M6600 Owners Thread

Ouch, bad news man - I was seriously hoping to replace my 4000M with the 5010M as soon as it arrives... Do you think that might be impossible - even by an authorized Dell service?

The 4GB of the 5010M would be worth it for me, as CUDA will only be used by Moldflow application if the entire model it's analyzing fits into GPU memory...

 

Thats the thing - it very well could be swappable. The 4000M and 5010M are both 100 watts cards from Nvidia. It would be likely for these two cards to have the same thermal solution (heatsink). What we don't know is whether the extra RAM and differing chip would change the Z axis (height) of the card.

This is the blessing and curse of the spec. As long as the machine supports a completely standard card, the OEM is free to make specialized cards that differentiate themselves and will only work in their choice of machines.

Until we have detailed pics and measurements of the 4 graphics options in the M6600, we won't know for sure.

 

I don't use an OC software for the moment.
I will try the last version of HWinfo and maybe another soft (if it exists) to measure the fan speed in order to see if it's a software issue

 

Dell said the M6600 cards are standardized MXM 3.0b unlike the M6500, which was a proprietary solution. They confirmed that the cards they user are technically same in design as other MXM 3.0b based laptops.

The worse case scenario for a 4000M to a 5010M swap is literally add in a new heatsink. In fact actually you might not need a new heatsink because I remember when the Dell Technician opened my first M6600, the heatsink for the M8900 had a very flat surface! The only thing they added to that HSF was thermal pads for the VRAM chips and some key capacitors. I think Dell is using the same HSF for all the GPU's but just putting different thermal pads for the slightly different configured nVidia GPU's. However since all the cards are standard MXM 3.0b this time, I think it is easier to swap than you think.

 

Ah sorry about that, had a bit of a grey moment... Was wondering if anyone updated their firepro cards to the latest driver. Also I ran 3d mark on this system with the same parameters as the older system and I seem to be getting a lower score...

Also is it possible to change the profile picture at the login? Rather than the Dell logo... I already changed the in profile image

Also anyone with the m8900, what are the idle temps you are hitting and what are the video playback temps you are hitting? I have an idle of 56C and video of 65C... I think either hwinfo is giving me wrong readings or the card is really heating up more than it should (at least in comparison to the last system I had returned...)

 

Posted this in another thread, got no responses. Maybe some verified M6600 owners can help me with my ratiocinations?

Here is a dilemma for you: the spouse and I have been discussing my getting a laptop for some time, since I don't have one that can get out of its own way. I ordered myself a DELL M6600, the spouse ordered an HP ENVY 17 3D for me. When they arrive we plan on comparing them: the winner stays, the loser goes home (the computer, that is). The specs are as follows:

HP ENVY 17 3D customizable Notebook PC • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• No Additional Office Software
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2820QM (2.3 GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz
• 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6850M Graphics [HDMI]
• 6GB 1333MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 1.28TB 7200RPM Dual Hard Drive (640GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 30% OFF! One 6-Cell and One 9-Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP 3D Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
• Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 9 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 9
• HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Grand total: $1,589.37
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 225-0379 Dell Mobile Precision M6600
1 317-6075 Intel Core i7-2820M Quad Core 2.30GHz 8MB, Dell Mobile Precision M4600/M6600
1 317-6489 2.0GB, DDR3-1333 SDRAM, 1 DIMM, Dell Mobile Precision
1 331-1249 Internal Backlit English Keyboard, Dell Mobile Precision
1 331-2809 Tech Setup Guide, English, Dell Mobile Precision
1 331-2169 Documentation (English/French), Dell Latitude E-Family/Mobile Precision
1 320-1922 AMD FirePro M8900 Mobility Pro Graphics with 2GB GDDR5, Dell Mobile Precision M6600
1 342-2361 250GB Hard Drive, 7200RPM, Dell Mobile Precision
1 331-1278 Internal Swipe Fingerprint Reader and Contactless Smartcard Reader, Dell Mobile Precision M6600
1 320-1925 17.3" UltraSharp FHD(1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit with Premium Panel Guarantee
1 318-0364 Full HD+ LCD Cover, Dell Mobile Precision M6600
1 330-6322 Genuine Windows 7 Label, Latitude, Vostro and Mobile Precision Notebooks
1 421-8139 Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit, No Media, Mobile Precision, English
1 430-3979 Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module, ROW, Dell Latitude E/Mobile Precision
1 330-4127 210W/240W switchable Slim 3-Pin, AC Adapter Dell Precision M6400
1 330-1838 US - 6-FT, 3-Pin Flat Power Cord for Mobile Precision
1 421-4370 Cyberlink Power DVD 9.5,No Media, Dell OptiPlex, Latitude and Precision Workstation
1 421-4539 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media,Dell OptiPlex, Latitude and Precision Workstation
1 318-0354 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Dell Mobile Precision
1 318-0351 Optical Bezel, Dell Mobile Precision
1 318-0360 Integrated webcam with single digital microphone, HD/Full HD, Dell Mobile Precision M6600
1 421-1201 Dell Webcam Central Software Dell Latitude/Mobile Precision
1 430-4017 Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300, Dell Mobile Precision
1 331-1866 Intel vPro Technology Advanced Management Features, Dell Mobile Precision M6600
1 342-2435 All Hard Drives Non-RAID, Dell Mobile Precision
1 312-1174 9-cell (97Wh) Primary Battery, Dell Mobile Precision
1 331-2973 No Energy Star Enabled, Dell Mobile Precision M4600/M6600
1 421-3872 No Productivity Software,Dell OptiPlex,Precision and Latitude
1 939-3542 Basic Hardware Service: Next Business Day Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis 2 Year Extended
1 953-4910 Basic Hardware Service: Next Business Day Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis Initial Year
1 935-4608 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus Service Extended Year(s)
1 929-9397 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus Service Initial Year
1 331-1639 Intel Core i7 vPro Processor

Order Total : $1962.01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not an avid gamer. I'm not an engineer. I'll be using the laptop at home and at work. I'll be using it for accessing large database files on disk and hash tables in memory. All 8 threads will be maxed for hours on end with the main programs I use. I'll be using it for editing home videos. I'll be using it for every other mundane task one uses a computer for.

