Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

how about the noise? is it acceptable during office and internet usage? is the fx770 fully adjustable to downclock it for noise reduction?

what is your W-LAN adapter/card. there seems to be a difference between european and american Dell 1510 W-Lan cards. the european has a/b/g/n, the american a/g/n?!


thanks in advance

 

The machine is very quiet, much quieter than my Vostro. If the fan goes into high speed it is audible, but will turn off after a few seconds. I haven't tried downclocking yet, although it is probably possible, I don't see why you can't. The hard drive is especially commendable, Seagate 120GB 7200rpm FF sensor, super quiet. Can hardly hear it spinning, and a very muffled click when searching data. There is no issue with head parking on hard drive it seems. DVD drive is a better quality compared to my Vostro also. Wireless, I got the Intel 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3x3). I don't have the European or American model, because I live in Australia.

 

What do I need to get ALL my computer hardware info? Such as RAM, manufacturers, clock speeds, etc etc?

 

Did nothing for me also,guess I will get in touch with nice support man who was soo pleased with himself

Your 3dmark06 score is a lot lower than my 5957....did you use the free version ?,when I saw your score I thought you must have had the WUXGA screen which would run the free version at its default 1280x1024 rather than 1024x768....its a pretty pointless benchmark for anything relating to real use or actual games imo,but was wondering nevertheless.


@rhinos,specviewperf 10 is 600mb download and I have limited bandwidth available,otherwise I would do it for you.
It runs Solidworks beautifully though,much like any of the previous precisions I've had.


@I*RAM.....congrats...you can tell what a lot of hardware is from the device manager,GPU clocks from GPU-Z or ntune....everest etc

 

Yes, I ran it with the free version. I will try again later with 1024x768 just to get another result. And you're perfectly right in that it doesn't reflect how it runs programs or games at all, but that's why it's called a benchmark

Regarding the sound, with the M4400 speakers it doesn't sound so bad, maybe because the speakers only have limited output? But you can definitely hear the difference after plugging in headphones or speaker system.

 

Sorry,not 1024x768,I meant 1280x800 as opposed to the default 1280x1024 that would run on the 1920x1200 screen res.

I agree about the sound on the inbuilt speakers,its fine,but through externals is pretty bad,its not overly concerning to me at this stage,but will still advise Dell that its not working as it should.

BTW,whats happening with your screen issues?

 

Oh yes, it is 1280x800, that's what I meant too... I ran with the native 1440x900 for 3dmark06. Regarding the screen issue, that's some pretty bad business. I've had the technical engineer over twice to replace the screen, both times he has turned up with another Philips LG, and the result was the same... still grainy, and the technician agreed with me on this too, after I told him to look at the screen carefully in th way described below. The tech then phoned Dell Technical Support (DTS) and told him of the problem, who then spoke to me. The DTS guy confirmed there are indeed two LED screens for 1440x900. I will list them here in case someone else finds it useful. Now I am in the process of waiting for a further call from DTS tomorrow when they have spoken to the sales department, because I wanted to get a replacement system with good quality parts.

Philips LG LED (1440x900) WXGA+
- Dell Product Number: TN162
- Model Number: LPL0AA8

Samsung LED (1440x900) WXGA+
- Dell Product Number: XP971
- Model Number: SEC5443

If you get the Philips LG LED screen, and notice the problem, I'd probably advise you to get the Samsung at this stage if you can, although I won't be able to confirm it until I get my own Samsung screen.
Ways to describe it to the Dell rep using adjectives: grainy, mottled, salt & pepper display, speckled. If you don't notice a problem, then that's perfectly OK, but if you got perception and it interferes with screen clarity, it's best to get a replacement.

Ways to determine if you have such a defect:
1. Open notepad, and maximize. Now position your distance from screen to eyes such that you can see the thin vertical and horizontal making up each pixel CLEARLY. Look "past" the white you would normally associate with text to do this. Note: For this exercise, I am referring to the 1440x900 only, on higher resolutions this may be difficult to do with the same clarity.

2. Now, as you look at the screen, can you see that the vertical and horizontal lines are SHARP and CLEAR? If you can, congratulations, then you have a good screen. If you have trouble focusing on the vertical and horizontal lines or you have a "rainbowing" effect, which is a line being not a clear straight black line , it can be a sign that you have a bad quality screen.

Weegie, by doing this quick test, you can confirm that your screen is indeed as clear as you say it is?

 

You ask a lot of my nearly 43 year old eyes .....still I don't wear glasses and I can definitely see the lines between the pixels...even if it is a bit of a strain as you have to be so close to see and they seem the same both ways to me,clarity wise,although the lines look more green than a black.

 

Trust me, if you had the LG screen I don't think you would be able to see the lines clearly at all, or if you can, it would be much harder to distinguish or they would be it would appear to be "rainbowed", kind of like if you leave a dirty fingerprint on your screen, the area around the oily mark has the same presentation as what I see on the LG... If your 43 year old eyes can see it then it can't be a bad screen at all! I'll trust you on your judgment if it's good enough for you, then it is for me. And if anyone wants to confirm what I or Weegie sees, that would be good too!

 

has anyone done any gaming on the Precision M4400?
I'd like to know what's the real-life gaming performance. would be great if someone could try some games on theirs.