Dell's Latitude E6400 ATG gets acquired, previewed

Merely weeks after Dell offered its long-awaited Latitude E6400 ATG up for sale, one of said units has been procured, unboxed and briefly tested by the laptop lovers over at NotebookReview. Initial impressions are that it's quite heavy (expected for a tough cookie such as this), built Ford tough and made to be used in broad daylight. The keyboard showed slight flex and a somewhat disheartening layout, though the touchpad was "very smooth" and the buttons had "excellent action." We won't spoil the first batch of benchmark results for you, so you'll have to wander on down to the read link for that and a handful of other pics.

[Lack @ Sep 1st 2008 10:33AM]

It's a regular E6400 not the ATG model.

[Eric @ Sep 1st 2008 10:35AM]

is it just me or does that pic look photoshopped?

[lu1de @ Sep 1st 2008 10:52AM]

it should be running Vista FFS!

[jmgrosen @ Sep 1st 2008 10:54AM]

That's the regular E6400.

[John @ Sep 1st 2008 10:54AM]

That's the plain old E6400.

[Ian @ Sep 1st 2008 11:32AM]

That's the regular......oh, never mind. And a keyboard that flexes makes this laptop a no-go. I thought they did away with this problem 4 years ago. Haven't heard too many complaints about weak smushy keyboards in ages.

[Striker @ Sep 1st 2008 12:00PM]

You will if you are ever around me. I am so accustomed to my ThinkPad keyboard, and I can back up the claim that it is the world's best, that whenever I use ANY other non-ThinkPad keyboard, it feels like I am typing on a mud-soaked sponge, it is terrible. Luckily for me, Lenovo makes external versions of their keyboards.

Oh and cool name, it is mine too lol

[Juxtah @ Sep 1st 2008 1:50PM]

If you read through a few laptop reviews you'll see the problem is alive and well. The problem is the backplate for the kayboard that is used to reduce keyboard flex is a lot heavier and more expensive if you want it to be rigid, putting a lot of holes in it, reducing thickness etc. saves on cost and weight so a lot of manufacturers take that route.

[phanbouy @ Sep 1st 2008 2:11PM]

personally, i like the "scissor key" style on MBP's.

macally makes a USB kb called the "icekey" which is modeled on the same design, but unfortunately i don't see any other keyboards out there with this style.

[Rick @ Sep 1st 2008 2:44PM]

Ford tough? Give me a break. I hope not. FORD = Found on Road Dead, Fix or Repair Daily.

[d889 @ Sep 1st 2008 4:49PM]

you mean first on race day, for off road driving.... etc etc :)

[Reader @ Sep 1st 2008 7:08PM]

Damn son, you totally destroyed FORD with your powerful bacronym. If I was really bored, and all the import companies names weren't so damn long comparatively, I'd do the same thing just for giggles.

[Rick @ Sep 1st 2008 2:45PM]

It's not Photo-Chopped, go look at the enlaged image @ Notebookreview.

[dave @ Sep 23rd 2008 5:28PM]

I have owned a E6400 ATG for about a week in UK, would like not to knock it to much as display very flimsy, Port cover is a joke can,t seeing lasting more than a few times in use. Everything else works well, don't know where Dell get there Mil 810-F specs from. Hope it makes Temp as specified, Dust Im not sure about with poor Port cover design unless you have different design in USA