No IPS for AMD M8900?

I was just configuring a M6600 and was wondering how come the IPS option is incompatible with the AMD M8900?

"The AMD® FirePro® M8900 Mobility Pro Graphics Card is not available with the LCD selected. Please update your selections."

"17.3" UltraSharp™ FHD(1920x1080) PremierColor IPS RGB Anti-Glare LED-backlit Premium Panel Guarantee"

 

The wide-gamut IPS panel Dell uses is 10 bit per component (30 bit RGB).

The spec sheet for the AMD FirePro™ M8900 does not mention 10 bit output as a feature. If it had it, you can be sure they would say so.
AMD FirePro? M8900 Mobility Professional Graphics

So I assume its because Dell think there is no point having a 10 bit panel then driving it at 8 bits.

Although, if Dell had access to an 8 bit sRGB IPS panel, that would be a nice option to have rather than a TN scren. But they don't.

 

Will the IPS screen ever work with the AMD FirePro™ M8900 card? I am a bit disappointed the AMD is not compatible with the IPS screen. It seems IPS only works with the Quadro cards.

Even worse the AMD FirePro™ M8900 card isn't listed as an option for the non-IPS screen.... What gives?

 

I'm not sure what you mean.

I think it matters on which base config you start your customization from. If you choose the one that mentions the Quadro graphics, you won't see the M8900 option as a customization feature.

Choose the very base config to start your customization, or call in to place your order as on the phone, they have access to all configurations. (Not the M8900 + IPS Panel, though)

 

I have heard the AMD FirePro™ M8900 card is better than the Quadro 4000M card when it comes to gaming, should I decide to use it for that purpose.

I am going to be purchasing the M6600 laptop with a view to using it for software development, CS5 photo editing and video editing in PPro and not CAD or 3D stuff.

I would rather get an IPS screen without the Quadro 4000M and don't want to pay the extra £760 quid for both IPS and Quadro. This leaves the non-IPS screen as the only real choice (1600x900 just doesn't cut it for me), but I would still have to shell out nearly £400 for the Quadro 4000M card as the AMD FirePro™ M8900 card is not an option with the IPS screen

 

You don't have to get the Quadro 4000M to get IPS, the lowest end Quadro 1000 and 2000 support the IPS monitor for the M4600 and the Quadro 3000M supports IPS for the M6600.

 

I am not too keen on the low-end Quadro cards or the 3000 for that matter either. I know the Quadro cards support Optimus, which is an attractive option with regards to extending battery life, but I'd rather get the AMD M8900 card. I guess I'll have to wait until AMD release a 10-bit version that is compatible with IPS.

 

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They don't support Optimus when used with the IPS since the Intel IGP can't output 10-bit color.

 

If you spend a lot of time in Premier Pro or do a lot of 3d stuff in in Photoshop a Quadro card will give you significantly better performance over the m8900 as these applications are "cuda enabled". The m8900 should provide better performance in just about every other scenario.

 

I have picked this up from the Dell website reviews section where someone upgraded to an nVidia Quadro 2000M video card to only later find out that this card will not be utilized unless an external monitor is connected to the HDMI or DisplayPort. If you use the laptop's own LCD display, the video card will use the built in Intel HD Graphics card[/QUOTE].

Can anyone confirm this is correct because I read somewhere that DVD movie playback with the Quadro cards was very poor. If the integrated GPU is being used this would explain the poor DVD playback quality. I am hoping this is not the case as I am looking to get either the m4600 or m6600 in the New Year.