M6400 Brochure available

1.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM [Included in Price]

2.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS [add $40]

4.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 4 DIMMS [add $190]

4.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS [add $210]

8.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 4 DIMMS [add $400]

8.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS [add $1,740]

12.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 4 DIMMS [add $1,940]

16.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 4 DIMMS [add $3,940]

 

Looks like 8GB RAM is the sweet price/performance spot.

For a notebook its often a balance between performance, heat = fan noise, heat = hot lap & hands, and battery life.

These work out best with the P9500 (2.53GHz, 6MB, 25W).
But it is not offered.

Next step up is the T9600 (2.8GHz, 6MB, 35W). Although I don't think a 40% increas in power consumption (25 to 35W) is worth the 11% faster CPU (2.53 to 2.8GHz).

So for me its the dual core X9100 (3.06GHz, 6MB, 44W) or the quad core QX9300 (2.53GHz, 12MB, 45W).
Heat/battery/fan/noise wise there is only 1W between them. Any comments on performance difference justifying the price difference?

Anyone know which notebooks (bigger than 15") use integrated graphics as an option to conserve battery life?
Looks like both the M4400 and M6400 don't have this useful option.

The M6400 has the Quadro FX 3700M (up to 75W) or the Quadro FX 2700M (up to 65W). Looks like the FX 3700M is worth it (power wise) with 'only' +10W.

Both the FX 3700M and FX 2700M come with "Extended battery life NVIDIA® PowerMizer® 8.0 technology intelligently adapts for longer battery life and optimal performance."

How well does this work when one is on the road checking email, surfing the web and does not need all that graphics juice and heat?

Thanks.

 

Unless you're running something that can really use the 4 cores, the dual core at 3.06 will give you faster overall speed. Thats why I went with that.

N

 

Can the 12MB cache be used by one (or two) core if the other cores are not active?

Thanks.

 

Any good reason why Dell is not offering it with the P9500 (2.53GHz, 6MB, 25W)?

Anyone know what HD's Dell is using and what performance increase their 320GB (7200rpm) gives over their 500GB (5400rpm)?

Thanks.

 

Yeah the price is WAY UP THERE. BUT you cannot find DDR3 in more than 2gb sticks anywhere online so your pretty much stuck if you want to go for more than 8GB with getting it from Dell.

 

To conserve battery some notebooks allow the user to switch to integrated graphics as an option, but both the Dell M4400 and M6400 don't have this useful option. In fact I have not seen the FX 3700M and FX 2700M with any notebook that allows for using integrated graphics to conserve power when needed. So hopefully NVIDIA's PowerMizer really does work.

How well does PowerMizer work when one is on the road checking email, surfing the web and does not need all that graphics juice and heat?

Or, more specifically, does anyone know the minimum power consumption (watts) for the FX 3700M and FX 2700M? (I was unable to find yhis on Nvidia's site.)

Thanks.

 

FX 2700M - Up to 60W
FX 3700M - Up to 75W

From http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_go.html

Also, regarding the P9500, I have a feeling that it's in short supply because they briefly offered it on the M4400 and other business laptops before pulling it from the options. If I remember correctly, it was $60 more than the T9400.

 

"Anyone know which notebooks (bigger than 15") use integrated graphics as an option to conserve battery life?"

Keep in mind that under XP, you're forced to reboot in order to switch between the discrete graphics controller and the chipset integrated graphics. This limits the benefit for many users.

Regards,
David@Dell

 

These are the maximums though, not the minimum. I agree thats a good question - nvidia should post minimum usage too.

N