New M6500 Discussion Thread

Hi moogleassassin,

The M6500 is indeed mostly Aluminium. The top, display back, is 100% anadized Aluminium except for the wireless window strip at the front of the unit. The bottom case is Aluminium except for the big removeable door with is made of Mag.

 

moogleassassin,

I have a Covet M6500 and can confirm that it is also mostly Aluminium. Are you sure you have an M6500? The big removable door on the bottom is metal but extended out with appears to be plastic edging. The keyboard and palm rest (when open) are plastic, as well as both sides (where the ports are located). I also have a MacBook Pro 17, and there is definitely more Aluminum on that unit, but the M6500 definitely does not have a cheap plastic chassis.

havoctex,

Have you any updates on the USB 3.0 IO Board upgrade? I talked to a Pro Support rep earlier this week regarding an unrelated issue (my ePort replicator needed to be replaced) and he found this part number: RMNKT, however, it is listed as out of stock and with no price.

 

System arrived yesterday and have loaded Production Premium CS3, Calibrated w/i1Display2 and some results/comments.

6500 silver , 820cpu, 2800 video, 8g 1333/2, 126 ssd, 500hd, win 7 64bit.

I calibrated with the i1 and set to match my Eizo CE240w so 100 brightness, 6500 and 2.2. With laptop brighness set to ac/60% I can calibrate to 103brightness at 6500 and 2.2. It is an excellent match for my eizo in lightroom and illustrator.

Display settings seemed to override my profile on startup so I have to run the loader manually to use my custom profile even though it's in the startup folder. I have the loader as a shortcut in my taskbar in any case though.

As far as WEI Base score 6.8. Proc - 7.1, Mem - 7.4, Graphics - 6.8, Gaming- 6.8, Primary disc (set to ach in bios) - 7.3.

So far so good. I'm spoiled by my eizo for a more even overall screen. I find the top of the 6500 screen begins to darken the top inch or so so keep the lid more upright to get an even illumination but for the most part every screen has it's limitations, the eizo gets brighter on the left from it's backlighting. That said the color of white and the balance is equal to my eizo. A little more pop to the colors/reds on web pages, splash screens but pleased with it.

I am willing to say the i1Display2 does calibrate the screen well using advanced mode and setting brightness manually which end up at about 60%. I do not see any issues pre-processing photos in Lightroom on the road as well as ad layouts for magazines in Illustrator. The key is simply working in the central part of the screen. I will test print output to an Epson 3800 in a few days once I have profiles and a few other elements in place.

John

 

You are pretty much right on with your calibration of your M6500. I have been keeping the wife's M6400 RGBLED profiled with an EyeOne Pro Spectorphotometer and ProfileMaker 5 for about 9 months now. We recalibrate every two weeks and found that keeping brightness at 60% always gives us an almost exact 100/2.2/6500, usually plus or minus 1 or 2 points on brightness.

We also have the same Eizo, a big NEC, and output has been perfect from all of the profiled monitors on a profiled printer.

Of course, anything that is not color aware looks over saturated on the wide gamut monitor, but this is a small price to pay for a photographer.

Enjoy your M6500.

 

Carl,

Thanks. Appreciate your comments that parallel my experience so far.

John

 

Your MacBook Pro as your M6500 are definately *not* aluminium
The MacBook Pro outer finish is oxydized aluminium. The M6500 is anodyzed aluminium, so no wonder it doesn't feel the same when you compared it
Nevertheless the core is pure aluminium and the M6400 has a magnesium core which is even stronger than alu (but alu is more scretch resistent, that's why they use alu for the outer shell).

 

Hi John,

60% for the brightness setting seems bright? I'm not finding fault or saying you are wrong, it's just that I am surprised we're that far off in our brightness settings. I've been setting my brightness at either 36%, which gives me a reading of about 120 nits, or at 39% which gives me a luminance reading of about 140 nits (cd/m squared), which is supposed to be on the "high" end for matching screen to print. I'm just surprised that both you and Carl settled on 60%, which in my experience seems too bright to match screen to print? Are you working in fairly bright ambient lighting conditions?

Keith

 

Keith,

It was not my choice as far as screen brightness for intial calibration and I was going to start at a level of 45-50. It is xrite's software that shows a guide that one needs to center the needle on as a first step and then the software continues in making the profile to my chosen profile settings. So while I initially began the process with a lower setting I needed to bump up brightness for my software to begin where it needed to be. As far as brighness it simply isn't all that bright but it does conform. Also Eizo's own profile target for photography is a brightness setting of 100. May be the my software simply achieves the max brightness it needs first and then adjusts the video card output down to suit as its needs.

If I was doing printing only I might go for a 5000temp for paper color and lower target brightness but again....it's the software that adjusts the video card. Not my doing except placing the brightness where it wants it to profile. I normally will soft proof in Illustrator or Pshop and having a screen for just that doesn't suit my work which encompases video, print, photography and video.

In any regard....It works and seemed to for Carl as well.

John

 

The sun finally showed up today so I ran some tests.

1. Brightness level 37% in direct sunlight (through glass window), effect; none.

2. Brightness level 100% in direct sunlight (through glass window), effect; none.

I had IE8 open with both tests but I did not detect a shift in color temperature.

 

Hello everyone! It's my first posting and I must say: thank you to all for your comments, and efforts regarding this laptop. You have answered many of my questions. Soon, I will able to contribute also.

I'm close to ordering one, just have to decide if it'll be a M7740 or FX2800M. Talked to my rep to confirm USB 3, and was told, in Canada, USB 3 is not available. Sounded like USB 3 is country specific. Anyone else have this experience?

Regards,
Tony