Notebookcheck Logo

Update Review Dell Precision M6300 (FX 3600M) Notebook

Overtime

The Dell M6300 already had the chance to demonstrate its capabilities. Now, it got the chance again. Except of a powerful T9500 CPU with 2.6 GHz by Intel a Quadro FX 3600M graphics adapter by nVidia ensures a lot of power inside this 17 inch workstation, which was especially designed for CAD professionals.

Dell Precision M6300

Except of some differences in the hardware equipment, this test sample is identical to the Precision M6300 model we already comprehensively reviewed earlier. Details about the previously reviewed model can be read here. This review especially covers performance and emissions of the upgraded model. Information about case, interface equipment, input devices, and display are covered in the review of the base version, which is identical in construction.

Performance

The Dell Precision M6300 is still based on the successful Santa Rosa platform by Intel. So, it can be equipped with processors of the Penryn series by Intel. They range from a T8100 CPU with 2.1 GHz and 3MB L2 cache up to a T9500 CPU with 2.6 GHz and 6MB L2 cache. The top model of the Penryn series, the X9000 with 2.8 GHz is at the time of writing not available for the M6300. The reason is probably that the X9000 CPU has a higher TDP (44 Watt) than the T9500 CPU (35 Watt).

Therewith, the Dell Precision M6300 under review, which was equipped with a T9500 CPU, came with the most powerful processor for this notebook. It is not certain today whether the Precision series will also be available with Centrino 2 platform or whether this series will be generally re-engineered in the future. Be this as it may, the provided processor is also without Montevina and Co very powerful. This is also proved by the executed benchmarks.

The Dell Precision M6300 model under review achieved, e.g., 6541 points in the PCMark 2005 benchmark. So, it even outperforms the Deviltech 800 DTX with Intel E8650 CPU with 3.0 GHz and Geforce 8800 GTX SLI. The HP Compaq 8710w, which is fourth-placed in our ranking, achieved 400 points less and is therewith clearly less powerful in our ranking. The top notebook in this aspect is still the Alienware m15x with Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU with 2.8 GHz and Geforce 8800 GTX graphics card.

Performance PCMark 2005
Performance PCMark 2005

Being designed as powerful workstation, i.e., a portable desktop replacement with appropriate performance, our expectations in graphical performance were also high. While the base model of the M6300 was equipped with a Quadro FX 1600 by nVidia, the upgraded version comes with a Quadro FX 3600M, which is one of today's most powerful professional graphics cards.

Technically speaking the FX 3600M is based on the 8800M GTX respectively the desktop video chip G92, which is primarily used in gaming notebooks. Certified drivers guarantee maximum performance for professional visualization applications and CAD software. So, the consumer version of the FX3600, the 8800 GTX can be clearly outperformed in the benchmarks. This graphics card offers full DirectX 10 and Shader 4.0 support and conforms to the current state-of-the art.

The Precision M6300 is also nearly unrivalled in the Cinebench R10 benchmark. While it achieves similar values than the HP 8710w in the single and multi CPU rendering tests, the Precision M6300 clearly outperforms all other notebooks in the OpenGL shading test. It achieves 6193 points in this test, which is the new peak. Please note that the Deviltech 8000 DTX with two Geforce 8800M GTX graphics cards cannot draw level with the Dell Precision M6300.

Cinebench R10
Cinebench R10
SPECviewperf 10.0
SPECviewperf 10.0

The reviewed Precision M6300 came with a huge RAM capacity of 4096MB, DDR2 PC5300 modules by Kingston. If you think that this is the highest RAM capacity supported by the M6300 you are wrong. This workstation can be equipped with up to 8192 MB RAM. However, you'll need a 64-bit operation system to be able to utilize the total RAM capacity. So, the performance of the M6300 is basically limited by the amount of money the customer wants to spend, because upgrading RAM to the limit costs nearly 1000.- Euro at the time of writing.

The M6300 does not compromise on hard disk performance. The built-in Momentus ST9320421ASG by Seagate is a top hard disk model. Its capacity is as huge as 320 GB, the revolution speed is 7200 rpm. The results in the HDTune benchmark test are delightful: The maximum transfer rate is up to 89.6 MB/s, the access time of 15.7 ms is good. Better results are only achieved by solid state drives, whose maximum capacity is clearly below 320 GB. Not to mention the price, which is multiple times higher.

