M6600 Owners Thread

Well as much as I would love to ask for a better deal i'm not sure that they (dell) would consider it. It was for 3000$ and they were not willing to go below 2700$. Well I will try for some more discount but it may not happen. Still if you know someone do let me know. I was planning on buying an m18x from us but none that I know of is going there within next 2 months and I need a new laptop before the next sem starts (my current laptop (an acer) is not doing so well).

P.S. - tech stuff in India, way too costly. There's at least a difference of $200 - $1000 on laptops. even the ssd's are a couple hundred dollars costlier.

 

Hi,

What do you think about FabrizioT critics about the screen, keyboard and his general feeling about the M6600? Would you agree with him?

 

Can you please elaborate about the screen quality, I wanted the IPS option but it is not available. I'm an architect and do a lot of building photo work, would you say that the standard screen is below average or much better than any regular laptop?

For example I currently have a Sony Vaio SR29 with a LED screen which is very nice, bright and sharp. Could you say the same thing about the M6600 screen?

Can it be used with photoshop and lightroom without too much compromise on color and sharpness?

 

Ok, let me elaborate.
My complaints on the M6600 FHD non IPS screen derive from 4 considerations, after comparing it with M6400 1920x1200 RGBLED E2E (the screen on the "Covet"):

SCREEN RATIO: as already observed by other people, 16:9 is not optimal for business applications, so the 16:10 screen on the M6400 is better suitable.

SCREEN SIZE: power users needs pixels and size, that's the reason we buy a 17,3" notebook. Compared to M6400, screen size on M6600 is 30-35cmq. smaller and pixel number is 10% less. Call me picky.

BUILD QUALITY: M6400 E2E RGBLED screen w/ glass was very well designed and strongly built, i can't see the same build quality in M6600 screen, the whole assembly just feels cheaper.

IMAGE QUALITY: my concern with M6600 screen is lack of contrast and colour saturation when compared to M6400 E2E RGBLED. However here i'm comparing a matte screen against a glossy one, people used to matte screens won't probably regret that much.

In my opinion M6600 FHD is sub-par only when compared to M6400 E2E RGBLED. We'll see what the M6600 IPS screen finally provide.
All in all i was expecting something better from this FHD screen, considering 2 years passed by and LED technology has further progressed.

That said i don't think the M6600 non IPS FHD screen is bad.
It is overall better that many "prosumer" notebooks screens i'm seeing around (can't compare to your Sony though).
So it's a good screen, but could be better both in design, quality and build, considering the professional audience.

Honestly, for professional usage, i'd prefer waiting for IPS availability and users feedback.

 

I wrote above about the screen, let me elaborate about the keyboard.
I'm sorry, it's not great (i'm talking about the backlit one).
Objectively: it has noticeable flex and it's more noisy than average.
Subjectively: id' like better typing on the M6400 keyboard, it just feels more "solid" and rugged.

In my opinion M6600 is a good workstation, but fails in feeling on par or better than its parents M6400 / M6500, design and overall build wise.
Performance is as good as expected, except for the Quadros which probably need better drivers ( or we have to assume 8900M is exceptionally good ).
Let's see other people impressions, i'm especially curious in reading feedback from users previously owning M6400 / M6500, which may be eventually disappointed.

 

Can somebody tell me the DIMMs positioning on the m6600?

And how does the screen compare to the IPS display on the thinkpads? (my cousin brother owns one and I like it.) any ideas on color gamut of the screen?

Plus, Is the sound on the system really that bad? (I generally use headphone, will it be fine?)

 

This is my first Precision, so I can't compare to other models. I am actually pretty happy with the keyboard. It feels good and I don't notice any of the "flex" one or two have mentioned. It actually feels better than most keyboards I type on. the one and only gripe I have is that I wish the "home" and "end" keys were right above the "pg up" and "pg down" keys. I use those a lot, and up at the top of the keyboard where they are now means I'll never use them.

I consider the 1080p WLED screen good. I had a Studio XPS 16 with RGBLED which was awesome, then got an XPS 17 with 1080p WLED which was average, and I feel this screen is in between. I'm usually one of those guys that has to have the absolute best of everything, even though I use an external monitor more often than the built in LCD, but I'm glad the IPS RGBLED screen wasn't available at launch, because now I feel the likely $500 upcharge wouldn't be worth it. I do much engineering, modeling and CAD work, but not a lot of graphic design.

I am VERY UNhappy with the trend the industry has taken replacing the standard 1920x1200 resolution LCDs with 1920x1080 because brainless consumers just gotta have that 1080p high def screen! Dumb@sses don't realize the 1200p was better! ARRGHH! It irks me to no end... The extra vertical pixels would be WAY more useful than sacrificing them so that if I happen to watch a movie on my work laptop I won't have some small black bars above and below.

I don't know about the thinkpad IPS. The sound system is OK but not as good as Dell's XPS line. As far as memory slots, there are two under the cover on the bottom, and the other two are under the keyboard. Pry up the plastic around the keyboard with your fingernails, then remove 5 screws on the front of the keyboard and lift it.

 

The sound difference between my 4 year old Vaio FZ-180E and my M4600 is night and day, I'm shocked at how decent it is. I don't have any other laptop to compare the sound to though, but it's definitely acceptable.

 

Can someone knowledgeable help me verify that i can install:
Crucial 256GB 2.5" M4 SSD SATA-III 6Gb/s - Read.. | Ebuyer.com
and
Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866MHz Plug N Play Hyperx.. | Ebuyer.com (x2)

in the m6600 laptop.

Many thanks, in advance.

 

The ssd will work, but the ram could cause problems. SB CPUs only supports up to 1600 Mhz of ram clock.