M4700 Owners Thread

Unlikely that you are not using the Nvidia chip at the hardware level, unless you pull it out of the machine that is.

M4700 on Linux is less than ideal (Fedora 18 here); tolerable, fan behavior being the annoying factor.

In my experience, there are 2 fan behaviors:
1) Loop: GPU heats up to 57C, then short fan cycle (< 10 seconds) down to mid-40S, rinse-repeat
2) Artic: long fan cycle (30+ seconds) down to low 30s, rince-repeat

Both are annoying as the fan when it blows, blows hard, enough to be really noticable (YMMV of course).

Seems to be getting worse as I put the machine the work (compiling applications, for example). CPU used to run in the mid-40s C and now is consistently in the low to mid 50s even when idle.

You could say the situation kind of blows (pun intented)

If dual pipe heat sinks exist/will fit into the M4700 that might be a way to keep the machine mostly quiet.

In hindsight, despite being less portable, the M6700 probably would have been the better call; seems to be the better machine overall.

 

Hello everyone.

After several days of on and off reading, I finally got through the entire thread.

I recently purchased a M4700 with the following specifications:
Intel Core i7-3940XM Processor (3.0GHz, 8M Cache)
15.6 UltraSharp FHD (1920x1080) LED-backlit LCD Panel
16GB (4x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Backlit Keyboard
Webcam
Intel vPro
NVIDIA Quadro K2000M with 2GB GDDR3 RAM
512GB SSD
2X Blu-ray (BD-RE) Optical Drive
9-cell 87Wh Primary Battery
180W AC Adapter
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 WLAN Card
Dell Wireless 5560 WWAN Card
Dell Wireless 380 Bluetooth Module
Smart Card, FIPS Compliant Fingerprint and Contactless Smart Card Reader
4 year ProSupport NBD Onsite Service

This was ordered through Dell Premier (interestingly the configuration was less configurable with the retail website - the CPU for example only had one option).

I know there has been some questions regarding the heatsinks on the higher powered units, but I'm not sure if everyone got the answer they wanted. If I can provide any useful information (as I have the XM series processor and the K2000M graphics) please let me know and I will be happy to help.

What drove me here in the first place was my dissatisfaction with the LCD - I have the Chi Mei CMN15B1 panel.

If I move a windowed application around the screen (take the Windows Run dialog for instance), I can see what I can only describe as a "wavy" effect on the solid vertical lines (like those for the text box) as it is moved around the screen.

Also if I'm displaying a alternating pixel pattern (an example can bee seen in parts of this image) there is a visual flicker.

I have a clean Windows 7 installation and am running the latest drivers and such.

Interestingly from the stock setup, the refresh rate for the display was set to 40Hz be default, setting it to 60Hz improved things, but it's still not great (it looks TERRIBLE at 40Hz).

Admittedly, I am coming from a HP EliteBook 8540w with a 15.6" FHD DreamColor display so I am coming from a rather nice panel, however even my partners desktop with an ancient Dell 17" 1708FP LCD (2006/2007 era) looks better - and this isn't a cheap laptop!

Can anyone else with the FHD display tell me how theirs is in comparison?

 

I don't have the Nvidia drivers intstalled at all at the moment. Maybe this is my problem here? Because I don't experience the fan cycles as you do. My CPU fan is constantly running.

 

Sounds like a Dell IPS panel would have made for a better crossover experience from your HP DreamColor panel.

Your new Dell panel is WLED (white backlit LED), while the Dell IPS panel is RGBLED (RGB backlit LED) and thus has a wider color gamut range. Your HP Dreamcolor also was an RGBLED IPS panel, which is why your new display isn't as rich in color.

FHD (Full HD) just means it's 1080p vs the HD 768p panel. It's unfortunate Dell doesn't have a store to allow panel comparisons to avoid buying higher end mobile workstations sight-unseen.

As for the flicker, I see a pixelated shadow under your avatar in the pic. Perhaps it has something to do with how your video card is handling shaders?

I would go to Dell's website, let it read your service tag, and analyze your system. You may be missing a driver:

Drivers & Downloads | Dell US

Click Additional Product Support, then click Troublshooting.

On the next page, under Dell PC Diagnostics, click the blue Diagnose Now button.

