E6420 Owner's Thread

Note that the ThinkPad T420 weighs more than the T420s, but less than the E6420, is smaller than the E6420 (though not as small as the T420s) and has better battery life than the T420s with the stock 6-cell (the T420s 6-cell has a lower watt/hour rating).

I'd consider that a bit of an in-between; the E6420 has a bit brighter display than the T420, if I'm not mistaken.

 

I've done some 12+ hour video conversions on mine, and it gets hot but as long as it it has adequate airflow under it. With 8 rendering threads running (linux load levels around 760%) it stayed turboed in the 2.3-2.4ghz range. No sign of overheating.

I haven't run any really, really heavy GPU-related stuff, but it runs games from a couple of years ago through today (Fallout 3, Starcraft 2, and Civ 5) with at least moderate detail levels without any problems (although it does get quite warm gaming.)

To get a quad-core on a Thinkpad, you're going to be limited to the T520 (or W520); neither the T420s (as others have said) nor the T420 have a quad-core option.

 

I constantly travel (train, air) with my E6400 and today marked the first train ride for my E6420. Very managable, no problem fitting it trays, easy to get out for airport security. Having an internal WWAN card makes things even more portable as I don't need to carry a usb or worry about additional width requirements due to it sticking out.

 

I've done side-by side comparisons of the T420s and E6410. The Dell does have a brighter screen but at full brightness the colours tend to wash out. The best contrast is at around 75% brightness in which case there's not a lot of difference. I would assume that the E6420's display settings are similar.

John

 

Do the enrollment again but use just a little more pressure. I never have to reswipe.

 

So what happens if the reader refuses your print? How do you get in?

GK

 

You have never done any government work....there is always a Plan B. 99.99% of the time it takes my print....the other 0.01% I type in a password. So make sure you set up for biometric OR password.

 

Hi,

I am unbelievably frustrated. I just got my 6420 a couple of days ago and I can't get the bottom plate off. I had one from my office a month ago and took out the screws and the bottom came off. With this one there's something holding the front right of the bottom on (a clip?) that I just can't figure out. I've removed the screws on the bottom and I can remove much of the bottom but it acts like there's still an invisible screw right-front.

Can anyone give me trivial directions (put your thumb there, pull here) that would get the bottom off so I can upgrade my RAM? Any chance this was an engineering change? It feels like I need to stick a screwdriver in somewhere and lever something.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Could be the fix for the popping bottom. Why not call Dell and get a quick answer?

GK

 

Hi,

So, I did call Dell. It was pretty quick. You gotta love it when you actually get service nowadays. Yay Dell.

On a less kind note, it appears the popping fix was a piece of double-sided tape at the bottom right holding the bottom on and so it took a moderate amount of force to get the bottom off (and split the tape piece).

Anyway, it's done.

Thanks all (especially Dell )

Mark