Dell :: Latitude E6400/6500 Touchpad Is Bad, How To Make It Less Bad
Oct 24, 2009
This is not the newest topic but it's been well described that the Latitude E series' touchpad is crappy. With the launch of Windows 7, I thought that I'd give the new touchpad drivers a try. Still as crappy.
This is the worst touchpad and pointing stick that I can remember using on a laptop. Normally I wouldn't care, but actually having a terrible nav system really stinks more than I thought it would.
Well, my stop-gap solution was to simply remove the Dell touchpad drivers altogether and go native with whatever Windows 7 detected. What an amazing difference! The touchpad is usable now (it doesn't freeze and it tracks much better).....
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Aug 5, 2009
I ordered a "previously ordered new" Latitude E6400 from the Dell Outlet a few days ago. Got a pretty decent price of $560 after using a 15% off e-coupon.
Mine is fairly basic as far as the E6400 line-up goes, e.g. no fingerprint reader, no backlit keyboard, no Bluetooth, etc. I'd use this strictly as my personal laptop, and I was looking for something with XP and a matte screen anyway.
It has a Core 2 Duo P8400, 160 GB HD, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, 24x CD-RW/DVD drive, Intel GMA 4500 MHD video, WXGA matte screen, and the Dell 1397 802.11 b/g internal wireless card.
Hopefully I'm just overreacting, but I've come across some owner reviews on CNet, Amazon, Dell.com, etc. about E6400s having overheating problems, issues with Dell's ControlPoint (?)
software, the pseudo brushed metal exterior surfaces collecting fingerprints and skin oil way too easily,
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Dec 13, 2009
I just was wondering what some of you are getting in Windows 7 Index Rating.
I was having issues getting VS 2008 to work without going crazy with SearchIndexer.exe and re-installed 7 just now. Somehow my score is now a 4.1, using the same drivers ....
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Mar 9, 2009
Im trying to gauge what everyone else is experiencing when they are docking their Latitudes.
More specifically, as it relates to fan usage and general temperature.
That said, I have three questions:
1) If you own the Nvidia and you have fan issues, have you just resigned to the fact that your fan runs all the time or are you still looking for a solution?
2) If you own the Intel Graphics card, can you share your fan experience(s) when your laptop is docked?
3) Lastly, please indicate if you are using the laptop open when docked, closed with one external monitor or, two external monitors.
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Sep 30, 2008
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84 WHr Extended Battery Slice for Dell Latitude E6400/6400 ATG/ E6500/ E4300 Laptops / Precision Mobile WorkStations M2400/ M4400/ M6400
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Feb 3, 2009
I just received my new Latitude 6500. Build seems good but the display seems a bit washed out.
It's my first laptop so maybe it's just me getting accustomed to the display. I opted for the LED LCD WXGA+.
The display is very bright but the contrast doesn't seem the same as my desktop monitor.
Colors seems a bit faded, not as vibrant as I had hoped. For example, it's hard to see the unshaded boxes on the list to the left of this page--where it says "most reviewed laptops"
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Feb 25, 2009
I seem to be the only one here with constant probs with my 6400 so after speaking to DELL today, im returning my laptop for a new one.
What I want to know is should I swap out my nVidia GPU for the Intel? I think thats whats causing my therma/fan issues and maybe overheating the system as well (being that I use two external monitors with a dock).
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Jan 25, 2009
I was on a friend's brand-new inspiron 1525 today. After I began using it, I immediately noticed just how awful the touchpad is.
It is extremely inprecise. It's almost as if the sensitivity is constantly changing as I use the touchpad. I don't remember if I tried adjusting the settings; if I did, it didn't help.
I soon discovered that if you move your finger in a perfectly straight horizontal motion across the touchpad (no vertical motion), the cursor, as it's moving across the screen, will also 'bounce" up and down, getting worse towards the right side of the tochpad.
It doesn't abruptly jump at all; rather, it's as if the linearity of the touchpad is WAY off.
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Feb 7, 2013
How to make my touch-pad scroll function work? I drag my fingertip up or down the right side of the pad, on the line, and get nada, zip. If i hold down the left click key i can scroll with the window slide bar but thats it. I have checked all of the settings for mouse that I know about. .
