New M6500 Discussion Thread

I have another question abour RAM to be installed- can I have only:

(i) either A or B occupied and C or D either one occupied?
(ii) either A or B occupied and ( C & D also occupied).

Thanks

 

I had to wait so long it was surreal when I got it....I had ordered in jan, then cancelled and waited on USB 3.0 to hit the shelves, the ordered again and waited...got in mid April.....it was worth it....haha

 

Just in case other m6500 owners and almost owners are interested in some mobile CPU benchmarks to see how nice our CPUs are, here is a link I like ;-)

Notebookcheck: Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist

 

Hello guys,

I'm following your thread really carefully. Best info about the M6500 on the internet

I'm planning to buy one of these machines. But I've got a doubt and I couldn't find a feedback online.

The question is to understand what could be the best deal between two configs (good discount on both) :

ALIENWARE M17x R2................... M6500 Precision
Double ATI 5870 Crossfire...............ATI Firepro M7820
Full HD (1920x1200) RGBLED...........Full HD (1920x1200) RGBLED
Intel Core I7-720QM.......................Intel Core I7-720QM
6Go RAM.......................................6Go RAM
500Go 7200 tr/min.........................500Go 7200 tr/min
5.3kg............................................3.8kg
2000€...........................................2000€

Clearly the GPU is more powerfull on the Alienware. But except that, how to choose between both ?

Thank you very much for your help,

Cheers,

 

Ouch, that's quite some wait, glad you weren't dissappointed!.. mine has said 'In Production' for two days now... oh how they tantalize!

 

I own an M17x R1. Its heavier, but has more fans to get rid of heat. Each machine is beautiful in its own way to an engineer. The M6500 is thinner and more sleek. It may only have 2 fans, but the heat is only at the very back of the machine. The M6500 is not a 17" Mac Book pro with thin beveled edges, but it also kicks the sh*t out of the MBP17 as far as performance goes.

If you will use the Quadro or Fire Pro features of the card to do 3D modeling or Autocad type work, go for the M6500.

If you just want to game and are ok with weight, go for the M17x R2. You will get higher frame rates.

They both use the same power adapters. Get the slim one.

The wild card is the idea of stealth. The M6500 looks like a business computer, but can game. The Alienware M17x looks like a gaming machine and would get stares (of envy or ire) at meetings.

 

An update to the USB 3.0 problem. After about 5 weeks of waiting on a callback (promised to be the next day at the latest), I finally sent an email last week to their email support, including screenshots of device manager as well as the driver detail screen, showing respectively the Windows Problem Encounter screen and the USB Controller section as well as a list of what has happened and the level of 'help' I've received.

Never received any answer. So today, I called myself. First line support was again, not terribly helpful, re-asking every single question the previous two gentlemen did. He was horrified to learn I'd already been waiting six weeks now. He promised to send it through to second line support.

What got me was the first thing he said was that it might be that Clarksfield processors are not compatible with USB 3.0. To put it mildly, I was 'vexed' but managed to keep my mouth shut and not blast him for that WAG. It just goes to show that the amount of training these support desk people get is 'lacking' to put it mildly.

When asked at the end how I'd rate their helpdesk, I quite frankly told him that imho, the quality has been lowered substantially from abominable (8 yrs. ago when I got my first Dell) to so bad you'd need a space-based telescope to even see a pinprick. He didn't know exactly what to say to that so just thanked me and said goodbye. I'm supposedly to wait for a callback in a few days, so I'm waiting till next Wednesday/Thursday before really making an issue out of it.

 

Theroretically yes. But this only applies if you only have 2x1GB of RAM, which I guess is no common configuration. Don't ask me why, but someone at Dell thought this layout was a funny idea.
I can't tell you exactly where it is or who posted it, but somewhere in the first 100(?) pages of this thread you'll find a zip archive (size=19.4MB) containing a website dump where you'll find some valueable information. One is a chart showing all the supported memory configurations.

I downloaded it half a year ago. On my HDD this archive is called "Precision_M6500.zip". I'm not sure if this is the original name. I guess it isn't.
Since I'm not the copyright owner I won't re-upload it. But maybe somebody else knows what I'm talking about and can provide a link to this specific post.

 

I just had a quick search for you on this thread but it appears the link to that zip file no longer works.

If you PM me with your email address I will upload it and send you a link to it.

 

Have you tried the following steps from a previous post I put up?

"Sorry for the delay in responding, I needed to confirm some items with our engineering team. Here are some troubleshooting steps if you are having issues with USB 3.0.
1. Ensure that the 2 USB ports on the left side of the system are blue inside. If they are black inside, like the right side, then you do not have USB 3.0.
2. Boot into the BIOS and ensure that the USB 3.0 feature is turned on.
3. Once the system is booted ensure that the USB 3.0 driver software is installed. If you are not sure, then download the driver software from the Dell support site and install after you have done step 2.
USB 3.0 is not supported for boot, when booting to an external device connected to the USB 3.0 ports you are booting using USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is not enabled until after the system reaches the OS.
If you are still having issues with USB 3.0 then please contact Dell tech support as you might have a bad USB 3.0 daughter card."

Hope this helps.