Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

You can't use two finger to scroll ?
edit: forgot to refresh to check any new reply

 

This. I've found two-finger scroll MUCH better than edge scrolling. I sometimes accidentally scrolled when my finger just happened to be along the right edge when I wanted to move the cursor, but I never accidentally have two fingers on the touchpad. I adjusted to two-finger scrolling immediately and haven't looked back. But the Synaptics drivers allow you to enable either method, or both simultaneously if that's how you (sc)roll.

 

Having spent some time with my M3800 now I can say that it is truly a superb bit of kit. As I mentioned in a previous post, there is a slight noise from the port area when plugged in to the power adapter, but the only way to hear it is if I place my ear within an inch of the ports and there is zero background noise! It really isn't a deal breaker and is only an issue because the unit is otherwise so quiet. Considering the power in such a small chassis this is pretty amazing and something I have experience that other manufacturers cannot accomplish.

I have read comments about the keyboard and trackpad being inferior to the MBP, but I completely disagree. The multi-touch gestures work well and the keyboard has similar spacing to the MBP 13. It is more than adequate and if you are a competent typist then you will have no issues. I also like the fact that the palmrest area is large as it creates a better typing angle for your hands....more horizontal than upright.

On delivery...Anyone who is having issues I would say sit and wait it out...you won't be disappointed. It is a shame that Dell seem to be having manufacturing/supply issues, but that is testiment to the demand for this machine. Finally a super powerful workstation that doesn't look like a brick. No wonder demand is high! ; )

 

I ordered november 14th it arrived on december 5th (Top spec in Germany). I have none of the issues reported in this thread or xps thread (no coil whine, screen pressure points, wifi issues etc.) I'm using it for graphic design and animation. I was a bit shocked when i first saw the colors on the screen. Totally over-saturated and unusable. You have to disable 'prachtvolle Farben'(<-- german) in mobility center. The consistency in colors and brightness is not that great. I tried real hard to make use of that 3200x1800 px i have to say if you're using any of adobe products you wont find a way to profit fom that resolution. If you get the 'fabulous' windows 8.1 scaling for high dpi and normal screen to work you'll notice that instead of having super-crisp ui and stuff, everything is just scaled up. No Pixel added, no better anti-aliasing. This is very disapointing as i was hoping judging typography is easier with higher dpi. The funny thing is, Photoshop CS 6 is not scaling in any way but InDesign does. Illustrator CS 5 is scaling CS 6 is incredibly tiny.

I dont know what you need to get this "ISV Certification" i'd love to see someone at dell Working with after effects at native resolution, though this is not dell's fault so i have to say i'd love to see some microsoft marketing guys explaining the fabulous scaling.

somehow windows decided to turn the scrolling direction so at first i thought the two-finger scrlling is not working but after changing the direction it works fine.

 

This just confirms my contention that, other than bragging rights, that high-resolution screen serves no useful purpose. What I would really like to see is a comparison between the 3200x1800 screen, and the "standard" 1920x1080 screen. If the two screens are equivalent with respect to color reproduction, viewing angles, and brightness, then there's absolutely no reason, none at all, to get the high-res screen, but plenty of reasons to stick with the lower-resolution one.

 

The rep I spoke with had suggested that I place a new order of a similarly spec'ed machine because I might receive the order faster, seeing as for some reason the fact that there are back-ordered parts means they need to cancel and re-enter my order.

Does anyone know whether it is possible to get a configuration that has 16gb of ram, SSD + hybrid drive, but with the 1920x1080 screen?

 

well i tried just that and here is what Dell told me. First the preconfigured systems cannot be modified however, if you start with the base model which has the 1080p screen as standard you can configure that up so that the 8gb ram u can increase to 16gb and the 500 gb hybrid drive u can add a 256 gb ssd drive as well...getting the exact configuration you want ..the problem is its actually a few hundred dollars more expensive doing it that way, so i just went with the preconfigured system. so if your willing to pay more to get less (technically speaking) then yes it would have been possible to do. I just didnt like the idea of paying more and taking a 1080p screen rather than the 32x18 screen, even though I know the latter will not be that great for mainstream. but then again it wont really be a computer i will using for normal everyday casual run of the mill tasks.

 

What do we know about the 1920 x 1080 screen? Is it an IPS screen or TN? I will be using an external monitor most of the time, so it doesn't have to be the greatest screen for me, but I hate bad viewing angles.

 

At the end you said:

"It is a shame that Dell seem to be having manufacturing/supply issues, but that is testiment to the demand for this machine. ... No wonder demand is high! ; )"

But I ordered mine less than 2 hours after it became available on their U.S. web site.

Also, the day it was to be delivered was the day they changed the delivery date to something over one month later!! I just wish they would give me an explanation!

 

Has anyone figured out the source of the coil whine? It seems indicative of possible larger issues that may arise down the line with a few years of use.
If I'm to understand correctly, coil whine, as defined on wiki, shouldn't occur within laptops as the power adapter should be feeding DC to the board and coil whine should only occur with AC.
Maybe there is an issue with the rectifier in the adapter which produces significant voltage ripple in the DC?

It just seems to me that it would be a good idea to investigate the noise as the last thing people want is a cap blowing on the motherboard and taking other components with it when it does, especially a few years down the line and most owners are out of warranty.

Or, I'm just over thinking things.