E6410 Owner's Thread

One red E6410 has reported for duty. I was expecting a 520M CPU but it has the 540M, which offsets the disappointment of finding that the PC card slot is actually Expresscard. Such are the joys of the Dell Outlet stock. I was hoping that it would have a backlit keyboard but no such luck, and there aren't any backlit UK keyboards on UK ebay.

I've noticed that the surround to the volume control buttons isn't sitting properly. That should be easily fixable.

The WXGA+ display is the Samsung SEC5442. It looks fine after moving the contrast and gamma settings a notch to the left in display drive.

One CPU core is significantly hotter than the other when on idle but the temperatures under load are the same (so far, a maximum of 83C when running the wPrime 1024 benchmark).

John

 

Awesome. I just finished loading Arch Linux on mine and so far so good! I still haven't installed all of my programs on it or even transferred my files back, but now I can browse and actually use it. So far it's way faster than the D630 it's replacing.

Edit: Do the DVD/RW drives on these offer lightscribe? It's not labeled as having lightscribe, then again I've seen lightscribe on some that weren't labeled as such. Anyone know?

 

Those temps are apparently not bad given what has been stated previously about the various I5 and I7 mobile processors. Unfortunately they are a bit to high for my liking. Each year the CPUs and GPUs get hotter and hotter and unfortunately the cooling solutions for the notebook arena just have not kept up. If notebook manufacturers would just use a good TIM instead of the pads they'd likely drop the temps by approximately 5-7C.

I have a desktop with an I7-965 Extreme (TDP 135 watts) in it and all four cores idle in the low to mid 30C range running Prime for an hour or so it's very difficult to reach 60C and this unsing a Proglimatech cooler and a reasonably quiet 120mm fan. My GTX285 when pushed to the limit might hit 65C. These devices have greater than 4 time the power consumption of the mobile versions and are kept in check. Yes, I've been building computers for >15 years and have a few tricks but nothing common sense wouldn't dictate.

Sorry for the long tirade, but heat is something I loathe in a laptop. You would think that Dell would offer something like the I7-640lm (TDP 25 watts) which in the two ultraportables I've seen using them were very cool. The performance because of the 640lm's architecture is said to be around that of the I5-430M.

 

If you live near me (Atlanta, GA USA) and we could get together to compare laptops in person, I might consider it. The benefit of an i5 to me would be less heat and longer battery life. Unfortunately my comments (and all the others, I think) have been subjective, just saying things like "very warm." What's very warm to me in the summertime might be okay to someone else. What we need are actual measurements, but I don't have the tools to measure mine.

Also, others recently in this thread have said their i7s are not excessively warm, but they have the Intel integrated graphics. I have the Nvidia 3100M; perhaps that makes things warmer.

 

I've just invested in a digital infra-red thermometer so I can come up with some hard numbers. My initial finding is that temperatures of the base and the keyboard don't go above 35C after a period of heavy usage (in a room with a temperature around 21C).

John

 

alright, i'm starting to get really frustrated... it seems to me that everytime i have some sort of audio going (Pandora, iTunes, Youtube) that my 6410 will blue screen with irql_not_less_or_equal or some other error. The problem is that I can never find anything relevant to it in the Event Viewer.

I just reinstalled the latest audio driver from Dell's site but it just happened again!!! What could be causing this? Really getting annoyed. I'm an IT guy by trade, but I'm not real familiar with troubleshooting Windows 7. This seems to be related to an audio driver or hardware imo..

*edit - figured out how to enable dump files* just waiting for the next crash so i can try to proceed troubleshooting

*edit 2 - looks like it has to do with e1k62x64.sys which from googling is the LAN driver. i just reinstalled this and will see what happens*

 

I had the same problem on mine with Windows 7 32bit pro when i re-installed windows. The e1k62x64.sys is the network card driver - I simply went into the device manager and told windows to search online for an updated driver, then it installed v11.5.4.0 from 11/5/09 and it fixed the problem (for a good 4 weeks now). Hope that helps.

 

Yay! Finally pulled the trigger, and I couldn't/wouldn't have done it without all the help and information from all of you awesome people.

:wub: :wub: :wub:

For a "mere" $655 (after coupon, before tax), Dell Outlet will send me a refurb slate silver e6410 with an i5-540M processor, 4GB RAM, 160 GB 5400 RPM HDD, and:

• Win 7 Pro with DVD
• Integrated graphics
• WXGA+ display
• Backlit keyboard
• Intel 6300 Wireless
• Bluetooth
• Internal modem
• DVD+/-RW
• Palmrest with contact-less Smart Card reader
• Webcam
• 6 cell battery
• All the usual includeds

It was between this and a slightly cheaper i7-620M system with fewer upgrades. Since I know even an i5-540M is overkill for my needs, and I have a 500 GB HDD waiting to swap out with the one that comes with the system, I thought it more prudent to go for the one with the better upgrade components.

Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that whatever they send will live up to expectations - quality assembly, good screen, no wheezing and whining.

Thank you everybuddy for sharing your expertise and experience. I read this thread pretty thoroughly, but I think I will be passing the waiting time by reading it all again . Will report when the new toy arrives.

 

The i7-620M only offers a small boost in performance compared to the i5-540M and may be a greater source of heat. So far, I've been impressed by the i5-540M in my E6410.

Is your warranty on-site or mail-in? It's more convenient with the former to get any problems fixed.

John

 

• Thanks for the reassurance on the i5-540M. This was actually one of the most important things I learned from this thread.
  
  For a user like me (no gaming), I realized i7 and/or discrete graphics could potentially end up being more of a headache than a benefit, with possible heat issues and reduced battery life. I'm sure I would never feel the difference in actual use.
  
  
• I stuck with the basic warranty, even though the CSR naturally suggested the $99 upgrade to on-site repair . To his credit, he was very understated and not pushy at all. But this will be the fourth working computer in the house, so express or on-the-spot repair is truly not a big deal.
  
  It works out that I ordered a system that's just about $100 worth of more than I truly "need," with the upgrades like backlit keyboard, etc., so in the bigger (1440 x 900 ) picture, I spent the money on the system itself. If it ever has to be sent in for repair, I'll see if I regret it.