Latitude E7240 and E7440

Sorry, I confused the E7x40 series with the E5x40 series. The E5540 does come with a touchscreen option, but the touchscreen is not available with the discrete graphics. Yet, the non-touchscreen version does come with a NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M 2GB card. So why isn't the touchscreen version available with the discrete graphics? Dell could not provide an answer.

Apologies in advance for discussing the E5x40 series in the E7x40 thread...

 

Well I miss my backlit keyboard, that's for sure! Yesterday, a colleague was raving about her new XPS ultrabook and how useful the touchscreen is. So, I'm thinking about jumping back in to get my backlit keyboard back and a touchscreen. Finding prices in Outlet to be @$1K or so with 256GB and 8GB of RAM... Anybody have a guess when the next round of coupons will come out for Latitudes for the outlet store? What would be considered a good price? We paid @$650 for the FHD panel (non-touch) and 256GB E7440 but messed up on the no backlit keyboard. They had 4GB but that was easy and cheap to remedy. Appreciate the input!

 

I've been offered an E7240 but without a backlit keyboard (which I really want).

Can somebody confirm that an E7240 backlit keyboard can be easily installed on my laptop by myself (without needing a new BIOS flash or additional wiring).


thanks !

ps. Anybody want to buy a non-backlit keyboard for an E7240?

 

The E7240 keyboard is relatively easy to swap out. You have to remove some screws and pop off the plastic piece that surrounds the keyboard. Then the keyboard is just connected by a ribbon cable. The backlit keyboard has a second ribbon cable that you need to connect - that's it. I don't believe you need to flash a new bios. The manual shows the details of removing the plastic frame.

 

That's awesome, thanks for that Jonas8890 :hi2:

 

You do not need to flash a new BIOS. the BIOS for backlit vs non-backlit are the same.
However we have seen some units arrive without the socket for the 2nd ribbon cable to plug into. While other units that we've ordered without backlit keyboard does have that 2nd socket.
Not sure why the difference in the motherboards. We order the same config each time.

Similarly some times we receive models with a msata ssd in a 2.5" adapter that's installed in the 2.5" drive slot, while other times we receive them with the msata ssd in the msata/mpcie slot and nothing in the 2.5" slot. Again, all are identically configured and ordered from the same base/original quote.

 

That's good information. I guess I got lucky that my E7240 had the additional socket for the backlit keyboard ribbon cable. There's probably no way to know, other than just opening it up to take a look inside.

 

Hi, I intend to purchase a E7440 for company used with the below spec, pls advise if anything need to add or upgrade for better performance and experience?

1 329-BBQC Intel Core i7-4600U Processor Base with No Smart Card Reader
1 338-BCKK 4th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4600U Processor (2.1 GHz, 4M Cache)
1 338-BCVI Intel Core i7 Processor Label
1 387-BBCE No Energy Star
1 391-BBFB 14.0 FHD (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare WLED-backlit
1 346-BBDP No Fingerprint Reader and No Smart Card Reader (Contact and Contactless)
Palmrest
1 319-BBBH Software for Integrated Camera
1 325-BBCL Light Sensitive Webcam and Noise Cancelling Digital Array Mic
1 370-AAER 8GB (1x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3L Memory
1 400-ABJC E7440 mSATA Interposer
1 400-AAVL 256GB Full Mini-Card Mobility Solid State Drive
1 450-AAEN Power Cord : UK
1 451-BBCT Primary 4-cell 47W/HR Battery
1 460-BBEZ Dell Urban 2.0 15.6" Topload
1 331-10004 Integration Information
1 331-10005 Order Ready ProSupport Tag
1 331-10046 ProSupport Service Label
1 389-BCDP Regulatory Label, Latitude E7440
1 490-BBJC Intel Integrated HD 4400 Graphics
1 492-BBEM 65W AC Adapter, 3-pin
1 555-BBHI Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11ac/a/b/g/n 2x2 + Bluetooth 4.0 LE Half
Mini Card
1 555-BBHK Intel Wireless 7260 Driver
1 580-AAZX Internal English Backlit Dual Pointing Keyboard
1 362-BBBB No Wireless WAN Card
1 883-10171 Battery Carries 1 Year Warranty from Invoice Date (unless select 3Yr warranted

 

Hi, I was reading some reviews about the e7440 and it seems that the keyboard is very bad with a lot of flex. Can any owners here give me some feedback? What do you think about the machine, overall? If I order the FHD no touch screen, is it matte or glossy? What about the weight? Is it good to carry around? Consider that I'm switching from a e6530...

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english...

 

Keyboard is not bad at all. I type a lot and it's definitely better than most other ultrabooks I tried. The flex only happens when you press the keys really hard otherwise it's not even noticeable. I have non-touch FHD and it's matte with excellent viewing angles. I really like it overall especially the separate left and right mouse buttons and its lots of room for expansion (ram upgradable up to 16GB and additional bays for storage) but the battery life is not the greatest and the laptop gets warm and the fan runs quite a lot even though it has a low voltage Haswell cpu (but I do usually have 10-15 browser sessions running). The laptop is not the lightest in its class (probably due to its strong and durable frame), but it's still very portable. I had the chance to compare this machine with Lenovo t440s and decided to go with this one, but I need to add that I personally won't pay more than $700-900 for this laptop with FHD display and depending on the configuration (in the US). IMO this laptop is a solid sub-$1000 business ultrabook.