The new colors Regal Red and Regatta Blue are now available at Dell's website for the Latitude E4300. E6400 and E6500. The E4200 does not show the option as of yet, but that will surely be remedied soon. They seem to come with a hefty increase in price however...
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I'm very close to buying a Latitude E6400 or E6500, but I have a few questions before I pull the trigger. I'm hoping that a few E6400 and E6500 users can help me out...
1- Displays- are they all matte finish or ??? If I go with the E6500, I definitely want the WXGA+ (1440x900) LED-backlit option, but I'm thinking WXGA or WXGA+ (LED-backlit) will do on the smaller E6400.
2- Color choices- I know that Regal Red and Regatta Blue are offered in addition the standard Brushed Metal Black finish. Other than the tiny photos shown on the Product Details page as representations of each color, I can't seem to find any larger photos of the Red or Blue models! Is it a glossy or more of a matte/flat finish.....or should I just stick with the Brushed Metal Black?
3- Which size- 14.1" (E6400) or 15.4" (E6500)? The lighter weight and smaller dimensions of the E6400 are very appealing. I'm just wondering if there are any significant benefits that the E6500 would provide over the E6400 (other than the availability of a WUXGA display)?
4- Thermal Management- The reviews I've seen were models with the P8400 processor and integrated graphics. Heat management was very good on those configurations. Does that hold true for models wity T9400/T9600 processsor and the nVIDIA graphics card? Is fan noise ever a problem?
I wanted to share with the forum some strange, yet interesting findings that I've come up with in the last week or so.
First, some background. I am the IT manager/senior admin for my company. I do all of the purchasing and high end tech stuff, so I get to play with a fair amount of hardware and equipment before deploying it to the company.
For the last year or so, I've owned an E4300 as my work laptop, and have been purchasing E6400's to deploy to our company. Some of our consultants have dual internal hard drives using the Newmodeus optical bay caddy, and use an esata/usb combo port to power their optical devices when they need. We also utilize the Coolmax esata/usb enclosures for external drives. All of these devices work great on our older E6400's and my E4300.
Recently, I made another order of some E6400's and 2 E6500's as a trial. No matter what I do, the Newmodeus cables (I have a hard drive one as well) will NOT work with the E6500 and 1 of our new E6400s. Occasionally, by wiggling the cable in the plug and pushing hard, I can get a device to be detected for a few seconds. I decided to have Dell come out and replace the motherboard in 1 to see if I got a defective board.
Well, that didn't help at all, so I dug a little deeper. I borrowed a colleagues Coolmax enclosure, and plugged that in. To my amazement, it worked fine. I compared the esata cables....and the Coolmax cable is ~1-2mm longer than the Newmodeus cables.
The port depth on some of these machines must be a little deeper than others, not allowing the cable to fully seat and get a good connection. I have 2 E6500's and 1 E6400 with this issue.
My next plan of attack is to use a small saw to cut a little of the plastic off the Newmodeus cables to see if I can get them to seat a little deeper. I will report back my findings. I never thought something so simple would be such a PITA.
I'm very surprised that Dell only provides DDR2-800Mhz memory support for Latitude E6500 instead of E4300.
I don't understand, the built in chipset of E6500 is a Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset that support DDR3 Memory so why the E6500 don't support it ?
Intel tech specs :
The Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset delivers Microsoft Windows Vista* Premium support with the highest level of Microsoft Windows Aero* experience.1 It delivers outstanding system performance through high-bandwidth interfaces such as dual-channel DDR3 and DDR2 memory support, 1066 MHz system bus, PCI Express* x16 graphics port and PCI Express x1 I/O ports, Serial ATA, and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity. Use of the Mobile Intel PM45 Express Chipset includes support for Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) 4.0, the next generation of remote client network management for business. Use of the Mobile Intel PM45 Express Chipset also includes support for dual graphics with ATI CrossfireX*, for extreme gaming.
Support for DDR3 and DDR2 memory technology
Does anyone try to upgrade E6500 memory to DDR3-1066Mhz ?
