Quote:
Originally Posted by
hdpartman 
Hello all, I have a little project that I have started and know I am pondering converting a Dell Precision M6400 to a M6500.
History;
I have purchased a good working M6400 from eBay for $265.00 complete, I believed a very good price. I have gathered parts over the last 2 months to install and upgrade this machine.
New Video Card to go from 512MB to 1GB
DDR3 memory to go from 4MB to 16MB
120MB SSD drive to upgrade the existing 2 - 120 7200 rpm drives to a SSD 120 GB paired with a 750GB 7200 drive
upgrade from the existing dual core 2.63 CPU to a quad core Q9200, this is a normal allowable option on this motherboard.
So I believed, I would have a wonderful laptop for not a lot of dollars, all of my upgrades have a total cost to me of under $200.00...
Here is a Delmar, I just found a brand new M6500 Motherboard and case for a $100. fee, I already have a i7 920 QM CPU in my personal inventory, both laptops seem to be the same with the exception of the heat sink. My thought is to use all of the donor items from the m6400 and use with the M6500 mother board. Yes, I will not have the built in standards of most of the M6500 standards but I don't have a need for a web cam or finger tip security option, so all what do we think. Am I just too optimistic to make this a reality ?
I really would enjoy any thoughts, I am a retired CNE, have all of the time available. The computer is just being used as a everyday laptop with no special uses.
Ok, here is an update...
Yes they are very similar... but there are differences also.... As well as purchasing a M6500 base and motherboard for a great price a M6400 as a donor is NOT the way to go as the difference become too major to make it worth while.
,
But I did have a brand new base and motherboard now, it is very complete.... My thoughts were that there seemed to be plenty of parts available at good prices and my decision was to go ahead and build it from spare parts. First I needed a palm rest, it is different than the m6400. Here is my list of purchased parts with shipping included.
$94.00 Motherboard Base + $16.00 For Palm Rest + $25.00 M6500 LCD Back Plate with a Bezel / Web Cam + $16.00 New Back lit keyboard + $88.00 1920 X 1200 LCD Screen + 32.00 Upper Palm Rest with Power Button, 2 Internal HD Caddies, My Sub Total here is Only $266.00... Add + $30.00 210 Watt Power Adapter + $36.00 9 cell Lion used battery, + $20.00 Intel 6300 series Net Card. $348.00 Sub total; Now add Your favorite Hard Drives, Memory.... I purchased a WDC / HGST 500GB 7200 RPM HD For $60.00 A SSD For a Samsung 840 Series 128 drive for $125.00, 16GB DDR3 Memory for $76.00 and I forgot about this a used i7 740QM CPU for an additional $65.00..... Now lets throw in a some extra Dollars for Miscellaneous small parts and bring the total up to $700.00 Finished...
Was it worth it, to me yes, the only pre-used items were a LCD Cover Lid "A" condition, A Battery, still hold better than a 2 hour + use, CPU, works fantastic, 2 HD Caddies parts as good as new..... Every other part here is new, no refurbs.... Used M6500's are difficult to find under $1100.00, so you have to choose your values and worth......
HOLD ON; I forgot the New Factory 1GB Nvidia GPU for an additional $95.00, So As it turns out, It is a $800.00 that was spent, At least It was my choice of parts the drives and memory was purchased from Newegg, the NIC card from Amazon and all the other parts came from eBay, Yes I did spend a large amount of time making this work, at this point I am awaiting my drives and memory from egghead to complete this project... Yes I will return to finish this with all of the generated test numbers / scores....
Looking forward to your tests and benchmarks
