Actually, the Dell logo on the Latitude and Precision notebooks is a lot nicer. Off-center and just the name, no crazy circle. I wouldn't cover it.

I've never had any beef with Dell's business lineup, just their consumer division. Both the Dell and the HP have their pro's and con's for me ... I hate having to choose. Why can't somebody just put out a laptop that has EVERYTHING I want and NOTHING I don't?


Hmm, I actually hadn't heard that about the E6400.

For me though, I almost always use my trusty Bluetooth mouse. The only time I use the touchpad is when I'm sitting on the couch.

I think whichever laptop I get, I'm going to buy a docking station for it so I can use it as a "desktop" machine at home with a 22" or 24" monitor.

Well if you won't be using the touchpad, I would definitely give it a go.

Dell Latitude E = big, square piece of black plastic! LOL At least slightly better looking than Lenovo's business class laptops. But still it's plain boring. I have the 15.4" one for work. It's quite heavy too. Screen brightness is excellent. Track pad, as mentioned in previous posts, sucks. Also we had some driver problems with the WiFi card Dell were using. Problem solved by installing another brand's WiFi card.

Yes, the Latitude E6400 is somewhat boring looking to me as well (at least compared to the EliteBook), but it's certainly built well and has quality parts.

The IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads are just WAY too boring looking for me, I wouldn't be able to stand it. Plus, they have the Fn and Ctrl keys backwards from what I'm used to, which I would hate. I ruled them out of my choices pretty quickly.

Still trying to decide, but I've got plenty of time before I'll be able to afford either. Maybe by then they'll have refreshed the lines.

The thing I absolutely hate from every Dell laptops I've seen is the freaking battery and the external PSU! They suck on so many levels that Dell should be sued for having a product that last maybe 1 to 2 years at most. My brother's Dell laptop battery died and his external psu got faulty after a while. My sister's Dell laptop battery has a short which only allows certain battery time and it's pretty pathetic, oh and did I mentioned that her external psu also is faulty? Let's see... my neighbor's Dell laptop battery had to be replaced and it was under a year old! Good thing she still had the warranty.

Honestly, HP laptops have always been great, I have one and me father had one that lasted maybe 6 years and the 7600gt mobile died the other died apparently because the laptop fell from the sofa. But imagine how well it did run during the 6 years of heavy use.

Hewlett Packard ftw!

I'm a month late to this conversation, but...

I've had a Dell Latitude E6400 since 10/08 and I'm very happy with it. My favorite feature is definitely the WXGA+ (1440x900) LED display!

I seriously considered the HP EliteBook 6930p and Lenovo ThinkPad T400, but the Dell had the display option I wanted and it was even about $200 less expensive in the end. It has a 3-year warranty standard, but I've yet to have any issues.

The HP is the best looking of the three, I'll give it that. But the Dell is a rock-solid, work horse of a laptop!

Hey AllFiredUp, welcome to HWA.

Yep, those are the only three laptops that even have a whisper of a wish of becoming my next machine (E6400, 6930p, T400).

All three have good specs (not for gaming, but that's not what I want it for anyway) and are built very well, so it's coming down to the small stuff. The ThinkPad's are just so ugly ...