Precision M4500 Owner's Lounge

[Anvil]

I was hoping someone had (p)reviewed the M4500, I'm sortof wondering about the cooling myself.
Well, other brands are able to keep the i7's cool so I expect Dell can manage to do that as well.

[merlin2375]

I am just wondering, I order mine with a tradition 250 gig 7200 rpm drive. If, down the road, I wanted to swap it out for an SSD what would I need?

2.5", SATA (I, II, or nothing?), architecture?

That would then become the primary drive I think, is there, then another slot available for another drive? When I played with dell's config and to have two drives the primary had to be a 64 gig mincard I believe.

[Anvil]

You can exchange the HDD with a standard 2.5" SATA SSD.

Right now I'm using the Crucial C300 on my E6400, I've previously been using both the OCZ Vertex series and the Intel X25-M.

I'm still using the Intel G2 in an eSata enclosure.
The Dell "bay" is limited to 1.8" drives, hence the eSata enclosure.

[knight427]

For all you wondering about GDDR3 vs GDDR5 on the 1800M.

When the 1800M was first put up on Nvidia's website, it only listed it as being GDDR5. HP specs have always referred to it as being GDDR5. Then Dell announced "the world's most powerful 15" workstation" with 1800M listed as GDDR3. Someone posted that Dell had to downgrade it to GDDR3 to get Energy Star certification. I see now that Nvidia lists the 1800M as available with both GDDR3 and GDDR5.

So I'm 99% certain the M4500 offers the GDDR3 1800M while the 8540w offers the GDDR5 1800M.

That saddest thing about the E-Star certification is that the certification is totally meaningless. I'm sure Dell is doing what they are supposed be doing, but the EPA is ignoring the program. Check out these 15 fake products which approved by the EPA under their E-Star program including a gas powered alarm clock.

So Dell castrated their 1800M to meet the standards of a program that doesn't really care if anyone is following the standards.

[nightalon]

Shucks, I just bought an M4400 back in October. I think my LCD (RGB-LED backlit) is better than the options available. I wonder if I could swap out my trackpad...would someone be willing to publish their parts list once they've made an order? I would try buying a palmrest for the new model.

Also, everyone should note that the fingerprint reader is the same problematic one from the E6500/M4400. There are new drivers, which I am about to try.

I have already updated my M4400's drivers using the ones available on the M4500 page. Ethernet is still latest from Intel's website. Both NICs are 825xx series. 3G modem and WIFI options in the Ericsson and Broadcom camps (the cards I have) are still the same. Latest WIFI drivers are still from laptopvideo2go. Intel Rapid Restore installer updated my SATA controller drivers. The audio update was compatible. Ditto for Bluetooth. Video drivers are still latest from NVidia. Broadcom USH (security device) driver updates properly as well.

Have yet to try touchpad, 3G modem drivers, ControlPoint stuff, etc. Installed the System driver. I hope I didn't break anything.

[Pirx]

You can exchange the HDD with a standard 2.5" SATA SSD.

Right now I'm using the Crucial C300 on my E6400, I've previously been using both the OCZ Vertex series and the Intel X25-M.

Interesting, I am considering getting that very drive for the M4500. I saw that some people have problem with sleep mode, or rather awaking from it. Do you have any issues with that?

[Miriad]

For all you wondering about GDDR3 vs GDDR5 on the 1800M.

When the 1800M was first put up on Nvidia's website, it only listed it as being GDDR5. HP specs have always referred to it as being GDDR5. Then Dell announced "the world's most powerful 15" workstation" with 1800M listed as GDDR3. Someone posted that Dell had to downgrade it to GDDR3 to get Energy Star certification. I see now that Nvidia lists the 1800M as available with both GDDR3 and GDDR5.

So I'm 99% certain the M4500 offers the GDDR3 1800M while the 8540w offers the GDDR5 1800M.

That saddest thing about the E-Star certification is that the certification is totally meaningless. I'm sure Dell is doing what they are supposed be doing, but the EPA is ignoring the program. Check out these 15 fake products which approved by the EPA under their E-Star program including a gas powered alarm clock.

So Dell castrated their 1800M to meet the standards of a program that doesn't really care if anyone is following the standards.

What did I do to you ?

Why did you destroy my hope ?!

[Anvil]

Interesting, I am considering getting that very drive for the M4500. I saw that some people have problem with sleep mode, or rather awaking from it. Do you have any issues with that?

I've had no issues at all with the C300, great drive!

Both hibernation and sleep mode has been working without a flaw for about 2 weeks.
I'm using AHCI mode and the original msahci driver for TRIM support.

(sample benchmark, ~70GB free)

[Pirx]

I've had no issues at all with the C300, great drive!

Both hibernation and sleep mode has been working without a flaw for about 2 weeks.
I'm using AHCI mode and the original msahci driver for TRIM support.

(sample benchmark, ~70GB free)

Alright, sounds great, thanks!

[Mandrake]

Tech Specs still say "15.6" HD+ sRGB LED Back-Lit Display (1600x900) Resolution"