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When you get used D620

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D620 and D630 are ideal laptops for Windows XP. Not everybody wants Windows 7, which in many ways is one step forward, two steps back: much more complex and more closed system(Apple-like) then Windows XP.  D620 hardware is ideal for Windows XP and you don't need more then 2GB of memory for this OS.

The quality of drivers is of paramount importance for correct functioning of D620. If Windows were reinstalled without putting all the proper drivers in place you might have impression that laptop is broken.  You need first to verify using Dell site if all the proper drivers are in place (you need a service tag for this).

Also you can try changing the resolution, turning on clear type, increasing the DPI etc.

Good and cheap external keyboard  is Dell SK-8135 USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard: you can definitely use it instead of built-in.

Note: Check if clear type is enabled. Display/Appearance/Effects/Use the following method to smooth edges of font/clear type

Dell 620 works well with Intel solid state drives (tested with several Intel models). Booting is considerably faster (10 sec or less) and applications are opened instantly. Microsoft office speed up is worth the extra price of the drive. That's one enhancement you you need to do after purchacing the laptop.

Battery last 3-4 hours. Which is not impressive. But this laptop works great with dock station as king of desktop with built-in UPS :-). In this case you actually don't care about battery.  During hurragane I used USP instead of laptop battery with great success ;-). 

Docking stations are cheap at Amazon ($30 or so) so it make sense to get one.

At the price you can buy it at Amazon it is also great videoplayer and boombox :-). It also can be use as backup car navigation device.

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Video Card

  • 256MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 110M TurboCache™ 4
    The 256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M offers all the latest graphics technology to produce extraordinary visual effects, robust wide-aspect LCD support and compatibility with all major business applications.

    Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (Up to 224MB shared5)
    The GMA 950 graphics core is an intelligent and responsive graphics engine built into the chipset that is on the motherboard. This integration provides incredible visual quality, faster graphics performance and flexible display options.

Display

  • WXGA+ (1440 x 900 resolution)

    WXGA (1280 x 800 resolution)

Connectivity

  • Wired:

    Wired: 56K v924 Internal Modem 10/100/1000 Gigabit6 Ethernet network interface adaptor

    Wireless:

    Dell Wireless 5500 Mobile Broadband 3G HSDPA (Cingular US)
    Dell Wireless 5700 Mobile Broadband CDMA EVDO (Verizon Wireless US)

    WLAN

    Intel® 3945 WiFi 802.11a/g, Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g, Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Dual-Band Mini-Cards, Internal Bluetooth (optional).

Security

  • Physical Security:

    Cable Lock Slots, Media Module and Hard Drive Locks.

    User & System Security:

    Integrated Smart Card Reader, Trusted Platform Module 1.2 and optional UPEK™ finger print reader. Wave Embassy™ Trust Suite by Wave Systems security software.

    Network Security:

    802.11 WiFi Protected Access (WPA), 802.11i (WPA2), Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and 802.1x with EAP modes

Ports, Slots & Chassis

  • EXPANDABILITY:

    PC Card:

    One Type I or Type II

    I/O Ports:

    Serial, docking connector, 4 USB, VGA, headphone/speaker out, infrared port, RJ-11, RJ-45, AC power, integrated microphone , infrared

    Docking:

    D/Port, D/Dock, D/View Notebook Stand, D/Monitor Stand

    Modular Options:

    24X CD-ROM, 8X DVD+/-RW7, 24X CDRW/DVD, Floppy Disk Drive

    USB Memory Keys:

    128MB, 256MB7 and 512MB USB Memory Keys (optional)

Power

  • Power Supply:

    65 Watt or 90 Watt AC adapter with cord wrapping

    Batteries featuring ExpressCharge™ :

    Primary 4-cell/35 WHr
    Primary 6-cell/56 WHr
    Primary 9-cell/85 WHr
    Secondary 6-cell/48 WHr "Smart" Li-Polymer batt

[Nov 25, 2011] more D620 specs... - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

  • Because DELL's online specs are often vague and incomplete, here are my specs for a D620 shipped in early June with NVidia 110M graphics; 9 cell battery; 65W power supply; 1280x800 display. Some of these are probably subject to change, so consider this a snapshot.

    Weight (measured by a 5# postal scale; not so accurate)
    9 cell battery: 1# 2.5oz
    DVDRW: 8oz
    chassis: 4# 3oz
    65W power adapter: 13.5oz

    total parts: 6# 11oz

    65W power supply:
    PA-12 Family; DP/N: DF263
    input: AC 100-240V ~1.5A 50-60Hz
    output: DC 19.5V 3.34A
    efficiency level: III
    LITEON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Dongguang Lite Power 2nd Plant
    Made in China
    CN-0DF263 REV A00
    fixed DC cable: 6'
    removable AC cable: 3' with 2 prong plug (each end).


    The brick is about 6"x2.2"x1"

    The removable AC cable is not interchangeable with my year old D610 PA-12 family. The old one has a custom 3 prong connector; the D620 has a standard looking 2 prong connector with the same U shaped stress relief as the old one. The AC cable is thinner than the old

    due to having only 2 wires. Yay!

    The DC cable is slightly thicker than the old. Otherwise, this PA12 is the same shape and style as the old.

    BATTERY:
    This is an odd shaped 9 cell battery. Part of it extends outside in front of the chassis. At first I

    didn't think I would like it, but now I do. It has a rubberized top surface and is shaped like an add-on palm rest. It adds 1" to the depth of the chassis. The overall chassis and palm rest are not as deep as the D610, so with this extra 1" it feels about the same. It's a little more aggravating to remove and replace than the old ones, but it needs to be more securely attached.

