Laptop Comparison - Dell D620 vs. E1405

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redwolfe3

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Hey All-
I've been looking into getting a new laptop. I currently have a Sager 5660 that I have now had for almost 4 years. The laptop was great when it was new, but the years are showing on it, and its usefulness has worn out. My biggest concern with a new laptop is mobility. While I love the power and speed of this laptop, its mobile usefulness is almost nill.

In searching, I have happened across 2 laptops (maybe 4) that appear to fit the bill. I have been looking at the Dell D620 and the Dell E1405. From the basic specs I can see, these two laptops appear to be more or less the same, with the exception of a couple of options and their color, but I thought I would check with some of you to see what kind of experience you have had.

My main purpose for the laptop is to have a way to do work while at school as well as work on school projects. This means Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Internet, Email, Eclipse, etc... I regularly have a minimum of 8 windows+ open. I do play some games from time to time (WoW, BF2, CS:S, etc...), but this is a secondary concern. My biggest concern is a descent to long battery life (read 3 hours minumum if possible) and the ability to use web development and programming tools.

Can anyone who may have owned or used both of these laptops confirm or contradict that these two laptops are the same or near the same? Anyone who has the E1405, what kind of battery life do you get out of your laptop, and what kind of resolutions do you get from the screen?

Thanks for any help you can give.
 
I own an E1405. With the upgraded ($10 option now) screen (TrueLife) the resolution is 1440x900 which is very good. Most webpages only take up half of the available width.

I got the upgraded 9-cell battery, with WiFi on I easily get 4.5 hours. 5hr is probably possible with sparing use of the WiFi radio.

Don't bother playing games, though WoW will probably work. Integrated video sucks.
 
I"ve got the D620 and I'm happy with it. Mine has a dedicated graphics card (NVIDIA Quadro) and I'm able to play Battlefield 2 with decent settings. As for battery life, I haven't run it out in one sitting, so I'm not sure. I've got the 6-cell battery and I'd say it's good for 2.5-3.5 hours with wireless & bluetooth enabled, but varies depending on screen brightness. It is a very portable notebook, with the 6 cell battery and CDRW drive I'd say it's around 5 lbs.
 
Also, can and Admin fix the title of this thread. I'm not sure how the title got off so bad, but it was supposed to read "Laptop Comparison - Dell D620 vs. E1405".... Thanks. :rolleyes:
 
(see sig)
Can play WoW, UT2k4, WC3, most of the games worth playing ;)

Ill get getting a powerhouse of a 17" when santa rosa comes out for SupCom, but until that theres no modern games out worth playing for me.
 
The D620 is better built out of better materials and comes with a far better warranty(3yrs business). The e1405 is a nice laptop but i'd take the d620 every time based on the above mentioned advantages alone.

You may not get a glossy screen but id hardly get swayed by that. The quadro you can select is basically a 7300 and theyre light with huge battery life (5-6 hours'ish on a 9 cell).

In addition, the d620 has a PCMCIA slot so all the wireless cards, sound cards etc that are out will work. The e1405 has the newer ExpressSlot, but in this case newer isnt better, which means good luck finding any decent cards for it in the next 12 months :) .

You could get a d820 instead(which is what im doing) which has a better quadro option(it IS a 7400 and gets exact same benchmark scores as the 12 inch xps), mega high res screen option and has both and expressslot and a pcmcia slot. Its 9-cell battery also doesnt stick out in any way which is a nice addition.

All that being said, i bet you could get the e1405 for a tonne less $$$ than either D series which will probably be the biggest thing that would tempt you to the e1405.
 
I work at the computing facilities at a large university, and we just got some D620's in. I personally own an E1405, and I love it. Probably one of the most comfortable, and productive laptops I've had. And I've owned a lot, IBM's, Dells, Compaqs, Apples (3 of them, 2 iBooks and a 12" 1.33ghz powerbook), even a ghetto old first gen packard bell.

Even with how absolutely impressed I am by the 1405 for the weight, power, and comfort feel, I would trade it in for a D620 immediately. The second I touched one, and started setting it up for our network here, I was impressed. Now, admittedly I am not a gamer. But I do a lot of programming, and the like, and I was really impressed with its comfort with the keyboard, how cool it stays, and the overall weight and balance.

The biggest gripe I have. And this is actually a fairly big problem I find with any of the business class laptops currently by dell. The screen. Everything is clear, and looks good, but it feels like someone dropped the brightness level on my E1405 2 notches when looking at the D620. It needs to be brighter. A lot brighter. My E1405 is perfect.

Anyways, that is just a subjective view on it. We have 4 of them in the back, and they are all well build, no problems.
 
Fossil-
I want to make sure I"m clear. Sounds like you are saying the D620 has a lower brightness level then the E1405? If that's the case, it makes somes sense as OSHA probably has a limit of brightness for business computers (or at least, that would be my guess).

In terms of the keyboard differences and overall size differences (Thickness of the body, etc...), is it a noticeable difference?

A friend of mine has a D620 and it seemed like a very stable system. He used it regularly for 3DStudio Max and Maya with no problems (And I believe he's just running the 950 Graphics Card). But, I didn't know how the E1405 compared.
 
redwolf - I am absolutely saying the screen on the 620 is significantly darker than the E1405. I've been really unimpressed with the screens, but maybe I have been spoiled with the truebright or life or whatever dell offered with the 1405.