I have a small question. What kind of case (plastic or magnium) have a Dell Latitude E6500 with BLUE and RED colors of case?
View 4 Replies View RelatedI'd like to ask any E6400 or E6500 owners about their fan noise as I'm considering those machines right now. I'm thinking of going with the Intel 4500 graphics for hopefully less heat and noise than the Nvidia NV160.
How long does the fan stay off while doing basic web browsing? When it turns on does it ramp up to a slow speed or does it blast on and then ramp down to a slow speed? Does this cycle of off and on continue?
The reason I'm asking is I had a Lenovo Ideapad Y430 that was very irritating regarding fan noise. With basic web browsing or even idling the machine the fan would stay off for about a minute or two and then would blast on when it turned on before ramping down immediately to a slow speed for about a minute. Then it would shut off and this cycle would continue over and over. Was very distracting and annoying when in a quiet environment.
I'd like a fan with either consistent fan noise (stays on at slow speed forever) or with no noise at all (stays off forever). How close is the E6400 or the E6500 to this ideal behavior?
I was amazed when I tried out a Dell Studio 1537 that had a fan that didn't turn on at all while web browsing. I could use it for hours and it wouldn't turn on.
I think it could be a good thing to summarize what is good and bad about Latitude E6400 and E6500 in a separate thread. Especially for newcomers it is a little bit hard to find this information in the 135 pages long E6400 Owner's lounge thread. I will start with my experiences after seven weeks use of my Latitude E6400.
My specs
E6400 with P8600 CPU, Intel Graphics, 1280x800 CCFL screen, 160 GB 7200 RPM HD, Intel 5100 WiFi, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery, E Port Plus docking station, Windows XP Pro with SP3 (own installation).
Good
Very good Windows XP performance with own installation
LCD screen has good brightness and contrast
Battery life is great
Overall temperature of CPU, chipset etc is low
Audio quality in general is good on my laptop, no skips or crackling audio
Hard drive and DVD drive are 100% stable in ATA/IDE compatible mode
The laptop has a good selection of ports that are mostly located in good positions.
Light and thin design
Fast 7200 RPM hard drive that is also quiet for being a 7200 RPM drive.
Bad
SATA drivers for running in native SATA mode (AHCI/IRRT) are not 100% stable causing some problems with DVD drive and eSATA drives. See below for details.
Fan is set programmed to run a little bit too often/too fast. See below for details.
Occasional delays in Windows Explorer when clicking on folders. This seems to be caused by a lag that appears when the sound "Start Navigation" is played when clicking on a folder.
USB ports on the back of the docking station wiggle a little bit. I will get a replacement docking station that I hope will fix this problem.
Fingerprint reader is connected to a peculiar "Broadcom USH CV" device making it inaccessible for standard fingerprint software. I have got myself a UPEK USB fingerprint reader instead that works much better.
Dell ControlPoint software is bloated and not entirely stable. I have only installed the System Manager part that is more or less necessary and also works better than the other parts.
Overall impression
I am satisifed with my E6400. It is fast, has the features I need and is running cool. There are however some things I think Dell should have put more effort into before releasing the laptop like the buggy SATA drivers, nonstandard fingerprint device and the fan programming. I think Dell will eventually fix these problems but I do feel a little bit like a beta tester. If I had known about the problems before my purchase, I would probably have purchased the older (and hopefully more stable) Latitude D830 model instead..............................
I just ordered a Dell Latitude E6500.
Now I'm looking to get a cable lock for it. I know they are not the best at protecting your laptop, but some protection is better than none, besides I just want to lock down to a table while I need to run to the bathroom for a minute.
So, from personal experience, if you have a Dell Latitude E6500/E6400, what locks work/fit best for it? I've done some research and I've tried to read around(couldn't find much on here for the specific laptop).
So far I'm looking at these two (but I have no word from latitude E6500/E6400 users): ..
I'm in the process of trying to decide between getting an E6400 or E4300 to replace my aging Toshiba A105-4074. I'm somewhat surprised by the lack of discussion here about the E4300 compared with the huge number of threads about the E6400.
