E-5500\6500 Bad Reviews

On DELL's site these two models have very bad reviews.
3.2 out of 5 on both the E-5500\6500 as opposed
to the latitude D630 (4.2 out of 5, no wonder they still offer it)) and the xps 1530(4.5 out of 5.o, though this might be skewed due to gaming).

This is a shame because the E-series have everything I want in a laptop.

Any comments ?

Here's more specifics on my needs ;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=382864


thanks,
Gotham

 

Don't look at the overall rating, because some of the people who write those reviews and rate the machines really low are biased or are just plain stupid (and IT illiterate). I am willing to bet that most of the low scoring reviews are given by people who never even contacted Dell to resolve the issues. I have the E6400 right now, and it is a dream. Just ignore the reviews, and buy the Dell E6400/6500. They are wonderful machines.

Here is a better and more impartial review done by one of our members here at NBR of the Dell E6500:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4808

 

Thanks for your feedback. I will go ahead and buy two actually one 6400 for me and one 6500 for me Dad. Cheers !

 

Good luck for the sale. You could also try the lenovo t400/t500. they are pretty reliable.

 

I suspect that a greater proportion of those who post on the Dell website have something to complain about.

Read the real reviews for a better opinion. Were I to do my E6400 review now then I would have less to complain about than nearly 9 months ago. It's standing up very well and many of the initial bugs have gone away.

John

 

I guess it really depends on the person. I have had an E6400, E6500 and now a M4400. The only issue i had with my E6400 (similar to John's issue in the review) was the screen (LG) kinda washed out at higher brightness. The E6500, i loved it. Great notebook no issues and one of the nicest screen i have seen since my Macbook Pro (RIP), that was untilll i got the M4400 and the RGBLED screen. The M4400 you will have to pry that from my cold dead hands.

Ya the E6500 has hiss in the audio ports. But you know what, so has every other notebook i have had. It did had some crackling as well, but the latest driver solved that (on mine at least), All in all it was a great notebook, I ended up upgrading one of my employees and got the M4400 for myself.

 

Thanks all for your kind feedback.
idq mentions: ."never contacted Dell to resolve the issues"
John Ratsey mentions: Were I to do my E6400 review now then I would have less to complain about than nearly 9 months ago. It's standing up very well and many of the initial bugs have gone away.

Can someone give me a small rundown of the major issues, or point me to
a post that covers it in full. I work in IT so I'll be able to figure out my problems,
but for my Dad it might be a problem for a few months before I vist him to fix the issues.

I think I'll list the major issues I have read about:

1. OverHeating Issue : Seems there are overheating issues an apparently the following fixes them:

A.Choosing an P-processor instead of the T-Prcoessors
B. Choosing the non- NVIDIA Video card (though overheating seems to have been reported for non-VIDIA)
C. Some BIOS or Chipset Issue ?

2. Network card issue : apparently the Intel® WiFi Link 5300 card does not work well. Is this because all existing Wireless Routers ar incompatible with this cutting-edge technology ?

3. Screens: some complaints about LCD of different makes:Samsung Versuse LG etc.

Anything Else that is Major ?

Thanks for any help.

Gotham

 

1) Overheating is not a major issue...only a select few members who have E6400s with the Quadro card are affected.

2) There were some latency issues with the Broadcom Wifi chips, I'm pretty sure the Intel one are actually better and have less issues. Either way, upgrading to the newest drivers solves those issues.

3) Luck of the draw, you pretty much have this for most laptops nowadays.

 

I can comment on the LCDs directly, since I got mine replaced once (due to a cluster of dead pixels). The LG screen is definitely brighter than the Chi Mei (CMO) screen. As mentioned, t does wash out a bit, but at least it gets that bright. However, if you didn't know the difference, I suspect that you would find nothing wrong with the CMO either. Vertical viewing angles are average (on both displays) - nothing to write home about - but that's probably an industry problem as opposed to a specific issue.

 

Perhaps my biggest residual grumble (and wasn't on the original list) is that I had to put my own rubber bumpers on the display bezel to stop it rubbing against the palm rest when carried around.

The E6400 is still heavier than both the advertised weight would suggest (a starting weight, presumably without a few components) and what i would like, but I have come to appreciate the solid build quality.

Oh, and the speakers aren't worthy of the name since they are a pair of tweeters. But I'm so used to that in notebooks that I always travel with some external speakers.

John

 

On the other hand, the mono piezo driver on my E4200 makes the E6400 speakers sound like full-range speakers .

 

I got my mother a Latitude E5500 and it is a very nice machine. I used it a bit and it is very similar to my E5400, which I like very much. She likes it a lot as well as it is quiet, runs cool (CPU = C2D T7250, chipset = Intel GM45 IGP), has good screen quality, and has a very good build quality. The price was pretty darn good as well, particularly with the corporate discount I got and many others can get as well. I don't know what anybody would have to complain about except Dell's not actually giving them away.