please help on M6600 palm rest info w/no fingerprint reader

Could others please share info on ordering an M6600 with and/or without the fingerprint reader?

1) If you have the fingerprint reader, do you use it? If you use it, how is it, how long does it take, etc.?

2) Although I have no interest in the fingerprint reader, I am concerned that ordering the m6600 without the fingerprint reader will ship with a palm rest that somehow compromises the quality of the chassis and/or the palm rest. Could that be true?

3) It appears that the palm rest is just one piece of a larger uniform part in which the motherboard, GPU, hard drives and more sit in. Is this right?

4) In any case, might the palm rest that ships with no fingerprint reader be made of a different material (plastic instead of magnesium-alloy, for instance) than the palm rest that ships with the fingerprint reader?

5) Might it take longer to process an order for an M6600 without a fingerprint reader? (Does everybody order the fingerprint reader whether they use it or not? Could it be that if most everyone orders the fingerprint reader, Dell might not have the palm rest for no fingerprint reader easily available in stock?)

I apologize for my naive, amateur questions. If any users could please help with answering or commenting on each of the above, please do so. Thanks.

 

I don't have an M6600, so you can take my answers with a grain of salt, but in the numerous Latitude models that I have had with and without the fingerprint reader, I found no difference in material or quality between the palmrests with and without it. As far as stock, I wouldn't imagine it would make a difference as Dell sells thousands of these with and without them.

 

Thanks for your reply, mZimm. How about other M6600 owners?

If your M6600 has a fingerprint reader, do you use it? How do you like it? Is your palm rest made of plastic or magnesium alloy?

If your M6600 does not have a fingerprint reader, do you notice any flex or difference in the palm rest? Is your palm rest made of plastic or magnesium alloy? Do you know whether there is an empty space beneath the palm rest where the fingerprint reader would otherwise go? Do you think they fill this space with anything?

Any other comments on any or all of the 5 questions in my original post here? Please? Thanks...

 

Had three M6600's in the past, going to go back to one soon.

All of mine had the non-FIPS swipe fingerprint except for my first model. The palmrest is made out of pure plastic and having a fingerprint scanner or not doesn't make any difference to rigidity. In other words, having a fingerprint or not makes no difference to the sturdiness of the palmrest. They all are solid.

With that said, there is a small slot under the area where a fingerprint scanner goes where it is usually reserved for a scanner to be installed. However, the durability of the plastic is still strong, that it won't cave into the slot when you apply pressure to the area where the fingerprint scanner goes into. In terms of rigidity, having the scanner or not having the scanner makes no difference.

Also, the palmrest is like the "cover" for the motherboard. For all models, it is clipped into the base enclosure and secured with a dozen screws (opening the laptop to upgrade your GPU and CPU can be a pain because of it). The only thing the palmrest is used as a support is for the keyboard, which is screwed on top of it. All palmrests are made with the same touchpad model and same materials. The fingerprint scanner is also integrated into the palmrest, but for swipe models, they just cut a slot for the scanner to be exposed and for FIPS, a small rectangle. otherwise, there is no dedicated slot that has a physical, seperate scanner to be installed though a hole. Instead, the PCB of the scanner is mounted and screwed under the palmrest for models that support it. Like my point above, the rigidity and the quality is not different between a non-scanner or a scanner palmrest.

Example of the Palmrest shown as a Dell Spare Part:

 

Thanks so much for your informative reply Star Forge! Please forgive my ignorance, but I do not fully understand just this third to last sentence in your post: "Instead, the PCB of the scanner is mounted and screwed under the palm rest for models that support it." Could you or someone else explain to me what this means? Does it mean that the support structure for the scanner is mounted on palm rests with no fingerprint readers where the readers/scanner would otherwise go? (Perhaps that would explain the good rigidity and lack of flex that Star Forge reports. Yes? No?)

Also, in the photo that Star Forge so kindly provided, could someone report which palm rest and/or which reader is depicted in the photo? Is that a smartcard reader? Is it a cover for a fingerprint reader? What is it I see there?

How about opinions about the usefulness of the fingerprint reader? Does anyone really like it and use it? Do many users have it and never use it? If I go ahead and order my system tonight or tomorrow without any fingerprint reader, will I really miss out on an excellent security device? M6600 owners, please share your info/thoughts...

 

The swipe fingerprint scanner is actually that rectangle with a round dot and a black slot above the icons. You can tell that the part you see of the scanner is still part of the palmrest as an integrated piece, not as a inserted, dedicated piece. The actual scanner (the PCB that contains the scanner's circuitry) is screwed under that region and the black stripe is where your finger slides over for the scanner to scan your print.

For non-scanner variants, that rectangular region is just not there. It will be all flat. However, that doesn't affect anything except that you have a scanner or not.

See below for one that doesn't have a fingerprint scanner:

 

In case you are wondering, here is the back of the palmrest with the FIPS reader and contactless smart card:

 

Great pic Smooth_J. Thanks. BUT STILL:

Does anyone here make any good use of either the FIPS reader or the contactless smart card reader?

All I can find so far (anywhere) are users COMPLAINING either about how SLOW the fingerprint reader is or how USELESS the smartcard reader is. Does ANYBODY here use and really like either of them? If so, which one, and what do you like about it? (How well does it work or not work for you?)
::
POLL: do you happily use the (swipe or other) fingerprint read?
POLL: do you find no good use for the fingerprint reader?
POLL: do you happily use the contactless smartcard reader?
POLL: do you find no good use for the contactless smartcard reader?
::
PLEASE GIVE YOUR ANSWERS.
Are M6600 owners HERE too busy or too embarrassed to answer these questions? Is this question too boring? Did I somehow offend most everyone here? If so, I am sorry, I apologize, I will try to be a better and more constructive/helpful forum member. Sincerely. Could some more users here help people like me out and answer or comment on the questions/polls above? PLEASE? Please help me and others make informed decisions about how we configure the systems we are about to order. Thanks sincerely.

 

First, calm down. I don't think you upset anyone here. Just because someone doesn't respond doesn't mean you hurt their feelings, or your question is "too boring".

Now to answer your questions:

POLL: do you happily use the (swipe or other) fingerprint read?
I mainly use it during login, so not that often.

POLL: do you find no good use for the fingerprint reader?
Other than login - no.

POLL: do you happily use the contactless smartcard reader?
I use my work badge (rfid) and fingerprint to login to the laptop.

POLL: do you find no good use for the contactless smartcard reader?
Other than login - no.

 

Thanks for your patient and considerate response, Smooth_J. Your welcome and wise advice should sink through my thick skull before too long.

Also, thanks for reporting on your use of the two devices.