Latitude E6500

As promised this post will be a review of my latest toy Dell Latitude E6500. Price: Undisclosed. Got a good deal off it Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo T9550, 2.66GHz, 1066MHz, 6MB L2 Cache

Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Enterprise

LCD Monitor: 15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) LED Display with Wide Viewing Angle

Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive: 250GB SATA (7200RPM) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive

Optical Drive: 8X DVD+/-RW Drive

Video Card: NVIDIA(R) Quadro(R) NVS 160M Dedicated 256MB

Primary Battery: 9-Cell Li-Ion Primary Battery

Fingerprint Reader: FIPS Certified Fingerprint Reader

Wireless Card: Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3X3) MiniCard

Bluetooth: Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth(R) 2.1 Minicard

Add-ons: Internal Backlit Keyboard
Built in Cardreader
Dial-up connector

Included: Ambient Light Sensor
Webcam


The case is made of metal(according to Dell its Magnesium alloy) whole laptop is matt black in colour and the keyboard lettering is solely white. Unlike other laptops with backlit light it only glows when you press a key(there is another option where once you move your mouse or press a key the backlit light will glow). Lights on the laptop are blue including the light on the power plug. With dual navigation the touchpad and the 'in-the-middle-of-the-keyboard control' it provides users to have an option, with the hands of a novice 'in-the-middle-of-the-keyboard control' it proves to be a mission to navigate the pointer across the screen. The ambient light sensor helps you to change the brightness of the screen according to the amount of light present. Although there are still some flaws with the sensor it doesn't really affects the performance( just a simple switch on and off will fix it).

The USB plugs, card readers, optical drive and the external screen plug is located on the side which eases the need of turning the laptop to the rear unlike most laptops. Power plug and the ethernet plug are located on the rear which keeps all the 'one-off' plugs away from the side which allows room for the USB plugs. As its a 'business'laptop there is less buttons for the 'musicplayer' but that could be encountered by shortcut keys. The noise level is pretty high but it is okay once you're used to it. Speakers are located to the left and right of the keyboard with the volume set and 35-40 its reasonably loud enough for a room. The 9-cell battery is pretty long lasting, I've tried once operating with powerpoint, word doc and also normal browsing the battery is able to last for at least 5 hours ( with the keyboard light off, light set to low,and battery plan set on balanced)

The cons of this laptop is that the case is a fingerprint magnet, once you touch it say hello to fingerprints. The speakers are dust magnets you can see strand and strands of dust if you don't wipe it daily. With the matt black finish you can see dust easily which makes your laptop look a little dirty.

All in all its a good laptop for business people and students who don't look for flashy-ness in their gadget, although its abit to pay for but its a worthwhile investment.

ps. this is my 1st time writing a review plz comment
pps wecome back