Well, hiddy ho Dell Precision
M6400, nice to finally meet you all retail-like. The 17-inch (LED back-lit 1,920 x 1,200 pixels covering 100% of the RGB color gamut) Mobile Workstation capable of playing host to 16GB of memory, a Core 2 Duo Quad Core Extreme processor, and up to 1TB of data (2x 500GB disks in RAID 0 or RAID 1 configs) is now up on Dell's website. Other specs include up to 1GB of
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M Graphics, Bluetooth 2.1, Ultra-wideband, WWAN, GPS, 802.11a/g/n WiFi, stereo speakers and dual-array mic, 8-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard 54 and PCMCIA slots, Firewire, 4x USB 2.0, DisplayPort, eSATA, and more. All that in a 15.4 x 11.0 x 1.35-inch chassis weighing 8.5-pounds with a biggie 9-cell battery. The only thing missing is Blu-ray and that
shuttle controller spotted in the teaser video. Starts at $2,599 with an October 22nd ship date.
Update: Ah, we get it: the track pad "works like a jog shuttle" -- it's not a physically distinct device. See it pictured after the break.
[Thanks, M.Luczak]
posted September 24th 2008 6:42AM
210w PSU hm?
So what, is it the size of the 360 power block?
I have never been anti-Dell.
That may change though.
I was all amped up to get a Dell Lattitude or Precision series, I waited till the latest models (like this one or the ultra portable E series) came out so I could make sure I had the choice of buying the best laptop possible.
Knowing it wasn't exactly cheap I applied for Dell Financing in advance & was approved with plenty credit to get myself a nice new laptop as soon as the model I wanted became available.
So finally after weeks of anticipation & waiting, Dell makes the new E & M series available for order.
I go online, login to my Dell account, build my configuration, totally max'ing out this bad boy to the specs I wanted.
Go to checkout & pay BUT guess what...
DELL DOESN'T ACCEPT DELL FINANCING/CREDIT FOR THE "BUSINESS CLASS" COMPUTERS.
THAT MEANS LATITUDE or PRECISION !!!
(the only laptops that have the horsepower I need)
Yes, you read right.
If you apply online for Dell Financing & get approved, YOU CANNOT ORDER A LATITUDE OR PRECISION LAPTOP USING YOUR DELL CREDIT ACCOUNT.
I contacted a help agent, he confirmed this and added "It's a business computer, you have to buy a XPS or Inspiron".
WTF ???
Unless we own a business, Dell deems us too stupid & not-credit-worthy enough to buy a "business class" PC ??
Dell makes NO mention of this when you apply for credit or before you begin building your system.
So in effect, they offer you credit but YOU CAN'T USE YOUR DELL CREDIT TO BUY DELL PRODUCTS.
They dinged my credit (for the credit check), so it's a real credit line, but hey, can't use it!
This is basically like one of those bogus secured Mastercard/Visa, where you get approved & can shop all you want, EXCEPT you can only buy from that 'special mail-order catalog'.
Consumer accounts are relegated to the Home/Home-Office lines ONLY.
Now I suppose I could use a regular credit card however, the whole f*cking point of applying for this account was so I could finance a high-end laptop.
I don't know about you but this kind of rubs me the wrong way & definitely looks like I will NOT be getting a Dell anytime soon (Hello, X301).
If in doubt, I encourage anyone with a Dell Preferred Account to attempt to order a Latitude/Precision.
When you get to Check Out, you will not have option to use your account.
Thanks Dell, way to alienate & screw a new customer before he/she even becomes a customer !
Off to configure a Lenovo...
Yep, same thing happened for me. My final Covet price (with tax) put it at around $5500. They'll only approve 5 grand credit. So, instead of taking my $2500 up front & financing the rest, they say, no, re-spec the machine, gimp it down to get it under 5 grand, we cannot "split the bill." You must finance the full amount or it's a No-Sale. They want LESS of your money!
After telling them to put it on HOLD while I thought it over for the night, the next day I get an Order Processing email - they sent it thru anyway. Called to cancel. BTW, you can't get a Core2Duo and upgrade it later on your own to Quad - it'll void the warranty on your $5k machine.
In the end they kept asking for a "Doing Business As" name in order to allow themselves to sell me their "Business class" machine. What a joke. They're choking themselves off from sales with their own bureaucracy.
Ended up getting financing elsewhere & ordering the specs I wanted.
Ordered 10/27 - Estimated Ship Date 12/8! Ouch! Have they laid everyone off over there?? Not sure how this will shake out...
looks pretty. even if i could afford it, i can't think of why/how this could replace my desktop. its a remarkably spec'd laptop, and yet i guess i'm of the 15" or less crowd when it comes to laptops. backlit keyboard is a nice touch... i wish more laptops came with that feature. what? macbook pro? yuck.
am i the only one who gets entranced by "official" photos only to see the final product clash with my own decor? lol.