Precision M4500 Owner's Lounge

I'm not experiencing any issues so I'm taking neither the patch nor the BIOS update at this time.

 

Oh, forgot to say that. I had to go DOS too.

Also I have no problems getting to BIOS setup but I use F12 and go from there. About the complete shutdown, I guess it is necessary to restart some other devices (TPM for example) that cannot be restarted any other way.

 

Ah, yes, the F12 method works more reliably. Come to think of it, there is no prompt for pressing F2 either, not sure if this is a bug or a feature...

As far as the shutdowns, the M6400/M6500 doesn't do this, and the shutdowns seem to occur for random reasons as far as I can tell. They definitely occur even when no changes to the TPM configuration are made. I still think that's a bug.

 

For me this bug occourded with both the Patch for A01 and the new A02 Bios.
So I had to use the DOS method.
During updating the A02 Bios my heart was near a standstill as there was a message telling "finishing Intel Management Extensions" and for about two minutes nothing was happening any more.

 

Can you point me to some instructions on how you want the DOS route? I've been trying unsuccessfully to build a bootable USB flash drive.

 

I did it with the following instructions:
Bios-boot-usb-stick - Bios-Update per bootfähigen USB-Stick - www.flazh.de

 

I just received my M4500 with out turning it on here is my comparison to the M4400. Looking online you might think they are exactly the same laptop. The M4500 is a touch taller and a little wider. The plastic materials are a little different, and the build quality feels even better. Dell finely finessed some of the shaping of bends and designs all over the laptop. I really like the brushed metal finish, the pictures online don't do it justice at all. It also has a nice large touch pad. They definitely improved the vents and cooling system. The keyboard feels about the same as the M4400 as far as flex and such. Now the M4500 has definitely improved in my opinion so far with out any performance test, but its not that much better that you need to freak out and upgrade your M4400, the M4400 is still an amazingly powerful mobile workstation. Anyway I won't be able to power up and reinstall Win7 until later. Until then..

 

For professional photo work... Lenovo W510 w/FHD or Dell M4500 w/FHD ?

I am about to make a purchase decision and am torn.

 

Dell Precision all the way...I had to make a choice in 08 between the w500 and m4400. I got the m4400 and am very happy I did. You'll also get better support from the Dell.

 

This solved it for me. I wish you worked for Dell Tech Support. The patch worked flawlessly once I booted to DOS and ran the A01.1 BIOS patch via the USB stick.