Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 - Preliminary Info

Tweakers.net has published some information (in Dutch):
Dells nieuwe Precision-laptop kan met 2,75TB uitgerust worden | Core | Tweakers.net Nieuws

Specs from the article:
- Ivy Bridge (doh)
- As expected, new Kepler Quadros and AMD FirePros
- 3 storage bays for the M4700, 4 for the M6700 (vs. 2 and 3 for the current gen?)
- The M6700 will come in a red colored "covert edition" with gorilla glass screen

Looking at the pictures it seems it's basically the same design as the current generation (aside from the "covert edition"). No release date or pricing information yet...

 

Well, the existing Kepler GPU's are more gaming oriented than compute, but not the entire line.

GF100/110 are the compute oriented Fermi
GF104/106/108/114/116/118 are gaming oriented Fermi

GK110 is compute oriented Kepler (not out yet)
GK104/106/107 are gaming oriented Kepler

Quadro 2000M = GF106, 192 shaders, 550Mhz core/1100Mhz shader
Quadro K2000M = GK107, 384 Shader, ?Mhz core

Note: Kepler shaders run at slower clockspeed than Fermi shaders, so there is not exactly double the shader horsepower there. Fermi shaders run 2x core speed (thats why there is the shader clock), but Kepler shaders run at same speed of core. I would peg the K2000M at being about as fast as a DDR3 version of GT 640M / GT 650M. Compared to Quadro 2000... its hard to say, as I dont know clock speeds. However I doubt it will be slower.

If the AMD FirePro that's based on Heathrow XT ends up using GDDR5, then it will definitely be the better GPU, for compute AND gaming. That will essentially be the 7870M, which is very similar to a Desktop 7770.

 

If that info is accurate (and I have no reason to believe it is not), looks like Thunderbolt is out for sure.

I see the note about the increasing of the storage bays. I'd be impressed if they manage to cram an extra storage bay in each machine, but I suppose it is possible --- I do wonder if that is some sort of misinterpretation (perhaps unknowingly counting the mSATA or possibility of using the optical drive bay).

I was hoping that they would do something about the top hinge/latch that people complain about... hard to tell from the pics but it doesn't look like it is any different.

 

They could easily make a double bay where the primary HDD bay was, same as they did with the M18xR2. But that's pretty sad, since I'm about to place my order... Extra hard drive would force me to wait and lose the great deal I managed to score...

 

Yeah, I'm at the tail end of a long, long search for a new laptop. I've more or less narrowed it down to the Precision 6600 [ideally with the 5010m, IPS]. Yet now I'm stuck, again, wondering if I should wait.

I already waited for ivy bridge... now it's just getting silly. From what I'm hearing, the refresh isn't much of a leap forward. Would this be an accurate statement?

The GPUs sound as though they're not much of an advancement based in the Kepler / Fermi comparison.

The only thing is how much of a bargaining tool a forthcoming 6700 would be in price negotiations. I don't want to spend full price on last year's tech, and then have new land the following week. Whereas a significant price reduction could make it worth sticking with the 6600.

Advice and thoughts welcomed on whether to stick or twist!

 

I just spoke with my rep and it seems that the new models are coming in about a month. The only real bump in specs is the faster GPU options. The new cards should outperform the old gen by as much as 100% in some cases. But there's a very high chance of backward compatibility, so you can upgrade your x600 machine with the new cards. The CPU's are pretty much the same with only a slight bump in clocks. Same chassis it seems as well as all the connectivity options. And also, my rep says there won't be any extra hard drive bays -> same number of drives.

Given the news/rumors (take it with a grain of salt as my rep isn't on the Precision team), I'm thinking of going the current gen as it will surely save me a lot of cash. The new beast will most likely be more expensive.

 

If you were doing that on purpose, note that the M6600 does not have Ivy Bridge.

Ivy Bridge does offer advancements in that it consumes a good bit less power and the integrated GPU is much better. (The integrated GPU would be in use if you use Optimus.) Otherwise, marginal improvements over Sandy Bridge. My impression was that the new Quadro GPUs offered a considerable performance jump.

I don't think that the M6700 will be more expensive than the M6600 is now. I'm talking about buying new — obviously it will be a while before you can match the better deals that you can get through places like the Outlet. But, the M6600 hasn't budged in price since it was released over a year ago — specs haven't changed except the switch from 2X20 to 2X60 CPUs and a couple of [expensive] additions (IPS, Quadro 5010M) — and it launched right around the same price point as the M6500.

They'll probably have the M6600 around for a few weeks after the M6700 launches, possibly at a reduced price to clear out inventory. But they don't keep that much extra inventory so we'll see the M6700 take the M6600's place pretty quickly.

 

Do not wait the illogic of the Dell.
Dell is developing the Precision chassi for two generations.
Examples: M90 and M6300, M6400 and M6500.
It is unlikely that Dell has made such drastically changes for the M6700.
Unfortunately...

Best Regards,
Alex.

 

Indeed, I was waiting for the Ivy Bridge refresh to other ranges - specifically Lenovo.

Thanks for the responses Aikimox and Aaron44126. It's hard to pin down the (graphics) performance gap without any machines out there under review. I think perhaps it was in comparing CUDA cores that I'd remembered the performance gap wasn't as significant.

The prospect of yet another month[+] on a Lenovo x121e doesn't fill me with joy, but if it's going to be the same price for better technology then it's perhaps worth waiting.

 

That laptop is old and ugly. That can't be right?