Dell Precision M6700 Owner's Review

bad news ! where the msata is supposed to go the empty slot doesn't have the tiny screw that is needed to hold the card down.

we don't have Fry's electronics here in NY. any idea where i can buy the tiny screw ? i have no idea what size it is but i can take the screw from the WiFi card to the store to compare.

???

 

PM me your address. Will send you one tomorrow. We have an onsite service center at work. Plenty of spares.

In the mean time, go to the M4700 service manual. Look up how to CAREFULLY remove the keyboard trim. Use one of the 5 front keyboard screws - they are the same size. Replace the keyboard screw when you get mail from NC.

Seriously. Will be happy to help!

See post I just made. Use a keyboard screw until Tuesday. PM me your address and I will mail you one tomorrow.

 

Loving my M6700 so far, especially the part that I pretty much don't need calibration out of the box. Screen looks great, colors are accurate. Love being able to load up specific profiles depending on the app.

One question for Bokeh, do you think there is a huge difference with the 3920XM being unlocked? I got the 3820QM because I didn't think that there was a huge difference between both CPU's but after reading some of your posts, i'm hoping i'm not missing out on too much...

 

Home depot. Or any local computer store. Like a mom and pop shop, not a chain.

 

To Bokeh,
Have you been able to confirm that the M6700 will have a Wacom touch/pen digitizer? On another M6700 thread here, someone said it will have Wacom The M6700 should have the best digitizer, the Wacom. If it has the Wacom, this will truly be a game changer, at least for me. Unless the M6700 mtouch is horribly expensive, I don't think I would consider any further getting a used M6600. I wouldl be using the M6700 for Autocad, Revit, 3D Max (if I can learn it), notes, sketching, etc. The thought of it is very exciting to me.
Thanks, Mike (architect)

 

All I can confirm is what I have read. The Touchpad is going to be 10 point and be fully antiglare. Sounds to me like someone hit a reset button on the last version. I will ask for more info from a couple of Dell friends.

I'll be honest with you. I am a die hard IPS panel fan. It is my personal game changer. But if I had a second machine to use, the 400nit 3D display and Revamped touch panel (Windows 8) are both making me curious.

If there were an IPS touchpanel that was antiglare. Oh man.

Still, for *me* the IPS panel is a must. State of the art color anywhere. Can't give that up.

 

PM sent ...

heh you know i already had the keyboard removed and put back before i read this. actually on M4700 there are only 4 screws instead of 5 ... but i would have borrowed one anyway if i realized it was the same.

removing that trim is kinda scary ... i'll do it as a matter of last resort

they put the 2 gb ram stick under the keyboard instead of on the bottom of the laptop for some reason ...

they should really re-think the whole process of upgrading the ram - WAY TOO HARD - probably *too* hard for most people to even attempt. it easy to plop two extra sticks on the bottom but then you will have an odd 2gb stick under the keyboard and i think it will throw the whole dual channel setup off ? anyway, i didn't want to take a chance so i removed it.

i used crucial.com memory selector - they had M4700 in their database. now my windows experience index for ram shows 7.7 ( was something abysmal with 2gb )

 

Replying above. On an iPhone. Damn Apple and their scrolling on NBR

On the KB trim removal, pull down from the top and then do the edges. I have removed it 5 or 6 times on the M6700 and it still scares me too.

On the number of screws, I was going from memory.

On the M6700, there are only 2 screw sizes used in the machine itself and they are all marked. The Hard Drives have their own screw size. But beyond the Hard Drives, you have a much simpler set of screws to keep up with.

They put 1 stick under the KB? Weird. Maybe they were trying to help you out. Did it have the metal guard over the ram and under the keyboard?

Will get the mSata screw sent to you tomorrow morning.

 

i'll be waiting ...

for some reason this reminds me of those government waste stories where pentagon spends half a million dollars to transport a pair of washers from one state to another.

Dell put all this effort to design this machine and then they couldn't include a few extra screws ...

it just occured to me maybe the Crucial msata card itself will come with the screw ? if the screw is standard it is possible ? well, i will find out by the end of monday ( according to tracking number for the M4 ) but if anybody has ordered msata cards before - did they come with a little screw ?

6700 has 5 screws i think. 4700 has 4.

yes they put 1 stick under KB. no there was no metal guard like in the 6700 manual. once the KB is off the ram is fully exposed.

 

The Intel 80gb did. But the Samsung 820 was a much better performer.

And this is not Gov waste. Just someone helping out someone. Will take all of 20 minutes to send. You would be out at least an hour or more to find one. Happy to help.

There is also the outside chance that the screw is there. Dell included 4 screw holes in the M6700 just to hold spare screws.