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Dell E7440: LCD upgrade and eGPU?


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Nando,

http://forum.techinferno.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/6980-14-dell-latitude-e6440-owners-lounge.html#post95555 is an amazing tutorial. I was searching the internet looking for advice on how to upgrade my e7440 and ran across this. Can you please advise me on the same upgrades for a e7440. Specifically, if I wanted to upgrade the screen to 1080p from the 768 would I need to replace the LVDS cable? If so can you please suggest the cable part number like you did above. Additionally can I add a express card GPU to my system to replace the Intel GPU? I hate the screen and video processor on my machine and I'd appreciate any and all feedback. The details you provided in the 6440 post were great, I'm looking for the same information. Any user feedback would be appreciated. My 768 screen is terrible...

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Nando,

This is an amazing tutorial. I was searching the internet looking for advice on how to upgrade my e7440 and ran across this. Can you please advise me on the same upgrades for a e7440. Specifically, if I wanted to upgrade the screen to 1080p from the 768 would I need to replace the LVDS cable? If so can you please suggest the cable part number like you did above. Additionally can I add a express card GPU to my system to replace the Intel GPU? I hate the screen and video processor on my machine and I'd appreciate any and all feedback. The details you provided in the 6440 post were great, I'm looking for the same information. Any user feedback would be appreciated. My 768 screen is terrible...

The E7440 has a factory 14" FHD option. Meaning it's using eDP rather than LVDS. The suggested 14" eDP FHD screen then is to get a N140HGE-EAA as jacobsson documents at the bottom of http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6858-%5Bguide%5D-14-asus-g46vw-gtx670%4010gbps-tb1-thundertek-3d-enclosure.html#post93872 .

Your system has no expresscard option nor can it be retrofitted. It's ultrabook thin. Best you could do is find a mini PCIe slot by removing bottom covers and then doing a mPCIe eGPU implementation. Review Dell Latitude E7440 Notebook (notebookcheck) shows that with bottom cover off there, the mSATA and wifi slots are accessible. The system without bottom cover shown below:

<A HREF="http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/Dell/Latitude_E7440/27_unten3.jpg"><img width=400 src=http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/Dell/Latitude_E7440/27_unten3.jpg></A>

On my E6440 they've wired the mSATA slot as both mSATA and WLAN (pcie). Maybe they've done the same to your mSATA slot on your E7440? If you aren't using the mSATA slot then can test by trial fitting your wifi card in there and seeing if it appears in Device Manager. If so, the mSATA slot can be used for a mPCIe eGPU implementation. If not, then your could use the wifi slot but of course would not have concurrent wifi during the process unless get say a USB wifi dongle.

There's a couple of examples of mPCIe eGPU implementations linked at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html#post89707 to give you an ideal of how the cabling would work.

For easier eGPU connectivity it is recommended to have a system with a Thunderbolt or expresscard port. Such candidate systems are listed at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list-%5Bthin-light%5D.html#post57159 . In 14" 4th generation, Dell has the E6440 and E5440 as entries there. Core difference between the two being the E6440 has a socket for the CPU and uses either a 37W or 47W CPU. The E5440 has a soldered ULV CPU, same as your E7440. The E6440 and E5440 use LVDS LCD cables so are limited to 1600x900 LCD resolution as the maximum. E5440 has a factory 900P touch LCD option. Both have an optical drive, something not provided in the E7440 and are thicker/heavier than the E7440.

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Nando...you rock!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!

If I read your post correctly I should be able to easily replace the screen and not need a new display cable...right? I ordered a 1080p screen from laptopscreens.com. Someone recommended them to me...are they any good?

Screen for Dell LATITUDE E7440. Replacement Laptop LCD Screens (this appears to be the same site you recommended...sweet...)

Do I need to upgrade the Intel HD graphics driver to accommodate a higher resolution screen?

As for the GPU...bummer. The mSATA slot is currently being used by my SSD.

Thanks for the help!

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Nando...you rock!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!

If I read your post correctly I should be able to easily replace the screen and not need a new display cable...right? I ordered a 1080p screen from laptopscreens.com. Someone recommended them to me...are they any good?

Screen for Dell LATITUDE E7440. Replacement Laptop LCD Screens (this appears to be the same site you recommended...sweet...)

Do I need to upgrade the Intel HD graphics driver to accommodate a higher resolution screen?

As for the GPU...bummer. The mSATA slot is currently being used by my SSD.

Thanks for the help!

Your system uses a 30pin eDP connector. The links you posted are OK. This one comes recommended too: N140HGE-EAA Replacement Laptop LCD Screen From $59.99 Brand-new screens.

An eGPU using your wifi card's mPCIe slot is still possible if you're OK with cabling it via the underside of the system. As advised earlier, a E5440 or E6440 gives a more convenient expresscard slot eGPU implementation.

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