Hello all, hoping someone might have some insight or insider info for me on the availability of the Dell Precision M70 laptop. Here is why I am asking. I (my work) bought four Precision M40 systems back in late January early February 2002 (if I remember correctly). My coworkers and I had waited several years for the OK to purchase laptops instead of desktops. We were determined to get the best system available from Dell at that time and that is exactly what the M40 was back then (1200Mz/512MB/Quadro2Go). We took delivery of the systems and sure as shit, less than two weeks later, Intel releases the Mobile Pentium 4 and Dell promptly released the M50. Sigh...

I have loved using my M40 for almost three years now, with an added battery in the floppy drive bay it has exceptionally long battery life but it has one achilles heel, Windows XP support. Dell shipped the system with Windows 2000, I purchased copies of XP, thought it would be an easy upgrade... Wrong... I finally found that if I used M50 video drivers and did NOT upgrade to DX9 everything went OK.

So, I have funding for a replacement laptop next year. I should be able to afford an M60 at the current pricing (we get a HUGE discount at work). What I do NOT want to do is purchase the M60 only to have the M70 come out just weeks later.

One more thing, does anyone have any insight as to what might be different between the M60 and the M70?

Thanks in advance for the input folks!

Greg

M70 will probably come out well into 2005, about the same time the revision of the 8600 is introduced. That's just my speculation... I have no idea, really, but that's what I'm expecting. You'll probably see a chassis redesign and the Sonoma proc inside.

Its possible that they will make a Precision model out of the i9200 by putting the FX1000 or a similar graphics card in it.

Oh geez... that's a good point. If that be the case, no more Dell4me.com when I need an 8600 replacement. I will not be using a 17" "portable."

Had to get that out for the tenth time.

I'm pretty sure that when the Sonoma/whatever package comes out, Dell will be smart enough to offer something very similar to the i8600. It is one of their best sellers, as evidence from the sheer number of i8600 owners in this forum.