Dell Inspiron 6400

Verdict

Users have no hesitation recommending this durable and capable laptop. If you want a powerful dual core laptop but don't want to spend a lot of money then the Inspiron 6400 could be for you. Owners are delighted with the Inspiron 6400 - it's stylish, ultra reliable and cheap and comes with good back up from a respected manufacturer, Dell. Users at Review Centre rate it highly for screen quality, battery life, ease of use and value for money. It's especially recommended for gaming, dvds and web and email use as well as basic word processing. Reviews also mention factors like the ease of upgrading with Dell. Check specification that comes with the computer before you buy or decide if you want any additional software. You can telephone or ask Dell for advice online for spec to suit your requirements.

About Inspiron

Portable, powerful and versatile Dell's Inspiron range is the workhouse sector of their laptops division offering consumers excellent value for money. Inspiron portable computer systems are ideal for mainstream consumers or small business professionals and especially suitable for gamers, bloggers and other web fans. They are all easily upgradable as required. As of June 2007 the Inspiron name also refers to Dell's desktop systems.

Spec at a glance

Mid-size mainstream models come with an Intel Core 2 Duo (up to 2.00 GHz), 15.4" display, SATA hard drive (up to 160 GB), and DDR2 SDRAM (up to 2 GB). The 6400 features an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400. The E1505 N features an integrated Intel Media Accelerator 950, ATI Radeon x1300, ATI Radeon x1400, or NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300.

Weight/Size

Starting from 2.8 kg (6.18 lbs) with DVD-ROM drive and 6-Cell Battery and integrated graphics

Width: 356.0mm (14.02-inches)

Depth: 265.5mm (10.45-inches)

Height: 36.55mm (1.44-inches)

Overview

The Inspiron 6400 was designed for versatility. It offers mobility, excellent performance and entertainment capabilities. Thanks to the combination of Intel 945 mobile chipsets and low power consumption Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel Core Duo processors you can achieve full on multimedia productivity for home or office use. It is equipped with choice of Genuine Windows XP operating system and wireless LAN.

15.4" wide aspect displays and Intel Media Accelerator 950 shared graphics technology combine to provide great visual experiences.

It's also good looking with Artic Silver and Alpine White design incorporating a 5-1 card reader as well as front-access multimedia buttons for Audio CDs or DVDs. It comes with a standard S-Video (TV-Out) port, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), and four built-in USB 2.0 interfaces.

Software

512 MB DDR SDRAM (533 MHz) standard, upgradeable to 2GB(667 MHz) maximum

DDR RAM configurations include options of 512MB, 1024MB, 1536 MB and 2048MB

Two user accessible SoDIMM sockets Supports Dual Channel memory. In order to get dual channel memory bandwidth capability, both the slots must contain memory modules and they must be of the same size and configuration.

Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic

Ubuntu Edition version 7.04

In/Out ports

• 4x USB 2.0 4-pin connectors (non-powered); 2 at rear, 2 on right-hand side of notebook system
• TV-Out (S-video-Out): 7-pin mini-DIN connector (optional S-video to composite video adapter cable)
• IEEE 1394 (): 4-pin serial connector, non-powered
• Integrated 5-1 Card Reader
• Video: 15-pin monitor connector
• 10/100 Ethernet LAN: RJ-45 connector
• 56k V.92 Modem: RJ-11 connector
• Audio ports: Stereo Line-out (external speakers/headphone) and external microphone-in connector (mono)
• Kensington Lock slot

Battery

Main Battery: 53 WHr, 6-cell "Smart" Lithium Ion battery.

Optional upgrade to: 85 WHr - 9 cell "Smart" Lithium Ion battery

Approximate Battery life span: 300 discharge/charge cycles

Other Spec

Processor - Intel Centrino Mobile Technology: up to Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7400 (2.16 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB & Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 (802.11a/b/g) network connection.

Display - A wide range of 15.4-inch Wide screen displays with WXGA, WXGA TrueLife , WXGA+ with TrueLife resolution.

Video Graphics - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 integrated graphics with up to 224MB shared system memory.

Wireless Connectivity Solutions - Integrated Dual-Band (802.11 a/b) antenna. Integrated Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 (802.11a/b/g) or Dell Wireless 1500 (Draft 802.11n and 802.11 a/b/g) network connections. The Dell Wireless 350 integrated Bluetooth 2.0 wireless solution is available as optional upgrade.

Battery Life - Productive for up to 5 hours without re-charging your batteries

Design - Artic Silver and Alpine White design incorporating a 5-1 card reader and front-access multimedia buttons.