Dell Latitude E7440
System
Annotated description of the system, its components (and different vendor options). May be useful if you thing about buying one of these.
- Dell Latitude E7440, 2013 14.1" ultrabook / business notebook, 1630g.
- Intel Core i7-4600U, 2.1GHz 15W TDP (4th gen)
- The variant with i5 is much more common (and thus cheaper). The performance improvement of the i7 isn't great, so probably not worth.
- 2x8192MB DDR3L-1600
- Crucial CT250MX200SSD3 250GB mSATA SSD
- Dell offered several HDD and SSD options (SATA as well as mSATA). This is none of them, though :)
- the mSATA socket is used for the WWAN option too !
- Intel HD Graphics 4400
- 735 points in 3DMark 11 GPU, on par with the Radeon HD 7550M (mid-range from 2012)
- Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260
- Wi-Fi options with Atheros AR9462 or AR9485 where available too
- the one with AR9462 (Dell Wireless 1601) even has WiGig capabilities
- the WiGig Dock does not seem to work with linux
- 3 Wi-Fi antennas build in, 2 mobile broadband antennas
- The 7260 only utilizes two of the three antennas
- the Wi-Fi antennas seem the be rather good: at the Bus Stop 100m from my door I get a decent reception, better than with most other devices I tried so far.
- Wi-Fi options with Atheros AR9462 or AR9485 where available too
- 14.1" matte IPS (1920x1080)
- Amazing display, vibrant colours, sufficient brightness, nice high resolution.
- The low-res (non IPS) panel is said to be rather poor
- The touch panel is said to be even better but glossy
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 3 USB 3.1 Ports
- Headset connector, Microphone array, Speakers
- the speakers are surprisingly good (considering the small form factor)
- the microphone(-array) is better than most other notebook mics I've tried
- the audio-out is the best for headphones I ever heard on a notebook
- HDMI and DisplayPort
- Docking Port (Dell E-Series)
- All Dell E-Port Docks should work, I tested the E-Port II and II+
- A wee plastic spacer is recommended (its cheap on eBay, I recommend it too)
- E-Port II+ provides 2 USB 3.0, 3 USB 2.0, 2 DisplayPort, 2 DVI, 1 eSata, 1 RS232, 1 PP and 1 combined PS/2
- Older docks without USB 3 are really cheap, but even the II+ is not that expensive
- Some quite nifty gadget are available for these docks
- I have a tilt-able stand, really neat if you want to utilize the notebooks display
- SD card reader
- Seems to be quite fast, although I have no really fast cards to test
- Webcam 0.9MP
- the cam is kinda meh, way sub-standard compared to the rest of the notebook
- The battery is changeable
- Various types are available, I spotted so far: 34Wh, 40Wh, 47Wh, 54Wh
- I have seen Li-Ion and Li-Po types, 2 and 4 cell variants (7.2V or 14.4V)
- Readily available on eBay, but usually expensive
- But every now and then quite cheap ones pop up, usually from clean ups or unused older ones.
- I got a 54Wh for 50 Euro and a 47 Li-Po for 30 Euro, both very close to full capacity
- The 3rd party batteries only have relatively low capacities and are too expensive compared to cheaper genuine ones
- But every now and then quite cheap ones pop up, usually from clean ups or unused older ones.
- The BIOS provides some battery management
- I use it in "adaptive" mode, which is supposed to improve battery life time, but did not test its effectiveness
- A external battery for Dell laptops is available ("Dell Power Companion", about 90 for them small and 130 for the large one)
- Various types are available, I spotted so far: 34Wh, 40Wh, 47Wh, 54Wh
- Small and lightweight power supply (200g)
- It has rounded edges and is smaller than "standard" Dell supplies
- it is really preferable over the standard one
- Dell offers a really small supply with additional DC input (for car / plane use) and the very slim euro plug. Its awesome!
- It has rounded edges and is smaller than "standard" Dell supplies
- The overall power consumption is very good 3-5W according to notebookcheck
- Alas, i cant get it below 5W on Linux.
- Very silent, runs close to 10h with the 54Wh battery
