Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge

Ordered my Covet today - Core 2 Quad, 8GB, 80 GB drive, and the other standard features on Covet. I'll either get a SSD drive or a larger 7200 RPM drive for the main, and a 500 GB from Newegg for the secondary. Was told to give it at least three weeks before it would arrive. Oh well, maybe my old Inspiron 9100 will last until then!

 

Hey there! Im hoping to replace an Inspiron 9100 with this thing as well.
What kind of condition is your 9100? Mines still chugging away but its hitting its retirement. Ive carried it to and from work every day since I bought it when they first came out. Its held up **** well. Battery and AC supply was all I ever needed to replace. Its got little problems, but still gets me through the day.

Just curious, what specifically made you get the quad core?

Im trying to figure out if I really need it at that cost. Also, I cant go 64 bit because of the software I want to run. Is there any point of me going quad core without 64 bit and only 4 GB of RAM?

 

I'm replacing my Inspiron 8600 with a Covet. It'll be 5 years old in January. Broken screen hinge, dented keyboard (fist-o-fury) and other minor dings.

 

About the same. I'm having sporadic BSOD's, but I think it's memory related. I could probably replace the memory modules and get another 4 years out of it.

It wasn't a necessity by any means. I felt that the difference in day-to-day operations between the quad and 3.06 Core 2 would be negligible, but if I needed the extra processing of four cores, I'd have it available. I have occasion to use 4 cores on some video and sound editing projects.

Also, I suspect that more and more software will be taking advantages of multiple cores in the near future, and if I keep this laptop as long as I have my 9100, I'll be money ahead to have a quad available.

Sure, you'll get to use most of your RAM with 32-bit, and when you eventually do go 64-bit, you'll have a "free" 1GB extra.

 

I just looked up the 8600 and it looks EXACTLY like a 9100 except half the thickness (laptop chip inside as opposed to the 9100s pentium 4 desktop chip?)

Im missing a return key, broken bezel near hinge (superglued), firewire port broken (ext drives now on USB only ), battery holds about 2 minute charge, and close/sleep function all messed up.

The Covet is going to be a sweet replacement and although wider and longer than this Dell, its almost half the thickness, and Im already used to carrying a power supply only slightly smaller than the m6400. As long as I work out some possible issues with software, Im going to buy one soon.

 

Im curious though, is it BAD, or usless to get a quad core if only running 32 bit on 4 (3.XX) gigs of RAM? It just lets you run MORE programs right? Would it be silly for me to get quad if Im not 64bit?

 

Quad core has nothing to do with 64-bit.

Quad core is makes multitasking much faster and also makes programs that a multi-threaded run quicker.

Greg

 

No, it would be silly of you to get more than 4GB of memory if you're not 64-bit, but 32-bit apps can still take advantage of multiple cores, no differently than 64-bit apps can. The only difference in 32-bit and 64-bit OS's is the amount of memory they can address.

 

yeah, I knew if Im 32 bit theres no point of getting more ram. I just wasnt sure if quad core was silly if I am only on 32bit,4gB ram.
I guess I was saying that if you only have 3.XX GB of ram, do you NOT get the full benefit of Quad Core (even though I know its not related directly, will the lack of more ram bog down any benefit you get from quad core multitasking allowance. If that makes any sense.


Thanks for the info. Now Im just waiting to find out from David about the Pro Tools issues.

 

How did you get them to put the 80GB in the setup instead of the 160GB?

I just ordered my Covet an hr ago and I asked them if it was possible to get it with the 80GB 5400 RPM drive instead of the 160 that shows on their website and they asked their Senior Manager and they said no. I wanted to upgrade on my own as well but the 160GB 7200RPM should do me ok for a little bit and then just pop in a 2nd Larger drive for the added space.

Either way I can't wait for mine to come in. The supposed ship date is 11/18/08 but the final person I spoke with said that they have been shipping them sooner than the expected ship dates.