Just got my Precision M90

Hi All,

I finally received my fully loaded Precision M90 and it's just wonderful. It runs so cool and quiet that I haven't been able to make it fans work yet!

Only one complaint: the keyboard is a bit noisy, actually much noisier than my Inspiron 5150.

I don't know what else to say, if you have any questions please ask.

Sam

 

Did you ordered it with the 4GB RAM? I think you were saying that in a previous thread.

 

Yeah, 4 gigs! But windows says I have only 3. It's seems it can recognize only 3 gigs of RAM (I opened the RAM tray, I've got 2x2gig sticks).

Sam

 

Windows XP can use up to 4GB. Check your BIOS settings and see if the machine recognizes all 4GB.

 

I checked the BIOS. It says:

Memory Installed: 4GB
Memory Available: 3GB

Note: Due to an amount of memory being assigned for system use, Memory Available is less than Memory Installed.

Now what does it mean? System is WinXP?

 

From the M90 page on Dell:

The total amount of usable memory available will be less depending on the actual system configuration.

What's your configuration? Sounds like something is using 1GB of memory, perhaps onboard video or something along those lines.

 

"Windows XP 32-bit is limited to a total of 4 GB, which is equally divided between Kernel and application usage. Windows XP x64 can support much more memory; although the theoretical memory limit a 64-bit computer can address is about 18 billion GB (18 exabytes), Windows XP x64 is currently limited to 128 GB of physical memory and 16 TB of virtual memory. Microsoft claims this limit will be increased as hardware capabilities improve. In practice, most motherboards compatible with 64-bit processors do not support nearly the maximum, and often retain the 4 GB limit."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition

I did notice when I was looking at HP's 9420 at:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12427_na/12427_na.HTML

Up to 4GB* of 533- or 667-MHz DDR2 SDRAM, dual channel memory support

* "Above 3-GB, all memory may not be available due to system resource requirements."

Did you pay Dell $2,500+ just for the "4 GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMM" ?

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/pro...0?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~section=specs#tabtop

"Performance Professional User:
Engineers, animators and other workstation professionals who perform memory intensive tasks can utilize up to 4GB (2) of high speed DDR2 memory to accommodate large models or data sets and help reduce file swapping to the hard disk drive.

(2) The total amount of usable memory available will be less depending on the actual system configuration."

Not a great explanation there by Dell. The GPUs offered have dedicated graphics memory as well.

" Kernel: The core of an operating system; the portion of the system that manages memory, files, and peripheral devices; maintains the time and date; launches applications; and allocates system resources."

So maybe it's semantics to some extent..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computer_science)#Memory_management

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/precn_m90?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

I do have a few other questions as I've looked at the M90.

How are the speakers (subwoofer?)?
Does it have an integrated microphone?

I didn't notice these mentioned in the specs but was curious..

Does your screen have light leakage/any defects?

& only if you don't mind listing your specs & price. -Thanks

 

Thanks a lot for the links. And the answer is yes, I paid that much $$ for the RAM because I kinda need it.

Regarding the dear 'system' who is using 1GB of my RAM, I think it's the kernel. There is a registry switch in Windows that if you turn it on, Windows will limit the kernel into 1GB and give the rest to the applications you run. (with the switch off, it's 3.3 kernel and 1.7 other applications).

Sam

 

Sam, was there any way you could wait until Sept-December for 64-bit Merom as for your purposes (audio-video editing), you should get significantly better performance with 64-bit dual core + large amount of RAM?

If you couldn't wait, did you consider the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core DTR Sager NP9750:

http://powernotebooks.com/specs/Sager/9750specs.php

Yes it currently lists only expandable to 2GB but check out the rest of the specs.

I've since read some of your other posts & noticed you prefer anti-glare matte (I do as well). You could send it to ScreenTek & they could add it for $100 (I called them to verify they could add anti-glare matte for the same price they can add glossy-glaretype & posted about this previously):

http://www.screentekinc.com/index.shtml

In any case, if you have the $ then the fully loaded M90 looks nice, the few reviews out there are quite favorable (but still not sure if 32-bit architecture can take advantage of the memory like 64-bit would).

Still interested if:

How are the speakers (subwoofer?)?
Does it have an integrated microphone?
Does your screen have light leakage/any defects?

Thanks & in any case congrats on your new sweet ride...

 

Thanks for the advice. I actually couldn't wait until Sep. - Dec. due to some projects that I had to do. Also, I think if I get merom, then I'll need either Vista or 64-bit version of XP and the 64-bit version of the softwares and drivers for the hardwares that I'm using now in order to get the real benefit of 64-bit OS/CPU. I'm thinking of switching to 64-bit in 2-3 years (Vista or maybe Vienna) when everthing is 64-bit and all the bugs are ironed out.

The NP9750 IMO is a small desktop not a DTR laptop. In terms of power consumption, weight and heat it's not even close to M90 and the performance is not really that different from M90. (imagine how much performance will reduce when the Np9750 gets hot.)

The LCD on M90 - unlike XPS M1710 - is matte. It was one of the main reasons I didn't get M1710. And surprisingly the screen is quit good. No leakage or dead pixels. My friend has a 630m and the leakage on her laptop is quit obvious, but I hardly could see any leakage on mine. The LCD is not compeletly matte though, comparing to my matte 5150 and my friend's glossy 630m, M90's is somerhing in between. IMO the perfect balance between matte and glossy! ;-)

The speaker is quit nice and powerful, great for a 'laptop'.

And no built-in mic.

Thanks again for you advice,
Sam

 

I hear you on not being able to wait, I'm trying but have to be ready to buy if I can't get by on my current desktops & notebooks.

Yeah the NP9750 is quite the load, though still more compact than a desktop & will run much hotter but I was thinking performance if you wanted to run a 64-bit OS soon. If you don't have that on the horizon then M90 is a better move now.

Glad to hear the speakers are good but was surprised when reading the specs that it didn't mention a subwoofer (that other models it looked like it was conceived from had). Also still annoys me not to have an integrated mic yet (when my first notebook 10 years ago had one).

Interesting report on the LCD, psyched for you that it looks good (reported defects on earlier models have kept me hesitant on dropping Gs on recent Dells), surprised to hear it's not completely anti-glare matte...hope it looks good during the day without glare.

Have fun & let us know how you like it-if you have the time to take a breather

Peace Out,

 

Just to make sure you didn't get it wrong. All 17" Dell laptops (including M90) have the same sound system, and they do come with a subwoofer. But it's not a real 'subwoofer', I mean it's not for generating frequencies under 100k but for generating frequencies lower than what the front speakers generate.

Sam

and btw, sorry for all that typos, it's 4:00am here! Gotta hit the bed!

 

Ok cool that's what I had originally wanted confirmation on with regard to "subwoofer" (i.e. no downgrade from other 17" Dell notebook sound systems).

Be interested if you intend to use all the security features at any time & of course how you like it overall after some more quality time..

Best Wishes,

 

You were lucky to get a screen without the light leakage. Got an M90 a few days ago, and there is strong light leakage at the bottom of the screen (1440x900). The windows-bar at the bottom is twice as bright as the top of the screen. My screen appears more like matte, which is good for my applications. However, I experience the brightness to be somewhat dependent on the look-angle, and keeping the head and the eyes at one position implies that parts of the screen appear less bright. Guess this is due to the anti-reflective coating.
Haven't decided yet if the screen is good enough for extensive working with reading and writing text, e.g., programing.