Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

Samsung claims 50 Mins. gain but I don't know what that is compared with, probably more like 20 Mins. swapping out a single HDD on machines' like ours. HDD's aren't very power efficient but are very inexpensive!
Yeah, I was a die hard never giving up my HDD mentality. Now I'll never go back.

LOL, now you tell me. Actually, I had done that...sorta, by moving a few isolated programs but wasn't familiar enough in moving stuff that might end up disconnecting other stuff.

Anyway, I've made the SSD swap already and some advice suggest the remaining unallocated space will be a boon in maintaining the drives speed and efficiency.

At least W8 Index thinks so too:



ps. Was not expecting any change there?

I can post other results on the Sammy if anyone's interested? As well as those of the Patriot Rage XT USB 3.0 thumb drives.

 

I just shrunk the OS partition on the other machine and left 20% unallocated on the end. Immediate improvement for it too. SSD's do like over-provisioning.

What SSD do you have for the OS, does it have the Sandforce controller? If it doesn't you could try disabling the write-cache buffer flushing and gain a little more performance.

I've never personally tried this on an existing image: User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation - Page 3 - Windows 7 Help Forums
If anyone wants to go for it - make sure to create a system image backup and general full backup beforehand.
Also - I'm sure W8 can do it but I haven't looked for a tutorial, and don't have any idea about dual boot OS's handling of folders, i.e., separate pairs or combined.
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Edit:

Krane: here's the version of relocating for Windows 8: User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk

There is one other caveat: Cannot use Sysprep Audit mode on a machine that upgraded/updated the OS, i.e., from XP to W7 or W8, or from W7 to W8. It will need to be an original OS image of W7 or W8 to begin with.

 

Well, I have it (mostly) set up, now, and I have to say that I really like it. I followed the SevenForums link someone put on this thread a while back, to set up my user profiles on disk 2. My backup drive is disk 0 (the "quick-eject" caddy), but I have yet to set up backups.

I had some issues transferring my Outlook profile over to this computer, but that's only because I was an idiot and somehow managed to accidentally move my appdata on the old computer to an external drive. Long story short, I finally got it fixed and copied the registry entry over. SOOOOOO nice not to have to enter all my e-mail info again, but why does Microsoft bury that stuff in the registry, rather than making it part of user profiles?

It boots up extremely quickly, and every program I installed got through the installation process very rapidly.

Only two things worry me about the machine. One is that the corners of the lid don't sit against the corners of the palmrest when the laptop is closed. I do, however, believe I remember Bokeh mentioning something similar on either the M6700 or the Covet owner review. The other is that I can't seem to get a fingerprint to register. I've checked Dell for the latest drivers, and they're up to date.

The inside looks good. No sign of the scratches that others have reported seeing.

I love the feel of the keyboard. Much better than the keyboards on any of the other machines I've had in the past 10 years.

Tracy

 

Well at least I installed the Sammy and got some great results. Funny thing though, it doesn't boot any faster. In fact, its a bit slower with a near 30 second boot time despite the difference in speed results from the OCZ which was under 20 sec.

Bummer. Don't try to fix it yourself you might make it worse.

Don't use that.

Really? I find the keypad just so-so. Although I don't detect any flex, the pointer is constantly in my way and interferes with my typing. I wish I could turn it off.

 

Yeah, not going to try to fix that. When I have some spare time (ha!), I will see if I can find the post about the curvy lid and see if anyone followed up with Dell on it.

The pointer is not in my way and I like the texture and response of the keys. They're slightly matte, rather than shiny, which helps me, I think.

I have noticed that I tend to graze the touchpad with my palm more than I have on recent laptops. Don't know why that is, but I think it will get better as I get used to the positioning.

I have to say that I like the placement of the arrow keys and page-up/page-down keys, as well as the home, end, insert and delete keys much better than the arrangement on the consumer-grade Toshiba laptop I have. It, too, has a number pad, but the placement of the keys I mentioned is very strange for me. It could be that I'm just very used to the Dell way of laying things out, though.

Tracy

 

What specifically are you using, DDPA? and is it just not scanning? Errors in hardware device manager?

Trade you. It's the only remaining complaint I have and not that I don't like it but their quality control issues. I gave up trying to get a good one that didn't have certain keys with atrocious noise.

 

When I try to register a fingerprint with Dell Data Protection, it gets through three swipes, but then shows an error with the fourth and final one. It tells me:

"An error occurred when enrolling your fingerprint. Please try to re-enroll this fingerprint. If you continue to receive this message, please access application Help (F1) for more information. (RN: 02000067)"

When I hit F1, I don't get anything useful.

Tracy

 

Both are for W7,

Do you have this version driver installed: Driver Details | Dell US

And this version of firmware (should be able to check within DDPA) : Driver Details | Dell US

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EDIT:

Under "Advanced", "Devices", "Control Vault" firmware version: 23.7.303

DDPA /Application? should show: 2.3.00003.072

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EDIT:

For W7 64, Once DDPA A09 installed and firmware A29 is updated:

Fingerprint Reader.
Have one and want to use it, then setting it up first in a secured Administrator account is best.
Left finger's for Administator account, Right finger's for Standard account; Or something else differentiating.
Follow the setup wizard. All other accounts are enforced to preferences.
In Start menu, All Programs, Dell, Dell Data Protection, Access, Access.

DDPA 2.3.3 {A09} and Windows integrated setup.
This version has Windows biometric integrated and fingerprint authentication within the Secure Desktop UAC Prompt.
1. After initial DDPA setup, restart system and login with fingerprint.
2. Open DDPA, Advanced, Access Preferences, Enable/Check - "Disable Dell Secure Login",
...Replace ctrl-alt-delete ... shifts to Disabled/Unchecked. SAVE settings! Exit.
3. Restart system and select login using Windows fingerprint tile, Swipe, then authenticate with account password.
4. Open DDPA, Advanced, Access Preferences, Disable/Uncheck - "Disable Dell Secure Login",
...Replace ctrl-alt-delete ... shifts to Enabled/Checked. SAVE settings! Exit.

From a Standard account, now run any program as Administrator and authenticate permission with fingerprint.

 

Just installed Panasonic UJ-267 9.5mm Internal SATA Slot Load Blu-Ray Writer. Its an XL version so I can write to disc as large as 128GB!

Connecting it was nearly as easy as replacing the SSD in the C drive: only one screw. One problem however, is that the fascia does not quite fit. Its the same size alright, but without the slot that secure it to the player. My only alternative is to permanently glue it in place so it doesn't pops off whenever I eject a disc.

 

Hmmm, interesting. I don't see "Control Vault" under "Devices" in DDPA, although I do see it in Device Manager. I wonder if it's not installed?

I'll check into it later. Thanks!

Tracy