Looking for a Latitude laptop with both 2.5" SATA and mSATA/M.2

Hi all,

I'm looking for a new laptop which has both 2.5" SATA and mSATA/M.2 slots. I plan to install a standard 2.5 HDD and an SSD for the OS.

The models I'm interested in are E5450, E7440 and E7450.

For E5450, the specifications page states that there are 2 M.2 slots where one of them is already occupied for WLAN card and another one is for "WWAN/HCA". I'm not sure what HCA is, but this slot doesn't seem to support M.2 SSD as posted on Dell's forum here: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19607040/20726276. So the Latitude E5450 might not be a choice for me, I guess?

For E7440, I found this YouTube video: at 4.00 min, he shows two laptops which one of them has an mSATA SSD installed while the 2.5" bay was left unoccupied. This laptop maybe my choice but I'm curious that E7440 has the Haswell processor while the new E7450 has the Broadwell processor, does it make big difference concerning the battery life? (Since Broadwell consumes less power, according to Intel). Another important point is that the E7440 still has the classic keyboard with dedicated Home/End buttons (which is preferable, IMO) while the new E7450 switched to chiclet keyboard and combined the Home/End buttons to the arrow keys. I do programming so I use those two buttons frequently and I mistype a lot when using Mac with chiclet keyboard.

I also use Ubuntu Linux sometimes, so I plan to install both Windows and Ubuntu on the laptop, does any of these models have issues with Ubuntu?

All answers are appreciated!

 

All of the Latitude E7x40, 6x40 and 5x40 series support a 2.5" and msata ssd. except for the 12" version (i.e. e7240).

If you want two drives then that's your only choice for now. Unless you get a precision, many of those models will support two 2.5" plus a msata.

 

The E7450 might take a PCIe version of an M.2 card in the M.2 slot but I don't think anyone has succeeded yet, partly because of the slot length.

The Broadwell improvement in battery time is modest and the higher capacity battery in the E7450 (which we think is compatible with the E7440) probably has more impact on the run time than the new Intel platform. You will probably find this review to be informative.

I've not tried Ubuntu but I get the impression from what I've read that any issues are minimal.

If you can pick up an E7440 from Dell Outlet then you'll have a lot of money in your wallet for more storage or a higher capacity battery (unlike many current notebooks the battery is easily swappable).

John

 

Thanks all. I've just noticed that E7440 uses a 5mm 2.5" drive, not typical 7 or 9.5mm drives. After some research, I found out that some users could fit the 7mm drive in but there is a risk of damaging the ribbon cable underneath. (See this and this) Moreover, I will have to order an extra HDD bracket from eBay or Dell.

Do you guys think that it is a better choice to order the HDD model and install the mSATA drive myself? Since it is obviously easier to install without much hassles, no extra bracket or special 5mm drive needed. I'm looking at 256GB Transcend MSA370 mSATA drive.

Thanks again.

 

I agree that it would require less effort to get the pre-installed HDD and then add the mSATA. You will need to clone the HDD or reinstall Windows onto the SSD and tell the BIOS which is the boot drive.

I don't have experience of the Transcend SSD. Other options are the Samsung 840 EVO (which I have in my E7440) or Crucial (you may find the M550 mSATA at a good price). 256GB size is the minimum so you can leave some of the drive unpartitioned, which helps it to maintain performance.

John

 

I'd say the chances are fairly low.

 

Got a 7mm hd over the ribbon, no problems so far after some months of use, and not expecting anything to happen. e7440 behaves excellently here with 256 msata + 500 hd.

Very important IMO: insulating the hd print to keep it from rubbing against the conductive coating (earthing shield) on the bottom panel.

 

Thank you all for your reply. I have decided to go with E7440.