Dell's new laptops

[Roger Peterson]

O.K. I'm getting a new laptop, which is good. The not so good part is wading through everything and all the options.

 

Dell has two laptops I'm interested in:

 

The M4300

15.4" display

NVIDIA Quadro FX 360M 512mb TurboCache memory(256mb dedicated)

 

The M6300

17" display

NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M with 512mb TurboCache "3" Memory (256mb dedicated)

 

 

I don't really need the 17" display, as I typically use a monitor, although it would be nice on occasion. Getting the 17" display jacks the price up around $600 or more, and it makes the laptopo larger. If the 17" one came with a 10 key I'd probably go for it without thinking about it, but it doesn't.

 

So, my question is what is the "big" difference between these two graphics cards? Will it make any real or perceived difference with Mastercam? Dual monitors? I've been looking at the specs and some limited info I found on the internet. But I wanted to see if anyone here had some info they wouldn't mind sharing. On NVIDIA's website the only real # that sticks out as a difference between the two is the graphics memory bandwith, is is several times larger on the quadro fx 1600M, what does this mean?

 

 

Thank you for any info!

[Roger Peterson]

James has the new 6300, and has posted times in the benchmark folder, 8:15 I beleive.

 

James which display did you get, the true life? If so do you like it?

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

We were supposed to get the True life but they screwed up. We're going to probably send them back to get the truelife.

 

But, I can say that I do like the laptop so far and would never ever even consider getting a laptop without a 17"... and I haule my laptops around everywhere. The inconveneince of anything smaller far outweighs the extra size/weight.

 

Running CAMPlete... it hauls @$$. Dynamic rotation is smooth as a baby's you know what! I may not change drivers unless I find a problem. Time will tell

[Roger Peterson]

The size of the screen isn't a huge deal to me, but the quality/performance of the graphics card is. in reference to verify, dual monitors, machine simulation, etc... And that true life display looks like a big improvement over the standard anti glare displays.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Yes it is a big difference in image quality. The normal anti-glare screen is adequate I guess I am really looking forward to getting thet Truelife Display though. The guy that ordered our systems is checking into it now.

[Mic]

I've a M6300 with the X7900 cpu. Benchmark time was 6 min. 58 sec.

 

I went for the anti-glare screen because of the higher reflection on the truelife screen. I normally work in a room with light and here the anti-glare is the best. But if you like to sit in the dark and watch movies you should go for the truelife.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

What changes did you make to your system? Your time was a minute and change better than mine.

[Mic]

Is your also with the X7900 extreme edition cpu?

 

The first thing I did after getting my new toy was formatting the harddrive and reinstalling win XP. Dell had loaded it with all kind of crap. Task manager showed 70 processes running just with the system on idle.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Yes.

 

Unfortunately I can't re-format it. My system is set up to attach to our network and other such things. Kind of a PITA but I'm going ot be going through it. Figure out what processes are not needed, what's not needed when it starts up, etc...

[bigjohn]

PC-Decrapifier-1.8.3.exe Free utility to clean crap from new computers. I used it on my daughter's new Dell. It shows all what should not be there and you decide what goes and what stays.

 

 

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

 

 

John

[Greg VN]

I have had my M6300 since early October.

 

The specs on mine are:

Windows XP Pro SP2

2.6 GHz dual core

17in WUXGA LCD screen

4.0 GB DDR2-667 SDRAM

NVIDIA QUADRO FX 1600M 512 MB

80GB Hardrive 7200 RPM

Blue tooth keyboard and mouse

8xDVD+/-RTW

Laptop cooling stand

 

I like the bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I am not used to using the keyboard on a laptop and using this I works well. I'm still using the original batteries so it seems they last a good while.

 

I have not tryed the benchmark file that you guys refer to. Is that on the ftp site?

 

I have compared it to my Dimesion 4700 with a 3.0 processor and 4G of RAM. The laptop was considerbly faster.

[Thee Dragracer1951]

I have an M90 Dell and am deee-lited with it.

[Greg_J]

How do you time the bench mark? Do you use a stopwatch or is there somthing in MC that times how long it take to calculate?

 

Greg

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I use the link that Dave linked to I think it's on page 1 or two.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Here's my new setup...

 

 

Those are 2 20" Flatpanels

[Roger Peterson]

nice james!!

 

 

after a little more research the quadro card in the 6300 appears to be far superior to the one in the 4300... 6300 it is!

[nofalloff]

Does the lack of a parallel port mean anything to you guys? I still use the shop Inspiron 8200 occasionally to program an old lathe that will never be on the network. That and I use a very old copy of Gibbs that has a post for this machine and a Parallel port dongle.

[iowajim62]

James,

Nice setup showoff

 

quote:

---

Does the lack of a parallel port mean anything to you guys?

---

no this fixes that nicely

Parallel to USB cables

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Indeed it is nice.

 

BTW, the Video Cards performance is VERY good. Verification times are MUCH faster over my old setup. I should do a comparison on the old vs. the new on it.

[Roger Peterson]

are you referring to a 9 pin serial port or the 25 pin parallel port? The lack of serial port is frustrating, I'll have to get an adapter. An adapter that actually works, not all of them do.

[nofalloff]

Serial is what I meant. I have tried a few USB to serial adapters and they are flaky at best. I've read that the Gibbs dongle won't work because Gibbs is older than USB and just doesn't want to see the USB port as com1. If I could convince management to request a post for the one seat of MC lathe we have this wouldn't be an issue (we have network licenses for all our MC seats).

[crazy^millman]

What is the machine that you need a post for? Their might be one off the shelf if it is a simple machine.

[Roger Peterson]

nofalloff, I'm going to start a new thread in regards to usb to serial adapters. It deserves its own thread.

[nofalloff]

Ron,

It’s for a Siemens 810T GA1 (1991 vintage). I’m sure there are a lot of good off the shelf posts for this control. Our dealer is Cimquest out of NJ but I’m not authorized to contact them. In fact I can’t contact any company representing the company I work for. It’s really twisted but all I can do is make a suggestion to my supervisor who then in turn has to request that one of the owners make the call. To make it more complicated, all the lathes but this one are actually in another department that is managed by a different dept head. I was hired because I had an extensive production turning background, but I’m not in the department with the lathes? I get loaned out occasionally when I don’t seem to be getting enough torture doing work in my department. The old copy of Gibbs, as well as the lathe I use it with, were acquired when a smaller competitor was bought out. Both were put away to collect dust till I showed up. I use them, because when I need to do turnings it’s better than having to go to the other dept. and fight to get machine time or deal with BS of trying to get the tools I need. I’ve started to try to learn to modify the posts we have because getting them fixed absolutely isn’t an option.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

WOW nofalloff... that's a drag not being able to contact people outside your company.

 

I feel for you man, good luck!