M6600 Owners Thread

Ordered my M6600 on 01 June but got an EDD of 18 July (config link http://forum.notebookreview.com/7598958-post1091.html).

Had used one my colleagues M6500 for CAD designing & simulation (on SolidWorks) for a month which had M7820 Firepro. Never found that card inadequate for the job. Hence going with the Firepro for my M6600 too.

 

a dell tech visited me today, he let me take a look at the training info


Product Overview


The M6600 workstation is designed to provide the ultimate desktop-like workstation experience in a durable, easy-to-use mobile platform with Intel dual core, quad core and Extreme Edition processors. It features powerful high-end and ultra high-end graphics options and up to 32GB of memory. Innovative features including multi-touch and 3D LCDs will be offered as well.

The M6600 provides a slightly more refined, larger 17.3” display. The product delivers uncompromised fast performance of data redundancy and more storage for large files. It is capable of holding two 2.5” hard drives (max. 1.5TB - 2x 750GB) and support Raid 5 with optional 2nd hard disk and Solid State Drive (SSD) mini card.

This product will offer increased scalability from its predecessor, including expanded Input Output (I/O) options and productivity-boosting features to provide the best possible customer experience.

In addition, the M6600 is also improved in the following areas:
•Graphics: Support simultaneous display with & without dock (quad monitor).
•Display: Introduction of brand new multi-touch screen with Stylus support.
• Ports: Introduction of HDMI* & having 3 external video ports (HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA).
•New keyboard design with num keypad (optional backlit).
* HDMI = High-Definition Multimedia Interface
Competitive Products

The competitive products for M6600 are HP Elitebook 8730w, Lenovo W701, and Apple Mac Book Pro 17. There is no Fujitsu competitive offering in the 17" space.

Marketing Information

The M6600 mobile workstation replaces the M6500 (E2 generation) and is positioned to provide ultimate performance in a mobile form factor. The M6600 maximizes productivity and provides innovative features that empower applications. This system provides a scalable work platform to meet customers' needs from basic 2D computing to analyzing massive amounts of data.

The M6600 is based on the powerful Intel Sandy Bridge processors, offering latest NVIDIA and ATI graphics as well as increased memory capacity. Features that aid in usability, durability and performance, valued by mobile workstation customers, have been added as well.

Target Markets

The target markets for the M6600 mobile workstation are high-end technical professionals from diversified industries such as Engineering, Research and Academics, Creative Professionals, Earth and Environment, and Defense. This group span all commercial segments across all regions worldwide and comes from small, single person business to multinational corporations.

These customers demand performance especially in CPU, graphics, and memory. They use highly specialized Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and mission critical applications that require significant hardware performance and scalability. The M6600 is ISV certified and is tested to ensure that it can run the software flawlessly.
Essential Knowledge


Introduction


This page identifies critical information presented in this document. Most of the material contained here involves updates from previous products or important information technicians should be aware of. A brief description of each subject is provided along with a link to the complete documentation.









NOTE:
This section includes supplemental information that's critical for support of this product. It's not intended as a substitute for reviewing the training documentation.



Parts Disassembly and Reassembly

The tear down for LCD bezel and LCD panel will be slightly different depending on the system's LCD type - Standard LCD or Touchscreen LCD (RGB LCD will be offered on post-RTS). Please refer to CRU/FRU List for more information on parts disassembly and reassembly.

RAID Support

M6600 is RAID 5 capable with optional 2nd HDD and a 3rd storage via Solid State Drive Mini Card (SSD MC). Alternatively, user can choose to replace the 128GB SSD MC and use it as a single solid state storage.

The SSD MC is using the same slot as the WWAN card, which means if you have a SSD mini card, you cannot have WWAN card and vice versa.

Click on the Solid State Drive Mini card removal procedures section to learn more.






NOTE:
By default, Raid On is set to enabled in the Bios setting.

The image below is the SSD Mini card.

Raid Configuration
Raid 0, Raid 1 and Raid 5 can be configured in the Dell Precision M6600.





NOTE:
By default, Raid On is set to Enabled in the Bios setting.

1.Enter System Setup.
2.Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight System Configuration. Press Enter.
3.Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight SATA Operation. Press Enter.
4.Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight RAID On. Press Enter.
5.Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight Save/Exit. Press Enter to exit System Setup and resume the boot process.

Enter Raid Configuration Utility
When prompted during system startup, press Ctrl and i <Ctrl i> at the same time to enter the configuration utility to create / manage Raid volume.





