Just Bought a E6420 from WOOT on a Special and have few questions regarding Memory Expansion and Extra Hard Drive Caddy Expansion.

Alright Guys I finally Pulled the Switch, I had been wanting a Thinkpad Style Trackpoint + SSD + Above 1366x768 Resolution Laptop that was Less than 5 LBS

I Originally Bought the DM4-3050US from Staples for $650 - $150 Rebates and returned it in a week, The resolution was not what I wanted and performance was slow compared to my 2-3 Year Old Thinkpad X300 with a CORE 2 DUO and 64 GB SSD and 13.3 inch 1440x900, Also I felt the touchpad was extra small and the palm area was small.

I Returned it thinking I could use my X300 for a bit and buy a 15 Inch Ultrabook when it comes out with IVY Bridge, well seems it will be 4-6 Months before we will see a 15 inch IVY Bridge Ultrabook, and let alone better ones with Windows 8 and the next generation of them.

So I was in the Middle looking for Any Laptop with Higher Resolution and was gonna just swap out the HDD to SSD from my X300 or buy a new SSD. Well it was coming out Pricy.

I Considered the Asus Zenbook for $899 at Office Depot with a $40 coupon making it $860+ Tax, I dont like too slick finishing and the touchpad and keyboards on it. Also the smaller 128 GB SSD and No Backlit Keyboard, Held me back, Making me wait for IVY Bridge and there next generation of Zenbook, but it will still be $1000+

Well I got a WOOT.com email and saw this Great deal, I also saw it on Slickdeals and everywhere, I priced it everywhere, Dell.com, eBay, everywhere and you cannot

This Model is exactly e6420700, and is $850 on Tiger Direct -
Dell Latitude E6420700 Notebook PC - Intel Core i5-2520M 2.50GHz, 4GB DDR3, 256GB SSD, 14 Display, DVDRW, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

Woot® : One Day, One Deal?

Anyways Only downfalls I found was no USB 3.0 Port or a Backlit Keyboard

But I do not get how it is 4.6 LBS with

### Business-rugged laptop stylishly armored top to bottom with hard-wearing and MIL-STD 810G tested Tri-Metal™ casing, powder-coated base and spill resistant keyboard ###

Normally the ones with that are 6 LBS and heavier.

Also is the Keyboard Spill resistant?

******

Either way I got this laptop

E6420

Dell E6420700 Notebook with 14” LED Display & 256GB SSD

Woot® : One Day, One Deal?

Dell Latitude E6420700 Notebook PC - Intel Core i5-2520M 2.50GHz, 4GB DDR3, 256GB SSD, 14 Display, DVDRW, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit at TigerDirect.com


READ FROM HERE IF YOU DONT Wanna here bunch of regardless info.

Ok so first I want to do (2) Things.

(1)

I wanna upgrade the Memory from 4 GB to 6 or 8

Crucial has 4 GB Stick for $23 a piece.

Either I buy two sticks and get 8 GB or Buy one and Make it 6 GB, but I am not sure if it contains a 4 GB x 1 Stick and 1 Dimm Free, or 2 GB x 2 = 4 GB

Is Crucial best place Price wise? What specs does the current Dimms have?

ALSO I see different Memory's at different Voltages, Which one is the best one to buy, whether I buy (2) DIMMS or Just (1), I hear its better to match the second DIMM with the first DIMM.

DDR3-1333 - 1.5v - DDR3 PC3-10600 VS DDR3-1333 - 1.5v - DDR3 PC3-12800 VS Other variations, There is (3) different ones on Crucials Site, and the 12800 is $3 more.


(2)

I wanna replace the optical Drive with a extra HDD, I saw you can buy a Hard Drive Caddy, I have a 750 GB Blue Scorpion 5400 RPM 9.5 mm 2.5 Inch, I want to put in it.

I see its $24 on eBay without the Eject Release Mechanism and $19.99 on another site.

And $49 on 2nd Hard Drive Caddy DELL E6520, E6420, E6320 E-Module Bay [DELL-2BAY-E6520] - $48.95 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks - With the Eject Mechanism

I can buy for $20-24 and use the Eject Mechanism from the Old Optical Drive, but I would like to leave it alone on the old Optical Drive, so I can hotswap easily.

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(3)

So I hear you can add an external GPU to this using its expresscard slot? And also maybe add a M-Sata SSD there too! And damn a GPU!? WOW! HOW IS THAT WORK!?

(4)

Few other questions I had if anyone has any input, It has a ESATA Port, I hate how it doesnt have USB 3.0 but I am guessing I can use an extra SATA Hard Drive to copy to via ESATA.

Where is best Places to buy this cable and what are the speeds compared to USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. is it worth the extra work than using an external on USB 2.0?


(5)


So How Can I Hotswap the Keyboard for a Backlit one? Is it hard and wheres best place to find the Part, eBay?


(6)

I also want to know what SSD it contains for just knowing the Read and Write times, Just something for my own Information.

Thanks Guys!

Who is the SSD Made by and the Benchmarks or Read and Write times?

 

I had the E6420 for a while. Love the 1600x900 resolution. Very solidly built. Don't worry about the memory speed as you're not going to really see any difference in performance. I bought a 2x 4GB G. Skills for it for about $30. Having 2x 4GB will bump the video performance, at least as far as WEI is concerned which gets bumped to 6.4/6.4.

I tried an mSATA SSD in my E6220. It will not work in it so I assume it would be the case for the E6420. People have done eGPU on the E6220 so it should work for the E6420.

The eSATA port works great on it. I have it docked to the E/Port docking station running an eSATA HDD for backup. I also have a Dell E-Media bay. This an external eSATA housing that lets you use your optical drive or HDD (once you get your 2nd hard drive caddy) with your E6420. The best thing is this is powered via the onboard eSATA port using a single cable. I have an extra one if you want it, $25 shipped to you. See picture.

The keyboard is easily swapped to a backlit one which is what I did. Ebay is the easiest place to find it.

No guarantees but it should be a Samsung SSD in there.

That really is a great deal on woot for this E6420.

 

I have a mSata 64 GB SSD, Any benefits of me adding it in, just a extra storage drive in my computer? I bought it for another laptop. Should I boot from it instead or The SSD in the laptop is good enough.

 

As far as I have read,
Msata drive is not boot able.
Bios limitations.

 

Last I read on the Latitude E6220/E6320/E6420/E6520 threads, the flash SSD slot is pci-e and NOT mSATA . The only pci-e SSD with a SATA controller on it is a SuperTalent CoreStore MV and it could only be used as a data SSD. Meaning then, a mSATA SSD will not work, unless of course, you wire it up to the e-sata port internally. Mods like that not being warranty friendly.

Instead, consider a optical bay caddy SSD+HDD solution. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-ssd-hdd-storage-using-optical-bay-caddy.html .