E6520 Owner's Thread

After reading through various forums I went with the highest resolution screen. My eyes aren't that perfect, but thanks to the brightness of the panel I can read it really well without DPI-scaling.

On my D830 I had problems reading on a HD+ resolution.

 

Does anybody know if the miniPCIe and Expresscard slots are bootable - eg can boot a small SSD (eg 40GB) to hold just the OS+Apps (leaving the 2.5" HDD for Data only), and if so, where is the source, as the Dell spec does not state the speed of their Expresscard slot, or if Expresscard rev 1 or rev 2, or if bootable.

 

I'm interested in picking up an e-port dock for my E6520 quad-core, FHD screen, nvidia graphics, 7200rpm hdd (for now), bluetooth, and other power consuming bits. Anyone out there with a similar config and an e-port know if the 130W power supply will suffice or will I need to look into the 210W power supply e-port? Thanks.

 

I'm looking for an answer to this, specifically for the miniPCIe compatibility. I don't think we'll know for certain until someone tries it and reports it. I found this article, which makes it clear that unless the manufacturer specifically made the slot with mSATA support, an mSATA drive will NOT work in a regular mini-PCIe slot:

Final Words : Intel SSD 310 80 GB: Little Notebooks Get Big Storage Flexibility

I can't imagine Dell would support mSATA and not advertise it, but I suppose anything is possible.

As far as booting from the ExpressCard slot, if it's possible to boot from an external (eSATA, USB) drive hooked up to a card plugged into the ExpressCard slot, I imagine it should be possible to boot from an ExpressCard SSD card, too. I have not tried the former, but now that I'm curious I'm going to try it with my old D830.

 

After a bit more digging, I found this device:

Super Talent debuts CoreStore MV, super small, super fast mini PCIe SSD -- Engadget

It's an SSD specifically designed to work in a regular mini-PCIe slot (meaning, it's NOT mSATA), and would probably work in the E6520 assuming there is enough room to put it. The device comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. As soon as I get my E6520 (10 days as of this writing) I'm going to measure the available space and try this card out.

 

How is the FHD-screen compared to the matte screen in macbook pro 15" (1680x1050)?

I'm really interested in the new E6520 but I'm not sure if I'll like screen...

 

The 1920x1080 FHD screen looks amazing on the e6520. It is matte finish like macbooks. No glare at all but still very colorful/bright and great viewing angles.

 

Thanks! I have some serious problems with selecting a new laptop (and some problems with my english...). XPS 15 seems like a nice machine with a good screen but it doesn't have backlit keyboard in Sweden and I don't like the design.

Latitude E6520 is really nice looking and the only two questions I have is about the screen and how much noise it produces.

How much does the fans sound under normal load? (internet and word/excel/music)? Compared to XPS M1530 if someone knows?

Regards
Velman

 

The T520/W520's FHD screen is more similar to the XPS 15's than the E6520's. Both are 95% gamut while the E6520's is 60%.

The E6520's is still good though (I had an E6510 with FHD)

 

Thanks for your ip. I totally agree mSATA is much the preferred standard, using the same physical card & connector spec as mini-PCIe, and although using different signals than mini-PCIe, according to an article in Tomshardware or other of the main blogs, the JEDEC spec allows laptop makers to make slots compatible with BOTH mSATA and PCIe.
As Lenovo announced SNB Notebooks with mSATA last December and Dell only announced their Latitude E6x20 on 8 Feb, there was plenty of time for Dell to incorporate a mSATA slot, and indeed a native USB3 socket as that has been around for 1 generation of laptops. 2 missed opportunities
Had Dell implemented mSATA, the E6520 almost certainly guaranteed to boot from internal OS+Apps SSD - problem solved ! I would probably would have choosen the Intel mSATA 310 SSD, as its 170MByte/s Sequential Read, low-power and $99 for the 40GB. Although SuperTalent PCIe CoreStoreMV faster at 350MB/s RD, at moment its very expensive, perhaps not cost-effective for mainstream. Other few PCIe SSDs I've seen are low performance 50 to 100MB/s RD, poor perf-per-buck, and as Tomshardware on 14 Feb points out, BEWARE of SSD on PCIe, often mutant eg Asus & Dell, while mSATA is a SSD standard.
Your concern on physical size probably unfounded. Although Dell spec only a vague 'mini-card', the fact the Intel Centrino WiFi 6300 miniPCIe card works in it, means you can check the spec of whichever miniPCIe card you fit, matches the 6300 spec to derive the 'Dell spec'.
As Super Talent DataSheet points out, the laptop must be mini-PCIe Rev2 compliant for their SSD to achieve specification.

As you have taken the plunge and ordered a E6520, as E6x20 User Manual still absent from Dell site, I think most important thing is for you to get Dell to confirm (written) a) their 'minicard' slots are PCIe Rev 2.0 compliant, and b) will boot PCIe SSD Drives. - and preferably get same confirmations re. their Expresscard slot. (EC2 spec is 500MByte/s)

Interested if you see any links to recommended minimum size for SSD boot drives to hold OS+typical user range of Apps. Apparently it may not be the size of the WINDOWS + Program Files folders+ a margin. Need to consider 'System Restore' space, where to store the Page File, also 'Hibernation' space. I seek advice in these areas.