M4700 Owners Thread

Thanks for the info; that sounds about right, and I'll call Dell to confirm.

(I can't understand why Dell keeps putting out laptops of all different models with this same fan-cycle flaw... it's such an annoying issue, yet would be so trivial to fix.)

 

I imagine that even if it works fine, it's an unsupported configuration, so keep that in mind when talking to Dell; whoever you get might not know the details of what is possible with no discrete GPU (or whether it is even possible at all).

 

I compared side by side the screens of M4600 and M4700. M4600 had LGLP156WF1 (TL) (B2) and M4700 had LG LP156WFC (TL) (B1). In my opinion both are of similar quality. M4700's lcd is less bright but brightness is more uniform and thus blacks are a bit better. Completely black images on M4600 showed some areas clearly more bright than others, Viewing angles are the same and both screens exhibited some graininess due to agressive anti-glare coating LG tends to use on many of their laptop screens.
This is all subjective , as I don't know the specs of LG LP156WFC. Brightness of LP156WF1 is 310 cd/cm2 max and 730:1 contrast ratio. I wonder if anyone knows the specs of LP156WFC. Anyways both are quite good TN panles.

 

I replaced the OEM AUO B156HW02 with an AUO B156HW01 HW:1A V.7 in my M4700 today. I went with the glossy screen (V.7) since I like its snap and brightness. The process took about 15 minutes. The most delicate step was getting the tape off the ribbon connector on the back of the OEM panel, and the second most delicate step was inserting the ribbon cable into the ZIF connector on the new panel. Zero to low caffeine level recommended for those steps.

I'll be on AC 90% of the time (does anyone really expect to run a Precision on battery for long?), so getting 35% more color space in exchange for some loss in battery life is a good deal for me.

 

I am sorry if I am repeating a question previously asked on this forum, that is what utility/app can I run on a new M4700 machine to check/verify hardware installed ?

Is there anything except Windows' "System Information" accessory app that M4700s have pre-installed/builtin?

If there's one, could you guys advise on how to use it please?

 

What hardware are you interested in? You should be able to see most stuff in the BIOS (press F2 while the Dell logo appears when you turn the machine on) or in the Windows device manager. Google "hwinfo64" for a downloadable tool that will show you most of your hardware info.

 

Thank you for your response Aaron.
Is there a manufacturer's (DELL) pre-installed utility to check the system's config?
What I am trying to do is to check/confirm what exactly hardware is installed (model, manufacturer). For instance what is the display's model name or what is the HDD's model name etc.

 

I don't think there is a tool for that pre-installed. hwinfo64 will get you that info.

 

Can it be run off a USB stick or it must be installed?

UPD: Thanks again for your previous response, I found a portable(USB) version.

 

After you got some experience in removing the bezel, what do you think should be the first step in that process.

Update: Solved.