Dell Precision M90 Review (pics, specs)

Overview and Introduction

About a month ago, I decided it was time to get a replacement for my 4-year old Dell Latitude C640. I originally wanted a 15.4" notebook or smaller, but after investigating found that a 17" desktop replacement would probably be more in order. As an engineering student, I figured the power that a DTR could provide would come in handy sooner or later. After months of searching, I decided to go with the Dell Precision M90 for its fantastic performance in both professional 3D applications as well as gaming and its superb build quality. Here are the specs of the machine I received:

• Intel T2600 2.16GHz Core Duo
• 1GB DDR2 667 RAM
• 100GB 7200RPM HDD
• 17" WXGA+ @ 1440x900
• nVidia Quadro FX 1500M
• Intel 3945a/b/g/ wireless module
• Windows XP Pro

Purchasing

Originally, I saw this notebook configured through an education reseller suggested to me by my university for software solutions. It was a nice configuration for a nice price. I decided to call Dell up and see if they would match the price of the configuration. That way I could make sure to get the exact specification listed and I could get it straight from the source, eliminating possible hassle if anything needed to be repaired after purchase. Plus, I just felt more secure getting it straight from Dell. After some hassling with customer service, including them trying to offer me an Inspiron 9400 instead, I finally got them to accept the deal. In the end, I purchased this machine for $1,975 plus tax, which was a great deal in my opinion seeing as how my university offers a measly 12% EPP discount compared to others getting 30-35%. I have yet to price this configuration for less than $2500 despite the several deals Dell has run in the past month.

Build and Design

Hands down, this is probably one of the best aspects of the Precision M90. It is built off of the same chassis as the XPS M1710, and sports a magnesium-alloy casing and steel hinges, as well as Dell's patented Strike-Zone technology. I found no flex anywhere on the system since I have had it. Not even the LCD flexes when you open it. When I first got it, I actually had to almost 'pry' the lid open due to the hinges being nice and tight. It's one of the best built computers I have ever used. Design-wise, the M90 is also quite nice. I prefer the look of the M90 to the XPS, and it is definitely meant to deliver the professional looks that engineers and business professionals demand. As you can see from the pictures, it replaces the colors of the XPS to a simple black and brushed metal look, and the lights of the lid were removed. Otherwise, it is exactly the same as the XPS, save for the 3-button mouse. It even features the media buttons on the front, which is a very nice addition that I have grown to love and use a lot. One feature that is sadly missing from this 17" is a numeric keypad. It's not really a standard, but several 17" notebooks these days come with them, and I wish this one had.

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Screen

If the build is the best aspect of the M90, the screen would have to be the worst. As is the case with nearly all Dell 17" systems, the screen leaves a little to be desired in many respects. I got the WXGA+ screen manufactured by AU Optronics, which is supposed to be the least reliable screen available for Dell 17" notebooks. Fortunately, I seem to have gotten relatively lucky. I have yet to find any dead pixels, the screen is nice and bright, and the colors are actually quite vivid after you play around with the settings in the nVidia Control Panel for a while. However, the viewing angles are not very good, at times it seems to be unevenly lit, and there is still some light leakage, though not nearly as bad as many I've seen. You can see from the pictures below what I'm talking about. The screen is nearly unviewable from the top, though I never look at it from that angle so it doesn't bother me that much. Also note that the actual look is not nearly as bad as what the pictures indicate. I've heard these effects are much less prominent on the WUXGA screen, but I have yet to use one of those. While it has its drawbacks, overall I am still quite satisfied with the screen. It is definitely an improvement over my old C640s LCD.

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Speakers

The speakers of the M90 were quite a surprise to me. I have never seen a notebook with respectable sound quality, but the M90 definitely falls into that category. I actually use it to listen to music quite a lot. It's not as good as a complete stereo system, but very good for a notebook. It features two good-sized speakers at the front, and a small subwoofer for more bass on the bottom of the machine.

Performance

The machine definitely excels in this field. At the time, the T2600 was the fastest processor Intel offered, though it has now been one-upped by the T2700 at 2.33GHz. Personally, the T2600 provides all the performance I could ever need. The Core Duo definitely shines when it comes to multitasking. My old Pentium 4m would get really stressed with more than one demanding application open at a time, but the Core Duo takes it all in stride. Having several applications open at a time is nothing. Single-threaded performance is still great, and much better than what I'm used to, but the difference isn't quite as big to me as the multitasking performance gain. This may change when I start getting into more demanding engineering applications.