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Feb 11, 2015
It's a Windows 8 precision touchpad, but I cant find how set the scrollspeed. It scrolls to slow for my taste...
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Laptopmodel is Aspire ES1-512. Windows 8.1
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Jan 1, 2010
Recently my laptop starts to make a high frequency whining noise, almost constantly and rarely stopped.
I tried to locate the component which the noise was originated from, I can only figure out it's somewhere below the memory module, but there is no moving component there, so my biggest suspect is the fan, because if I put my ear to the back of the laptop, except the whining I also heard very minor "clicking" noise.
Another weird thing is, this noise only starts after Windows is loaded, not in BIOS or during booting, although the fan was running at those times.
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Jun 19, 2009
The price of 2nd user Latitude D630's seems to be holding up quite well in the UK. Does this indicate that it is still a popular machine and favoured over the E6400?
I briefly checked out an E6400 the other day and for a choice between machines of approximately similar spec I would opt for the D630 rather than the newer E6400.
I would be interested in opinions from users who have experience with both models.
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Jan 29, 2015
I have the latest drivers, freshly installed, but when I scan again the system, it says I need to install these (see image). I download them, I install, I reboot... and still uninstalled.
And I won't be happy with something like "don't worry, if your system is working, just ignore them". Because if that is the case, then for sure I can expect more things not taken care of, from Dell.
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Oct 29, 2008
I am wondering whether or not the E6400 has the Latitude-On feature or can be configured as such.
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Feb 7, 2009
I just bought Dell Latitude E6400. It is well-design machine. A little more noise than my T41, an old IBM guy. I have a problem with touchpad and buttons:
On Dell touchpad window, there are two buttons, one sticking point buttons (back) and touchpad buttons (front). When I click and hold the touchpad button (front one, either left or right), touchpad works, I can move the cursor to scroll down and up.
However, when click and hold the back one (up next the touchpad), the touchpad does not response. Traditionally, both buttons work with touchpad but this one does not. I am wondering if it is Dell's new design or there is something wrong with the touchpad.
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Mar 17, 2009
I can't remember where I read it but somebody mentioned that on some of the older versions of the Dell ALPS Touchpad drivers there were more options available. Anybody know which version, if any, had support for tap zones in the corners or for browser back/forward swipe zones?
I tried the latest Toshiba drivers and the driver lets you configure these zones but for some reason it doesn't work. Horizontal scroll didn't work either on the Toshiba drivers but a feature I can only describe as "typing palm guard" works on the Toshiba version even though the Dell drivers don't have support for it.
So this suggests to me there are more options available that the ALPS hardware on our machines can support than provided by the Dell drivers.
On the Dell drivers when you type and graze your palm against the pad you can inadvertently move your cursor, select text in a random area, or accidentally lose focus from the edit box.
With the Toshiba driver it disables the touchpad as you type so that these mistakes can't happen and you can graze or even rest your palm on the touchpad surface
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Apr 14, 2009
I had an E6400 with touchpad problems.
Now I have an E6500 and experience some annoying touchpad issues.
Everyone I've talked to that owns an E-series latitude is experiencing some glitchy touchpad issues.
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Oct 18, 2008
I'm pretty new to Dell notebook world. I was always told that Dell has a stinky customer service and their image wasn't that good around spot but care sharing whats good and bad about dell in general?
1- In the LCD option, it says touchscreen. Does that mean I can somewhat use this laptop like a tablet? ( Without the ability to twist the screen of course..)
2-Never knew whtas the different between 1dimms and 2dimms in RAM....
3-Compare Geforce 9400gs with the Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD With PC-Card. Plus, what do they mean by "PC-Card" or "EXpress card" ?
4-Does Dell notebook actually give us 64bits windows or they're all 32bits unless they mention the option of 64bits?
5-Whats the difference between the normal e6400 model and the ATG model? Simply more durability +weight?
6- Whats an encrypted HDD or a ruggedized HDD?
