Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

That is a good point, it should be the first two ports. What I didn't know is the ODD isn't port 1.... which defy the point

 

Exactly. That is what is irritating to me is that it seems like Dell chose not to use the second SATA III port on my computer. I thought I saw someone else posting in this thread earlier that did have their ODD using port 1 so maybe it was a change in manufacturing? Like I said it doesn't make much difference to me since I only have one SATA III 2.5 SSD and then the mSATA. I would love it if the mSATA were hooked to the other SATA III port. It may make a difference for others. I guess I could do some skywiring

 

I downloaded the GIGABYTE 6 Series SATA check, the M4600
Port0 = Default HDD or SDD location
Port3 = ODD

M6600 (Ports that are currently used, seems like the M6600 is fine)
Port0
port1
Port3

 

As you guys may have heard, Dell has just released the M4700.

AnandTech - Dell Announces New Precision M4700 and M6700 Mobile Workstations

 

Does anyone know if the M4600 motherboard/system board works for both dual and quad core 2nd gen sandy processors? Say I order a i5(dual core) and I decide I want to upgrade to a i7 quad core, will i have to get a whole new board?

 

It was talked about earlier in this thread, but you should be able to upgrade the processor. Problem is the compatible CPU's are hard to come by and expensive on their own.

 

My bad, but by compatible, it would just need to be the second generation of mobile intel core i processors (sandy bridge) that are compatible with the chipset (QM67)? So the M4600 has the "G2" socket, correct? Because those are the common sandy's for that mobile chipset, I believe, but then again that's why I am asking if it indeed does have the G2 socket.

 

The chipset is QM67 but the motherboard still has to have a BIOS that supports it so I wouldn't just throw any old CPU that fits in there. I'd stick to CPUs that have came with different options. Every one I looked up was $400+. That's a little much I feel.

 

Hi, I have a few questions. I have a 250 Gig drive in my M4600. Would there be much of a performance increase if I used a SSD as my boot drive and then store most of everything else on the regular HD? If so, is there any way to re-install the OS on the SSD without having to buy a new copy? I'm not willing to get an SSD right now if I have to buy a new copy of the OS, given the price. I've seen some discussions in this thread regarding it, it seemed like it was either impossible or very hard, but I found an interview with Laurence Painell, Windows Product Manager, where he said:

"Typically the OEM product is tied to the motherboard,” explained Painell. “It’s the one component we do tie the OEM product to and the only thing that shouldn’t really change in the PC. People will typically upgrade a hard drive, people will typically upgrade a processor, people will typically upgrade a graphics card, but the motherboard is pretty much the heart of the PC and as such is what we link the OEM product too.
How to buy Windows 7 for £50 less: the truth about OEM versions | Analysis | Features | PC Pro".

Any thoughts?

Final question. From my casual observation, when the M4600 came out I think SSDs weren't very mature yet. I think they're now much more mature and a lot of bugs and issues have been worked out and some drives that once had issues are now much more reliable. Now that the 'dust has settled', which drives seem to work best, particularly with the M4600?

 

Went through a lot of effort there but yes, you can use an SSD with the original copy of Windows 7 without issue.

As far as SSD choices are concerned. Anything with a Sandforce controller is excellent. Anything made by Intel is also excellent but generally priced accordingly. The OCZ Vertex line has generally been considered to be high performance at the cost of reliability but they've gotten better. Really, it's hard to go wrong at this point, and any drive you get will be an exponential upgrade over your current spinner.

Depending on which SATA source you end up using, not all support SATA III on the M4600, so there wouldn't be a point in paying for SATA III if you weren't going to use it, as a SATA II drive would generally be cheaper. However, a SATA III drive is backwards compatible if you find a good deal and maybe end up using it in another computer. I believe only the traditional hard drive bay is the one that supports SATA III, the dvd bay and the mSATA port are SATA II only.

I actually run an SSD in the traditional hdd bay, a standard spinner in the dvd bay (2nd HDD / SSD Caddy - DELL Precision M6400, M6500, M4600, M6600 [OBHD9-SATA-SATA-B] - $42.00 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks) and my mSATA port is currently unused. I carry around the dvd drive in my bag if I ever need it, but that is maybe once every month or more. It's my work laptop so I need the extra storage of the spinner, and having the dvd drive in my bag along with all of my other tools and devices is rather unnoticeable.