Precision M4500 Owner's Lounge

PM800 refers to a full line of SSD's, ranging in capacity from 16 to 256G and size from Msata to 1.8" to 2.5".

See: Samsung SSD - Products

-Mike

 

Hi, Have anyone else seen this or do you have a cure for it?
When my M4500 (the same for my previous M4400) is in the dock and I set it in Standby, then undock it and put it in my bag. It then starts itself after 10-15 minutes, resulting in being extremly hot since it is tucked away in bag at the time and no battery left (depending on how long its been there).

If I do the same but being on the power adapter without using the dock there is no problem, it stays in standby until I wake it.

I have set all settings that I can found in the power options, but I can't find any setting that mention different behavior in standby using a Dock or not.

Please help, extremly anoying!

 

Greetings.

I'm a noob to this forum. I'm replacing my D810 workhorse of many years and have pretty much decided on the M4500. I do general office work, multitasking, Photoshop, some software development. Have picked this machine primarily for FHD and trackpoint availability. Don't plan to run multiple VMs (at least not yet). Please advise on the following:

What CPU: I'm leaning toward the i7-620m for my purposes as am anticipating better battery life and fewer heat issues than with a more expensive CPU. Would I be better off with an i5?

RAM: It appears to be cheaper to order the basic 2g machine and upgrade the ram myself. It appears I could drop in 8g for $220, for example:

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Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBSQ

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Am I missing something?

Mini-SSD: Seems to me the best price/capacity/performance ratio these days is the 64g Minicard SSD with a second spinning hard drive. Again, seems like I can get more for less if I install the spinner myself. The Dell site offers two options for the Mini-SSD: "with only a minicard drive" and "with dual storage drives". If I purchase without the second drive and add my own, I would have to go the "only a minicard" route. Will there be a problem with adding a second drive myself in that config?

Precision On: Any value to Precision On in an SSD equipped machine? From reading this thread my impression is no.

Better price from a rep?: I am a small business owner and don't have Premier status. What are the chances I can get a better price talking to a rep versus the web site price?

TIA,

Mike

 

I'd say you're guaranteed a better price talking to a rep. First take the time
to travel all the different paths through the Dell site that lead to the configuration
you want. Start basic and move up, start fully loaded and move down, look
in home, business, etc. I don't know why, and it bothers me, but the exact
same configuration can be hundreds of dollars different depending on which
path you take. Often the "basic" configuration is more expensive and less
loaded than the "performance" configuration for the same model.

Once you've figured out the lowest price path phone up Dell and give them
your exact specs, one by one. The rep will probably quote you hundreds of
dollars more than you came up with. Gently bring the rep back down to earth
and then lead him/her down a bit further. If there's an option you're forced
to take but you'll never use say so and try not to pay for it. It's a game and
try to have some fun at it. If you don't like the rep phone up another one.

Paul P

 

Great tactics.

+1 if select the loaded one will have a bit lower price than basic.

 

hi guys, quick question, i own an m4500 with the i7 620m and i want to upgrade the RAM. (i'm between the 1066 and 1333)
is there any improvement with the 1333 ram in the i7 620m? (because i think i7 620m doesnot support 1333 ram)
should i stay with the 1066 ram?

same price for both upgrades (1066/1333)

 

A heads up:

A friend bought two G.SKill F3-10600CL9D-8GBSQ modules for her M4500 to upgrade to 8G. The 4500 has a midrange speed core I7. The ram functionally worked, the BIOS reports DDR3 1333, but she says the before/after WEI numbers were 6.9/5.5 (processor), 7.4/7.4 (memory), 6.4/4.8 (Aero desktop), 6.4/5.9 (gaming graphics), and the disk data transfer did not change. "After" means with the G.Skill RAM. Other than swapping the RAM, there was no other change. She says she can put the original Dell RAM in and the index numbers revert back to the superior performance.

In theory what you have in mind should be doable, but in this case something is not right. Have not had time to investigate.

 

The bottom of my m4500 seems quite a bit flimsy to me, if I tap on it, it gives an awfull clicking noise. Are your m4500 behaving the same way?? If you want to see what I mean please visit youtube and watch this video. Background of the question: I'm living in germany and therefore i got the option to give back the notebook in the first 14 days, as long as it is only checked like I could do it in a local store. Now im wondering if I should use this option...

Greetings
pekka

 

Pretty sure they all do that. The bottom is held on by a single captive screw (in the middle) and die cast latches. It is actually a cast piece, not just sheet metal. I don't know why they didn't put a few rubber pads in to preload it so that it doesn't click when you tap on it. I took mine apart to check it when I first got it. If you are not sure about doing that, you can find the service manual on the Dell site.

I don't think any replacement will solve the problem, given that there is actually nothing wrong with the part. It is designed to be annoying!

-Mike

 

Thanks to both of you for that sound advice!