Optimus ENABLE: M6600 with FireProM8900

Sorry for bringing out the thread from the dead, but I presume Dell uses the same motherboard for the AMD and Nvidia cards, so if I bought one with M8900 and then later replace it with (err, I don't know, 680M ), the Optimus would work, no?

I'm just not sure if the Intel GPU is connected in this case and it's just a matter of replacing the cards will make the BIOS detect and allow the Intel GPU to become usable.

 

M6600 has the same motherboard across all configuration options.

M4600 has an IPS motherboard and a non-IPS motherboard.

 

There have been reports that after replacing the AMD card with a Quadro, the Optimus option becomes available in the BIOS setup.

 

Thanks for the confirmation. guys. I'm considering getting the M6600 instead of waiting for the M6700 as I don't really see the benefits of an M6700 yet - the HD 4000 doesn't seem to support 10 bit color so still no Optimus with the IPS screen. Also, I don't see the FirePro 7970M variant announced yet, neither. The 680M promises to offer the same or better performance (not sure), but with a working Optimus. I presume it should be possible for it to work with the M6600?

BTW, what was the story with the coolers? I presume they're not all the same? Is the cooler from e.g. 3000M the same as with the 4000M and 5010M? Thanks a lot.

 

Thread revival because I would love to have switchable graphics.
I don't care about Optimus and would happily settle for a manual switch between the two.

Any news?

 

I don't think it has been figured out yet. I am too in the same boat. I want the good battery life. I tried uninstalling the M8900, and installing the Intel HD 3000 driver for the M6600, and It pops up with a msg that my computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements to install the driver. lol. I'm not sure if it would run without a graphics card physically installed, that would be lame too. I most likely will swap for a nivida card. I learned that the dell bios has the enable optimus activated when the nvidia cards are in. That option is not even there in the bios for me.

 

Did you check the BIOS after you removed the ATI card?
I was hoping that removing the M8900 would do the trick.
I've a Nvidia Quadro 1000m to swap into one laptop but, wanted to run the other 2 M6600 on iGPUs alone.
Am I the only one that thinks Dell should give every one the option to switch to the iGPU in BIOS (even if it means not all the display outputs will work)?

 

I think the bios still shows the M8900 in there after I unistalled the driver.

I think it would work without the M8900 in there. Try it and let me know . I believe this is the dell HD 3000 driver you want: Intel_multi-device_A06_R299341
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/

Or you can try the driver from the Intel's site.

 

Yes, Dell M6600 works when dGPU (FirePro M8900) is removed from system. So it's possible to run it on only HD3000. Bios recognize correctly Intel GPU and there is no issues in Windows (Intel drivers must be installed).

It was checked on polish forum by T-9, here's that post:
http://www.nhl.pl/index.php?showtopic=50187&view=findpost&p=575573

And pictures from operation:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115296006748472410266/M6600IGPHD3000?authkey=Gv1sRgCNbexdyykaG5XQ

So we have Switchable Graphics in M6600 but only with screwdriver...

 

So we have Switchable Graphics in M6600 but only with screwdriver...[/QUOTE]

HA - I knew it was possible...

All we need now is to find a way of switching to and fro...
There must be some way of shutting off the M8900...