New M6500 Discussion Thread

Well, after a little settling in period I'm falling in love with my M6500... Glad I didn't make my self flat broke paying hundreds more for the Nvidia, the ATI Firepro is superb, with GDDR5 and DX11 should have some longevity. I noticed on the Autodesk website there were issues listed with the Nvidia certification, but non with the ATI card, I've certainly not had any problems yet. Revit runs well, rendering 4-5x faster than my old desktop, AutoCAD runs well and detail is so easy to see on this crystal clear screen (took a while to adjust the gamma etc to a satisfactory level) after updating CS4 runs without glitch and quickly - Overall I'm impressed and very happy with the specs I ended up with, the system is a pleasure to use for all my computing requirements. The one thing I may add at some point in the future, is a SSD, but that would only to be to further refine the performance and durability. I'm not even sure I will pay to expand the RAM beyond 8gigs as this amount seems perfect for everything I'm doing. The processor has not had to struggle at all and seems perfectly adequate for fairly demanding tasks (though I rarely run more than 2 or 3 applications at once). One thing I couldn't imagine until I used it was the sound (of the fans and hard disk), it's almost silent under a normal load - When I'm doing something more demanding the fan becomes audiable, but it's not a disturbing frequency and I genrally forget about it. Heat and sound generated during demanding use are ejected to the rear and are not at all at an uncomfortable or disturbing level.

I'd certainly commend these specs to anyone else looking to pick up a good system for CAD and Photo/Visual work, if you don't want to pay through the nose simply maxing out everything.

Verdict:

Looks great
Feels solid
Works well
Good choice!

 

Hey all, I've had my M6500 for a few months now and for the most part I love it. However, I have experienced a couple weird quirks and I'm wondering if any of you have had similiar issues. First, here's my system info:

-Intel i7 920XM
-16GB DDR3-1066
-64GB Mini SSD (boot)
-(2) 256GB SSD (RAID 0)
-nVidia Quadro FX2800M
-Windows 7 Professional x64
-Running BIOS version A04

With that said, I've noticed the following:

1) Cannot burn DVDs. I've had my slotload DVD burner replaced once already, but that did not fix the problem. I can burn CDs without issue. Additionally, per a suggestion on a previous post, I do not have Nero installed and I just removed Roxio (I did a test burn using the Windows image burner, but it failed too).

2) Fingerprint reader and shutting down. I've noticed that the fingerprint reader doesn't always like to work. Although the computer thinks that the fingerprint reader is ready, swiping it does nothing. This issues arises every other reboot, at most. Interestingly, if this happens, then Windows won't completely shutdown. In this situation, I have to hold down the power button to actually shut it down. Windows has obviously finished shutting down as it doesn't warn me about an improper shutdown during the next boot.

I've reformatted a couple of times so these issues are definitely repeatable. Any suggestions will be helpful! Thank you!

 

any body know if the dual core machine supports quad core CPU's i read the one with dual core has only two ram slots but what about upgrading it to quad core?

 

It should work.

 

Did you check support.dell.com for new drivers for your DVD burner?

There are a few from February one from April and one from August 2010.

The finger print stuff could need an updated control point security driver, but I am not sure about that because I don't have that device.

 

Create a Linux Live USB key, boot from it and try to burn a DVD. If it works it surely isn't a hardware issue. If it doesn't, most likely you have some faulty hardware.

It DOES work. Several people in this thread accidentally got quad cores on dual core boards and they all worked.

 

I know a quad and dual work in the quad version (4 memory slots). I tested it myself. (620M/720QM)

Who has personally confirmed they have received the dual core SMB (2 memory slots), and a quad core works?

 

Have you tried different media? I have one of the slot load options (HLDS HLDS GS20N) which failed two out of two tries burning some MSDN .iso's from the office onto Memorex dvds. Burned two cds with no issue immediately following. Then tried "GQ" (Great Quality brand, no less) that worked on the first try. Maybe it's just picky. Used the Win7 image burning tool for all tries.

Which reader do you have? The FIPS or the "internal swipe fingerprint reader"? The FIPS one will be at the top of the keyboard to the left with a white foamy border around it. If this is the one you have, you have to hold your finger on it to validate a print... not swipe your finger.

 

Hi Morgan,

Sorry for not replying sooner, I read your question just now.

I was in pretty much the same sittuation but ordered two SSDs with my setup. Dell shipped my system with the BIOS setting to RAID as well although I'm not running my drives in raid at all. TRIM is enabled under Windows 7 only with the BIOS SATA operation set to AHCI. And, in my case, I was not able to simply switch from RAID to AHCI. Attempting to do so would cause the WIN7 bootup to freeze at the swirling color logo every time.

I had to make the switch to AHCI and then reinstall windows7.

The main reason for switching to AHCI for me was to enable the TRIM feature.

 

Dell tech made a visit today to replace my touch pad (palm rest) and keyboard and the bottom alum covering/housing.

The bottom alum housing had a strange warp/dent dead center, just above the display latch button. I assumed it was part of the design when I received it because it was so symetrically placed. But after checking some photos online I saw that mine was really dented/warped.

Anyway, the tech essentially had to disassemble the entire laptop and all connections. Including removal of display, the CPU heatsink and reapplying of the thermal paste when reassembling. It was very interesting to observe.

Long story short, the laptop works like new again, touchpad working great, no dents/warped metal, etc.

The only surprises were that the BIOS was set back to it's default settings and I couldn't bootup until I set the SATA back to AHCI. no big deal.

But then I couldn't turn on the wi-fi radio. The switch on the side of the system had no affect. Thetech left saying that I probably just need to reinstall the driver(s) for the 5300. He stated that he is simply the repair man and doesn't work with the software. lol. So how does he test the hardware you may ask? Apparently he doesnt.

I opened it up and confirmed that the 5300 card was seated properly and the antennas were connected correctly. Then I was in a two hour call with support. They are sending out another tech in a few days with more parts.

Until then I am tied to a LAN line.

All in all I am still very pleased with the phone support. Call was to support in Nashville Tenn and it was a pleasent experience.

Just had to share

Ben