Latitude E6510 Owner's Lounge

It's set to 60Hz.

I noticed there is less of that distortion with Vsync off than on though.

To give you an idea of the nature of the distortion, it's like when your 8 bit video game console would hang, you had vertical bars that came on the screen and stayed there, for me, they're doing this momentarily. Vertical bars appear and then next frame they look like getting pulled to the side and then disappear.

It would be great to hear if anyone has any suggestions. I really don't want to deal with Dell Customer Care after reading all the horror stories. Nor do I want to return this laptop, I'm loving it other than this problem.


EDIT: It's also doing it with 720p.

I have with me my work laptop, a E6500 with the 256MB Quadro (IIRC) which plays 1080p HD video flawlessly. The only difference is that is running Ubuntu x64 10.04.

This thing is really ruining my weekend.


EDIT2: I have been testing various videos on different websites and this is what I came across so far:

Websites that show this problem: Youtube, Metacafe.

Websites that work flawlessly: Vimeo.


EDIT3: Worse news, I had been ignoring standard def videos and even 360p videos are showing the same problem. I think I am going to have to return this laptop.

 

Double post.

<snip:> Just mentioning that the problem is non-existent with hardware acceleration turned off in flash.

I guess this completely defies the logic of having a discrete card.

Going by the symptoms, does anyone have any idea what could be up? Is there some other program I could test the GFX card with for real world issues like this one?

 

So it could well be a bug in the code and nothing to do with the hardware. The facility for Flash to use the GPU is very new and could well be not fully debugged.

John

 

I can see that as a probable cause, but that raises a few questions:

- My problem seems isolated and does not seem to be experienced by a lot of people out there. Moreover, it works fine on the E6500, which, I agree is using different hardware, but is older (which may mean more stable).

- Doesn't turning hardware acceleration off in flash mean that it won't use the graphics card, but use the processor instead? In that case, wouldn't that leave the blame open to either the flash code that uses hardware acceleration as well as the graphics card hardware itself?

For eliminating this uncertainty, I would love to know any test/benchmark programs that test the graphics card for such defects.

i have already run the following diagnostics:

- Dell Diagnosis from the boot screen. (Success)
- Passmark BurnInTest and PerformanceTest.(Success and performance comparable to similar systems)
- 3DMark Vantage. (Success)
- Furmark, but I didn't really read up on how to use it. So will do this one again.

I'm wondering if these benchmarks are enough to rule out hardware problems? Can one safely conclude that the GFX card is in 100% shape after running these tests successfully or are there some unknowns that don't get tested (pertinent to the problem I'm having)?

Thank you for all the help. I really don't want to return this laptop. I'm loving it so far.

 

After looking everywhere and even having a screenshare with the Dell rep (who told me they don't stream video so he couldn't see my problem first hand anyway) I have decided I don't want to live with something as major as broken video streaming playback.

I am being sent a box to send it in for "repair/replacement", but I'm going to call them up and initiate a return.

Can someone tell me whether they charge you a restocking fee after you've sent it to them? I ask because I know the laptop has the issue. But once they receive it, I don't want them to screw me by saying "Oh it works perfectly fine, we're going to charge you a restocking fee."

So my question is, can they charge me a restocking fee after receiving my laptop or do they have to inform me in advance whether I'm paying the restocking fee or not?

The order date is Sep 21, and the date received is Sep 23. So I am well within my 21 day window. This was purchase from Dell Outlet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm calling them up right now.

 

EDIT: Okay, so I just purchased a refurbished E6510 off the Dell outlet. I'm starting to take my college work more seriously, so I decided I wanted something built to last at least a couple years with a good warranty. My Order looks like this:

-- Latitude E6510 Laptop Genuine Windows 7 Professional
-- Software
-- 15.6 inch HD+(1600x900) Wide View Anti-Glare LED
-- Processor Label
-- Palmrest W/O Finger Print Reader
-- INTEL VPRO TECHNOLOGY ADV MGMT FEATURES
-- Certified Refurbished
-- Processor: Intel Core i5-540M Processor (2.53GHz, 3M cache)
-- Genuine Windows 7 Professional
-- Documentation
-- Win7 Starter Software
-- No Modem
-- 8X DVD ROM Drive
-- Label
-- 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
-- 90W AC Adapter
-- Software
-- Digital Microphone
-- Power DVD Software
-- 125V Power Cord
-- No Resource CD
-- 64BIT Operating System DVD
-- 6 Cell Primary Battery, 60W
-- Slate Silver
-- 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
-- Dell Control Point software
-- Shipping Material
-- Intel WiFi Link 6200 802.11a/g/n Half Mini Card
-- NO LAT ON RDR
-- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
-- Documentation
-- Label
-- Windows Live
-- Notebook Keyboard
-- Dell Data Back-up and Recovery Manager for Win 7
-- Service Software

All for about $650 with the 25% off coupon, after tax and with a Belkin 2-Outlet Travel Surge Protector.

Are there any accessories like a cooling fan or whatnot that you guys would recommend purchasing to make the experience more enjoyable? Is bloatware typical on a refurbished system and if so is there a step-by-step guide I can follow to remove it all with minimal hassle and risk?

As you can tell, I'm kind of clueless when it comes to this stuff and would greatly appreciate all the advice I could get.

