Dell Precision M6700 Owner's Review

don't mean to hijack the thread ... but why ? not being a smart a$$ or troll right now just an honest question ? i was always told that Nvidia drivers are more robust - isn't that what really counts ?

 

I too would like to see this. My holy grail Windows box has the durability, specs, versatility, and support of a mobile workstation, but with a consumer GPU. Lots of us pros do CPU- or RAM-bound work (e.g. VMs or DAWs), then game when we get home. If this were allowed, however, probably many of the pros who actually ought to use Quadros would instead buy the cheaper Geforce cards. (I don't know, does Autocad or whatever work with a consumer card?) Regardless, games seem to work fine on the pro cards, so I just pay the Quadro tax and move on.

 

Most likely cooling. A direct function of the laptop design.

Then you've nearly made your choice. Take the "red" sports car.

Yes, but not certified for it. For all intents and purposes, it probably wouldn't make a difference.

Of course you can game on a Quardro and likely get 9/10 the performance. However, for renders, the reverse would prove extremely hazardous.

Therefore, that idea would never work, and you've most succinctly stated why. Besides, part of the reliability these workstation provide come by way of the extensive their testing with the listed products.

 

Thanks for the useful info. Can older generation M4600/6600 use the new dock with USB 3.0 enabled? Older and Newer models use different USB controller.

 

Never had any problems with AMD drivers, but I had quite a few green ones fail on me. Nvidia would charge 2x for the card of similar or less performance.

 

On the M6700, the USB 3.0 is on the motherboard. On the M6500 and M6600, it was on a daughterboard. I would highly doubt that the USB 3.0 would work unless the machine has the newest IVY Bridge chipset. Intel delayed USB 3.0 for a very long time.

 

I would like to know about that to. On their website, under compatibility for the dock, it says only M4700 and M6700. But it would be nice to have reliable confirmation on that.

 

i can believe this ... and yet most still buy nvidia ... so there must be a reason no ?

 

The reason is in extra certifications and features like CUDA, Physx, etc. But if I don't need those, why should I pay such a huge premium for the same or lower performance? If only the 7970m could work with the IPS panel...that would close the deal for me for sure. Worst case, the M6000 will suffice

 

quick question: supposedly with Alienware if you change components ( like install your own SSD ) that doesn't void the warranty. is that the same with the M6700? if i have a problem with blue screens or whatever and the tech finds a Samsung 830 SSD in there is he going to tell me to go screw myself ?