Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

[kazaam55555]

[QUOTE=GoodBytes;4633215][QUOTE=kazaam55555;4632699]Questions:

1)on the SC reader on the left, is it removable? it looks like there are ridges on it that can make it removable. also, it makes noises when you move it around (almost like its not as solid as the rest of the computer).

There is 2 Smart Card reader on your laptop. One, a contactless one on the right side of the palm rest. And the second one a card chip reader type of a reader. (slide in). Under it you have the HDD. Neither can be removed. And your system needs a HDD to make it work and store your data.


Slow? huh? How can audio be slow? I don't understand you sorry...


Uninstall the IDT sound drivers, and install the latest version. If that does not help, contact Dell tech support.

it is the latest version. ugh...ill try it tomorrow. so the reason that the sc card thing jiggles a bit is because thats where a removable harddrive can go?

also i mean that the audio is slower than the video on the webcam, like its not syncing right. dells not answering my emails lol

just a minor nitpick...does the blue led on the top left above the keyboard (charging/ wifi etc), bleed through to the other ones for anyone else? like if wifi is off an its charging, part of the blue LED shows thru to the wifi. or if wifi is on and its not charging, part of the led shows through on the charging icon.

[GoodBytes]

Hi guys. I discovered the E6400 and I am considering buying it. I'm not sure if I can read all 260 pages now, but I would like to ask a couple of quick questions:
1. Is the video card replaceable? I will get it with the Quadro 160M, but would like to be able to replace it in the future, if possible.

No you can't... it's soldered in the motherboard. The only think you can change is the RAM, Wireless card, Bluetooth card, those internet cellphone type of cards, hard drive and even the CPU with great ease! But alternatively what you can do with the Quadro if you want more power, is that you can Overclock it... of course they are consequences to that, all explained here.. but it's actually very easy to do.. Nvidia provides you with the tool to do this (just 2 slider bars that you move). Check out my post, I explain it all:
[GPU overclock] - Latitude E6400 Quadro NVS 160 - (optimize: gaming)

2. What is the resolution of the web cam? Is it the minimalistic 0.3 Mpx or newer 1.3 or even 2.0 Mpx cam?

The web cam is a Creative Lab 0.3MP. As it's Creative I would not get my hopes up on anything over quality...
Here is my X-Fi sound card drivers on my desktop PC... if they can't get an autorun and a working setup to install their sound card.. you know that a Gold fish can do a better job.
http://www.helpweaver.com/X-Fi/setup.html

3. Does it support DDR3 RAM, and if so, does it make any difference or will it simply use it on slower speed, like DDR2?

No, the laptop only support dual channel DDR2... Dell provides up to 8GB of RAM. If the laptop DID support DDR3 memory you will gain form 1.5 to 2% increase of performance, and cost significantly more. DDR3 is not worth it, even if you game. hack my Desktop gaming machine with can run all the latest games at max max setting at 1600x1200 perfectly smoothly has DDR1 450Mhz memory (yup, no DDR2!) [Specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Socket 939 (not to be confused with the sucky AM2 socket... my CPU is equivalent to an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8-2.0Ghz), 3GB Corsair DDR1 450Mhz 3-3-3-6, 250GB Western Digital 7200RPM 16MB cache, Nforce 4 32XSLI, and Geforce GTX 260.]
Anyway.. just to say that DDR3 has not advantages... If you had a Intel Core i7 Mobile (which does not exists) with triple channel, then yea probably... But the Intel Core 2 Duo was designed for dual channel DDR2, you won't see any different no mater how much computer power you need. Same your money and get a more power full CPU version if you need more power and L2 cache, if you are desperate for power.

[kazaam55555]

goodbytes, my webcams max resolution is 640x480...are you sure yours is 1.3mp?

[GoodBytes]

so the reason that the sc card thing jiggles a bit is because thats where a removable harddrive can go?

The jingle large panel that you see on the left side is the HDD.
See here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1180023
The above link shows how how to change the Harddrive on the Latitude E6400 and E6400ATG

also i mean that the audio is slower than the video on the webcam, like its not syncing right. dells not answering my emails lol

During the week you can chat with them or call the,
The Audio/Video desync on the webcam is something I have no idea... I don't have this device.. but knowing it's Creative... I won't be surprised.
Maybe Dell knows a fix or something... contact them.

just a minor nitpick...does the blue led on the top left above the keyboard (charging/ wifi etc), bleed through to the other ones for anyone else? like if wifi is off an its charging, part of the blue LED shows thru to the wifi. or if wifi is on and its not charging, part of the led shows through on the charging icon.