System information CPU
System information CPU
System information CPU
System information CPU
System information CPU
System information GPU
System information HDD
System Information Dell Precision M6300
3DMark 2001SE Standard
41502 points
3DMark 03 Standard
26705 points
3DMark 05 Standard
14723 points
3DMark 06 Standard Score
8236 points
Help
PCMark 05 Standard
6541 points
Help
Cinebench R10
 SettingsValue
 Shading 32Bit6193 Points
 Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit5451 Points
 Rendering Single 32Bit2991 Points
320 GB - 7200 rpm
Transfer Rate Minimum: 19.9 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 86.6 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 71.7 MB/s
Access Time: 15.7 ms
Burst Rate: 132.5 MB/s
CPU Usage: 4.5 %

Gaming Performance

Although the M6300 is not designed as gaming notebook, the powerful hardware inspires to test current games. The 3D Mark benchmark test by Futuremark already hints on a good gaming performance. This notebook achieved 8236 points in the 3D Mark 2006 benchmark test, which attests that this notebook has a good performance. Even more because it is still close to the Alienware m15x, which achieved 9217 points. Nevertheless, it cannot keep up with powerful SLI video solutions, which are, e.g., inside the Deviltech 8000 DTX.

Directly comparing results of the 3D benchmarks of the two reviewed Dell Precision M6300 models, the performance increase by the upgrade from Quadro FX1600 to FX 3600M graphics card gets apparent. Of course also the more powerful CPU has especially an impact in older benchmarks.

3D Mark 2006 Benchmark
3D Mark 2006 Benchmark
3D Mark Tests in Comparison
3D Mark Tests in Comparison

We checked a number of games on the M6300, this is the summary:
The performance of the classical ego shooter, Doom 3, is due to brilliant OpenGL performance excellent. 167.3 fps with ultra details are note-worthy. The performance of the test sample was similarly good in the DirectX 9 shooter FEAR, where it achieved good 103 fps even with maximum CPU and GPU presets.

The performance of Crysis by EA games and other current challenges was of particular interest. This notebook achieved 31 fps respectively 29.0 fps in the GPU and CPU benchmark tests at a resolution of 1024x768 and on high details. In practice, when we started to run the demo we observed a frame rate of 30 to 40 pictures per second. Therewith Crysis is playable. However, we have to mention that it is to be expected that the frame rate will drop later in the game when its demands on graphical performance increases. So, you might need to reduce the detail level.

The ego shooter Unreal Tournament 3 is no problem for the M6300. Even with a resolution of 1690x1050 pixels the observed frame rate was in between 58 and 62 fps. Just with maximum resolution the frame rate slightly decreased to 48-61 fps. (Each test was run with a detail level of 3/6).

The test sample achieved very good result in World in Conflict. This notebook has even with maximum resolution and high details, i.e., DirectX 10 effects, a passable and playable performance of 30-40 fps when we checked a real game with the map 'seaside'.
Finally we tried Call of Duty 4, another very popular game. The M6300 has an excellent performance up to a resolution of 1280x800 pixels with deactivated anti-aliasing and activated effects. In general this game stays playable up to maximum resolution, but, some short performance drops are to be expected.

Performance - World in Conflict
Performance - World in Conflict
Performance - Call of Duty 4
Performance - Call of Duty 4

Emissions

System Noise

In idle mode the noise characteristics hardly differs from the previously reviewed M6300 with less powerful core components. Without load respectively with moderate office load the system fan stays deactivated most of the time and the notebook is hardly audible, whereas the measured noise level is 32.3 dB(A). You can just hear a quiet humming of the hard disk.

Under load  the essentially more powerful components, especially the Quadro FX 3600M make a preceivable difference. They increase the maximum noise level of the tests sample to 44.1 dB(A).

The optical drive, a TSSTcorp TS-L632H is noticeable, because it loudly vibrates while reading data.

Noise Level

Idle
32.3 / 32.3 / 34.5 dB(A)
HDD
33.7 dB(A)
DVD
35 / dB(A)
Load
37.8 / 44.1 dB(A)
  red to green bar
 
 
30 dB
silent
40 dB(A)
audible
50 dB(A)
loud
 
min: dark, med: mid, max: light    (15 cm distance)

Temperature

The maximum case temperatures also slightly increased. Nevertheless, the temperature stayed always alright (maximum: 38.5°C) at the top side of the base unit, i.e., at the keyboard and the palm rest areas. On the underside the temperature reached a maximum of up to 43.7°C. This is still acceptable, even more if you consider that it is unlikely to work with a four kg notebook on your laps.

