nad_masters's Full Review: Dell Latitude E5400 (blcwcfp_2) PC Notebook
What's up with Dell these days? It looks like design has taken a back seat with their new Latitude line of laptops!
They started this trend of boxy style with their smaller and thinner laptops. They were kind of cool still because it had that rugged but cute Thinkpad kind of style. However, this doesn't work on a larger and thicker laptop.
The Latitude E5400 is just that. About an inch thick, and sporting a 14.1" widescreen (so bulky, I actually thought it was a 15.1"!), the boxy look doesn't suit it well. Add to that, a chassis that introduces a lot of flex (especially on the lid), and have a plastic hollow feel to it (bottom chassis), and it seems that Dell is looking for ways to cut corners. It felt like a laptop from a knock-off brand, but I was sure it came from Dell's own factory. We ordered it direct!
It does include the necessities, however. There are a total of 4 USB 2.0 ports located on both sides of the laptop, a wireless switch, SD card slot, speakers on both sides of the keyboard (making it feel larger because of this), volume and mute buttons near the power button, and, and a full size keyboard that have the Ins, Del, Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys in the correct cluster arrangement (many laptop makers sacrafice this, so kudos, Dell).
Dell was smart enough to still include a standard VGA port, along with a 4-pin non-powered Firewire port. Strangely, it comes with a now legacy S-Video out, and PC Card (not an Express Card) as well. The lack of the newer Express Card and the inclusion of S-Video and PC Card makes it seem like the Dell Latitude E5400 is going retro. I'm surprised that there isn't any Parallel or Serial ports to complete the package!
The included DVD-ROM drive only reads DVD and CD media, but not write. As stated before, the keyboard is a joy to use because it's full-sized, and all the keys are in the right place, including the Home/End, PgUp/PgDn, etc cluster.
Dell includes two methods of mouse control: the trackpoint (eraser head type) like what you see on IBM's old ThinkPads, and the more standard touchpad. Both are responsive, and both gets their own dedicated mouse buttons. The only thing I didn't like was the touchpad was much smaller than what I am used to. Either way, you get a choice of which to use.
Last but not least, Dell included a nice 60W power supply that is nearly flat! It makes packing the thing easier to swallow. Speaking of power, the standard 6-cell battery is flush with the laptop, and installed on the back. However, if you wish, you can order an optional 9-cell batter that sticks out another inch or so out the back.
Even with the standard battery, life with Windows XP lasts about 3 hours in a single charge, which is decent. This is with the screen at 3 ticks above the lowest brightness setting, with WiFi on, and surfing the internet. DVD playback at 50% screen brightness seem to diminish this to 1:45 hrs - enough for a move, but practically not much else.
The Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 runs at 2 GHz, and the hard drive came as a Seagate 80GB SATA drive. For those who rely on Symantec Ghost, be sure to note that the E5400 uses a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx series PCIe Gigabite network chipset. Broadcom's own web site lists two different drivers, so be sure to try both. DOS drivers for Ghost boot discs are getting harder and harder to find these days, but we were pleasently surprised that Broadcom still offers them.
The integrated video comes with Intel's G45 series of chipsets. It's definately fast enough for business, and Vista and 7's Aero Glass interface. Unfortunately, we still have to stick with Windows XP SP3, which came preinstalled without any other shovelware. The amazing and speedy Intel ICH9M was naturally used for controlling SATA devices as well as the USB ports. Amazingly, it also comes with an Intel HD Audio HDMI, but since there is no HDMI ports on the Latitude E5400, it goes unused (though still listed in Device Manager).
Instead, sound came courtesy of IDT's HD Audio, which replaces Dell's old SoundMax in their previous laptops as well as desktops. The laptop does come with the standard headphone and mic jacks on the side, but the speakers that flank the left and right side of the keyboard make the laptop seem wider than it is. Sound is actually pretty good this way. Naturally, bass is lacking.
Wireless network came courtesy of Dell's own branded Dell Wireless 1397 B/G WLAN. The included Dell ControlPoint software causes us a lot of headaches, since many of the users are used to the built-in wireless app included in Windows XP. Not only that, but it seems to not connect to some access points for some reason. Again, not the fault of the card itself, since we connect fine when we switch over to the standard Windows applet. But we really wish we didn't even need to install ControlPoint to begin with. Other than that, wireless performance was very good with our NetGear access point.
The 14.1" wide screen is matted, and not glossy. This is actually preferred since the glare while on a plane or while being out and about is not a very attractive attribute. However, the relatively low 1200x800 resolution doesn't suit the 14.1" display. I think they should have given us at least 1440x900. The low resolution gives us a very claustraphobic feeling.
As always, Del gives us both Vista Business 32-bit and Windows XP SP3 installation discs, while Windows XP SP3 was preinstalled.
All in all, there's nothing exciting or special about the Latitude E5400. The technical bits are there, and everything works as should. Performance is also very good. However, not only does Dell not win style points, Dell actually LOSES them!
The Purchasing Department will not feel your need for style, however, since it's all about the bottom line while still keeping you productive. And if you're in that department, the Dell Latitude E5400 is the laptop to subject your people to! For all that hardware, you can get it for $650 or so. A docking station is available as an option.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 650 Operating System: Windows Processor: Other Processor speed: over 1000 Screen Size: 14 inches RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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