    Li-ion TYPE TC030
    11.1Vdc capacity: 85Wh
    KR-0PD685 REV A01
    cells made in Korea; assembled in China.
    5 LED external charge level indicator.

    HARD DRIVE:
    The SATA HD has a new carrier, but it slides out the side like every other Latitude.
    It is an Hitachi Travelstar 7200RPM 80GB HTS721080G9SA00
    made in Thailand
    f/w:C10H
    DP/N TH-0WC004
    Runs in PATA compatibility mode, not native SATA. Is it possible to put it in native mode?

    RAM:
    hynnix 512MB 2Rx16 PC2-5300S-555-12
    Korea 01 HYMP564S64BP6-Y5 AB 0619

    DVDRW:
    Philips DVD+-RW SDVD8820
    firmware: AD15
    (it can write Double Layer though Dell doesn't promote that).
    CN-0KH132 REV A00
    Made in China

    "Discs burned with this drive may not be compatible with some existing drives and players; using DVD+R media provides maximum compatibility".

    I burned two DVD+R DL with this, and my older D610 Sony DVD+RW DL drive read them no problem; and an even older combo drive is reading it OK.

    CHASSIS:
    This is an all-new chassis. The battery is not exchangable with the D610. I think the other D-family parts are the same.

    Made in Malaysia?

    No parallel port; no S-Video; and the smart card slot has moved.

    The single display latch is radically different from Latitude, and entirely within the display a' la

    thinkpad. You can open it with one hand. Seems flimsy.

    The only parts you can access from the bottom are the SIM card socket and the DIMM B socket.

    Everything else must remove the hinge cover and keyboard.

    The modem must also remove the palm rest.

    The DIMM B socket door is metal with small slits for vents.

    The mobo is dark blue.

    There is a real 3 position switch on the side to enable/disable the wireless radios; and a "wireless

    catcher" LED.

    The display has a built in ambient light sensor for automatic brightness.

    The little plunger switch for the display open/close is gone

    The keyboard is different but not changed much.

    The half functional cd-eject Fn F10 key is gone, as is the Fn key to enable/disable wireless (see above).
    There is a new Fn key to enable/diable the auto brightness feature.
    There is a new Fn key to change the aspect of the screen.

    Still using Alps track stick and touch pad.
    The track stick has the rubbery cap instead of the fuzzy cap. I prefer fuzzy.
    The touch pad is wide aspect to match the screen. The buttons are smaller than D610.

    There is a mono speaker beneath the left palm rest with no holes to let the sound out. It is loud enough but easily distorted.

    NOTE: the media bay is not SATA enabled.


    BIOS: (the interesting stuff)
    Info:
    A02
    Memory Channel Mode as 'Dual' and the speed as 667MHz.
    the Video Controller = Quadro NVS 110M
    video BIOS version = 005.072.022.021.131.000
    video memory = 64MB
    audio = Sigmatel 9200
    modem = Conexant HDA D110 MDC
    Wi-Fi = Intel Wireless
    Cellular = none
    Bluetooth = installed

    Configure :
    Integrated USB hub: Compatible (default) or High Speed

    "Compatible mode is necessary to achieve better battery life. This setting does not affect the external USB ports."
    Brightness: separate settings for DC and AC.
    CPU XD Support: Off / Enabled (default)
    Multi Core Support: Off / Enabled (default)
    HDD Acoustic Mode: Bypass (default) / Quiet / Performance
    Speedstep: Off / Enabled (default)
    Virtualization: Off (default) / Enabled
    USB Emulation: Off / Enabled (default)

    NOTE: there does not appear to be a setting to enable SATA Native mode; though I'm told it can.


    Wireless:
    some wireless settings are in Security section
    separate settings to enable Bluetooth; Wi-Fi; and Cellular.
    many modes for wireless switch behavior
    something called "WiFi catcher"

    Device Manager:

    network:
    Broadcom 57xx wired
    Intel 3945ABG wireless

    bluetooth: Dell Wireless 350 USB internal (Toshiba) firmware 24.22

    PCMCIA: O2Micro OZ6912/601/77E0 CardBus/SmartCardBus


    Graphics:
    NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M
    type: GeForce Go 7300
    Total Memory: 256MB
    Dedicated memory: 64MB
    bios: 5.72.22.21.d1
    ForceWare version 83.13

    Message Edited by Charles A on 07-29-200603:14 AM

[Nov 16, 2011] Upgrading the Hard Drive of a DELL Latitude D820, D830 - YouTube

[Nov 16, 2011] How to Upgrade a D620 Hard Drive | eHow.com

[Nov 16, 2011] Graphics - How to open the Intel® Graphics Properties window

To use Dell 620 as a book reader you need to enable rotation in Intel driver.

To open the driver the menu: Ctrl+Alt+F12 and enable hot keys if they are disable. Image rotation is enabled by default and is activated by the default key combination <Ctrl> + <Alt> + <F1>.

If the display has been accidentlly rotated, you can correct by pushing the key combination <Ctrl> + <Alt>+ <Up Arrow>.

Once it is activated, you can rotate the display with the additional "Hot Keys":

<Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Right Arrow>
<Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Down Arrow>
<Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Left Arrow>
<Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Up Arrow>

See also Some Keyboard Key Strokes May Rotate the Image on the Screen - KB Article - 171414 Dell

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