Dell Precision M3800 - 2013!

Hi All.

First of all: thank you for a great thread! I did read a lot of this thread before taking the decision to buy the Dell M3800, but I had to read even more after buying it, as I've had few issues. After spending 1½ months debugging and trying to solve the issues together with Dell, I figured some of you other owners in this thread might be able to help me..?

Basically I have issues with my network card. My main issue is at work, where our Access Point will reboot frequently (around 5 minutes between each reboot) when I connect the Dell M3800. We have had a lot of devices (+100 last 6 months, almost all with different device models and OS) using the WiFi/network and never experienced this rebooting issue (including Windows 8.0 PCs). The issue shows when I connect to the WiFi (a Netgear AP using n-technology) and within 5 minutes all employees (including me) will loose connection duo to Access Point rebooting.

This is what we (Dell and I) tried to resolve the issue:

1. Windows Reinstall (twice) using recovery dongle from Dell
2. Hardware replacement (all components beside screen)
3. Updating all drivers through Dell.com (BIOS, Network, Chipset...)

It seems like the wifi connectivity issues persist no matter what I do. Even when only Windows Update has run after a clean install, the problem persists.

Dell basically blames the Access Point/Router at work or tell me I didn't install drivers etc. correctly (but I don't know how I can mess up installing from dongle they provide and running Windows Update afterwards as the only thing). And I would have been tempted to believe it was the Access Point/Router, if it wasn't because we never had other issues and for the following other network related issues I've experienced:

1. Ethernet network adapter sometimes only works for port 80 traffic (plugging same cable into another PC works just fine)
2. Connecting to another WiFi Router, I experienced the exact same reboot pattern
3. Connection to another WiFi router, I've experienced a ~1 sec drop in connection (enough to make skype drop a call)
4. Connection to my HTC One smartphone's WiFi hotspot is not possible - I never get a internet connection (again: working for all other PC's I ever tried with)

After a lot of talking to Dell support people, I get a new interesting suggestion: If it's not hardware or software, then it might be the OS: Windows 8.1.. I will admit, we never tested our router with another Windows 8.1 PC - but can Windows 8.1 really make a router reboot like this? Are any of you running Windows 8.1 without issues? (We did test with a Windows 8.0 approx one year ago for 1 week of intense use with no issues)

So far I've found 3 wireless access points that works with my brand new Dell M3800 without any problems:

1. A very old Access Point (approx 8-10 years old), using "g" network
2. A Cisco E4200 (approx 3 years old), using "n" network
3. iPhone 5, WiFi Hotspot (internet sharing)

Hope someone in here experienced anything even remotely similar to my issues AND solved it.. Please do share your solution or suggestions.

Thanks!

 

Hello everyone,
my laptop gets very warm at the area left of the keyboard, ~2-3cm under the power button, roughly at the height of keys 'Shift' and 'Tab'.

It seems that the heat is not related to the temperature of the CPU (e.g. can be really warm while CPU idels around 45-47 degrees)
Also, I do not use the nvidia graphics.

Does any one else experience a similar heat-related issue ?

 

About to buy one of these guys, but boy am I going to miss the trackpoint in the thinkpad. Anyone hear of a way to hack in a trackpoint on this guy? Doubt it, but thought I'd ask...

 

Anyone guys?
I would appreciate it if you could share with me how warm the laptop gets on the left side of the top panel as we look at the screen.

I've noticed that my unit get really warm when on AC power, especially when the battery is full.

Thanks

 

You'll miss having real buttons too -- maybe even more; the clickpad is my least favorite thing about the system.

 

Guys,

I just took my M3800 on a long trip and could not us the power in the airplane. The 130W charger tripped breakers both on United and Lufthansa. I am ordering a 70W one which supposedly is compatible... maybe it will at least maintain the charge.

Anyone have any experiences here?

 

Coil whine and all I was ready to pull the trigger until I realized that to order the machine with the more powerful battery (add $42) you must select the "Fully Customizable" option. To have this flexibility they have added a $300+ premium. Small Business Sales told me this was a "marketing decision" and out of their control. I told them for a machine that by all accounts has poor battery performance this for me was a deal breaker. Would think if they were concerned about sales they would address this and perhaps add more than 1 year to the Pro Support. Unfortunately they are not so I will look for a machine elsewhere.

 

Did you really feel the need to post basically the same thing in two different threads?

 

Hello guys,

I know this thread hasn't been active since a while, but I need your review for M3800, specially on battery?

And you have any sum up/advice, whether to buy it or not? What do you favour a Dell M3800 or Lenovo T440P?

Thank you very much.

 

I've been reading about this unit a lot lately.. looking to buy one this week. Which battery are you looking to yet? If its the 6-91Wh battery, then I think you'll be happy. Given the performance on offer, you can get through around 6hours.. or a little more. With the smaller battery, I've hard a little over 4hours is the norm.