Dell Latitude E6400 review: Laptop for business classes

Dell Latitude E6400, a 14-inch laptop, has been targeted mainly towards the business classes, who require solid design, good performance and commonality in parts for their entire workforce. This laptop is competing against the Fujitsu LifeBook S7220 and HP EliteBook 6930p. The Latitude E6400 offers an extensive range in hardware configurations along with SSDs (Solid State Drives) for businesses requiring extreme performance and ruggedness.

Build & Design

Unlike their previous generation, which featured rounded curves and edges, Dell Latitude E6400 features a ‘down to business’ design for the industries. The chassis of Dell Latitude E6400 has been made of magnesium alloy and has plenty of sharpe angles and 90-degree edges. While it has a reasonably modern look, the build & design speaks volume of its overall durability.

During testing, there are no plastic squeaks and creaks could be heard thanks to its magnesium alloy structure. The overall bottom shell is a metal alloy and gives a strong footprint on the desk. It gives adequate strength for resisting the bend, in case you need to hold the laptop by its palm rest’s edge.

Screen

The Dell Latitude E6400’s matte WXGA+ (1440×900) screen is absolutely wonderful. You will not find any dead pixels and the backlight bleeding is also minimal. Colors of the Latitude E6400 are vibrant in spite of its matte screen. Additional benefits of the matte screens include the lack in reflection when working inside your office. The screen receives a sharp look at oddly contorted angles, as it has wide angles for viewing. Backlight adjustment in Dell Latitude E6400 is broad and will allow you to adjust it low, which is adequate settings for darker rooms, or high, when the atmosphere is quite bright.

Keyboard & Touchpad

Keyboard & palm rest structure of Dell Latitude E6400 is quite solid. However, thin alloys used for the palm rest do flex, when you apply pressure on it. If you press more firmly, keyboard suffers from a virtual zero flex, which is nice when it comes to considering D630.

Keyboard of Dell Latitude E6400 is quite comfortable for typing on and gives adequate responses for every key pressed. Key travel is almost similar to the current lot in business notebooks. However, they have a less clicking sound than most ThinkPads. The layout of keyboard is not cramped and its backlighting allows typing in a darker environment.

Alps Touchpad of Dell Latitude E6400 is present with a smooth texture. It is quite responsive, but can be improved. However, accuracy and lag time are worse than other competing business notebooks. Still, the touchpad’s surface size is large enough to control comfortably and its 2 buttons span the entire length.

Performance & Benchmarks

When it comes to configuration, Dell Latitude E6400 is provided with more than adequate space and speed for handling the needs of most users. The high-end Core2Duo P9500 processor from Intel and Quadro NVS 160M from nVidia has been combined to provide a reasonable fast notebook. Overall, the Latitude E6400 can be regarded as an excellent performer and can execute all applications or games.

Battery

When it comes to the battery life, the 9-cell lithium ion of Dell Latitude E6400 provides 4 hrs and 22 minutes when operated under normal condition. This is quite sufficient when you consider other notebooks with similar configuration.

So, get the Dell Latitude E6400 today and add more performance at the place of work!

Specifications of Dell Latitude E6400

Processor: 2.65-GHz T9550 processor from Intel 6MB L2 Cache & 1066MHz FSB

OS: Vista Business (32-bit)

Memory: 4GB 800MHz PC2-6400

Display: 14.1-inch TFT with LED backlighting

Hard drive: 320GB

Battery: 6-Cell 11.1v

Weight: 5lbs 11.1 oz

Dimensions: 13.5in x 10.1in x 1.6in

Pros: Tough Structure, Excellent Battery Life & Solid Performance

Cons: Industry Design, Control panel is frustrating

MSRP: $2,148 (Base Price)