Dell Precision M6700 Notebook Review: The Enterprise Split
by Dustin Sklavos on December 12, 2012 7:43 PM ESTApplication and Futuremark Performance
The Intel Core i7-3920XM CPU that powers our Dell Precision M6700 review unit isn't just the fastest notebook CPU we've tested, it's also potentially as fast as a desktop Ivy Bridge processor. At the same time, the NVIDIA Quadro K5000M is based on the fastest mobile gaming GPU currently available, and the M6700 is also enjoying a Samsung PM830 SSD as its system drive. All told, this should be the fastest notebook we've tested thus far.
So what happened? It looks like PCMark slightly favors the Crucial m4 SSD the Clevo notebook uses. That's unfortunate, and frustrating, as once again PCMark shows it skews so hard towards the SSD that a system with a substantially more powerful CPU (lack of access to QuickSync notwithstanding), the Dell Precision M6700, is somehow eclipsed by a gaming notebook. But then I've been campaigning to remove PCMark from our testbed for some time now.
3DMark06 at least reveals the substantial performance of the i7-3920XM.
Inexplicably, Clevo's P170EM is able to produce better first pass results in our x264 benchmark, but in all other cases the M6700 is faster. For comparison sake, a stock i7-3770K (the one in the HP h9 Phoenix) is able to produce 100fps in the first x264 pass and 40.51fps in the second; that means that Intel's fastest (well, second-fastest now that the i7-3940XM is available) mobile chip is actually able to nip the heels of their fastest mainstream desktop chip. That also means that the 100MHz bump to the 3940XM is probably enough to get it to 3770K-level performance, which is frankly astonishing.
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bramv101 - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
Architects and graphic designers?Google for CFD, FEA, Siemens NX, Catia --> these are the type of software that dell keeps in mind when designing this mobile workstation, and I would say that this type of industry is considerably bigger then the photoshop/maya users out there.
I think most scientist/engineers like myself would not consider apple for any serious work.
Macbook pro is targeted at another market that does not need this type of quadro GPU or high level CPU
ingwe - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
ndornquast: People who are buying this to use for work probably don't care that much about the aesthetics.bramv101: I am an astrophysicist who is currently working as an engineer and most all of my colleagues and previous colleagues use an apple for just about everything (the main exception is if they are putting simulation work on a cluster). Apples definitely have their place in the scientist/engineering world, but it definitely depends on what the workload is going to be. The CPUs in the current line definitely aren't slouches. I can understand how a lot of people can't use them because of the lack of workstation graphics though.
A5 - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
I'm an embedded systems engineer, and none of the software I need to do my job (besides Office I guess) is available natively on OS X. I'd actually have an easier time switching to Linux than OS X at work :-pA5 - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
That said, we have a couple Macbooks for people that travel a lot, but the first thing we do to them is Boot Camp Win7 and set it as the default OS. We don't do our heavy stuff on the road, so a 13-inch MBP running some of our on-site tools is a great option.Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
I am certainly all for form following function...or at least form being somewhat aesthetically informed by function (ThinkPads for the win)......but good god. That thing looks exactly like what you'd get if you bought a laptop-shaped Christmas ornament. It's like a parody of laptop design, but they're being serious.
CobaltFire - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
As an owner of an Optimus equipped Quadro 4000M packing M6600, I will say it (Optimus) works fine. What stops it from functioning is the IPS display. The bit width (8 or 10, I cannot remeber) means that the IGP cannot actually run the display.This is a known fact for those of us who put our money down for these, and affects the PremiereColor machines as well.
CobaltFire - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
I meant that the issue affects both PremiereColor (Dell) and DreamColor (HP) alike. This is an issue unique to the IPS panels, and why many buyers purchase the quite good standard 1080p models.ijozic - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
Yeah, exactly. I'm surprised that the reviewer doesn't know this. The IPS panels are 10-bit, while the Intel IGP is again 8-bit.Dell actually went the extra mile here compared to the HP - the HP just circumvented the IGP together and the Optimus is not supported even if you get the non-IPS configuration. Dell M6700 (as the M6600 before it) on the other hand has two display connectors on their mainboards, one which circumvents the IGP, one which takes the IGP output. So, if you configure your Dell with a regular screeen (supposedly, the 3D screen isn't supported by the IGP, neither), you can get the Optimus functioning and double your battery life.
I don't get the rage about the keyboard. For instance, I use arrow keys rather than numpad to get around (I presume the reviewer uses the numpad arrows) so the document keys above the numeric keypad are almost unusable as they are hard to reach. Getting the PgUp/PgDn keys finally next to the arrow keys is a godsend and I only wish they had the secondary Home/End functionality added in combination with the Fn key.
The whole review seems rather subjectively negative like it stems from the fact that the reviewer prefers the HP design and keyboard (which has awful arrow keys, personally). Yes, I prefer the HP boxy aluminum looks, too (apart from that ugly silver panel under the display) and think that M6700 is somewhat a step back from the M6400/M6500 (the two-tone inside colors and the keys remind me of the HP 8740W design), but I would still go for the M6700 as it has better cooling, QC (from what I'm reading in the owners threads) and Optimus support.
kabelmk - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
So, is the MacBook Pro Retina 15" 8-bit or 10-bit?kabelmk - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
Or is it 6-bit panel?