M6600 Owners Thread

That is great news and it confirms what thread's author previously said.
Why would you want a cooling pad while 65'C under heavy load is excellent result! Good to hear that. Last thing for me to resolve is make sure there really is backlit keyboard in my build.

I assume they apply the syspreped image of the system and you actually need to finish that after first power on, isn't it this way?
So gents, is there any easy way of making the backlit check without fully booting up the system the way it came from the factory??

 

I got my M6600 a few weeks ago and I absolutely love it. The Dell representatives have been really amazing in figuring out some problems I had. Here's a rundown of what happened:

1. I ordered the laptop in early June and the expected shipment was about a month. A few days before the expected delivery date I got a notice saying it was delayed. This pissed me off, but I started emailing with my representative. He was very helpful. All said and done, the notebook got delayed twice but as a result, my rep got overnight shipping for me and a 10% discount on top of the 30% discount I got at checkout. Plain and simple, Dell made up for the wait.

2. When I got my computer, it had a few problems but the Dell Tech helped me solve them all. The Dell Tech has even called me back each day as we worked out the problems to make sure it is going ok. Here were the problems:
A. The FingerPrint reader didn't have a driver installed, so we found it online and got that working.
B. When turned down on low brightness the screen would flicker sporadically. This ended up being a BIOS issue, so flashing the BIOS fixed that.
C. The computer does get pretty hot on the bottom when I'm running it intensely. I bought a $30 cooling pad and it works well. Problem solved.
C. The space bar on the keyboard squeaked when I got it, so the Dell Tech shipped out a new keyboard for me.
D. BIG QUESTION: Do the volume keys above the keyboard light up? The Tech at Dell has been researching this for days and no one at the company seems to know. There's a backlog on the laptop right now, so they couldn't see the laptop in the lab. I'm wondering does anyone else's volume keys above the keyboard on the left side light up?

Other than the above issues, I'm really satisfied with my purchase. Everyone I've talked to at Dell has been great and very cooperative. I've included computer specs below:

Dell M6600 | i7-2820M Quad Core | 16.0GB, DDR3-1600 SDRAM, 4 DIMM | NVIDIA Quadro 3000M with 2GB GDDR5 | 750GB 7200rpm Hard Drive

 

I have a backlit keyboard. You can turn it completely off in the BIOS, otherwise there is a FN+right arrow control to turn it off and control brightness. The backlit keyboard doesn't turn on during startup until you hit a key (this assuming you turned the keyboard on before shutting down)

 

Ideally, I'd like to keep it as cool as possible for longevity. I'm monitoring temps with Real Temp for CPU/GPU so I can get a good feel how it's going to handle under load.

 

Best way to check for backlit keyboard would be to read the shipping info that should be on the box. It should have a run down of all the parts on the system. Also any help on the antivirus software?

New problem: I went to install office and a few other programs when an error popped up saying that the application cannot start as it is not configured for my version of windows and trend comes with an error or blockage in letting the program go online. Also I cannot setup trend to see me as admin...

 

Do you guys think it's worth it to buy an M6600 now or would it be better to wait for the (mythical) IPS screen?

 

So, if it doesn't say "backlit keyboard" then it simply isn't the one?
Thanks Wired! This is the answer I was looking for. Now I can tell those poor people who are helping me how to check the keyboard type without getting them in to much stress.

 

Isn't it also easy to just see if there is a backlight symbol attached on the right arrow key? Fn + Right Arrow triggers backlight on backlight keyboards for Dell models.

 

What make is the Dell 750GB?
My understanding is all extras bought through Dell will be supported same as factory system config and warranty.

When will the 1TB be available (make?)?

Thinking of adding mSSD for raid 5. Where does it go and recommendations.

I'm beat after a long day. M6600 arrived and I had a quick look. Very odd keyboard, some keys have dual same size letters and letter keys also have @, #, $, %. Confusing on a rushed day.

Thanks I usually do my own dd but currently swamped.

 

Cnet has a pretty good list of programs

Windows Starter Kit - Download.com
Security Starter Kit - Download.com
Utilities Starter Kit - Download.com