Dell Precision M6300 Owners - step forward please

Hi there,

I guess that by now, there are some of you folks that already received your M6300s. The waiting as been long for almost anyone who ordered this notebook when it was lauched, but it seems that the machines are now arriving to their destinations.

I have been looking everywhere for feedback on this, but information is scarce, there is only one review http://www.asktheadmin.com/2007/10/dell-precision-m6300-hands-on-review.html
and it seems that here in notebookreview, those who bought it, are keeping all their thoughts to themselves.

Come on guys, let us all know how you feel about your new notebook.

I've ordered mine (T7500/2Gb/160Gb-7k2/WUXGA), but would really like to hear the pros and cons of the M6300 from those that already have their hands on it.

Also, if any of you guys can take nice pictures, please feel free to post them, as I couldn't find much images with good quality/size in order to really get the feel of this computer looks and build quality.

EDIT: just found out another review - it´s in German, but Google takes care of it http://translate.google.com/transla....de/tests/335/1&langpair=de|en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

 

Nobody out there?

 

they cost so much, most people dont see it worth to spend the extra money. however i have played with the precision line and they are really nice if you have the money...but dont expect hundreds of users to come forward on these forums...

 

Not if you buy them taking advantage of the Smart Value promotions on the Dell Site... I did, I got quite a bargain - paid 1600Eur for a configuration that now costs around 2800Eur... this promotion ended here in Portugal, but I just checked in the US Dell site, and it's now available in there as an example.

 

Got 2 M6300's on the 10-dec-07 (Ordered on the 13-nov, ETA was 7-Jan-2008!!!), but I must say, I initially specced the M90, but as Dell was releasing the newer model, I waited. Got them at a presumeably bargain R14,300 (+-$2000) as opposed to R21,000 (+-$3000) , ex vat prices, but the wait almost made me cancel the order! Doing some browsing, I figured Dell would have some delays, so I was quite pleased with the overall delivery time of just over 3 weeks as opposed to 2 months!

The promotion was a fixed spec machine, (T7500 2.2GHz, 2GB,160 GIG 7200,17" WUXGA ) so there was no room for upgrade, as I feel the ram is a bit on the low side. Mind you, 2 gigs is ok for now, but with Vista eating up about a gig on startup, I can see the upgrade happening sooner than later.

My first impression of the machine was the size/weight. Since I've been working on a NW8000 for the past 3 years now, I was expecting this baby to be heavy and huge. Quite the contrary, the machine is relatively light. The power brick is however, "a brick!". Compared to the NW, it's about 4 times the size! Overall looks and layout are really good (4/5); I truly like the keyboard layout, better that the HP8730, as you don't have to work on the left side of the keyboard due to the numeric keypad (personal preference though). Thank God Dell did away with the annoying pointing stick. A real waste in my opinion.

Switching on the laptop, the first thing that hits you is the quality of the screen. Dell, well done! Great quality. Anyone reading this, don't waste your time on the smaller resolutions. Go for the WUXGA. (Anyone know if there are 2 types of WUXGA? South Africa's website only lists 1 type, don't know if its got the standard WUXGA or the WUXGA Truelife lcd panel). Connected to wireless ADSL with ease, and working in the TV room (3 rooms away, 2 walls, +-20 meters) I get 4 bars! Wireless on this baby is excellent! I can even pick up the neighbours broadband, now all I need is the key .

Got about 4+ hours browsing the net. Battery life is relatively good, (i would think so). The machine is EXTREMELY quiet. Hardly heats up at all, but the "brick" can get really hot!

I don't know if the 1600M is a better choice than the 3500M, anyone have any takes on that. I haven't had a chance to run some CAD / game stats to see how it does under load. but on overall DVD playback, the movie was great to watch on the laptop. Sound quality is fair. Not bad, but not great either.

Overall, a great machine. This is primarily a work-based laptop, so the first thing we did on the second machine was trash Vista, install XP Pro SP2, and Ubuntu 7.10. XP had the drivers for the memory card reader missing! Funny thing is, I called Dell, logged the call, and after a few days, lo and behold, its on the website! This is AFTER I hunted around the net and installed it manually. Even more strange, is that the drivers are actually loaded on the supplied CD! Have a look for yourself!

