Latitude E6400/E6500 good and bad thread

My Specs
2.8 Intel T9600
Quadro 160M
160GB @ 7200RPM
4GB DDR2
LED Display

The Bad
Speakers are poor
Very heavy (pushing 6 lbs)
Controlpoint software is still buggy
Screen bezel feels cheap
Lacks many "modern" features, e.g. magnetic latch, multitouch trackpad

The Good
Everything Else

 

The problem is that the speakers in my little 10" netbook from MSI sound a LOT better than this top of the line notbook from Dell. This laptop was what replaced the D830. The D830 was a better computer in my opinion. It was not a fingerprint magnet like this laptop is.

Other than the finish of the laptop and the horrible sound quality, it is a decent computer. For a road warrier though, external speakers should NOT be a requirement. The idea is to make the traveler lighter and more efficient. External speakers defeat both objectives. I don't need great sound just acceptable. The e6500 is unacceptable.

That little $1 transistor radio from radio shack that you use as stocking stuffers at Christmas sounds better. That should tell you a lot. Dell must have really needed to cut corners with this laptop.

There is also MORE flex in this screen than there was with the D830. A Dell tech even told me so. He said he has had a LOT of complaints about both sound quality and screen flex from people that have had their laptops worked on.

I am sick of the reviews that downplay the things that make a laptop enjoyable during non-work hours. Having semi decent speakers with a decent sound card is one of those requirements.

 

Honestly just how many of you seriously use SPEAKERS on a laptop rather then headphones? I've been using laptops since their inception and I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've used ANY speakers in ANY laptop in ANY situation. A laptop is about taking your environment around with you, not imposing your environment on those around you. Use headphones already! Yes wouldn't it be great if they had a set of top of the range B&W's in there but guess what they don't and frankly I'd be just as happy if they had NO speakers and dedicated the space to something else.

 

Top of the day to you all,

So far I have read some great information from your posts and would genuinely appreciate it if you all might be able to tell or point me to some documentation. I am trying to find out if the DVD drive can be removed to install an additional harddrivr in it's place.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

 

My specs:
1 Latitude E6400 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
1 160 GB SATA Hard Drive, 9.5MM, (5400RPM)
1 8X DVD ROM Drive
1 Back-lit Keyboard
1 14.1 inch UltraSharp WXGA+ LED Display - Brush Metal Black
1 Brushed Metal Black
1 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
1 6 Cell Primary Battery
1 Fingerprint Reader Internal
1 Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card
1 Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD With PC-Card

Good:

Good battery life (considering upgrading a 9 cell on ebay)
Great LED screen
3 yr warranty
dell business support
Sturdy build
Fairly light
Running Linux and Vista on a dual boot with no problems (Ubuntu 64 8.10)
picked it up for 570 ish with coupon
Backlit keyboard - I will never go without it again......

The bad

Speakers - but hey, it is a business laptop.....

 

Google for "Dell E6400 Service Manual" to see how it all fits together. And read this thread about a second HDD.

John

 

Thanks John.

 

The touchpad is really bad. It just freezes up in full or partially sometimes and you have to remove your fingers off it for a couple of seconds to restore its operations. And this issue we have with all 10 pcs bought at once (and we had it with the test sample before buying, too; why did we still stick to this model/manufacturer is another story). It's a known issue, though.
The laptop is heavier than it should be, probably.
The Dell software is not the sharpest tool in the shred (and, actually, I killed a lot of the Dell software off my laptop); I recommend against using the security software provided.
Other than that the machine seems to be pretty good.
E6400 T9400, LED display, back-lit keyboard, fingerprint reader.

 

Config: P8600, 2GB ram, 250 GB 5400, GMA4500, LG LED 1440x900.

The good:
1) Screen, screen, screen .... yes I mentioned it three times ... sharp although color gamut is not best.
2) Running really cool (mainly due to GMA + P processor) I do not have to worry about internals overheat in summer ... 40Chipset, 38 CPU1,32-CPU0, 36 HDD (celcius degrees scale).
3) It really works fast on Vista Biz (SP1) - I know Vista is not 'wow' ...
4) Keyboard feels really nice , it is good for typing. PointingStick is ok ... but drivers sometimes hang ... for sec. and then cursor is 'back' responding...
5) I have small , slim power supply , very nice ....
6) Well organized BIOS ! All-stuff-bootable machine ...
7) Dell support and being able to self-maintain our machine due to Maintenance manuals.

The BAD:
1) Palmrest material a bit 'sticky' (soft plastic). I would prefer rough hard-coated plastic.
2) Drivers for eSATA and overall drivers ... I know how many improvement was done since 'day 1' of this product (f.eg. 12 bioses) but still there is need to work with those more
3) Hard to buy in some parts of World and enormous differences in price depending on country

Conclusion:
This dell model (E6400) will be after some time perceived as 'classic' ! For me it dethronized Lenovo (I have both).