New M6500 Discussion Thread

that is a good point John. I remember you mentioning it previously but I had forgotten about that link when I posted recently.

 

Hi guys, iv being following this thread for a while and now im close to ordering my own m6500, it will be used for solidworks 2010 64bit and catia, large assembly modeling and some FEA...
I called dell ireland this morning and this is what im being quoted:
Item Description Quantity Total Price


English Genuine Windows® 7 Professional (64Bit OS) Recovery DVD included 1
No Fingerprint Reader 1
Silver Base, Clarksfield, USB3 1
One Intel® Core™ i7-820QM(1.73GHz, 8MB,Quad Core) operates at 1333MHz 1
17in Widescreen WUXGA (1920x1200) Antiglare Silver with White Led LCD Panel 1
Silver with White LED LCD Back Cover 1
Integrated 3.2 Mega Pixel Camera with Microphone for Silver Base 1
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel (4x2GB) 1
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Backlit Keyboard 1
No Contactless Smart Card 1
1GB GDDR5 for ATI FirePro M7740 (with 1GB dedicated memory) 1
English Set-Up and Features Doc for Graphic Cards 1
Raid Controller : All SATA Hard Drives, Non-RAID for 1 Hard Drive 1
320GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) (Free fall sensor) 1
Primary 9-cell 90W/HR Battery for Silver LCD Panel 1
EMEA Dell Wireless 1397 (802.11 b/g) Mini Card 1
EMEA Dell® Wireless 365 2.1 Bluetooth™ 1
8X DVD+/-RW Drive Tray Load with Optical Software Included 1
No Carry Case 1
English Shipping Docs 1
W05M6502 1
3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day 1
3Yr ProSupport for End Users and Next Business Day On-Site Service 1
Precision Order- Ireland 1
Windows Live 1
Mobile Precision M6500 Diagnostics and Drivers 1
CompleteCare not selected 1
English Trend Micro™ Internet Security(15 month subscription) Antivirus Software 1
UK/Irish 210W AC Adapter with UK/Irish Power Cord 1

Subtotal: €2,607.00
Freight: €35.00
Total Net: €2,642.00
Enviromental Tax: €0.00
VAT (Rate %): €554.82
Total: €3,196.82

Now he also mentioned he was putting in a different chassis designed by some dell guy in america that will let me upgrade the ram in the future if i like up to 16gb???
reason im asking is i know my computers to an extent but not this deep, could 2nd hand models be the way to go like a refurbished one????
or could it be an option to get no software on it?? i can get that myself...

any info or experiance much appreciated
thanks,
Declan.

 

On the Dell battery meter there is an option to not charge battery, will using this option prelong the life of my battery, as I rarely need to use the computer unplugged. Also, this option unchecks every time I switch off, so am I to go into this and select it every time I am working? Thanks.

 

That's strange! You have an 820QM, so you should already have the 4-DIMM-mainboard. There is no special chassis required.

In principle yes, there is nothing wrong with 2nd hand computers. But you should try to find out why the 1st hand owner didn't keep it. If he just didn't like it in the end it's ok, but if there were some defects I'd be careful.

I got mine (Germany) without software (ok, actually with FreeDOS), but it was a mayor hassle since the configuration software of the phone reps doesn't allow this setup. Mine had to call his boss who used some trick to configure my M6500 with a Hungarian Windows which is not available in Germany and made the software fall back to FreeDOS.

 

The software proportion of the cost isn't much. I suspect the CPU is the biggest contributor to the bottom line.

I do wonder whether the HDD will be the performance bottleneck unless you processing is very CPU-intensive with little input-output. For many applications an SSD provides more boost to overall performance than a major CPU upgrade.

Have a look at the ex-Dell Outlet stock at itcsales. For example:

You can then use the savings to buy an SSD.

John

 

In principle you're right, but I think in this specific case the CPU or GPU will be the bottleneck.
I do a lot of video transcoding, which has much in common with 3D modelling when it comes to system requirements. And once the initial data import is done even the 35MB/s transfer rate of my Firewire HDD is enough to keep all cores of my CPU constantly busy.

