M6600 Owners Thread

Can someone help me out? I cannot get the ambient light sensor to turn or even get my screen to dim and get brighter. It worked when i got the machine, but stopped. i get a Dialog that tells me my ambient sensor is disabled. i manually adjusted brightness is WIN 7 power management tools and the display does nothing. Can someone help?

 

i dont think the M6600 has an ambient light sensor, the M4600 dosent either

 

Not sure what software is needed for an m6600 but for the m6500 I see a Windows service named "Adaptive Brightness", short name SensrSvc, description "Monitors ambient light sensors...". You might check if that service is enabled and running.

I remember one or two times since I own my m6500 (about 15 month) where the keyboard keys could not adjust the brightness anymore, restarting Win7 made it work again. Did you try restarting your system?

 

Hi - my first post but I've been tracking several laptop forums (including NBR) for ages.
I'd like to refer to the qoute above. When your roll down your M6600 configurator webpage you can notice something like this:

and that suggests backlit keyboard is actually, included by default.
This I found on US page of course, as I ordered mine from US (even though I live in Ireland).
Can someone confirm if there is ambient light sensor in it or not?

 

That's weird, because I could find nothing about the keyboard when I configured mine online. The day after I ordered, I called back and asked which keyboard was selected. They said the non-backlit, and I had to cancel the order and re-place it over the phone in order to get the backlit one.

I've heard several people say there's no ambient light sensor, and I've seen no provisions for controlling the screen or keyboard backlight with one.

 

That info I quoted, you will find if you roll the page down, right over CONTINUE button in configurator.
Also, I had so many adventures when ordering mine that I am not really willing to trust sales reps for 100% now.
1. I ordered my M6600 and then noticed that webcam isn't included by default. Called them, cancelled and went home (was calling from office) because it got late - spent ages on hold.
2. Next day with same rep I tried to re-order. I only wanted the webcam added. It was taking ages, as first: I skyped from IRL - not best connection quality, second: my accent (not native English speaker) is a deadly mix and it is usually a torture to spell my name and surname to Americans (to both parties , it is easier with Irish people now). Also, my rep wasn't really moving smoothly in their computer system - loadz of time on hold, again. It got late (I call them after work, from the office) so, I decided not to wait for confirmation and go home and review it there. When at home I noticed that my rep re-built the config basing on M4600 model instead of my M6600. And the price was nearly the same, even though M4600 starts from a smaller one. I got quite annoyed.
3. The next day I wasn't able to contact my rep so, another fella spoke to me and he got the order cancelled. We managed to work the new one out quite quickly, as this guy seemed to just be a lot quicker and he offered the missing webcam for free. Unfortunatelly for me I forgot to tell him to apply the coupon code Decided that I do not want to restart the procedure for 4th time and in finale it cost me about 70$ more than it could have. Hell with it - I've had enough.
Let this story be the warning to all those who order a machine over the telephone and remind them that sales rep are only human, so anything can happen.
It's a pitty there is no ambient light sensor as that would be quite usfull to have it - more than just a gadget.

 

i agree, pity about the light sensor. i liked that feature to control the keyboard. also, i always get the sales rep to email me the quote so i can verify the specs. you should always do that.

 

I can live without the ambient sensor but, I can’t even adjust the brightness manually (Fn + Up/down arrow, or window power option). It will adjust in BIOS but not within Windows.

The service was not running but even after turning it on no luck. They keyboard brightness adjustment works good. I really don’t want to go into BIOS every time I want to save some battery life.

 

Finally was able to speak with my rep. Apparently he was on vacation and then backed up on Monday trying to play catch up. He called after hours and we were able to work things out. I just refused the shipment and he said that the new order is in and should be correct (I triple checked ). Same price and coupons applied, just got the backlit and ram changed to what I wanted (1600 not 1333). Apparently another sales agent stated that the build time should be a week or two due to all parts being in supply.

Also to add, my rep was able to add coupons/discounts after the order was put through. And we checked the backlit option on the US site and it has been corrected. I have quite a few configurations saved in my cart and all did not have the backlit option. The rep also found that sometimes it did not transfer the backlit option over when the order was placed. Very odd, but should be fixed now.

 

How is the keyboard flex on the M6600? I previously has HP 87xx range because their keyboards were sturdy. I'm undecided between Dell M6600 and HP 8760w. The Dell have better performance but the keyboard flex is a deal breaker for. I have zero tolerance against keyboard flex. If I'm going to buy the Dell I must know that there is absolutely no keyboard flex.

Also how is the build quality in general, can it stand the abuse from a Racoon?