Dell Latitude E6320 Review: Strong and Capable Discussion

[Amber Riippa]

The Dell Latitude E6320 is a 13.3-inch business notebook with Dell's "Tri-Metal" build and a second-generation Intel Core i7 dual-core processor. Dell states that the combination of the E6320's lightweight design, build quality, and good battery life make this a travel-friendly choice for business professionals; we'll put that to the test in this review.

Read the full content of this Article: Dell Latitude E6320 Review: Strong and Capable

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[Pylon757]

Unfortunately, Dell badly botched up the industrial design this time around (especially considering how good the E6x10 generation was as far as design went). The cut back corners really make the laptop ugly and gives it a toilet bowl shape. Many people also hate the orange keyboard border ( personally don't mind that much). Frankly the design is a big turnoff for an otherwise fantastic laptop.

[makaveli72]

Got this laptop for my Manager a couple months ago. Hey, what can I say; WYSIWYG.

[booboo12]

Originally Posted by Pylon757

Unfortunately, Dell badly botched up the industrial design this time around (especially considering how good the E6x10 generation was as far as design went). The cut back corners really make the laptop ugly and gives it a toilet bowl shape. Many people also hate the orange keyboard border ( personally don't mind that much). Frankly the design is a big turnoff for an otherwise fantastic laptop.

I actually disagree. I replaced my D630 (also a great looking laptop imo) with the E6420 and remain impressed with how upscale it looks. I was a tad skeptical until I saw one in person earlier this year. The lid is very nice in person and I don't mind the corners.

The E6X00 were pretty bland to look at unless you got a blue or red one. The E6x10 in aberdeen silver is nice, i agree, but still sort of ..blehhh. Not terribly upscale.

To each their own though, style is subjective and all that. I'd take any latitude over a Inspiron though, that's for sure!

[Dell-Bill_B]

Nice review. Get used to the 5400RPM trend in traditional HDD's. Manufacturers are beginning to view the performance-boost-for-heat-and-battery-life tradeoff differently now days, based on customer input.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Dell-Bill_B

Nice review. Get used to the 5400RPM trend in traditional HDD's. Manufacturers are beginning to view the performance-boost-for-heat-and-battery-life tradeoff differently now days, based on customer input.

That's interesting, so how do you market that exactly and explain to customers a slower hard drive is better? And how much battery life would you say on average a 5400RPM saves versus 7200RPM, are we talking a 1% boost or 5% for instance?

[Pseudorandom]

Its not seeing the performance vs battery life differently. Its that Thailand flooding made HDD's more expensive. My X220 came with a 5.4kRPM drive, probably upgrading when prices come down.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

7200RPM drives should be the norm, 5400RPM only for storage or specialized situations (1.8-inch drives, for example). There is a minimal increase in power consumption and heat with a 7200RPM drive in general. Just avoid the Seagate 7200RPM drives, they're no better than 5400RPM drives from other manufacturers anyways.

[Dell-Bill_B]

Originally Posted by Andrew

That's interesting, so how do you market that exactly and explain to customers a slower hard drive is better? And how much battery life would you say on average a 5400RPM saves versus 7200RPM, are we talking a 1% boost or 5% for instance?

I think if you look at the case of how Ultrabooks use flash+traditional storage, the marketing story is easier to tell. My theory is you will see this implementation "trickle down" to main stream boxes in time. I'll take your word for it on battery savings. I've never tested myself.

Originally Posted by Pseudorandom

Its not seeing the performance vs battery life differently. Its that Thailand flooding made HDD's more expensive. My X220 came with a 5.4kRPM drive, probably upgrading when prices come down.

I think you are right about the effect the Thailand situation will have. I think in the short term you will see bigger traditional drives in 5400RPM speed, and long term we'll go the way of relying on flash more.

Originally Posted by Charles P. Jefferies

7200RPM drives should be the norm, 5400RPM only for storage or specialized situations (1.8-inch drives, for example). There is a minimal increase in power consumption and heat with a 7200RPM drive in general. Just avoid the Seagate 7200RPM drives, they're no better than 5400RPM drives from other manufacturers anyways.

I'll take your word on the power consumption, but my anecdotal experience with 7200 vs 5400 in my good old work Latitude is the 7200 is noticably hotter than the 5400.

[SemiExpert]

Originally Posted by Dell-Bill_B

I think if you look at the case of how Ultrabooks use flash+traditional storage, the marketing story is easier to tell. My theory is you will see this implementation "trickle down" to main stream boxes in time. I'll take your word for it on battery savings. I've never tested myself.

I'm not sure that the hybrid SSD+HDD solution will last very long. From the standpoint of data storage, Apple's model of selling the consumer a Macbook Air, and then selling a Time Capsule makes more sense in both commercial and practical terms. I might have been dismissive of a $300 2TB Time Capsule before the "Great Thailand Hard Drive Fiasco of 2011," but now live in an era of $150-200 bare drives, and a $300 2TB Time Capsule looks like a bargain for wireless storage.

Personally, I think the the 2.5" form factor SSD is something of an anachronism, suitable only for the upgrade market. Apple will be the bellwether when it comes to the death of the 2.5" internal HDD in the notebook market. It's only a matter of time.

Originally Posted by Dell-Bill_B

I think you are right about the effect the Thailand situation will have. I think in the short term you will see bigger traditional drives in 5400RPM speed, and long term we'll go the way of relying on flash more.

I think that the long term is much closer than some of us would have believed a year ago. The Thailand flooding was simply an excuse for a duopoly to exercise its pricing power, lowering warranty coverage, forcing long term contracts, etc. Intel and other SSD manufacturers are leveraging the situation through discounting and effective marketing to gain a position in the enthusiast and upgrade market, to the extent that conventional HDDs have fallen in the public's perception. Perhaps HDD prices will fall back to previous norms and failure rates won't increase despite the lower duration warranties. Still, I think that the HDD industry scored an own goal with the exploitation of the Thailand situation, moving SSD adoption forward more than anyone would have believe a few short months ago.

Originally Posted by Dell-Bill_B

I'll take your word on the power consumption, but my anecdotal experience with 7200 vs 5400 in my good old work Latitude is the 7200 is noticably hotter than the 5400.

I personally don't view 2.5" 7200rpm drives favorably. I'd much rather have a single platter, standard 9.5mm thick 5400rpm drive with a higher data density, less power consumption, and less noticeable noise and vibration. Oh, and I still view 7mm thick drives as nonstandard, a potential complication after the warranty period.

But I'm thinking about hardware I already own....

Personally, I'm puzzled about the relative pricing of the E6320, and the traditional disparity between the price of the Ex3xx and the Ex4xx. Of course, the big mystery is why the E6220 goes for twice the price of a Thinkpad X220. Food for thought?