Dell Latitude D400 - Purchase Advice Please

Tesla

Tesla

Tesla

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Joined
19 Jan 2003
Posts
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Location
Bristol, UK
I have spotted this laptop for sell. Obviously second hand but it comes with 12months Dell warranty and also an external optical drive (CDRW/DVD-ROM).

Now, all I need the laptop for is work. Very basic functions and nothing taxing. The small size is an attractive factor on this too.

The price is £250 which also includes a carry case.

Do you think this is a good price and the laptop would suit my needs?

Sped:
Dell Latitude D400 Laptop Centrino 1.6Ghz
CPU Intel Centrino 1.6 Ghz
HDD 30 Gb Min
RAM 512 Mb
Devices CDRW/DVDROM (external),16 bit Sound, 56k Modem, 10/100 NIC, Wireless WiFi
2 x USB, Ac Adaptor, Battery, UK Keyboard, Ultra slim design, FREE CARRY CASE
Condition Used
Warranty NOW WITH 1 YEAR DELL WARRANTY FOR TOTAL PEACE OF MIND. DOA Warranty on Battery
Operating System Win XP Pro License, Operating System is preloaded but No OS Discs are supplied
12.5 Inch TFT Screen
Click to expand...

Secondly, I have a friend starting uni so do you think this would be ideal for them too?
 
MARK! I can't really blame you though :p

It will only cost me £20 to up the memory and buying from a shop gives me the added bonus of a receipt so can file as an expense.
 
Will be more than enough for basic web browsing and what not.

My ultra portable dell (x1 though, not a D series) is only a 1.1ghz Centrino and still runs photo shop amongst everything else I need. Has got 1.25gig of ram in it though, bit even with 512mb everything worked.
 
Thats more than enough.

When I had my 1.73GHz Pentium M Inspiron 630m, I used NHC to lock the clocked to 800MHz when on the battery. For general windows, office and internet it felt pretty much the same as full clock speed.

My only concern with that deal would be the RAM (need 1GB but cheap enough to buy another module) and the battery. It won't be a new battery so who knows what condition its in. If it can't hold a charge for long due to constant, previous use then budget so cash for a replacement.
 
Thanks guys. Will report back Monday.

I figured that if it's poor then I can either send it back or ebay it for around the same figure.

Hopefully it will have 1 x 512mb DDR so I can add another for £20.
 
I have a D420, it's not a bad laptop. It's not as good as fast as a X60 but it's cheaper. It's missing the DVD-RW in the HP NC2400 though and the price is comparable. Still, it's pretty tough, takes all the bumps without breaking so far...
 
Well got the laptop and am very pleased with it. It looks unused and is in mint condition.

The battery is behaving a bit weird. I think it just needs conditioning as it's never really been used and probably ran off of mains when it has. Takes about an hour to drop to 70%, then instantly drops to around 10% and then takes ages to go down. I am currently running it to find out how long. I think it needs a few fully charge-fully flat cycles then will report back.

Anyway, main question is under the laptop there is a small cover next to the battery, under here is a white plug. What's this for?
 
I have found out that it's for connection of a bluetooth module. They seem cheap on ebay so I will probably pick one up.

The battery meter just sat at 0% for over an hour and the battery died after 2.5hours use. So going to give it a few more full-empty cycles but 2.5hours isnt bad for a second hand laptop imo.
 
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