Dell Precision M6600

Dell Precision M6600

Workstations are a different beast than your typical business laptop, even though modern workstations look and behave much as PCs do. While the era of the workstation with custom, proprietary processing and graphics hardware is behind us, the Dell Precision M6600 is one of the new breed of mobile workstations; these systems go through the rigorous software and driver qualifications necessary to sell to the professional graphics or engineering markets. The level of performance you get in mobile workstations is impressive. I’m not just talking about CPU performance, though the M6600 acquits itself well. I'm also including its other touches, such as the 17.3-inch RGB LED-backlit IPS panel with its impressive viewing angle and color fidelity. The display supports both capacitive and pen-based touch, as well. The pen interface is useful in some workstation-class applications, and the pen is pressure-sensitive, allowing for creative effects in Adobe Illustrator and other programs. The display is excellent with photographic or video material. The M6600 we tested shipped with an Nvidia Quadro 4000M mobile workstation-class GPU, which handles high-definition video well.