I have an E4300 here at work that I have been impressed with, so I have hands-on experience with it. I haven't had any hands-on experience with the E6400, and have only seen one briefly. While I've read lots of good things about it, I wish I could use one for a couple of days in order to get a feel for it .....
I need to replace my D610 and I have two options:
Option 1: E6400
Intel Core 2 DUO T9600 2.80GHZ Processor
14.1: UltraSharp WXGA (1440/900) display
4GB ram
160GB HDD
DVD+/-RW
Dell wireless 1397 802.11/b/g Mini Card
Option 2: E4300
Intel Core 2 DUO SP9400 2.40GHZ Processor
13.3" wide WXGA screen
2GB Ram
80GB HDD
8X DVD
Dell wireless 1397 802.11 b/g Mini Card .....
I need some advice on picking the E4300 or E6400. The pricing in my country is a little different from the US I guess. I'm stuck on deciding with which machine as the pricing is about the same (see below).
I'm studying in a university where my course is about 50% programming, and can spend about 5 to 8 hours a day in school....
I love my E6400, but sometimes I think having an ultraportable would better meet my needs. I'm considering switching to an E4300 for this reason and am looking for some input. The specs of my E6400: P8400, WXGA+ LED backlit, 4GB RAM, 160GB 7200rpm HDD, Intel 5300, 4500MHD, 9 cell. What I'm most concerned about is build quality, keyboard and screen quality, power, weight, and battery life between the two systems. I really like the screen on my E6400 and I'm worried that I'll be disappointed downgrading to a WXGA. Also, would I be saving an appreciable amount of weight by moving from an E6400 with a 9 cell to an E4300 with a 6 cell, enough so that it would justify switching laptops? Basically, is there anything I might be disappointed in by going from an E6400 to an E4300?
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84 WHr Extended Battery Slice for Dell Latitude E6400/6400 ATG/ E6500/ E4300 Laptops / Precision Mobile WorkStations M2400/ M4400/ M6400
I've got a choice at the moment between two latitudes:
1) Dell Latitude D630: 2.2ghz C2D, 3Gb RAM, 120gb HDD, dvd/cdrw drive, vista, nvidia Quaddro GFX
2) Dell Latitude E6500: 2.26ghz C2D, 3Gb RAM, 80gb HDD, DVDRW, Vista,
Which do you reckon i ought to go for between the two?
The laptop will be used primarily between home and university, so will be taken between the two places in my shoulder messenger bag, so will probably take a few bumps
Regatta blue? (My Favorite) Regal Red? I know a few people on here have blue but i was just wondering how widespread the color choices are among NBR members?
View 10 Replies View RelatedI've been wavering back and forth between the T500 & E6500 for the past few weeks, but been pretty satisfied with our past Dell fleet and their service.
Up to Monday I was pretty much set on the E6500's, but I'm starting to see more and more threads about troublesome issues on the E-series. Things that would certainly bother me and my team.
Maybe we can keep track of all the issues and hopefully resolutions to them on this thread.
Here's what I've compiled so far:
Let me know what else to add.
1. Poor quality WXGA+ LED screens
Disappointed with LED LCD in E6400
E6400 vs. XPS M1330 LED Screens
2. Drifting Trackpad / Lack of proper sensitivity adjustments
E6500 TrackPoint drifting badly
3. Keyboard issues
E6500 TrackPoint drifting badly
4. DVD burner problems
Latitude E-Series DVD Burner troubles
5. Crackling/poor audio
e6500 crackling audio
6. Random lockups
http://www.dellcommunity.com/support...read.id=289406
Well I'm pretty much sold on either the e6400 or e6500 as a basic CAD electrical engineering laptop for college.
After reading a lot of reviews about weight, battery life, heat and screens. I wanted get some opinions.
I am for sure getting the quadro 160m for rendering and probably the p8600 since it's plenty fast and will consume less battery life and produce less heat.
I'm not sure whether to get the 14 or 15" model because of the size and heat and battery life.