I do have this... but its REALLLY like REALLLY hard to see... If it's easy to see under a low light room.. then I guess they did some cost cut on the laptop.

To all:
P.S: Hey guys check this out... look under the link I provided:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1180023

You can see that HDD on the AGT version has a rubber system to absorb vibration... I wonder if that will work under the non ATG version.
Also bellow that you can see the modular HDD that slides in, instead of the optical drive... this is pretty cool stuff!

[GoodBytes]

goodbytes, my webcams max resolution is 640x480...are you sure yours is 1.3mp?

Sorry typo.. I meant 0.3MP... hehe sorry...
Let me correct that.

[Theros123]

Hey, random problem I got. When I resume my E6400 from standby, when I press any of the volume buttons, the on screen volume indicator graphic doesn't show up anymore until I do a restart. The buttons still work along however... I also installed the latest IDT Audio Control Panel posted awhile back. Any ideas?

[kazaam55555]

Hey, random problem I got. When I resume my E6400 from standby, when I press any of the volume buttons, the on screen volume indicator graphic doesn't show up anymore until I do a restart. The buttons still work along however... I also installed the latest IDT Audio Control Panel posted awhile back. Any ideas?

i want to say that its some kind of a bug. lately, my volume indicator doesnt show up sometimes either. its either the new DCP application that i just installed (the newest one) or the new IDT driver, i have no idea. one weird thing thats been happening lately is that if im watching a movie in fullscreen in WMP or even using a visualizer in itunes, and i use the volume up/down or mute buttons, it resizes the screen to regular (not full screen). its strange, and didnt used to happen.

[Theros123]

i want to say that its some kind of a bug. lately, my volume indicator doesnt show up sometimes either. its either the new DCP application that i just installed (the newest one) or the new IDT driver, i have no idea. one weird thing thats been happening lately is that if im watching a movie in fullscreen in WMP or even using a visualizer in itunes, and i use the volume up/down or mute buttons, it resizes the screen to regular (not full screen). its strange, and didnt used to happen.

Hmm, anything we can do about it besides reverting back to the older IDT driver? Since the sound is so much better with the newer version.

[GoodBytes]

Hey, random problem I got. When I resume my E6400 from standby, when I press any of the volume buttons, the on screen volume indicator graphic doesn't show up anymore until I do a restart. The buttons still work along however... I also installed the latest IDT Audio Control Panel posted awhile back. Any ideas?

Yea... I don't get the Dell On screen Notification.
When I got my laptop the original first version of the onscreen software was perfect! You can move the notification and it saves the position.. everything worked perfectly.. but the newer versions... man... they overall the whole thing, and got worse... Each newer version starting form the remake version it gets better.. but I just don't get why they replaced the old original one.. it worked so well!

[John Ratsey]

The Dell Outlet Just sent me a replacement e6400. They are pretty much identical (other than different DVD burner brands, battery brands etc), but the new one they sent has the T9400 CPU. The old one has the P9500 CPU. I see one supposedly uses 35W and the other 25W of power.
Is this worth fighting or swapping the CPU's? Or will I never notice the difference?

The P series produces less heat (so less fan activity) and also uses slightly less power when on idle so it will give longer battery time.

There's a good chance that you could undervolt (see guide) the T9400 to get the heat down so the deciding factor is whether you want the best possible battery run time.

To all:
P.S: Hey guys check this out... look under the link I provided:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1180023

You can see that HDD on the AGT version has a rubber system to absorb vibration... I wonder if that will work under the non ATG version.
Also bellow that you can see the modular HDD that slides in, instead of the optical drive... this is pretty cool stuff!

Note that the ATG uses 1.8" drives which limit the maximum capacity and the performance (unless you get the SSD). It is possible to fit a 2.5" HDD into the media bay.

i want to say that its some kind of a bug. lately, my volume indicator doesnt show up sometimes either. its either the new DCP application that i just installed (the newest one) or the new IDT driver, i have no idea.

My on-screen notifications are working fine at the moment with both the latest IDT driver and DCP. They weren't working a month or two back.

Go into DCP > Display and Devices tab > Manage Display and Devices button > and make sure you have all the notifications enabled.

John