What is your opinion of the Dell Latitude E6520?

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steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
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Looking for a laptop for the business. Something that takes a docking port, has a full size keyboard (with numeric pad) and is a i7. Pretty much a desktop replacement. Need it for my business for coding (Visual Studio, DB), email etc....

Budget is around 250 or so but can go higher if the price is justifiable.

I was looking at something like this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-LATITU...892172?hash=item5426201f0c:g:2MEAAOSwT5tWLnD2

Pretty much what I need, just curious on your opinions of these machines?
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,980
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Have a few of the slightly smaller 6420's kicking around at work still - my secondary is one, in fact. It's not a bad machine, desperately needs an SSD though, imo. I'd assume a larger version of same would be... also fine. Heavier.
 
T

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
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I use one at work. It's fine. As dave_the_nerd said, it needs an SSD. Thankfully those are pretty inexpensive these days. You can get 256GB for less than $100.
 
J

JWade

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,273
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www.heatware.com
I had an e6420 before getting my alienware 13. great durable laptop, I am assuming the e6520 is the same just slightly bigger. mine came with an i5, I upgraded it to an i7, put in 16gb ram and a SSD. only reason I got a different laptop is I wanted a much higher resolution on the screen
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,980
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steppinthrax said:
Is it usable w/o a ssd? I would probably run a few months w/o it.
Click to expand...

As much as any computer ever is. Especially one with an undersized, slow laptop HDD.

Be prepared to wait a lot while your HDD light blinks like its having a seizure. Once everything's loaded up into RAM, it's alright. But it definitely doesn't compare to the "new car smell" of a newer laptop w/ SSD.
 
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steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
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dave_the_nerd said:
As much as any computer ever is. Especially one with an undersized, slow laptop HDD.

Be prepared to wait a lot while your HDD light blinks like its having a seizure. Once everything's loaded up into RAM, it's alright. But it definitely doesn't compare to the "new car smell" of a newer laptop w/ SSD.
Click to expand...

So if I drop a 100 SSD in there I would pretty much get comparable to what you see today.
 
R

Ranulf

Platinum Member
Jul 18, 2001
2,745
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I've been pretty happy with the 6420 refurb with ssd I picked up a couple of months ago. Easy to pull out the optical drive and put in a HDD/SSD drive bay.
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,980
1,616
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steppinthrax said:
So if I drop a 100 SSD in there I would pretty much get comparable to what you see today.
Click to expand...

Well... yeah, pretty much.

You know all those threads where people ask "hey, should I upgrade my i5-2500K / i5-3570K rig to an i3-6300? It'll be faster, right?" and people laugh at them and go, "eff no!"

It's pretty much like that. The older 2xxx and 3xxx series mobile i3/i5/i7s in the 6420/6520 are still in the ballpark performance wise. Give them fast storage and enough RAM, they'll be plenty happy.

The issues with an older laptop tend to be 1) keeping them cool and blowing the dust out, 1b) replacing dried out thermal compound on the HSFs, 2) fresh batteries and battery life, 3) screen hinges wearing out. If you're using it as a desktop replacement, only the first issue really applies at all, although a goofy power system can interfere with sleep/wake.
 
J

JWade

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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www.heatware.com
atleast with my e6420, hinges were excellent, no problem keeping the fan clean, and also easy to replace the thermal compound, the bottom comes off with I think half a dozen screws to access everything, the e6520 does as well, easily replace the thermal compound on the processor.
 
TeknoBug

TeknoBug

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2013
2,084
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I have an E6440 with i5 4300M and 8GB ram but needs a SSD, nice overall laptop and the rubberish surface is my favorite part of it.

Never had issues with hinges.
 
M

Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
2,108
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Also fwiw, if you check that Ebay seller's feedback listings, you'll see that quite a few of the E6520s that were listed as auctions ended up going for well below $200. I didn't look to see if the specs, condition, and included parts were identical, but it seems worth looking into if you have the patience to wait out a couple of auctions instead of just "buying it now."

ETA: Ah, I see now, why the price difference. Apparently the auction machines don't include hard drives (which might be a good thing if you want to install an SSD anyway), but do come with Windows 7 COAs.
 
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xgsound

xgsound

Golden Member
Jan 22, 2002
1,374
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I recently got 2 Dell e6500s for the family. They are solid as a rock and give access to the innards with one screw. The only possible con is that they are a little heavy.
The 6520 is a generation or two better, takes DDR3, and has a handful of screws for full repair access. This is what I would get if I needed something now because of the great bang for the buck.

Jim
 
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