New M6500 Discussion Thread

I ordered an M6500 on May 4. They said it would ship on June 2, but probably earlier. It arrived on May 11 - one week after I ordered it. Bizarre - 3 weeks early. I think Dell needs some computers go get things a bit more accurate in their production scheduling ;>) I'm actually out of state on a business trip and so I haven't even opened the box yet.

I've ordered a 100 gig OCZ Vertex 2 for the primary drive. Can someone give me tips and tricks or anything special I should know about putting Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on this drive and making it the boot drive?

I've read about setting AHCI and RAID in the BIOS. Which should I use?

Does the M6500 come with a "dumbed down" OEM version of Windows 7 on DVD, or is it "the real thing"? I ask because with XP Pro 32, some OEM DVDs were actually missing some components that the true Microsoft branded DVDs had. (Couldn't install RAID with some OEM DVDs)

I plan on using the 250 gig drive it came with as a secondary storage drive. I have been using an HP8730w for nearly 6 months with an Intel X25-M 160 gig and love the fact that I never have to listen to a drive anymore. Am I correct in thinking that the secondary storage drive (platter drive) will not randomly spin and make noise as a platter with the OS on it does?

Thanks in advance.

 

Oh yes, in addition to the previous post, I forgot to ask about the Intel Centrino 6300 wireless card. Is it worth changing the 5300 to a 6300 and is it easy to do? What about drivers, what are the benefits...

Where do you get a 6300 card?

 

if you do a search for "babyhemi" you can buy an oem version fairly reasonably priced. I noticed a huge jump in range and speed. I did upgrade from dell's 1520 wifi card though. It was a 2x3 as spec'd by dell. (2x3 meaning I had 3 antennae available, but the card only had 2 connections available...i guess) so I would say yes it was worth it.

 

The secondary drive shouldn't run unless accessed. It may run to be indexed.

I did a clean install of win7 from the dell cd and it was the real deal.

From what I have read choosing between achi and raid depends on the controller and the intel storage controllers run better with the raid option even when not in raid. this is what the internet tells me.

 

anyone use a graphics tablet with their m6500? I'm thinking about buying one to see how I like it with 3d modeling and maybe some UI functions but i'd like some input from anyone who has any 1st, 2nd, or 3rd hand experience. thanks. Also how is using a tablet with linux?

 

ok, last post for the night. I was getting strange system hangs and random connects and disconnects with bluetooth and the occasional bsod. I took the back panel of to remove the bluetooth and it turned out the antenna was glued to the BT mini card, kind of strange, anyhow I removed it and the system is much more responsive and I need to call up dell to get a new BT module now.

 

Hey guys!

I have been lurking about this thread for a few months now, and even more so since I got my own M6500 two weeks ago

Anyway, now I have a question which has been making me think for a while. Is it theoretically possible to replace the ATI M7740 graphics chip with the nVidia Quadro FX 3800M, or would a whole new motherboard be required? I am having some fairly annoying issues with ATI, and I might end up changing to nVidia (yes yes, I know of the fees, etc, let us not go into the world of finance just now).

So, possible or not? Anyone know?

 

Which one?

 

Get the Intuos 4 medium. I've used tablets since 1990 with a 12x12 CalCamp. The Intuos is great with the laptop as it is the same dimesions and may 1/3 inch thick. Wth scoll control and shift/alt functions it allows you to work a bit further away from the laptop and relax a bit. I like using a stylus to replace a mouse a lot of the time. Less repetitive strain issues than with a mouse and hand draped over it all day. The intuos also comes with a mouse so I pack mine with me when I travel. The tablet mouse and pen are, to me, The preferred interface for the laptop. Set mouse mode or pen mode for any application or all of them. Mouse and pen don't require batteries either.

the pen in the end works better than a mouse or fingers (iPad folks) for many graphics apps. The mouse I revert to for web browsing and normal use. No experience with Linux but check Wacom for drivers.

John

 

This may be true. I believe (correct me if I am wrong) you need to set it to ACHI to get TRIM to work in Windows 7.

Tony