As far as gaming performance goes, this machine has yet to disappoint. As you can see from the below benchmarks, the Quadro 1500M is right on par with the Go7900GS. As for real world performance, it is fantastic. I run F.E.A.R. at 1024 res. with max settings, and the only lag I ever notice is due to the RAM (my HDD light is frantically blinking when I get slowdown). If you're going to be gaming on this machine (or any machine for that matter), I would suggest going for 2GB of RAM. As for other games, I have tried the Prey demo, the Quake 4 demo, and the Doom 3 demo. The 1500M handles all of these games at 1024 res. beautifully, no doubt due to the cards OpenGL optimization. Ultra settings are completely within reach with no lag. It should also be noted though, that the Quadro may give you some hassle with some games due to the fact that it's a workstation card, and some games don't like to work with them for some reason. One game that comes to mind is Ford Racing 3. I downloaded the demo after hearing that some M90 owners had problems with it, and it indeed lags terribly. I cannot explain why. The card is more than enough to handle that game, but something about it is not friendly to the Quadro.

Benchmarks

Super Pi calculated to 2 million:

Notebook	Time
Dell Precison M90 (2.16GHz Core Duo)	1m 12s
Asus W3H760DD (2.0 GHz Pentium M)	1m 33s
Dell Inspiron e1505 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 16s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Toshiba Satellite M100 (2.00GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 29s
Dell XPS M140 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 41s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s
IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 45s

3DMark05:

Notebook Comparison	3DMark05 Score
Dell Precison M90 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia Quadro FX 1500M )	6,413
ASUS W3V (2.0 GHz Pentium M, ATI X600	1263
Lenovo ThinkPad Z60m (2.0GHz Pentium M, ATI X600 128MB)	1659
ThinkPad T43 (1.86GHz, ATI X300 64MB graphics)	727
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI Radeon Mobility x700 128 MB)	2530
HP dv4000 (1.86GHz Pentium M, ATI X700 128MB)	2536
Toshiba Satellite M100 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	1660

3DMark06:

Notebook	3DMark 06 Results
Dell Precison M90 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia Quadro FX 1500M )	3,926
Apple MacBook Pro (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB	1,528 3D Marks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	794 3DMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60 Nvidia GeForce Go7800GTX)	4,085 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1710 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7900 GTX 512MB)	4,744 3D Marks

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Gameplay results using Fraps: (all games were at max settings at 1024 res):

F.E.A.R.
(Walking around with mild gunplay)

• Min 28
• Max 125
• Avg 56

(Firefight)

• Min 15
• Max 99
• Avg 43

Quake 4

• Min 29
• Max 62
• Avg 59

Prey (demo)

• Min 15
• Max 63
• Avg 60

Heat and Noise

The computer is not noisy at all. The 7200RPM hard drive is not loud as I have often read. In fact, I never hear it. The fans, when they rarely come on, are not loud either. In fact, the few times that they have kicked in, I didn't even realize it at first. The only noisy component seems to be the optical drive, but even that is only occasionally bothersome. When it gets going after the initial read, it is barely noticeable. Heat is not a problem either. Even when gaming, it is still cool enough to sit on my lap. I would say this is largely due to the 1500M, which uses less than half the power of 2500M and which seems to generate less heat, but that is pure speculation on my part as I have never used an M90 with the 2500M.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard has a very nice feel to it. For me, it gives just the right resistance. I have always preferred notebook keyboards, but this is definitely one of the best that I have used. The touchpad is also quite nice. The driver/software solution for the touchpad gives you a lot of options, which come in handy quite often. Another nice feature is the 3rd mouse button, which is quite rare. It can be programmed to do anything you want it to. My only complaintis withthe scroll areas. Unlike Gateway notebooks, they are not separated from the rest of the touchpad, which causes problems now and again. But overall, it is still a very good pad.

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I/O

The M90 features plenty of ports. It sports 6 USB 2.0, 1-Firewire, VGA out, DVI out, S-Video out, Express Card slot, Smart Card Reader, and a 4-in-1 Media Card reader (SD, Memory Stick/Pro, MMC, xD). Compact Flash support would be nice, but that would require a much larger reader. It doesn't really bother me as I don't use CF, but options are still nice.

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Wireless

My unit came with the Intel 3945 Pro Wireless module. It is a very strong wireless card capable of 802.11 a/b/g. I have yet to have a problem with it. It gets a very strong signal, and rarely disconnects. Even when it does get disconnected, it quickly reconnects. It is very nice.