Max. Load
 33.1 °C
92 F
38.4 °C
101 F
38.5 °C
101 F
 
 32.3 °C
90 F
36.6 °C
98 F
35.6 °C
96 F
 
 27.9 °C
82 F
28.8 °C
84 F
29.4 °C
85 F
 
Maximum: 38.5 °C = 101 F
Average: 33.4 °C = 92 F
43.7 °C
111 F
42.5 °C
109 F
41.1 °C
106 F
42.6 °C
109 F
42.8 °C
109 F
39.9 °C
104 F
37.7 °C
100 F
38.6 °C
101 F
34.4 °C
94 F
Maximum: 43.7 °C = 111 F
Average: 40.4 °C = 105 F
Room Temperature 23.5 °C = 74 F
(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 33.4 °C / 92 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F for the devices in the class Gaming.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 38.5 °C / 101 F, compared to the average of 40.4 °C / 105 F, ranging from 21.2 to 68.8 °C for the class Gaming.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 43.7 °C / 111 F, compared to the average of 43.2 °C / 110 F
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 29.4 °C / 84.9 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(±) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.9 °C / 84 F (-0.5 °C / -0.9 F).

Battery Life

Maximum Battery Runtime (BatteryEater Readers Test)
Readers Test
Minimum Battery Runtime (BatteryEater Classic Test)
Classic Test

Here it gets obvious that the performance increase also implicates disadvantages. The Dell Precision M6300 achieved a maximum runtime of 247 minutes, i.e., 4 hours and 7 minutes , with the 9 cells 80 Wh battery in the BatteryEater Reader's test with maximum energy saving settings). This is about 1.5 hours less than the M6300 model with T9300 CPU and Quadro FX 1600M graphics card.

The achieved battery runtime is even clearly shorter under load. This notebook just achieved a runtime of 99 minutes in the BatteryEater Classic test, which is about 30 minutes less than the base model of the Dell M6300.

Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0 / 0 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 32 / 39 / 42 Watt
Load midlight 98 / 114 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        
Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.
Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)
4h 07min
Load (maximum brightness)
1h 39min

Verdict

Dell Precision M6300
Dell Precision M6300

Potential buyers of the Dell Precision M6300 will probably only be interested in a notebook's performance. In this aspect the tuned model of the M6300 is a good choice. It achieves results in our tests which might arouse envy amongst competitors.

But, there is one important aspect, if you want to buy the reviewed model of the M6300. It costs as much a 2750.- Euro. If you also want to upgrade to 8 GB RAM the price increases even more by nearly 1000.-Euro. If you replace the hard disk by a solid state drive (SSD) with a capacity of 120GB you could gain another performance increase. Such a drive costs just 869.- Euro at Planet-Notebook.de.

Despite the upgrades the observed emissions stayed rather low. This allows, e.g., with moderate office load a silent operation whereas the surface temperatures stay always alright. The most negative impact was observable regarding battery life. But this is only  a minor aspect for such notebooks.

The reviewed model of the Dell Precision M6300 can be especially recommended for commercial users which require the advantages of a Quadro FX 3600 graphics card or rely on a powerful notebook, e.g., for presentations or field work. CAD engineers will likely miss the extra number pad on the reduced keyboard. So, they will probably require an external input device.

 

Many thanks to Planet Notebook, who kindly provided us with the reviewed notebook. You can configure and by this notebook here.

Please share our article, every link counts!
Dell Precision M6300
Under review: Dell Precision M6300, provided by:

