So is the Dell E6500 Good enough?

hi all

I have reading the Dell E6500 Owners' Thread and Sony's Thread.
I am still very much torn between Dell E6500 Vs Sony SR series....I just couldnt make up my mind. The new laptop will be used mainly for powerpoint presentation, photoshoping, Microsoft Expressions suite, Visio, web surfing, movie watching, itunes.

I luv the idea of Dell E6500
- 14" screen that comes under 2Kg (on paper!)
- Backlit keyboard (great for presentation)
But the constant mouth of words abt Dell machies are subpar with Sony is outting me off as well.

I Luv sony SR
- Cheaper (compared to Dell E6500 with similar specs)
- Better looking
- Great screen
But the idea of poor battery life is putting me off

So i like to ask the Dell E6500 users what are the major Cons of E6500?

sorry to keep asking the same thing! I jsut cant decide!

 

are u sure ur not talking about the E6400? i thought the 6500 comes with a 15 inch screen

the current crop of business class dells are of higher quality than the sony's. the sony's seem to be of as high quality as the dell/lenovo/hp business class offerings

sony's (all manufacturers actually) have their share of problems!

 

oops..yes i meant the E6400!
I seen the Sony SR series...it do look pretty. i hvnt seen the Latitude series as its not available in retail store so cant do the actual comparision on built and screen quality.

 

The true weight of the E6400 with 6 cell battery and optical drive starts at 2.3kg. It is made of metal and is robust, but the main attraction for me was the LED backlit WXGA+ display which, with Intel graphics, gives good battery time. (Backlit keyboard, eSATA and USB Sleep-n-charge are other welcome features). there are ongoing issues with some Dell drivers and software, but these are gradually getting fixed.

If you want 14.1" under 2kg, there are two choices: fujitsu S6520 and the Samsung X460 (see this review).

John

 

I have an E6400 and while there are things I don't like about this machine it is still a very good laptop compared to other laptops.

I have reinstalled Windows XP 32-bit on my E6400 with the disk controller set in ATA/IDE compatible mode and my machine is 100% stable. I haven't had a single BSOD or any stability problem since I reinstalled Windows XP.

But I have had some problems with E6400 that I think I would have avoided if I had got the older D830 model instead. E.g. running the SATA controller in native AHCI/RAID/IRRT mode seems to be a bit unstable with the DVD drive and eSATA. The USB ports on the back of my docking station wiggle a bit and loose connection if I touch the USB cord of a plugged in unit. Dell has programmed the fan to run at the high speed a little bit too often to my liking.

Örjan