NOTE:
To enter the configuration utility, ensure that there are at least 2 HDDs attached in the system.


UEFI BIOS

The UEFI BIOS is implemented in the Precision M6600. Click on the System BIOS and Simulation section to learn more.

Battery Slice

E1 & E2 systems' battery slice is not forward compatible with E3 systems mechanically and vice versa. This is due to authentication code change and is not compatible with predecessor platforms.

Although some E3 systems' slice batteries can be physically plugged into E1/E2 systems via dock connector, the batteries cannot work.
The following warning message will be displayed:
The battery slice battery attached to your Dell notebook is not supported by this model. Please detach the slice battery to reduce the weight of your system.





NOTE:
Battery slice is not supported on Dell Precision&#8482; M6600. Not all E3-series systems support battery slice.


New Warranty Support for Battery

Customers can now purchase the Dell Precision&#8482; M6600 with an optional 3 years warranty support for the system battery. The quickest way to differentiate these two types of batteries support is to identify the battery label. The 3 years warranty battery wears a green color label compare to the standard battery's grey label.
For Dell internal users only, click Extended Battery Service to learn more.


eSATA

The Dell Precision&#8482; M6600 system includes an eSATA / USB combo port. It can interface with either an eSATA device or a USB device. eSATA is an industry standard interface. A few of the key benefits of eSATA technology are:
&#8226;Data speeds up to six times faster than USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394
&#8226;Robust and user friendly external connection
&#8226;High performance, cost effective expansion storage
&#8226;Up to 2 meter shielded cables and connectors

For Dell internal users only, click eSATA to learn more.


Contactless Smart Card Reader

The card reader on the Dell Precision&#8482; M6600 requires the user to simply wave their identification card over the sensor. This capability is implemented using a tiny Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag in the card. The RFID tag is essentially a microchip combined with an antenna. Contactless smart cards provide the user with greater convenience by speeding the authentication processes.
For Dell internal users only, click Contactless Smart Card Reader to learn more.


Backlit Keyboard

The Dell Precision&#8482; M6600 system is offered with a backlit keyboard.

The keyboard on the M6600 illuminates when the system is turned on. There are 3 settings - Brighter, dimmer or turned off. This can be done through the BIOS or by pressing <Fn> and <right-arrow> keystroke.

This key represents a keyboard with back lit capable.
For Dell internal users only, click Keyboard to learn more.



System BIOS and Simulation


The System Setup options allow you to:
&#8226;Change the system configuration information after you add, change, or remove any hardware in your notebook.
&#8226;Set or change a user-selectable option.
&#8226;Read the current amount of memory or the size of the Hard Drive installed.






CE TIP:
Before you use System Setup, it is recommended that you write down the current System Setup information for future reference.







CAUTION:
Do not change the settings in System Setup unless you are an expert computer user. Certain changes can cause your computer to work incorrectly.


UEFI

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a specification which define a new model for the interface between personal computer operating systems and platform firmware. The interface consists of data tables that contain platform related information, plus boot and runtime service calls that are available to the operating system and its loader. Together, these provide a standard environment for booting an operating system and running pre-boot applications. One of the main differences between BIOS and UEFI is the way applications are coded. Assembler was used if functions or applications had to be coded for the BIOS while a higher level language code will be used to program the UEFI.

Dell UEFI BIOS implementation will supersede the existing two different sets of BIOS in the portables and desktop products into one single UEFI BIOS moving forward.

For more info about UEFI, please visit the UEFI homepage at UEFI - Home

Precision&#8482; M6600 UEFI BIOS

The Precision&#8482; M6600 are installed with UEFI BIOS. So, what should I be taking note of as a technician?

There is no difference in between the conventional BIOS and the UEFI BIOS unless the UEFI option is checked in the 'Boot Sequence' setting in the BIOS page. This will allow the user to create a UEFI boot option list manually without affecting the existing boot priority list. With the implementation of UEFI BIOS, the changes are more related to the manufacturing tools and functionalities with very minimal impact to the customers usages.

Few things to remember are:

1.
If customers has a UEFI boot media and ONLY if they have UEFI boot media (either in the optical media or via USB storage), the one time boot menu will show an additional section listing the UEFI boot options. If they don't have UEFI boot media attached, they will never see this option. Almost all will never get to see this option unless the UEFI boot option is specified manually through the 'Boot Sequence' settings.

