Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

Thanks, i'll try that.

 

Does everything work ok under Windows 7?

 

Works great and it's the only OS I have ever used on my M4400

 

Rather than repeat everything that has already been discussed to death in this thread, it may be to your advantage to read through the thread from the beginning. It will give you a very good idea of the pros and cons you request. I know, it will take a while but it's an expensive laptop and you should be well informed before plunking down that much money.

Just to get you started, I have had this laptop for almost a year now. It has been flawless. It runs the new windows 7 and the latest linux Ubuntu like a dream. It is solid, and it is reliable.

I dropped it off the coffee table once. The screen was opened and the computer was on. I just picked it up and kept on working.


cheers!

PS: If reading this thread is just too time consuming, there are several reviews of this unit out there that give you a good objective overview of the product's pros and cons.

 

I suggest you uninstall the Dell connection manager. It is redundant. If you are running anything above winxp sp1, you don't need anything other than the windows connection manager. That application is several hundred megabytes in size. I consider it bloatware. It is redundant.

I installed it once just to see what it was like and I was dumbfounded. My connection was not any better with it and it took me longer to get it up and running than the Windows one.

I travel extensively and am constantly having to find new wifi connections with a new password and encryption settings from hotels, coffee shops, trains, airports, etc.... Never had a problem with windows connection manager.

So do yourself a favor. Unless you have a very specific need for the dell connection manager, uninstall it a free up some ram for that other application you really need.

Hope this info is helpful,
Cheers

PS: I had the same issue as you with the login password and it disappeared when I switched to windows 7. Don't ask me why.

 

I'd like to confirm that the fingerprint reader works very poorly in Windows 7. Login doesn't work, and I haven't gotten application registration to work either (therefore, it is basically useless). Contrast this with the Authentec chip found in my Lenovo, which works flawlessly with the Upek Protector Suite for Win 7.

One thing I'd like to ask is: the RGB LED screen is not capable of a very dim brightness setting in Windows 7. Are the dimmer settings the same in Windows 7 as in Vista? I forgot to try using the dimmer in Vista before wiping the disk with 7. The dimmest setting is still very bright, which is not a good thing in a plane or in a dark room. The X301's Win 7 Intel drivers also have this problem. It's an issue with the generic drivers not having the power management settings specific to the manufacturer.

 

Did somebody here try to measure latency of the laptop with DPC Latency checker? I try that and I have not very good values. It varies between 200ms and 300ms. My Dell desktop (which is older and slower) has only 15ms at maximum. I found one thread about that issue but there is not working advice for me :-(

 

Does it help the trackpad at all? Disabling the touch thingy?

Sweet. That's what I'm looking for.

Windows 7 like a dream. That's what I like to hear. dropped it off a table and still works perfectly. awesome!

Which fingerprint reader. I got the FIPS one. My m4400 still hasn't arrived.

Sweet!

 

hi im looking to buy this laptop, i would be using this everyday stuff such as watching tv shows, movies, web browsing and alot of music as well as for uni doing a lot of CAD and photoshop and was was wandering is this is an all round good laptop for everything or just a workstation.

thanks.

 

I find my M4400 to be a really balanced machine; it can do pretty much anything, from gaming to web surfing and everything in-between. The only real downside is that the audio sucks, but plug in external speakers and you're good to go. You can read my 3-month ownership review for more insight on the M4400's upsides and downsides.