M6600 Owners Thread

As you know from the other thread, I'll likely be buying one of these. I need some advice.

I will be using it mostly customer support by running many operating systems under VMware, and using VMware for network modelling, ERP software development, web work, and a maybe a little CAD. I don't see myself getting into gaming. I MIGHT want to dabble with TV or 3D movies like the XPS 17 3D has. I know where to go with the processor and memory to make VMware rock. But the rest of the machine I have no experience with.

- I have an Eye One Display 2 I use to calibrate with. To date, laptop color accuracy makes them unusable for even web development work. A $150 uncalibrated desktop panel will beat the stars out of my "calibrated" TrueLife 9400 laptop. My big monitor died after many years of use. I would rather not have to take a big a monitor with me to customer sites for design reviews and edits. I think you can see where I'm headed with this. I prefer glossy, but the only thing I won't give up is 1080. From Dell, that gives me three choices, regular, touch, and IPS. Which one(s) would you recommend?

- I see a number of M6600s coming out of refurb with the 256 gig SSDs. On a new machine it's a $500 option. They don't seem to command any more on the refurb site. Are they a good move or bad move?

- It looks like only 2x20QM are coming out of refurb and no 2x60QMs. How easy is it to change the multiplier if you want to?

Thanks tons!

 

For viewing of screen clarity, you need 17.3 inch Monitor hood and ambient light of 5000K T8 bulbs with Color Render Index between 95-99.

 

Hi.
Does anyone know which brand is the M6600 BIOS?
Did anybody try to unlock any M6XXX Bios?
Thanks

 

I assume your are trying to overclock? What BIOS version are you running? Try flashing back to 3.

 

If you will be working with customers on-site, I would personally get the IPS panel for the wider viewing angles. If you have two or three people sitting around the machine, it will help make sure they see the same colors and contrast that someone sitting directly in front of the screen will see. The viewing angles on the regular and touch screens are still good, but the IPS panel has an advantage.

The regular and touch panels have both been measured to cover the sRGB color space. The AUO screens that I have tested cover roughly the same color space as the Dell 2407WFP desktop display. The native white point of the AUO panels I tested were around 6800-6900K which means they are slightly cooler (more blue) than the 6500K which is one of the standards for monitor calibration. The LG 15.6" panel that I tested had a native white point right at 6500K. Please keep in mind that these were my measurements on the panels that I happened to have and current panels may measure differently. Your eye-one calibrator should have no problems getting a very good sRGB calibration curve for any of the regular or touch panels.

Notice that I said "very good" calibration curve when talking about the regular and touch panels on the M6600. The only way to get "Reference" calibrated colors is to follow the advice of Gatehouse and buy an external monitor that is built for color critical work and then set up your room environment around that monitor. I have personally painted an entire room matte 18% grey and set every D50 light source to not be in my direct field of vision and not reflected on the screen while producing between 50 - 75 lux of overall illumination. Printed proofs were checked under a dedicated 5000K desktop lamp. I have even used a Gossen light meter to pull readings from a grey card in front of my monitor to make sure the room was not too light or dark. I would not wear white to avoid any kind of reflection of the screen. The monitor itself was CRT based and had to warm up for an hour and be calibrated at least once a week. My eyes also had to "warm up" for at least 15 minutes as they adjusted to the room lighting. I was completely obsessed with making sure the prints I made for clients and that were printed in magazines were as close to what I was seeing on the screen as possible.

You will have to be the one that makes the decision about the desired fidelity of your color managed workspace. The sRGB panels may be good enough for the work that you do. I have access to some very nice Lacie and Eizo monitors that are set up in dedicated editing work spaces, but most of the time, my U2410 is good enough for most of the work I currently do. If you make a living or stake your reputation on getting the best possible color for the work you do, then having the absolute best color fidelity will be a high priority. For some people having the color off just a bit is like having a loud hum in an audio system - it just bugs them. I respect that.

My life and work have changed over the last decade and I can now settle for "excellent" color instead of "reference" as long as the LCD panel is wide gamut. Since sRGB is not wide gamut, I never do any serious editing on the regular or touch panel of the M6600. For other people, the sRGB panel will be fine. It will probably be better than what they have seen in other laptops. Everyone has different needs. For many people IPS panels or even the expensive Eizo and Lacie monitors will be a waste. They just won't use them or appreciate them. For others, they will be the first choice made.

