News on Haswell based mobile Precision M6800 ?

According to the technical manual, the Precision M4800 is thicker and heavier than the M4700, can someone confirm this? I guess it would make sense since you can get it with the IGZO monitor.

Height (M4700): 32.7mm - 36.8mm
Height (M4800): 36.25mm - 39.9mm

Weight (M4700): 6.15lbs with 6cell
Weight (M4800): 6.35lbs with 6 cell


4mm thicker seems like it would noticeable to me. Can anyone comment on this? Someone who might've handled both generations?

I'm on the fence between the M4800 and M4700... pro's and con's... since I'm in the U.S. I don't have much config choices for the M4800, so I'd probably get the cheapest one with the IGZO, K2100m, and the M4800Q(which I'm quite unimpressed with, in all reality it's about equal or even slightly inferior to the 3740qm, while showing little to no battery life improvement..).

 

Nvm, thought you talking about the 6800. Xd

 

Could anyone comment on how well AMD graphics switching works in M6800? Is it possible to disable AMD FirePro M6100 in BIOS?

 

In BIOS you can enable/disable "switchable graphics".
I have it enabled and can control which apps should use the FirePro or Intel.
Not sure which one is on or off if that setting is disabled.

Switching worked for the preinstalled Windows 7 and initially not with Windows 8.1.
Had to wait for the new FirePro drivers for Win 8.1 to show up on the Dell drivers site.
Now everything works on Win 8.1 as well.

 

Thank you, SvenC! My guess is if you disable switchable graphics you'll be on AMD FirePro M6100, which is good if you have compatibility problems. Congratulations on your new machine! Would you mind telling us a bit about your impression with it, your use-case scenarios, and what notebooks you have previously used?
It's a bit expensive for me, but after seeing your 3DMark 11 score I'm seriously considering buying M6800. After all, reliability and peace of mind don't come cheap, right? Might as well wait for Black Friday.

 

Wonderful machine.

I use it for software development and testing

So I am running VMs on it and love the speed when they are turned on and off from the SSD drives.

I do not care much about the GPU, had the FirePro only tested with the benchmark tools.

Battery life is much better than the m6500 which never made much more than 2:15h in little load.
The m6800 in balanced mode with little load is over 5h.

The upgradeable parts like RAM and drives are easily accessible. Not sure how easy it is to get off the keyboard where two of the four ram slots are located. My machine came with those filled, so I could add RAM to the easier available slots on the bottom.

mSata is SATA 6gb now, which is nice for my crucial m500.

The hard disk frame for the second disk was included even when ordered with only one disk.

The quick out HDD frame for one disk on the right is a nice option for easy disk exchange which I cannot use as I put two drives into RAID-0.
Would have liked such an option for the optical drive as well but to exchange that you need to open the bottom.
I have an HDD caddy on order but it is delayed. The DVD drive will go into an external caddy with USB connection.

Connecting with HDMI or DP to external monitors with FullHD and WUXGA works without problems.
Had only one external monitor available at different locations, so I did not test how much the m6800 can drive in parallel.

The 1550 WLAN card works pretty well. I have 100mbs internet at home and see some downloads reaching 8 to 10mbyte/s when I am close to the wlan router.

Putting my old WWAN 5620 card in worked with the help of a user in this thread to point me to an unlocked driver.

My previous machines where an m6500, Inspiron 9400 and m60. So I try to keep the machines for about 3 years.

 

If you are not difficult, let's clarify:
that will remain in the Device Manager section "display adapters" after changing the parameter "Switchable Graphics" to "disabled" in BIOS Setup? AMD FirePro M6100 or Intel HD?
Please make screenshots before and after. Thank you.

 

Just verified: when switchable graphics is disabled you only see the FirePro. Switched back on I see FirePro and Intel HD 4600 again. I think a screenshot is not really needed?

 

SvenC,
Ok, so there is an opportunity to get away from the potential problems associated with the Enduro.

 

I'm about to order an M6800, but I'm in doubt about which wireless card to get (Dell 1550, Dell 1601 or Intel 7260).

I plan on upgrading the wireless card to an 802.11ac + 802.11ad (WiGig) + BT combo card when these come available. I don't need WiGig at the moment, but may want to use it in the future.

Pictures of the Dell 1601 and Intel 7260 show that 3 antennas are needed. I suppose one for BT and two for wifi, since the cards are 2x2. I couldn't find any pictures of the Dell 1550, but I suppose it requires 3 antennas as well.

The Dell website only shows a 'No WiGig HD+/FHD back cover', but I read in this thread that there's also a 'WiGig HD+/FHD back cover'.

Can anyone please answer these questions:

1. Does WiGig (60 GHz) require different antenna(s) than 802.11ac, or is the same antenna used for 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 60 GHz?
2. Does the 'WiGig HD+/FHD back cover' include additional antenna(s) or do the antenna(s) replace the standard wifi antenna(s)?
3. Can the 'WiGig HD+/FHD back cover' be ordered separately or only in combination with the Dell 1601 card?