Latitude E6400 ATG

I'm pretty new to Dell notebook world. I was always told that Dell has a stinky customer service and their image wasn't that good around spot but care sharing whats good and bad about dell in general?

1- In the LCD option, it says touchscreen. Does that mean I can somewhat use this laptop like a tablet? ( Without the ability to twist the screen of course..)

2-Never knew whtas the different between 1dimms and 2dimms in RAM....

3-Compare Geforce 9400gs with the Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD With PC-Card. Plus, what do they mean by "PC-Card" or "EXpress card" ?

4-Does Dell notebook actually give us 64bits windows or they're all 32bits unless they mention the option of 64bits?

5-Whats the difference between the normal e6400 model and the ATG model? Simply more durability +weight?

6- Whats an encrypted HDD or a ruggedized HDD?

7- I'll be using the notebook for design purpose. Such as photoshop, flash, illustrator or such. I'll be using 2-3 program at once with several picture/projet +internet + music. If my specs are 2.26ghz or 2.4ghz + 4gb ram + intel HD4500HD, will this notebook handle it?


Thank you!

 

The ATG has dust covers over everything, and is marketed towards contractors and such. Screen likely wouldn't have the contrast or color to do good design work. Go for the standard E6400.

The Intel graphics will handle what you want to do just fine. The Nvidia 9400gs will be more powerful (better for gaming) but will also use significantly more battery.

You can order 32bit, but you should be able to reinstall 64bit if you choose. If you aren't using 4gb or more of memory, there is no advantage to using 64bit.

Dell support isn't as bad as some other companies, generally nowadays it seems that all of the major brands have bad support, from Sony to Dell to Acer to HP.

The E6400 is definitely a solid machine.

For PC-Card vs Expresscard, if you don't know what that is, then go for Expresscard. PC-Card is the older version of Expresscard, and is not compatible, so those with PC-Cards they already use are the only people who will choose that option.

The touchscreen, no one seems to have one of these so I can't tell you, but I can't imagine it's that useful if it isn't twistable, only good for selecting things I'd say, not for drawing (which is what I am assuming you would have used it for)

1dimm means that one memory module will be installed that is 4gb, while 2dimm means that two memory modules will be installed which are each 2gb. If you plan on upgrading the memory, go for 1dimm.

Hope that helps.

Greg

 

Thanks!

How about Quadro NSV 160M? Why is a Quadro generally price higher than a normal graphic card like the geforce serie?

=p
Thx

 

The Quadro and Geforce are two different series/brands of cards, it's not possible to say one is generally more expensive than the other since they both have different cards that are different in pricing. Some Geforce cards are more expensive than the Quadro cards, and vice versa. Overall, it seems you're making the wrong choice about getting the ATG, it's not geared towards your purposes and is more for military/rough-housing uses. The regular E6400/E6500 is better for you. Dells business line support is much better than their consumer/home support. It's not always better to go with 1 DIMM if you plan to upgrade the memory, since they generally make 1 DIMM more expensive. I got my RAM split into 2 DIMM slots which was cheaper and still upgraded later.

 

Well, I'm currently looking for a latop for design purpose and casual gaming. Although i'm not attached to gaming but the notebook will serves as a timewaster also. Therefore, I'm going to use it for both design and gaming.

I'm currently looking at several notebook at the moment and the biggest different between them is the Graphic Card.

Geforce 9400 GS (HP dv3500t ) vs Quadro NVS 160m ( Dell Latitude E6400 )

This notebook will also serves for the next 3-4 years. I wish that it could stay in shape and able to handle softwares for the next years also. I believe that 4gb of rams is enough as 8gb will be way too expensive.

Also, care sharing the common problem of this notebook? I would like to know the rare cases too. Thanks!

 

If this is the case, then the ATG isn't your best option. You can get much much better laptops for both design and great gaming outside of Dell, with much better graphics cards then the 2 you are looking at.

However, if you are set on those two cards, you'd probably like to know that they are both low-end cards which you will not be satisfied with in the next few years, especially when Adobe release CS5, you'll want to be taking advantage of the fact that Photoshop just began utilizing the GPU rather than being a sole CPU renderer. The 9400 card is an integrated graphics solution while the NVS is dedicated and they will probably be obsolete in the next 2-3 years.

 

Already posted all over the place. Look in the E6400 lounge. Make sure if you read from the begining of the topic to finish it, because many of the inital issues have been resolved.

The NVS 160m should be close to the 9400GS in performance. It would be great if someone who has more knowledge about graphics cards could comment as well though.

The Latitude will physically last much longer than the HP will. 4 years will be pushing it to run the newest software, basically games, on any computer though.

Greg

 

OH and one last question.


I read around the forum taht Dell will be most likely to release new notebooks before xmas and I wonder if it's the right time to buy a E6400 now. I'm not in definite needs of a notebook but I would like one. However, if Dell release much better notebooks, I'm willing to wait. ( I can wait longer if some rocket technology comes out )

 

The new Dell notebooks will be for the consumer line. They are currently using old technology, the same as is in the Latitude D630. They are upgrading to meet the specs of the E6400. It won't be any newer (perhaps graphics could be better, but that's it, and I don't think it would be significant). The E-series just came out in late Augest, and will be up to date until next fall most likely.

It's just that the other Dell notebooks are so far behind right now.

Greg

 

That is correct, however not entirely true.
Vista 64-bit will also give you a minor little performance boost at running your 32-bit applications. For one, having 64-bit drivers, having every processes of Windows in 64-bit, and having your CPU unlocked to it's full potential, helps. Don't expect a miracle here, I said MINOR. On a laptop it's nice to have in my opinion.

Vista 64-bit is also more polished than Vista 32-bit. Comparing both side by side, you can see that Vista 32-bit was a last minute thing. And also, slowly but it's coming as more people switch to 64-bit OS, 64-bit applications are coming along. For sure having MSN in 64-bit is useless (if that existed), but it's nice on big application like Adobe professional grade software and such (when they get released). So when that day come, you will be ready.
Oh and lets not forget that you get to enjoy 64-bit codecs with Windows Media Player 64-bit (not set as default player.. by default), where it helps on the CPU, especially when you play HD movies.

Also their is REALLY no down side in using anything else. I would personally use Vista 64-bit if I even had 2GB of RAM. I mean it's the same price, you lose nothing*, enjoy a slightly better and faster windows... using a 32-bit OS is just limiting yourself, anyway that is how I feel it.

* If you use an old peripheral with your laptop that you absolutely need and does not have Vista 64-bit or XP 64-bit drivers... then you are stuck with the 32-bit version. If at work you need to use an important application that was programed by a 5 year old kid with an if condition that make sure you run a 32-bit OS, then it will not work under 64-bit Vista (due to the if condition (probably in the hope to get hired again and release a "patch" (aka remove that if condition), and/or ultra poorly programed software that you should not even touch let alone see). NORMALLY, using Vista 64-bit should have NO program with 32-bit applications. One of the reason is that Vista 64-bit is more then just 64-bit it's also 32-bit. All applications are available in both 32 and 64 bit for compatibility purposes, and even the system files (2 folders, system32, and sysWOW64). So far I am unaware of anyone having software compatibility issue with the 64-bit version.