Dell M6500: A Precision Strike on Bling
by Jarred Walton on March 9, 2010 3:00 AM ESTDell M6500 Gaming/Graphics Performance
Overall, the Quadro FX 3800M should be slightly faster than the GTX 280M; it has clocks of 675/1688/2000 (Core/Shader/RAM) compared to 585/1463/1900 for the GTX 280M. In fact, even the updated GTX 285M is still slower than the FX 3800M, as its clocks are 576/1500/2040—the small increase in memory bandwidth isn't enough to outweigh the higher core/shader clocks on the 3800M. That's of course only in theory; NVIDIA states that Quadro cards are optimized for professional applications where GeForce is optimized for gaming. Just as GeForce is able to run professional apps (but not at workstation GPU performance levels), Quadro can run games. The question is whether it can match the GTX 280M or not. Of course, we don't expect anyone to plunk down the money for an FX 3800M purely for gaming, since you can get 285M SLI for about the same price as a single 3800M, but the Quadro card shouldn't have any trouble running most games at high detail settings. We'll start with our graphics performance comparison using the ubiquitous 3DMark applications.
As expected from the hardware, the M6500 comes out ahead of the GTX 280M equipped laptops in all of the 3DMark versions. It's interesting to note that the margin of victory is much higher in 03/5 at 13/11% (respectively), and it drops to 7% in 06, and a tie (0.3%) in Vantage. Some of this may come from the RAM, firmware, and/or driver differences, but let's move on to the actual gaming results.
As mentioned earlier, we are including a selection of older titles and a few new games for this review. We'll be retiring Crysis and Mass Effect, replacing both with their sequels, but we wanted to leave them in for a comparison point. We'll also be shifting to 1600x900 as the base resolution going forward. Below are the gaming results, with M6500 results in green and WUXGA native resolution on the M6500 in red; there's also an overclocked Q6600 desktop with HD4870X2 in black as a point of reference.
Here's where things get a little whacky, and clearly the drivers in the M6500 aren't fully optimized for gaming. Certain titles show the M6500 where we would expect relative to the competition: it has 15% more core/shader power and 5% more bandwidth, so we would expect somewhere between 5% and 15% more performance. Crysis, Empire: Total War, Far Cry 2, and Mass Effect 2 all fall into the expected range. Dirt 2 shows a 17% performance increase, which is a bit higher than expected but close enough. On the other end of the spectrum are Batman (only 1% faster), Crysis: Warhead (5% slower), and the original Mass Effect. The STALKER: Call of Pripyat result has the M6500 slaughtering the competition at 1600x900. Look a bit closer and you'll see that performance utterly tanks at 1920x1200—and though not shown, performance was equally poor at 1680x1050 and 1080p. The original Mass Effect also shows some oddities, with 1600x900 performance coming in 41% faster than the 1680x1050 result. Batman is likewise 42% faster at 1600x900 vs. 1680x1050, and Crysis: Warhead is 90% faster at 1600x900 than it is at 1920x1200.
Obviously, NVIDIA isn't just kidding around when they say that the GeForce line is for gaming while the Quadro cards focus on professional apps. Gaming in general won't be a problem, but it's not the target market for the M6500. We expect updated NVIDIA drivers could smooth out most of the rough spots shown here (Dell is currently shipping the M6500 with 188.43 NVIDIA drivers, compared to the latest GeForce 200M 195.62 drivers), but unlike consumer GPUs, NVIDIA's Verde driver program doesn't support Dell's Precision notebooks. More to the point, NVIDIA is likely far more concerned with Quadro hardware working properly with profession CAD/CAM/DCC applications. Again, we totally understand why that's the case: the 100+ ISV packages that the M6500 is certified to run are more important than getting higher frame rates in games. If you want a mobile workstation that can also work "after hours" as a gaming notebook, the M6500 will work in most cases, but be aware that you may encounter driver issues at times. Outside of those looking for a two-in-one workstation/gaming notebook, gamers would be far better off getting a gaming notebook with GTX 285M SLI for less than the M6500 with FX 3800M.
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Nick-932 - Saturday, August 21, 2010 - link
Have you seen one in real life next to an Apple...Because all apples look like wimpsy flimsy notebooks comparing to an M6500.Additionally, they do not even have any spec similar as the M6500, even 8 months after their initial release.
jabber - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
...but that 'thing' above the keyboard...????Didnt read the review actually as it's too expensive for me. So if what ever that thing is is explained as crucial then I apologise.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
I read the review and still don't know. I was expecting an explanation of what the thing that looks like it was attached with a blob of caulk is on a laptop they think looks good.JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
I guess you guys are referring to the FIPS fingerprint scanner? It's not "attached by a blob of caulk"... though I suppose the images don't quite convey what it actually looks like. Here's a better shot, if you didn't look at the gallery:http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/605/dell-pre...">http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/605/dell-pre...
It's an optional extra for security; rather than swiping your finger, you place it on that scanner. It's supposed to be more accurate than the swipe scanners.
jabber - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
So why does it look bolted on?Lenovo manage to make a decent looking fingerprint scanner.
This thing is a mess. In fact the more I look at this laptop the more crap it looks.
Looks like a rough prototype.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
Perhaps it looks better in person. The scanner is flush with the rest of the chassis, and about the only complaint I'd have with it is that the scanner has a gray border. Trust me, the chassis as a whole feels rock solid. I don't think it's the most awesome looking laptop ever created, but the LCD does look great and it's nice to see a large notebook I wouldn't be embarrassed about using in a business setting.Since you dislike the look of this notebook so much, what do you think makes for an attractive notebook? And please don't say MacBook Pro... they're fine, but you simply can't fit quad-core i7 with a Quadro FX 3800M into anything that thin. I'm actually quite impressed that the M6500 is "only" 1.3" thick!
jabber - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
lol, no I wouldnt say a MacBook pro.However, I do find it baffling why manufacturers struggle to come up with something asthetically pleasing.
