack to page 30, you'll see my post about my E4300 that was DOA. After discussing it with Dell, I opted to have a replacement sent in 3-5 business days rather than using onsite service to replace the motherboard on a brand new laptop.

After about 6-7 business days I started harassing them daily, but of course all they could tell me was that my replacement was in the queue to be built, with no particular build date.

After 10 business days I told their customer service to nevermind on the replacement and just let me RMA the DOA unit. They said that they couldn't stop the replacement unit from shipping, but that once it did ship, they would be happy to work with me on processing the return and refund.

The replacement finally shipped -- the friday of the week before Thanksgiving, when I was going to be out of town all week. Of course there was nobody home to receive it, so I ended up collecting the thing from the fedex depot when I returned. I just need something to work with, so I decided to swallow my frustration and just deal with the replacement.

So I spent a day or so getting the thing all configured. And you know what -- it's a pretty nice machine. They keyboard is very loud, but it actually has a very nice tactile feel. The build quality feels solid. There's not even all that much crapware installed by default. It has quirks: numlock is on by default, the fingerprint reader doesn't really work, the ambient light sensor dims the screen too much, but the actual working of the machine seem pretty nice.

Unfortunately, in the few days I've been using it, it has locked up twice (no mouse, no caps lock, just frozen) and spontaneously powered off once (wiggling the battery doesn't reproduce this, so I'm guessing it's a similar power supply problem to my DOA unit).

So it is going back after all. Six weeks after my original order, and still no actual working laptop. Argh. I was willing to forgive a lot (and to spend a fair amount of cash) for the latest design and the red color. But I need something that just works, so it's probably an x200 or something with less character but (hopefully) better design.

 

Here are some snaps of hinges, so you can have an idea about the quality of E4300 workmanship. Have anybody the same problem? How to solve it? (Not possible to paste it directly here.)

prolingua.cz/images/R_back.jpg
prolingua.cz/images/R_top.jpg
prolingua.cz/images/L_back.jpg