E6530 owners thread

Letting the battery drain completely on occasion will insure that it is properly calibrated, but I'd do it only when you start notice a significant difference in battery life.

 

I'm getting tired of waiting for Dell to allow custom configurations on the E6540 so I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a E6530. Why does Dell force me to buy the NVidia discrete graphics card with the i7-3740QM CPU option? I don't want the extra heat or battery drain of a discrete graphics card, I'm fine with the Intel HD 4000.

On another note, can someone explain why the non-quad core i7-3540M is branded as an "i7"? Seems to me if it's not quad core, it should be in the "i5" brand.

 

Intel marketing, that about sums it up.

 

I have the 1600x900 for a year now, use it daily at the office as my main machine - for software development. I am 42 with good eyesight. I ordered the 1600X900 as I feared that text on 1920 would be too small, I think I did right. On Windows 7 the fonts at 100% are quite small and uncomfortable for text. The sharpness is good and that compensates a bit, but even after a week had not gotten used to it. After experimenting a bit I have settled for 110% and live with it. At home my 1920X1200 desktop at 24" feels much better for text. I would advice against 1600X900 on a 15" 16:9 monitor for a 50yr old.

I cannot clean it by hand, wiping the dust with your palm just does not work, no matter how long you try. You need a dry cloth, then two seconds are enough to remove the dust. But it is again too dirty after a couple of days, the palmrest is a dust magnet indeed. I am always trying to find a cloth prior to meetings, now I am carrying a small piece in my bag. Well done for a business machine, Dell.

 

Thanks for the advice. Hard to find a high spec one with low resolution screen but will keep looking!

 

I have a Lat 6510 with FHD, and Lat 6530 with 1600 x 900, and am age 60, so I'm kinda like the person you're buying for. There is a noticeable 'screen door effect' with the 1600 x 900, but it's great, otherwise. The FHD is much crisper, but yes the font is smaller. But you can adjust the font sizes in either one, assuming you're talking Windows 7. (I hate and don't know how you can adjust fonts in Windows 8, but both these lappies are compatible for Win8 upgrade with no problems. You just have to patch in BIOS changes prior to upgrading to Win8.)

So as an old lady (brainouty on Youtube), I'd vote for either FHD or 1600 x 900. To be honest, in practice I use the 6510 more, due to the screen crispness. Then again, my fonts are magnified at 125% or 150%, in the Personalize options.

Was just at dfsdirectsales.com which has more 6510's on sale for less than $500, each with FHD screen. Am thinking of getting another one, but there's also a Precision 6500 (which uses the same memory chips and HDD as the Lat 6530) on sale for $670, also with FHD (17", orange chassis).

 

I'm 50 and I went for the FHD screen, taking the chance I wouldn't be able to read some text. At the 100% settings in Windows 7, I can't read much text without reading glasses. But at 125%, and adjustments to Clear Type Fonts, it's not too bad. BTW, I have the AU Optronics screen and zero screen door effect. Vertical viewing angle could be a little better, but I'm used to an Ultrasharp monitor, so I suppose it's not too bad ;-).

Is there such a thing as a WiDi card for the E6530, maybe for the ExpressCard slot? Wanted to wirelessly connect to my 50" TV. Google turned up nothing. Anyone try Chromecast to connect to a WiFi enabled HDTV?

 

I'm pretty sure all you'd need for WiDi is a compatible WLAN adapter and the rest of the external gear according to Intel: Self-Service

 

That's great to hear. I was looking for a 1600x900 on the outlet site, but ended up getting a FHD one as it had everything else I was looking for. Great deal with the 35% off coupons. I am sure by increasing the font to 125% etc it will be fine. The user will be using his reading glasses for it most likely. Will be interesting to see what screen it comes with, hoping it's a good one as the "screen door effect" sounds annoying. Still, can always replace it with a different one if it's too annoying. I expect it's a lot easier to take apart than my G73JH!

 

I just jumped into a E6530 from a E6520. Both have FHD and don't notice a difference. The E6530 has a LG made screen I believe. There is a slight color difference overall when next to each other but I can't say I light one better then the other. I was worried about the screen door effect mentioned here but I don't see any thing. I like the unit and actually took my 6520 HDD and put it in with OS and setup I've had since I bought the 6520. All I had to do was go to device manager and install the drivers from the HDD that came with the 6530. I used a E sata adapter to hook up the 6530 drive to.