Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

Wow, this thread is starting to die. How are you fellow M4600'ers doing out there? Anyone upgrade yet?

Looking at my signature, is it worth taking the plunge and upgrading from the M4600 w/ IPS to the M4800 w/ QHD+?

Does the QHD+ get the full color gamut and allow for calibration? I know the ultra high-res works for the Adobe suite, but how does it work for Autodesk Maya? Fuzzy? Can that simply be remedied by changing the resolution?

Does the Haswell chip and DDR5 GPU make it no contest?

 

Sorry, wrong thread.

 

I'm in need of re-loading my m4600 system. I'm thinking of opting for Windows 8.1 - what do you think?

I've seen some talk here about the 8.1 preview running ok minus a some minor functionality. How do things currently stand? Is anyone running 8.1 final version and can they comment on the driver availability or install process. I have the Nvidia 2000M graphics.

I've got an image of my system as delivered. I'm wondering whether to re-image with that and then upgrade to Windows 8.1, or if I should reinstall fresh.

Any experience you can share is appreciated. Thanks!

 

I have found a fresh install seems to be the best option,

But personally I like Win 7 better than 8.1 but using Start8 makes windows 8 more usable imo.

I did install win 8 on my m4700, but for some reason it kept freezing up, so I reverted back to Win 7.

Sure it was a driver issue but I did not feel like pursuing it at the time.

 

Assuming your image is Windows 7... There's no Windows 7 -> Windows 8.1 upgrade path. (You can do it, but it just does a fresh install and preserves a few things like your user accounts, documents, and basic settings. Apps and drivers must be reinstalled.) You can go Windows 7 -> Windows 8 -> Windows 8.1 if you have a Windows 8 license. Anyway, a fresh reinstall is not bad, there's only a few drivers you need to worry about that won't pop in from Windows Update (touchpad, freefall sensor, fingerprint reader), anything else you can pick and choose as you need them from support.dell.com.

Windows 8(.1) itself is usable, stable, and fast for me. I do make use of a few of the new features (File History, built-in fingerprint reader support, built-in SkyDrive, and a metro news-reading app) so I wouldn't want to go back to Windows 7. However I think there is a fair bit of a learning curve and the UI/UX decisions just baffle me. Note, the update coming out in April will improve things a bit more --- adding search and power buttons on the start screen, and better keyboard+mouse management of metro apps.

A few of us in the M6700 thread are having an issue with NVIDIA drivers newer than 321.10 — when on battery, the contrast changes based on what is on the screen, and there doesn't seem to be any way to kill that functionality. If you run into this, you can get the 321.10 drivers and you should be fine.

 

I used Windows 7 from when i got it (October 2011) until I upgraded to windows 8 a while ago. I had initially upgraded the settings, essentially keeping all of the Dell Driver software on it, as well as the 'bloatware' stuff installed also.
I actually upgraded to Windows 8, because I replaced the internal 500GB HDD with an OCZ Vertex 256gb SSD. After a while using it, it got a bit patchy, so I decided to do a fresh re-install. I re-installed windows 8, then upgraded to 8.1 - been using 8.1 since October I think?
But basically, for some reason, the drivers that windows pre-installed for the USB 3.0 had stuffed up my external HDD bay completely (a Probox 4 bay ). It nearly screwed everything up completely, and then a second problem came along once i had fixed it, Windows 8.1 decided to turn off my external HDDs after a few mins, and being traditional spinning HDDs, had to wait a few seconds to spin up, and sometimes causing the HDDs to disconnect and re-connect.
But that's been the only major hurdle so far. I use my M4600 for Video and photo editing, using the Adobe Creative Suite, with the Quadro 2000M and driver version 327.02

I personally prefer Windows 8.1 to Windows 8, (just much more fluid, and cleaner UI IMO) But if you take away the start menu, and 'losing' access to the traditional start menu functionality, I think the icons have been okay to work with (in the start menu.) However I've just got the apps I use frequently just pinned onto the taskbar.

Otherwise, I'd recommend doing a fresh re-install, even though i came into some problems, I was able to work through them, and get most of the functionality of my system. (I've got a fingerprint reader that never really worked, even in Windows 7).
But I use my M4600 on a USB 3.0 ExpressDock, (I think that's what its called) - It's always charging now (my battery acts as a makeshift UPS, and I do cycle the battery out for the 2 hours or so it lasts to keep it running occasionally)

Ultimately it's up to you, and what sort of functions you use your laptop for will depend if you need compatibility for apps.

I've never really liked 'bloatware' programs (such as intel anti-theft technology) but I always like having a clean slate, and having the options what is required for an install, and what isn't.

Good luck, let us know how it pans out :thumbsup:

 

Guys... I need to ask something!

Okay so where is the second hard drive, and how big can it be? I searched it should be beside the optical drive right? Well there is an empty space but no screws or anything for me to open it so I can put a second hard drive. (250 gb ssd is not enough, I have an external HDD but it keeps saying you need to format.. WHAT DO YOU MEAN by that?. it keeps also disconnecting, it never disconnected in my dekstop)

What size is the hard drive? for sure not 2.5 because I tried to put one from my desktop in but it didn't fit... I think is 1, if I'm right.

 

Also how much do you think my laptop is worth? Should I sell it? (anyone interested I can sell over paypal)

i7 2640m
8 GB ram (upgrade to 32gb)
around 1 and half year of warranty (Complete Care, Pro support, and Next business day)
256 GB SSD (one more space available)
Great condition
Windows 7 ultimate (non-Gen, has Windows 7 Pro Gen key if you want in the back)
Gen Office 2013
other programs will be removed.
Nvidia 2000m
The other stuff I'm guessing we all know but I'll just say more stuff
Battery life : 4 hours on power saving
2-3 hours on balanced and 1.5 (to 2) hours in high performance
(The data is with Notepal U3 connected, never used it without it)

 

Hello,

I'm just going to copy/paste from the post I made on the DELL forums.

"I bought a mini PCI-E Avermedia TV tuner (model A317) to use in my Precision M4600, but the card is not being detected (not showing in device manager or in any other form known to me). The card is detected and works fine in another laptop of mine (ASUS N50VN). And I also tested if the slot was working on the M4600 by taking the Intel wireless mini half card that was already on the laptop and putting that into the full-sized mini PCI-E slot that I was testing the Avermedia card on..and it detects it with no problem. So everything works. Nothing is broken. Anyone know what could be the problem? Is there some setting I have to change some where? I have a feeling it could be the BIOS firmware that controls this."

If anyone can provide some insight to this it would be great.

Thanks

-James

 

Hi everyone , can anyone please help me?
i have 2 Machines , Precision M4700 and Precision M4600 i want to upgrade the graphics card in both of them.
would the Quadro K1100m fit in each of them and the dirver would work? also would the Bios see this card or is there a whitelist in the bios that prevents it from working ?
please advice.
many thanks