Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

My m4600 has the latest BIOS (A08). I tried to install Ubuntu 11.10 using UEFI with no luck. After the install I get a message saying it can't find the file system to boot or I simply get a black screen. BIOS install works fine (that's what I use now). Has anybody got any Linux installed through UEFI of the m4600?

 

I don't think there will ever be a workaround as to my knowledge this issue is hardware related. The issue is that the Intel HD Graphics have an 8 bit bus and the IPS screen requires 10 bits. I hope I got the right facts, but this is as far as I can remember.

 

I can only agree. The AMD is actually the better choice for gaming. As Amd does not put a lot of effort into their professional Graphics units the design does not differ a lot from the "original" Gaming graphics card. nVidia though does some significant changes to theirs that may impact gaming performance.

Look up this chart here to see how they compare:
Welche Spiele laufen auf Notebook Grafikkarten flüssig? - Notebookcheck.com Technik/FAQ

 

Thanks for the GPU info

ordered a refurbed M4600

Dell Precision M4600 15.6" i7 2.7GHZ 8GB 500GB 1080p Windows 7 Pro Laptop

Processor: Intel Core i7-2620m 2.7GHZ
RAM: 8GB RAM
Hard Drive: 500GB HDD
Cd Drive: DVD+/-RW 8x
Display: 15.6" WLED
Graphics: AMD FirePro M5950 1GB GDDR5 graphics
OS: Win7 Professional

Paid $ 844.79

Will upgrade to a quad core CPU I think a 2720QM, maybe aonther 8 GB of Ram later as well.

I also ordered the Optical Bay hard drive caddy so I can run my 240 GB SSD as boot and my 750 GB drive as data drive.

not sure the msata drives are worth the $$$

 

Two quick questions about the optical drive caddy.

With the caddy, is the potential speed of the hard drive exactly the same as the first hard drive?

Also, will RAID 1 work with an internal drive and one in a caddy?

 

I only have experience with Lenovo T420s caddy and its speed is SATAIII compatible, so basically as fast as your 1st hardrive (given that you compare same disk interfaces of course).

I ordered mine today and I'm surprised that when you pick IPS display, you can't go with 3G WWAN modem - that sucks.

Do you know if normal 9,5 Optial Caddy from Lenovo would be compatible with M4600? On pictures it's exactly the same shape.

 

Is is possible to remove the Nvidia Quadro 1000m and use the intel HD3000 instead?
As i understand the Nvidia GPU is an MXM Type A Card.

Also is it possible to use the Premiercolor panel with the intel chip?

 

Hi, Inkiboo,

no the speeds are not the same. You can get Sata III only in the HDD Bay and the mSata slot. The others are all Sata II, including the Optical drive slot.

To my knowledge it should be possible with the Intel Rapid storage Technology as the Optical Disc Drive is shown in the overview of the Rapid Storage Technology GUI. But I did not try it out yet...as I dont have a second hard drive nor a caddy.

But you may ask Patrick J for help...he may give you detailed Information

 

Ji, enkm,

You could most probably remove the MXM Type A Quadro 1000M...and the machine would still run on the Intel HD3000. But there is no point in that because nVidia has a technology called nVidia Optimus which automatically switches off the Quadro 1000M and switches to the HD3000 if the 1000M is not used or needed (you can define which programs should run on the 1000M and which ones on the HD3000 in the Optimus control panel). This saves you energy.

I got to dissapoint you though, that the IPS won't be running without the Quadro 1000M. The IPS Panel requires a 10 bit input, but the HD3000 can only provide 8 bit input. This means that if you have the Premiercolor your Quadro 1000M will be in constant use...and the HD3000 will never be used.

 

Well, can you tell me please if the TN Panel is usable for heavy multi tasking? Is there a smearing problem?