M6600 and M4600 are coming in Feb.

Hooterbif,

If money is no object and you need speed, it might be worth waiting for the Quadro 5010m. CUDA is becoming more popular to accelerate certain processes. If the software you are using supports this, you may get a significant advantage with best Nvidia CUDA card + i7-2920XM. If you don't need CUDA, AFAIK, the AMD FirePro8900 will let you run 3+ 27 inch monitors simultaneously, which is a sweet setup.

RE: M6600 vs M4600 - apart from graphics cards, I don't think M6600 will offer speed advantages over M4600. The M4600 will likely be easier to carry (which may be an issue depending on how you commute to work).

Obviously, it's worth checking earlier posts in this thread that are uncertain about compatibility with docking stations etc.

(All this being said, later this year ivy bridge processors with six or more cores will be available for desktops, and probably xeon equivalents for multi CPU processing will be available too. In terms of pure parallel math crunching for applications that support it, according to CPU benchmark, the fastest quad opetron systems may run 4 x faster than the fastest m4600 or m6600. I wouldn't be surprised if quad ivy bridge xeon based systems beat these records by 30-50%, depending on just how fast and furiously you need to work ;-)

 

That means the M4600 isn't going to fit your bill, there's nowhere to put two of them currently, dell want to sell you a crappy minicard SSD.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7426252-post432.html

HP and Lenovo do

 

Thanks edit1754 and Turbot.

I only use video for display purposes, not computing. I will likely have 2x27inch monitors. I'm leaning toward the 4600. The docking port issues are scary. Also, I wish I could use USB3.0 via the docking station, but I don't think that works.

I waited almost a year for the Sandy Bridge chips, so I don't want to wait even longer for Ivy Bridge! (I have a D830 right now).

 

Holy nutsack, batman! Maybe I should just get one Vertex 3 in a large capacity (although that would be slower....)

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

Not quite sure if I'm misreading you, and I apologize if so, but I'm not sure I understand why the tone of your post needed to be combative.

I was merely inquiring if there are any similar discounts for Dell as there for Lenovo. Thus far, I've had over a month more to research the W520 versus the M6600, and I haven't come across equivalent pricing advice. The IPS would be one reason for me to buy the M6600, but I'm not sure it's worth an $800 premium over an otherwise similarly specced W520, especially since I have a desktop IPS to use.

 

I apologize. I have issues with Lenovo, not you. I work for an enterprise customer and Lenovo failed with us utterly - amazingly. My vitrol was aimed at Lenovo, not you. Sorry for that.

 

Dammmn, I can't decide... M6600 vs M18x vs X220+Vidock....

 

No problem. I've had pull-out-my-and everyone else's-hair experiences with software, so I can relate a little bit. The mere mention of certain vendors causes my blood to boil.

Anyway, I've been waiting for the M4600 to become orderable to know what kind of premium I'd be looking at over the W520. As a longtime Dell user, I've been looking for reasons to keep up continuity, but the gap right now is so big I'm not sure I can justify it. The W520 has gotten solid initial reviews though some hiccups with service and fit & finish have been reported by forum users. If I can close the price gap a bit, or if the M4600 gets absolutely stellar early reviews, then I'll be more comfortable staying with Dell, IPS or no.

 

So I know that the Dell M4600 provides switchable graphics via Optimus for the Nvidia cards, but does anyone know if the AMD FirePro 5950M has any type of switchable graphics tech? (Maybe something similar to what's used on the Alienware m17x).

 

Does anyone know if Optimus can be disabled on the m4600/m6600? Dell Chat reps weren't of any help.