Dell Latitude E4200 Info

[monakh]

No, it simply means that if you choose this option, your laptop will be WWAN-Ready. This will allow you to upgrade that card. I believe without this choice, you will not have the WWAN upgrade option either.

The kind user who did the short review (linked in my original post) has updated some info with his measurement of the weight. Get ready:

It's 2.11lbs!!!

[Phil]

JPDeckers could you put your unit on a scale and tell us the real world weight?

[monakh]

Aha, Phil, I was thinking of ya when I posted. I knew you would be the naysayer

Frankly, there is something a bit odd about the weight. I was expecting it to be around 2.75lbs with the 6-cell but certainly around 2.2lbs with the 4-cell.

[Phil]

Aha, Phil, I was thinking of ya when I posted. I knew you would be the naysayer

I actually posted my question before I read your post.

But yeah that guy says 2lb 11oz including 6 cell. That would be 1219 grams.

With 4 cell that would be 1094 grams. (calculated the 4 cell as 2/3 of the 6 cell)

While Dell said 998 grams. now who did I have this discussion with

[Matia]

Another Question:

Is it possible, to change the harddisk by myself?

This would allow me, to order the cheap 64GB SSD now and to get a less expensive (than now), faster drive in the future.

[monakh]

I actually posted my question before I read your post.

But yeah that guy says 2lb 11oz including 6 cell. That would be 1219 grams.

With 4 cell that would be 1094 grams. (calculated the 4 cell as 2/3 of the 6 cell)

While Dell said 998 grams. now who did I have this discussion with

Heh. Although your extrapolation for the battery weight may be right on the money, assuming the cited weights are correct, I would rather see the numbers with a real 4-cell battery. While I don't expect Dell to be entirely honest about their weights (despite our earlier discussion) and I did express some skepticism on the Dell Forum, what I do recall is that Dell was trying to target 2.2lbs (about 1000g). That was in the promo slides anyway (the ones leaked to Engadget).

Edit: Dell seems to have carried the target weight into the official brochure for the E4200/E4300, as well. From the Dell PDF:



I will concede that I was wrong after I see the weight with a 4-cell battery

[Phil]

Well if they're only going less than 100 grams above it's not that bad.

For comparison: Sony TZ with 6 cell and DVD built in weighs 1150 grams (real world).

[monakh]

Another Question:

Is it possible, to change the harddisk by myself?

This would allow me, to order the cheap 64GB SSD now and to get a less expensive (than now), faster drive in the future.

Straight from the E4200 Service Manual:

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/monakh/e4200ssd.png

It's very easy to change the SSD, it seems.

Edit: Having looked at the page again, it appears that the drive is bare (i.e. without its cover). This may be due to the fact that they tried to get a standard 5-8mm (can't tell from the pic) drive in and it wouldn't fit. This would be highly unusual outside of the PCI-E-based SSD world (Eee and other netbooks).

What this means for the ardent upgrader is that you may have to do the same with your brand-spanking new drive that you purchase in the future: Take it out of its shell, and install it. Again, very unusual. If JP wants to risk a peek and give us the lowdown on this, it would really help. Otherwise it's tough to tell with the info currently available.

[monakh]

Here's the Service Manual.

Back on the SSD, here's an enlarged version from the SM and it's clear now that the SSD appears to be a card though a cable is mentioned (see pic below) so it's not PCI-E or something obviously. However, it is certainly fitted like a card. This is most unusual, as I mentioned earlier. The length of the yellow line shows where the MLC/SLC chips are and the top blue arrow points to one of the corners of the card held down with a screw.

[litkaj]

Grrr... Waiting sucks...

Crosses fingers that his E4200 arrives as scheduled on 10/16.