Homepage
Forum
Drivers
HMM
MTM
Feed
i7-2760QM 2.4GHz CPU 4 Core, 8 with HT
8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
500GB 7200 RPM HD
Intel GPU and Nvidia Quadro NVS4200M GPU 512MB DDR3
Wifi/GiGE
Dual Layer DVD Burner
Backlit KB w/ Number Pad
15.6" HD Display (Dell's description, not mine). 1366x768
According to a quick e-bay search, they are going for about $400.00
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Laptops-Netbook ... tude+E6520
It may be a 2 year old machine, but it's built really well. Oh and it's [censored] fast as well.
My WEI Scores:
CPU 7.5
RAM 7.6
Graphics 6.5
Gaming 6.5
HD 5.9 (All rotating HD's i've seen score at 5.9, to get better you need an SSD)
This machine is just about perfect. Some may complain about the "low" resolution but it's very easy on these tired eyes. This machine is a beast. It's handled everything I have managed to throw at it and kept asking if that's all I got. One of the huge features for me is that keyboard is backlit. I haven't had a keyboard like that since my old Powerbook G4, and man did I love having it then. It's been a feature I have wanted on PC laptops for years, and now I finally have it. I also have a full sized # pad on the right, so that's very convenient for some of the spreadsheet work that I do.
In the past when talking about some of my other Dell's I have tried to discuss the keyboard quality. Most of you here are huge fans of how the keyboard on the T4x machine was. The tactile feedback was excellent, the travel was nearly flawless. This keyboard on the E6520 is an excellent keyboard. It only took me about 10 minutes to be able to touch type on it at a pretty decent speed. It's very easy to work with and my fingers have enough room so that they aren't overlapping one another causing me to make spelling errors. The trackpad is centered underneath the keyboard, which is all I can really say about it. It's a trackpad, it functions. Good enough. I use the Trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard. Now while this isn't as good as the trackpoint on the T4x/T6x machines, it is still one of the better trackpoints I have used. I have used them on Dell's, Toshiba's, HP, and Thinkpads. This one functions very well, and is comfortable to my finger tip after long periods of sustained mousing around.
So there it is, pictured above. That's the machine I will be keeping out of all the Dell's I own. Oh and a D630, I'll keep that because it's awesome. So sometime in the next 2 weeks I will have some listings for a few Dell's ranging from Core2Duo's to i5's. They are all nice machines, fast, good looking and in great operational condition. But they aren't my E6520. This thing just begs me to use it. Even if it's just for typing, which is very comfortable to do on this keyboard. Did I mention the keyboard on this unit is very good?
On to my impressions of my first Latitude acquisition. I do feel a difference between the non-backlit and backlit keyboards. The non-backlit keyboard feels more solid than the backlit keyboard IMO. Also pertaining to the keyboard there are no discerning ridges on the trackpoint buttons of the E6510 keyboard. I feel it is more difficult to come straight from the ThinkPad keyboard which has nice pronounced ridges (identifying landmarks) on the trackpoint buttons. The lack of tactile and pronounced landmarks on the Dell E6510 keyboard makes it quite easy for me to press the wrong trackpoint button when navigating with the Dell trackpoint. The overall trackpoint navigation also seems to be less fluid and does not quite have the smooth cursor movement-to-trackpoint response/resistance as the Thinkpads IMO. Definitely takes getting used to.
The build of my E6510 is not too terrible nor impressive IMO. I think I might be just a teensy bit annoyed by the keyboard at this point and it is clouding my judgment somewhat 