7- I'll be using the notebook for design purpose. Such as photoshop, flash, illustrator or such. I'll be using 2-3 program at once with several picture/projet +internet + music. If my specs are 2.26ghz or 2.4ghz + 4gb ram + intel HD4500HD, will this notebook handle it?.............................
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Feb 17, 2009
Its a certified refurb; it has everything i want at a great price:
-- Latitude E6400 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 (2.53GHz, 6M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
-- 14.1 inch UltraSharp WXGA+ (1440x900) LED Display
-- Back-lit Keyboard
-- Genuine Windows Vista Business
-- Brushed Metal Black
-- 24X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive
-- 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (1 DIMMs)
-- 90W AC Adapter
-- 9 Cell Primary Battery
-- 125V Power Cord
-- Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD With Express Card
-- 250 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
-- Dell Wireless 1510 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
-- Integrated Webcam with digital microphone
Im upgrading the RAM to 4gb, and maybe the hard drive if its too loud. I got the integrated GPU on purpose so it runs cooler and quieter and has better battery life (I don't play games). Ill try for a new version of vista too. Im happy i got the p9500, that was probably the only one left that was a decent price,
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Sep 10, 2009
I have a simple question: is the E6400 able to use the 8 GB of RAM fully? I have read some threads here about chipset limitations etc.
Could those of you with the E6400 and 8 GB of RAM quickly check whether your 8 GB are fully usable by the system?
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Mar 25, 2009
I'll start off with a quick "thanks" to everyone here for all the great info - was a big help when selecting a laptop to purchase! Now my issues...
Just got a refurbed E6400 in the mail from Dell Outlet. First odd thing I noticed is that it sometimes randomly makes a quick succession of rapid clicking type sounds (sounds kind of like HDD activity) followed by a beep that doesn't come from the laptop speakers because they are muted.
This little pattern happens anywhere from 3 to as much as ~12 times. Nothing bad seems to come of it yet, but its annoying and would be somewhat disrupting to classes if I use it for note-taking. This has happened maybe 4-5 times in the 3 hours that I've had the computer.
Any ideas what this might be? Note that I recently got a BSOD (yes, within HOURS of using the machine!) and since then I haven't experienced the noises, but then again the BSOD was only ~30 mins ago .......
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Mar 12, 2010
I am unable to type more than a couple of minutes without my cursor repositioning itself. The problem is inadvertent "contact" between my palm/lower thumb and the touchpad. I put contact in quotes because it's not even clear whether actual contact or mere proximity is the problem.
Brief background: I worked with Dell service and we agreed that the problem is an overly sensitive trackpad. We tried changing the TrackPad settings to no avail. They authorized a replacement trackpad which was installed by a service tech (along with a new mother board after he accidentally killed the computer while replacing the trackpad).
Result: Still no improvement.
FYI: My Touchpad settings are Touch Sensitivity 6/8; Tap to Click: On/Medium Speed; TouchCheck: Enabled/Minumum. Scroll: enabled
As you can from the above, I use the TrackPad for all my control (including selection). I have tried the most obvious solution -- turning up the TouchCheck -- and find that it renders the tap to select function useless. At this setting, it often takes 2-3 clicks to make a selection which is obviously unacceptable.
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Jan 21, 2010
I'll be able to order my new E6400 soon, as follows:
CPU: Intel P9700 2.8GHz
GPU: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M / ExpressCard
HDD: (whatever is cheapest) I'll replace with a Scorpio Black or Blue (see question 5)
MEM: (whatever is cheapest) I'll replace with 2x2GB of Corsair DDR2-800
WI-FI: (whatever is cheapest) I'll replace with an AR9280 half miniPCIe card
LCD: WXGA+ (1440x900) LED-backlit
- Backlit keyboard, Bluetooth module, 6-cell battery
Keep in mind that I won't be running Windows on this machine, but instead, Linux (Arch Linux x64).
Questions:
1) Is the nVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M enough to run Compiz-Fusion smoothly?
I previously ran Compiz-Fusion with an Intel GMA X3100 integrated GPU and was underwhelmed. Everything worked, but the animations were pretty herky-jerky, most of the time. Aero animations under Windows 7 were similarly not very smooth. I'm hoping for more with the nVIDIA Quadro (I read one report that Aero with an E6400/nVIDIA wasn't very smooth).
