E6420 Owner's Thread

A product that falls apart due to poor build quality affects your productivity as well.

 

A few-off assembly issues has not established poor build quality nor falling apart. And generally do not affect computing function... mostly just annoying to us OCD-types that spend way too much time tweaking their systems... which I suppose could affect our mental productivity.

GK

 

Yes, this.

 

Has anybody seen if its possible to do 3 monitors using the dock station (2x DisplayPort) plus the HDMI connector?

I've tried and I couldn't get it to work, it wouldn't let me do the 2 monitors via the dock station plus the laptop screen either....

With both scenarios (above) Windows shows 3 displays, but only allows 2 to be active.

nVidia states that the chip will do 3 displays plus the laptop screen, but its limited my the manufacturer, of course.



ARG!

 

I have an email from a dell sales rep stating that it is possible to run 3 external displays from the NVIDIA NVS4200, at up to 2560 x 1600, using the advanced eport plus. Would like to get practical verification of that, but being a 3 display person, I couldn't go back to any less, and two displays is annoying because there is no central focus.

 

I have a Advanced E/Port Plus and I tried the 2 displayports on the dock plus the HDMI off the laptop.

I already know using the DisplayPorts + DVI wont work.

But the error in Windows specifically says it only supports 2 displays.

Maybe the Dell rep was wrong.... surprise surprise.

 

Just throwing ideas out there:

Maybe the 4200M can only drive 2 digital outputs simultaneously, and you need an analog output for the 3rd?

Or maybe the 4200M in the E6420 does have a 2 device output limit and you'll need to figure out how to use the HD 3000 for the 3rd (maybe w/ optimus, maybe not?).

 

Do you have this with your new model as well? I am currently seriously considering buying the E6420, but your negative review has held me off so far. Then again, there doesn't seem to be a dockable businesslaptop with another GFX card. Vostro 3450 might be an alternative with a HD6630M but shrug, no dock

 

Just pulled my new e6420 out of the shipping box and POP there goes the bottom chassis separating. This one is so bad that you can't even touch the left side of the notebook or it pops open. Back it goes!

 

We'll see how it wears.

A loose connector is entirely unacceptable and a bad harbinger. My E6410 has always had a loose power connector, and despite taking tremendous care never to stress this obvious weak point, it's probably getting worse. Yes, I've had to wiggle the connector to maintain landline power again. Again, not a good sign that the new model has loose power connector.

This is a huge problem for a business notebook and a huge step backward for the Latitude line. I'm not even talking about entertainment, but the need for reasonable speakers for business presentations.

From past experience with Dell's, I anticipated the weak speaker issue, if only on the basis of speaker placement. This is a tremendous disadvantage. Why did Dell chose to regress from the previous two generation?

There are wonderful keyboards on ThinkPads, and Elitebooks have wonderful keyboards. I've even seen some very good keyboards on consumer notebooks lately. Not a major distinction.