2.
How to change Service Tag or Asset tag information?

When the service technician replace a system board, he's required to set the service tag upon the system starts up at one time off basis. Failure to set a service tag may resulted system battery not being able to charge. Therefore, it is very important that the service technician set the correct system service tag. If a wrong service tag is set, there's no way to reset it and the technician will have to place order for another system board replacement.

Customers may also report that after a motherboard replacement, the asset field is already populated in the system BIOS, and needs to be cleared or set. For older systems, asset.com can still be used if desired. Asset.com can only be used from outside of the operating system, so a floppy or bootable key or CD will need to be used. For older systems and all newer systems with the UEFI BIOS platform, customers need to download the Dell Client Configuration Utility (DCCU) toolkit to clear or set the asset field from within Windows. It is under Systems Management on the support website page. Follow these steps to set the asset tag:
a. Download the Dell Client Configuration Utility toolkit. NOTE: This is for all Windows operating system versions, and all recent Optiplex, Latitude, and Precision systems.
b. Install the utility. It takes less than 1 minute to install and only takes a small amount of storage space.
c.Once installed, open a Command Prompt. In XP, click Start, Run, type cmd and press <Enter>. For Vista and 7, click Start, in the Search box, type cmd. When the command prompt screen appears at the top, right-click and choose Run as administrator.
d. At the prompt, type cd\ and press <Enter>. At the C:\ prompt, type cd program files\dell\cctk\x86 and press <Enter>.





NOTE:
If it's a 64 bit windows, it will be x64 instead of x86


e. At the C:\Program Files\Dell\CCTK\x86 prompt, type cctk --asset=###### (with ###### being the asset tag the customer wants to use) and press <Enter>.





NOTE:
There is a 10 character limit for an asset tag.


f. It will take up to 30 seconds to process. If successful, it will drop back to a C:\Program Files\Dell\CCTK\x86 prompt. If your receive an error, check the syntax and try again.
g.Reboot the system to make sure the asset tag change was successful.


Entering System Setup
&#8226;Turn on (or restart) your notebook.
&#8226;While the notebook is booting, press <F2> immediately to access the BIOS Setup Utility.
&#8226;If an error occurs during POST (Power On Self-Test), you may also enter the BIOS Setup Utility by pressing <F2> when prompted.






CE TIP:
Keyboard failure may result when a key on the keyboard is held down for extended periods of time. To avoid possible keyboard failure, press and release <F2> in even intervals until the System Setup screen appears.

 

Well guys, after much thought, I'm keeping my m6500 with the gorgeous RGBLED 16x10 screen, and instead bought a Vostro 3350 Nirvana with ATI to take with me on the road. Under 1000 bux (but it IS 16x9). Well, that was my solution to any 6400/6500 owners/tech junkies here (I usually upgrade every year or so, but I keep 2 laptops for work) This Precision is going to be around for a while!! lol

 

Hi

as you know i'm ordering an m6600 as well.

was just wondering how was your sales rep?

because although mine was fine, the discount provided isn't that much i guess (he's continuously saying he's not allowed to provide more than this). Plus he told me that the delivery time on the system is 3 weeks but according to you that's more than six weeks.

 

Hi,

Mine, being a company purchase, was handled by a Account Manager from Dell. The process was smooth enough as I was constantly in touch with his Manager also due to a somewhat not-so-happy experience we had with our previous purchase with a different Account Manager.

As you are aware that Dell India website does not allow you to configure M6600, I nearly configured it on dell.com (i.e. without the 2nd 250GB HDD & without 3 Year battery option as they are not available online), checked the price & then negotiated with the sales person accordingly. I also thought that the EDD on the website is incorrect but again, I selected the nearly same config I have ordered & the estimated shipping date it gave was 12 July 2011 which is in the same ballpark. The build time itself is shown as 24 working days (nearly 5 calender weeks).

 

Well you got lucky i guess. I'm a student so had through the rep. I talked to him again but he's not willing to go less plus I need a system within a month so going on with the order (otherwise i would have bought from US).

 

May i ask where are from? That price is still pretty good

 

Sure, India. If you need any help feel free to ask.

 

btw where are you from?

 

I received my M6600 yesterday.

The Mobility III SSD hard drive is a Lite-on LAT-256M2S, which according to the specs, has a Marvell 88SS9174 controller.

I don't have any bad things to say about the keyboard yet.

Of course my 16x10 1920x1200 M6400 RGBLED monitor will be missed.

Generally speaking, I am not unhappy with the quality of what I have seen so far.