Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 - Preliminary Info

Yes, see here.
Of course, if it was me, I had no interest whatsoever in desecrating a nice laptop with the cr@p that is Win8. But that's just me.

 

/sigh.

I don't want to derail this thread but hey, as it has already derailed a fair amount I'll just say that the Win8 hate is genuinely confusing me. I've been on every Win beta since Win95 and its always the same thing...

blah, blah, new windows will break my life, blah.

The worst thing is that there are many non-technical people on these forums that don't understand these things and look at your post count and think your opinion is a) correct, b) an indication they should avoid win8.

In all seriousness:

Win8 is Win7 with Metro and some additional really cool features such as HyperV, StorageSpaces, Awesome Task Manager, NIC Teaming, etc, etc and it runs faster than Win7 even in the Consumer Preview. I know because I've been running it as my primary OS since March.

People panic about Metro and complain it means Win8 is designed for Tablets... this winds me up. These people don't understand and I would wager have not spent and significant time in the product. Its just like Vista all over again - the press essentially reviewed the beta not the final product and basically destroyed its reputation before it was even released. Sure it wasn't the best OS of all time but remember that it did all the "under covers" ground work to make Win7 the undeniable success that it actually is such as the new network stack, the new audio stack, new graphics layers and SOOOO much more. Win7 is WinVista with an extra 18months UI work and code optimisation.... anyway I digress... back to topic:

Anyone using Win8 for any reasonable length of time (enough to form an informed opinion) would know that Metro is very rarely seen. It definitely needs work but a few minor changes (which I expect to see in the Release Preview) would resolve many of my concerns. It is not like Metro is in your face all the time and with the mini start menu (right click) the only time I see Metro is when I want to. Its not perfect but its still beta...

Its not cr@p. If you think it is then give actual reasons to explain your viewpoint and not cheap throwaway comments. You never know - any legitimate concerns might actually get fixed if you explain them in the right way in the right location.

heh sry. rant over, I'm off to grab a coffee and chill

erm.... anyone heard anything else on the M6700 or shall we continue to derail with random comments?

 

(continuing the derail for one moment, sorry )

There are a lot of improvements in Windows 8 that I am looking forward to that don't have to do with Metro, and that can benefit everyone. I don't think most people realize how much new stuff there is aside from Metro. (Native USB 3.0 support? Better memory/power management? New resource visualizations in Task Manager? Improved auto-update experience? Improved file collision management? Super-fast boot? Nice UEFI bootloader with secure boot? Right-click bottom-left corner for power tools menu? Anti-virus included OOTB? Massive improvements to NTFS error handling? Storage spaces?)

Windows 8 is Windows 7 + pile of improvements + new Metro experience. I'm skeptical about the Metro/desktop "dual experience" but everything else is pretty awesome. And I'm thinking Metro will be pretty nice for some apps even on a typical keyboard+mouse machine. (Thinking Netflix, Kindle, certain games...) At least the new "Start" screen doesn't change the typical app-launching behavior if you usually launch with the keyboard. (Press Windows key, start typing app name, use arrow keys to select it and hit Enter. Still the same.)

I'll load it on my Precision...

 

This is patently false. Windows 7 was well received from the very start, and so was Windows XP. The amount and intensity of criticism of Win8's UI, on the other hand, is unprecedented. Even Vista's reception was a lot better.

Nobody disputes that Win8 has many under-the-hood advantages. It's exactly the UI, and only the UI, that's the problem, but this is a serious one. In simple words, Metro is wildly inappropriate for desktop and laptop computers. It's as simple as that.

See above. And, yes, it is in your face after Microsoft took the Start Menu away, meaning that whenever I need to start a program that I use less often, I am forced to go through a complete context switch. It is in your face now that various configuration tasks have been randomly distributed over Metro versus the traditional Control Panel interface, with next to no rhyme or reason. Plus, advanced desktop configuration has been removed entirely, so there is no way anymore (well, without Registry hacking) to change the size and type of the various desktop interface elements, button sizes, etc., etc.

I am aware of all of these and, yes, they are definitely worthwhile improvements.

Actually, we are probably closer in our assessment than you might think (except that I cringe every time I see anybody falling for that inane newsspeak of all of those "experiences" that Microsoft has invented here).

Bottom line for me, yes, I may upgrade to Win8 at some point, namely once viable third-party UIs become available. Funny how we're back to the good-old Win3x days, when nobody in his right mind would use Windows' native interface, and people would go out and buy all of those third-party interfaces (Norton Desktop, PC Tools, or whatever they were called).

 

No offence.

Please bring the win 7 vs win 8 somewhere else. This is not the right thread.

Thanks.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

 

agreed Like I said my intention was not to derail the thread, simply to show that cheap throw away comments such as that are inappropriate. I have no issue with actual issues, but they need to be explained and justified. Hopefully this has countered and made people think about Win8 in a more objective manner.

/end

 

Cool.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

 

Thanks to the both of you for your answers!
Alright, gotcha for windows 8, I'll just buy it the laptop this summer.
Well I plan on doing math and physics so I don't think my laptop will leave my room. Never the less, even though Alienware specs look really nice, I think I'd prefer a PC that doesn't light up like a Christmas tree

I'll come back with questions about what is the best graphic card for gaming on a M6700 once we know what they are

thanks again for your replies

 

just a quick one and I'm not saying I would personally choose an Alienware over a Precision - however the Alienware does come with decent "neon Christmas tree light controlling software" that includes the ability to turn them all off. It doesn't look that bad once they are all off, I had a M17x about 3 years ago and it was built like a truck. If it is going to be sat in a room all day then it might be worth further consideration....

that said I still put my money down on a precision this time, but mainly because I spent a lot of time on client sites consulting and the professional look is important.

Cheers

 

Of course, that assumption would be correct...

Here's a serious question, however: Does anybody know if Dell will manage to provide a fingerprint reader with these new machines that is in fact usable? I know that at least for the M6400 and 6500, they used a propreitary solution in such a way that Windows 7 was unable to recognize or use the sensor, and I believe, but I'm not sure, that this is still true for the M6600.