Latitude E7240 and E7440

In my experience the 14" AUO panel has a slight sparkly / screen door effect due to, I think, the anti glare coating. The 14" LG panel doesn't have this but you need to see both displays side-by-side to notice the difference. Both have excellent viewing angles. I can also add that the 15.6" AUO panel which I'm looking at right now is completely free of any screen door effect.

In terms of performance, I reckon there needs to be around a 30% increase in CPU speed to be able to notice the difference in everyday usage. It's the change from HDD to SSD which really makes a computer feel more responsive but you had made that jump previously.

John

 

Nice find! There are a couple things I like a lot about the E7440 compared to the E7450 or anything newer, like the hardware wireless switch, volume buttons, Home/End keys, and normal sized Backspace and \ keys.

You can use the built-in WBF for logon, which works pretty well. Saves me from having to type domain credentials for logon or RDP connections.

Don't be disappointed, actually the AUO has better sRGB coverage. I spent quite a bit of effort getting the AUO part when I found a couple dead pixels on my original LG panel, and the difference is significant.

 

I have bought, sold, configured, worked on E3440 and E5440's [and find little diff between them worth noting], and found them to be pretty decent machines. There are a LOT of E5440's on the aftermarket - many of them still in warranty. they can be had in i5 model cheap. a few bucks more for i7-equipped. E3440's are relatively rare, and/but there is no point in goiing to look for that model specifically. one pleasant surprise to me was that the sound/speakers on these is pretty good by today's dismal standards. that shouldn't really be a focal point for a business-class machine, but a nice suprise. I don't know that the 12." versions muster this trick.

I'm puzzled these days as to why we put more than 4GB ram in anything running windows 10 except to take advantage of dual-channel bus, unless there is a specific application need for such. Win 10 aggressively manages memory whether I want it to or not! it would be nice for those using hybrids or mechanical drives to FORCE win 10 to use all the mem available, but I know of no good way. you can turn off paging [I think 10 actually defaults that way...] but it seems to make no diff in real use. I have yet to see a Windows 10 breach 4GB+ even with me trying to break it. I imagine serious games take over mem management and do routinely use every shred of memory in the house and then some

 

A18 bios version is out.

- Card reader works.
- CPU capped after sleep problem solved.

Finally!

 

Took them only 4-5 months. And 2 defective versions. Ridiculous.
But flashed here, and all seems well.

 

After using the E7440 for the past six weeks, I'm very pleased with it. It feels so much like my previous Latitude 6430u, just with a better display and it is also a bit more solid (physically) than the 6430u. It also has sturdy hinges, one of the 6430u's weakest points. I replaced the hinges when it barely one year old and those needed replacement after about 16 months, but I just lived with the floppy display for a few months rather than replacing them again.

I really like the silver lid and base of the E7440 compared to the black E7450. It looks a little nicer, IMHO.

 

Hello everyone!
First post here! I'm happy to participate in your forums.

So, a few days ago I bought a used E7440. Everything's seems fine except for two things.
First, I've noticed that while listening to music (or any other sound), if I press my 7440 on a specific spot (see here), the sound will stop until I stop pressing that laptop at that spot. Of course by "pressing" I mean a little amount of pressure. Anyone noticed that before?

Second, I've noticed that when typing, when I press keyboard the buttons around E-R-T, the keyboard at that area seems to somehow "sink". When I press others buttons the whole keyboard remains solid.
Is this something natural of is my keyboard defective?

Thanks for your time, and sorry for my English.

 

The way the keyboards are constructed, they are very easy to bend or warp if they are removed and/or replaced. This may not be the explanation for the ‘sinking’ feeling when you press the keys E-R-T, but it’s a possibility. If the previous owner(s) ever needed to remove the keyboard to access or remove other components, that could have caused it. Or the keyboard might be a replacement of the original, for some reason. If it is a replacement, there are a lot of poorly made non-OEM keyboards that are much more likely to experience various issues.

