New M4500 Discussion Thread

Good luck purchasing a HP or Lenovo with both the i7-920XM and the FX 1800M GFX card.

 

Well none of the companies allow CPU overclocking, so honestly the 820QM and 920XM aren't much different, but that doesn't mean it isn't supported since even last generation models (HP Elitebook 8530w) accepted the highest end QX9300. HP also has a better GPU with the FX 1800M GDDR5 and ATI FirePro M5800 GDDR5.

 

The processors are different enough where the 920XM outperforms the 820QM in almost all benchmarks regardless of overclocking.

Customers who want a high end work station will always opt for the fastest processor available.

 

Either way, I don't see the validity in the claim. The Lenovo W510 supports the 920XM and the HP Elitebook 8540w will support it too, so I don't see any advantage of the Dell M4500. Also, don't forget the lack of USB 3.0 on the Dell.

 

As of right now, good luck purchasing that fabled M4500, too.
Still no announcement...

 

I have been looking at i7 laptops for sometime now. From my research various companies have had issues with them thottling and with thermal issues that degrades performance and presumably lessens the life of components. Of all those companies Dell seems to be suffering the worst. The Studio 16 is probably the worst (and the one I've focused on most since I wanted to get one).

In fact there is a long thread dedicated to the throttle issue. Even with a new bios and power adapter many still report issues. There are many other threads on other models and other issues in that forum.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193

The studio 16 is an expensive machine and this one will probably be more expensive so I want some assurances that it won't throttle or overheat if I am going to spend the money to get one.

 

I would not really use the Studio laptops as an example compared to the Precision line. They are managed by a different group at Dell with a different focus. The M6500 as stated before has no issues with throttling, and the M4500 should be very similar. Their product manager is on here daily keeping an eye on questions problems and concerns for these models, which says a lot at least about the Precision "brand".

 

On one hand I agree until it is released, on the other hand why doubt it when the M6500 lived up the same claim?

Sounds like to me you could care less about the M4500 and just want talk trash about it?

 

No, I'm not talking trash, I've been stating facts. It's just that I expected more from the M4500. The M4400 was my top choice over the 8530w and W500, but the new generation hasn't managed to keep up over its competitors.

For those looking at the new generation, one has to look at all the details for each model, even if it's minor/nitpicky. I'm not saying the M4500 is a bad notebook but that there are things that Dell could have and should have done to make it more competitive such as adding USB 3.0 or the possibility of ATI GPUs (or more powerful nVidia ones).

 

Agree.
I closely followed Studio XPS 16 throttling issue while I was thinking about it for a purchase (now I'm looking for something more on the professional side).
But Studio are consumer's notebooks and XPS 16 seemed to have some heating issues since the first Core2Duo models, so I believe Dell was initially very prudential in BIOS with i7 allowed performance.

A few months ago, I asked some M6500 owners to test their machine for throttling and it seems they found no throttling issues.
I suppose that M4500 should behave the same way, no throttling, especially now that Dell should have learnt the lesson ...
I have just some doubts about choosing i7-920XM on any notebook smaller than 17", because of its high TDP in a relatively small case.