Precision m4600 (or m6600) - Upgrading from ebay parts (fingerprint reader specifically)?

Any experience I'd love to hear. Specifically I'm looking at finger print readers.

I'd like to get a used m4600 (maybe m6600). I haven't been able to find the specs I need for 2 months and fingerprint reader is the really tough thing to find. (I also need it Optimus capable).

I see on ebay I can replace the palmrest with one that has a fingerprint reader but I don't know if dell customizes the motherboards and bios to the specs or you just plug it in and go. Will there be a place to plug it in and will the bios recognize it?

While we're at it how about the backlit keyboard, CPU, or anything else - any luck?


I almost bought one where the seller was going to replace the IPS screen with a standard so hopefully the Nvidia Quadro m2000 would work with Optimus but the Optimus option did not appear in the bios after he did the display switch.

I'm going through a lot of work here because I really need that long optimus battery life!

 

There is only a single motherboard used in the M6600. There are two M4600 motherboards, one for machines with the IPS display and one for machines with the regular display, but that shouldn't affect whether or not you can use the fingerprint reader (though it may explain why Optimus did not appear in the swap described above). Pretty much, you should be able to buy a palmrest with the fingerprint reader included, and as long as the cable to connect to the motherboard is there, you should be able to plug it in and go. Once attached, it shows up in Windows as a USB device.

Backlit keyboard — just buy one and plug it in, no trouble. M4700/M4800/M6700/M6800 use the same keyboard. Even some Latitudes use the same keyboard. Shouldn't be hard to find.

CPU — As long as you get a "mobile" CPU from the appropriate generation (Sandy Bridge, models starting with "2"), it should work. I believe a beefier heatsink comes with the "XM" CPU, so you might want to track that down as well if you decide to upgrade that far.

You can even replace the graphics card if you like (as long as the new one is similar enough to work with the heatsink).

 

That was a fantastic answer, thanks!

 

Hello there,
I recentry purchased a bargain M4600. Suddenly I have made some part upgrades, cpu (2820QM), a backlit keyboard (useful), a mSata minicard and an Atheros wifi card. Nvidia video card is on the way too. I'm also thinking to replace the standard palmrest with a biometric equipped one. These machines are fully customizable, simply fantastic.

Another important upgrade is a 180W power supply: if you set Intel Speedstep on (in bios) pc will run at 800 MHz (my cpu acts like this) with the standard 130W power supply. Many users are discussing about disabling SpeedStep on bios to get full throttle but I don't like those tricks.... Maybe a 180W unit will better support a fully plugged docking station like mine.

How can I help you?

 

It is true, if you use a power supply lower than 180W, the system will throttle. (You may be able to avoid this by disabling Speedstep, not sure what will happen with the GPU.) The machine ships with a 180W power supply and that's what they expect you to use.

You should be able to find genuine 180W power supplies cheap on eBay or something of the sort. 210W and 240W also work (but provide no additional benefit), if you happen to find a better deal on one of those.