Dell recently announced what it billed as “the world’s most powerful mobile workstations” – the Dell Precision M4700. M6700, and M6700 Covet Edition. 

Via email we asked Dell if manufacturing engineers and designers should be interested in these new machine, and, if so, why. 

Richard Runnells, Engineering and Manufacturing Specialist, Dell Precision, responded

DMR: Can you provide a brief overview of the main features and functions of the new workstations?

Runnells:  The new features on the Dell Precision M4700, M6700 and M6700 Covet Edition provide better performance, graphics, displays, memory and expandability options:

• Intel Core i5, i7 and Extreme Edition processors
• Extensive choice of professional graphics including NVIDIA Quadro K-series & AMD FirePro – with the only to offer to offer AMD FirePro M6000 with PCIex16 Gen 3 for fast throughput for large data sets
• Longest battery life of any other mobile workstation with optional 9-cell battery, optional slice battery and NVIDIA® Optimus™ enabled
• Fastest memory of 1866MHZ available on a mobile workstation
• Highest Expandability and Storage Options
• Multiple display options that open wider than 180 degrees including: NVIDIA 3D Vision® Pro, which Dell is the first to offer, and IPS RGBLED displays with one of the widest spectrum of colors and more than 100% Adobe color gamut

DMR:  Why do engineers and designers need high powered mobile workstations?

Runnells: Engineering and design professionals need powerful and reliable workstations that are certified on the major engineering software applications they use to design innovative high quality products. Dell partners with the top software vendors including Autodesk, Dassault Systemes, Siemens PLM, PTC and others to certify system and application compatibility so that engineers and designers can achieve optimal software performance right out of the box.

Dell and these ISVs partners oversee a rigorous component and driver test program that emulates real work environments in order to deliver performance and configuration validation. This assures designers and engineers that the workstations are built to handle their specialized applications, and can provide the power, performance and reliability they need to work creatively and effectively.

 Some of the key independent software vendors and their applications include:

• Altair - Hyperworks
• Ansys - Fluent, Workbench
• Autodesk - 3ds max Design, Alias Studio, AutoCAD/AutoCAD LT, Inventor, Revit, Showcase, Simulation CFD, Simulation Moldflow, Simulation Mechanical and Multiphysics
• Dassault - Catia, SmartTeam, Solidworks, ICEM Surf
• MSC Software - PATRAN, NASTRAN
• PTC - Creo, Wildfire/Pro-E, Windchill
• Siemens PLM Software - NX, NX I-deas, Team Center, Solid Edge

We are also working with our ISV partners to build out recommended solutions to make it easier for end users to know what to buy and have peace of mind that they are purchasing a workstation that’s been configured for their specific SW application for optimal performance.

Engineers and designers can achieve better performance and results running their design oriented software on a workstation versus a regular laptop or desktop. They need powerful workstations that can scale up to run increasingly sophisticated software and will enable them to get their work done efficiently, with minimal disruption or downtime.  

DMR:  How do Dell Precision workstations meet these challenges?

Runnells: Dell’s Precision mobile workstations are designed to be fast, powerful and dependable enough to handle huge specialized applications and significantly cut production time.

They offer the latest Intel Core i5, i7 and Extreme Edition processors with Turbo Boost Technology for optimal performance and an extensive choice of professional graphics including the NVIDIA Quadro K-series GPUS and AMD FirePro graphics. The M6700 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 fastest memory available on a mobile workstation, for high performance and fast access to large data sets. They also offer an optional SATA3 512GB¹ solid state drive (SSD).

Both systems come with outstanding expandability in the form of RAID 0/1/5 and three storage devices with up to 1.8TB¹ of total storage in the M4700 and up to four storage devices with up to 2.8TB¹ of total storage in the M6700. That means not only can Dell Precision mobile workstations deliver graphic-intensive designs fast, but also can store them locally no matter where they are.

Finally, these mobile workstations are ISV certified for the top professional engineering and design software applications listed above guaranteeing application compatibility and dependability.

DMR: How has the work environment for today's engineer changed and made these kind of mobile capabilities necessary?

Runnells: Designers and engineers are not immune to the need of enhanced mobility when it comes to meeting their job and/or project requirements. Whether it’s onsite customer visits to discuss design reviews or the need to work remotely at an offsite location, design and engineering professionals need the flexibility that Dell Precision mobile workstations provide.

Dell Precision mobile workstations are the world’s most powerful, offering designers and engineers uncompromising performance and dependability, no matter where their critical work takes them.