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Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

Discussion in 'Dell Latitude, Vostro, and Precision' started by afhstingray, May 26, 2011.

  1. tpho2500

    tpho2500 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm at a cross roads with this laptop. I purchased a refurb unit for $450 post tax in 2015 and at the time they only came with 8GB of RAM. I had considered upgrading to 16GB or potentially 32GB but held off because I wanted to see what my actual usage looked like. 3 years later I think I may need at least 16GB of RAM to keep up with my work and of course RAM prices have doubled in the past couple years.

    Newegg has 16GB of RAM for $96 or 32GB for about $200.

    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231728

    Given that this laptop is now 7 years old (produced in 2011) and 3 years old in my possession (purchased in 2015). Is it worth upgrading the RAM in this laptop?
     
  2. Aaron44126

    Aaron44126 Notebook Prophet

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    Do you have a four-core CPU? If not, 16GB is your max (only two modules are supported).
    Do you have a SSD? If not, purchasing an SSD would be more valuable than purchasing more RAM.
    Really only you can answer the "is it worth it" question. If you observe yourself using "most" of your RAM in Task Manager then you are probably paging out to disk and you will get a performance improvement by upgrading the RAM.
     
  3. tpho2500

    tpho2500 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes I have the quad core and I already added an SSD. I'm just not sure if it's worth dropping $80-100 for 16GB of RAM for a 2011 laptop. Or if I should consider going to the M4800.
     
  4. Pastor

    Pastor Notebook Consultant

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    So i have been with this tank for around a year or so and even it's old archiquetucre 7 years plus, i can play even Battlefield 1 and Watch Dogs 2 and The Evil Within 2, but the only complain i could have is that when i upgraded the m5950 that it came from eBay for the m5100 there's no way i can control brightness on battery or plugged and i can't get it working normally when i close the lid, sometimes works sometimes does not work, even i did the workaround of the hard drive.

    I have a couple of cuestions, does it support really 64gb RAM? I installed Dellsupportassist and it said that thas the max RAM that i could have
    Is any alternative for upgrade the m5100?
    Does somebody know if its possible to paint it? I mean i get it from ebay used but i would like to paint it, it shows some use and stuff like that.

    The I7 2760QM is the best option? i mean being wise and price performance value
     
  5. Reciever

    Reciever D! For Dragon!

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    No. 32GB MAX.
    w5170m. Its just a m5100 updated with DX12 and formal Vulkan support. There is nothing better for this laptop within MXM3.0a format.
    2760qm is the best value, 2860qm is the best option all around but hard to suggest on its own with the avg price of 80-100 USD.
     
  6. Pastor

    Pastor Notebook Consultant

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    So that w5170m seems to be almost a non upgrade at all just the DX12, may it benefit the battery life? That card is almost hard to catch on eBay lol i don't like go further 100 bucks, i have mine with 16GB RAM but with two modules running at 1.50v and the other two 1.35v.

    Another question what's the difference with the two fingerprint reader? I see one that is kind of yellow and the other one is smaller just being curious if worth changing one for another, i have the little one but i was wondering if the other one is better
     
  7. Reciever

    Reciever D! For Dragon!

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    Yep pretty much, the m4600 has long been at its limit.

    Don't know much about the fingerprint reader, I have mine unplugged don't even use it.
     
  8. Pastor

    Pastor Notebook Consultant

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    What about that RX 460 MXM 3.0a that has been around the net?

    I like that this is pretty much a Alienware but less fancy and serious option and a optimal work horse for the price tag
     
  9. Reciever

    Reciever D! For Dragon!

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    Those cards haven't been sourced here yet. However most of the cards were built with mining in mind and don't even have lvds/eDP support from the factory.

    Rx 480 so far works in the M17x r4 but under performs because the only vbios that actually works limits the cards potential.
     
  10. Pastor

    Pastor Notebook Consultant

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    Oh well i guess i will keep this one until i cand afford another series lol, out of budget right now
     
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