Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

Coupons are a must! Dell on Twitter and the obligatory DellHome and DellBus emails are quick ways to get coupons. Also, check the coupon thread and Fatwallet. I got my E6400 (coming tomorrow, yay) with a odd-ball 27% off coupon back in Mid-February (found on fatwallet).

And the P9700 over the T-series was a no-brainer when I ordered my E6400. A bit of money for something that should be much cooler is worth it to me!

 

Another question, is the internal modem useful?

 

It depends. Do you plan to connect to the internet through a telephone line (not counting ADSL connections)? If the answer is "yes" or even "maybe", it might be worth the few extra bucks.

If the answer is "no", like me, then it's money and (minor) weight you save. Most importantly, it's one less hardware part to fail or conflict with the rest of the system.

 

The modem option wasn't available when I bought my E6400 so I got a USB modem instead. This may well be the cheaper option and one that I've only needed to use in a couple of places. It is also an option that you can move between computers.

John

 

I followed Dell's manual and John's and GoodBytes's personal messages and managed to fix my screen wobbling.

The screen obviously is not unmovable, but now it's as movable near vertical as it is almost closed.

Thanks GB and John

 

new intel graphics drivers up at intel.com as of 3/4

also intel wifi/wimax link 5150 at dell

 

E6400 arrived today (specs below).

Very pleased with the heft, the materials, the sturdiness of the palm rests and the 'snappiness' of the keyboard.

Initial undervolting @ 1.000v so far for several hours under Orthos. Temps WAY down from stock voltage. Very pleased with how well the P9700 is responding to undervolting so far.

Like the pre-boot fingerprint security.

Mine came with the E-port (no choice on the config I wanted to get the higher discount). Haven't hooked that up yet. E-port is nicer than my old D-series dock.

Question: It came with the 'new' flat power block. I have an older (6 month) 90W and 65W blocks from the 1720 that was stolen. Can those be used, or is the new block proprietary for the system? I'd like to keep the spare 65W in my travel bag so I don't have to remember to unplug and pack the new one.

 

You can pretty much use any Dell AC adapter made in the past five years with the E6400 (though there's some oddballs like the octagonal stuff made for the M1330). I for one have been using an old PA-12 (smaller and longer wall-end cable) with my E6400 for the past year without any problems.

 

I'm using a variety of Dell PSUs without any problem. My early E6400 came with one of the previous generation 90W PSUs. However, 65W is enough to power the Intel graphics version of the E6400.

John

 

1- Unless you KNOW that you need the dedicated NVIDIA graphics, go with the standard Intel X4500. The NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M (especially the 256MB DDR2 version in the E6400) is one of the weaker entry-level graphics cards available. It also uses more power and generates additional heat than the Intel X4500.

2- Express Card- PC Cards are nearing extinction

3- You may be looking at different pricing or thru a discount program, but the public site shows the following pricing for E6400 processors-

P8700- standard
P8800- $50
T9600- $120
P9700- $180
T9900- $350

The P9700 is $60 more than the T9600 using this list. In all honesty, the best deal would be to go with the P8800 and save $130 compared to the P9700. The difference in clock speed (2.66GHz vs. 2.8GHz) will only be evident in benchmark tests, but not in real worth usage. If it were 1.66GHz vs. 1.8GHz, that might be more noticeable. But at 2.66GHz, you will not be wanting for power, I can assure you! And the 3mb vs. 6mb of L2 cache makes little difference in the vast majority of apps.

I originally bought two E6400 laptops from the Outlet last year for my business. One with a 2.53GHz P9500 (6mb L2 cache) and the other with a 2.4GHz P8600 (3mb L2 cache), all other performance specs were the same. I am a demanding power user and I can't tell a bit of difference between these two. I actually decided that I only needed one (business very slow) and decided to sell the one with the P9500 and kept the P8600!

Just some friendly advice if you want to save some $$$!

4- I don't think you can find another business laptop that offers the features, design and durability of the E6400 for anywhere near the price!

You also asked about an internal modem- Do you EVER need to use a dial-up connection? I honestly can't remember the last time I did, but I think it was pre-Y2K! If you think you might ever need it, it's only $29. The cost is really the only down side, it's not as though it's in the way or adds any weight to the system. My advice- save your $29.

One final thing- you didn't mention display options. The standard one is a WXGA (1280x800) LED or for $79 you can get the WXGA+ (1440x900) UltraSharp LED. Spend the $79 for the upgrade!!! I've seen/used both screens and I would even pay $179 if that was the price!