Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

Thanks for the info I-RAM.
That's a nice boost in performance. How long did you play Half-life 2? Did you experience downclocking?
I hope you get your freezing issues fixed soon.

 

No, I only experienced down clocking in Bioshock and Crysis WH a while ago, which is now gone after doing some CCleaning and making sure I prop up the back of the laptop when gaming to ensure efficient cooling. Occasionally, FPS has huge drops in Crysis WH (without OCing) but I guess thats the game being as intensive as it is since it jumps right back to normal.

I can play Half-Life 2 for 4-5 hours straight. Around the 4th hour, the FPS drops from 71 (max) to 70, and then at a constant 69FPS it'll bottom out (by now I'll quit of tiredness). Resolution is set to max, native 1440 x 900 widescreen. As you can imagine 71FPS is very fast, but this is a four year old game so I understand why it doesnt even scratch the 770M on max settings. I can image HL2: Episode 3 not being as polite, though. Bioshock is much more graphically heavier, and stays at a constant 35FPS on max settings (1280 resolution) for 2-3 hours.

& thanks, I will let NBR know next week when the replacement comes how the system goes.

 

Thanks IRam for the update. Sounds like with the OC you get a pretty nice gain compaired to the 1700m. Keep us updated on the system lock up issue.

 

Hey RAM...maybe i missed it but at what settings did you put the OC?
I have no experience with overclocking but i have the system tools and seeing your performance gain i'll definetly try....please infrom

thanks

 

M4400 owners.

I'd be very interested to know your thoughts on your system. I'm thinking of a config that would handle video editing and computational modeling (quad core, 8GB, 7200rpm) but my concern is heat/fan noise/battery life.

Also, how well do the NVIDIA Quadro FX energy saving features work when doing non-intensive things (email, internet, Word)? Battery life?

Does the edge of the M4400 cause any discomfort after extended mouse pad use?

Any other pros/cons.

Trying to decide between M4400 (tired eyes) and M6400(tired arms) !

and also avoid heat burns and early deafness



Thanks.

 

LPTP: 620mem/920core ... I know nothing of OCing either but I tried to keep the ratio similar to 500/800 and constantly switch back and forth between games and NVIDIA MonitorView to monitor temps til I found something that kept it just below 85C.

Anyone know what tune system does?

 

its critical that you do not block the fan inlet at the left side under the laptop. the temps start rising even if you cover it with ur palm for a short while. if the inlet is not blocked the laptop remains fairly cool during normal use, and during intensive use gets warm, but not uncomfortably so. for this reason i think buying the coolslice for precision/latitude is a good idea. Its light and thin. the fan when at low speed is quiet, you have to make an effort to try and hear it.

The cooling design seems to suck air from the outside, and blow it through a diffuser which cools the large copper heat pipe. dosent seem to do much for internal air circulation.

im using the 9 cell battery, and was stuck at the airport for quite a while when my flight got delayed, surfing via wifi for almost 4 hours. There was still about 15% left. I think it could have lasted slightly more than 4 hours, optimistically maybe 4 and a half if brightness was turned down and power saving set to max. I was a little bit disappointed as my old inspiron 8600 could last four and a half hours without difficulty, and slightly over 5 with power saving at max. This meant i didnt have to bring my adaptor to school!

This is with the screen brightness quite high, and i have the wuxga 2ccfl screen. I have no idea what power saving features the gfx card has.

The touchpad has a nice feature, you can zoom in by sliding your finger up and down the left edge of the touchpad. It works well. For example on the desktop it automatically scales the icons, in word, it zooms in, in web browsers too. Even live messenger you can scale the conversation.

For me, and my palm size, the touchpad is comfortable, and i dont have a problem with the edge.

Pros:
Looks so good! The deep blue LEDs satisfy the geek in me lol
Built like a tank. Feels as high quality as the thinkpads of yesteryear. Opening the latch feels like you're unlocking a padlock
extended battery sticks out, but design does not make it look awkward
Colour reproduction on screen is very good
Best price/performance ratio ( i got mine at a good discount in malaysia)

Cons:
Software/BIOS still buggy
Front screen bezel is thin, therefore does not feel as solid as the rest of the unit
Heat vent on left side of unit heats up my coke if i put my glass beside the laptop
Sound controls not lit up like rest of keyboard
webcam only VGA quality, and single mic
DVDRW drive fussy. Even a tiny scratch on the DVD causes a tantrum.


i think the most annoying part is the software/bios issues....hopefully they will be resolved soon

 

I just want to say the edge zoom was one of my favorite features on the touchpad, it's not very well known until you make a mistake and slide your fingers on the left of the touchpad, then everything zooms and you're like - of course when you open up the alps application you realize you have all types of control on the touchpad. I actually reaaally like the size of the touchpad, it looks very proportionate and perfect in size to allow 3 buttons. Imagine if the touchpad was bigger, the buttons would start colliding with the bottom edge of the palmrest!

 

IloveRam: how about doing another review of the M4400 in a month or two? like a long term ownership review kind of thing.....you could update your first review..

would definitely be useful to people deciding what notebook to buy

 

My first review was terrible, I realized how amateur it is when comparing it to Enducts real M4400 review , sorry everyone.

I will most definitely be doing another review about the M4400 in a few weeks, including OCing options (thanks to Weegie, I believe, who pointed it it's possible for Quadro M's), true CPU/GPU benchmarks, in game performance for older & newer games, performance for Solidworks & 3D Studio Max 2009, and any other possible requests on it.