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Inspiron E1405 (640m) First Impressions

post #1 of 27
5/11/06 at 12:51am
Thread Starter 
I received my Inspiron E1405 (640m) today at 1:40pm, after missing the UPS man the day before (5/9/06)... it took less than one week to get it from Dell, not bad at all.

Impression... EXACTLY like the 630m down to the not so great screen. It was a little more creaky on the hinges than the 630m, and the trackpad has the guides for scrolling.

Performance, seems to respond much faster than the 630m... E1405 has a 1.66Ghz Dual Core vs. the 1.73Ghz Pentium M on the 630m. The E1405 is also much cooler on the left palm rest compared to the 630m. NHC gave a reading of 47-50C for the 630m and a 34C for the E1405.

Now back to the screen: This one is a AUO1247 screen, seems to be slightly brighter with better whites than the SEC3157 (Samsung) that came with the 630m. The graininess and "sparkle" are still there on the AUO screen considering that they also just slapped gloss over matte, but since the resolution is higher on the WXGA+ E1405 screen, its not as pronounced.

There is a dark corner on the left side of the E1405 and a ligher dark spot (LOL) on the right.

Colors also are not as washed out as the 630m's Samsungs but the backlight bleeding is just as noticable. Unlike Dell's website states when you configure the E1405, the WXGA+ w/TrueLife is NOT UltraSharp, the viewing angles are exactly the same as the non-Ultrasharp 630m's TrueLife screen.

All in all, a good laptop with only internal upgrades, aka SATA drive, Core Duo, GMA 950, wireless card, WXGA+ screen.

Here is some eye candy, enjoy. In the pictures with both laptops, the Inspiron 630m (M140) is on the left and the Inspiron E1405 (640m) is on the right.

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post #2 of 27
5/11/06 at 1:29am
Damn, i wish they would've at least gotten rid of the white trim. Can you also verify the HDD is SATA because on the Dell Canada site, it doesn't specify and neither did my order summary?

LEMAR
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post #3 of 27
5/11/06 at 2:57am
yes it is SATA.
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post #4 of 27
5/11/06 at 10:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RastaManMax
Damn, i wish they would've at least gotten rid of the white trim.

Agreed. I hate Dell's cheap-looking cases.

I almost considered paying a lot more to get a better case by buying another brand but I think for $1000+ savings I can live with it. *sigh*
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post #5 of 27
5/11/06 at 11:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jumbie
Agreed. I hate Dell's cheap-looking cases.

I almost considered paying a lot more to get a better case by buying another brand but I think for $1000+ savings I can live with it. *sigh*

That was my take on it. I'm really concerned about the price/size/weight/internals rather than the looks though, that's why i got this instead of the 710m. The 710m would've been only 1.7 PM, 512MB, 24XCD, 8cell, 80GB, Intel 2945 for about $80 more, (not to mention the old school hardware), so i jumped on the 640m with 1.66Duo, 1GB, 8XDVD, 9 cell, Intel 3945 instead.

Sucks that they're also replacing it with an XPS variant because it's never going to be cheap like it used to.

LEMAR
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post #6 of 27
5/11/06 at 12:16pm
w00t, can't wait to get mine and see how the screen is.
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post #7 of 27
5/12/06 at 12:32pm
Mine should be arriving today.
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post #8 of 27
5/12/06 at 10:33pm
Nice, got mine today. um.... feels just the same as my m140, lol.

AUO screen too. w00t!
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post #9 of 27
5/13/06 at 2:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xarthan
Nice, got mine today. um.... feels just the same as my m140, lol.

AUO screen too. w00t!

Whats your take on the screen? I get mine on Monday.
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post #10 of 27
5/13/06 at 1:41pm
Hmm what can i say? I have the "sparkle" effect on my WXGA+ screen. None on my XPS140 which had the Quanta screen.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
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post #11 of 27
5/13/06 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xarthan
Hmm what can i say? I have the "sparkle" effect on my WXGA+ screen. None on my XPS140 which had the Quanta screen.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

What's the 'sparkle' effect? Reflection?
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post #12 of 27
5/13/06 at 2:09pm
no clue, your screen just sparkles vs being crystal clear. I think this problem surfaced during the 9200's
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post #13 of 27
5/13/06 at 2:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xarthan
no clue, your screen just sparkles vs being crystal clear. I think this problem surfaced during the 9200's

Dude, now you can compare the entire dell lineup with regards to size. 9300, 6000, 1405, 700m
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post #14 of 27
5/13/06 at 2:59pm
Great review, but I agree, that white trim needs to go!
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post #15 of 27
5/13/06 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 
Sparkle is when whites or other lighter colors seem to have a grainy, gritty, sandy, shimmering apprearance... it has been theorized that this occurs when you slap on gloss over anti-reflective matte screen.

I would like to know the model/manufacturer of the WXGA+ matte screens on the D620, if it is the same (aka AUO1247), then Dell DEFINATELY had a slap of gloss over the matte screen, thus explaining the phenomenon.

I will probably hold on to the E1405 until the new M1210 comes out and people confirm it uses the same screen or better than the 710m/700m. But after seeing 3-4 700m's, I don't think you can have any sexier a screen on that laptop.
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post #16 of 27
5/13/06 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCscorpio2000
Sparkle is when whites or other lighter colors seem to have a grainy, gritty, sandy, shimmering apprearance... it has been theorized that this occurs when you slap on gloss over anti-reflective matte screen.

I would like to know the model/manufacturer of the WXGA+ matte screens on the D620, if it is the same (aka AUO1247), then Dell DEFINATELY had a slap of gloss over the matte screen, thus explaining the phenomenon.

I will probably hold on to the E1405 until the new M1210 comes out and people confirm it uses the same screen or better than the 710m/700m. But after seeing 3-4 700m's, I don't think you can have any sexier a screen on that laptop.

i totally agree
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post #17 of 27
5/13/06 at 6:26pm
Xarthan now that you've sampled the M140/630m vs. the 640, is it worth it to upgrade? I currently have a M140 I got for $700 shipped from EPP with the upgraded specs below. It's currently running well at 2.26 and undervolted. Is the core duo/950 chipset much faster? I'm hesistant as the AUO screen doesn't seem as good as the Quanta. My quanta screen is my first dell screen I don't use at full brightness and it has no sparklies. Also are the batteries interchangeable? Thanks!
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post #18 of 27
5/13/06 at 7:10pm
Thread Starter 
magbarn,

I also have both the Inspiron 630m (M140) and the Inspiron E1405 (640m) and the E1405 has the 630m beat on speed with the Core Duo processor. Is it worth the upgrade? It depends, for me it is, even though the AUO screen on this is better than the Samsung screen on the 630m, I have not seen the Quanta (was never lucky to get it). The extra screen real estate offered by the WXGA+ is welcomed. It also doesn't have the heat issue on the left palm rest as the 630m of mine had.

If you do multiple tasks on you computer, the E1405 is the way to go, otherwise the M140 is perfectly fine.
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post #19 of 27
5/14/06 at 1:40am
Yes what NYC scorpio said.

Also if you don't like the AUO screen you can always swap your m140 screen into the e1405. and yes the batters are interchangeable. I am using my 9 cell from my xps m140 in my e1405
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post #20 of 27
5/14/06 at 3:38am
what are the quanta model #'s? and are there still quanta screens available? i thought it merged with AUO last month...
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