E6520 Owner's Thread

1) Select the custom power plan "Cool (Reduced Temp Levels)". I use this when I do CPU or GPU intensive work and the temperatures get high or if the ambient temperature is high. This increases the fan speed and reduces temps. However, it's a bit more audible.

 

Hi guys,

Just got a refurb e6520 from the Dell outlet store. i7 2720M CPU, 1600 x 900 display, 500 Gig 7200 HDD, Windows 7 (64 bit) Professional. Came with 1 x 4 GIG RAM and I have a second one on order from Crucial.

Everything seems OK but the BIOS is vn A03, should I upgrade? If so, to what vn should I go?

Also, did you guys ever figure out what our options are to fit some form of small SSD to do a fast boot from and then use the HDD as file storage only?

Thanks in advance

 

I upgraded to the new bios update and everything is fine. Also I upgraded to a Momentus XT and noticed fast improvements for most of my needs. I used Seagates free Clone program to clone new XT for the swap.

 

Hi, When I change the dell power plan settings in Power Options from "Quiet" to "High Performance" the fan noise level doesn't change. (Its on idle).

Is this normal? (maybe these settings only have impact when its under load)

Is there a program that will control the fan speed and monitor temperature?

 

I am asking this too...setting fan control to "active" seems to have no effect.

 

hello,
I think i'm going to buy a e6520, but i have some questions to ask to users before wasting money.

My first one is, what are the dim of the keyboard (see attachment)?
Secondly, i whant to buy this laptop because i read review that mesure a low noise in idle, because built quality is good, and because i have offers on dell laptop. Could you confirm the low noise ?

Then, i love GTA (Grand Theft Auto) games, do you know if the NVS4200m with i5-4210m would run san andreas ? gta 4 ?
And for Diablo 3, GRID, Bioshock ?


For 1050€ I can have the e6520 with i5-2410m, NVS4200m, Full-HD, 320Gb, backlite keyboard, 3years warrantly D+1



With my needs, do you still consider me this laptop, or could i choose something similar (absolutely anti-glare screen), quiet, with the games i mentioned ?

Thanks a lot !

 

Thanks, I researched the Momentus XT and it looks great. One thing I'm not clear about is how I can connect both drives to the laptop to do the cloning. How did you do this?

 

The E6520 is an excellent laptop and will not be a waste of your money. Below are some pics of a new setup I just finished this past weekend. It is all brand new so please excuse some of the protective plastic still on some parts. For the Euro price you are looking that (US$1480), I will sell you my new unit with all the extras (i7-2720QM, 160G SSD, 8G PC3-10600, 1080p, 4200M, Backlit KB, Intel 6300, BT 3.0, 500G 2nd HDD, webcam, fingerprint/contactless sc readers, ext. media bay, etc etc etc)

At any rate, you will also see below the keyboard is about 28.5cm wide. Since I have the 2720QM processor, it is a very fast system. The fan is not loud at all; even under load. In other words, yes, you hear it, but it is not as bad as the XPS 17 or similar laptops. I am sure the i5 system you are looking is even less noisy on the fan side. The cooling design on these tri-metal business systems is very good.

I do not play many games (besides Angry Birds!), but the Nvidia 4200M is very respectable for all my photo and video editing uses. The WEI is 6.4, which is on par with the Nvidia 425M and should play all your main stream games fine in at least medium quality mode. Optimus GPU switching also works nicely in this system so that is good.

For the seconday drive, I have the recently released NewModeUS 9.5mm caddy specifically designed for the E6520 and it works great. I then modified the optical drive (removed/replaced the faceplate, bottom casing, and locking mech.) to fit a Dell E series external [eSATA] media bay housing.

With this setup, everything is good to go and works great.

Scott-

 

Also note, since you have the 3 year warranty, I strongly suggest getting GT 520 drivers, as well as overclocking the card.

 

I've ordered a 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive for my new E6520, I understand I can use Seagate's free drive cloning software to clone the existing 500 GB drive to the new one but is there a way to connect the new drive to the E6520 - e.g. using an adaptor cable - or do I need to get the old and new drives hooked up to another computer and do the cloning there?

If I choose to use the supplied DVD to reinstall the OS on the new drive, where will I get the E6520-specific drivers from?

Thanks in advance.