Dell Latitude E6410: Minding Intel's Business
by Jarred Walton on December 2, 2010 2:45 AM ESTLCD: Matte but Mediocre
Back to a look specifically at the E6410, here's how the LCD panel rates. We like the resolution, we like the maximum brightness, but the contrast rates near the bottom of our charts and as a result the colors look washed out. Matte doesn't have to be low contrast (i.e. the MacBook Pro 15 has a good matte panel), but apparently high quality LCDs are only needed in mobile workstations, MacBook Pros, and a few select other laptops (including the XPS 15's 1080p panel).
Temperatures and Noise
There's not a whole lot to say in regards to temperatures and noise. With only integrated graphics, the E6410 doesn't get particularly hot or loud. The CPU temperatures under load reached a maximum of 76C, and noise levels ranged from 30dB at 12" (the limit of my SPL meter) at idle and light loads to as much as 34dB with a maximum load on the CPU and GPU. In other words, if you were to use the E6410 in a meeting, your typing would be far more obnoxious than the noise from the fan.
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beginner99 - Thursday, December 2, 2010 - link
... if you want non-glossy and matte you pay the extra price for the business type notebooks. Even though they tend to have crappier components. At least the have display port and not only vga but I tend to agree to still include vga especially in business laptops because so many vga beamers still out there.thomberg - Friday, December 3, 2010 - link
I just got an E6410 from work and I'm quite happy with it. There is one big problem at the moment though and that is Linux support for the Intel integrated graphics. This is not Dells fault but a problem none the less.When you boot with no modifications the screen just goes blank. With some added kernel parameters you can some times get it to boot (typically modesetting). Success depends on kernel version and maybe other factors. There's also the option to revert to an older kernel or boot in VESA mode but that's not really a solution I can live with.
Just google "E6410 blank screen" if you want to look at user discussions.
So my advice if you want to get an E6410 to run Linux on now is to get one with the Nvidia addon graphic card.
mrmbmh - Friday, December 3, 2010 - link
Asus has released new laptops including U41,U31,U36They seem pretty cool, specially U36 because of its weight and thickness....
I hope you review them soon.... :)
yehuda - Monday, December 6, 2010 - link
The best part about the U36 is it'll soon become yesterday's tech and we might get some great deals on it.jp7189 - Friday, December 3, 2010 - link
The performace problems with the Latitude 6x10 line is an STM accelerometer. Uninstall the drivers, and disable the 'unknown device' and the stutters will vanish. Also, right at startup, the touchpad app eats CPU cycles and causes the touchpad to stutter. Get rid of the app (not the drivers), or wait a bit after login before using it.BTW, on the issue of price, Dell has huge markup in the website pricing. Call the 800 #, and they'll knock 20-30% or more off. I've been buying E6510's for $800, when the web lists them at $1250 for the config I use.
ExogenBoy - Friday, December 3, 2010 - link
I've had original 6400 for about 20 months now. The baby has not had even a slighest feeling of build quality after about six moths of use -- for example, paint wairing of from the speaker grills, making everyone think I have an ancient laptop. The whole body appears to have given up for resistance -- almost all parts feeling that they will drop of accidentally any day,Quite surprisingly,the feeling just ain't enough. The laptop has not really shown any true phyhysical weaknesses, it's really pushing on despite the in the end more or less cosmetic damages it has suffered from quite intesive daily use. I would not like to pay any compliments to Dell -- the laptop has felt as if it has a very weak build quality since about the six first months of use. Despite of this it has really done everything that was expected -- and still does, after more than 1,5 years of usage. Apparently they are doing something correct. And even if they do not, they still have on-site quarantee that absolutely works also in the Northern Europe (proven with previousn Dell laptop with screen breaking during the holidays in the middle of nowhere on the countryside) .
JarredWalton - Friday, December 3, 2010 - link
Well, I should have the E6410 for more than a couple months thanks to Intel, so we'll see what it looks and feels like in another six months. I've used plenty of Inspirons over the years, and my wife has an older Latitude, and they generally hold up well (unlike the Inspirons). The hinges definitely LOOK solid, but they might degrade over time. I'll be using this as my "main" laptop for a while and so I plan on doing some sort of blog update down the road.sammykismail - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link
Good review however the weight spec is incorrect. I've weighed about 6-7 different Dell latitude e6410's and none of them weigh under 5lbs (with optical drive and 6 cell battery, not including the power adapter) on my home scale. For some reason, Dell continues to post misleading weight weight specs with hard to find 4 cell batteries on it's website.Please weigh the laptop on a weighing scale and if i'm correct revise the weight in the specs.
Thanks!
Xenoterranos - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link
Anyone know how to replace the screen in a Thinkpad T410 with an IPS panel? :)theangryintern - Wednesday, December 8, 2010 - link
Funny how quickly Dell jumped from the E6400 to the E6410. The 6400s were crap. We've had to have the motherboard replaced in at least half of the ones we've gotten due to some weird bug that severely underclocks the CPU to the point of crippling the machine. We tried driver updates, we tried BIOS updates, we tried completed OS rebuilds, nothing would fix it. We finally tried having the mobo replaced and that seems to be fixing the issue 99% of the time. We're now starting to get 6410s, and they're much better so far.