Latitude E6400 review up on Cnet

My concern is not that the e6400 is very heavy for it's size. More so I'm concerned at how much heavier the configuration reviewed on CNET (5.7 lb) is compared to the advertised starting weight (4.3 lb). 1.4 lb is a hell of a difference. The starting weight configuration is with 4-cell battery, 2.5” thin SSD, 14.1” LED, Integrated Graphics, and Travel Lite module. However, I'm also guessing this "starting weight configuration" is stripped of wireless card, bluetooth, camera/mic, backlit keyboard, mobile broadband and finger print reader as these options are all just that, options. Any real world configuration is going to have a few of these options and probably include an optical drive. Therefore, the claimed starting weight of the E6400 is a bit disingenuous in comparison to other companies, as it takes advantage of the fact that Dell's systems are highly configurable.

Personally, I'm trying to decide between the E6400, the E4300 and the Sony Vaio Z series. Weight is a huge factor and it's a complete unknown for the Dells until real world configurations are being weighed. By comparison, the Sony Z series is advertised at 3.4 lb and you can bet your *** that the final weight of the system will be pretty close to this. Would I take an E series latitude over a similarly specced Vaio Z series. At 4.3 lbs, I'd consider it. At 5.7 lbs, not a chance.

 

I hope to be able to shed some light on the E6400 weight question (like weighing a production model) within 24 hours.

John

 

This is standard fare, especially since SSDs started shipping. Any informed shopper should know better than to even consider the starting weight (or price) when buying a laptop (unless it's high to begin with, on both counts). No, it isn't appropriate to mislead the customer, but that doesn't change that it's standard practice, and that the consumer must know better.

If you look around a bit, the 3.3/3.4 weight again is with an ssd configuration. A hard drive adds .3, and an extended battery adds a little over .3, putting you around 4 pounds for a common configuration. Also, this is a 13" thin-and-light laptop (and yes, a nice one), not a 14" business machine. It sounds to me like based on what you are looking for, (and most of the others complaining about size/weight) comparing the Sony and the E4300 makes more sense.

I think the best way to look at the D630/E6400 is that they are designed to satisfy the needs of as many people as possible - weight, horsepower, size, etc - all of it is going to be middling for the current generation. This is what makes it appealing to corporations, because they can be rolled out in bulk. If you have a particular need for any one factor, you should probably be looking at another model.

 

You completely miss my point. Of course, it is standard fare to quote the weight of the lightest configuration for a range of systems. However, Dell have a very high degree of customability for their systems that far exceed other companies and can basically quote the weight of a skeleton system (stripped of optical drive, wireless card, bluetooth, camera/mic, backlit keyboard, mobile broadband and finger print reader) as the starting weight.

This is incorrect. I was quoting the weight for the 'ready to ship' Sony Vaio Z series systems (Z540EBB/Z570N/B/Z590UAB), not the 'custom to order' models. These systems are shipping fully configured with all the specs offered at the weight quoted. By the way of these three systems, the SSD model is in fact the heaviest (as quoted on the specs!) because it comes with 2 SDD's in RAID 0. And the extended battery is not included in a common configuration.

Sony are targeting the corporate market with the Z series so this is a "business machine".

As I also said in my post, I am choosing between the E6400, Vaio Z series AND the E4300. In any case I don't see how it doesn't make sense to compare the Z series and E6400. Apart from screen size, the Z series has more features in common with the E6400 than the E4300, e.g., the E4300 uses the Ultra Low Voltage processors and does not give the option of discrete graphics.


We are not complaining(!) about size/weight. The weight of a laptop is important!!! We want to find out what the true weight of the E6400 is so we can make an informed decision on whether or not we want to buy the laptop. Hopefully it can come in below the 5 lb mark with a reasonable configuration or a lot of people (including me) will be disappointed.

John Ratsey should have an answer in the next couple of days.

 

I do, I just don't understand the fuss about this case in particular - vendors will use any bit of spin they can figure out to their advantage. It wasn't that long ago that some of these people were putting out magazine ads with base weights that didn't actually include a battery. Regardless, it really doesn't matter, I wasn't trying to start an argument, I just thought the reaction people were giving seemed overboard.

Sorry, you're right. I guess I misread the material I was referencing on the hard drive. As for the battery, I included it because 1) the 1.4lb difference you mention includes the extended battery, and 2) I don't think I have ever seen a Vaio this size without an extended battery attached. It may not be one of the prebuilt configurations, but in real world use, it's pretty common.

I guess I just don't see Sony's corporate user and road warrior audience as being the same as Dell's business (as an entity, not an end user) audience. This is exacerbated/colored by my past experience with Vaio support, software, proprietary hardware, and end of life/support habits. Being a business machine, to me, also means being corporate IT friendly, which Sony usually fails at.

In Asia of course, the picture is different.

Yup!

 

1.4 lbs sounds like nothing, 20 oz, but it's a big difference. It's over 20% heavier. I think that there is not much regulation as to what a company can and can not say as to the weight. Some are more honest, others are not . That's why there are these forums. But I was led to believe that these new Dell Latitude series were going to be tanks and light, but apparently they are not magically lighter and thinner like some people had hoped.