Dell is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Precision lineup with the announcement of the Precision M6300 notebook. The new notebook replaces the old Precision M90 and is aimed at the business market.

The M6300 features a 17" "Road Ready" chassis design (magnesium alloy). The use of lightweight materials has allowed Dell to trim the weight of the M6300 to 8.5 pounds compared to 9 pounds for the older M90. The M6300 also makes use of a metal display backing to aid in rigidity and durability.

When it comes to hardware specs, the Santa Rosa-based M6300 doesn't disappoint. The notebook features NVIDIA's Quadro FX 1600M with 512MB of TurboCache (256MB dedicated). Dell offers the M6300 in WXGA+ (1440x900) and WUXGA (1920x1200) screen resolutions with TrueLife or anti-glare screen coatings. Unfortunately at this time, LED backlighting will not be available for the M6300 although company representatives note that the option could be made available at a later date.

On the processor front, the M6300 will make available Intel's new Core 2 Duo X7900 processor which clocks in at 2.8GHz (800MHz FSB). As is standard fare with most Santa Rosa notebooks today, the M6300 supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory. Dell notes that the M6300 can support the full 4GB (rather than 3GB) due to 36-bit addressing when paired with a 64-bit capable operating system.

Storage options abound for the M6300. Dell offers traditional HDDs up to 200GB in size with a 7200RPM spindle speed as well as a 120GB encrypted HDD. Dell will also make available a SanDisk 32GB solid-state disk (SSD) for those that crave the ultimate in performance and durability. Optical drive options include an 8x DVD, 24x CD-RW, 8x DVD+/-RW and a Blu-ray drive (2x writeable).

For those that need wireless connectivity, Dell offers its branded 802.11a/g/n network solutions as well as competing solutions from Intel. Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and the Dell Wireless 5510 HSDPA (AT&T) card are optional.

Other features include six USB 2.0 ports, DVI, VGA, S-video, FireWire, 5-in-1 media reader, Express Card slot and an optional UPEK fingerprint reader.

Dell claims that the M6300 will operate for up to four hours on its standard 9-cell battery and is Energy Star 4.0 compliant in all of its configurations.

When it comes to operating systems, Dell will offer Windows XP, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. RedHat Linux 5.1 will also be made available in October.

"Customers buy workstations because they need maximum performance to get a job done, said Dell Product Group VP Vivek Mohindra. "The M6300 is ideal for customers who want to run demanding professional applications no matter where they are."


Source from DailyTech