The IPS panel in the M6600 is currently an unknown. I have not seen any measurements. I have not seen one in real life. Dell says that will be the best 17" laptop panel that they have released. I am waiting to see. My hope that is that it offers "excellent" color fidelity. I don't expect reference, but I guess it could be a pleasant surprise if it measures close to the Eizo. What I hope for is something that I can trust when I am on a photo shoot thousands of miles from my monitor. I could almost trust the RGBLED panel in the M6500 which was "very good". Right now I am having to settle for "good" with the regular sRGB panel. I am very excited and hopeful that the IPS panel lives up to the hype.

All of that color stuff out of the way, you said you prefer a glossy screen. The touch panel in the M6600 is glossy, but only for the sake of touch. With the Sony the screen was glossy and the glass was darkened to make blacks contrast more sharply with colors. It made the screen look better in the store, but introduced its own set of issues.

Depending on what you run, the touch panel might allow for a little bit of wow factor with clients.

 

We're on the same page. You already know that replacing my monitor will cost about the same as a laptop, and like you, I seldom do that type of work. The only place I can get into hot water is doing brochures. I have an accurate printer. My biggest problem with the good monitor down has been not believing the printer, and striking a balance between what the printer shows and the screen shows. The printer has been right every time. Yet it would be difficult to design something to print correctly, when what is on screen looks radically different. The reason for me entertaining IPS, is to achieve average desktop performance from a laptop.

I'm not sure I'm piecing together what you are saying correctly. Are you saying by this the touch panel on the M6600 is a Sony with darkened glass? If so, I can see that being an issue, even with web work, with dark gray vs black. I've had that before where everybody's desktop monitor showed dark gray while my laptop showed black.

You've been a big help

Thanks tons!

PS: I've been tempted to go with a XPS 17 3D because you get so much for your money, but people have been recommending staying focused on the M6600.

 

With a Sony or Alienware glossy screen, they are using darkened glass that makes the blacks seem blacker and makes the colors seem to have more contrast. You also get less overall brightness since the glass is darkened. The look you get from the darkened glass is the tradeoff to having to deal with the glare.

On the M6600, the glossy touch screen is completely clear. The only reason it is glossy is so that you can touch it and clean your fingerprints easily. It does not affect the output of the panel at all.

The wow factor I was talking about was actually interacting with the touch screen there with the client. Drawing circles and arrows or just zooming in and out

The XPS 17 takes a big step down in graphics card performance and you can't dock it. The M6600 is a lot more robust when it comes to system cooling and overall build.

I am waiting for an M6600 with the IPS panel to ship any day now. As soon as it gets here I will start posting information on it.

 

I hate upgrading because it costs me about 80 hours to set it up. I'll probably go with the M6600 either with the i7-2760QM or higher from Dell, or the i7-2720QM or higher from the refurb site.

I'm glad I asked. I was assuming the touch panel for the M6600 was a darkened panel manufactured by Sony.

Excellent! It looks like I won't have to be the lab animal for a change!

It looks like it will be the M6600. If I buy from Dell, IPS is $190 more than the Touch. The WOW factor gets the "Joe Cool" side of me reved up, but I doubt I'd use it much otherwise. I doubt I'll see any IPS panels on the refurb site. So if I buy from Dell, it will be IPS. If I buy from the refurb site, it will be the touch screen to get the glossy screen.

Questions remaining:
- Which video card, AMD or nVidia?
- Can any combination do 3D?
- Are the SSDs that come on them a good move? I use the Intel X25s extensively in RAID-0s on servers (SLC), but from Dell (MLC), I see some complaints about BSODs, and an unusual frequency of them showing up on the refurb site priced as cheap the mechanical drives.

 

I have a question. I have been doing a little research online but some advice from people who actually have experience would be nice.

I have never color calibrated a monitor before, but would like to calibrate my non-IPS/Touch M6600 LCD for the sake of having the best viewing experience I can with it. I only do CAD work, so I don't need great color reproduction, although it would be nice to see things in proper color. I understand there are very expensive calibrators, so I am merely seeking some basic advice and as entry level equipment as possible that I can use that wont be a big waste (either too much for my needs or too cheap that I'd be better eyeballing it).

To be honest, the panel in the M6600 is one of the nicer panels I have used. Fortunately I have never used a Dreamcolor or IPS screen so I don't know what I'm missing! The panel in my old 8460p was TERRIBLE, and my T400 and X200 panels were just ok, so I can appreciate the above average panel in the M6600.

Thanks, guys!

 

I think you are in the same boat, and I looked around and was recommended this.

Spyder 3 Express ( I only use the laptop display and nothing else. )