New M6500 Discussion Thread

Stephane
Mine did this too when I first got it. I updated the BIOS to A03 and all the drivers and now it's fine. I don't know what I did right but now the fan comes on low amd is quite quiet.

 

Hi Heddok,

I had A01, A02, and now A03. The behavior of the fans is the same for me with all the bios releases.
The low speed is about 2600rpm (as reported by Everest ultimate). I think it's more annoying when you only a ssd with its zero noise.

 

where the A04 BIOS?

 

It's probably because it's warmer than when we got the machines first. There's a temp threshold for the fans to come on (45C I think - of the 920xm at least), and before now many of us were running at the point that in regular use, the CPU wouldn't be pegging 45C as a baseline. So you have the on-off activity as the fans would cool the CPU below 45C to about 40C, then your use would boost the temps again and the fans would come back on to cool the CPU, and the cycle would be repeated.

As it gets warmer, the baseline idle temp of the CPU will approach or exceed 45C - in which case the fans will kick on at a constant low rev, and it will be much less noticeable (because it's a constant noise) despite being noisier in reality. Conversely what you'll notice in winter is (unless you over-heat your house) that the fans will revert to the on-off operation again, but as it gets colder the interval between the fans kicking on will increase - and it may be more distracting as it seems to suddenly come on.

I do wish the fans ran constantly as well - even at a few hundred rpm just to avoid the 'burstiness' at low ambients. But it doesn't bother me that much.

 

What is misslieadingly called the resolution (width x height) has nothing to do with the actual fontsize. And the actual resolution (dpi) is independent from the number of pixels. Just increase the resolution and every display will fit your needs.
The M6500 comes with a matte screen and at least for the WLED version I can say that it's very bright and has a good contrast. I can't judge the colors.
The viewing angle is not bad, but given the price of this notebook the vertical angle is somehow disappointing (somewhere near 90 degree).

Given the powerfull hardware (32W idle), the fan is ok. Mine runs nearly permanently (BIOS A00) but at a low speed and with a deep sound.

The handling of the keyboard is very good: no flexing, long key lift, well defined pressure point
My only criticism is, that fingerprints can be seen very good if light is coming angularly. This is valid for the whole case. It's by far not as bad as on glossy cases, but I've seen it better on other notebooks.

 

I know this is not the laptop for battery life, but I was disappointed on a recent long journey only to get 1hr 30mins or so; my ancient Inspiron still does better on its 5+ year old battery. Can anyone offer a comprehensive checklist of ways to extend it on the M6500? I can think of a few obvious things e.g. screen brightness, keyboard backlight, wireless switch on the side which I assume powers down the bluetooth and wireless radios, rather than just disabling comms), hard disk spin down etc.; and I did most of those. For the record I have RGBLED screen, wireless and BT, 64GB SSD and 500GB HDD 4GB 1333 RAM and in particular the 720 CPU which I hoped would allow a bit longer running. What are the best options for additional/spare batteries or backup power? I'm already lugging a bulky 9 pounds around - I suppose another pound or so wouldn't break my back (and I hope not my bank either).

Paul.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback. Nice to hear your thoughts.

Not clear on that comment, however. Are you saying this unit is above gaming, or just that it is more than enough for gaming? Not that I'm much of a gamer, but it gives some idea of GPU power.

Thanks again.

 

@penguintree:
Due to your nickname assuming that you use Linux, your OS is on the SSD and you don't need your HDD when you are on battery, you could switch off the HDD, which I guess might give you another 20 minutes:

Code:

hdparm -Y /dev/sdb

You should also check your BIOS if the wireless switch is linked to all possible built-in interfaces (WLAN, WWAN, Bluetooth, and some other I have forgotten).

 

Use the power saving options in the ControlPoint - the easiest way is to use the Extended Runtime preset. There are options to decrease refresh rate, etc beyond what's obvious. At the absolute most ekeing though you're going to really struggle to crack 2.75 hours. This ain't a 'portable' machine.

Additional batteries are an option - and I have an extensive stash for when I need runtime - but each battery weighs a pound.

 

Actually I have the nickname for other reasons and don't use Linux on this particular machine - I might one day though, so thanks for the advice.