Precision M4600 Review thread

Hi guys i was planning to buy this laptop but couldnt find any reviews so i decided to start a thread where all new M4600 owners can post reviews of their laptops.

Here's a quick template you can copy paste and use as a guide if you'd like (or come up with your own!):

1.) Build Quality - [score here]
Like the rubber? Is it durable? How does it look? Weight? Sexy, fugly?
2.) Display - [score here]
Display type - Bright Enough? Colors? Viewing angles? Tell us what your eyes see!
3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [score here]
Any flex? Typing feel? Touchpad hard/easy to use? Any quirks?
4.) Performance - [score here]
How's the quadro and firepro for your needs? Does it run well? Any hiccups?
5.) Battery Life - [Put the time you get on battery here]
How's the, uhh, battery life? What settings you used to achieve above results
6.)Gaming - [score here]
tell us what kind of gaming can we expect out of these quadro and firepro cards
7.) Overall Impression [score here]
Final thoughts. Like it? Love it? Hate it?



all owners of M4600 please take a few min to post your reviews it would be really helpful for people like me....thanks

 

Can I bump this thread? I'm interested in this info as well, particularly battery life. I have heard numbers ranging from 2-2.5 hours for the FirePro card and 2.5-3 hours for the Quadro. I'm confused -- is it really that terrible? Is anyone getting more than that?

 

I have the IPS screen and the Quadro 2000M. I get around 3 hours on battery. Note that I do not have the Optimus technology which allows switching back to the integrated graphics for better battery life.

I imagine the FirePro card gets about the same since it also lacks Optimus technology.

I haven't seen any battery reports from users with the Quadro cards and a non-IPS screen. They should have significantly better battery life.

 

I assume you have the 9-cell battery?

 

I guess so : I own an 4600 w/IPS +Quadro 2000M and I get about 2.5 hrs using power saving mode and min brightness... with the 6-cell battery.

That said, I don't understand why battery life on that type of laptop matter to so many people...

I mean, you certainly don't buy such a powerful and pricely laptop for mainly using browsing the web, speaking with skype or sending emails...
If that's mostly your needs, just buy an iPad...

The fact is those workstations are so powerful that they can't delivery their full power if they are not used w/ the power adapter...even if you choose the best perf profile, you won't be able, that's a fact.

I use it mostly for post prod in CS5, 3D rendering, and also for playing games...
When on battery, I never play because I need to lower the resolution, blablabla and even with that, there's too much lag... nothing to see when I use it with the power adapter... It seems that I've changed from a netbook to a powerful workstation....

I haven't choosen a quad core SB for not using it at it's max capability !!!

 

I think the main complaint with the battery life is that comparable laptops are getting 4-6 hours of battery while the Precision gets half that. I guess buying two batteries is an option. Is it possible to charge a battery when it isn't in the laptop?

 

Do not forget that the IPS screen is A LOT more demanding power consumption than WLED FHD screen, also there is no way to use Nvidia optimus technology, and by that way increasing battery life.

 

Hmm... what kind of battery life would the M4600 get with a WLED 1080p screen and M5950 GPU? I have heard that the AMD GPU cannot be turned on and off either, consuming more battery than the 2000M with Optimus.

 

Did we really need another thread for the M4600 ?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...-precision-m4600-15-6-mobile-workstation.html

Also

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del.../581542-precision-m4600-owners-lounge-58.html