Dell has always been known for producing solid laptops. Being in the market for a new laptop a few months ago, I did some research and found that the E6400 is a machine that would serve me well. The Dell Latitude E6400 was the replacement for the very popular Dell D630 which I also had the opportunity to work with. Being happy with the D630, I felt that the E6400 would be a good choice for me.
After spending a few days trying to configure my laptop with the Dell sales team, they finally got it right and sent me my machine. After opening up the box, I was very excited to see my new sleek computer. The matte black finish makes this a very good looking machine.
I turned the computer on and was pleasantly surprised to see the back-lit keyboard in action. This was a upgrade but let me tell you that it was well worth it. I am typing this review right now in the dark with no trouble what so ever.
After a few minutes admiring my new computer, I noticed the top right of the keyboard was angled different than the rest of the keyboard. I thought this was odd but figured that it was just the way it was designed. After analyzing the computer some more, I noticed that the right speaker grill had a dent in it. It almost looked like a flat head screw driver was dropped on it.
These were minor things that I could deal with for the moment so I continued to go about my business and put my new laptop to work.
Something told me the keyboard was broken because it almost seemed like there was a stuck key. I would work on something and every so often, something random would happen on the screen. I even installed a key logger to try and find out what the issue was and what key was causing the issue.
After viewing the logs in the key logger, I saw that the CTRL key was being pressed multiple times triggering keyboard short cuts. For sure, I though this was a keyboard issue so I took apart the laptop and took out the keyboard. After looking at the keyboard for a while, I noticed that the idiot who put the keyboard into the laptop jammed it in and that is why the top left of the keyboard looked bent. The whole top right of the keyboard was bent and pried into place so I straightened it out as best I could and placed it back in the laptop.
The keyboard looked uniform now and I tried it out. Same issue - the CTRL key was acting up. After some more troubleshooting, I found out that the touch pad was causing the issue. Apparently, there is a function on the touch pad to zoom in and out which emulates pressing the CTRL key and the + and - keys. Whenever my finger was on the left of the touch pad, it would cause the CTRL key to engage so I turned off this function and all was good.
I figured since the laptop is under warranty that I would get a new keyboard and right speaker grill. At least Dell is good about sending replacement parts. They arrived the next day.
The system was still unstable. I would constantly review logs in the Management Console Event Viewer to see what could be causing my hardship. The DVD writer was also acting up and kept crashing my system so I ordered that through Dell. After a few rebuilds and a new DVD drive, my system was finally working like it should.
So it took a while to get this computer running like it should. Dell designed a solid machine, my only complaint is with Dell's inability to get it right the first time....second time...third time....
The Dell Latitude E6400 is a solid, well built machine that looks and works great. The back-lit keyboard is a very nice touch and the basic (stock) display is good for every day use. The keys on the keyboard are springy and feel nice to the touch. There are 4 USB ports (2 on the left and 2 on the right). One of the USB ports doubles as a E-SATA port which is nice! There is a VGA port on the left along with a display port on the rear. The right of the machine has a fire-wire port and there is a smart card port on the machine. The screen is sturdy and you need 2 hands to open the laptop which is a nice solid touch. The touch pad works well and the buttons are easy to push. I got the web cam option which works well for video conferencing. There is of course a network port on the back along with standard mic and headphone jacks on the right.
Overall, this is a great laptop and I would definitely recommend it to others. Just be weary when you get the machine and make sure everything works on it. Make sure that there are no dings on the machine because some newbie at the factory dropped it on the floor.
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