E6420 Owner's Thread

Thanks ever so much for that most helpful explanation, so that issue solved. Now need to ascertain performance of small miniPCIe SSD's ro see if they, or ExpressCard based SSDs provide a worthwhile means of gaining the performance that are seen in SSD reviews

 

Or you could just get a proper SSD?

 

At least in the dock, I don't notice the dings or issues with the base.


Got 2 19" UltraSharps from one of my clients. They are 4:3, but good enough for me. Almost too large since I don't sit too far away. Need to calibrate the color. Nice having a portrait monitor....works well for Word docs.

 

Can anyone comment on Optimus working with the i7-2720QM (quad core) processor? The configurator threw me when I selected quad core and it told me it "required" the NVIDIA card. Thanks!

 

You need to select the NVIDIA card in order to get Optimus. I have that setup and it works well.

Optimus currently does not play nice with Arcsoft TMT5, crashes to desktop.

 

Optimus works great with Windows. It is currently not supported in any other OS, although people are working on getting it working in Linux it's not clear when.

You can disable Optimus in the BIOS; if you do so, the system runs in NVidia-only mode, which works great with Linux with the closed-source drivers (haven't tried with Nouveau, the open-source one) - when running on AC power there is no down side to this, but it does cost some battery.

You can, with some contortions, run on Intel graphics with Optimus enabled on Linux -- see up-thread -- but it does not power down the Nvidia card and doesn't save you battery over simply disabling Optimus and running on the Nvidia card.

 

Not sure if you tried this, but have you tried selecting the GPU other than auto selection. Just right click on the shortcut and use either the Intel or Nvidia, if that helps.

 

Can someone tell me if the keys are more like the e5400/e6400 (which I think have a slick/metallic finish), or are they more traditional with a plastic feel? I realize the traditional coating wears off giving a "shine", but didn't like the slick/metallic feel of the e5400/e6400. I'm just so used to the traditional feel, that the new smooth/metallic finish seemed harder to type on.

Thanks.

 

I have just received my E5420 which I decided to order. I do not know if I should start a new thread with my experiences with it, or if it should fit in this one. It seems like the same build, but I did not see the corner popping issue on my laptop. The bottom plate is constructed much differently (perhaps that's an E5x20 feature) and it has screws near the front. Removing the bottom plate will be more work. Also the air vents are in different places. I don't have time for a big dissection right now, but if people want (or if I should start a new thread) I'll post some more tonight.

Bottom plate:


Deep screw near DVD player:

 

I didn't see more biased review long time ...
Dell Latitude E6420 Review

1) Heat? Notebookcheck measured outside temps to 105 F they see only 95F (and they mention that CPU was i5 2,6Ghz, when Notebookcheck had lowest possible core i3)

2) Speakers ! They ... wrote it like there were two of them ...
{EDIT} Ok. There are two of them, notebookcheck.pl review did fool me as they incorrectly translated notebookcheck.de review! German review mentions that although they cannot hear stereo sound due to driver issue or faulty second speaker, they know that Dell installed stereo speakers.

3) NVS 4200 3D Mark score 5060 in Laptopmag review and 4601 pt.-Notebookcheck (well if it was CPU that changed this score then I'm really sorry, but how much difference is in i3 2,1GHz and i5 2,6GHz that use same RAM ?)

4) It looks like it is bent? 8th photo.