What do I think about these computers? Well, the HP seems to have oodles of options. It has a 3D screen (which seems like a gimmick...but hey, it's there), though the HP website states that it only has a 45% color gamut, and I've never heard of such a thing. I can't seem to find out which manufacturer's screen is in the DELL, so other than the fact that one screen is 3D and the other is not I have no idea which is better...though I would think DELL's MUST be better than 45% (typo on HP website?)

I wish they had a blu-ray burner, but the HP has a player while the DELL has DVD+/-RW. Dual hard drives is nice, so as to have an OS and a database drive...and the HP has two 640's, while the DELL only has one 250. I have a 256 gig SSD waiting for the winner as well. I don't like that there are only two ram slots on the HP while the DELL has four, but it seems that the HP will have 6 gig while the DELL only has 2 (not to worry...2x4 gig Kingston P&P modules are waiting). Nor do I like the fact that the video card is not upgradeable on the Envy...and to start, the DELL has a better graphics card. The DELL does not have Optimus (ATI card instead), while the ENVY does have switchable graphics. I get two batteries with the HP. Dell has a 3 year warranty, the HP has 2 years.

But..the Envy is about $400 LESS. And let's face it...these computers are already at end of life when you get right down to it: Ivy Bridge chips will not be compatible with either chipset, and are only months away, with their superior IGP, PCIE 3.0, etc, etc. Sure, I can plunk in more memory or a 2920xm or 2940xm if they ever make one...but still...ivy is coming, and I can't see spending $1000 on a future chip upgrade. Nor can I see spending $400 more right now if I can't justify it.

So all told, it looks like she got a better deal than I did...when it comes to most of the tangible specs. Or did she? What do YOU think? Am I missing something? I really liked the DELL when I configured it, but does the HP's extras outweigh what the DELL offers...and what is that exactly?

 

Well, for starters, 2GB of RAM is completely inadequate for even basic use under Windows 7. Even my office boxes at work are getting 4GB these days, and you'll castrate the M6600 by leaving it in that state.

The 3D screen on the HP is a gimmick and the Dell's screen will be of higher quality than the HP's.

Beyond that, the Dell is a business-class workstation, the HP is a consumer-level machine that is probably not built as well as the Dell is. Based solely on how the machines are configured out of the box, the HP's advantages over the Dell are:

• More RAM
• More HDD space (although if it's a RAID 0 setup the way it looks like it is it's going to be less reliable than the single disc in the Dell)
• Blu-ray drive (if that's of any use to you)

The Dell's advantages are:

• Faster GPU
• Supports more RAM than the HP and will be cheaper to upgrade beyond 8GB because it has 4 RAM slots versus 2 in the HP
• Better LCD
• Higher build quality (probably)
• Better wireless (probably- the 6300 is arguably the best wireless card on the market. The HP doesn't specify which Intel card it comes with, but it's probably a 6200 or a 6250 or something)

You can throw 8GB of RAM in the Dell for less than $60. And, thanks to having 4 RAM slots, you can keep the 2GB stick in there for a total of 10 gigs.

If you wanted to address the hard drive size discrepancy, 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Blacks (I won't use or recommend Seagate drives, and there are no 640GB 7.2K WD laptop drives) are $100 apiece. 500s are $70. I should, however, point out that I consider mechanical hard drives absolutely useless for anything other than bulk data storage at this point. If you've never experienced a good SSD it's hard to imagine how very much faster they are, but once you have, you'll never be able to go back. If I were getting either machine I'd throw an Intel or Sandforce-based SSD ($150-$300 for a 60-120gb drive) in it and keep one hard drive for storing music, photos, documents, etc. on.

On the other hand, "fixing" the HP to match the Dell in terms of GPU performance, LCD quality, etc-if it's possible at all (and it's probably not)-would be a lot more expensive than addressing the RAM and hard drive deficiencies in the M6600.

In short, keep the M6600, buy 8GB of RAM, upgrade the hard drive if and as you see fit, return the HP.

 

Personally, the only reason I chose the M6600 over a more "consumer grade" laptop is the workstation class business card. I need that for CAD work. I've used consumer grade laptops in the past and sometimes was able to "softmod" the graphics card so that the software thought it was a workstation card, but didn't have the time or energy this time to find a laptop on which the softmod would be possible and figure out how to do it. I just needed a computer I could buy and get straight to work. So I sucked it up and paid the workstation tax, which is the gobs of extra money you pay for that workstation GPU even though it's often exactly the same chip as in some consumer card, simply with tweaked drivers.

 

I would be interested in the Quadro 4000M if you are going to buy the 5010M.
Keep me in mind.

 

@zdroj, Siorus breaks it down quite well for you and I agree with everything he writes -- including his comments about Seagate versus Western Digital drives -- except for one thing. I would say keep the HP.

I do think the Dell m6000 is ultimately a better computer but from the specs out the box and for what you want to do with it, the HP should fit your needs. Plus, it does cost less (if it matters to you) and it is the one your wife picked out for you (if it really matters to her).

But again, I agree with everything Siorus wrote. I personally think the Dell is a better built computer (except for possibly the "flexy" keyboard) and you definitely can expand it further. If you're okay with adding a few more add-ons to it, go for it.