New M6500 Discussion Thread

Did anyone get a better deal than $3,900 for Similar specs?

Mobile Precision M6500, Carbide Silver
Intel Core i7-920XM Quad Core 2.00GHz 8MB for M6500
8.0GB, DDR3-1333 SDRAM, 4 DIMM for Mobile Precision
nVidia Quadro FX 3800M, 1.0GB DDR3 Discrete for M6500
17" UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) RGB LED Display for M6500 mic only
Genuine Windows 7 Professional64-bit, w/ media, Mobile Precision,
English
Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth 2.1 for Mobile Precision 6500
Dell Wireless 420 UWB 1/2 Minicard for Latitude E/Mobile Precision
210W/240W switchable Slim 3-Pin, AC Adapter Dell Precision M6400
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3X3) 1/2 MiniCard for VPRO
Latitude E/Mobile Precision
64GB Dell Mobility Solid State Hard Drive, 2.5MM, M6500
160GB Additional Hard Drive 9.5MM, 7200RPM FFS for Mobile

 

That's pretty close to the deal I got for a Covet...which deal was that? I mean how.....thanks

 

I can't say it's better than the W7 backup utility since I've never used it, but it does, IMO provide more functionality. For example, Acronis true image home 2010 can backup your computer to a server or almost all removable devices that I can think of (USB drives, DVD, Blu ray etc). I've even backed up a laptop to a QNAP TS-809 via wireless (802.11N).

Obliviously the biggest advantage is the ability to have a backup that's independent of the OS, this keeps me out of trouble with all the beta testing that I do.

 

That's a good price for the system.

If you haven't already ordered, you might want to consider upgrading the SSD to 128GB. Samsung's 128GB SSD is twice as fast (sustained read/write) as their 64GB SSD. You also want to have "breathing room" for your OS and programs.

If budget is an issue, you would actually have better overall performance if
you upgraded the SSD and went with the 820 processor. (Right now, the SSD or hard drive will be the bottleneck in your system.) Or, consider going with the ATI graphics card instead of the NVIDIA. Performance is comparable between the two cards, unless you are doing heavy video processing that can take advantage of CUDA processors.)

You might also want to drop the extra 160GB hard drive and pick up a Hitachi 500GB for the same price. Nowadays 160GB is too small. If you are ordering the second drive to ensure you get the caddy and interposer, I wouldn't worry about that. Most of us got the caddy/interposer even without ordering the second drive. If yours is missing, you can order the "spare part" for about $8.00. (I have the part number and 1-800 number somewhere if you need it.

 

I think Acronis is great. I use in several machines. Not only is the back up easy, but restore is easy. I have restored failed drives and also when I put in a new drive. Restored from network drives and USB drives.

Mike

 

I have to get what I can as I only have enough money for what is shown. If someone has a similar setup or better for a better price please send me your quote number and my rep said he could match it. Should someone be able to provide that I will be able to change up the SSD. I plan on using the mini SSD once it is available though.

Thanks!

 

They are almost identical, I believe someone also noted it on here with the 6500.

 

The only counter point to that is SSDs are dropping in price, and could easily upgraded in 6 months when the money is in the budget.

Not as easy to swap the CPU.

 

This is a little off-topic, but I have a fully loaded M6400, but received machine BEFORE covet was available...I would have preferred the orange. does anyone have a list of part numbers required to re-skin my M6400 to look like the covet? I'm not trying to be a poser, I just want the orange; I've had XPS laptops forever, and I prefer to have "flashy" systems.

thanks in advance for ANY information.

 

Hi skypx,

As you I am using Acronis (Backup & Recovery Build 10.0.11345) but I need to inform that there are some known issues using Intel Matrix Storage Manager with Acronis
http://forum.acronis.com/search/apachesolr_search/"Intel Matrix Storage Manager"

After a clean installation, I did a backup (Win7 x64 - No RAID - AHCI) and tried to restore with RAID0 and RAID activated in BIOS but I did not succeed yet

(EDIT: I finally succeed to boot using Acronis Universal Restore with the drivers http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=356052)
But in the Computer Management, I have still 2 errors:
- High Definition Audio Controller
- Intel(R) Core (TM) i7 CPU : " a driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionnality. (Code 32)

After desinstalling them and a reboot, it looks like everything is working.

Acronis is a good software (better than Ghost) and the backup with my eSata external drive is so fast...