Received refurb E6500 - some questions

Well I've not done anything with the drivers yet. I guess I have to go through each one and figure out if applies to my system and then figure out if my system already has that driver(s) or not.

As far as the screen goes, I guess it is what it is. It may be the difference between the gloss on the studio17 and the matt on this E6500, I don't know. What I do know is other than the ability of the led panel to adjust brightness the panel on this E6500 looks pretty much the same as my C600 Latitude screen in terms of crispness and clarity. 95% of my use is text based and the clarity and sharpness that the screen on the studio17 displayed was incredible. Further, the screen on the 17 was more uniformly lite and had much better viewing angles than either my C600 or this E6500.

I do like the keyboard on this E6500 though. Much better than the studio keyboard.

The 6500 does not seem very stable, it frequently requires the wireless to be re-setup, especially after it is first turned on. It seems like closing the lid without shutting it down first confuses the system and it sometimes has trouble waking up again and working properly. If installing vista would help with the stability issue I would do it in a heartbeat as this machine is extremely frustrating as it is.

For the first three days of use there was no indication given on how the backlite keyboard functioned. Now three or four days later I'm getting a pop-up menu that shows three options - 1) on, 2) auto, 3) off. Is the "auto" tied into some sort of sensor? It is way too bright for me on auto. Is there anyway to put it on low and leave it there?

The studio had 1) on high, 2) on low, 3) off. I would leave the studio on low all the time which worked well as high was too bright.

Thanks

 

You can adjust the keyboard backlight thru Display and Devices in Dell Control Point. There are several levels of brightness on the keyboard that you can play around with. I had mine at about three notches above minimum

 

Ok thanks, I'll give that a try.
Is the dell control point some type of overall system management deal? Every time I have to search out and reconnect to our wireless home network I get some sort of gray control point box that pops up and keeps bugging me to 'name' the technology or some such thing. The wireless network already has a name and I don't want it changed. If I wait long enough this annoying control point box finally gives up and goes away.

Do people usually leave the control point software active or do they delete it and just use the typical means of control through the OS and such?

 

There are 3 components of Dell Control Point - connection, security and systems. IMO, only the systems part is worthwhile as it let's you adjust power, display and certain devices.I let Vista manage my wireless and I didn't even bother with security I removed the others that I didn't need

 

I have been through this driver update business far too many times, it's horrible.
Whether it is brand new or Dell Outlet I have found factory load at best less than optimal. (and at worse I actually thought I had a hardware problem, got a new machine from Dell and then realized it wasn't hardware it was the software load!)
I always buy the ProSupport (or whatever it is called, the upgraded warranty): I then go to the chat and ask the rep to send me a complete list of drivers with their direct links to the files! Usually the reps argue that it is all available by searching online, I simply tell them I am not going to spend 4hrs comparing versions and going through the download process. I try to always be respectful but persistent.
They have 100% agreed with me and emailed me a complete list of drivers to use including the direct link to them. I then download the drivers and install in the order specified (really important)

Even better... get Windows 7 and you will only have to install a few drivers.

Try not to install Dell Security software, usually not needed and causes problems.
Install only the drivers you really need, e.g. if you have a fingerprint reader but do not use it, do not install the driver (you could disable this device in device manager as well)

Hope this helps

--- Bruce