Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 - Preliminary Info

That's true, he did mention that. Slipped my mind, but not really new info since you posted it already in the other thread.

 

3 without dock and 4 with dock when using NVIDIA GFX, 5 total with AMD GFX and dock.

 

What's the ETA on the IPS + FirePro compatibility?

Also, out of curiosity, (I know it will void the warranty) when the IPS panels gets that compatibility, will it be possible to put a Radeon or GeForce GPU and make it work with the IPS?

 

What were the specs on the m4700 screens?

 

M4700
2 screens
FHD 300 nits, 60% Adobe gamut, 500:1 contrast ratio
IPS 300 nits, 100% Adobe gamut (100% sRGB, NTSC), 600:1 contrast ratio
[Edit] -- See below -- I think the spec I listed here as "FHD" is actually for the base screen (1600x900) and the actual FHD screen is 72% gamut.

This didn't come up during the hangout (at least the part that I was able to listen to) but Mano has posted on here that this is coming "soon" and I doubt he would have given much more detail than that.

 

Actually, B&N runs specials all the time.... I purchased quite a few laptops from that a/c and was able to get an extra 15-25% discount compared to the main Lenovo portal.

As I mentioned the best price for M4700 was quoted over the phone ~$2,100. The same rep was willing to go down as low as $1,900 for a three laptop deal.

I am shopping for another workstation and, to be honest, a difference of $400-500 is not the biggest concern for me. So far, the most important issues with M4700 I can see as:

1) No SATA III for a caddy drive. Perhaps someone can confirm that it is just an error in the manuals.
2) It is not clear what battery life we may expect for the IPS with 9-cell combo. I already contacted Dell support a few times, but nobody could shed light on that.

IPS display concerns:
3) I would be inclined to get the IPS display assuming that it is not a battery killer. If not, a standard 1920x1080 seems to be far worse than the same of Lenovo.
4) Many people experienced IPS tint corner problems. I cannot find any references whether it has been resolved or not. Reading numerous stories that Dell tecs could not fix the tint issue 4-5 times in a row, make me feel most uncomfortable when considering IPS.
5) No Optimus power saving for the IPS. I understand that is the Intel problem, but still it leaves a choice of only one option - not-as-good 1920x1080 with a mediocre gamut range.

 

Yes, that is quite the let down I must say. Nevertheless, as someone involved in the visual arts, getting the best display possible is my most important consideration.

 

1. The M4700 has only one SATA-3 port, for the main drive. That's all there is to it. The manual is correct.
(Mano confirmed this during the Google+ hangout today.)

2. The M6700 and M4700 use the same battery. Bokeh's thread has some numbers. He has the M6700 with the IPS screen. I expect the M4700 battery life to be similar, or actually a little bit better (smaller screen and less powerful GPU).

4. During the hangout, Mano said they are using new panels for this generation in response to my question about the screen tint issue on the M4600. Still, if you're worried about it, probably best to wait for some other people to receive their machines and see if anyone can offer feedback on what the M4700+IPS is like.

 

Thanks for the update. I still hope that Mano is not correct and the caddy slot is also SATA III. Let's wait until someone tests it. I also contacted Dell support in Malaysia to verify it. BTW, new Precisions are built in the USA (Texas), Malaysia and China. I assume the specs should be the same.

 

Well the specification require identical drive for RAID selection. Wouldn't that then require matching data ports? No wait, the mSATA is not SATA III either and it is selectable in RAID 0,1. Hmm, I'm not sure how that works? Brainiacs?