Dell Latitude E-6400 : A review

4 Oct 2008



A review of Dell Latitude E-6400

The most improtant reason that I - yes I, like Dell Latitude is not because it has advertised 19 hours of battery life. Not also because it has a fast Core 2 processor. But because it is has everything I need in a small size weighing less that 6 pounds. Another thing I liked about it is the fact that it comes with optional Windows XP. Yes Windows XP IS and option.

Processor

The processor inside Dell Latitude E-6400Intel is Core 2 Duo P8400 running at 2.26GHz with 3M L2 Cache. Pretty fast with any standard. Before I keep praising this notebook a solid remark against this solid notebook. It is priced beyond the pocket of common users. At around $1900 is it way beyond the reach of the recession hit US consumers, long accustomed to the deals paying with credit cards with no money in their bank balance. And don't get disillusioned by the starting price - the starting price will get you a naked notebood - devoid of webcam, modem, fingerprint scanning etc. It may be reasonable to some buyers at around $1200.

Battery Life

Under normal surfing conditions, this notebook was found to last about 5 hours and 15 minute using 6 Cells Li Ion battry. The user can however expect a battery life of whopping 19 hours by using a solid-state drive in place of the normal hard drive and with the use of a battery slice.
Here are the excerpts from Dell's claim

Battery life results based on Dell lab testing using MobileMark 2007 Benchmark. 19 hour battery life resulted from testing a Dell Latitude E6400 configured with solid state drive, Mobile Intel® GMA 4500MHD graphics, 9-cell primary battery, and 12-cell slice battery. Battery life varies by configuration, operating conditions, and other factors. Maximum battery capacity decreases with time and use.

Obviously it uses 9 cell in place of normal 6 cell battery and an aditional 12 cell battery. So the Dell's claim is based upon a 21 cell in place of 6 cell. This should increase the battery life by 3 and a half time. Some saving can also come be using solid state drive, though I must say that this saving will not be much. The screen does take some life. The battery life can be enhanced using lower brightess and lower refresh rate.
Screen

The 14.1-inch (1280 x 800-pixel resolution) display looks good. The screen isn’t quite as bright. That probably can explain why it has longer battery life. The notebook has a 0.3-megapixel camera with Advanced Light sensitivity. This is

Ports

This Dell latitude has four USB 2.0, eSATA, VGA, Display Port, RJ-11, RJ-45, 1394, Audio, Power, One Type II PCMCIA or ExpressCard/54, 5-in-1 memory card reader, headphone and microphone jacks. The RJ-11 which is connector for the telephone modem is optional. I think this is a wise option, as very few people use telephone lines for internet connectivity.

The uppermost USB port located on the left side of the unit is something new. The Dell’s USB PowerShare lets users charge their gadgets through this special port. This allows users to charge their batteries even when the laptop is turned off.










Pros

Sharp new design, A lot of business-friendly feature, excellent battery, Windows XP optional.

Cons

Expensive,XP needs additional money.

Final Thought In Overall, this laptop is definitely a bit expensive. It has a good battery life. So if you are travelling a lot then you can expect to keep working while travelling without worrying getting out of bettery soon.