Topic: New lappy spec review

[hans]

I'm thinking of picking this laptop up for doing my side development tasks.

Latitude E6410
Windows7 Pro 64 bit (I'll dual boot to Linux)
i7-620M
4.0GB, DDR3-1066
512MB NVIDIA NVS 3100M
320GB 7200rpm
14.1" UltraSharp WXGA+(1440x900) Anti-Glare LED with Premium Panel Guarantee
DVD+/-RW
Webcam/Mic
Dell 1520 802.11a/g/n Mini Card
6-cell Battery (maybe 9 cell)
3 Year Limited Warranty and 3 Year Mail-in Service
3 Year CompleteCare Accidental Damage Protection

All for under $1400 right now with the 28% discount I found.


Edit: adjusted since I tried configuring the mid one and it turns out to be cheaper with a slightly larger HDD.

[hans]

One question is do you think the i7 is worth the extra $120? Otherwise the option is an i5-520m, which is probably going to be sufficient. That money could then go towards a mac mini or desktop dev box or something.

[KnuckleBuckett]

i5 cannot use Hyperthreading.  If your apps don't use that feature go i5.

[hans]

The Intel specs say the 520m does support hyperthreading. It's only a dual core but has 4 threads. The fancy desktop i5 quads don't have hyperthreading.

[KnuckleBuckett]

They screw the i5 mobile out of 2 cores and enable HT.  Swell.  Good to know though.

[hans]

OK, so I tweaked the low end offering and came up with this:
Latitude E6410
Vista Home Basic SP2, 32-bit (doesn't matter since I'm installing Linux on another drive)
i5-520M
4.0GB
Normal keyboard (not backlit, saves $50)
512MB NVIDIA NVS 3100M
160GB 5400rpm HDD (going to use my 250GB Seagate or buy a 500GB one for cheaper)
14.1" UltraSharp™ WXGA+(1440x900) Anti-Glare LED with Premium Panel Guarantee
8X DVD+/-RW
Webcam/mic
Dell Wireless™ 1520 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
9-cell Battery (sticks out the back)
3 Year Basic/Next Business Day On-Site Service
3 Year CompleteCare Accidental Damage Protection

All of this for $1,201.68 with the code FSN9S0SRLLMD2K (expires today). Plus $100 bucks or so for a better HDD from newegg or the one I've already got. I think I might try to install OSX on the stock one and see how that goes.

My only hesitation is the processor. With the low end offering I can go with the i5-520M, i5-540M, or i7-620M. I'm thinking that since this is a work laptop, I probably don't need the extra 0.26 GHz that the i7 will get me for the extra $120. If it were a quad core I might consider it, but that money can go towards another system or hosting costs.

[hans]

Hardware ordered. I went with the i5-540M instead. I figured it was good bang-for-buck with the 28% discount. I also added the 320GB stock drive since with the discount is was cheaper than getting one somewhere else.

I'm still going to give a whirl at install OSX on my 250GB spare drive though.

[hans]

Damn you Dell!!!

Today they have 30% coupon (until May 5), so I could've added the lighted keyboard and got it 4 days earlier for slightly less money. Booo.

I called them and they're giving me a credit once it's invoiced. But still booo.

[Steve]

Dude, don't buy Dell.

[micah]

Dude, don't buy Dell.

 

/no problems to date with my wife's Dell laptop she's had for ~18 months.

[jkim]

No problems* with the Dell laptop I've had for the past 3 years

^{*that couldn't be fixed by techs while it was under warrantee}

[hans]

Ya, I'm going to have to say I love the Latitude line. The other ones I don't know about, so I can't really say. HP makes a pretty good business laptop too but I still love my Dells (and with the warranties there are no worries). For a consumer laptop I might be tempted to go with HP too but I still prefer the business lines, and I'm trying hard to stay away from Macs.

[Steve]

i prefer not to have to use my warranty every 8-10 months, get my lap burned, set my house on fire, get electrocuted, etc

[jkim]

and I'm trying hard to stay away from Macs.

reasoning?

[webwhy]

and I'm trying hard to stay away from Macs.

reasoning?

i'm curious as well.  i recently moved to mac book pro from a dell latitude running ubuntu 8.04.  i'm happier with the mac.  it's nice to have unix that works very well with the hardware...