Dell Precision M6700 review

A 2012 workstation whose credentials have expired

The Dell Precision M6700 (2012) is the museum piece of the workstation shelf: an Ivy Bridge quad-core i7 3740QM, a Quadro K3000M, and 16GB of RAM at $309. Every headline axis reads at the floor — graphics 5.53 against a 42.23 median (86.9 percent below), reliability 6 against 43.5, mobility 5 against 36. The Kepler-era professional credentials this machine carried have expired with the driver era that backed them.

What still clears, and what that means

The minimum bars are the only ones reached: Overwatch, Grand Theft Auto V (measured 140 fps at the min level), and the classics clear their minimums — while Far Cry 5 fails its minimum outright by a wide margin. That is the honest boundary of a 2012 GPU: lightest-tier play only, no professional claim available in the modern data. The machine's remaining value is its big chassis and its price, not its capability.

Price and value trajectory

From a $2,200 launch price the M6700 has shed 6.57 percent per year to $309, with a projected $270 (a further 12.7 percent) in two years. Fourteen years of depreciation have flattened the curve completely — the terminal price matches the terminal capability, and nothing on the horizon moves either.

Against its price neighbors

Above it sit the Precision M6800 at $352 and the ZBook Studio G3 at $355 — the next generation and HP's slim take, both with meaningfully stronger cards; below it the ThinkPad W540 at $264 and the ZBook 14 G5 at $279. The band is the workstation museum row; the M6700 is its oldest exhibit. Every neighbor clears more than it does; none costs much more.

Bottom line

The Precision M6700 at $309 is a credentials-expired classic: floor readings on every axis, minimum-bar clears only, and an outright Far Cry fail that retires modern ambitions entirely. Buy it as a piece of history or a cheap stationary terminal — the data supports nothing more, and the neighboring machines support more for $30–45 extra.