E6430 Owners Thread

I have an E6520 with an i7, nVidia graphics (always on, i disabled optimus), and a 500GB HDD (WD Scorpio Black). I NEVER hear any noise, except when gaming. The HDD is silent (the standard one Dell provides might not be), the CPU/GPU gets to 60*C easily without any noise, and overall, I can't hear ANYTHING from 2 feet away....

If you are hearing a noticeable noise, it's either a faulty HDD, or a lemon, but don't discount this machine...

 

Just received my E6430. Does anyone have a hole in the bottom near the harddisk?. Its not a missing screw im not sure why its there. Its got me stumped.

 

It's probably a drainage hole for accidental water spills on the keyboard.

 

I think it's a speed hole.

 

I poked it a few times but it didn't seem to go any faster so I tried a litre of water into the keyboard and some did come out the hole so cowboy must be right, its a drainage hole. Thanks

 

OK had a look over the E6430 and my first impression is... this is the first Latitude i dont really like out of the box.

I'm comparing it to previous models and my main initial impressions with this are:

- Seems bulkier & heavier than previous models.
- My biggest issue is with the large trim around the screen. It really should be getting smaller like a picture frame not larger.
- I have the 4000 GFX and the image/screen quality doesnt seem very sharp or impressive
- The lid material seems much cheaper than the E6400 or E6410. Holds lots of finger marks. Looks more like a Inspiron than a Latitude imo

 

Agreed. Never seen one in person but the design never really did it for me. The refresh is due in the summer. I think the new range will echo the new 6430u designs. If not, I'm leaning toward ThinkPads. They used to be too far the other way but recent designs are quite classy.

 

Does anyone know if you can replace a 1366 wxga screen with a 1600x900 hd+ screen? I'm thinking about picking up a cheap system from the outlet and swapping out the screen for $60 versus paying $200 more for the screen initially.

 

I remember reading posts of people replacing their screens in the E6420 Owners thread. I'm pretty sure the E6430s have the same parts.