Battery

Don't expect fantastic battery life with a 17" DTR and a dedicated GPU. That being said, I would say that I can get between 2-3.5 hours of battery life depending on what I'm doing. I was even using Solid Edge (3D modeling) on battery power for about 1.5 hours, and the indicator was still showing nearly 50% left when I turned it off. I am very pleased with the battery life thus far. My old C640 only got 2.5-3 brand new, and it was a thin-and-light 14.1". I'm sure that the 1500M GPU helps battery life, as it only consumes 45W vs. the 2500M's 100W of power consumption. No doubt the Core Duo is at work in this regard as well.

OS and Software

The M90 comes standard with Windows XP Pro, which is nice. As far as software, it comes with little to no bloatware (Google Desktop being the only real exception). Other than that, it comes with a few security applications which I'm assuming are for using the Smart Card Reader and other security features.

Customer Service

Thankfully, I have not had the need to use Customer Service yet (knock on wood). However, the M90 comes standard with Dell's Small Business On-site next day service, which is very nice. I don't suspect I'll have many problems with Customer Service if I ever need it. Still, the Mobility Plan may be a good upgrade for some.

Conclusion

I am very pleased with the Precision M90. I have yet to have any problems with it. It is a very strong performer as well. In my opinion, this is the perfect notebook for anyone looking for a strong 3D modeling machine with a good build. I would also recommend this to anyone looking for a professional looking and responding notebook with plenty of power for gaming. However, it can be quite pricey (though I would say usually cheaper than an XPS M1710), so if you're looking for just power, you may want to look elsewhere. And if you're just into gaming, you may want to know that the Quadro has problems with some games, and is indeed much more expensive than its Geforce counterparts. Despite that, I still highly recommend this notebook. For more information, check out this review.

 

Impressive numbers on those benchmarks for sure. This is a great laptop for those going into things such as industrial, design or mechanical engineering. And of course, those CAD designer engineers of the world will already know about their options and be looking at the Precision.

As you alude though, there's some pretty attractive features that consumers might like so it's worth a look for them too. A sort of hidden gem that Dell doesn't promote too much.

Thanks for the review!

 

Nice benchmarks, always good to see. A shame that Dell doesn't have a number pad on their 17" models, but not a real deal breaker.
I like how the "Dell Precision" is lettered across the back, does a good job of making it look professional.

Chaz

 

Excellent review! I like the benchmark numbers. Very powerful laptop!

 

great review! impressive numbers for the nvidia quadro. it's good to finally see some benchmarks for it and that it is gaming capable.

 

This laptop, interms of physical appearance and style, is similar to the E1705/9400 model on the home and SB side. Very nice review ~ benchmarks are comparable as well. Wonder if they use the same battery as it seems to last longer than the usual 9cell.

 

Yes, it's just the standard 9 cell 85whr battery. Keep in mind that the GPU uses considerably less power than the 2500M (45W vs 100W). In addition, it appears to be dual pipe, which definitely helps with heat.

 

In Brazil this machine costs US$ 4900,00 :-((((((


Is there any other way to buy Dell in US than the Online store?

 

Great review. I just got one 2 days ago, it's simply an awesome machine.

If anyone is doing 3D stuff you may want to consider the FX 2500M. I get 8175 in 3DMark05, with the slower 1.83 GHz Duo. If you go on battery 3DMark05 drops down to around 3000. Battery life is very respectable, watched a whole DVD movie on it last night and had a little juice left, although I shut off the wifi radio.

The WUXGA screen might be a little better as far as light leakage, on mine it's only noticable if you are looking for it. Not as nice as a desktop LCD, but you can't beat the resolution for a laptop! Everything is very clear and extremely sharp. If you have good eyes, go for the WUXGA for sure.

 

Endurance, eBay has great prices on dells if that helps.

 

I would think dell outlet is the best option on getting these machines right now. I wouldn't be surprised, if some of the sellers on ebay just repackage and sell it to make HUGE profits.

 

notebook_ftw - is the image on the second photo in the light leakage photo supposed to have a uniform blue background ? The one with the funky white thing on a blue background ?

Also, I have a headset with microphone - where is the input jack for the microphone ?
What is the input port besides the headphone port for ?
And finally, is there a manual somewhere for the M90 ? I think I only got a generic Dell manual.

 

Thanks,

We need to buy computers when traveling to the us, so normaly need to go to stores like bestbuy or compusa.

It is difficult to buy a Dell or a Lenovo.

Regards

 

Is there any way you could post a picture of the Power supply? I was gonna buy one of these, but i want to see how big that thing is before I do.

 

No, that picture is supposed to have a black background. Keep in mind, though, the pictures make it look a LOT worse. I hardly notice the light leakage unless it's a dark screen or I'm watching a movie. Also, the mic input is right next to the headphone out. And the input next to the headphone is the firewire port, below which is the media card reader. There is also a detailed manual of the M90 on Dell's website in the support section.

