e6420/e6520 to release tomorrow?

Thanks, I pass him the good news then!

 

nVidia Optimus may be good news to him but a) it is unreliable, and b) it doesn't work with Linux yet. Some systems like the ThinkPads and Viaos have a BIOS or keyboard switch to override it and that should let you use Linux on them, but Dell missed the boat on this with the new E6x20 systems.

 

Holy CRAP! I had no clue Dell would put switchable graphics in this. I'll definetly get dedicated graphics now when it's time for me to upgrade...there's no excuse like before. (I got integrated for the battery life)

 

Probably not true on both assumptions.

Everything I have seen and read says the Optimus implementation is much better than it was on machines like the Alienware M17X R1. It is truely seamless in Windows 7.

You should also be able to disable optimus in ths bios (just like on other Dells) which should take care of any Linux issues.

 

Nothing wrong with the decisions you made. Its your personal prefernce that matters. You are the one buying and using the machine and what you want is most important.

I am in the high pixel density crowd, but have seen enough types of users to understand their preferences.

 

The power savings on these should be amazing. I have been doing a lot of research on the new cpus and gpu.

It looks like the video card is a 17 watt part. So you can have the card on when you need it, and have the power savings when you need it. The Sandy Bridge built in gpu will handle 1080p video and light gaming without any issues. The integrated graphics appear to be at least twice as fast as the previous generation.

The cpu also should be able to idle down to a much lower wattage - less than 5 watts on the 2720QM - when you are surfing the web. Being able to have 62 watts of processing power between the cpu and discrete gpu switch down to less than 5 watts is going to be a big deal imho.

 

I thought not all laptops can disable 1 GPU in the BIOS? Really depends on your laptop?

 

I hope you are right but I'm not sure how we know that Optimus is better in a machine that isn't out in the end users' hands. I'll remain skeptical.

And I don't think a BIOS setting is practical for those of us who dual (or triple!) boot with Linux. The keyboard switch on the Viaos is looking like the smart solution but I can't claim that it works well in practice since I don't have one yet.

Anyway, the E6x20 fell off my radar with the combination of Optimus, no USB 3, HDMI output (probably maxed out at HD external monitor resolution), and the cheesy looks. Probably a nicer performer, though, with a quad i7!

 

You can change the size of all those things without changing the resolution. Just go into Control panels/Appearance and Personalization/Display, and bump it up to 125%. I would definitely recommend going for the higher res. 1366x768 on a 15.6" is quite poor imo. Grainy. I don't even like it on a 14".

 

I can identify with your background with regard to working screen resolution. I have used the 1440x900 on the 14.1" and find it small but tolerable... you get used to it after an adjustment period. Given that, I would favor the 1600x900 on the 15.6"... I think that should be a nice sweet spot.

The Windows dpi scaling does work well but it is better to avoid it if you can since it does deviate from the intended user interface and can cause minor issues here and there.

I currently use 1024x768 on a 4:3 15". I use to scale it up 120% because I came from the same res on a 17" CRT. But then I quit the scaling and soon got used to the smaller gui objects. Now the same res seems big and overly generous in view of the 14.1" E-Series units here. So, case story of getting use to it.

GK