e6420/e6520 to release tomorrow?

I posted this somewhere, the most important things the Dell E5520 lacks are the expansion bay and the slice battery option.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if they were different and Dell's used the same description "tri-metal casing..blah blah" on both the E5XXX and E6XXX. It's been done before.

Great! thanks for the confirmation that they are indeed...different.

 

This review has a great set of comparitive photos of the cases of both the e5520 and e6520 - it's pretty clear from the photos that the 6520 has a more substantial case:

Dell Latitude E3 Refresh (E6420, E6520, E5420, E5520) - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

I don't know if we can really say it is more substantial. I studied those photos carefully before purchasing my E5420 (after cancelling an E6420 order, actually!). The E6X20 series only looks less bulky because they cut away part of the sides. Kind of an illusion. Comparing the specs, their measurements are basically identical aside from a few millimeters here and there. Millimeters!

E6520

E5520

Both my EPP rep and a small business rep I know who works at Dell HQ in Texas confirmed to me that the Tri-Metal casing, powder coated base and aluminum display backing are absolutely identical, as well as the keyboard and screens. When you buy an E6420 or E6520, you're basically paying for the E-modular bay, discrete graphics, slice battery, and 3-year standard warranty. Those make up the price hike.

Me, I opted for the E5420 because I didn't care for the E6420's two-tone case design and all the red accents. And the price. I ended up saving $300 by going for the E5420, which buys me a 128 GB SSD and 8 GB ram to install.

Hope this helps some who are on the fence.

 

Both have the tri-metal casing, but do both meet the MIL-STD 810G spec? The 6520 product page clearly references this spec, however the 5520 product page says nothing about it.

I don't know if this is just a product detail ommission by Dell, or if the 6520 is actually built tougher in some way - even though both laptops have similar cosmetic appearances.

One point of weakness on the 5520 appears to be the hinges - if you compare them with the hinges of the 6520, you'll notice that the 6520's hinges are much beefier. Attached are a couple comparison photos...the hinge design was a big reason why I went for the 6520 (considering my current laptop has one busted hinge).

 

Is it possible to order E6520 with a 2830QM? It's not listed but there has to be such an option since even Apple has been able to fit one in there new lineup (I'm deciding between an Apple MBP 17, the upcoming M6600 and the E6520).

Why is it impossible for Dell to produce a decent 17" (as the MBP 17"). Don't say that no one would buy since they would be so expensive. At least here in Sweden the Apple MBP 17" is plentiful (even at nearly 2 times the price of E6520) and quite a lot is running Windows (native) on them.

The company (50+ employees) I work for has finally understood that many of us are feed up with the Dell Latitude/Precision offerings and has decided to investigate buying Apple hardware for those of us who wants it.

 

buy apple? NEVER!!!!!

 

Ok, so although my 6520 was supposed to arrive way out on 4/15, it actually showed up today...!

I'm really busy with work this week and won't be making any big reviews, but I'll just note a few things:

• Overall I like the laptop - the feel, the look, the keyboard, the materials, etc.
  
• Screen --
  • The good: the 1366x768 displays everything in just the right proportion/size I am used to and was looking for.
  • The bad: yeah, the picture quality is pretty bad. Brightness and viewing angles are OK for me, however I can actually SEE line pixel grids coming through the screen! It's like looking at a 1980's tv screen too close, or seeing the dots that make-up a photo in a newspaper. My 4-yr old consumer-grade 15.4" Acer laptop with 1280x800 looks better, as does my 6-yr old Dell 18" 4:3 / 1280x1024 LCD monitor...both are way smoother and do not show any pixel gridlines.
  
  
• Top cover finish - so far this is the one material element I am not thrilled with - it smudges rather easily. There is a finned plastic edge on the top outter-edge of the screen that you can pinch with your fingers to open/close the screen (so you don't HAVE to finger-print up the metal part), which sort of helps, but still. Note-the powder-coat finish on the bottom smudges too (it is the btm though so no big deal).
  
  
• To that end, when I took the laptop out of the box for the first time, I noticed smudges and smears already on the laptop cover, as well on various places on the laptop work surface... I realize the machine will get marked-up plenty by me, but was this thing already broken-in by someone? Or do they not use gloves at the assmbly plant in China?
  
  
• Trackpad - I like it, but I noticed that when I rest my left elbow on the wristpad (to left of the trackpad), the mouse pointer freezes...yes I realize I shouldn't be leaning my pointy elbow into the laptop's restpad, but I've done it for years on other machines with no resulting problem

I am probably going to pursue an exchange for a machine with the 1600x900 screen, as I was going to before the laptop suddenly shipped so early. I'll try to use DPI scaling, and maybe find a smudge-proof cover for the lid? Not sure...

[cross-posted]

 

I'm inclined to say that the business market for 17 inch notebooks trends towards more powerful graphics - namely, portable work stations. There's a reason why 14 inch notebooks sell in the highest volumes. Portability is key. A 17 inch just isn't all that portable. Honestly, unless I needed 4 sticks of RAM, I'd stay away from 17 inch notebooks.

If I were you, I'd be a little skeptical of the higher end Sandy Bridge Macbook Pros. There are reports of throttling. No big surprise there. I'm inclined to say that the 13 inch Macbook Pro has an adequate cooling system, but I really have to wonder about the high end offerings. Time will tell.

 

Well, if the E5420/E5520 indeed has an all-metal case, and assuming that the cooling system has been fixed, they might be worthy of consideration. Still, they have to be a great deal cheaper to justify the shorter warranty.

I think I'll wait and see until there's a review, since the last generation seems to have had heat issues.