Once and Still a Techie Weblog

Dell Latitude E6400 at First Glance

Dell is the go to laptop brand for corporate users as they are well known for their durable, reliable and secure offerings.

Dell Latitude E6400

The Dell Latitude E6400 is no slouch when you take those virtues into consideration. One of Dell’s offerings in it’s newly revamped Latitude E-series business laptop line, the E6400 is covered not in flimsy plastic but magnesium alloy which is light and highly durable. This 4.3 pound beauty is a Centrino 2 platform based laptop that has a base 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU with RAM starting at 1GB (max 5GB) . A 14.1-inch widescreen display with a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels upgradeable to a brighter and sharper 1,440 x 900-pixel LED-backlit display powered by Intel’s GMA 4500HD IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) which shares memory from the main RAM. There is, however, an option for a version with a discrete Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M1 with 256MB of dedicated video RAM.

Connectivity will be no problem as it has Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi radios, 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x eSATA, mini-FireWire ports a GPS receiver as an option and a VGA-out. Too bad no HDMI connector for the Hi-Def crackheads out there. The base 80GB hard drive can also be replaced with a 64GB solid state drive which preempts data loss or storage device damage from a normally heart-stopping accidental drop from a table top.

Dell has all the bases covered on the Latitude E6400 when it comes to security features an afore-mentioned Dell virtue. Starting with the fingerprint sensor, TPM security chip to SmartCard slots and even contactless SmartCard. Then there’s something called ControlVault technology. Similar to the TPM chip, ControlVault stores sensitive encryption keys in the hardware. But while TPM requires software be installed on the hard drive to work, ControlVault uses the BIOS to store the application on. This eliminates the software layer as a potential avenue for a malicious attack.

But what really stands out about the Latitude E6400 is the unbelievable battery life. Your run of the mill laptop can give you 2-4 hours of battery life; probably 6-7 hours if you have a high-capacity battery. However, with this Dell, put in a let’s say 9-cell battery, then add an external 12-cell battery ’slice’ and up to 19 hours of true unplugged mobility is a possibility. Now that’s a lot of juice allowing the mobile worker to get a whole bunch of work done and still have the oomph to play a movie on a cross-country flight without having to worry about looking for a power-socket.

Look at the accessories Dell offers with their E-6400 which starts at $1,139 for the base model all the way to over $3000 for the give it all you got, money not an option perversion.

Dell Latitude E6400 Accessories

Go to the Dell website here to check out their new Latitude E-Series lineup and choose your pick…