Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

Out of curiousity, is it possible to get the 4400 with a bluray reader (writer would be a nice option), or at least a dual layer dvd writer? I'm not finding any way to configure a system with anything better than a standard dvd rw.

Thanks.

 

DDR3 memory for the graphics.

@spill,not that I know of,or where I live.
The lenovo T400/T500 module's fit the latest dell's,but whether the bluray one would work [due to not being a dell option] I don't know.
A couple of other guy's in this thread were talking about retrofitting bluray drive's into their M4400's,but don't know how they got on....hopefully someone who's looked at it will answer your question.

 

I only have a profile for the M6400 RGB-LED...

 

Has Dell already resolved the problem with Graphic "underclocking" issue? I want to buy this laptop but I want to use it also for occasional gaming. But from what I have been read at this forum, it is not possible for more than half an hour. Is it still true or is here any improvement about this?

 

yep, seems to have been completely sorted out now.

 

That is great to hear.

I have one more question. Isn't that 1920x1200 resolution too much for such a small 15.4 display? I used to have 1920x1080 on 16" (XPS16 which I returned because of overheating) and everything was too small for me. But I read that the 1440x900 would be probably grainy which is not good too. I'm really not sure about the display. Please help

 

Higher resolution (1920x1200) on a smaller screen (15.4") will mean everything will be even smaller.

 

Okay, so only possible resolution for me is 1440x900. But what is the quality of WXGA+ display? Is it really so grainy and poor quality?

 

I received my RGB LED M4400 yesterday, and have been playing around with it since. My first impressions are that the display is leaps and bounds brighter and higher contrast, with more vibrant colors than my year-old T61p WSXGA+ display. On its lowest brightness setting, it is brighter than my T61p is on its brightest setting. Unfortunately, the brightness also appears less uniform than on my T61p...the M4400 RGB LED gets slightly dimmer nearer to the edges of the screen.

As expected, the M4400 RGB LED still has the same viewing angle issues that all TN panels have. It might (subjectively) be slightly less noticeable in the horizontal direction, but it's every bit as bad in the vertical direction. This screen test shows the same viewing angle abberations on my T61p and the M4400 RGB LED. From a high viewing angle, I also noticed what appeared to be an area-mura, though since it's LED backlight, I'm sure it's something else.

Vista's DPI scaling works (I went from the default 96 DPI to 120 DPI), but not for all applications. I have to set text size manually in Firefox, for example. This makes DPI scaled text seem rather nonuniform between the desktop and various applications, and it can occasionally interfere with web site layouts. Out of the box, the colors looked very oversaturated...web browsing and photos in particular would sometimes look pretty terrible or rough on the eyes. After some eyeball recalibration, I was able to compensate for it a bit. Windows 7 is supposed to have better wide-gamut color handling and screen scaling, but I haven't had a chance to play with it.

I also occasionally notice a "screen door" (moire) effect when moving my head sometimes, with the M4400 at native resolution. I don't get this on my T61p WSXGA+ panel, but my T61p panel always appears "frosted" (perhaps due to the matte finish), whereas the M4400 looks very clear. I prefer the M4400, but the sporadic screen door effect can be distracting.

I'm really torn, so far. There's no doubt the M4400 RGB LED is a better display than what I've got in my T61p. However, with the vertical viewing angle and moire effect, I really don't know if it is worth the price of a whole new laptop. My desktop Dell 2001FP LCD (a UXGA S-IPS display made four years ago) doesn't have as wide a color gamut and isn't as bright, but it blows the M4400 RGB LED away in image quality (in my opinion). I know it's unfair to compare a desktop LCD to a laptop LCD, but I don't have a Flexview screen to use to compare it to. (If I did, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place). I'll need to play with it some more to decide whether to keep it.

Other comments:

• There are noticeable reliability and/or input lag issues with using the touchpad, compared to my T61p touchpad. Possibly due to Vista? I may try installing XP on it, to see if it still has issues.
• Dell Control Point doesn't let me set my battery min/max charging levels like Lenovo's ThinkVantage Power Manager does. Dell only lets me enable/disable charging. /sadpanda
• The keyboard backlight is neat, but if you type at an angle (such as while leaning back on a couch), it shines out from underneath the keys in a very distracting way. I'll post photos later sometime.
• Not a fan of the blue LED on the power cord connector, though I know some people like it. I've never liked the gaudy Dell laptop lighting trends.
• Poor haptics on the touchpad buttons. Three buttons instead of two, making them small. They are flat, flush with the palm rest, made of the same material. I find myself hunting for the correct button, never had that problem on my T61p.

Btw, here are the nVidia desktop color settings I settled on via eyeballing, YMMV:

Red channel:

• Brightness: 42%
• Digital Vibrance: 0%
• Contrast: 50%
• Image Sharpening: None
• Gamma: 50%

Green channel:

• Brightness: 45%
• Digital Vibrance: 0%
• Contrast: 50%
• Image Sharpening: None
• Gamma: 35%

Blue channel:

• Brightness: 50%
• Digital Vibrance: 0%
• Contrast: 50%
• Image Sharpening: None
• Gamma: 40%

Reds and greens still look oversaturated, but it is a wide gamut screen, after all. Gonna have to wait for Windows 7, I guess.

 

WINDOWS 7

I've been using Windows 7 for the last two days. So far so good. In case anyone else is going to try it, my only problems so far (using drivers installed by Windows update and Dell Vista 64-bit):

- a weak wireless connection, using Dell 1500 card. Sometimes connection drops and only way to get it back is restarting (interestingly I had the same problem with my previous Dell Notebook when I upgraded to Vista). Sometimes connection start with very strong signal and without moving the computer it decreases.
- Sound. Now, it seems that my glitching problem with Vista (which I reported earlier) is gone. Thank God! I started using the driver Windows update installs. It was working nicely, and under Sound properties I had my speakers, and SPDIF (another reported problem I had with Vista that I solved) but then the sound disappeared. I installed Dell's driver for Vista 64 and sound is still without glitches, but now I lost my SPDIF connection! Will have to play with these sound drivers later, I guess...