Since my good old 15" notebook (from summer 2003) died in the beginning of the year, I was looking for a replacement and soon came across the E-series leak. I was immediately impressed by the sleek look and the nice set of features, but I couldn't decide on a certain configuration until now. The result was spending almost 9 months with my old Pentium 3 desktop and its 17" CRT - not exactly the finest web experience you can imagine. This desktop will soon be replaced by a budget gaming system, but I'm sure it will still play a secondary role. Became too accustomed to solely using a notebook, I guess
I should first introduce myself a little bit and talk about what I'll do with this machine. I've just finished school and I'm beginning to study Computer Science at a nearby university this week - staying at home and commuting every day with the notebook in my backpack. Its main purpose will be nothing special, the usual word processing and internet stuff, but also coding and anything else I'll do for university. I still have to try out if it's necessary to take notes on it during part of the lectures, but I think the battery life of the 6-cell should be sufficient. If not, I might just buy a second 6-cell, which doesn't cost much more than upgrading to the 9-cell battery and is more flexible in my opinion.
Here are the parts I've almost decided on, while I'm free for your suggestions:
- P8400 processor
- Vista Business (unsure if I should get Home Basic, it will be secondary besides Linux anyway)
- 2 GB of RAM
- Intel X4500 graphics (keeps cool, saves power, and runs fine with Linux)
- WXGA+ LED display with webcam (WSXGA+ would have pushed me towards 15,4")
- DVD burner (don't need it much, but still hope the firmware issues get sorted out)
- Intel Wifi Link 5100 (good Linux support in the future, but won't pay EUR 45 more for the 5300)
- Bluetooth (standard except for the absolute budget class, isn't it?)
- Backlit keyboard (pure gimmick, but might be nice for those nightly sessions )
- NO fingerprint reader
- 6-cell battery
- 3 years NBD service and nothing else
I am in the market for a new laptop. I have been tossing up wether to get the Dell XPS 13 or the Dell Latitude 4300 (13").
I am particulary looking for a laptop to use on the train as I commute to work and so am looking for something small, with a battery life that can handle up-to 2 hours with maybe 30% of the time high CPU usage (1 hour each way).
I am a software developer and will want to dual boot Windows and Linux, and will want something with a bit of grunt .....
I have been unable to find anything to replace the disk drive with. After OS and basic application installation, I never use CDs or DVDs.
I would much prefer a battery or hard drive. Even a plastic weight-saver would be better than the disk drive
So for now my feelings are not to good.
Dell is just starting to support Windows 7 on E4300. There are now few drivers coresponding to that system, but...
- Dell ControlPoint Security Manager Application - upgraded to A13 but still there are some problems with fingerprint reader after starting from sleep mode (long time before reader connect).
- Dell ControlPoint Security Device Driver - upraded to A12 but still I have a SmartCard Device (SCFILTERCID_3303013145410602b6) without drivers. Weird, because there is another SmartCard device that is installed corect, and my E4300 have only one SmartCards Reader.
- Dell ControlPoint System Manager - even with new A12 there is no possibility to adjust brightness without ALS.
- there are another two devices without drivers. Some "PCI Serial Port", and "PCI Simple Communications Controller".
I'm using Windows 7 x64 RTM.
