| If Dell’s Vostro series is designed for the small | | | | comfort although we found tracking to be a bit of a |
| to medium sized business on a budget, the Latitude | | | | problem. In fact this was one of the major let downs |
| series is designed for the serious corporate, who | | | | with the E6400; the track pad will stick at times or |
| needs connectivity and reliability above all else. | | | | will just refuse to do what your finger commands |
| Think of the Latitude as Dell’s answer to | | | | – most annoying. The trackpoint works better |
| Lenovo’s ThinkPad series. At first glance the | | | | and it’s clear to see that it isn’t an |
| Latitude E6400 looks very large, solid and also very | | | | adornment for Dell; many ThinkPad users swear by |
| boxy. It seems like Dell hewed this out of a solid | | | | the trackpoint and Dell implements it quite well. A |
| hunk of plastic and metal. No, the black matt finish is | | | | fingerprint reader thrown in; a must for many |
| fine with us, but it’s just that the box-like design | | | | corporate users as an additional security step as it |
| brings to mind the oft used analogy “built like a | | | | restricts access like few passwords can. |
| tank”. | | | | The screen itself is a matte panel; so reflections are |
| The lid sports a black, brushed aluminum finish that is | | | | not a problem and the resolution of 1440 x 900 |
| quite eye catching but in a more laid back sort of | | | | pixels is absolutely perfect. We’re tired of 1280 x |
| manner and you’ll hardly notice yourself giving | | | | 800 pixels and ultra high resolution notebooks are a |
| it another look over. The E6400 is built around a | | | | no-no too. This resolution is just right for the screen |
| magnesium alloy cage which is great for longevity | | | | size. The LCD panel is LED lit; and should bring power |
| and even the coating around the palm rest region | | | | saving benefits as well. In terms of configurability the |
| looks like it’s there to last. In fact the mostly | | | | E 6400 is totally customizable in true Dell fashion. The |
| metal design does add to the weight a bit, but the | | | | one we got came with a new T9400 processor. This |
| E6400 feels surprisingly dense; as if it would takea lot | | | | CPU is quite fast and runs at a speed of 2.5 GHz |
| of abuse. The screen size is 14.1-inches, although this | | | | while maintaining a whopping 6 MB of L2 cache – |
| notebook has a rather wide bezel all around the | | | | great for someone needing more CPU performance. |
| screen, which makes it look much larger, though not | | | | It seems the E6400 ships with only 7200 RPM hard |
| as large as a 15.4-inch model. | | | | drives and this is a very good thing because the |
| It sports the double mouse button design that | | | | storage subsystem is usually the slowest component |
| Lenovo also favors and the track button that is a | | | | of any PC or notebook. SSD is also an option with |
| must for all seriously corporate notebooks. The | | | | the new Latitude; though the costs are astronomical. |
| track button isn’t red however (Lenovo nee IBM | | | | In true workstation style the Dell Latitude E6400 |
| patented that), but is black; and blends in with the | | | | ships with an NVIDIA Quadro graphics solution; the |
| keyboard. The keys themselves are well laid out and | | | | NVS 160M which is hardly powerful, being based |
| offer a short and very positive feedback. Although | | | | around eight stream processors but is way faster |
| this wasn’t the best laid out keypad from | | | | than Intel’s GMA and about a tenth of the |
| amongst the five notebooks we tested, the key | | | | performance away from a GeForce 9300M GS. |
| spacing and beveling is ergonomic to work with. | | | | D-Sub and S-Video connects are provided as video |
| The trackpad is the right combination of grip and | | | | outs. |