M4400 vs E6500?

I am thinking about returning my E6500 because I feel I have made the wrong choice in laptop for my needs and quality.

I am wondering if anyone who has the M4400 can confirm some things for me...

- TrackPoint drifting - have you noticed any?
- Keyboard multiple keys at once - Can you hold 'c' and press 'd' at the same time?
- Any TrackPoint skipping with the Dell ALPS drivers?

At the moment a better configured M4400 is the same price I paid for my E6500. I am trying to figure out if the M440 is built better than the E6500 as I am fairly disappointed with the E6500 at the moment.

Any comments on the comparison between the 2 would be great... Thanks!

 

Trackpoint for me anyways, works flawless. Trackpoints on many computers give users hard times. Can't say that you'll receive a perfect one. I bought a wireless mouse anyway so I dont make use of it. But the pressure sensitivity and 3 buttons dedicated to it work great (the middle button of the trackpad angles upwards, real nice...see review in signature for pics of the M4400).

Yes, you can hold c and press d at the same time. It's a keyboard, keys don't lock one another. Duh? But I assume you mean do both keys display letters on the screen when you hold them...the answer is no. C + D will only have C show up until you release it...CDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Sorry if I messed up my understanding here, but you do mean trackpoint as in the little pressure button/stick in the middle of the keyboard yes? The touchpad skips at times but the trackstick works good.

And yes, the M4400 ends up cheaper when you buy a higher-end system. The E6500 has a better looking LCD lid (black metal). The M4400 the 128bit 512MB memory [better] video card. However, these two laptops are twin brothers. Build quality is the same, the M4400 uses Latitude parts (as per my invoice). The M4400 LCD rippled back is neither cheap feeling nor is it plastic. It's mag alloy, cold and doesn't affect the LCD when pushed.

If your work requires easier on the system graphics stick with your E6500. Otherwise, the M4400 gives you the E6500, with a different tshirt on and a better GPU.

RAM

 

Thats pretty much what I was expecting. Thanks for clarifying everything. From the pics of both I assumed they shared lots of components. The drifting is probably just hit or miss I guess. Maybe I got a lemon trackpoint. Though since it seems like the keyboard is the same I won't make a fuss about exchanging for a M4400.

Hopefully I will learn to love this guy and get over the little annoyances.

 

I found that either turning the "Touchcheck" setting on the touchpad and pointing stick makes them work much, much better.

Now, I still suck at using trackpoints, but that's besides the point. (no pun intended)

Greg

 

Every laptop has annoyances. I'm 100% positive something will pop up for the M4400. I'm not sure what though...

I fear my laptop was built too perfectly and something will blow up soon.

 

Haha. I will have to reinstall the drivers and check out this option. I *think* i played with this one and it helped with the drifting and instant 'stopping'. But it was still very jerky a skipping.

I hear ya. At the moment I kind of wish I went with the M4400 for the little extra boost in graphics now that I realize they are essentially the same body (LCD panel back being the exception). I think I will get myself an external keyboard and mouse and maybe order the dock and just forget about the issues I have so i can enjoy the **** laptop

 

You can try reading my M4400 review to get a feel:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=300199

It's been there for almost a week but the admins haven't added it yet.

 

Enduct,

I loved the review! Very detailed and on point. Would you mind telling me how you shaved off boot up times with "improved BIOS"? That would be great. Thanks a lot.