E6540 Owners Thread

No, it's not possible to disable in BIOS or remove the AMD GPU.

New set of thermal pads arrived yesterday, planning in applying and re-pasting system tomorrow.

 

Another update for me: refurb laptop was dented and had poor fitment. I paid more for an Outlet New to not have to deal with that, but I offered to keep it if they upgraded a spec for me. My case manager's manager contacted me to apologize and say that they're building me a new machine that should ship on the 23rd. This is turning into a 2 week ordeal, but it sounds like it's getting worked out

 

Sucks to not get a useable laptop, but glad to hear they're making good on it. Thanks for following through on your case.

 

Oh God. I just ordered one of these from the outlet (refurb) after a disastrous experience with a (supposedly) new XPS 12.

Should I be wishing I hadn't?

Regarding the AMD GPU, I didn't want it as I am mainly concerned about battery life and cool running, and I don't game. I'll be using the dock+ to drive twin 30" monitors (no gaming or 3D), which the Intel graphics can easily handle.

Given that it apparently can't be removed or BIOS disabled, can it be at least ignored by the OS (Windows and /or Linux) so that it remains powered down and unused?

 

If you don't play any games, it won't ever really be used, so you don't have anything to worry about. The GPU (just like the CPU) is only going to get hot under load.

You can even specify that the Intel GPU be used for any graphical tasks and games and basically pretend it's not even there.

Heck, if you don't install the Radeon drivers, you wouldn't even be able to use it.

TrueG

 

Yeah, as trueg said, the AMD GPU can be set in Windows 7/8 to remain unused due to the Switchable Graphics tools.

 

New machine arrived a day early. While I've got their attention I'm going to see if I can get any info about a modular bay battery and getting another bottom cover for modding.

 

For those of you who've installed a second HDD in the optical bay, what caddy did you use? Any opinions on this one?

2nd Hard Drive Caddy DELL E6540 E-Module Bay [DELL-2BAY-E6540] - $46.95 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

$47 seems steep for a simple caddy. Thanks for any info.

 

I'm considering the E6540...and it looks like different configurations are finally possible. However, my big concerns are battery life and heat. I could care less about gaming, but 1920x1080 is a must.

It looks like the best option available is the i7-4600m with the HD8970. If I set all applications to use the integrated HD4600 graphics, do you think the heat will stay down?

Can anyone speak to their generate computing (Office, web browsing, productivity) with their e6540? How hot does it get? How is the battery life?

Thanks.

 

Unless you play games (actual modern 3D games, not casual games), you will not need to be concerned with heat. You won't even need to change the GPU configuration. If all you use it for is "general computing" then the Radeon GPU will never even get used.