Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

I got a follow-up message today; problem fixed

and indeed the page is now correct.

 

Hi all, I am planning on purchasing a M4600. From the very basic model, I am only looking to upgrade the screen to 1920x1080 reso (don't need IPS), 9cell battery, and more ram.

However I noticed that to bump the ram up from 2G the cost is just ridiculous. 4G for 85 bucks. So do you guys just go for the basic ram option and upgrade later on ur own?

Also, is it a lot harder to haggle if I am only going for some rather baseline options?

Thanks in advance for advices!

 

Yes, I believe most of us did like that : buy the machine with little RAM, then buy more memory elsewhere.
I bought my Precision with 4GB then added an 8GB stick for 60€.

However, even if you buy it with only 4GB, it will come with 2x2GB sticks, which means you really want to choose a 4 core CPU to use all the 4 memory slots. A two core CPU can only use two slots, which are already taken by the base memory.

Also, for some reason, the two sticks on my machine were plugged in the back slots instead of the front. I wish it was the opposite as the back slots are readily available, whereas you've got to dispose the keyboard to reach the front ones. No big deal, but it could have been better .

 

So not only did I get my 16GB of gkill RAM today, I also got my new point stick caps that resemble thinkpads traditional eraser tip. I got 4 for ~$12 to my door and WOW I have to say I was wrong about the pointstick. Granted its still no trackpoint, but pretty damn close. Made my day when I found out I can disable the touchpad and go back to a "trackpoint" type mouse and also give my razer naga a break from time to time.

The caps I bought

I configured my m4600 with 2gb and bought 16GB 1600mhz low CAS latency ram for ~$85 to my door from newegg. I ordered sunday night and just installed it this morning and WOW what a difference. Now to load my VMs so I can use them again.

But moral of the story dont upgrade RAM from an OEM unless you a) dont know how to install RAM(pretty darn easy and took me 5min total) b) too lazy to remove 4 screws or c) have more money then sense.

 

Ya it does seem saving that 85 is the way to go. I am only going for dual core as I will only be planing to play SC2 and D3 and document works on it. Will get it a quad core when dual core is absolete and if i want to give the laptop a last bit of juice down the road.

Do I need to go for System Specific Memory? Planning to get kingston

Any comments on this "Energy Star/E-PEAT Gold" thingy?

And is it tru about what I said abuot the haggling? It seems, keeping the spec low doesn't give me much room for haggling.

 

Sphinx: Hold on, are you saying you mixed some 1300mhz and 1600mhz sticks and the whole thing actually works ? It shouldn't, or at best, should downclock them all at 1300mhz... Can you confirm ?

 

Well if I remember correctly the base configuration is near $1000 flat so yeah probably not that much wiggle room. I will say that getting the FHD+ screen is the only "No matter what you MUST have" option.

As for "system specific" well as long as you get ddr3 sodimms. If youre going with a dual core CPU then I believe you are limited to 16GB (not needed for SC2 and document editing). The onyl thing you do that would warrant a quad core is SC2, but modern dual cores with hyper threading should do you just fine.

I cannot comment on the energy star.

If you run 1600 and 1333 together the system would divert to the slower of the 2 speeds. I had 1 2GB 1333 stick that dell put in, I bought 4 x 4GB 1600 sticks that are currently running in the precision. But yes running 2 different speeds of RAM kinda defeats the purpose of buying faster modules. Plus you cannot run them in dual channel.

 

Thanks for the advices. I made an order

It is funny though that Acer's 15" ultrabook review just out today, and the performance is nearing the bulky 15 incher I am purchasing. I am still sticking with the plan but It really showed me how one gen of tech is replacing the previous one at such a crazy fast pace right in front of my eyes.

 

True, but you will never get decent temps, noise levels, screen (1366x768 glare low gamut/contrast. Yuk), quad core or decent port/docking options

After buying a precision I don't think I will ever go back to consumer notebooks again! I love the performance and it runs so quiet (even when playing BF3 with OCed gfx card). Also having a docking station at home has made my life so much easier, I used to have to spend ages plugging an unplugging my previous laptops now just pop it on and I am ready to go.

 

Been thinking about an mSata drive lately. I think I have grown tired of having everything on one partition or separating a drive into partitions.

Yeah the separate cooling systems make for a very cool running machine when working hard. Oh and docks the best accessory invented. Set it up once and plop the laptop down and your workstation is up and running. Plan on getting a dock for home and work to run an eyefinity setup with all my peripherals. Currently it takes me ~15min or so to get setup at work and up and running, and it takes longer at home. Docks make it less then a minute to hit the ground running.

The same thing occurred to me when I bought my vostro 1700. I said to myself "why did I even buy consumer grade laptops??" and since then I have always had either a dell business laptop or a thinkpad. Sure I bought some high end consumer laptops but they just weren't the same and got sold within a year of purchase.