Just wanted to get more noise out there that the new E521 distributed by Dell isn't working right under Linux. Specifically I have tried Ubuntu 6.06 But there are others reporting problems with other distros and lots of different people trying different kernels.
Anyway, I have started a thread on the ubuntuforms and one on Dell's forums that are getting a fair amount of traffic. I have also contacted Dell support with no luck, but I suggest everyone who bought this system with the intent to run Linux contact support too, making noise that they can see may help push some results. I also put a feeler out to Canonical about maybe purchasing support to address this issue.
I am holding off submitting a bug to the Ubuntu guys because they have their hands full with tomorrows release, plus I want to try out Edgy and see how it runs. If I can reproduce the problem there I will submit the bug and renew some detailed troubleshooting.
But if you are looking for a new machine and you want to run linux on it and don't want any problems, forget Dell and go for system76. I can't speak for their quality or support because I haven't tried it, but I can say if I had this to do over I would have just ordered a similar machine for slightly higher cost from them.