M6600 vs M6700 upgradeability

Looking into getting either the M6600 or the M6700 with the goal of upgrading the video card to a 7970 or 680m.

I don't think the processors are worlds apart and I'll be buying my own memory / hard drives, so the other thing to consider are the screen options.

So, are both machines equally challenging to get on the latest & greatest video? If I buy either the 6600 or 6700, will buying the ATi / NVidia version easy my upgrade to the same brand video card?

Also how good is the IPS screen on the 6700? I'll mainly be doing light work / browsing / etc on the workstation, but will be gaming too. I've seen the standard M6600 anti glare screen and it was nice, but could be nicer. Is the IPS on the 6700 worth it? You can't order the 6600 with IPS that I'm aware of anymore.

Any other comments?

Thanks.

 

Screen options and video card options should be the same, I'm not aware of any compatibility differences between the M6600 and M6700. Using non-standard GPUs has not been heavily investigated but we've had mostly success reports from people who get a different MXM card to stick in these machines. What has been investigated even less is using non-standard GPUs with the IPS screen. Not sure if there are any issues to worry about there.

If you switch from a non-IPS screen to the IPS screen there are a number of parts that you need besides the screen. You need two cables, an interposer board, and a new, thicker bezel/chasis to go around the screen. There's a "M6600 IPS upgrade DIY" thread around here somewhere with the details.

(I personally don't think you need the IPS screen unless you do graphics / video work or just really want the best screen you can get. I have the regular anti-glare screen and I think it is top-notch as far as TN notebook panels go. However it doesn't have the wide color range or viewing angle that the IPS screen has.)

If you're going to upgrade the video card, try and order a machine with the same brand card (AMD vs NVIDIA). If you switch from AMD to NVIDIA or vice versa you must also get a new heatsink.

As far as other swappable components go, aside from the CPU, M6600 and M6700 are pretty much equally upgradeable. Only key difference being the memory speeds supported (1333/1600 for M6600 and 1600/1866 for M6700).

 

Wow, very informative, thanks!

Yeah I was thinking of not doing IPS for optimus alone... but if the IPS was a lot better than the standard then I'd prefer the visual quality. If I get an M6700 with the ATi then swap out the ATi for 680m... will optimus automatically work? It is a $200 difference just to get the slower base NVidia card... I think I can get heatsinks for a lot less than that ... I hope...

 

Optimus has been reported working with the 680M. After you swap the option will appear in the BIOS setup.

As you know, Optimus does not work with the IPS display. (That's the main reason that I went with the standard display myself.)

Note, if you install a GeForce 680M it will show up in the BIOS as "unknown GPU". It should still be recognized properly in Windows though (once you install the drivers).

I think some people reported having to flash the VBIOS or do funny things to get the drivers loaded if they bought a Clevo/Sager version of the card. Try to get a version for Alienware or HP if you can.

 

So I guess the last consideration would be is whether or not the stock matte screen on both models is the same? Sounds like I should just get the M6600 base model (maybe up it to 2860qm, but I don't see an advantage other than 100mhz higher clock compared to 2760qm) and buy the NVidia card + heatsinks and I'll get Optimus plus excellent performance.

The base model is $1196 which is pretty reasonable. The ram upgrade will only be another $50 or so and I have an SSD waiting.

 

I can tell you personally that the 680M upgrade is worth it. It's basically plug n play with the exception of having to use a modified .inf, which is simple to get. Optimus is still available as an option as well in the BIOS.

I went with a non-ISP screen cause I had the opportunity to buy a 1600x900 M6700 on the cheap, but the 90% gamut AUO more than makes up for it

 

? no. no need to do anything, plug and play. Clevo version works on M66/700.

 

I can see based on your signatures that you both have already done this. Where did you order your 680's from and if you ordered heatsinks, where did you get those?

Also what stock card did you replace?

Thanks.

 

Just ordered the M6600

I had one from the outlet that had too many problems so I sent it back. Hopefully a new one will fix me right up. About the same price but I got lesser specs. I will be ordering my own parts to match them back up and will only cost me about $100 more to have my own new machine so meh.

 

Congrats on the system. The NVIDIA heatsink can be ordered from Dell using this part number: 08V829
I used the one that came with my K3000M and it has a different part number but looks exactly the same. I'm getting great temps on it as well