should I hold out for the M6600?

In all honesty you shouldn't decide a laptop just on the 16:9 vs 16:10. If you can benefit with the newest platform, then go for it. For me, I don't need the latest and greatest so I put 16:10 screen high on my list.

 

Honestly, I don't really need the latest and greatest, either. The 940xm and 3800 graphics card are probably already a bit overkill for me (web/database developer who uses VisualStudio). I was just trying to future-proof. To me, the biggest attraction of Sandy Bridge is that it would consume less power, and I could skip the dedicated graphics card to save even more power. I definitely prefer 16:10, and actually have my new U22IH monitor in portrait mode so I can skim through my code without a ton of scrolling. I hate decisions.

 

Funny how you say you don't need the latest and greatest and you have a 940XM and Quadro 3800 graphics.

 

Very nice. What specs and how much total paid?

 

If you care about power consumption/battery life, your configuration isn't a great laptop to meet your requirements. IMO future proofing is a foolish notion because there is honestly nothing that a Sandy Bridge CPU can do performance wise than what your current CPU cannot, similarly with the next generation parts (GPU, etc.).

 

Sure, I can agree with different strokes for different folks. I initially just pointed out that the M6600 will most likely not have a 16:10 screen, because for some people that does matter. It was just weird how you said you didn't care if it was 16:10 or 16:9, and then started rabidly defending the 16:9 viewpoint. I've already dealt with the issue, personally. I got myself an HP 8740w with a lovely Dreamcolor IPS 1920x1200 screen, although, really, for me it's the resolution and not the screen aspect. As I said, if they offered a 16:9 with higher resolution than 1920x1200, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat.

 

If I had to guess, the new Precisions aren't going to be released for a few more months. Probably late Q1.

 

Hmm, the GPU will be a noticeable upgrade because the FX3800M is the same old G92 chip. Plus, there were some notions that they might actually provide hybrid graphics this time, as well (for which they had the option since M6400 with it's Q43 chipset and the M6500 with their integrated graphics on the intel CPUs) which means much better battery life (might be useful if you travel a lot).

I suppose that the case might get a makeover since the screen format will be changed (and thus the whole notebook will be less deep). I'd prefer if the materials actually stay the same, though it might be a bit boxier (e.g. like HP) and maybe to have some more colour options (e.g. black/dark grey/gunmetal).

 

Don't bet on it having less depth than the current model, it's almost certainly going to be wider though, I raved on about this very thing in the long running anti 16:9 thread we had, 16:9 has mostly brought bigger notebook footprints with a smaller screen area

 

I would really like to see switchable GFX on the new unit... would only make me want to buy it more, and since MOST of what i do is just web apps and browing that would help my battery alot!