E6420 Owner's Thread

I ordered the U3011 monitor to use with the E6420 - my understanding is that it will only work at the full 2560x1600 resolution by using a Display Port connection and therefore I am looking at getting a docking station.
It seems the Dell E-Port Plus 130W is the official one to use. I am wondering if the newer E-Port with USB 3.0 (which lists E6430 and other '30' models as compatible) is also compatible with the E6420 as it might be a better investment for the future if buying any further E series machines. I guess the USB would probably only run at USB2 with the current machine - if the newer E-Port works with it at all? (I am a bit confused by all the variations in E-Port that are available).

 

can we use an msata drive in the WWAN slot?

 

Hi Mrmondaynight and Scott need your help please.I can only do the change with you guys help as you have mentioned you have done this before.

I have just purchased a new E6420 laptop, was shipped from dell in July 2012, purchased it sealed from ebay. Comes with Nvidia graphics BUT 1366 resolution screen. I own a D630 and E6410 and am astonished how low quality the screen is. You can see all the pixels etc. Very Poor.

So seeing this thread and the experts MrMondaynight and Scott I am looking change to the higher res screen.

Few things I note, needs a specific cable.

Opening up my unit I found the below information below:

Current cable, will I need to change for the higher panel screen or can I use the existing?

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a503/parm_singh1/currentcable-1.jpg

Picture of my lid when opened up:

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a503/parm_singh1/backlid.jpg

Mr current screen spec:

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a503/parm_singh1/Laptop3.jpg

Options that I have are possibly to buy a lid that comes with the cable and a new screen, try and fit the together

Lid part number P/N 616W2 4MNMP PJRCP P8FNX

Screen that I can find is: LG LP140WDA (TL) (M1) WXGA++ HD+ 1600x900 14, will this fit. Its a glossy screen and a LG, don’t know if any better ones out there.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and help.

 

I have a 6-cell battery in my E6420 purchased back in April 2012. It's showing around 75% capacity right now. Is this good, bad, normal?

 

Hi Guys, anyone help with my screen enquiry? Thanks

Bump

 

No. We tried at my work and it was not recognize; it's not impossible that a future BIOS will unlock it, but given that the E6x30s are out (and it was not enabled in them) probably will never happen.

 

A little quick, but not entirely out of line with heavy on-battery use. If you mostly use plugged in, that seems a bit quick.

Always turn off ExpressCharge!

 

I have an E6520, I have tried to find ways to disable battery charging without luck so far.

In the last few days have come across the DELL Client Configuration Toolkit which apparently should allow BIOS changes but I cannot get to change the battery charging settings (stop charging) basically it does not save the new edited BIOS configuration, did you get any luck?

My 97WHr battery wear is 16.3% and the laptop was delivered in Dec 2011, although it has been used much and mostly unplugged from the laptop and sitting on the desk.

Why it is better to disable express charging?

 

Just updated the firmware on Liteon LCT-256M3S

Driver Details | Dell United States

AS SSD scores went up a little.

 

What is the "normal" idle temperature for the Nvidia GPU?

I had to replace the heatsink/fan recently and I never paid attention to the GPU temp before but I decided to look at it. Right now as I type this, it's idling at 53c. Is that normal?