Also, under Top Solutions, click the link for "Common Issues with Video on Notebook LCD Screens." They mention a few tests you can run.

 

Oh, that's a different story then, is the fan working hard, or constantly spinning at a low RPM?

Check your process list, might be an Ubuntu/OS issue maxing out some application, or the Nouveau driver wreaking havoc in some way.

Unlikely you're going to have a passively quiet machine (my goal) under light load on Linux.

Just to be sure, have you gone into the BIOS and checked off all of the CPU power saving options? That's a big help, reigns in the CPU, using max power only on demand; i.e. when you really need it, vs. when typing text in a terminal.

 

Zach101 is right. You don't have the IPS RGP backlit display. The FHD is just the regular one. I just realized this when I got mine in the other day. Dell uses the identical screen that's in the Latitude E6530, which is pretty crappy IMHO. The screen's whites are very yellowish and the brightness is very low. When tilting or viewing from other angles it is very obviously not IPS. My old Latitude E6420 has a MUCH better screen--it is nice and bright and the whites are pure.

I downloaded and installed the PremierColor app and it says my panel is an LGD032C, which is just the regular WLED model. This has been confirmed by Dell support as I ordered an IPS panel but something got messed up with the sales when ordering. I will be ordering the proper model and returning this one as discussed agreed by with Customer Care.

Also, I believe the PremierColor app is only pre-installed on models that have the IPS screen installed. Some functions are not compatible ie. if you click on "application color" it says "This feature is not available for the currently selected display...this is another obvious pointer that this panel is not the RGB backlit IPS model.

 

Don't think you can get a IPS on the m4700 anymore unless you dig one from the outlet.

 

Did you order an m4600 or m4700 with IPS? They use two different PremiereColor apps.

To get the latest driver, just open PremiereColor and check for updates. It will take you to the Portrait Displays website. Or just go to drivers page on Dell's site.

Good luck with your new IPS panel. I absolutely love mine and wouldn't settle for anything less. There is a known tint issue (green bottom left corner and magenta bottom right corner on a white screen), but it's a small price to pay for having a portable IPS screen.

If you do color grading work -- and don't just want the display because it looks great -- the next decision will be which color calibrator to get. I'm still working that out -- but I'm leaning toward the X-rite i1 over Spyder 4.

 

Hi,

I just received my new 4700 with Nvidia K2000M and Intel HD 4000

Other specs: intel 3740, 16gb, ssd (liteon sata3), Windows 8 Pro

The problem:
I'm very dissatisfied of the font/characters rendering in all the desktop applications like browser, outlook, etc on external monitors

I have at work two 24" U2412 attached via DVI-D to an advanced e-port docking (the new one with usb3) and @home an old WFP2407 with the old simple e-port

In any combination (so the fault is PC related) the characters are rendered very jagged and too crispy like Clear Type or some anti-aliasing feature were not used.

I can count the edges of any char shown in a webpage or in a mail inside outlook;
Attaching the monitor via VGA it is better but obviously all get more blurry... I try also to decrease the sharpness from the monitor menu (from 50 to 20); it is a little better but if I compare my old 4500 with Quadro NVS (and Win7) with the current one it was much much better

Could be something related to double board ? or something with Win8 ? or something to my eyes/brain ?

Thanks in advance for every suggestion
Sandro

[
BTW beware to disable Optimus from BIOS... I tried yesterday to see if something changed: rebooted with Optimus disabled I was able to login (but I didn't see any improvement)
Re-enabled from Bios it comes the win8 logon form, but after given credentials all got black!!! (the driver I guess was messed up).
I had to re-install from scratch the system with the dell recovery partition !!! beware to play with Optimus setting !!!
]

 

Want super in-depth info on your M4600 - M6600 rig?

Here's the formerly classified Dell Precision M4600 &#8211; M6600 Technical Guidebook (from Dell's PartnerDirect site):

http://partnerdirect.dell.com/sites...0_Technical_Guidebook_October2011_English.pdf

Tons of info above and beyond what's in the Precision brochure and spec sheet.

There is also a Precision M4700 - M6700 Technical Guidebook on Dell's Partner Workstation Resources page, but it's not available unless you're a Dell Partner (I guess it will become available with the next Precision release):

Partner Resources

Cheers!