I've pretty much decided to replace my old and decrepit 9300 with an M6300. At the moment, only the FX1600 option is available here.

It's obviously not intended to be primarily a gaming machine , but I figure it should be able to run some stuff okay, having seen the figures posted.

Are there any owners on the forum here? I'm wondering about how good Dell's drivers are, and whether it would be a good idea to try to flash the card to an 8700m.

Evidently the machine is able to support an fx3600, but I'm wondering whether the M6300 will be likely to be able to support any more future graphics cards when they get released, or if that's likely to be the end of the line. My crystal ball is generally faulty when it comes to these matters, perhaps someone else has better insight into Dell's likely product strategy

any thoughts?
cheers

Suppose the 6300 could hold a new card if the BIOS allowed and given the form factor is the same. However, I personally think if your looking for something equal in performance you could go with the Gateway model carrying the 8800GTS for only 1299. Adding the 3600 is like another $500 at least, you might be able to save a few pennies with the Gateway model

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread210297.html

Theres also more options if you want a bigger beast

I was just going to suggest the exact same UNIT!

get the Gateway. it's Far Far cheaper and better than the m6300.

you get raid 0 2hdd's and 8800m gts.

you can also upgrade the processor to the highest penryn

Yes, it is a better lappy compare with M6300. I was originally planning to get the Gateway, but Dell Outlet has attractive deals on M1730...

I gor mine for $3k

At most the M6300 will support one more card IMO but I am doubting it will come out. Also, there would be no point in flashing the card to a 8700M because you wouldn't gain anything from the operation.

Thanks for the suggestions. The Gateway does look like a good machine, but on UK prices it's a bit out of my range for the kind of spec I'm looking at.

I've found someone selling M6300 "Dell Cancelled Order" (so presumably refurb) for what seems like a good price.

2.0Ghz, 4Gb ram, fx1600, WUXGA, 3 year warranty, boxed with all accessories for £799 (with the current exchange rate, the $ cost for that will look worse than it is). To get a similar spec on anything else seems to be a lot more, and the WUXGA is a must for me, as I mainly need it for business / design work and client demos.

I'm aware I wouldn't gain any performance by flashing the fx1600 to an 8700m, but was wondering if I'd gain from a compatibility and drivers point of view.

Most of the drivers offered here at NBF will support your cards, whatever you get. The FX1600 is on par with a 7900GS, if you not sure about the video cards, look in my sig for the video card comparisons.

If you think the laptop is a steal, then by all means steal it

Thats a good deal, and the M6300 looks good in a work environment + the excellent guarantee. That GPU is great too.

The gateway is more a GPU value play for gamers. They guys here proved the fx3600 is an GTS8800 so it's doubtful to be worth the upgrade cost - at least the upgrade for a new build in Canada was $700 which is taking the piss as the fx1600 is good enough. Their prices may come down and filter through to ebay in the months ahead.

I don't think there is much difference in it with that 2.0 and my 2.33

I think you found a real bargain

Thanks for the comments and ideas - I think I'll go for that precision if it's still available.

The added cost for the fx3600 does seem excessive - it's not available (directly) in the UK yet, but speccing one out on the Dell US site, the price is crazy.

Interestingly, they specify that if you order the bluray drive with it, you have to order the fx3600 - which suggests either

1) the fx1600 isn't so good for rendering HD video
or
2) It doesn't support the required HDCP copytheft crap fully
or
3) Dell are just trying to upsell madly expensive stuff

I doubt you will have any issues with drivers in windows so the flash would still be unnecessary. I am not really the guy to ask anymore though since I haven't been keeping up w/ Windows drivers and what not. You always have the option to flash the card w/ a compatible rom but I doubt you will need to.

I just picked it up, and it's a nice machine, solidly built, and well finished

Straight out of the box with all the bloatware, mcafee and default drivers, it's getting 4798 in 3DMark 06, which kicks shades out of my (increasingly aged) gaming desktop (A64 GF 7800GT oc)

Only problem I've got now, is I think I've seen why the original purchaser cancelled the order - there's a strange dark line on the backlight at the bottom of the screen, about in the middle - it looks like a hair or a pencil line drawn on the backlight. It would be easy to miss on a quick inspection, especially with a patterned desktop.

Since I'll be using it for design and demos I'm not sure I can live with it, so I now need to figure out whether to go back to the seller, or ask Dell support to swap the panel under the warranty. The machine is otherwise fine, so I'm reluctant to send it back.

Hmmm... thinks...

they'll come to your house and replace the panel; their warranty is the reason I rebuy dell