2) How bad *really* is the touchpad?
I've heard reports that the touchpad is imprecise and laggy, but I've also heard from people who say they haven't had any issues. Is this a "hit or miss" situation with the hardware, or is it due simply to what people are used to? Or has this been fixed?
3) How durable is the lid/screen?
I've heard reports that "the E6400 is well-built and durable ... except for the display," with no real elaboration. Is there any truth to this? Bending, flexing, etc.? Screen distortions if pressure is applied to the back? Does it seem strong? Feel strong?
4) Does the "brushed-metal" on the back of lid look good in person? Or does it look cheap, fake, tacky, etc ... ?
5) Can I replace the hard-drive?
I heard from one owner that the hard-drives used in the E6400 use a non-standard SATA layout, and thus aftermarket hard-drives cannot be installed. That seemed like it would be a very stupid thing for Dell to do ... but I thought I'd ask.
6) After time (6-12 months), does the display start to wobble when open?
I had an Acer Aspire 4720Z (I know, cheap quality) whose display would wobble when open. At the top of the screen, probably about 1/2" to 3/4" of wobble. The Dell Inspiron 1521 I'm using now does the same thing ... very annoying. Does the E6400 exhibit anything like this even AFTER extended ownership? Say 6 months to a year or more?
7) Is the audio bad?
I've heard from a few people that the audio is simply horrid, even through headphones. I've also heard that disabling PC Spk has fixed it for some people ... is this an outdated issue that has been fixed by Dell?
8) Is there anything else I should know?
If there's anything else that I need to know, I'd love to hear it.
Sorry for so many questions, but this will be a big purchase.
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Jan 23, 2009
After reading this thread: E Module Bay 2.5" drive.
about the possibility of a second hdd in the Latitude E Series I wonder if it is possible to use Raid0 with E6400 as mentioned in the manual.
Looking after it in the Bios I can't find any Raid Modus for SATA-Operation.
Any ideas???
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May 8, 2009
I have been reading about people getting so many hours out of their E6400. I have the 9 cell battery and running the screen on the lowest setting, Bluetooth off and wifi on im getting close to 6 and a half hours of battery life. Is this normal....
I heard about doing a clean install, what does this do, and what benefits would i be achieving by doing this?..
Is there anything else i can do to get a little more juice out of the battery when i need it? I plan to have wifi on most of the time when it is being used. Basic web-surfing and Microsoft word...
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Jan 11, 2009
I am trying Windows 7 on my Latitude E6400, and I am having two a little issue for the system.
First issue is despite enabling advance performance for the drive under Device manager, Windows 7 gives me score or 2.0, than in Vista the score is significantly higher in the 5.0 range. My HDD is the Hitachi 5400RPM 160GB.
Second issue is, I don't know what I missed when installing the drivers/software, but I don't have the on-screen volume control. But the ambient light sensor, brightness level and keyboard backlit mode, does appear.
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Dec 9, 2009
Does anyone know if approx. 75-80 processes normal for the Latitude E6400 with Dell ControlPoint installed?
I can't believe it's that much--if it is the case.
Also, should I install the Vista 64-bit chipset driver? I see Dell doesn't have one for Windows 7 64.
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Jan 23, 2009
I'm looking for a sleeve that is protective but not particularly bulky.
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Oct 1, 2009
I am looking for a new notebook and I can't decide wether to buy the XPS 16 or the Latitude E6400.
I will need the notebook for both university (web browsing, office) and leisure purposes (watching movies, tv, listening to music).
I need a solidly built notebook as I travel every few weeks.
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Jan 5, 2009
I just got a E6400 from outlet (well it will be here around the 17th). It has a Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card but I want to get a wireless-n card.
Are there 3 antennas in the laptop still that would allow an upgrade to a Intel wifi 5300 card (assuming it can be found outside of the customization page)?
Is there anywhere cheaper than dell to buy the wireless-n part for the E6400? Dell only has the 5100 for $59.99 and haven't seen the 5300 in parts.
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