My E7440 came from the Dell Outlet with every feature I wanted except it didn’t have the backlit keyboard. Instead of paying $30+ shipping to buy a refurbished/lightly used keyboard from a parts site that I trust, I bought a $14 used one on Ebay. It has the correct part numbers to identify it as a Dell OEM keyboard and shows no sign of wear or use. But just by handling it to remove it from the package, then install it, I managed to bend it slightly. It still isn’t completely straightened/flat. It actually bends upward slightly in the same exact area you mentioned (only noticeable when looking at the keyboard from the front of the laptop and most people would never even notice it). In that area, there is some ‘give’ when I press the keys. As much as I love how thin and light my E7440 (and 6430u before it) is, I’ve never found the keyboard that great on either one (or any other thin notebook I’ve used. Because it’s so thin, the keys can only travel so far, and it isn’t very deep. If only the E7440/E7450/E7470 could have the keyboard from my old Latitude E6400, then it would be perfect! The E6400 keyboard has deeper/longer key travel depth and it can take a lot of use and abuse. It’s right up there with a ThinkPad keyboard, IMHO.

The first step I would suggest would be to remove the bottom cover (remove battery, remove two small screws securing the bottom cover, then slide it off). There are two screws that attach to the bottom of the keyboard to secure it from here. Every screw hole has a letter beside it and you’ll want to look for the ones labeled “K” (keyboard). If one of the screws is missing or even loose, the keyboard will flex more.

If it’s really annoying, you could try a replacement OEM keyboard. It’s quite easy to do, with the most difficult part being the removal of the keyboard trim piece (surrounds it) and making sure you properly detach and re-attach the cables for the keyboard, mousepad and (if included) the keyboard backlighting. Other than that, it’s just removing about eight screws.

I’m no expert, but your sound problem could be caused by a number of things. When I hear that pressing on a certain area causes a loss of power or loss of sound, the most logical answer seems to be that a cable is being compressed and/or pulled when you touch that spot. If not corrected, it could eventually cause a short-circuit and cause some damage. Under the area you circled in the photo, the only visible components are the SSD/hard drive and the WLAN card. The headphone jack is located on that side of the laptop, so I’m thinking that something between the jack and that area is the problem. I’m not sure where the jack connected to the motherboard, but it may require removal of the palmrest (which includes removing the keyboard and basically leaves the base split in half so you can see all of the circuit boards, cables and connectors. It’s not a simple task, but may be worth the effort.

The fact that you are having the sound issue make me think it’s even more likely that someone has been inside the casing. It could have been for a benign reason, such as cleaning, adding RAM or numerous other things. I would try to take a look at this as soon as you can. In the meantime, I would use it on solid, flat surfaces to make sure that you don’t apply pressure to that spot. A laptop cooler or stand would work or you can even find something around the house (a wooden cutting board works great) so it sits flat and you don’t touch that bottom area.

 

Thank you allfiredup for your very detailed answer!

The laptop is still under Dell's warranty (it also covers accidental damage), but to be honest after your post I'm really worried, cause if the laptop has been opened I might have lost the warranty.
I have ordered a new keyboard from eBay (according to the seller it is genuine) and when I'll receive it, I will contact an authorized reseller so that they will replace it. I'm going to inform them about the sound issue too, just in case it's something simple.

Thank you once again for your time!

 

I have a friend who is after a laptop and I'm thinking a Latitude 74xx series would be good a they're solid machines and come with a three year warranty, the difficulty I'm having is trying to find what ones come with a touch screen as all the outlet ones are showing as non-touch but I've seen errors on the outlet listings before. From one review I read, the 7470 is only available with touch on the 2560x1440 resolution and from reading above it looks like the 7440/7450 can be touch or non-touch on the 1080p display?

There seems to be more touch enabled E5470's which I don't know much about but looks like a feasible alternative.