Configuring an M6400 online

So, I am playing around with configuring a Dell Precision M6400 online and I'm confused about a couple of things. In the ad copy on the website it says that laptop can have up to 16GB of RAM, but when you try to configure the laptop on Dell's website it only shows up to 4GB. Also, I see no option for Vista 64-bit to take advantage of more RAM.

Do you have to call about these features, or am I just stupid and missing it on the website?

Also, I assume adding your own RAM is easy on these machines? Does it void the warranty? Because I assume the thing to do is buy it with the least amount of RAM and add your own aftermarket, correct?

 

I ordered mine with 64bit vista no problems....<goes to look at the dell site>

(The dell site wasn't responding - so I came back here)

Where are you ordering from? UK or USA or other? Are you going in via home or business side of the website?

 

Just been to the UK dell site, via Small business link - and it lets you configure the 64bit vista no problems at all.

 

The 16GB of RAM is only available on the COVET.

 

I'm in the USA, going in through the business side. I'm looking at the COVET too. Here is the link:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...roductdetails~workstation-precision-m6400-cov

It lists Vista Business and Ultimate, but doesn't seem to specify if it's 64-bit. Also, no option for more than 4GB of RAM, but that's not too big of a deal because I will probably buy aftermarket provided it doesn't void the warranty or there is some other reason I'm not aware of.

 

Ok, duh, I went in through small&medium business before. I just figured out I had to go through large business. Now I see it.

 

Dell Ireland - Home - No Precision M6400 available from what I can see

Dell Ireland - Small Business - 16GB available on Base, Essential and Covet models if 64-bit OS is selected

Dell Canada - Home - No Precision M6400 available from what I can see

Dell Canada - Small & Medium Business - 16GB available on Mobile Precision and Mobile Orange (Covet) models if 64-bit OS is selected

Dell UK - Home - No Precision M6400 available from what I can see

Dell UK - Small & Medium Business - 16GB available on Base, Essential and Covet models if 64-bit OS is selected

Dell USA - Home - No Precision M6400 available from what I can see

Dell USA - Small & Medium Business - On the main layout page where they list the M6400 Covet, M6400, M4400, M2400 and M6300, if you click the green "Choose" button for any of the laptops, either the Covet or the regular M6400, it will direct you to a page where you can choose to customize the laptop with Vista or with XP. Regardless of which OS you choose, they only offer 32-bit OS's, hence why only 4GB of RAM is available. So, instead of selecting the green "Choose" button under the laptop on the main layout page, go to the top left corner where it says "Narrow your selection" and check the box which says "64-bit OS". This loads a new page which lists 64-bit versions of the M6400 and M6400 Covet (amongst other Precision models). You can then customize either of those and 64-bit OS and 16GB of RAM options will be available. If you choose the Covet, however, only Vista64-bit will be available, whereas the non-Covet has Vista64-bit or XP64-bit. In addition, you can skip the Precision page altogether and just go Dell.com - For Office - Laptops and Tablets - Small & Medium Business, then on the page that comes up, just use the narrow selections boxes and hit Precision Mobile Workstations, 17" screen size and 64-bit OS and the two M6400's will come up.

If you do go for the 32-bit OS, you can get the 4GB RAM maximum in 4 DIMM slots, so assumably you can then replace these with 2GB/DIMM and get the full 16GB, or any configuration of 2, 4, 8, 12 or 16GB that you want, as long as the memory matches. There's info on configuring RAM pairs elsewhere in this forum. Anything over 4GB and you'll need a 64-bit OS to use the available RAM.

N.B. When I configure the Covet models on the UK and Ireland sites, there seems to be a conflict between a 64-bit OS and LCD. This doesn't seem to happen with the non-Covet models. Not sure what it's about.

 

That is so NOT true. You can put in as much as you want - not only for Covet.

4Gb is max. amount listed for small business. 16Gb is available only for large business. That's if you go with the configurator.

I think, buying via configurator is the dumbest thing you can do.

Go and make a system with the configurator, BUT don't buy it then. Save it as an e-quote and send it to Dell. They'll send you an offer - which for my point - was about 600 euros cheaper than the configurator price.

cheers
Blues

 

Here's the new link that I found which works: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=555&l=en&oc=MLB1433&s=biz

I definitely want Vista 64-bit. I'm running that on my desktop and it runs all my engineering apps great.

 

Is there any difference between the Covet and the M6400 other than the orange color and the fact that the M6400 can be configured to be lower spec'd?

If not, it seems to me that the best deal would be to configure an M6400 with 1GB of RAM and the 80GB HDD, then buy those aftermarket. Is my thinking correct on that?

Thanks, I appreciate all the help.