 

Hi notebook_ftw ,

I also purchased a Precision M90 after reading this review and its turned out to be the perfect one for me.

I however lost my Dell default wallpaper which came with the system when i tried to configure this one for multi-boot. Would yoube kind enough to provide me with yours, it will be at C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper\Dell.bmp It'd be very nice it you could zip this up and send to me at [email protected] or post somewhere.

I've been to google and to various other sites but to no avail. The dell support forums are all filled with the users mourning the loss of their wallpaper. Please don't let me down.

Regards
Shivanand Sharma
http://varun21.googlepages.com
[email protected]
Dell Precision M90/2GHz duo core/2GB/Quadro 1500M/100GB@7200RPM

 

I am really tempted by this machine - but I'm put off by the inability to add a second hard drive (instead of having an optical drive.)

Dell sales guy says you can't add a second drive...

But I have to believe the optical bay in this machine (or the xps 1710) could accept a hard drive with the right caddie.

Does anyone have any information on this?

Thanks!

 

Email sent. I uploaded it to my photobucket, but for some reason it will only go at like 720 res. rather than standard 1440x900. I'll try it as a .jpg and see if that helps.

 

Also, here is the wallpaper. Feel free to link to this for all those other users.

 

Thanks so much notebook_fw,

It's great to see such an overwhelming response from everyone here. Glad i joined this place. Find the review of my machine at my page http://varun21.googlepages.com

Regards
Shivanand Sharma

 

I bought a Dell Precission M90 like the one reviewed here and have that serious uneven lit screen problem... I called Dell several times and after one screen change, i realize is a problem of all Dell screens. I had a Philips one and now it is a Samsung and it's the same, lot's of dark places no matter how is your screen angle. Besides always seeing a brighter line in the firsts lower lines. Disgusting.

They told me the screen they sell are OK, so my choices now are: Give it back or Upgrade to WUXGA wich is an expensive choice. Not to count that people at Dell don't recognize anything.

I sent them some links on internet because I found (late) that it is not only my perception. it is real.

Can we make something? Can we send all togheter a mail to dell asking to change the screens for another better!!?!?!?!?

This notebook it is supposed (acording to dell) to be a certified notebook for media creators, graphic designers, Cad/Cam,etc.

How can we work if we can not see the real brightness or colors in our works!?!?!?!?!

Thanks,

Dan

 

once upon a time there were magazines (PCMag, Byte, Computer Shopper) that gave honest factual reviews. Now they are all the puppets of the sponsor's.

It's only places where the users hang out that you find the real world comments on these systems.

We can pretty much point to exactly when Dell began to tumble into the abys...the same time they moved the support jobs off shore. That seems to be when they began to use lowest bidder supplied components vs. a bit more for more reliable.

US consumer confidence is why the stock is down to around $25...but that is not at all do to the "most excellent service" they have given us...

Good luck on your quest to seek satisfaction. I gave up.

 

I just bought the Dell m90 with a quadro fx 1500m and was going to play simple Counter Strike 1.6. Well if i get about 10 guys on screen and some gun fights going on the fps dips down into the 30's....what the heck is that all about??

 

Most likely network lag. The graphics card shouldn't have a problem keeping up with CS1.6 It's likely that people that you are playing with are having lag issues with their connections.

 

I just ordered an M90 with Vista 64Bit, 4GB RAM, 160GB Drive, Nvidia 2500M, 17" WUXGA, DVD RW, Wireless and bluetooth... and it hasn't arrived yet!... grr can't wait. I'll run the tests as you have done and post/email the results for display on your excellent review.

Snipped from Order Confirmation:
M90 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB L2 cache 667MHz FSB)
17" WUXGA (1920 x 1200) LCD Screen
4.0GB, 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM Memory (2 x 2048MB)
160Gb (5,400rpm) Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
130W AC Adapter
9 Cell 80WHr LI-ION Primary Battery
512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M Graphics Card
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps) Core 2 Duo
EUR - Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Card for Vista
English - Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate (64Bit OS)

 

Hi Diaren: did you get your system? How do you like it? Is it too bulky? That is one of my key concerns? Also would be interested in knowing what your battery life is.

Thanks
Nick

 

It's a 17" workstation... of course it's bulky. It's based on the old XPS M1710 and Inspiron 9400, so if you can get hold of one of those or check one out in a store or something, that should give you a good idea of what it's like. It's pretty much the same chassis and design.

