Latitude e6410 or e6420 or 6520??? What to get???

First: I'm putting this here and not in the 'What Notebook Should I get' section because it is a specific Latitude issues thread.

As you can see from my sig below...I've got a e6410. I'm also selling e6420's and e6520's online. So I actually have all 3 here with me and I'm deciding which to keep as my own.

I didn't have the best experience when I upgraded to the e6420 when it first came out so I went back to the e6410...I wasn't impressed at how much bigger it was than my e6410 or the 'soft touch' feel of the palm rest, the quality of the speakers or the fingerprint magnet of the lid material. I did like the large touchpad and the thought of the better processing and graphics performance.

The e6520 is pretty much identical to the e6420 just a bigger screen and a 1920x1080 resolution. Which translates to a higher DPI.

I like the quality of the e6520 screen much better than the e6420 screen. And its only marginally bigger than the e6420. I don't necessarily like the offset trackpad...so I dunno what to do.

The e6410, e6420 or e6520 will all cost me about the same, so there is no cost comparison here. I just trying to decide if the benefits of the faster processor, bigger trackpad and better graphics out weigh a compact laptop that I like the aesthetic design of.

Specs are as follows:

e6410 | i7 640M 2.8 | 8GB DDR3 | Intel 510 120GB SSD + 500GB WD Black | NVS 3100M | 1440x900 | Backlit Keys | Finger-Web-9 Cell |

e6420 | i7 2720QM 2.2 | 8GB DDR3 | Intel 510 120GB SSD + 500GB WD Black | NVS 4200M | 1600x900 | Backlit Keys | Finger-Web-9 Cell |

e6520 | i7 2720QM 2.2 | 8GB DDR3 | Intel 510 120GB SSD + 500GB WD Black | NVS 4200M | 1920x1080 | Backlit Keys | Finger-Web-9 Cell |



What would you take?

 

Is battery life between the models similar? If so, I would definitely keep the e6520.


I just trying to decide if the benefits of the faster processor, bigger trackpad and better graphics out weigh a compact laptop that I like the aesthetic design of.
What is the general application of the laptop?

 

Battery life between all 3 is pretty similar.

I'm docked to a 5.1 surround sound system and 2 24" IPS monitors. I do light Photoshop work and the occasional video editing.

I think knowing that I would be passing on a more powerful computer is one of the main things that is keeping me from making a firm decision. I also wonder if my reasoning's for disliking a e6520/e6420 will eventually go away. I know when I went from a XPS m1330 to my current e6410 I thought I wouldn't want to go bigger....the e6520 is almost the same size as my old XPS m1710...which was a tank.

I don't travel a ton...but the idea of hauling around a honkin' laptop is a bit off putting...I'm already having trouble finding a bag that isn't enormous.

 

Maybe try use the e6520 for a week, see if you can get used to it.

 

Wait...I thought you had horrid experiences with the E6420?

Unless the E6410 is dirt cheap, though I do prefer the design, easily gets outclassed by the 2 Sandy Bridge Latitudes. 3100M is also some major weak sauce.

Why not get the best of both worlds, and get the E6420. You get the power of 15" laptop in a smaller package. I was never a big fan of 15" laptops, and I even consider my Vostro 1500 too bulky. Since then I have only bought 14" and smaller laptops.

I haven't personally used the E6520, but I spend good time with my friend's E6510 and I didn't like the weight and the size overall to my own E6410.

I would get the E6420 or the E6410 (though personally I'd stick with the E6410).

 

I am so pleased with this 6520. Rugged for sure and fast. I don't travel much. I fired up my old C640 today and I am shocked how aweful it is now compared to this one with the FHD screen. I am so glad I made the jump to a premium notebook.
I got used to the touch pad being off center. The ball of my hand is in the center with the finger tips off to the side. Makes sense.

 

Personally I think the E6x10 laptops look much better, the 6410 also has a slight subjective advantage with the 16:10 screen (I still consider this an advantage despite the vertical res being the same) and what looks like overall better production quality and relatively few problems.

Also highly subjective opinion but I think 15,6" 16:9 laptops look like over sized hot dog buns, and unless they have keyboards with numpads (awful in their own right) there's a lot of wasted space on both sides.

I would either keep the E6410 for the looks or get the E6420 for performance.
Disclaimer: I have not actually used the 6x20 models.

 

I did...most of which is build quality or aesthetics. Though I am still not a fan of the screen quality. IMO, Screen quality = e6520>=e6410>6420 (yes, I still think the screen of the e6410 is a tad bit clearer than the e6520, but the higher DPI of the e6520 makes it win out)

Same cost...to me.

The e6420 and e6510 are very similar in size. The e6420 is very large for a 14". This would almost be a non issue if the e6x20 laptops were more compact.

????Argh.???? Its frustrating...I think the screen quality is vastly superior on the e6520 but I know they have identical processing performance...I'd rather have a symmetrical palm rest, but the e6520 has a numberpad (which I'd never use).

How long have you had it? Could you post up or PM me some high detail close up pics of your lid and palm rest...I'd like to see how the ?Magnesium?/?Aluminum? lid and 'soft touch' palm rest is holding up.

The lid would finger print if looked at funny, I'm just worried about finger oils tarnishing the finish...

I agree...though I wonder if the e6x20 would grow on me...my e6410 looks extremely compact in comparison to the e6420....but the performance.....

Lol...this is my exact dilemma....

 

I mean personally for the work I do at my job, even an E6410 is overkill. I have 2 4 year old Core 2 Duo Z61t's that function as my work computer and that is perfectly fine. Unless you do specific work that benefits from the new architecture, I'd personally get the E6410.

For you, I'd say decide whether your work benefits from the new architecture? Yes then get the E6420. If no, and you want that nice aesthetics, get the E6410.

 

Well I don't know everything you do and what sort of time constraints you have if you do things like encoding videos.
Unless you do a lot of rendering or encoding get the E6410, as you probably know CPU and RAM performance increases reach a point of diminishing returns very quickly and I/O performance is vastly more important for average usage.

Your setup is similar to mine (SSD+HDD) so I/O should be on par with most high end desktops, I'd get the E6410 regardless.