Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge

Gulfstream thanks for the advice, in fact I upgraded the order to a ScorpioBlack 320gb-7200rpm HD, the farther budget could reach under a FFS-SSD.

Indeed I've noticed that aftermarket-upgrades can save a lot of money (for example, the ScorpioBlack 320gb-7200rpm is $75 vs the $330's 320gb-7200rpm-ffs 2nd HD upgrade option in dell's website), so I'm looking for extra RAM:

Will any DDR3-1066mhz memory do it, or are there different specifications on size and dimms?
Is there a real difference between brands? Corsair, Kingston, etc?

Thanks,

 

Yes if you order new it's best I've found to go light on the drives and the memory. You just pick your favorite brand, they're all good as best I know and go to their site and they all have a 'memory finder' or something where you just enter the make and model and they bring up what they have that's compatible with what you have. People with more experience than I have preferences and my brand experience is low but Kingston, Crucial and Corsair all seem to have reputations for quality stuff

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Precision Covet QX9300, 4GB (2x2), Samsung 64GB SLC SSD & 320GB Seagate, XP Pro with the standard Covet upgrades

 

The biggest difference you will notice between xp and windows 7 is stability!
In xp, if an application hangs at usually locks up the whole os, while in win 7, because it sandboxes the individual apps,only the faulty application hangs, and is easily closed without having to reboot.
At work, my xp box is running various SQL driven systems,and i have to reboot the machine several times every day as xp's basic memory/networking management stacks simply cannot cope with the loads that SQL puts on it.

I have the same software running on vista(now win 7)on a test box and it runs perfectly.- No hangs or reboots, just runs and runs.

Then of course there is app/hardware compatibility.
Just install the os, run window update, (and speaking of windows update, windows update in xp is just appalling GRRR )and the majority of the time your done, no manually hunting on-line for drivers, or pulling your house apart looking for that 10 year old driver cd.....urgh. ........just wonderful
The user experiance (it makes me cringe when i have to use xp at work, URGH),everything is so much easier/faster to use than xp.

And of course, if your a geek like me, 15 mins to install win 7, as apposed to 50 mins to install xp is a huge time saver.

So basically, do yourself a favour and get windows 7

 

Quite seriously thank you. It's the first time I've posted the same basic question and it's the first coherent answer. Your points clear up a lot for me. I already have Windows 7 in a dual boot with XP and it was 7 that let me easily set XP as the default system where I don't believe XP would. Yes the automatic driver finder is indeed cool and XP doesn't have it. But as far as actually hanging the system, where like you say it 'locks up' everything? Swear to god it's never done anything to me that Task Manager didn't shut up for me. I've read all about 'hard boots' and the stuff you say but it's never been a problem. The famous BSOD? Never seen it. I can only maybe attribute it to my obsessive maintenance schedule. Or incredible luck. All the things you do to keep a system running as close to new as possible? I do all of them at the end of each day. And also obsessed with 'less is more' which makes up a good part of my 'why change' argument. I will continue to try to figure out why Windows 7 needs an extra 5GBs to make those improvements though. Admittedly XP and Microsoft in general makes some crappy stuff. So I axed their browser, defragger, system cleanup, uninstaller, firewall and registry tools along with some others that I can't think of.

And as I don't use it for work more than a few hours a day or not at all (with the occasional 10 hour stint) I don't have the memory and other problems it sounds like you deal with. I'm not even on a network. I'm in a rainforest at the bitter end of the countrys fiber optic line. I've wondered and asked more than once why so many of the posters here, and usually the ones that sound like they know lots more than me chose to run Vista 64. It sounded plain flat out nuts to me. And it seemed it was the Vista 64 machines that had all the problems with drivers and more. It sounds like you need the improvements it offers and I just don't. For now anyway. I've really worked hard at getting XP setup to be a lean, clean and fast piece of work and have mostly succeded. I'm going to keep and probably buy Windows 7 just so I can keep all my different flight simulators and games on it but stick with XP until maybe my needs change. But at least I have an idea what's the big deal with Windows 7. Again, thanks
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Precision Covet QX9300, 4GB (2x2), Samsung 64GB SLC SSD & 320GB Seagate, XP Pro

 

I am thinking of buying an M6400 not the covet but the silver one. I wish to get your opinion as owners of such a system. Regarding everything related to usability, speed, built quality, display, I hear that the palm rest is a bit uncomfortable..any info will be greatly appreciated.

 

The palm rest is, well, interesting. The outer shell is wrapped up around the front of the notebook, and terminates in a sqaured off edge. That is not too bad, but, the corner is somewhat sharp. For me, it ends up sitting right in the middle of my wrist, in the soft spot.

It was also somewhat hard to get use to the keyboard being off-center, but, once you get use to it, it is great.

I love the machine.. Runs fast, love the extra memory, and everything.

Go for it.

 

guys,
Any one know if this new 1TB drive will squeeze into the covet?
(12.5mm thick instead of 9.5mm)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=685

 

Hey guys,

Loving my M6400. Couple of quick questions though:

1. Can I upgrade my CPU (I have a T9550 duo core) and would consider a quad core? Is that possible?

2. Can I upgrade my graphics card to the higher end version of the 2 options?

Thanks.

 

guys,
new firmware for the dvd drive is up on the dell site

 

guys with the M6400... i'm in the market for a workstation laptop...

i'm finding that i'm reaching the limitations of my Studio 17...
do you think that the m6400 is a good buy now, with the 30% coupon or should i wait for update in technology?

thanks

and btw, does dell business still have 30 day satisfaction guarantee refund?

here's what i'm looking at...