As per battery life, I was originally getting nearly 3 hours, as I indicated in the review. After a few months, it was more like 2.5, sometimes 2 depending on what I was doing. But just over a year after my purchase (June 2006), my battery crapped out overnight somehow. I now get barely an hour of battery life with screen brightness all the way down, and Dell won't replace it because while the laptop's warranty is for 3 years, the battery's warranty is only for 1, and my battery screwed up 1 year and 1 month after purchase.

Add to that the fact that I have now had three power supplies from Dell, the third of which is fine so far, but it at least 2 feet shorter than the first two, and I'm not exactly a happy camper any more.

 

Yes I did, using it now I quite like it, on the whole it looks a lot better than you'd think it would, including the brushed metal lid. As for it being bulky... there are thinner lighter laptops out there, but i would certainly not say it was too bulky at all. It's super quiet, fans rarely come on (unless your in bed and quilt covering the vents ), The screen is just beautiful IMO.

Battery life is excellent, when it first arrived it lasted 2.5 hours on the Dell recommended power saver settings (low brightness etc.). With a usb hdd attached and wireless connected, I get about 2 hours... but with no USB connected, and in power saver mode, I get 3.5 hours.

I think it's a great system, perfect for travelling etc.

 

Ugh, did you purchase the laptop with a CC ? If so,your battery might be under CC warranty.

Why did you need three power supplies ?

 

nice review im luving it!!!i actually ordered the m90 today based on this review.. but i upgraded the gpu to the 3500m and the 2.00ghz proccessor.

diaren how long did it take you to get your laptop from order date to your door? mine is saying like oct 8th.....have you heard anything about screen shortages?

also anyone know how much improvment in graphics will the 3500m be from the 2500m or 1500m?

 

Do you really need the 3500/2500 card ? I think they consume a LOT more power tha the 1500

 

i probably dont but i just want it for the sake of having it...lol i dont why i know its expensive but i want it anyway

 

No, I didn't buy the CompleteCare warranty. I just figured that a 3 year warranty would be good enough and assumed the battery would be covered under that.

I have had to have 3 separate power supplies because my first two went bad. They both had the same problem, where they would just one day quit working, and they actually started beeping at me. Yeah, the power supply was beeping. On two different ones.

 

notebook ftw how much performance increase would their be with the 3500m

 

probably 2x

 

I don't know about 2x the performance, but it would be fairly substantial. Synthetic benchmarks will probably increase by 30-40% or more. Actual gaming would see a good boost, but mostly at higher resolutions. At lower resolutions (1440x900 and below), the 1500M is more than adequate for most games when paired with 2GB of RAM.

When you talk about professional applications though, you probably won't see much of a difference unless you're using multiple high-res monitors with a lot of high res textures and really complicated models, especially if they're being rendered in real time.

 

thanx should i have upgraded to the 2.33ghz or just keep the 2.o00ghz and upgrade later?

 

NO NO NO NO
CC = Credit Card.
See my sig.

 

Oh. No, I paid cash. I know, it was like it was in the stars or something.

 

Did you use the battery a lot ? Mine has mostly been on AC power.

And why would you pay like $2000 in cash
Unless there was some hanky-panky going on

 

No, I didn't really use the battery much, that's the thing. For most of the first year, I only used it like once a week, if that. Now, booting into Gutsy tells me that my battery is down to 34% of its usable life. It really sucks.

As per the $2000 cash, IMO it's better to pay $2000 in cash than $2500 in credit plus interest. But either way, my parents paid for this laptop, so it was their money to spend.

 

Was there some discount for paying in cash ?
I just pay with CC and pay the balance in full each month.

 

I'm guessing by cash we mean credit card and by credit we mean finances credit?

CC orders tend to get delivered faster, so that's one advantage paying up front (i.e. in one go). The second advantage is that the total is all you're going to pay (no paying for the finances option from dell - which is a rip off. Might as well get a bank loan and just pay the bank should anyone need that option)

Anyway..excellend M90 Review. If only Dell offered that look for the 1710 instead of the wierd tacky gamer version.

 

What ?
By cash I mean paper money, $100 bills etc.
By credit card I mean credit card like visa/amex etc. with which we pay, and then later pay off the balance in full (avoiding any and all finance charges)

 

As I said, my parents paid, so it wasn't my decision in any case. But they paid actually with a debit card. It was basically the convenience of paying with credit card without having to pay the interest.

 

No need to pay interest if you pay with a CC, just pay off the balance in full each month.
Advantages: rewards eg, 1% cashback from CC (this is $20 on a 2000 system)
1 year extra warranty for free (worth at least $50)