Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

Hi! I am new here and I just ordered my M4400 as a replacement for a Latitude D820

The laptop is still in production, but after reading some of the posts in these forum I came to realize maybe is not that good an option what I bought, my main concern is if the configuration I made and all of the issues with this laptop will give me trouble also I wanted a matte display, but my part number seems very diffrent from the ones posted here.

My main use is for work I use a lot of VM , SQL Server & Visual Studio, picture/video editing (enthusiast) a lot of video watching and I am hoping for the ocassional games.

-Do you recomend to cancel the order and change anything because of the heat/performance issues?
(also I got the FX 1700 upgrade for free)
-If I keep this config do you recommend the coolingslice?
-RGBLED is really that good?

Thank you for your advice

Heres the new lap:
Precision M4400, Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition X9100 3.06GHz, 1066MHz, 6M L2 Cache Dual Core (223-9148)
8.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 2 DIMM for Dell Mobile Precision (311-8810)
Internal Backlit Spanish Keyboard for Mobile Precision (330-0827)
512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700M Precision M4400 (320-7048)
250GB Hard Drive 9.5MM 7200RPM FFS for Mobile Precision MX400 (341-6950)
UPEK Swipe Fingerprint Reader for Mobile Precision M4400 (311-8817)
Integrated 0.3MP VGA web cam w/ microphone for WUXGA LCD Mobile Precision M4400 (313-6470)
15.4 inch Wide Screen WUXGA RGBLED LCD for Mobile Precision M4400 (320-6831)
Dell Wireless 410 Bluetooth 2.1 + UWB Minicard for Latitude E/Mobile Precision (430-3091)
8X DVD+/-RW for Mobile Precision (313-6461)
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n 3X3) 1/2 MiniCard for VPRO Latitude E/Mobile Precision (430-3362)
120GB 2nd Hard Drive 9.5MM 1.8inch 5400RPM for Mobile Precision MX400 (341-6957)
9-Cell/85-WHr Battery for Latitude E/Mobile Precision (312-0730)
Docking:
E/Monitor, Flat Panel Monitor Stand for Latitude E-Family/Mobile Precision (311-8844)
Dell UltraSharp 1908WFP, Wide Flat Panel Without Stand,19.0 Inch, for Latitude and Mobile Precision (320-7321)
E/Port Plus, Advanced Port Replicator for Latitude E-Family/Mobile Precision (430-3096)

 

Someone offered $1700 sweetness

 

Well,I suppose your choice's are,put up with 1 dead pixel and a screen you like,or get it replaced again at the risk of getting one you think is "grainy"

Some manufacturer's won't even replace a screen for one dead or stuck pixel,have you tried massaging [gently]where the dead pixel is?

Up to you.

No.have you tried different setting's in your media player eg.hardware acceleration etc.
Which media player are you talking about?
In my experience the dell driver's work best.
VLC make's a very good player that seem's to have very few problem's playing back anything

Welcome hhuerta !

Well if any M4400 is going to get hot,it's your spec....X9100 44W FX1700M 50W.[supposedly ]
The one person [in this thread]who had one with a X9100 cpu sent it back because the GPU downclocked playing games.
Personally I think the cooling is lacking for "gaming" with the added heat of the extreme cpu's,mine is fine,but only have a 25W tdp cpu.[the heat output of the cpu directly affect's the GPU cooling]

There is a heap of naf software that comes with these model's.....dell system software utility,dell control point software,all of the security software,that from my experiment's,de stabilizes the pc,slow's it down [a lot!] and are generally just a PITA......if your willing [like me] to do without most of this functionality [security is probably a big one for most] you may end up with a very fast,stable sytem that doesn't crash or bluescreen....like mine.

From my experience,the hardware is just like any other notebook,it's the dell bloatware suite's that cause a lot of problem's....in my humble opinion.

I guess you could say the delay in fixing a lot of these issue's could be attributed to the fact they have to do it for 5 supported operating system's,maybe not an excuse,but possibly a reason.

That's my take on it anyway.

 

This is going to be a hell of a great notebook. The FX 1700 is just a very small improvement over the FX 770, but if you got the upgrade for free, go for it

The heat and performance issue is mainly caused by the weak performance of the cooling pad. When you get problems, you can ask for a exchange to normal thermal paste (arctic silver or TX-2).

The coolslice is usefull if you plan to work with the M4400 on you lap!

The RGB-LED is the one thing I like most on my M6400! CCFL screen aren't very bright. Led screen are bright but have cold colors. With RGB LEDs you get best of both: Great colors and a very bright screen! Don't mind the glossy surface (you can always get a matte protection foil...), the more you'll use it, the more you will love it!

 

That seems fair,are you going to accept it?

 

On the phone right now ^_^, not gonna make the same mistake like I did last time. Thank god for ebay.

 

Well the M6400's cooling is exactly as the M4400, just with an added cooling for the GPU...
I think the GPU can handle hight 80s °C and Dell tested the system to handle Xtreme processors! So the problem is the thermal pads they use for mass production! During the test stages they always use thermal paste (like arctic silver 5...)
I had 2 M4400 (one with a P8400 and another one with a T9400) and both dropped GPU temperatures when I applied TX-2 thermal paste about 8°C!!

Before I had some downclocking on the P8400 system (when the GPU got to 98°C). But after the thermal paste exchange, the system never got hotter than 86°C!!

After all: The M4400 is able to play games, but Dell made a mistake to switch to those pads instead of normal cooling paste!

 

Thank you

I will put Vista Bis 64 (fresh install) because I think you are correct I experienced the same with my Latitude D820 I have Vista Ultimate 64 with nothing form dell and It has worked a lot better (altough i miss the OSD for volume)

Thank you

I am going to try it I normally don´t use games but if I guess if it has issues I will ask for the thermal paste (I didn´t know of that) and hope for not having troubles if it works fine this is going to be a great laptop for everything I want to do.

and no normally I use it at the office and at home in a solid surface.

Thanx again and I will post my experience here with the new lap

 

I had both the Samsung and the LG M4400!
After I read some thread in this forum, I wanted the Samsung.. when I compared both (in order to keep the better one) it took me 2 days to accept that I liked the LG screen more!

The Samsung screen is less grainy... but the LG screen look a lot sharper and brighter... After color adjustment the LG screen also looker more natural... So after I compared a lot of different wallpaper comparisons, I choose to go with the LG.

--> Try to adjust the colors and the gamma correction before you decide! I'm shure you're very happy you've got the LG screen after all!

 

Since when is a notebook with one cooling fan for both CPU and GPU exactly as a notebook with two separate fans and heatsink's on different side's of the notebook?

Yes,as we BOTH know AS5 lower's the temp's and mine STILL didn't come with wax pad's on the cpu or gpu core standard from Dell...it had paste,not very well applied,but still paste.

hhuerta,forgot to mention,this thread sorry.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=321280&highlight=coolslice+M4400