Precision M4500 Owner's Lounge

Dont be such a...Thats funny s..

 

Wow, that is hard to believe...my m4400 would never go over 2 hours no matter what I did....6 cell.

 

I was quite surprised also as my m4300 has the same capacity battery, but far less horsepower. Most of the 4:45 run time was installing new software, so lots of disk and optical activity, and surfing, email. A healthy mix of use.

Couple of additional use notes. There was absolutely not a shred of crapware on the computer, excepting the dell control point software ( there are much better freeware options that do the osd and don't lock up the computer or video driver)
Also the docking seems effortless- that's partially dell partially Microsoft - I.e. No crashes when docking or undocking hot or hibernated. I am also sorry I purchased the nine cell - considering the six cell and a slice which is rated for 8+ hrs runtime. I believe I can still exchange the bat. The extra size makes fitting in my bag tough and just ungainly.
Several have already mentioned the extra weight which is surprising the first time you pick it up. The backlit keyboard is nice, but wish it came with a luminosity control.

 

Hi everyone,
This newbe needs some help and guidance with his new M4500,

I dont have a manual so I could't understand some of the signs. First of all how can I disable wifi?

Secondly is seems that especially after boot I kinda hear some screeching sound. guess it is hard drive but even my very old hard drive of my previous NB didnt make such noises. So is this ok or it is a sign of some kind of malfunction.

And can I ask is it better to use my NB with out battery ? or at least what are the pros and cons of it?

 

Wifi can be disabled either in windows (just disable the interface) or by the switch on the right side of M4500. The switch however can be set to control wifi/bluetooth/wwlan so you have to go to bios and check your settings.

If your ntb is making screeching sound it is either hdd or fan. In either case I would call dell and let them check and replace the part.

I don't see any pros in operating ntb without battery (maybe weight)
I see a lot of cons: Power out->work out, cannot relocate without shutting down, have to keep battery connectors dust/stuff free

 

Did he just call you a . (dot)!?!?!?

 

I do. I heard that some batteries tend to lose a small part of their power sometimes while the notebook is constantly attempting to recharge it. Thus, always keeping the battery in shouldn't be that good regarding durability / battery life.
Just an assumption. I don't have any proof for that.

 

Finally, the day of truth has arrived, tomarrow I get my M4500!

 

That was one of my concerns, So would be happy if some one has more opinion about the issue. Also I installed Ubuntu 9.10 and experiencing some problems with it. Noot boting time to time, shut down problems and seems like some other GPU problems. Anyone already installed Linux and experiencing such problems!

Forget to add Li-ion batteries lose their capacity even they are used or not but I dont know iIn which case the downgrade of capacity is faster.

 

You can adjust the keyboard backlight with the Dell control point software. It is Fn + the arrow keys.

My 4500 arrived last Thursday. Since then, I've been just setting it up and playing around with different configurations. I haven't actually done anything with it. But, so far so good.

The 1600 x 900 is excellent. I was expecting the same keyboard as my E6400 but the m4500's keyboard is actually a little better. Speakers are better too.

Weight is 6.5 pounds with 6 cell and 500 gb HDD.