M6600 and M4600 are coming in Feb.

Dell's new powerhouse Precision M4600 and M6600 workstation laptops on sale May 10 -- Engadget

M4600 can support a RAID 0/1 this means that have 2 bay for HDD 2.5"?

Engaget confirm release date May 10th

 

Wow the entire article? Really? Yeah but with raid you put the 2nd drive in a caddy in the opticle drive slot.

 

Come on, thats not fair to Dell. HP makes one of the most expensive mobile workstations. They charge a ton of money for the DC displays.

That does not mean Dell will. Look back at what you wrote. Because HP set the bar for gouging customers, Dell will do the same. You know Dell can hopefully still compete with HP on price.

I am going to wait and see.

 

Unless the USB 3.0 External Drive has backwards compatibility with USB 2.0, then no. As I said, think of the USB 3.0 ports has an external hub that relies on OS Drivers to operate, like the ones you can buy that plugs into your ExpressCard Slot. My keyboard plugged in my USB 3.0 port doesn't work for the BIOS menus, but only works when it passes the Windows 7 Startup Screen. Therefore, I had to use it on my USB 2.0 port.

The only devices that work when you turn on your laptop are the ones that are recognized by the motherboard chipset and as of Sandy Bridge, Intel has not natively supported USB 3.0 in any of their chipsets.

 

Given how much Dell charges for the XPS FHD display part ($360), and the fact that they quoted me a price of ~$560 when I asked for the M4400 RGBLED part number, I don't see the IPS panel costing any less.

These panels can both be ordered elsewhere for less than $200.

 

The problem is the IPS Panels are OEM-only products and the vendors that makes them are only going to ship it to the OEM and no other third-party distributor. It is also the reason why anyone who orders a HP Elitebook 8740w with DC2 has their order takes two months to make, because HP orders the panels from the vendor as orders request. They rarely keep any DC 2 IPS panel in a stockpile at their warehouses and people who want their DC 2 repaired or replaced under warranty also has to wait quite a while for the technicians to acquire one.

Therefore, HP can keep them very expensive as parts and the stock quantities low. I am not surprised if Dell is going to do the same. Now that both companies has shifted to 16:9, I am also not surprised if they share the same vendor and use the same screen essentially.

Yet at the same time, it does cost quite a bit for HP to order the DC 2 in bulk, so it is also possible that they order as customers order requests for the DC 2 over stockpiling.

The cheapest HP offers DreamColor 2 is $1,265 USD with the Webcam as a part. The cheapest I have seen on eBay is $500 USD but it is used and it was a pull from an existing unit... Getting one from the factory installed on your laptop new is like $550 USD as an upgrade option.

 

That's not good! I assume this means that even if the USB 3.0 drive is backwards compatible, the transfer speed will only be USB 2.0. I was thinking of getting either a SB Optiplex or Precision desktop but Dell no longer has eSATA on them - only the USB 3.0 option.

One other thought, the win 7 recovery CD that is used for the restore process- will it recognize the controller properly?

Thanks,
Harvey

 

Assuming you install it from the optical drive, then yes. Once Windows 7 is installed, it will automatically install the drivers for the controllers upon your first boot into it. Windows 7 has the NEC Controllers stored in its driver library. I never had to install anything in Windows 7 for USB 3.0 to work out of the box.

Also if you installed it from a USB 2.0/eSATA bootable drive, it should still be relatively Plug and Play...

 

I may not have been completely clear as I don't have a win 7 system yet. The win7 CD I'm referring to is the so-called Backup/Recover CD that one is suppose to make for imaging and image restoration purposes.

How do I insure that this CD has the appropriate USB 3.0 drivers. Do I hook up the external drive so windows can install the drivers and then make the Restore CD which would then contain the proper drivers?

Thanks for your time,
Harvey

 

No. The drivers are already included in the Windows 7 OS kernel database of drivers. Therefore, it is already on the CD. However, they don't get installed until you install Windows and enter Windows. What I am trying to say is that they are in the disk but there is no way the drivers are going to be installed to work during the BIOS POSTing stage. The drivers are installed and only work when Windows 7 is booted into. No driver in Windows 7 can alter anything in the BIOS POSTing phase nor the Intel Chipset. In fact even the BIOS can't force the Chipset to run USB 3.0. The Intel Chipset is a chip that is soldered on the motherboard and there is nothing you can do to force it to read USB 3.0 natively as it is hardwire coded and locked on the chip in the Intel factories before being soldered on motherboards for use.

The drivers that Windows uses are only for use in Windows and will install automatically from its kernel after Windows gets installed in the GUI (or your desktop) when you boot into Windows for the first time after in the GUI, it detects your NEC USB 3.0 hub.