Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge

Some companies install the 3rd party GPU via a modular slot (MXM or custom interface), and some solder it.

As for the Intel chipset, the mobile variation of Intel chipsets (Series 4) come in various flavors, with some including the X4500(HD) discrete graphics and some not.

Some makers opt to go with an external GPU source (IE, Nvidia, ATI), Chipset supplied (X4500(HD)), or both in a hybrid design (Like Toshiba or Apple and their newest Macbooks; the offer both a beefier dedicated GPU and the lower powered chipset provided solution).

The M6400 doesn't have the x4500 included, just the Nvidia Quadro 3700.

 

This makes sense, and, well, that just won't fly.

 

The M6400 has the Q43 Express chipset just without the X4500!
The Quadro FX comes on a MXM-3 card, here's a pic out of the service manual:

 

But Q43 not a mobile chipset actually)

Q43 doesn't have the x4500 included. I just never heard about this kind of variation..

How that? http://www.intel.com/Assets/Image/diagram/Q43-block-diagram.gif

P.S. Sorry for my stubbornness.

 

That's too bad, a machine of this caliber with switchable graphics would've made an incredible difference on battery life.

*Prays for a BIOS update*

 

The problem is, that you think the X4500 is physically integrated in the Q43 chipset. It's not. The X4500 is an additional piece of hardware which the M6400 simply doesn't have!

Here a pic of two Latitude D630 one with "integrated" Intel X3100 graphics and the other with a NVidia NVS 135. As you can see, the integrated X3100 is a chip like the NVidia card.

Probably not, because it would need to use the desktop version of the X4500 which consumes more power than the mobile version. I think the problem is the desktop chipset. With the M4400 I got around 4 hours with the 6cell battery, the M6400 gives you around 2 hours with the 9cell battery, I don't think it's just the graficcard.

 

Judging by the reported battery life differences between identically configured HP 8730w and M6400, where the only difference is the chipset, I think you're right. I also can't justify the battery life difference between my old 8710 and the M6400 by the difference in power draw of the CPU and GPU. (Expected power usage in watts went up 15%, battery life went down 35%.)

It -could- be the backlit keyboard. Wonder how much power that uses? It does light up an additional 17" screen equivalent in area. Or maybe RAM cards take much more power than I thought, and having four of them is bad vs. having two.

To be fair, the M6400 has the fastest bus speed in a laptop. Correct me if I'm wrong but it uses 1066 mhz RAM and not 800 like the other manufacturers?

The chipset would have to take an additional 20W of power over its mobile variant to be entirely at fault, all on its own.


By the way, Dell has released (finally) an Extended Capacity Battery, or at least finally marked it as M6400 compatible. It should bump the M6400 up to five hours on super power saving profile. It's still not as much time as I have needed to continuously run cordless in the past, but it is better. (I used all 8.5 hours of the 8710 taking notes at SigGraph! Had about half an hour left at the end of the day.)

 

Funny I was about to link you to that block diagram myself...

What you have to understand is that it is a chip SET. Meaning it is a set of microchips that is designed to work together. It isn't one chip. Normally when people talk about a "chipset" they mean the north and south bridge, but there is more to it even than that.

Look again at the block diagram: (http://www.intel.com/Assets/Image/diagram/Q43-block-diagram.gif)

The Q43 GMCH is the North Bridge chip. The ICH10D is the South Bridge. Those are two different things on your motherboard, connected by traces. In fact each of those separate blocks is a separate component, or group of components, on your motherboard, connected by traces. On the upper left you see the Intel GMA 4500, which means that the Q43 Express north bridge has a set of pins designed to be a plug-in for the Intel 4500.

Whether each motherboard manufacturer USES all of these components is entirely up to them. In the case of the M6400, the GMA4500 is not soldered on to the board and is not connected to the Q43 north bridge chip.

It's like a motherboard manufacturer choosing not to have ieee1394 (firewire) in a specific motherboard. The chipset south bridge has a plug in that could take it, but the device is not physically present on the board.

 

Wow! Thank you! Is it the battery slice or another extended battery? I found this link for the slice, is it this?
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...tail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=biz&cs=555&sku=312-0747

---Bruce

 

Hmmm - that doesn't look well thought out. It stops you using the port replicator and also only doubles the amount of battery life that you have - which ok - is a lot, but for something that size, they could have put 18 cells in it!

A replacement to the CD drive would be a better bet for me at least.