I do believe less is more, though it would be hard to design a laptop on that principle that wouldnt infringe on the mac design. They have reduced a design to it's near minimum.
I like the general look of my Inspiron 13Z though the 8 cell battery pack spoils the lines. It does mean however I can go 8 hours+ without power. The glossy plastics are also a big no-no.
If Dell just improved the build quality of say their Studio line with better/tougher plastics then that would go a long way.
DukeN - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
Would truly have appreciated a Lenovo W5XX comparison here, or even a T500. TIA.hko45 - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - link
Another reason to get this is the E-Port Plus docking (for all mobile Precision and most Latitudes -- I haven't seen anything comparable from anyone else). It allows the connection of two DVI or DisplayPort displays. That's what I use for my M6400 when I run PhotoShop & Lightroom. This should take care of any color issues. I would only use it as my first edit pass for my photos when on the road anyway. I'm definitely going to get an M6500 as soon as funds permit.geekforhire - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
I received my Precision M6500 about a week ago, and in general I'm very happy.
Mine has the i7 Q720 processor, 64GB SSD, CD/DVD burner, 1440x900 RGBLED display, Intel 5300AGN Wifi card, 4GB memory, and Windows 7 Pro.
My previous notebook computer was 15.4" Dell Inspiron 8600, which I also designed, and served me well for 5.5 years. It failed about 6 months ago with a motherboard problem that would be expensive to replace - about as much as a netbook. At the time, I didn't want to spend alot of money on a replacement computer, so I got a netbook: Asus S101. It's a nice little (little!!!) machine, came with a Window XP Home on a 16GB SSD (note: they are now shipping with a 32GB SSD, which is actually livable, where the 16GB is definitely /not/ and later upgraded to 64GB). It does alot of things very well, but I eventually came to the conclusion that this was not enough computer for me. And if it failed I'd have to ship the computer away to the manufacturer for service - which would put me out of service for about 2+ weeks. So I bit the bullet, and got another real computer.
Loves:
Performance is excellent. This is safely the fastest notebook I've ever had the pleasure to work with - ever.
The display is excellent, displaying everything including movies with great sharpness, color quality, and contrast.
The keyboard has good touch, and the back-lighting is a nice touch that really should be included with every notebook.
Someone gave good though to the internal airflow, which allows the machine to be quiet and be effective even when resting on my lap with a comforter.
The SSD is giving snappy performance, but it's actual available physical C: size is 58.7GB, and there is the risk that the performance will decline over time (trim capability is unknown yet).
Fastest wifi performance I've ever measured: downloaded iTunes yesterday and the Network tab on the Task Manager showed an average 10.5% utilization with frequent peaks of 11.75% of a 54mbps wifi connection (I have a 7mbps DSL line to the internet with a high performance wifi router, but the Apple servers deserve some credit too).
The sound fidelity coming from the speakers is extremely good, especially for a notebook. Playing the movie "The Transporter" (music by Stanley Clarke), there were several very interesting sound positioning effect that many other speakers just won't present quite as well.
The built in webcam and array microphone work well. I'm having lots of great conversations with my daughter via Skype, who's on a 2 month trip in Ireland. Visual detail is good, and room echo of what I'm sending is low to non-existent.
I'm a believer in the Dell 4 year high end extended service warranty, and include it in all of the notebook computers that I design, because notebooks are subject to physical insults that desktop computers are not, and Dell will overnight ship replacement parts. Want to rent a great notebook computer for the price of a new great computer, here are 2 realistic human threats that tend to produce total loss: Dropping, and Liquid Spills.
Overall build quality is good. But it kind of better be with a machine this heavy, or else simple motions like lifting it from the front corner is going to cause the chassis to quickly split.
There are oodles of practical connectors and adapters built in, and I really like the slot-load CD/DVD drive.
Peeves:
The battery life seems to last about 2 hours, not the 3-4 hours I was designing for (I attribute this to the lowest end display card, which is much stronger and much higher power consuming than I wanted). I've played with the various power options and I've been able to improve the duration from the 1.5H that I seemed to first be getting when I received the machine, but I think 2.5H is going to be the wall.
The touch pad is left of where it should be. It's centered under the keyboard, rather than in the physical center of the computer, causing an awkward right hand "lunge" across to 1.5" left of where I naturally expect it to be. But I can recalibrate.
This machine and power brick are large and heavy, and are well served by backpack transport rather than something with just a single handle.
The low level light performance of the webcam in a dimly lit restaurant is fair, producing brownish grainy images. (reminder that the human eye has such an amazingly good sharpness even with wide variations of available light, that even modern DSLR technology comes no where near what the human eye can do so easily that we take that capability for granted.)
The machine was shipped about 3 weeks later than the original estimate. Note that this longer-than-expected actual ship date has happened with all other 17" Precision notebook computers that I've designed in the past.
Not sure yet about the 64 bit OS. There have been 1-2 weird freezing issues which I suspect the 32 bit OS may not experience; there is a compatibility issue with printing from a 64 bit machine to a printer attached to a 32 bit machine, but the effective work around is to print directly to the network attached printer. But having 4GB of available memory with a 64 bit OS is nicer than having 3GB of actually available memory on the same machine with a 32 bit OS. So the jury is still out on whether to reinstall with the 32 bit OS, or stick with the 64 bit OS.
In a nutshell, I can see myself growing old with this woman.