 

Hey Dec,

I bought an M6500 which is slightly better than the one you spec just over a month ago, it's a fantastic computer. However, at the moment I'm contemplating downgrading to a smaller laptop - it's not for certain, I'm reluctant to let the M6500 go because it truly is a desktop replacement, but I'm at uni and as much as I love the M6500 I go everywhere on bike and wonder if I should not just get a 15.6 macbook pro, also, I realise now that the M6500 is possibly too powerful for what I'm using it for! One of the deciding factors would be how much I could sell my Dell for... if you spool back to the previous page you will see my specs and what I paid - less than you have been quoted. The computer is tip top condition and has only left the house a couple of times since I bought it. Something to think about.

 

thanks for all the comments guys iv being back in contact with dell trying to see what deal i can get...

Hey rcruk,
i would be interested in yours, i called them back today and as the spec i had got was a month old they said some parts were actually upgraded as standard like the graphics card from ATI FirePro M7740 up to ATI FirePro M7820, plus she mentioned 250 euro off an order over 2500 euro, plus id be getting it through the company so i wouldnt be paying the vat, if you were looking for less than what i can get the new one for id be interested, new one is now looking like this
Precision M6500 : Silver Base, Clarksfield, USB3 1 S
Processor Clarksfield, Memory runs at 1333MHz : One Intel Core i7-
820QM(1.73GHz,8MB,Quad Core)
1 S
Display : 17in Silver Widescreen WUXGA (1920X1200) Antiglare with White LED LCD
Panel
1 S
Palmrest : No Contactless Smart Card 1 S
Palmrest : No Fingerprint Reader 1 S
Save 250 EUR on order above 2500 EUR 1 S
Camera : Integrated 3.2 Mega Pixel Camera with Microphone for Silver Base 1 S
Camera : Software for Integrated Camera (Only for standard Base ) 1 S
LCD Back Cover : Silver with White LED 1 S
Documentation : English Shipping Docs 1 S
Resource DVD : Mobile Precision M6500 Diagnostics and Drivers 1 S
Ship Accessory : English Set-Up and Features Docs for Graphic cards 1 S
Memory : 8GB(2x4GB)1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1 S
Hard Drive : 320GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) (Free Fall Sensor) 1 S
Raid Controller : All SATA Hard Drives, NON-RAID for 1 Hard Drive 1 S
Windows Live 1 S
Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive Tray Load no software 1 S
Optical Drive : PowerDVD 8.3 Software 1 S
Optical Drive : Roxio Creator 10.3 Software 1 S
Power Supply+Power Cord : UK/Irish 210W Slim AC Adapter with UK/Irish Power Cord 1 S
Battery : Primary 9-cell 90W/HR for Silver LCD Panel 1 S
Carry Case : Not Included 1 S
Graphics : 1 GB GDDR5 for ATI FirePro M7820 (with 1GB dedicated memory) 1 S
Wireless : Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth 1 S
Wireless : EMEA Dell Wireless 1510 (802.11 a/b/g/n 2X3) Mini Card 1 S
Keyboard : Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Backlit Keyboard 1 S
Software Driver : Mobile Precision M6500 1 S
Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64Bit OS) 1 S
OS Media : MUI Windows 7 Professional (64Bit OS) Resource DVD 1 S
Software : Microsoft Office Starter 2010 ( Excel Starter 2010, Word Starter 2010) 1 S
Operating System Recovery Dell Backup and Recovery Manager for Windows 7 1 S
AntiVirus : Trend Micro Worry Free Business Service (15 Month)Software MUI
(AR,CZ,DK,NL,UK,HE,FR,DE,GR,IT,NO,PL,SE,RU,ES,TR)
1 S
Precision Order - Ireland 1 S
Base Warranty 1 S
3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day - Minimum Warranty 1 S
No Warranty Upgrade 1 S
Declined CompleteCare 1 S
VAT Summary

Sub-total 2,289.00
Freight 25.00
VAT 485.94
Total 2,799.94

contact me at [email protected] if you think it suits you...

 

.........I'll email you.

 

In the past five years, I have gone through over twenty power bricks. They usually just start "squeaking" when they get plugged in, and then eventually die.
However... I have had NO issues with my current power brick for my M6500 -- the previous models were M4400 and M65, and they died all the time. We had over a hundred of the M65's at a place I studied, and someone lost a power brick every day!

I think the M6500 brick (slim brick here) is rather nice -- makes for a good foot warmer with the large size, too