Dell Precision M6700 Owner's Review

Actually, looking at my notes from the conversation it's August 21st for the full roll out of all the options for the M6700 (and I assume the M4700 too).

 

According to what I have read the i7-3920XM processor can be overclocked. How is this done, in BIOS, Intel utility, or ...?

Thanks for all the great info!

 

The M6700 allows the 3920XM to constantly run at its max turbo speed. Under a full CPU load on all 4 cores, instead of running at 2.9ghz, it will run at 3.6ghz. It never throttles the turbo mode down and allows it to consume 60-61 watts instead of just 55. In effect itnis factory overclocked. 2 Cores runs at 3.7. 1 core at 3.8.

 

does this only work for extreme edition CPUs ? or will 3720 also run at boost speed all the time ? what about Alienware - does it support this full time turbo boost as well ? is it just a matter of having adequate power supply and cooling or is it something else too ?

i don't think those considerations apply to me, but i will try to control myself and let more information come in before making the final mistake

 

It is an old Synology 3611xs. The setup is 10+2. It can take up to 500MB/s, speed limited by the poor performance hardisk i used. If i change all to faster hardisk it should be able to do more than 700MB/s.

 

Throttlestop. Works the same.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

 

But throttlestop is still software that overrides the factory TDP settings.

This is from the factory. Designed to be done. No software, no fuss. Just run the machine.

 

good point. in that case i will assume K3000M will be approximately a $300 option.

but more interestingly i think the new K4000M may come in a 4GB memory size:

http://www.nvidia.com/content/PDF/product-comparison/Quadro_Mobile_Product_Comparison.pdf

but hopefully is still going to be significantly cheaper than K5000M

Ok so what we're looking at is either:

option (1): i can configure 17" Alienware with a 3610 CPU, 2GB Geforce 660M and 256GB SSD out of the box for approximately $2,000. once i get it i would only need to upgrade the ram, which of course takes 5 minutes and maybe 50 bucks, and plop in a secondary hard drive ( another 5 minutes and 100 bucks ), so total project cost ~ $2,200 and total work ~ 20 minutes.

or

option (2): i can wait a month and get an M6700 with a 3720 CPU, 4GB Quadro K4000M, and IPS RGB panel ... for approximately $3,500. however once i get it i will have to separately buy a 256 gig SSD for $250 ( in addition to ram for 50 bucks ) and i will then have to re-install windows on the SSD. so total project cost ~ $3,800 and total work ~ 2 hours ( if nothing goes wrong ).

also ...

IS IT STILL TRUE THAT BY GOING WITH IPS RGB PANEL I WILL LOSE THE NVIDIA OPTIMUS AND THEREFORE BATTERY LIFE ? ? ?

option (1) pros: half the price, half the wait, fraction of the work, better webcam and speakers. cons: glossy screen.

option (2) pros: double the graphics performance, double the screen quality, thinner and lighter. cons: half the battery life.

does this sound about right ?


...

 

Hope it is ok to answer a few questions that I saw posted here.
1. Yes there is a new dock and it has USB 3.0 ports.
2. Battery life for the M4700 with Optimus enabled is over 11 Hrs with 9-cell and over 24 Hrs with 9-cell & 9-cell slice battery
3. battery life for the M6700 with Optimus enabled is over 10 Hrs with 9-cell and over 20 Hrs with 9-cell & 9-cell slice battery
4. AMD support with IPS RGB panel is coming very soon.
5. There is no Optimus support with the IPS RGB panels due to Intel GPU limitations to handle the 30-bit panel

Thanks
Mano

 

Thank you for the update! Good to know AMD is going to be compatible with the IPS screen. I would hate to switch to Nvidia but the screen is my main reason for choosing the M6700. On a side note, do you know if Dell will be offering a more powerful AMD card in the nearest future? The M6000 is barely on par with the last year FirePro. Kinda makes no sense to me, especially when the 7970M is equal to the K5000M in terms of raw power.