M6600 Owner's Review - Warning - Large pics - Personal Opinions

Paragon Backup & Recovery 2012 - free edition

Scott

 

OK, i am in a delimma - i ordered one m6600 from outlet that i still have to receive (coming Monday) but now found another that i am tempting to get over that one. Both have Win7 Pro 64, FirePro M8900, etc. The main differences are:

System A: 2820qm, 8GB 1333, 500GB 7200, FullHD AG, Blu-ray 2x, Intel VPro Advance Mgmt, REFURB
System B: 2960xm, 16GB 1600, 750GB 7200, 900p, DVDRW, OUTLET NEW

I really wanted the FullHD display as my main application is processing DSLR RAW images/viewing them and also the BR burner won't be a bad thing. BUT the System B only cost me $200 more and is sooo tempting. Which one you would prefer? TIA for your opinion!

 

I would stick with System A. The 2960XM is nice, but the overall CPU value will drop in a few months when Ivy-Bridge is released. The performance is also not leaps and bounds over the 2820QM in real world use. Since the M6600 clocks are locked, the 2960XM OC features are wasted as well.

The FHD display and BD/RW is nice and you can upgrade memory on system A at any time for little $$. Save your $200 and get a good SSD from a 3rd party and bump your memory up if needed. Use the stock HDD in the secondary drive bay.

Scott

 

There is about a 1000 Passmark points difference b/w 2820 and 2960 so for CPU intensive apps it will make a difference. But yeah for normal routine usage, there won't be much.

How much difference does the 1600MHz RAM makes over 1333MHz; is it worth replacing existing 1333MHz memory with all 1600MHz one?

 

In all my MS Office, CS5, and video editing/encoding tasks, the 2820QM in my M6600 never peaks above 40% CPU usage under load. Most of the time, it is well below 20%. I do have the NVIDIA 4000M, but I also had a M8900 and the difference is much smaller than expected unless I am making use of the CUDA cores. Likewise, I never seem to make use of more than 8GB of my 16GB available memory. 1333MHz vs. 1600MHz is marginal (less than 10%). The CAS latency is the most important factor in my book.

Scott

 

That's an option but i'll have to install it on the C: drive and it will be restored back to SSD as well. How about if i just use Windows Backup and create a System Image and restore it to SSD using a recovery disc?

 

"my main application is processing DSLR RAW images/viewing them"

Get the IPS panel. Even if you have to wait for it - get the IPS panel.

 

How iS SanDisk Extreme SSD 120GB GB SATA 6.0? It seems like a good SSD but does have that infamous controller (sandforce?)

 

Bokeh,

Would you mind running a power consumption test on the M6600 using a 90W adapter and an external monitor in extended mode? There would be no internal brightness setting to be concerned about - or even an internal monitor power supply at all for that matter. If the battery is completely charged and an external monitor is used, is it possible to run using a 65w adapter in a pinch? I would run the test myself if I owned the test equipment. Your results could prove useful with all laptop setups. Thanks!

 

It will not even allow the machine to charge the battery with a 65w adapter. It is a 90w or higher as a minimum requirement.