E6420 Owner's Thread

Uninstalling the driver worked for me. YMMV.

450Mbits/sec is VERY helpful if you have large files to move up to and from a local file server; I use the wired gigabit (effective speed about 60MBytes or 600Mbits/sec) to move large files all the time, and wouldn't need to if I had access to a fast enough wireless connection - the 150-200Mbps of regular Wireless-N isn't.

Yes. Mounted directly on the front. Card sits nearly flush when inserted. It's a pretty slow reader, though.

 

Maybe, if you're sitting on the access point.

 

Is the the E-Modular Bay, USB 3.0 worth getting?

 

Is the 1600 x 900 screen on the Dell E6420 better than the 1600 x 900 on the HP 8460p?

 

Only if you have a USB 3 device...but remember, your laptop has eSATA built in.

I haven't seen the HP, but I'd be willing to bet they are using the same screen.

I'd be surprised if it could be worse than the e6420's 1600x900 screen. I've looked at 15 or so e6420 1600x900 screens...I hated all of them. I could see vertical lines (screen door) from a mile away.

I am super picky, but I also hate big laptops (I really want a 12" or 13")...I ended up with a e6520 because I hated the e6420 screen...if that tells you anything.

 

Is the e6520 much bigger/heavier than the e6420?

Did you chose the 1600 x 900 screen or the 1920 x 1080 on the e6520?

Besides weight and size are there any other major differences between them?

 

Its only like 1" wider than the e6420. But the e6420 is 2" wider than my e6410 ...so, its a lot more laptop than my e6410...for sure.

I got the 1920x1080 screen, of course...

They have identical configuration options so performance wise, they are identical. Only differences being the e6520 has a number pad, and firewire port. The e6520 seems to have a better use of space (edge to edge keys pretty much). The speakers are also better on the e6520...which isn't saying much.

If the e6420's screen was better, I would have chosen that. For me, I will always choose the smallest laptop with the performance I want.

I'm still crossing my fingers for a 12" 1920x1200 i7 dedicated graphics with a dock port laptop....

 

You're seriously better off wired if you have that much info to pass along. Unless you're line-of-sight with it, you probably will never get the full 450Mbps. If you're already on the lower end of the spectrum when you're connecting, the connection is probably marginal anyway (having the extra antennas might help with reception a bit.).

Unless it's a class 10 card, the difference is barely noticeable compared to my external Sandisk reader.

Only time I can see it being worth it is if you aren't using the ODD and you regularly use USB3 devices.

Otherwise, if it's occasional use, might be better to get an Expresscard USB3 adapter (though it would stick out).

- E6520 has a keyboard with numeric pad, but the keyboard goes practically edge-to-edge of the frame.
- E6520 has the option for a full HD screen (1920x1080) which is much nicer than the 1600x900. The FHD unit on the E6520 doesn't have that grid effect that you see if your eyes are sharp (E6420 has that on the 1600x900 one).
- E6520 also has a 4-pin Firewire connector which the E6420 doesn't. *grumble*

And obviously, the E6520 is bigger and weighs a bit more.

 

Dell sent in a repair guy to fix my GPU heat-issues (see quoted). He decided up-front to replace both the motherboard and the heatsink before messing with heat-sink thermal paste. In the photograph you see the difference in the heat-sink paste; the newer is smaller but almost double the thickness. I suspect that old one was squished a bit from the previous motherboard, and was not touching my GPU anymore. Now my problem is fixed, IDLE GPU temperature at 48C instead of 65+C, and under load doesn't increase as fast as it did. If anyone has heat issues like this, you might want to check this as well.

 

I have a laptop with a 15.4" screen with 1680 x 1050 resolution .

How much smaller is the text on the e6520 with a resolution of 1920 x 1080?