Dell 7730/7710 Build Quality (and comparison to M6800)

I have these machines, and the M6800 seems more rugged (but the M6800 is also heavier).

I once fell on file and landed on top of my backpack which had the M6800. The metal lid got a dent, but the screen was unharmed - is the 7730 also as rugged? It doesn't seem to have a metal lid.

Also, the M6800 has these two rubber stops next to the keyboard so that the screen does not press against the keyboard - there is no such mechanism on 7730/7710. Anyone have any issues with the screen getting keyboard marks? How do you prevent it?

 

Last point first. The newer machines seem to have a protrusion that goes all of the way around the screen bezel. I think that should make enough space between the keyboard and the display when the laptop is shut to not cause a problem. We have several 7510 and 7530 at work and none of them have developed screen marks from the keyboard.

As for the lid, the newer machines are definitely less "rugged" here. Maybe inside they are fine, but the top has some kind of soft rubbery material. When I was working on a 7510, I had it flipped upside down so that I could take off the bottom case, and the top lid was scratched by some bit of dirt or something that I had on my work surface.

Aside from the top lid, I don't really have a complaint about the build quality with the newer machines. They have a metal frame (compared to plastic of the Latitude line) and seem pretty sturdy to me.

 

The Precision 7720 / 7730 have a carbon fiber lid - not quite as durable as full metal, but not as flimsy as plastic.

 

The M6800 sure was a tank. The only full metal behemoth like it now is the HP ZBook 17 G5: probably the last of its kind. That said, the Dell felt better built than the new HP.

 

I went from a m6500 covet (1920x1200 with orange aluminum) to the 7710 4k variant w/nvidia gpu. We've had our two 7710's for 3 yrs this month. Very satisfied with them. I was just commenting to my co-worker this morning how great these have been and I was a little stunned when he reminded me it's been three yrs already.

The m6500 was aluminum shell similar to the m6800 construction. Upgrading from the m6500 the 7710 and I've zero regrets. They are both great laptops but everything is better on the 7710 in my opinion including construction. I've never had any issue with keyboard smudge imprints on the display after opening.

The m6500 is still alive and kicking as a little VM server running SQL server guests in my closet at home (closed lid acting like headless server). Only need to clean it occasionally and reboot when an Window updates sometimes cause it not to restart.

 

The Dell 7730 better built than the Zbook 17 G5? How so?