Gripes:
1) Vista
2) Vista
3) Vista
...... Since these machines are my 'bread and butter', I CANNOT afford to have a machine that is 95% reliable. Look, it's not Dells fault, but I feel that Dell, even with the promo, should have offered the choice of XP on the machine, which they didn't. XP is now 100% configured, and the machine is as rock-solid as you would want it! I'm gonna wait till SP1 for Vista before I install a 'triple-boot'.

There is 1 bug though, the bluetooth. It works fine for sending/receiving files, but to use your HSDPA phone as a modem, you gonna have problems. In the bluetooth software, try to add a com port using the supplied software. It doesn't allow you. (Anyone got a workaround for this?)

Ubuntu has been great on my HP machine (7.04), however, the 7.10 that I installed has got some issues. No sound. Propriety driver does not work. You need to backport to get the sound working, but then the video driver gets messed up. If anyone has got Ubuntu 100% working , please post some feedback. I would greatly appreciate it.

Hopefully I'll get some time next week to post some performance stats of Vista vs XP, as I still have one machine running on the pre-installed Vista.

Until then, cheerio...

 

thanks for posting this review! it helped out alot! I'll be joining the m6300 community soon!

 

I have another question! I noticed that the Precision M90 has a subwoofer on the bottom... does the m6300 also have one?

 

i've actually done a bit more research.. seems like they removed the subwoofer from the m90 when moving onto the m6300! Cheap ass dell!

 

I got a 6300 earlier this month. It's my first laptop, and not having used many others I can't give much of a comparison. I got it to replace my desktop for video work. This month has been too busy and I'm still working out some workflow issues but so far am happy with it. It is definately sturdier than other laptops I've used. The keyboard doesn't flex in when using it either. The one negative I noticed was there is a lot of light bleed from the bottom of the LCD. I have the 1920x1200 anti-glare version.

 

I got a 6300 in October and it took Dell 3 weeks to deliver.

If you are buying this laptop, you should go for 4gig RAM. No joke, the system cache, which is held in the unused 3 gigs of ram, is the candy you're after.

Also, go for 1920x1200 screen resolution if you're using CAD. This makes the picture as detailed as possible, so your eyes better understand it.

Pros:
Desktop performance in a laptop
Max 3.5hrs of battery life.
WUXGA AntiGlare Screen quality is just superb.
Great wireless performance.
6 USB ports.
Handy keyboard.
Has only the most critical outputs/ports/inputs/indicators/buttons/whatever, so no junk mics or other c.r.a.p.
Quite loud speakers.

Cons:
A bit too heavy to carry around all day (it's a workstation, remember?).
Produces a lot of heat, when running intensive apps (slight discomfort, if you're holding it on your lap).
And, yeah, "The power brick is however, a "brick"!", but I wouldn't say it's heating up too much.

 

Hi guys, I just placed an order to my M6300, and I went to the best config available, extreme processor, 4 Gigs of ram , too bad that there`s no better gx option available for M6300...

Initially I ordered M90 with 3500m, but I find myself waiting 4 months in vain , so I replaced my order with a brand new M6300...

can`t wait to lay my hands on this baby...

ps. my primary work is 3d modeling and animation in Maya, and that`s why I was so keen to order M90 with stronger graphic instead

I know there`re still not posts on the net about M6300 and it`s performance in Maya, but I`ll keep you posted when I got mine

 

ordered mine earlier!

 

The screen i ordered:
Module,Liquid Crystal Display 17WU,TLF,Samsung,M6300

it's a wuxga+ matte, i noticed that it's a samsung screen.. anything i should be worried about?

 

I got this information from a guy in Dell, but since I haven`t seen something similar before I have to assume that this info is not yet released in public...

“M6300 with 256MB FX1600 outperforms M90 with 512MB FX3500 in all key ISV applications”

 

wow, that is hard to beleive.... I canceled my order, and reordered another laptop.. this time i received an lg screen!