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Order Date: 18/09/2008
Estimated Delivery Date (on or before this date): 20/10/2008
Actual Shipment Date: 25/09/2008
Cost: 1461.68 euro (2135.08 usd)
Config:
QTY Item Description
1 Latitude E4300 : BLACK Intel Core 2 DuoSP9300(2.26GHz,1066MHz,6MB) Latitude ON Reader
1 Standard Touchpad 214-10064
1 Display : Black -No Camera, Latitude On Reader, WWAN- 13.3inWXGA(1280x800)
1 Documentation : English Shipping Docs
1 Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 800MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
1 Hard Drive : 80GB Serial ATA (5400RPM)
1 Optical Drive : Roxio Creator 9.0 Software (XP & VistaCompatible) with Recovery CD
1 Optical Drive : Power DVD 8.0
1 Optical Drive : BLACK 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
1 Power Cord : UK/Ireland 90W AC Adaptor 3-pin
1 Battery : Primary 6-cell 60W/HR LI-ION
1 No Carry Case
1 Wireless : Intel WiFi Link 5100 (802.11 a/b/g/n 1X2) 1/2 MiniCard with Centrino label
1 Keyboard : Internal UK/IR Qwerty Standard Keyboard
1 Software Driver : Latitude E4300
1 Software Driver : Recovery DVD
1 Operating System : English Windows Vista Business SP1 to XP Pro SP3 Downgrade
1 Windows Vista Business SP1 Os media
1 Client Systems Management Disabled
1 AntiVirus : Not Included
1 Base Warranty
1 3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day - Minimum Warranty
1 No Warranty Upgrade
1 Declined CompleteCare
1 Latitude Order - Ireland
1 Road Freight Charge Per Unit 1-10 unit
Collected my dell latitude e4300 saturday morning (27/09) from my local depot instead of waiting for it to be delivered and been giving it a whirl for the last day or so.
First some quick figures. On my kitchen scales the e4300 with the 6 cell battery weighs about 1.8kg (4lbs). The charger and power cord weigh another 500 grams (1lb) making for a total travel weight (notebook + 6 cell battery + charger) of about 2.3 kgs (roughly 5 lbs).
The e4300 feels sturdy enough although the 6 cell battery that sticks out at the back feels a little loose when given a tug. The keyboard (uk layout) as far I can tell is almost same the size/layout as its bigger brother the e6400 except for the page up and down which are full size and placed beside the arrow keys.
When first powered up the machine spends a little over 2 minutes in some kind of bios initialization mode before booting into a windows xp setup screen - subsequent power ons are a lot faster taking about 50 seconds to a bring up a full xp desktop.
The matte display (device manager says LCD2207) is brighter and has better viewing angles than the Latitude D630 I used some months ago but I was expecting a lot more from a LED screen.
Heat wise the notebook gets a little warm under the chassis top left near the air vent where the cpu is located but was still comfortable enough to place on my lap while wearing jeans.
Noise is a problem with this notebook. The cpu fan although not loud is audible if you're in a quiet room. The latitude D630 was almost whisper quiet in comparison. There's also a slight electronic buzz which sounds like someone sending morse code coming from the top left of the notebook which becomes extremely irritating after a while.
The battery meter claims over 6 hours when fully charged but I've gotten nearer 5 with wifi and some web browsing - will do more formal tests later.
The default software install on this machine is a mess - see attached screenshots taken from task manager and process explorer.
On booting into Windows xp over 354 mb of ram is already being used up by running processes all seemingly related to the proper functioning of this laptop. I though vista memory usage was excessive but for an xp install this is ridiculous - if only 512Meg ram was installed this machine would not be usable as a business notebook.
In general use the touchpad becomes intermittingly laggy with the mouse pointer pausing to change shape (2 black arrows,twirl) no doubt due to some value add cruft running in the background and the touchpad has twice stopped responding to finger input necessitating a windows reboot.
The bottom right of the keyboard doesn't seem to fit snuggly with the notebooks chassis leading to a noticeable flex everytime you press the page down or right arrow key.
Theres an ambient light sensor that adjusts the screen brightness on the fly depending on lighting conditions but anytime I enable it the display brightness seem to jump about a lot (even indoors at night) so I left it off.
With wireless configuration there also appears to be some kind of bun fight between windows xp,dells control point and Intel PROSet software with the apparent winner being Intel.
Not sure if there's also a problem with whatever tracks hard disk usage on this notebook as the hard disk light on the bezel is constantly flashing even when filemon.exe utility reports no file activity.
I'm going do some more tests and try and find out if I can do something about the buzzing noise, hard disk light and keyboard flex but as it stands for the price I paid this notebook is failing to impress.
I need to order 5 of these Dell's within the next couple of days and need user input;
For all who've received their E6400 & E6500's, please rate your satisfaction with these notebooks.
