Dell Precision M6700 Owner's Review

Hi Bokeh, you mention that the touch screen is improved. I noticed that that this option was not mentioned in their press release, the spec sheet, and indeed is not available on the online configurator for the US site. Is this an option that can be had by calling in and ordering over the phone?

For me, the touchscreen option is what really sealed the deal when it came to my decision to buy an M6600, I really hope this option is being carried over in the next gen.

 

Thanks for the pics and preliminary preview!

How's the keyboard? Is it identical to the M6600?

 

I wonder if Dell uses the same heatsink for all CPU models. Glad to see some copper on both radiators.

 

I don't think so at this point.

Neither the CPU or GPU heatsinks look like the ones in the manual. The CPU in mine is labeled "55 watt" and has 2 heat pipes. The one in the M6700 manual only has 1 heat pipe.

I think anyone wanting to buy a dual core and swap in a quad will also have to buy a heat sink.

Yeah, LOTS of copper in these.

 

Can you run Prime95 and log the temps and clocks?

 

I happened to be looking at part numbers and for the backlit keyboard it's the same Dell part number as the 6600.

 

Thanks for chiming in, didn't catch it. That's cool to know.

 

Bokeh, Thank-you very much for posting these photos and starting this review. It's terrific. Please consider some of my questions in your revew.
I'm an architect, wanting to start doing Autocad, Revit, sketching, etc., on a portabable computer. I'm in the process of deciding whether to buy an M6600 mtouch on Ebay, or wait for the M6700 mtouch.

> Does the ability to lay the lid flat make sketching and note taking a lot better? Can you reverse the screen rotation 180 degrees with a button, like on a tablet?
> Is the new n-trig digitizer a lot better to use for sketching and note taking?
> Does the lower gloss screen make a big difference, and is the color reproduction a lot better?
> Is the rendering speed a lot faster, or would buying the M6600 with the faster card be close behind? Will it make a big difference?

> Do you think it would be best for me to buy the new M6700, w/ middle range cpu/gpu or the old M6600, w/ higher range cpu/gpu? I have limited funds, but I can wait and save up more money. (...or; would it be better for me to buy a desktop, and a cheaper portable, and link to the desktop with Logmein?)
Thanks, Mike Reilly, Virginia

 

> Does the ability to lay the lid flat make sketching and note taking a lot better? Can you reverse the screen rotation 180 degrees with a button, like on a tablet?

You can flip the screen 90 or 180 with the Nvidia Control Panel. Assuming ATI has something similar.

> Is the new n-trig digitizer a lot better to use for sketching and note taking?

This is an unknown for me. I have not used the new one. But I do know that many of the changes for this machine came directly from customers. I can not see the new one being worse than the old one. I would expect it to be better.

> Does the lower gloss screen make a big difference, and is the color reproduction a lot better?

The low gloss screen will reduce glare. If you have bright windows or lights behind you, it will make the most difference.

Color reproduction will still likely be 72% of Adobe RGB and 100% of sRGB. Less glare may make it easier to see more contrast in the screen especially in the shadows.

> Is the rendering speed a lot faster, or would buying the M6600 with the faster card be close behind? Will it make a big difference?

The GPU rendering improvements will depend on what you are running. I ran SpecViewPerf and saw speed improvements on the K5000M vs the 5010M across the board. The largest improvements came from the individual tests that stressed the GPU the most. Catia only gets about 45% usage from the GPU and the 5010M scored a 36 while the K5000M got a 49 for an increase of around 36%. Ensight which gets up to 96% GPU usage was 37 on the 5010M and 58 on the K5000M which is a 57% increase. One interesting note is that on Ensight, the K5000M went from scoring 50 to 58 based on a driver update. As drivers mature, I expect the rendering scores to start catching up with the 100+% speed increases I see in other GPU benchmarks.


> Do you think it would be best for me to buy the new M6700, w/ middle range cpu/gpu or the old M6600, w/ higher range cpu/gpu? I have limited funds, but I can wait and save up more money. (...or; would it be better for me to buy a desktop, and a cheaper portable, and link to the desktop with Logmein?)

On the new Video Cards, I am going to oversimplify by saying that each one can be compared to the model above it plus 50% of the next model. So a K3000M would be like a Q4500M (this is meant to convey the idea of a mythical card that is a mix of the real Q4000M and 5010M). Take a widely used consumer benchmark of 3DMark11. K3000M - 2809, Q4000M - 2334, Q5010M - 3066. The halfway point would be 2700, and the K3000M exceeds it. The K4000M scores a 3830 which blows away the 5010M.

Since you run Autocad, you will buy an Nvidia card. The only card that will be faster than the K3000M will be the old 5010M. All of the Kepler cards will use much, much less power than their older counterparts. This is one of the biggest jumps I have seen a video card maker make.

CPUs will follow the same trend. A 3720QM is faster than a 2920XM and uses a lot less power. Just don't buy a dual core in any Precision. It is such a loss of performance.

The M6700 will replace my M6600 as my desktop computer. I dock the M6700 to an E-Port Plus at work. I use a pair of U2410 24" monitors, and now may be adding a 3rd and 4th since the M6700 will support them. Do I need 4 monitors? Probably not. But I think it will look cool . The M6700 is faster than many desktops - even new ones. It just so happens that I can undock the M6700 and take it with me to meetings or take it home to work remotely. The screen is just as good as my desktop monitors and system is just as fast. The only downside is that you have to have a case or backpack large enough to carry the system. Weight is not a big deal.

You could get a cheaper laptop, but you will be compromising a lot of performance. This will keep you much more tied to your desk.

If it were me, I would buy a quad core M6700 with an Nvidia GPU. Which particular quad core and Nivida GPU will depend on your budget. Even the lowest models will outperform most of the old platform.

 

wow the cpu hs is as powerful as m17xr1/r2
but the gap between closed screen still exist.......why dell left the flaw for 4 gens