E6420 Owner's Thread

Any comments at all on battery life and heat?

 

Was any of you able to order the 6420 with quad core cpu (I7-2720) and WITHOUT the nvidia GPU? I would like to have the quad core CPU with the Intel integrated graphics only, since I want to install linux as my OS and it (to the best of my knowledge) does not support the combined intel-nvidia GPU with software switching.

Thaks in advance for your kind reply

Bye
G.

 

We have an E6420 and E6520. Both with the 2720QM. E6420 has the 9 cell battery. E6520 has the 6 cell.

Very important - Dell has made great improvements to their control point software - especially the new power plans for Windows 7. If you select Max Battery Life, it turns things off like the DVD. If you select Cool, it keeps the machine cool for laptop use. If you select Max Performance, you get a lot of fan and little to no throttling.

It looks like the 2720QM will pull just under 45 watts under a full load. This means 45 watts of heat and 45 watts of battery draw.

It also looks like the 2720QM only pulls 4.x watts when you are surfing the web or doing lighter tasks. This is a 10:1 difference!

I am seeing heat get up to around 80C with the quad core fully loaded. Yes, this is considered hot by some people, but the processor is also around 15% faster than the 920XM in my M6500. This is a lot of processing power for a 14" chassis!

Heat stays low under normal tasks. Usually in the 50C range. Maybe up to 60C when doing more.

If you put it into the Cool power plan, it will stay in the 40s to 50s.

Battery life with the 9 cell has been 7 - 8 hours of light work in the Max Life power plan and lower screen brightness. 6 - 7 hours of normal use without regard to battery life.

Battery life with the 6 cell has been in the 4 - 5 hour range. I have gotten over 5 hours being conservative.

Keep in mind that this battery life is with a quad core processor. Optimus graphics switching also helps.

 

You can disable Optimus in the Bios. Graphics card stays on all the time when you disable it.

 

Sure about this? What happens when I disable Optimus? Which card will I see? The intel integrated one or the Nvidia one? And both will consume my battery? This is very nice :-(

What a stupid solution, if this is really the case and it is not possible to buy the machine without the optimus stupid tech :-(

Thanks
G.

 

Does this mean that in idle or just surfing the net, the new Dells are silent? No fan noise?

 

The Quadro is on the integrated graphics are off. The machine will not see the integrated graphics at all with Optimus disabled.

Until Linux supports Optimus, you are stuck making the same decision you would have made with the E6x10 series - to have a video card or not - and decide what you want to trade off.

Once you have an OS that supports it, you have fewer trade offs.

Good luck!

 

There is also a Quiet power plan that does all that is possible to keep fan noise low.

This may sound over simplified but fan noise changes with processor load and the power plan chosen.

 

Thanks for the info!

About temperature, 40C-50C for everyday use is very good, especially if it is also silent.

A question about E6520: Does the lid require two hands to open it or one?
Also, it would be great if you could post some pictures of E6520 and a picture of the internal in order to make sure that it has separate heatpipes for cpu and nvidia gpu.

Thanks

 

Has anyone chipped in with an actual weight?