Dell M6500 laptop review

2016 UPDATE: The M6500 is still running strong five years later! Since the initial review I have given it to my dad who still uses it to this day. I eventually switched to a M6700 but in some respects I still prefer the M6500’s 16:10 display. 🙂

Original 2011 Review:

I have been using a M6500 as my primary workstation for a number of months. It is generally docked to a 30″ Dell & a 27″ Dell. In this capacity it works wonderfully. Likewise, when used on its own as a mobile workstation, with the 17″ display and keyboard with full numeric keypad, it is a wonderful machine :-). Overall this is one of my favorite laptops ever. I will be posting a detailed review with photos later, but for now I am starting to fill in some of the ancillary sections below…

[to be updated]

Triple monitors

My M6500 has a NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M video card and it can drive two high-resolution displays with no problems. However, to use three displays you will need the AMD/ATI m7820 video card.

http://fireuser.com/blog/ati_firepro_m7820_mobility_driving_3_displays_from_a_dell_precision_m6500_m/

A note about power supplies: use 210 watt / 240 watt for best performance

Yes, you can connect the laptop to lesser power supplies in an emergency and it will generally keep the battery from draining further. Unfortunately though, while using the lower wattage power supply the laptop may throttle performance and the battery likely will not be charging… 🙁

So, for ideal performance I highly recommend you use a 210w or 240w power supply!

Previous model (M6400) and successor model (M6600)

Checkout this stellar M6400 vs M6600 comparison:

Dell Precision M6600 vs M6400 Hardware (Overview & Disassembly) - Darwin Mach

Dell Precision M6600 vs M6400 Hardware (Overview & Disassembly) – Darwin Machhttp://dmach.net/blog/2011/10/18/dell-precision-m6600-vs-m6400-hardware-overview-disassembly/So here’s my long overdue hardware review / disassembly “guide” of the Dell Precision M6600… (Thanks, Dell for the exchange upgrade covered under your…

 

 

The Competitor: HP 870w

Review: HP Elite Book 8760w - ocaholic

Review: HP Elite Book 8760w – ocaholichttp://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=605&page=3[…] the display is about the best part the EliteBook 8760w has to offer. HP put an IPS panel in place which offers highly vivid colors, an exceptionally good contrast ratio and an equally good level of brightness which in this case is 270 candela per squaremeter. This 17.3 inch display definitely belongs to the best we’ve ever seen. Also the viewing angle is very good. What makes it comfortable and pleasing to look at, is the fact, that HP decided to make use of an anti-glare-type display.

 

 

 

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