E6520 Owner's Thread

These are the part numbers Dell is using for the USA based E6250 backlit keyboard:

1TXVC ---- Module,Keyboard,104,United States,English,Black,ENDB3

HG3G3 ---- Keyboard,104,United States,English,Black,ENDB3

Contact Dell for the latest pricing, but it should be under US$40.

Scott-

 

The first E6520 DIY eGPU implementation courtesy of Khenglish

FYI: 8GB i7-920XM Dell E6520 + [email protected] Opt DIY eGPU implementation initial details. This is the *first* Latitude Optimus implementation with 4GB or more that has ever been done. The 2nd gen i-cores no longer plagued with high TOLUD values like the C2D and 1st-gen i-cores were (ref: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ostro-latitude-egpu-friendly.html#post7633189 ).

This system get 3dmark06=20420 with the GTX460 eGPU.

 

Thank you! I called Dell parts today, and they actually indicated to me that my system was shown as having the backlit keyboard installed. I'm supposed to hear back from them by...next Monday. Sigh. It's pretty sad when the staff can't tell how your system is configured and you can't get answers to pretty basic questions.

I bought my 6520 to replace my 6500, really wanted a system with a full HD display and wanted to try out a SSD. Found the system I have from the Outlet at $850 plus tax with the 15% coupon they were running a while back. Basic configuration with a few upgrades - I5-2520, 4GB ram, 128 SSD, BT 375, 9 cell, Nvidia 4200, and the 1920X1080 display. No webcam, thought I saw that it had the backlit board on one of the build sheets but the one I have shows otherwise.

Love the speed of the system and the display, but in terms of keyboard feel and build quality it seems like a step back from my 6500, to say nothing of the unfortunate switch to the 16:9 displays. I used it for a bit over 3 weeks thinking there was a 30 day return policy on Latitudes, but they apparently changed that at some point to exclude the refurbs. Despite this being the 3rd personal laptop I've bought in the past 3 years, my small firm spending more than $10K with them over that period, and my offer to pay both the restocking fee and return shipping they told me to basically stick my 6520 where the sun doesn't shine. To make things worse I had to go back and forth with one of their reps for a month to find out what they would (or in my case, wouldn't) do.

So it's either get used to this thing or take a big time loss selling it. As much as I like some things about the 6520 it I can't get used to the fact that the keys seem smaller than those on the 6500, to say nothing about the cheaper feel (to me at least). So I'm trying to get used to it. I haven't read much here from others with fat finger syndrome having trouble typing accurately on it, so maybe it can be overcome. Fat fingers are crossed

 

The E6520 is nice and will grow on you. Just remember, both the Outlet and the retail Dell systems have a (21) day return period. If you at least contact them within this time frame with any potential issues, your 21 day clock usually stops ticking until the matter is resolved.

The course of action at this point is document your system with photos. If you remove the keyboard in question and take a photo of the ID sticker(s) on the bottom side and share them with the next Dell rep, the case will move a lot faster; usually in your favor. Good luck.

Scott-

 

Hey I just wanted to add my experience so far with my E6520.

I bought an 2920xm ES off of ebay for it (the ES is $300 vs $1050 for a retail). The cpu works fine. When running prime95 it gets up to 98C, which is hot, but below throttle point. When running anything else the highest I have seen a core get was 85C. Speaking of temperatures, the cooler has uneven contact on the CPU die (I do not have the NVS 4200). I fixed this by putting some wire in 2 of the spring loaded cooler screws, but it didn't make a difference in temperature, so even with the uneven die contact the fan seems to be the cooling system's bottleneck. The fan only gets loud if the CPU goes over 80C, which is very rare, and simply won't happen if you don't have a quad core.

I also bought 8GB gskill 1600mhz CAS 9 memory since it was faster and cheaper than what Dell offered for 8GB. The memory is properly running at 1600mhz. I might flash it up to 1866mhz, but I haven't yet mainly due to windows 7 not supporting unsigned drivers for thaiphoon burner.

The FHD screen has incredible contrast and brightness, however, the response time could be better. I did not have to correct its tint like I had to on my previous laptop. It turns slightly yellow if you look at it at an angle, but that angle seems to be in excess of 50 degrees, and the yellow tint is not major.

There are only 3 USB ports, and they are scattered all around the laptop. One on the left, one on the left corner, and one on the right.

I have hooked up a GTX 460 to the laptop. See here for some performance numbers. Compaction was not required. The BIOS will disable the HD 3000 if I boot with the 460 plugged in, which is not ideal since that disables the internal screen, and prevents optimus from activating for the performance boost. To get the HD 3000 running, I have to plug in the 460 after the system has begun to boot. I also have to set the 460's port to run in pci-e 1.1 mode, because if I don't the video driver will attempt to set the 5.0gt/s pci-e 2.0 rate, which currently cannot be done with an external graphics card.

I also ran some benchmarks on the HD 3000. I got 4936 in 3dmark06, and 32fps in RE5 dx9 mode.

Overall I am happy with the system. If I could get pci-e 2.0 to work then it would be spectacular.

 

To run thaiphoon burner in win7 x64, you should choose disable driver sign in the F8 boot menu before windows boot.

E6520 has 4 usb ports, one is combined with esata port.

 

Don't forget #4 (USB/eSATA combo) on the right side.

-Trash

 

Ah cool nice to know that there's another USB port. I got thaiphoon burner to run, but apparently the free version can't flash. I can't select the flash option in the editor.

 

Has anyone determined if the E6520's HDMI port can function as an input? The Dell specs don't specify it as in input or output. Some laptops do have HDMI input ports.

 

If you have driver signing errors, try booting in test mode (hold F8 during bootup) and select "allow unsigned drivers".

Let me know if FN+SHIFT + 1,5,3,2,4 and then FN+R works for you to disable the BIOS thermal management and lets you use Speedfan. I like this Dell and it's very powerful, but man does it get hot!