M6900 - What specs are you hoping for?

But the internals are pretty amazing. I would've expected best of the best keyboard and appearance. I don't think these precisions are ugly, but they are not quite as stately as the pretty aluminum wrapped m6000 series had been either. Maybe Dell will surprise us and make the new Latitudes exceptionally more ugly,

 

A few notes upon closer inspection of available photos:
Neither 7510 nor 7710 can obviously have an optical drive even as an option.
(That would bugger me.)

A few more losses from the previous generation (arguably minor or insignificant, but it really depends) that may not have yet been mentioned:

Easily removable HDD (no longer).
LEDs by the keyboard are gone (there are only three LEDs on the right front edge).
No contact-chip card option.
No more EC. (Has been mentioned in some articles in the media.)

Another minor changes:
A single audio jack for both mike and headphones. (Would not bother me.)
A mini-DP instead of full-sized DP.
(I’m happy with the full-size connector; I don’t know if there are any disadvantages to having the mini-DP instead. It takes quite some effort to pull out the full-size plug, but I rarely do, so I’m quite happy with its staying snuggly in place.)

I would note that I also use the volume buttons quite often. (And I never use the media buttons.)

As for Home/End:
The silly little buttons on M4800 were already a disappointment for me to the point that I used the keypad for cursor movement for the first few months—until I gave up (switching num-lock all the time) and resigned myself to the tiny Home/End. (Neither do I find the PageUp/PageDown very satisfactory.)

By the way, with num-lock on, the arrows and Home/End still work with Shift, and it is possible to press both Shifts to achieve Shift+one of these keys. But it’s a bit of a stretch anyway.
(I’d prefer it the other way around: I would mind less if I could hold down a key to type numbers while otherwise having a full-size cursor pad.)

Another thing that just dawned on me: Where are speakers? How are the new machines going to sound without headphones?

The new generation may carry new technologies alright, but I still sense a lot of ‘minor’ cheapening all around.

 

Some placement choices leave me wondering…
Audio jack on the right? Just about where I keep my mouse?
Neither fond of display connectors on the (left) side.

 

damn if you aren't such a debbie downer.

 

I had not noticed that the audio jack is on the right. That's annoying as I am righted handed (like most) and hence have the mouse there - as you mentioned.

 

I didn’t mean to down the new design on purpose, I was just being thorough.
(And personally, I’m not in the market for a new machine, I was just being curious of future direction.)
Mx800 has obviously been the last of a years-old design, carrying over many seemingly nifty features which, however, few people actually used.
Dell has undertaken a major redesign, and with it, features now deemed obsolete or little used just went—in one major sweep. It’s essentially mobile Precisions re-imagined, with little connection to the past.
(Most media reviewers wouldn’t fail to cry out if Dell didn’t introduce a major redesign, at last. Media reviewers, however, are not the ones who are going to be using the machines; most of them have never really worked on a Precision. Yet their reviews will shape opinions of many potential buyers, so Dell cannot ignore them.)

 

I'd imagine at the bottom of the laptop, at the front edge.

 

I'm disappointed.
Dell has destroyed the new Precision M7710.
Cover and keyboard are awful.
How could they do something so horrible.
Dell Precision was unique. Performance and cover were what distinguished it.
Currently, the Dell Precision M7710 looks like one of many.
I was expecting release for a very long time and I disappointed when I saw the picture of M7710.
The new line should be sold along with Acer, Compaq laptops and other average ...
Performance is not everything. I also expect above-average appearance, which at first sight says: I'm the best. For me, this says I'm average.

Maybe it is time to check something new like Lenovo P70 or HP.

 

That's true for most of us that make the purchase. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to choose something besides battle ship gray. Especially if you're not a part of a large organization or an independent.

Well, actually, it is.

Well some folks may have a need for a stealth notebook; but the previous choices were there. And this was one of the few things that want broken and they didn't need to be messed with .

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a laptop with a beautiful design. I wouldn't buy a $4000 laptop if it looked like something from the Cold War. But there's nothing wrong with a mobile workstation looking like a professional business machine instead of a shiny toy.

Personally, I think the M6x00 chassis came very close to what a mobile workstation should look like, but that's just my opinion.

I agree. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

For me, the Dell Precision Mobile line was head and shoulders above the rest of the mobile workstations, both in terms of design and feature set. It had some unique features, that you couldn't find with the other brands.

With the 7710, Dell has made some decisions in favor of design and at the expense of functionality. I mean, come on, who needs a chiclet keyboard on a workstation? Some people need to actually type on this thing to make a living.

Things like an ExpressCard slot, a removable HDD caddy or a DVD/Blu-ray burner may not be useful features for everyone. But for some people, these were the things that tipped the scale towards Dell.

The 7710 now looks like every other laptop out there. The only thing it has going for it, is the option of a Xeon processor and 64GB of RAM. But wait... doesn't the Lenovo P70...?

Lately, it looks like everyone is following Apple's example, with the removal of the optical drive and the obsession to make everything thinner and lighter at the expense of functionality. That may be a good strategy for mainstream laptops, but not for workstations.

Sure, you can use an external burner and buy all sorts of adapters, but who wants to carry all that stuff around? If I pay $4000 for a laptop, I want it to include everything I need to do my job. At that price, I'm not willing to make all kinds of concessions.