Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

why dont u just turn touch check off completely? if that dosent work then you definitely have a hardware issue, as myself and people i know with the m4400 do not have this issue

 

I've been considering buying an M4400 for when I go off to college. I'm also considering getting an SSD for the hard drive, however, this might not allow me to use some of the programs I plan to execute on the machine. Adobe says the creative suite won't work on a flash drive, and requires an HDD (@7200rpm). Is this true?

Related, does anyone know of a high(er) capacity HDD @ 7200rpm that could both be connected to the eSATA port and, at times, placed into the laptop to replace the optical drive?

EDIT: While though all of Adobe's programs say that a flash drive is incompatible, Adobe Premiere seem to be the kicker with the HDD @ 7200rpm requirement.

 

lw: just get the lowest size option on your HD, and buy a 320 or 500 GB 7200rpm drive. I was floored by the prices Dell was charging on their website for HD upgrades.

Also, you can get a drive caddy that fits into the modular bay where the DVD/R drive is, and it'll hold an extra HD. I did that with my M4300, although for some reason I think it transfers data over the USB bus... I wasn't getting a standard SATA-style curve on HDTune.

 

So it's possible to have two hard drives and an optical drive held inside the laptop? Could you post the links for me, please?

 

Another question and request. What is the resolution of the integrated webcam?

And also, if anyone has the additional 12-cell battery layer, could you please post pics of the laptop with and without it?

 

no no, there are only 2 bays. what you're asking for would require 3. you can have 2 hdd's and no optical, or 1hdd 1optical

however the laptop does have an eSATA port, which u can use to plug in a removable drive. it wont fit "into" the laptop though.

the resolution of the integrated webcam is VGA, however its one of the better quality ones i've used. its made by creative

the battery slice, it adds almost an inch to the bottom of the laptop. there are several pics on the dell site promoting it.

 

Have you heard of the latency issue? It can cause stuttering audio playback. It seems, though, like it has been resolved by the latest versions of the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Application" and "Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Driver".

The difference is that, unlike other technologies, RGBLED is a true white backlight, so the display will display much better greens and reds, have better contrast, resulting in a much better overall image, in short. One of the reasons why it's so expensive is because it's difficult to use red, green and blue light to mix up true white light without experiencing any colored shadows somewhen. You can find some more information about that and the standard (not really) white LEDs here.

Well... of course it's useful! The question is: How much are you willing to pay for it? Statistically, the possibility to get your laptop stolen just sunk. I can tell you that having the "Accidental Damage Cover" makes me handle my (pretty expensive) M4400 with much less stress, so given your experiences with your stolen laptop, the Anti-Theft may be useful for you in a similar way.

I can say that at least Photoshop will definitely run on an SSD. I've seen it running from one.



I also ordered an Intel X25-M SSD, it should arrive on Monday and I can't await to try it.

 

I use a OCZ Vertex 120GB in my Precision. It is the best upgrade I did in years! The hole system reacts so much faster and multitasking a pure fun.

 

I can't imagine latency would be a problem, as I use a third party interface with supplied ASIO drivers. The sound/speakers in my m4300 was the crappiest part of that system, anyway, so I wouldn't be expecting much more out of the 4400.

 

Good...
And one more thing: In case you haven't seen and used it already, get the backlit keyboard.