Dell M60 Laptop Hints

For the 5 grand, I expect better, but then I doubt MS Windows, Intel,
& SolidWorks have more than a passing relationship.

Given a choice, I'll stick with my Mac any day, because EVERYTHING
JUST WORKS...and has done so very well for 3 years. (Vent over)

So for some clues on what works and doesn't, I can offer a few things
I see from the first couple days:

1. External FireWire Hard Drives: Partition & Format them in Windows
XP, and the Macs will see the WinXP formatted drive in Mac OSX as a
'normal' hard drive.

2. Standby: Don't use it in Win XP or SolidWorks quits after coming
out of Standby.

3. Hibernate: Wiley Gates made sure some of his apps would be OK on
coming out of Hibernate, but SolidWorks, again, quits.

4. Battery Power & the Centrino Processor Cycling: Don't use it with
SolidWorks. I understand that some people modify their BIOS to
eliminate processor cycling.

I'ld be interested in other users hints & tips on the M60.

FWIW, the M60 @ 1.7ghz with a 7200 rpm HD & faster bus can save
SolidWorks assemblies about 5-10 times faster than my old Inspiron
8000 @ 1 ghz. M60 rotations are about twice as fast as the I8000.

Bo

 

Hello Bo,

I have a new $3000 Dell 8600, because the only difference between it and
the M60 that I could determine was the weight and that the video card
wasn't a Quadro. So far, I haven't seen the multiple windows slowdown on
the 128 MB Nvidia 5650, but it definitely doesn't have realview. I hope
to correct that with softquadro soon. And as soon as I can find a good
third party source for RAM, I will upgrade from the 1 gig I ordered it
with from Dell - I wish I had only got 256 mb from Dell! I'm kind of
'off ' Dell right now as they wanted to charge me $275 to get some answers
about file sharing.

Back to your 'Standby' issue; When I first installed SWX, I stupidly
forgot to disable my virus protection and when I closed the laptop cover,
SWX immediately went CTD. To be sure, I repeated it a few times and then
uninstalled SWX and cleaned the registry and disabled my virus protection
and re-installed. Now I can close the lid with no problem - the computer
goes into and revives form standby and SWX is just where I left it.

Sincerely,
Jerry Forcier

 

I got a couple 512mb sticks for my Inspiron 8200 about a year ago from
www.18004memory.com and haven't had a problem yet. They had one of the best
prices and compatibility guarantee and the shipping didn't seem to high
either. I highly recommend.

I have no tie to them other than being happy with the purchase.

- Eddy

 

Try www.cruicial.com for ram

merry xmas

Kev

 

Kev,

Crucial didn't have 1 gig ram sticks when I checked last week, but
thanks anyway. They said check back soon, tho.

Merry Xmas to you too,
Jerry Forcier

 

Hi Eddy,

I'll try them for 1 gig sticks next week.

Thanks,
Jerry Forcier

 

Received my 1 gig SDRAM from Crucial.com for the M60 a few days before Christmas.

Bo