should I hold out for the M6600?

Is the m6600 expected to be released at the same time as the 4600?

 

Hmm, makes sense, but it doesn't sound like something I'd rave about, personally. Less depth would be OK, but I guess the screen size would be dropped down to about 16" to keep current dimensions. Having a wider laptop than this with the more or less same depth I'm not so sure I'd like. It means new laptop backpack (I barely found something with a simple and acceptable design like this old LowePro), more weight, etc.

The only things this thing has going for it is new graphics card (the most important upgrade for me) and possible hybrid graphics (which they could have implemented before as they had the options) and USB3 (I can live with the current two HDs plus eSATA) plus the Sandy Bridge enhancements (lower power consumption, better overclocking potential).

Maybe I should consider getting M6500 after all, but the available graphic cards for it are not a significant upgrade over the M6400's FX3800M (around 20%). 6970M-based card would be a different story.

 

thats what the rumor says...

yeah im yet to see any dell laptop with the option to OC... and i dont trust software... Bios or GTFO

 

Well, it's pretty easy to do it with the QX9300 CPU (as 'X' CPUs have an unlocked multiplier). But without some tweaking with some software profiles, it will not get automatically downclocked, I think. I didn't play much with it, as 99% of the time I don't need an overclocked CPU. Maybe for Armed Assault 2 or DCS:Black Shark, but I usually play those on my desktop, of course.

 

I just got in an M6500. The price was just right for me, with lots of room to upgrade down the road when components get cheaper. I find myself waiting all the time for a good price/performance match, and the M6500 was perfect right now. I got 740QX, 8GB RAM, RGBLED w/ cam, 250GB HDD, and rolled my own 80GB SSD, and CompleteCare for around $2,500. I've been eying the Precision M-line for years and it seems every time a new model drops, the price skyrockets again. I do CAD, video, web development, etc... so this kind of horsepower is needed. I formerly had an XPS M1710, and the gaming components were nice for a while, but it just didn't cut it for number crunching.

So, is the M6500 not going to be compatible with 32mn CPUs? Is that a limitation of the system or the chipset?

 

I have to say that I agree with you. I use my M6500 docked most of the time. In normal use I don't know how much I would miss 1200 vs 1080 pixels. I would rather have a laptop display with the color fidelity of my desktop monitor. Accuracy of the laptop's display is more important to me than 2.3 million pixels vs 2.1 million pixels.

 

The M6500 is compatible with some 32 nm CPUs (the dual-core Arrandales). It's not compatible with Sandy Bridge because of chipset and socket issues. It's just our misfortune that the Westmere 32 nm quad-cores (that would have debuted with Arrandale) got canceled.

 

You mean the price of the new model, right? Not the old one?

'Cause I've been drooling over the M6500 for a while and hope to upgrade my very old Inspiron 8600 in a little bit. I like being able to have 2 internal HDDs, the M6500's USB 3.0, eSATA, and of course the other hardware upgrades over a some 5-year old laptop. I do no gaming and next to no video encoding (although that could change) or graphics work, but call me crazy, I like having nice hardware should I need it for something. I'm hoping the M6500 will be around the price it is now (or even lower) when I'm able to finally order one.

 

Well, rave was probably not the right word, but, pointed it out with examples a few times

 

If the M6600 also would move to the 17.3 instead of 17.1 then that would be a great loss.. What then to buy... Lenovo W701 or de Hp 8740ws successors..

Why oh why this horrible trend to 16:9 instead of 16:10, i am not watching movies or anything like that on my laptop for that i have 58" tv..

What i do on my laptop is what others in this thread also do and that is programming. But a programming laptop seems to be declared death..

Yes those 120pixels is a lot. I use Eclipse IDE that has loads of views and editors. And 120 pixels is a whole view (like the problems or task view just below the editor) I need that task/problems/console view. But i also need to have a good overview of my source code..

So in 1080 screen i loose a lot... I think i rather have a 4:3 (16:12) screen back then a 16:9 .. Vertical pixels are just way more important then horizontal..

I get that 1200p screens are a little bit more expensive to make (lets say 10%) so ok, let me pay for the screen 20% more then i would have paid for that screen in 1080p.. Then Dell/Hp/Lenovo makes more profit and i am happy.

I just want to upgrade my current setup, to the new cpu and chipset/wifi nothing more, i am happy with the rest.