 

Accessories are really up to you.
You have a Display Port to DVI if you use a DVI only monitor or projector you can get. It a simple adapter. You have th ebattery slide, which adds a second thin battery to the system (at the bottom, the size of the laptop, but thin), which provide more battery life out of your system (it's about the same capacity as a 9-cell battery.. so if you have a 9-cell battery, it's like having 2x 9cell batteries).. You have, well as just mentioned a larger capacity battery, the 9-cell, replacing the 6-cell. Lastly you have the station, which allow syou to slide in the laptop to a dock that has everything connected to. In my opinion, I don't think it's worth it, as all teh large connections are at the bat already, sure you have to plug/unplug, every time, so if you do this all the time, then fine get a , else not worth it for the price (its very expensive).

Like most (but not all), laptops, the GPU is not replaceable. It's soldered to the board and has a different heatsink based on the graphic solution you choose. Swappable GPU's take more room, require a larger and seperate heatsink, cost more, and at the end of teh day, you still can't put any GPU you want. Nvidia tried this with MXM socket, which is cool in theory, but they only have so few GPU's that has it, due that few manufactures uses them, and those who uses them are only on select GPU where they awant 1-2 GPU options. In result, you have 2-3 possible GPUs to pick. Newer GPU's tend to use a newer version fo MSM to support the faster GPU speed.
We all wish a standard format for GPU's like PCI-E 16x on desktop, but the market for such thing is not there for laptops. The best hope is an addon card. where you attach a special unit to the system with it's own plug and power, where you can insert a PCI-E GPU of your choice. Sadly there is also no demand for that (THAT or no one speaks up).

So there you have it.

Basically, if you want a multiple display setup with the greatest of ease to setup and maintain, or perform CAD, software that uses CUDA or OpenCL (software that uses the GPU to perform it's processing instead of the CPU, for example select video encoding/converting software such as Badaboom, video/movie editors like Adobe After Effects, or the coming up version of MathLab, Photoshop, and more), or use any software that utilities advance 2D or 3D, or play games, then go with an ATi or Nvidia solution.
Intel solution is more for web surfing, watching video's, DVD, HD video's, and basic 3D like Google Earth.

Sandy Bridge (the next Intel CPU + GPU combo processor), will be much more powerful than the current one, which allows basic gaming at minimum setting of last year games, and select current games, which are designed for such low end solution, or are not demanding at all. In term of power usage for the performance you get, Nvidia and ATi are king's compared to Intel, but the Intel solution consumes much less power overall, which means gaining battery life. The difference will depend on the Intel solution (CPU+GPU combo chip) and the ATi/Nvidia solution you pick. Sandy Bridge codename CPU from Intel is expected to be out at the end of the year (I dont' knwo if it will be a laptop or desktop processor). Higher end models and ULV models are expected to be out next year.

 

-- INTEL VPRO TECHNOLOGY ADV MGMT FEATURES

I doubt you will use this, so disable it in the BIOS, if possible.

-- Win7 Starter Software

Not sure what Starter is for if you have Pro.

-- Digital Microphone

No camera?

-- Power DVD Software

Win7 Media Player has video codecs, so this s/w is not necessary.

-- Dell Control Point software

DCP System Manager is useful, but Security Manager can be left off next clean install.

-- Notebook Keyboard

Backlit keyboard is handy, but your configuration... Intel GPU, i5, and no backlit KB... will conserve battery time and limit heat generation... you don't need a cooler.

I recommend a zippered neoprene sleeve such as Dell's. And if you had Dell's Blue Tooth module, a MS 5000 BT mouse is handy (OEM from Microcenter).

Not much bloatware, but you may decide to re-image it at some point.

GK

 

@Captain_Mischief

In terms of accessories, you might consider purchasing software and an external drive with cable, for backing up your laptop. By external drive, I'm referring to a 1 or 2 TB drive which supports eSATA housed in an external enclosure with its own power supply.

I've had good results using Norton Ghost 15 (about $30) to backup to an external drive using the eSATA interface. Backups are completed much quicker using the eSATA port (vs USB). If required, NG15 also supports USB external drives.

I prefer NG15 because it supports a cold or off-line backup; no worries about open files, inconsistent state, etc. because the laptop is not running Windows on your C: drive; instead the laptop is executing a specialized minimal operating system out of RAM.

When it is time for back up, shut down the laptop, connect the external drive, power up and use the F12 Boot Options menu to boot the NG15 DVD (as opposed to the internal hard disk). NG15 executes on top of MS Windows PE (pre-execution environment). In addition to backup and recovery, the NG15 DVD/Windows PE environment contains a file explorer tool, shell to command prompt, and disk partitioning/formatting tools.

If you have an external drive/NG15 set up, you can even capture the factory image BEFORE launching Windows for the first time. The eSATA port must be enabled in the E6510 BIOS (press F2 to enter BIOS setup); it is by default. After BIOS setup, press the F12 key repeatedly to invoke the Boot Options menu BEFORE Windows launches.

It is not necessary to install NG15 software on the laptop to use NG15 for cold backups/restores. You can just boot from the NG15 DVD. However, many users do install it under Windows 7 as an alternative to the Windows 7 tools for scheduled hot back-ups. Not me.

The only downside is NG15 is not totally intuitive or simple to use; some Windows PC admin skills are needed. If you are curious, you can find the user manual in PDF form on Symantec's web site.

No doubt there are other good choices. I was using clonezilla before NG15. It is a free and reliable tool for off-line backups, but the UI is too difficult for most to use.

Hope this helps.

 

With a mouse click you can make an image of your system with Windows 7. It's all under Back & Restore in the control panel (or search for it form the start menu). You need Windows 7 Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate, however.