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Product Summary
7
out of 10View score
The bad: Too heavy for regular travel; lacks a Type II PC Card slot.
The bottom line: The Dell Inspiron 6400 makes a good basic home or small-business laptop and has a solid set of multimedia capabilities, though comparable models can be found at slightly lower price points.
Read full review of the Dell Inspiron 6400 »
Average User Rating
from 18 users
8.4
out of 10CNET Asia Review
The middle child in Dell's line of basic home laptops, the Inspiron 6400 makes a good home or small-business system if it stays put most of the time, as it's too heavy for regular travel. With the Inspiron 6400, all of the crucial elements are accounted for: You get a comfortable keyboard and touchpad, a decent display, and a very solid collection of basic multimedia features and connections. The base unit starts at approximately S$1,799 (US$1,290.07), but Dell offers a vast array of configuration options for everyone from the most basic Web and email user to digital junkies who require midrange gaming and graphics capabilities. That said, if you're looking for a similar set of features but a larger display, check out the Inspiron 9400; if you're looking for something more portable, the Inspiron 640m weighs less and offers a similar experience, just with a nominally smaller display. HP also makes two systems, the Pavilion dv5100 and the Compaq Presario V5100, which offer comparable feature sets and weigh a little less.
Design
Measuring about 355.6mm wide, 265.4mm deep, and 36.6mm thick, and weighing 2.8kg (or 3.72kg, with its considerable AC power brick), the Inspiron 6400 is too large and heavy for regular travel. Skirting the line between midsize and desktop replacement, it joins the legion of other low-priced 15.4-inch widescreen laptops on the market.
The Inspiron 6400's 15.4-inch widescreen display can be configured with one of two native resolutions, XGA or the finer SXGA+, and either a glossy TrueLife or standard, nonglossy finish. We prefer the finer resolution, which affords more screen real estate, but if you have bad eyesight, the lower resolution will make text and graphics appear larger, though less detailed. The glossy finish makes the display look brighter but also gives off a distracting glare in sunny or well-lit environments. Our glossy, SXGA+ test unit delivered a solid score of 160cd/m² on our Minolta luminance meter, which tests a display's maximum brightness. The Inspiron 6400's keyboard is adequate, and the touch pad and two mouse buttons are nice and big, though they don't afford a great amount of tactile feedback.
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 Not exactly the sexiest of notebooks, the Inspiron 6400 nevertheless inspires with its value, if not its design. |
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The Inspiron 6400 offers a standard array of ports and connections that should fulfill the needs of most basic users. The offering is virtually identical to what you'll find on the Pavilion dv4000, except that the Inspiron 6400 lacks a Type II PC Card slot (inconsequential, unless you already have a bunch of PC Cards) and has a media card reader that supports one additional format (SmartMedia). One of the very best things about the Inspiron 6400 is the set of seven handy multimedia buttons that sit smack in the middle of its front edge, which makes it easy to control music and movies, even when the lid is shut; no other vendor offers controls as simple and as good. Also onboard is Dell's MediaDirect software, which can play CDs and DVDs and access other digital media on the hard drive whether or not Windows is booted. The two speakers placed along the front edge deliver sound that's crisp and clear but lacking in bass.
Rate It Now
User Reviews
Not a laptop for long hours (even 2+ hours)
Jun 26, 2008Rating: 5 out of 10 (Average)
Pros: Good sound system, screen, excellent keyboard
Cons: Bad battery, gets too hot (you won't be able to keep it on your lap)
Opinion:
The battery died within the first quarter.
Lot of power problems (laptop goes off without any notice).
If one problem comes, that's it, you are stuck!
Gets hot (you can boil water!).
If OS crashes, media direct is out!
appletpak
Mar 25, 2008Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: qaiser
Cons: 100
Opinion:
a complete dream dell 6400
thanx dell team
Do not listen to the bashers
Feb 28, 2007Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: high rez screen, great speakers for a laptop, cheap, fast
Cons: 6 cell battery life isnt amazing(make sure to get the 9 cell)
Opinion:
This is one great laptop. runs vista very well, starts up fast once u get the bloat ware off, amazing screen, the x1400 runs games decently (this is not a high end gaming laptop), big HDD, media buttons are very convienient and work well. Great keyboard, decent track pad. WiFi works well. Not very heavy at around 6 pounds or so. People who complain about the weight are looking at the wrong type of laptop as this is a desktop replacement, not a 12" traveler. Well built. It doesnt get super hot, but i would recommend spending 20 bucks on a laptop cooling pad which help keep it a little more cool. Shipping is fast too, i got mine in exactly a week (i live in toronto, canada). I cant recommend this highly enough. Hope this has been of some help to someone :D
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