14 DAY TRIAL // After what can only be described as a long wait, Dell has finally made official the Precision M4600 and M6600 mobile workstations that pack Intel's latest Sandy Bridge mobile processors and discrete graphics cards from the AMD FirePro and Nvidia Quadro product families.
Both notebooks share a similar boxy design and specifications list, but the Precision M4600 sports a 15.6-inch screen while the M6600 features a 17.3-inch display.
Starting with the smaller M4600, this is available with a wide series of Sandy Bridge processors, including the 55-watt Core i7-2920XM, and can be configured with up to 32GB of DDR3-1333 memory installed in four DIMM slots.
GPU options consist of the AMD FirePro M5950 Mobility Pro with 1GB of GDDR5, the Nvidia Quadro 1000M with 2GB of GDDR3 and the Quadro 200M with 2GB of GDDR3 and users can also choose between various LED-backlit display options, including a 1366x768 touch-screen, a Full HD panel and a PremierColor IPS RGB 1080p screen.
Other specs include USB 3.0, FireWire, eSATA, HDMI, DisplayPort and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity and an optional 128GB mSATA SSD.
Moving to its older brother, the 17.30-inch Precision M6600 features the same processor options and connectivity as the M4600, but the graphics, display, and storage options were improved.
This means that users can now choose between the AMD FirePro M8900, the Nvidia Quadro 3000M and the Quadro 4000M discrete GPUs, all configured with 2GB of video buffer, and the Quadro 5010M which features a whopping 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
In addition, the Dell M6600 packs a second 2.5-inch drive bay, that enables the storage system to be configured in a RAID 0, 1, or 5 mode, and the stock screen has been updated to feature a 1600x900 resolution.
A Full HD panel is also available, but the M6600 won't get the PremierColor IPS RGB LED-backlit display until later this year.
All screens however, both on the M4600 and on the M6600, offer a bare-minimum 72% color gamut.
The Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 are expected to become available on May 10, for $1,678 and $2,158 respectively. (via AnandTech)