I do believe the 620 is thoroughly a nicer overall laptop but you are also going to pay almost twice as much for it. And my 1405 is pretty sturdy on its own, and has handled everything I threw at it. I've ripped dvd's and the like and it is fast. Damn fast actually. Faster than my x64 desktop. I was surprised.

~m
 
Well, after much deliberation, I have decided upon a D620.

After looking at pricing, I decided to get one through the Dell Outlet. You get one for $200 - $400 cheaper then new, get a better base warranty, etc. The system I ordered is as follows:

Scratch & Dent System (Ehh, that's fine)
T2600 Core Duo (2.16 GHz Dual Core w/ 667 FSB)
1 GB DDR2 667 MHz Memory (1 Dimm)
100 GB 7200 RPM HD
14.1" WXGA+ Screen
256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M
8x DVD R/W (Dual Layer) Drive
6 Cell Primary Battery
9 Cell Secondary Battery
Windows XP Pro
3 Year on-site business Service

And all this for $1,302 after tax and shipping out the door. Base system was $1,179.00. A comparably equipped new system (which this is new, it just has a cosmetic blemish of some kind) priced out at $1,700 + currently.

What do you guys think?
 
that machine is definitely loaded..

perhaps it would've been an idea to go for a core duo 2?


then again....with a core duo i can say that i have absolutely no speed complaints. I also love having a 100GB 7200 RPM HD...you'll get tons of battery life with that 9 cell battery...and I'm sure that video card will be everything you want too, and if the quattro is really like a 7300, well, that'll play the games you are looking to play.


enjoy it :)
 
pay the extra, get the C2D.
no worse battery life and ~20% more performance at the same clocks. Its worth the hundred bucks or whatever dell wants for the upgrade. hell. drop to the next lower speed bin and get the C2D. Same performance possibly with better battery life.
 
How much do they cost with the core 2 duo, though, is it more then $400 price difference? If so, just buy one off of ebay (or oem), flash the latest bios onto the D620 and pop it in, then sell your core duo out on ebay.
 
Well, honestly, this thing will be plenty fast. I don't really play a lot of games in general... I only ended up getting the upgraded video card because I heard it actually made the screen brighter. In addition, my current laptop is a desktop P4 2.4 GHz, so with the Dual Core on this system, it should be plenty fast for my programming/work needs.

As for a C2D, I'm not concerned with it. It doesn't appear that Dell offers this on their current D620's, and I'd rather just stick with what it comes with. Maybe when the C2D's have been out a while I may think of ugprading, but for now I'll stick with what it comes with. Considering I was going to get the T2050 or T2300E, I'm sure the T2600 will provide me with plenty of grunt for now.

Thanks though for the info, I will keep it in mind for the future.
 
I'll upgrade to C2D when either

A) Applications need it
B) I decide to install x64 Vista


As it is right now, I get 4.5 hours on my 9-cell battery and I've got two of them.
 
I'm considering at D620, but I am concerned about the screen and the battery. I can get one that is faster than an E1405, with better memory (667mhz instead of 553mhz, faster video card(256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M TurboCache), and one pound lighter.

What worries me though is the screen. On my last laptop which was an E1705 the screen was beautiful and glossy, but, as I understand, the D620 doesn't have the glossy screen and it isn't as bright as the screen on the E1405. Does anyone have experience with these two screens? I know it's been mentioned in this thread, but I am interested in some more feed back.

Also, the fact that the battery sticks 0.9 inches out the front is sort of a turn off, I like the fact that the E1405's battery extends out the back. Any thoughts on this?

One more thing, Dell seems to charge a HUGE premium on the optical drives for the D620, a 8X DVD+/-RW is a $108.00 dollar upgrade.

I would be getting the Core 2 Duo which is now available in the D620, they also have a %22 percent off coupon and then I could call the Small Buisness people and probably barter that down another percent or two.

I do a lot of photo work.

Thoughts?
 
Well, in terms of the screen, I have seen both. The glossy screen is very nice... looks crisp and pretty. Although I think it may actually be harder on your eyes in the long run. I have seen the D620 screen and it is still very nice... just not as bright and shiny. I have an older Sager with the 15" UXGA+ Ultrasharp Screen and the D620 Screen looks just as nice if not nicer.

As for the battery... its only the larger 9-Cell battery that sticks out from the front. Having used my friends D620 a couple of times this week which has the 9-Cell, having it stick out the front makes very little difference. As a matter of fact, its actually kind of nice, almost like a wristpad. I can't say anything about the battery as I haven't seen one sticking out the back on these, although the ones I have seen, they typically add height instead of depth, which would drive me nuts, but that's just me personally as I would probably use it on my lap a lot.

Those are just my experiences and feelings though, so take them for what they are.
 
Is there an actual difference in the screen brightness on the D620 or is it just the lack of a glossy screen giving the appearance of a less vibrant display. Does anyone have nit/contrast specs out there?

Also, is the 9 cell battery the only battery that sticks out in front?
 
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