Dell Precision M3800 - 2013!

I remember seeing these for modems (RJ11 jack) and can certainly see it working for ethernet. Hard to see someone putting this in an actual laptop though... if it breaks off, what are you going to do? USB isn't that much more of a hassle. I already pack a USB->Ethernet adapter in my bag in case I need to connect to multiple networks for some odd reason.

 

I would much rather have a dongle than something that will break and then eventually be replaced by,... you guessed it... a usb dongle.

 

I am hearing mid-November for m3800 availability. Anyone else?

 

Yeah, I rescued one of those cardbus adapters from a junk box at a prior employer. Quite fragile, but not as bad as the edge-connector-to-RJ45 dongle that 3Com and quite a few others used.

My company's rep has just said "November," but mid-month is certainly plausible.

Given that the XPS is supposed to go live on 10/18 along with Windows 8.1, I'd not be surprised if it makes it out earlier in the month.

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I'm waiting for pricing and warranty details to compare this to the XPS, but assuming the same specs except for the Quadro GPU (and I have no need for certified drivers), my inclination is to go with whichever is cheaper. Do XPS default to a 3 year warranty? Every prior time I've priced a consumer-line machine, once I bumped the warranty up to 3-year, I've done better just buying a Latitude.

 

This continuous deletion of ports disturbs me--especial at this juncture. and particularly without obvious alternative. After all, its not as if wireless is as fast, or as stable and secure as its wired counterpart. True innovation means enhancing flexibility not decreasing it.

As for clutter, so far every popular port had been downsized to fit the product; I don't see why this Ethernet port can't follow suit. Do you?

After all, Apple did develop their own mini DP just to suit their slimmer chassis design.They even applied it across the board--even to their desktops.

 

A smaller alternative to the RJ45 would be nice, but you'd still be carrying a dongle to adapt from whatever the new connector is to a standard RJ45. I'm not sure how much smaller RJ45 could get and still be able to be assembled by hand. Even if there was an alternative, it would be years before it was widely adopted, so you'd be carrying an adapter anyway.

 

First, they took away my floppy drive, then they eliminated the printer/parallel port and now the serial RS-232 port is gone too?!This must stop!!!

 

Don't forget the 120 pixels from WUXGA down to FullHD

 

That's why you get a M4800 with the appropriate dock, that way you still get parallel, serial and PS/2 ports. Give me dat NKRO keyboard functionality.

 

If they were marketing towards the hipsters - they would bring all that back with a CGA screen.