Dell Announces Next Generation Mobile Engineering Workstations

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dell Announces Next Generation Mobile Engineering Workstations

New Dell Precision mobile workstations said to be designed for engineering and design professionals.

Dell Inc. (Round Rock, TX) says that its Dell Precision M4700, the M6700, and the M6700 Covet Edition are its next-generation Dell Precision mobile workstations for engineering and design applications. Each system is available immediately.

The Dell Precision M4700 mobile workstation. Image courtesy of Dell Inc.

The M4700 is Dell’s 15-inch mobile workstation, while the Dell Precision M6700 provides fixed workstation capability in a mobile platform and higher performing graphics with a 17-inch display. Resolution is 1600x900. The M6700 Covet Edition, available with the 17-inch display, features a “Phoenix Red” color finish and edge-to-edge Corning Gorilla Glass 2. The latter reportedly provides brighter images as well as increased resilience and protection. The M6700 Covet Edition supports resolutions of up to 1920x1080.

Each workstations incorporate the latest Intel Core i5, i7, and Extreme Edition processors with Turbo Boost Technology, and an extensive choice of professional graphics including the NVIDIA Quadro K-series GPUs and AMD FirePro graphics. The M6700, says Dell, is “the first and only to offer AMD FirePro M6000 with PCIe x16 Gen 3 for fast data throughput.”

Additionally,  Dell provides DDR3 SDRAM with up to 32GB of system memory and 1600MHz of memory speed, and up to 16GB of 1866MHz memory. The company also offers an optional SATA3 512GB solid-state drive (SSD).

The Dell Precision M6700 mobile workstation. Image courtesy of Dell Inc.

These new mobile workstations provide expandability in the form of RAID 0/1/5 and three storage devices with up to 1.8TB of total storage in the M4700, and up to four storage devices with up to 2.8TB of total storage in the M6700. The workstations come with two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, and one eSATA / USB combination ports as well as three integrated video ports—VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort 1.2. The M4700 and the M6700 can power up to three simultaneous displays when undocked and up to five displays when docked, and are compatible with the Dell’s Latitude E-family dock.

Miscellaneous features include an aluminum and magnesium alloy chassis that is MIL-STD 810G tested, dual fans and cooling solutions for the CPU and graphics, and an ejectable primary hard-drive caddy. An optional slice battery, ExpressCharge battery, and NVIDIA Optimus technology, are said to intelligently and automatically optimize the systems to “provide outstanding graphics performance when needed while extending battery life,” are also available for the M4700 and M6700.

Dell says that all its Dell Precision workstations are ISV-certified for applications from vendors such as Altair, ANSYS, Autodesk, Adobe, Dassault Systemes, PTC, Siemens PLM Software, and others. Further, Dell says that the M6700 will also be the first mobile workstation to offer optional 10+ finger multi-touch in the coming months.

The Dell Precision M6700 Covet Edition mobile workstation. Image courtesy of Dell Inc.

NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro, a combination of wireless active shutter glasses, an integrated RF communication hub, and advanced software, is offered with the M6700. The technology is said to transform many CAD/CAM/CAE, DCC, seismic visualization,  life sciences, and other applications into full stereoscopic 3D automatically.

“Our new family of mobile workstations offer uncompromising performance,  dependability and design,” said Kirk Schell, vice president of Computing Products, Dell, in a statement made available to the press. “We are continuing to build on our heritage of developing innovative workstation technology by offering the first NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro solution, Gen 3 graphics and 1866MHz memory in a mainstream mobile workstation, enabling our customers to bring their creative and design work to life fast regardless of their location.”

Base prices are $1,649 for the Dell Precision M4700,  $2,199 for the M6700, and $3,579 for the M6700 Covet Edition. For more information, visit Dell.

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