Dell Precision M2800 Owner?s Review

Since Dell began taking orders for its Precision M2800 mobile workstation, I’ve been culling the Internet for owner feedback on this machine. Thus far I have seen very little data other than re-posts of Dell’s marketing info and concerns about how the M2800 resembles the Latitude E6540 --- thermal design and all:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ion/747033-new-precision-m2800-announced.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/729032-e6540-owners-thread-68.html

This week someone reported that Adobe Premiere froze up on his M2800: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1498908

Meanwhile Dell has posted the M2800 Owners Manual:
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...on-m2800-workstation_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

and the Win7 Driver CAB version 1.0, A00:
Driver Details | Dell US

But that’s about all…

So I decided to launch this thread

 

Here is a thorough review from 05 Jul 2014: Dell Precision M2800 Notebook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Review unit is the high-end of the M2800 series --- basically a glorified Latitude E6540. Here are some highlights:

The Full HD display with TN technology performs well due to the high brightness, matte surface and good contrast. And although the display technology is not suited to graphic artists, photographers and web designers, "the situation is much better after a calibration".

Viewing angle stability is not great --- there are inverting colors or deviations depending on display angle, though not as bad as with other standard displays.

Battery life with 97Wh protruding battery ranges from 1.5 hrs to 11.5 hrs depending on load. With the smaller 60Wh battery (flush with case), run times are reduced by approximately 30%.

Case temperatures are high under continuous load; however "system noise is conveniently restrained".

Most users will probably upgrade storage as the current offerings are low by today's standards.

 

I am thinking about buying one of these, as I have an offer for only 1000 euros. The temperature worries me a bit, I'd like to have a user's review before buying it. Did you opt for one in the end?

 

I’m really skeptical with regard to the market placement of M2800. There isn’t even a huge price difference between M4800 and a similarly spec’d E6540. Where’s room for M2800? What’s the point in not going the whole nine yards and not buying a much superior M4800? To save some $120 in exchange for all the sacrifice?

 

It fulfilled all my criteria: portable, good chassis, great keyboard, decent performances and gaming capabilities, professional design and in my price range (up-to 1000 euros). But after reading the comments on the E6540 on this forum, I am unsure. Although the review on notebookcheck doesn't mention any throttling, there's no reason why it shouldn't happen as, as far as I understood, the M2800 and E6540 are pretty much the same.

I haven't looked much into the M4800 because:
1/ it's more expensive (granted not that much)
2/ it's delivered with Windows 8
3/ the battery life is low
4/ it doesn't look easy to carry around (depth and weight). I might be wrong on this part, but this is the feeling I get from looking at the pictures

Could you elaborate a bit on what you think makes the M4800 superior?

 

You get more internal ports: five USB, and a DP. I’m not sure off the top of my head what reader options does M2800/E6540 have.
You will have the option of expanding the machine up to 32 GB of RAM, should you need that in the future.
I’m not sure of a RAID option in M2800. From what I gather, there is no RAID in Latitudes.
Two separate coolers and fans; the CPU cooler in my M4800 is reportedly graded up to 67W TDP (while I only have a 47W-TDP CPU).
I reckon the weight of both models is more or less similar. Granted, M4800 has a brick of an AC adapter; not sure if M2800’s is as big and hefty; it might use the same one, or it might not. Please check this yourself.
On the other hand, the FHD version of M4800 has a battery life of about 6 hours in normal, undemanding operation. That is not so bad. That way, you don’t have to always carry the AC brick with you. It depends.
The 9-cell battery fits inside M4800 and doesn’t protrude (and comes in usual preconfigs).
Without the ‘AC brick’, M4800 is about 3 kgs of weight, what 15″ laptops used to weigh and people carried.
The build and look screams Precision. ;-) (Actually, the build is not flawless, but what computer’s is?)
The audio ‘grill’ below the LCD really does sound great (for a laptop sound; cannot compare to M2800, though).
Are you sure M4800 can no more be had with Win 7? That’s what it shipped with to most existing owners.

I didn’t touch a M2800, nor, actually, did I ever touch a Latitude E6540. This is what I remember from doing my own research some time ago. (Have bought my M4800 in March). I did consider E6540 back then as one of the options, as I didn’t strictly require a pro-level graphics.

 

My M4800 also came with Win 7, but perhaps that's not an option in the EU?

 

No, you're right, on Dell's website, it comes along with Windows 7. I was only looking on a French website in which there are interesting discounts on Dell professional laptops. Thanks for your detailed answer MJS. In total, the M4800 would cost around €250 more than a M2800. I am not sure I want to make that leap yet, as €1000 was my upper-limit. I am going to think on it, maybe it's worth spending a few hundred euros more after all.

 

Fuggedaboutit !

1. Cooling
2. Storage (up to 2 HDD + mSata SSD)
3. Cooling
4. More ports
5. Cooling
6. Better construction
7. Cooling
8. Far more powerful video options
9. Did I mention 2-fan cooling ?

All for a "price" of about 400 g.

 

I just went to the French Dell site to look up this offer:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dell...-m4800-workstation&c=fr&l=fr&s=bsd&cs=frbsdt1

If the link doesn’t work, it’s the config sm005pm48008frmws for €968.30.

Are you sure it would not meet your needs, including your price cap?

(Edit: the price apparently does not include VAT and delivery, or so…)