1. Model & config
2. Scale of 1 (not satisfied) - 10 (perfectly satisfied)
3. Pros - Things that impressed you - work very well.
4. Cons - Things you don't like / don't work properly
5. Would you recommend this notebook ?
I try to fix a latitude E4300.
- int. keyboard does not work (however trackpoint and touchpad work), only an ext. USB keyboard works.
- laptop is slow: in the BIOS setup the response is already slow, mouse is very slow...
- when hitting F8 on the ext. keyboard, you get the windows startup menu.
(safe mode etc.) Response of this menu is also slow.
- windows (XP) does not start at all, you see the Windows startup screen and nothing happens (no BSOD)
- even a recovery cd like "hiren's boot CD" or "I have the password" doesn't start.
Bios: A13
All settings in the BIOS are correct. Changed to default, still the same problems.
I ran diagnostics (F12), but no errors found???
I ran chkdsk on the harddisk (removed HD and put it into an external HD case), errors were found, but corrected...
Viva la Dell, may Michael prosper in Heaven forever more for giving us the wonderful place called the Outlet--where you can pick up elite laptops like the E4300 and Latitude XT2 for under a grand with nary a scratch on them .....
View 10 Replies View RelatedIs it possible to install a second hard disk in E4300?
Earlier the option used to be available whilst configuring the E4300 online to add a second 1.8inch hard disk. Now it is no longer there. Can the same be ordered through a Dell rep? What exactly is it that comes when you order this?
I will be grateful if someone can share this info. This will be the deal maker/breaker for me on the E4300.
My new Latitude E4300 laptop finds my Home wireless network but is not connecting to it.
I get a message saying unable to connect. My Network password is properly fed and my laptop is not far away from my router.
I checked with Dell Live Chat late yesterday afternoon (I have been in contact with them many times before regarding this issue, to no avail) and got lucky. After the rep had me uninstall/reinstall different drivers, which did not work, he asked if he could have remote access to my machine. I granted it and within a few minutes, he solved the issue. His fix was a registry edit. Unfortunately, since in my mind the only fix was going to be a new driver from Alps, I did not play close attention to the changes he made. I believe the entries changed are located at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Alps" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Alps". You need to look for an entry that reads something like "Cursor Type" (it was located near the top 1/3 of the entry) and you need to change it from whatever it is currently set at (something like 1715 or 1517, I don't really remember) to zero (0). Reboot and viola...animated cursors are back.
View 9 Replies View RelatedThe fan on my E6400 runs most of the time at about 3000 rpm, I would like it to run at about 1500 rpm instead, I think 3000 rpm is quite noisy, even though it's stated as "slow"...
It works great and I'm able to controll the fan-speed (and noise!) manually..
I'm wondering if it would be possible to modify this fan controller for the E6400 and other laptops as well?..
The Zalman Fan Mate 2 has an input of 12V and can via the knob output between 5-11V, hence the fan will run slower if it is conncected to the Zalman controller. The problem so far is that the Zalman Fan Mate 2 is built for desktops with bigger power-pins, the one in the E6400 is quite small. Secondly I'm not sure about the voltage of the built in Dell-fan.
Anyway, if someone figure out how to modify a hardware fan controller for the Dell Latitude series, I think these controllers could sell like hot cakes...
When I ordered my E6400, it said on the Dell configuration pages that it would have a UPEK fingerprint reader. I am quite sure I got another fingerprint reader since it says "Broadcom USH CV w/Fingerprint Swipe Sensor" in Device Manager. When I look closely at the quotes I got from the Dell sales guy it doesn't say UPEK anywhere on the E6400 quote but it does say UPEK on the E6500 quote.
Does the E6500 have the same (non-UPEK) fingerprint reader?
Is it possible to get the E6400 with a UPEK fingerprint reader?
I would like to have a laptop with the UPEK fingerprint reader since I ordered a Dell USB UPEK fingerprint reader with my laptop that I intend to use when the computer is in the docking station. The USB UPEK fingerprint reader doesn't work with the fingerprint software on my E6400. I am not 100% sure it will work even if I would have the same brand of fingerprint reader in the laptop but I think it should increase the chance a lot.
