New M6500 Discussion Thread

It would probably be easiest to just secure the drive in the caddy with screws, which would mean you wouldn't need the spacer. Of course, if you're missing the caddy, that wouldn't be possible.

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I have the caddy, forgot about that. Thanks

 

The spacer is not only to keep the drive from moving but also to help it spread vibrations to the main chassis or maintain equilibrium with the main chassis.

Putting a little soft foam piece might not be a good idea. It might melt from the heat being generated within the chassis and also become a fire hazard.

 

I would get the glass screen for the rgbled screen and bump up the RAM to 32gb. The edge to edge screen makes the computer look more unique. Also I would go for the orange covet base and orange LCD housing.

Yes I was able to swap that part containing the ON button from my m6400 to a m6500. My m6500 has a covet screen (RGBLED and glass) so I had to trim some of the tabs on the back of the part in order for it to fit correctly when closed.

 

Interesting. Fortunately the Crucial SSD I ordered came with the spacer. This is going into my sister's m6500 which previously had a 250GB single platter hdd. The HDD was good when it was new and fairly empty back in 2010 or so, but has filled up and became slow as a dog.

This 500GB SSD I got for under $100 USD so I think it will be a great investment and breath new life into her m6500. Even with the m6500 only being SATAII and not SATAIII it will still be way faster than the 250GB platter drive.

 

Hey folks - I'm wondering if anyone has found a good source for replacement M6500 batteries. I am a bit skittish of the ones I have found on eBay, because I don't want a cheap Chinese knock-off that may give me more problems, nor do I want to be tricked into buying "like new" battery that isn't new at all (and has lived most of its life already).

I recently yanked the battery from my M6500 and now run it without one (only on A/C power, of course)... it was overheating and causing the entire laptop to overheat... and then running like a snail (probably because the CPU notched down to protect itself from the heat). Yank out the battery - it runs great again!

I rarely need to move this laptop - it mostly stays docked - but it would be nice to have a good, reliable battery again (that doesn't overheat). Heck, it would even be nice to have a cover for the bottom without a battery, instead of leaving the gaping hole.

Thankfully, it's about to be replaced by a Precision 7720, but I do plan on keeping the old one around as a secondary machine, as it's been good to me.

 

They are getting harder to find outside of ebay. It's even harder if wanting to color match with an orange m6500 covet. I bought a couple about 4 yrs ago, one for our orange covet and the other for our silver m6500.

I wish I could remember the link I used, sorry. I paid about $85 for each. They were legit dell batteries still in their clear plastic film wrapping. The only ones I can find now that are real "Dell" are on ebay, but like you said even if sold "new" or "like new" they've been sitting for years and years.

Batteries Plus are pretty decent stores I'd probably go check them out. They also have brick and mortar locations, not just online presence. They cell m6500/m6400 batteries but they are made by Duracell instead of Dell. They might have to order it if you go in a local store. But if you don't like it you can return it to an actual person rather than get stuck using mail return. The ebay ones sell for about $40 while the Duracell sold by battery plus is $89

 

Funny you should mention that - I literally stopped by a Batteries Plus near my work this afternoon. I brought with me my old M6500 90Wh battery, as well as an even older 85Wh battery that came from an old M6400 machine at work, that was being recycled. They looked up both batteries (slightly different part numbers), and said they could special order a replacement for about $90, so you're right on the money there. I also asked about simply detaching the battery from the cover, so I could at least put the empty cover on the bottom of my laptop (instead of the gaping hole). They tried to work on it a bit, but said it is glued down and would be hazardous to try to rip off, due to it being a lithium battery. So... I think I'm going to just order a new one from them. I trust them much more than eBay for this.

I can't believe that Dell was so stupid as to make the battery and the bottom of the chassis one part like that.

 

I just bought a replacement M6500 battery from eBay. I'll let you guys know it turns out when it arrives in a week or two.

 

Replacement battery arrived yesterday. Looks good and tested it out for the past two days, everything works as it should.