Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

You folks are great, thanks for answers.

I thought I might need the Nvidia for the Video Editing software?? If not, great, it will save a few bucks.

Has anyone here had the system hang-up problems when Docking/Un-Docking?

 

That's possible, if you have software such as this. However, if the video editing is an occasional task which can be left running overnight then you may still prefer to have cooler integrated graphics for everyday use.

I don't have recent video editing experience to know what benefit that may be in real life. Some years back the HDD was the bottleneck, which could be avoided by reading from one HDD and writing to another.

John

 

Yeah, like John said, you probably don't need the fastest CPU for your usage so get the one you like for the money you want to spend.

btw, you're not waiting a bit longer for the new E6410?

 

It's not the time to buy any laptop at the moent..
Core i's series are coming up, USB 3.0 on some new laptops, and well the Latitude E6400 will have an upgrade soon. I don't know when, but the laptop passed FCC.. so once approved, it goes in mass production planning, training, manuals, suport page, and producing... summer to end of year I expect. Also, I expect that the new Latitude will have a better GPU option, which will provide better CUDA/GPU rendering for your video editing. And of course, you'll have different new models from many other laptop manufactures, already you have ASUS has new Nvidia Optimus technology, which all passing from dedicated GPU to a full Nvidia high end GPU automatically for you in 300ms switching time at worst, without any screen flicker. This give you the same battery life as an Intel GPU solution, but the performance of a high end laptop GPU.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html

 

unless you like 16:10 screens

luckily the 6410 will be the lone Latitude that is staying 16:10

 

Oh crap! Didn't know about a new E6410... although usually I avoid anything brand new until the kinks get worked out. But I assume the E6400 will probably become cheaper if I wait until the new 6410's come out. Summer, you say?

 

Yes, I was planning to buy something like Power Director or the similar Sony software. My current D620 has the NVIDIA GPU, so I assumed going back to integrated graphics would be a step down from what I have now.
But, you're right in that I would only use it occasionally.

 

GoodBytes:
Thanks for your very precise answer, except I don't understand 95% of it. I also wanted to replace my current system while they're still offering the XP downgrade to Windows 7, since I just don't have the time or energy right now to learn a new OS. (Ostrich, hiding head in sand....)
Are all of these wonderful new things you mentioned (Core i's, USB 3.0, etc) really critical for the type of user I am?
Thanks!

 

if you are going to purchasing a system with anything above 3GB of RAM, and a 64-bit CPU, and you decide to lock it all down because you want to run XP. Then don't buy a laptop at all, stay with what you have, or get some Pentium M laptop. At least, you'll use what you paid for more, then a lock'ed down system.

If you are going to put XP, then it all goes at the garbage. If you use a modern 64-bit Operating system (the Windows 7 downgrade, is a 32-bit Windows 7... it is better than XP yes, but still you lock down your system. You need Windows Vista/7 64-bit), then now we are talking!

USB 3.0 is a new USB standard that is faster than USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is backward compatible, but I think everyone will enjoy a faster data transfer speed between devices. Also USB 3.0 is bi-directional communication, and not uni-direction like USB 2.0 (one direction of data can pass at a time).

Core i5/i7 are new Intel CPU's for desktop and mobile systems a like. These are processors using a new interesting architectures which provides more performance.

You want to buy a new laptop, because I assume your current system is not adequate for your need anymore. I don't assume that you buy a system just because yours is just old, and you have money to spend. I mean your old laptop has a Intel Core 2 Duo... 1.8Ghz, and you want to upgrade to a slightly more faster one... I don't think the 10-15% increase in performance is interesting for a such an expensive system.

 

okay....so what should I do when my 3-1/2 year old business laptop (my only computer) is getting older, Dell wouldn't renew my NBD service contract for any longer than 1 year (and I absolutely MUST have technical and equipment repair support because I'm a tech moron), and I only use 32-bit software (like Quickbooks, etc)??
This question sounds like I'm arguing with you, but I'm not....I just honestly don't know what else to do other than buy a new computer that is most similar to my previous computer. I've always had Dell (D600 for 3+years, current D620 for 3+ years) and then Dell eliminated the D-Series laptops and the e-Series are the only ones that use Docking Stations which I need. I need a 14" screen to be able to see Excel worksheets, etc, hence the E6400. I don't need increase in performance per se, but I need reliability and my current system is on it's way out.
Again, thanks for your help.