Dell Precision M6700 Owner's Review

Yes it is, I've measured it up, and it's the exact same size as required lock the mSATA card in place. I'm using that one myself.

 

Sorry for the "noise", but my order status was just updated to "Shipped". For others who might be trying to make sense out of Dell's somewhat opaque order status updates, here's the sequence of my own experience:

1. Order placed on 12/5. Confirmed in a couple of hours. Went into production on 12/6.

2. On 12/11, the online status was "In Production", but the automated phone status changed to "Will be shipped on 12/13".

3. On 12/13, the online status was "In Production", but the automated phone status changed to "Shipped today"

4. On 12/14 and 12/15 (upto 10:00 AM CST) , there was no change in the online status. The automated phone status changed to "shipped yesterday, "shipped on the 13th".

5. When I last checked, at roughly 10:00 am on 12/15, the online status changed to "Shipped". There's a Fedex ground tracking number provided, and Fedex estimates that the laptop will be delivered on 12/18 (which was the original estimated delivery date).

Interestingly:

1. My credit card has not been charged yet (it shows charges in "real time", which is their speak for "with a five to ten minute delay").

2. Fedex shows that the laptop shipped from Ellenwood, GA (not Shanghai, China). So, Dell must use an alternative carrier between the point-of-assembly and a US-based distribution center.

Again, sorry if this is the wrong forum for this type of information.

 

Your CC will be charged after you sign for the package, that way you won't be charged until the notebook is in your hands.

 

I have a Dell M6700 Covet coming to replace my aging Thinkpad W520 (I wanted the larger screen)!

I am a software architect and I have a Samsung SSD 840 Pro that has several Virtual Box partitions on it. I use the drive as a swappable drive between my desktop computer and my Thinkpad W520. Swapping is very, very easy (NO TOOLS required)!

Everything I have seen about the Dell M6700 swappable drive options seems to imply you have to:

1) Remove the battery
2) Remove two screws
3) Remove back cover
4) Remove MORE screws
5) Take out whichever drive you are "swapping"!

Can someone PLEASE tell me this isn't what Dell calls "swappable"?

Merry Christmas!

Shane

 

Actually, you missed TWO more required steps:

4a) Remove the retaining screw from the drive release lever
4b) Push the drive release lever.

Also, your version of step (5) seems to imply that this "easy" procedure works for either of the two drives. That's not correct. Only the first drive is "swappable". The second drive is "conventional", and has no "swappable" features. In other words, FEWER steps are required to remove it. Seriously.

If it's any consolation, the USB3 support on the m6700 seems excellent, and external USB3 drives can actually be faster than SATA II (but not SATA III) internal drives.

xPat

 

Thanks for the quick answer. I will probably just maintain a drive with my virtual boxes on the Dell and I will move the the development code / data with a USB drive between the machines. I would have thought Dell would have made a SIMPLE swappable drive option (I may be amongst the few who the M6700 isn't their only machine)!

Merry Christmas!

Shane

 

You only have to remove those screws the first time. Once they are out, you can pull the swappable drive in just a few seconds by removing the battery and hitting the eject button. The tray that it sits in has no screws and you can pop the drive out quickly. As I said in the reply on the other thread, my guess is that someone REALLY wanted to make sure the drive could be secured in place. Probably easier to ship the system with the screws in place than to have to ship a bag with spare screws.

 

Can anyone shed some light on the options below if you notice the i7-3940xm&i73920xm are the same price. How much of a difference is there between the two? Also the i73840qm&i73820qm are the same price why would they even offer the two?

Can anyone quantify the performance difference the i7-3940 and the i7-3840qm the price difference is substantial but the processor speed is separated by a .2GHz! I need the CPU power but I am on a budget.

3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3940XM Proc(Extreme 3.0GHz, 8M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [Included in Price]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3920XM Proc(Extreme 2.9GHz, 8M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) add $0.00
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM Processor (2.8GHz, 8M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $476.00]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3520M Processor (2.9GHz, 4M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $707.20]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3820QM Processor (2.7GHz, 8M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $476.00]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i5-3360M Processor (2.8GHz, 3M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $741.20]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3740QM Processor (2.7GHz, 6M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $612.00]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i5-3320M Processor (2.6GHz, 3M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $775.20]
3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM Processor (2.6GHz, 6M cache, Upgradable to Intel® vPro™ technology) [subtract $612.00]

 

The main difference will be the power the CPU is allowed to consume. The XM is 55 watts vs 45 in the QM. This will translate into much more time in full turbo mode for the processor. I think the XM is allowed to pull around 63 watts until it gets too hot. Look up the max turbo mode on the XM and assume it will run at that speed most or all of the time. At least that is what I have seen.

 

Bokeh so what is you opinion of the performance difference? Can the bios be changed to for the CPU for lack of a better word forced to work harder to get the same results?