Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

Just a quick question,

Which GPU would be more suitable for gaming, The M8900 or the M6000? (FirePro Series)

 

Many thanks for the quick information! I feel much more confident ordering one of these amazing machines.

However I am also torn on buying the Dell or an hp 8770w elitebook. I am currently negotiating with Dell and hp for a quote, but if the hp ends up being cheaper, would that be a wise decision to buy?

I am speccing both machines with an i7 3740qm, quadro k4000m, and 1tb of hdd and am planning on retrofitting an ssd and 32 gb of ram.

 

I think one important consideration deciding which company to buy from is access to service for repairs, especially after the warranty expires. In my case I live in a rural area but I have a dell sales and service store in town and that weights heavily in my decision to buy dell even if it costs more, or at least a little more.

Also maybe relevant or maybe not, but right now I think there is some question whether or not HP can survive the latest fiasco (a several billion dollar one!) concerning their purchase of a British software company. Its been in the financial news. Maybe want to check that out.

 

Thank you for the information. I checked the service that both companies were able to offer, and the Dell service is much better for my area too. For the hp I have to basically ship it to a different country, while Dell offers the next day pickup warranty.

The financial disaster is indeed quite a problem. I have also known people who had terrible experiences with long term driver support for hp systems.

I think I am just going for the Dell. Let's hope negotiations about the price go well. It is a gut feeling that I am trying to justify anyways.

 

This

These machines are virtually identical when it comes to components (Dell does have the performance advantage) for all but the heaviest computer users. So the true deciding factor would be the things like warranty, service, features, usability, aesthetics, and of course price. Actually, if AW has a more utilitarian chassis, it would be in the running as well. Sadly, its just to gaudy to be taken seriously at the business meetings.

I don't think that will be significant. HP will survive even if its PC business does not.

Well I've learned to take words like those with a grain of salt. Not that you're inaccurate, its just that sometimes people explaining things, forget to separate casual user from the ardent enthusiast.

When I changed my HP keyboard shortly after I first joined the site, what they said took them a few minutes took me 4 hours. And the trim did not just pop off, and the trim still bears the scare from my fumbled efforts. Anyway, I just wanted to point that out. Nevertheless, I've learned a lot since I've been on this site; and members provide much good and useful advice here. No denigration on your part. Thank you.

 

Personally, I did not find removing the keyboard quite so painless... First, I would not recommend using any metal tool to pry the trim off. I used some tapered plastic tool made of soft plastic (I have no idea what it is, but it worked great) - a plastic cutlery knife would probably work well. For me the hardest part was those accursed plastic clips on the sides of the keyboard. Reassembly was much easier - just don't forget to reinstall the memory shield before you put the keyboard back (like I did ).

 

Amazon sells these plastic pry tools:

Amazon.com: pry tool kit: Electronics

 

And where would I get those accursed screws everyone keep talking about? I so hate having to buy little pieces of stuff to make stuff work. Hey was that alliteration?

Anyway, first I have to buy the caddy and find out it doesn't come with the screws. Then I buy the screws and find I need to have payed extra for the cable? Rant over.

Am I correct in assuming that if I order without the 2nd HDD, that it comes with the caddy...and ALL the screws and connectors to make it go? I feel like I need a lawyer. I'd like to buy all my accessories now, and then install everything when the laptop arrives.

And one more thing, why do people keep saying that RAM is cheap? Amazon sells the Corsair Vengeance 16 GB for $125 presently. That's $250 for the whole shebang! That's cheap?

 

laptop screws:

Amazon.com: laptop screws: Electronics

Also on ebay here:

laptop screws in Laptop & Desktop Accessories | eBay


The hard drive caddy for the second drive comes with the M6600, not sure about the M6700. But you do need the 4 screws to attach the hard drive to the caddy and the screws do come in different sizes.

For inexpensive ram, check crucial.com. There you can get 32 gbs of ram for around $150. Spending sometime searching, you might get it even cheaper somewhere else.

 

The installation of a second hdd is really confusing. According to the itpro review dell provided 4 additional screws near the empty hdd cage.

I think I am just having a big computer chain upgrade the ram and ssd for me though. If something goes wrong at least I won't be accountable. It is just too big of a gamble.