E6420 Owner's Thread

Two months in, I'm still pleased with the E6420. However, I have developed a little rattle in the speakers. Basically, it sounds like something is vibrating when the volume is greater than 50% or so. I've been very careful not to overexert the speakers, so I'm not thinking they're blown. I guess that doesn't mean they aren't, though.

Has anyone else experienced this? Kind of annoying.

Thanks.

 

So here are the information you asked. The weight of the dvd-rw is 143g., the weight of the usb 3.0 module is 92g. So if you are buying it to save some weight, it is not worth. As for the price, it cost me 32 euros.

Finally, I attached a photo of module.

BTW, it works under linux (2.6.39)

 

Sweet thanks so much for the info! I'm going to buy one mainly for my External HDD for storage. Figured the weight-savings would help too over a DVD drive but it seems its just 51g so no biggie. Thanks again!

 

I must have gotten lucky, as I've run some many-hours video conversion, and while there are a small number of throttling interrupts, for the vast majority of the time it runs at a turbo level a notch or two over the rated 2.2ghz.

Yes, it runs hot - hotter than either my D620 or D630 machines - although not AS hot as either the C640 did or the 2.93ghz E6500s we have at my work (which were near-crippled for long, CPU-intensive runs by throttling) - but I've yet to see a laptop that could do heavy CPU-intensive stuff and still do well on a lap.

One thing to always be mindful of is airflow; the intake is on the bottom, and there is definitely a fair bit of passive heat removal through the bottom. If you don't have a dock, and don't want to invest in one or a laptop cooler, at least avoid using it on a soft surface which the feet will sink into, or consider propping the back of the machine on a book or similar.

 

Can you check if your screen is set to 40hz or 60hz? I get problems on mine only when it's set to 60hz. At 40hz, no problems, which is a good enough work around for me, but it may not be acceptable to some.

 

Anyone know what blu-ray reader will fit in the E6420 laptop? Would prefer DVD-RW/BR reader. It appears the Dell bezel is a custom shape or does something else fit easily? part number for a Dell drive that I might look for in the resale market? Dells $600 blu-ray burner is out of the question.

 

Does anyone have a link for the service manual? Or how to remove the palm rest? I keep getting bunk replacement laptops from Dell and I'm going to take the good parts and make a franken-laptop. It's either that or I'm going to get my FOURTH replacement.

EDIT
Ignore, I found it.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/late6420/en/SM/index.html

 

Could you please let us know how it goes? I was looking through the service manual yesterday, debating whether I want to fool around with my bad speaker, but it looks slightly more complicated than other Dells I've done surgery on.

I also happen to have a system that doesn't have the corner popping issue, so I'm slightly worried that dismantling it will cause it to begin popping.

Anyway, thanks!

 

It has been posted that Dell is using double-stick tape to hold the chassis together to repair the corner popping issue... disassembly requires some confident force.

GK

 

Guess I ought to stock up, huh?