Dell Inspiron 6400 2GB from Outlet Store

fletch

Does anybody know the full spec of this machine?
Inspiron 6400
Does it have wi-fi? Bluetooth?
Seems like a great price for a 2GB machine, anyone got anything bad to say about it?
I was looking at this from Komplett but it's a considerable saving from Dell (I know the Acer is a superior machine so it's kind of unfair to compare the two)

petes

Can't see anything on that link.

/edit Sorry yes you can.

I would doubt it has bluetooth but it probably has wireless. Not sure how the outlet works but you could try giving them a ring and asking?

Cal

99.9% sure it has WiFi & Bluetooth.

But if that unit was ordered without either ... you can add on after you get the machine.

Cal.

Ghost Train

practically all laptops come with wifi
with the dells, bluetooth isn't normally standard, so unless it mentions it, it probably wouldnt have it

fletch

Just rang and it comes with wi-fi but no bluetooth...I know I can get a Bluetooth dongle for about €15 but it would be nice to have it integrated

Cal

fletch wrote:

Just rang and it comes with wi-fi but no bluetooth...I know I can get a Bluetooth dongle for about €15 but it would be nice to have it integrated

For similar money on EBay you can get the Dell Bluetooth module. It fits inside the Laptop. Usually requiring removal of 1 screw. Google it.

Cal.

TerrorFirmer

Great machine for the price. I'd definately chose the 6400 - huge savings for not many hugely significant concessions. At least, nothing to justify spending double the price of the Dell for the Acer...

fletch

Cal wrote:

For similar money on EBay you can get the Dell Bluetooth module. It fits inside the Laptop. Usually requiring removal of 1 screw. Google it.

Cal.

Just had a look on ebay alright and they can be had quite cheap alright...

HavoK wrote:

Great machine for the price. I'd definately chose the 6400 - huge savings for not many hugely significant concessions. At least, nothing to justify spending double the price of the Dell for the Acer...

This is seeming like a no brainer alright.

fletch

Ordered the Dell earlier....€715 including bag and delivery ain't too shabby

gary the great

Got mine with today (6400 with only 1gig ram but the rest all the same) and its class.

the only thing is its a bit big and heavy, but if your like me and it wont be getting transported a lot then its a class system.

With the whole battery situation, when i plug the adaptor into the wall does that mean im not using the battery anymore? Just dont want to be charging and recharging the battery all the time and wearing it down!

BostonB

gary the great wrote:

...With the whole battery situation, when i plug the adaptor into the wall does that mean im not using the battery anymore? Just dont want to be charging and recharging the battery all the time and wearing it down!

No remove the battery if you are going to be on AC for a long time. Or just always use it on battery.

Duras

Guys, please tell me what is the screen resolution for the Inspiron 6400

Ghost Train

you can get it with these lcd resolutions
1280x800
1440x900
1650x1050

Duras

How would you know? You sort of blind-order them... Or do you have to do it by phone to ask for the resolution?

Ghost Train

Duras wrote:

How would you know? You sort of blind-order them... Or do you have to do it by phone to ask for the resolution?

ordering through the website it lets you choose the resolution you want

very strange the the outlet machines don't give details for most of the 6400, so i'm not sure how you'd know

maybe there all the 1280x800 basic screen

fletch

The one I ordered is 15.4 UltraSharp WSXGA (1680x1050) TrueLife

Ghost Train

fletch wrote:

The one I ordered is 15.4 UltraSharp WSXGA (1680x1050) TrueLife

did you know thats what you were getting are were you just lucky

i have the same display on my 6400 and is great

fletch

eolhc wrote:

did you know thats what you were getting are were you just lucky

i have the same display on my 6400 and is great

I didn't know when I ordered it....never gave the screen a second thought to tell the truth. Is it just better for watchin movies and in the sunlight etc?

Ghost Train

some people dont like the truelife/glossy screen, but in most conditions they are better than the standard type, brighter with more contrast. good for movies/photos

the higher resolution is handy for getting more windows/info on the screen. if you use photoshop/cad/spreadsheets it can make a big differance
photos will look sharper full screen
dont think you can buy the wsxga as an option from the main dell website anymore on the 6400

really surprised they don't list the full specs on the outlet, the screen is such an important thing for most people

BostonB

Outlet details are always a little goofy.

Duras

to answer OP, I ordered one few daays back and it has wifi.

dunno about bluetooth

fletch

Mine arrived the other day......delighted with it....wiped the OS and its now flying, all the Dell crap had it crawlin even with 2gigs of RAM. The screen is beautiful...and it came with bluetooth (much to my annoyance as I had ordered a bluetooth module on ebay in preparation of it arriving) but ah I can't complain too much....a lot of laptop for the money

Duras

fletch wrote:

Mine arrived the other day......delighted with it....wiped the OS and its now flying, all the Dell crap had it crawlin even with 2gigs of RAM. The screen is beautiful...and it came with bluetooth (much to my annoyance as I had ordered a bluetooth module on ebay in preparation of it arriving) but ah I can't complain too much....a lot of laptop for the money

I got mine too... The same problem with the crappy software... I still have stuff to uninstall...

However, I'm very happy with it... a great deal...

weemcd

fletch wrote:

Mine arrived the other day......delighted with it....wiped the OS and its now flying, all the Dell crap had it crawlin even with 2gigs of RAM. The screen is beautiful...and it came with bluetooth (much to my annoyance as I had ordered a bluetooth module on ebay in preparation of it arriving) but ah I can't complain too much....a lot of laptop for the money

did you get the dell driver cd's? Or did you just do a plain format yourself? Interested in doing this to my own 6400

Duras

weemcd wrote:

did you get the dell driver cd's? Or did you just do a plain format yourself? Interested in doing this to my own 6400

I guess you have that system restore partition that would help... and also they put in the bag a couple of DVDs... maybe XP is there somewhere.

fletch

weemcd wrote:

did you get the dell driver cd's? Or did you just do a plain format yourself? Interested in doing this to my own 6400

Yeh you get the drivers cd too which is nice cause most new systems don't give you that....they create a restore partition but I completely wiped everything and just installed what I wanted so it's flying along.

Oh I wanted to buy a tv card for the laptop but it doesn't appear to have a PCMCIA slot. It has this kind of L-shape slot, anybody know what it is?

fletch

Just read this on dell's site

Express card slot: Please note that this system has a ExpressCard slot and support the ExpressCard format only. This system does not have a PCMCIA card slot.

Does anybody know if it's possible to get an Express card tv card?

Will these work from Komplett?

BostonB

fletch wrote:

...I completely wiped everything and just installed what I wanted so it's flying along....

Be careful wiping the Dell partition you might lose your media direct.

Hmm_Messiah

bostonb - can i ask - dell media direct- thats a way of say watching a dvd without startinmg up xp ?

if idid do full fresh install is there a way i can get it back (oh 1st- is it any good?I am googling but u seem to have real experience)

BostonB

Hmm_Messiah wrote:

bostonb - can i ask - dell media direct- thats a way of say watching a dvd without startinmg up xp ?

if idid do full fresh install is there a way i can get it back (oh 1st- is it any good?I am googling but u seem to have real experience)

I never used it. So can't really comment how good it is. One place to ask is over on the Dell section of www.notebookforums.com

fletch

Can anybody confirm if either of these will work in the 6400? I'm just not 100% sure as there seems to be different sizes of expresscards available
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=331133
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=329819