Specifications

Dell Precision M6300
Graphics adapter
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M - 512 MB VRAM, Core: 500 MHz, Memory: 799 MHz, GDDR3
Memory
4 GB 
, DDR2 PC5300 667MHz, 2x2048MB, max. 8192MB
Display
17.10 inch 16:10, 1920 x 1200 pixel, WUXGA TFT Display, glossy: no
Mainboard
Intel PM965
Storage
320 GB - 7200 rpm, 320 GB 
, 7200 rpm, ST9320421ASG
Soundcard
SigmaTel STAC9205
Connections
1 Express Card 54mm, 6 USB 2.0, 1 Firewire, 1 VGA, 1 DVI, 1 S-Video, 56k V.92 Modem, 1 Kensington Lock, 1 Docking Station Port, Audio Connections: headphones, microphone, Card Reader: 5in1, Smartcard Reader
Networking
Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000MBit/s), Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Optical drive
TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L632H ATA
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 40 x 280 x 390 ( = 1.57 x 11.02 x 15.35 in)
Battery
80 Wh Lithium-Ion, 11.1V 7200mAh
Operating System
Microsoft Windows XP Professional 32 Bit
Additional features
36 Months Warranty
Weight
3.92 kg ( = 138.27 oz / 8.64 pounds), Power Supply: 850 g ( = 29.98 oz / 1.87 pounds)
Price
2326 Euro

 

The Dell Precision M6300 is definitely a business notebook...
The Dell Precision M6300 is definitely a business notebook...
The performance has of course also an impact on the battery runtime of this notebook. Nevertheless, the battery life of the big battery is alright compared to other notebooks of this category.
The performance has of course also an impact on the battery runtime of this notebook. Nevertheless, the battery life of the big battery is alright compared to other notebooks of this category.
The heating of the case is a little higher under load. Considering it is a workstation it is nevertheless alright.
The heating of the case is a little higher under load. Considering it is a workstation it is nevertheless alright.
However, under load the fan needs to run at maximum revolution speed to be able to appropriately cool down the components.
However, under load the fan needs to run at maximum revolution speed to be able to appropriately cool down the components.
We were pleased that the fan is still rather decent with moderate office load.
We were pleased that the fan is still rather decent with moderate office load.
Due to a Core 2 Duo T9500 CPU by Intel and nVIDIA Quadro FX 3600 this notebook offers application performance at its best.
Due to a Core 2 Duo T9500 CPU by Intel and nVIDIA Quadro FX 3600 this notebook offers application performance at its best.
The current configuration of the M6300 is a great leap forward:
The current configuration of the M6300 is a great leap forward:
The biggest disadvantage of the  Dell Precision M6300 is surely the missing number pad of the built-in keyboard.
The biggest disadvantage of the Dell Precision M6300 is surely the missing number pad of the built-in keyboard.
The M6300 is basically designed for professional CAD and graphic users, which require a portable workstation.
The M6300 is basically designed for professional CAD and graphic users, which require a portable workstation.
The most striking aspect is thereby the huge base unit.
The most striking aspect is thereby the huge base unit.
This system is inside a solid and robust case, which can easily stand daily intensive use.
This system is inside a solid and robust case, which can easily stand daily intensive use.
...which can be ideally adapted to the requirements of the customer by offering a lot of configuration options.
...which can be ideally adapted to the requirements of the customer by offering a lot of configuration options.
There is a  LED charge display directly at the Lithium Ions battery.
There is a LED charge display directly at the Lithium Ions battery.

Similar Notebooks

Devices with Same Screen Size and/or Weight

Dell G16 (2024) laptop review: An affordable Alienware alternative from the same manufacturer?
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, Raptor Lake-HX i7-13650HX, 16.00", 2.76 kg
Dell G15 5530 review: RTX 4050 gaming laptop in Dark Shadow Gray
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, Raptor Lake-HX i5-13450HX, 15.60", 2.728 kg
Dell G15 5530 Review: A viable Alienware alternative now with Raptor Lake-HX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, Raptor Lake-HX i7-13650HX, 15.60", 2.97 kg
Dell G16 7620 laptop review: Thick build for fast performance
GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, Alder Lake-S i7-12700H, 16.00", 2.615 kg
Dell G15 5510 laptop review: Budget gaming laptop with the RTX 3050
GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU, Comet Lake i5-10500H, 15.60", 2.47 kg
Dell G15 5510 laptop review: Budget 120 Hz gaming laptop faces its AMD counterpart
GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, Comet Lake i5-10200H, 15.60", 2.474 kg
Dell G15 5515 Ryzen Edition review: An affordable FHD gaming laptop
GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, Cezanne (Zen 3, Ryzen 5000) R7 5800H, 15.60", 2.43 kg

Price Comparison

Dell Precision M6300 on Ciao

Pricerunner.de

J. Simon Leitner, 2008-08-13 (Update: 2012-05-26)