Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

K4000M OC results with 314.22 drivers thanks to slv7 NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks

Stock: 600/700: P3892, max temp 79 (but run after the 2nd OC run; didn't keep track during the first run)
OC: 900/1000: P5473 (40% increase), max temp 77 C
OC: 1000/1000: P5903 (50% increase), max temp 79 C

Didn't try any higher, don't need to.

And thanks to eduardboss for the heads-up on this.

 

Just wanted to poke in and say hello!

My trusty Asus G73JH started getting pretty sick; I lost two of the RAM slots and for some reason my wireless card kept on shutting off on me... combine that and the fact I need something with both power and battery life(I do IT work on the side for home and small business clients as well as looking to get back into school to become a machinist), I went ahead and bit the bullet. Here's what I ordered on Feebay on Monday, and it's on track to arrive tomorrow.

M6700, i7-3740QM CPU, 16GB RAM, K4000M GPU, 256GB mSATA SSD/500GB, 7200RPM HDD, 1080p non-IPS display, backlit keyboard, and Win7 Pro x64(I'm really not a fan of Win8). Snagged for $2150. I have two 1TB HDDs that should get here today, so with all that power and nearly 3TB of space(I'm taking out the ODD and putting in a caddy) I should be set for a good long time to come.

I wanted a machine that was conservatively styled, durable, had a Trackpoint-style pointing device(I'm a huge ThinkPad fan), appreciably powerful, decent battery life, and enough expansion and storage space to back up client data for migration purposes if need be. Since I'm looking to become a machinist I've got the nagging feeling that being able to run CAD/CAM apps will be a good thing, also. I'd like to learn some coding on the side as well, so I think I'll be very happy with this beast. That I've got enough power to game during my free time is another plus, too.

Looks like I've got a lot of reading up to do.

 

Windows 8.1 preview is out today. I'm testing it in VMware.

There's not much interesting about it that applies directly to the M6700, but I figured I'd give the new native fingerprint scanning a try.

Windows did not pick up drivers for the fingerprint reader. (It did pick up drivers for the smartcard reader, which I don't think it did before?)

After installing the Broadcom drivers from Dell's site, I was able to get this far but it will not actually read any fingerprints.

Furthermore, the "legacy" biometrics control panel seems to be missing, so it is no longer possible to use the Broadcom software to enroll fingerprints. (In other words, the fingerprint reader is useless once again.)

Hopefully we'll see a driver update around the time of the Windows 8.1 launch. It was about six months before we got fingerprint drivers for Windows 8 (from RTM)....


Anyway, they also removed the "Windows 7 File Recovery" section in the control panel which is where you could schedule a full system image backup. *grumble*
However, it looks like the wbadmin command-line tool is still around so it will be possible to script such a backup. The option to restore an image is still available on the DVD.

 

New BIOS today, A10.
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers...ion-m6700?driverID=FNNXY&urlProductCode=false

1. Enhanced POST logo functionality.
2. Enhanced Secure boot functionality.
3. Enhanced HDD password functionality.
4. Improved system password functionality.
5. Improved DDPA functionality.
6. Improved USB functionality at Pre-boot environment.
7. Support DIMM isolation.
8. Update Intel Management Engine firmware to 8.1.30.1350.

[Edit]
Updated successfully.

 

Looks like a great setup at an ever greater price. You should be set for some time to come. Be sure and put the OS on an SSD (mSATA?) for that "snappy" response.

 

Thanks! Just got it in today, so I'm beginning the long, arduous process of getting everything over from the Asus. The only nag is that the left control key on the keyboard somehow got damaged in transit, but the seller got back to me immediately and is sending me a new one.

Overall I am thoroughly impressed and satisfied with this rig. For some reason the OS was loaded onto the HDD instead of the mSATA, but I got that taken care of. I haven't even touched any graphics apps yet and I'm just surprised at the performance. Screen is pretty good as well, comparable to the high-gamut AUO I swapped into the G73.

And the keyboard... wow. Non-chiclet and seven rows. Better than most anything I've owned except my ThinkPads. The only downside is the Trackpoint analogue; I find it borderline painful to use. Too recessed into the keyboard and the nubs are pretty uncomfortable; there's a DIY I found to adapt a ThinkPad cover onto it, however. Going ot be trying that in the next few days.

Other than that, as I've already mentioned this is a very serious system. I'm highly pleased with it. Great for both work and play, as well as having a solid design that doesn't look like it stepped out of a disco.

 

Okay, hopefully this isn't considered a double post or anything, but I did run into something that is quite frankly driving me up a wall.

The backlit keyboard fades out after a short amount of time. I did find a setting in some control software that allows me to change the fadeout time to up to five minutes, but there's no way to just keep it on permanently? Am I missing a setting somewhere that would disable this?

 

I don't think it's possible to disable this, you'll get used to it pretty fast.

EDIT: Heads up, new driver for the firepro directly from AMD: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/fire/Pages/fire_dell_win7.aspx The installer is good for Windows 7 and Windows 8, however, the un-install utility isn't a good idea with Windows 8. It is in fact missing from the Windows 8 download page.

 

Nope. And I felt the same way in the beginning. Like the MBP, that's the way it is.

 

I am debating on upgrading the 256GB SSD that came with my M6700 (Liteon LCM-256M32) to a Samsung 840 500GB. I would like more space, but also wondering if the performance of the samsung is any better than the Liteon. I appreciate any comments.

thanks,

Mike