I'm planning to buy a Precision M4400 this week, anything I should know?

i havent had any apps break on 64 bit vista. i suppose if you need to use really old apps you can always run xp in a VM

 

64bit XP is a complete train wreck, from what I've heard.

 

That doesn't really mean anything if you're only running 32/64 bit apps.

Have you tried to run any 16 bit applications?

Can you elaborate?

 

yea, its also not very well supported (drivers not updated regularly etc) by manufacturers because hardly anyone uses it

 

well issues i've faced, on three different M4400's. So im pretty sure its common to the system, not an execptional.

1) Random freeze issue
2) Audio driver issue where it takes over my entire core2......(i mean core 2 of my processor, 100% utilisation)
3) Audio issue where sound skips randomly/latency
4) CPU refusing to run more than 50% max frequency, also somewhat random
5) Heat issues
6) Seagate hard drive making lots of noise (clicking, got it replaced twice, updated firmware etc still same issue even though said firmware update was supposed to resolve it)
7) Fingerprint reader incompatible with vista 64 (dosent work when coming out of standby/hibernation)

 

Then call them and try for Vista 64 bit downgraded to XP 32 bit ?

 

That is bad.

 

On the other hand...there are systems running care free. I've solved every single issue on mine and i'm running both XP and Vista64 stable and without any weirdness.

My specs are in sig and besides that i'm:

Running BIOS A02..most stable one out there
Newest drivers for everything except Intel Matrix Storage Manager. I only have the 8.2 driver installed and not the application itself.
No Dell Control Point software...this means i can't use the security suite and fingerprint reader but i don't really mind that.
I've put AS5 on both CPU and GPU which does a MUCH better job then Dell's blue cooling pads.

I'm gaming and running 3DsMax and Adobe CS4 etc in Vista64 and Cubase and LOTS of VSTi's in XP...all without issues

and i'm using my eSATA port for a VERY fast external HDD

I had some/most of the issues mentioned in other threads but most are solvable, i can still recommend this system. It seems like service here is a lot better then in the US though and i've needed 'em quite a bit in the first weeks.

 

What service dis you need ?

And doesnt applying AS5 void warranty ?

 

yes, i know its solvable, or i would have asked for a refund, but for a system with a list price that starts at $1.4k and can go up to three grand, its bloody ridiculous that it needs to be tweaked and dosent work flawlessly out of the box, expecially since this is dell's top of the range line.

i now have to live with the issues until i have some spare time to backup and reformat it and tweak it

and thank goodness my replacement system dosent have the unsolvable issues like the random freeze, so there is hope yet for me.

but dell should be paying me for the time i wasted getting the thing to work right