Latitude E7240 and E7440

451-BBOG.

 

I need input/opinions about the E7440, especially with the Touchscreen! (see below for more details)

I’ve been itching to upgrade from my current Latitude 6430u (Dell’s first business ultrabook) to the E7440 for more than a year now. I’ve had my 6430u for two years (next month) and I’ve always felt pretty ambivalent and apathetic about it. Part of the problem was that it replaced my beloved E6400, which served me faithfully for just over four years and survived more drops, bumps and spills than I thought possible. Build quality was also rock solid, sort of like a Volvo from the 80s- built like a tank, heavy as a tank and the only angle used in the design was a right angle. The 6430u is much thinner and lighter, but also feels much more frail and would never survive what my E6400 did.

Anyway, I was waiting until I found a deal on the E7440 that I couldn’t pass up. That deal finally came along last Friday and I pulled the trigger and ordered it. One reason I want to upgrade is to get the FHD (1920x1080) display. My 6430u has the optional HD+ (1600x900) but my work requires me to have Excel and our propriety software open side-by-side all the time. With the 1600x900 display, I have to horizontally scroll in Excel way too often and it drives me crazy. A 1920x1080 display will fix that issue.

My only concern/question is about the Touch version of the FHD display, which is the one I’m getting by default. Given the choice, I would have selected the regular, non-touch display because I can’t imagine using the touch feature and it costs quite a bit more normally. I’d be VERY interested to hear from anyone who has seen/used the E7440 with Touchscreen and any opinions about the display!

Here are the specs I’ve managed to dig up on the two FHD (1920x1080) display options-

Non-touch- Anti-glare, IPS, 300nits, Magnesium LCD back
Touch- Glossy finish, Corning Gorilla Glass Anti-Fingerprint surface, 270nits, Woven Carbon Fiber LCD back

A few things from the specs concern me- I’d rather have the Anti-glare finish and an IPS display plus the non-touch is brighter. According to most reviews I’ve read of the touch version, the display is sufficiently bright but the glare from the glossy finish is a problem in some lighting situations. The viewing angles also suck, but I can get over that if everything else is really good. The glare issue is what I’m most concerned about.
So- any E7440 users/owners out there? Have the touchscreen or no? Overall opinion? Any input will be greatly appreciated! Worst case scenario, I have 21 days to return it. I ordered if from Dell Outlet, so they usually charge a 15% restocking fee, which would be about $90 in this case. But I’ve always managed to talk them into waiving it in the past, so I probably could again.
I only paid $594.50 for it and here are the specs-

DELL Latitude E7440
Windows 7 Profession 64-bit
Intel Core i5-4310U
14.0" FHD (1920x1080) Touch Display
8GB RAM
500GB Hybrid Hard Drive (256GB mSATA Crucial SSD is already ordered to replacce it)
Intel HD 4400 graphics
Backlit Keyboard, Webcam, Fingerprint Reader
4-cell Battery
Intel 7260-AC wireless card & Bluetooth
3-year Warranty

 

Sounds like its going to end up being personal opinion for you whether you keep it or not. I have non-touch FHD and it is a great laptop... honestly the best I've ever owned for work stuff. I have the 500GB non hybrid but run the OS on a 256SSD in the extra slot... having that extra disk is super nice when you run VMs all over the place. Wireless is good and connects fast and only rarely breaks, a quick reboot fixes everything I've ever had go wrong though. (but I use windows 8 which I find faster and better in a lot of ways than 7, so I can't speak for 7)

In all I don't think there is a business laptop that is better. I came from an ASUS U36 and tried an HP envy 14 before this, which absolutely sucked in comparison.

 

I've also got the FHD non-touch display. It's good, although there's a hint of graininess due to the anti-glare coating and the brightness doesn't have much headroom. I'm using 125% display scaling to get comfortably sized default text. If you find the touch panel unsatisfactory then one option could be to replace the display (but I'm not sure if this involves swapping more than the panel).

Overall, I think you will find that the E7440 comes close to the E6400 build quality without having the angular corners and is noticeably less heavy.

John

 

Used mine for 6 months now, it's been very good & stable. Fresh w8.1 with the minimum drivers (network\display\touchpad\audio), classic shell.

256 ssd + 500 hd works perfect. i7. Battery needed some cushioning, latches not the best for locking it tight. Very bright & crisp LGD03EA matte FHD, 125%. Easy access to internals\fan. Can't really get used to the pointing stick, but touchpad excellent. Battery time decent. Fan noise fine (silent most of the day here). Keyboard fine.

 

The battery from AliExpress finally came in. It's charging right now and the 52Whr (Part number VFV59) battery for E7250 definitely fits the E7240. It's identical physically to the 45Whr battery.

This is the one I got.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orig...w57cv-7-4v52wh-DL011311-PLP22/1883700797.html

I don't know how well it performs yet since it's still charging, but here's the batteryinfoview data.

 

Thank you for confirming that this works. We had already established that the E7450 battery works in the E7440 and it is useful to know that the same applies to the smaller sibling.

John

 

Are you sure? I was under the impression that both the touch and non-touch 1080p displays were IPS.

 

Thinking about buying a E7240 used.

Is it possible to upgrade the screen to a 1080p one or 1600x900?

 

Anyone have their CPU throttling?

My i5-4300U never exceeds 1.6GHz even on ultra power profile and Prime95.

HD 4400 also seems to be stuck at 200MHz.