Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Isn't Adobe one of the certified clients this computer is suppose to work with? Wouldn't you think making sure it's 'usable' with the QHD+ display most of these ship with to qualify under that 'certification'? Otherwise, what's the freaking point? If people have to return the computer because they can't get a readable screen with Adobe, that's pathetic, and false advertising. From Dells page;

Certified to work with your software

Make sure your most-demanding applications run reliably with independent software vendor (ISV) certification — Dell’s assurance that your software performs as it was designed to.

Your M3800 mobile workstation is certified by ISVs including:
Autodesk4
Avid
Sony
Adobe

 

One might also keep in mind that usually (meaning for existing displays), there is also a price to pay for QHD with regards to viewing angles. Sure enough, the QHD display on the M3800 has been dinged for good but not stellar viewing angles. It seems that FHD IPS screens do better in that department. Once again, I am still waiting to see a comparison between the FHD and QHD panels available on the M3800. If the FHD one has better viewing angles, then the choice is entirely clear for me.

 

No, this certification has nothing whatsoever to do with the kind of usability you are talking about. All it means is that the software will run properly as intended, and not crash (any more than it would do anyway).

 

Having now fully tested my unit with Adobe CC and Corel X6 I can also confirm that my QHD screen renders all of these applications next to useless unless I downscale to 1920x1200 which totally defeats the point of having the QHD. I am now EXTREMELY frustrated having had an XPS 15, returned it due to woeful wireless and then waited for this to arrive only to find another showstopper. Literally months wasted! I am only glad that my old faithful Sony F11 is (just about) still going.

 

Doesnt this system come with that Dell Precision Performance Optimizer? and isnt that supposed to adjust your system for optimal usage? Obviously not with respect to scaling apparently?

Sorry havent received my system yet and never owned a Dell before. Just curious. The DPPO video gives the impression that the system will automatically optimize performance and scaling so that you dont have to worry about "microscopic" fonts and so on.

Feedback?

Im also seeing alot more manufacturers with these high end resolution screens coming to market such as Samsung and Asus so I'm assuming the industry is quickly moving that way ...so i would imagine so too would software compatibility.

Please tell me Office works fine.

 

As mentioned above, that just certifies the app won't crash and such, not necessarily that it will scale properly. ISV certification focuses on drivers, primarily. Technically of course the Adobe apps run fine on this machine if you attach an external display.

For me, the added resolution of QHD+ is totally worth potentially giving up viewing angle since I tend to do my work sitting directly in front of the panel, not off to the side. Sure it might be nicer for someone standing next to me to have better off-angle viewing, but I'm not giving up all that resolution for the benefit of someone else who OCCASIONALLY will be standing next to me. But I remember you saying that you personally couldn't tell the difference in sharpness, in which case I agree QHD+ wouldn't be for you. I suspect you'll be waiting quite a while for that comparison though. A true comparison would require someone to have two different variants of this machine side-by-side, which I don't see happening soon.

 

@bloomington...Office is fine ; ) My main frustration here is that you are paying a premium for a top spec ISV certified machine that you have to scale back to a screen res/quality on machines half the price.

 

The short answer is: No, DPPO cannot and does not do magic. Expecting a simple program like that to be able to read your mind is a bit much, don't you think? What constitutes optimal usage depends entirely on the user.

 

Well, in some of my frequent usage scenarios (at meetings/conferences, where I need to have a whole host of materials in view), I will be looking at the screen off-center myself, so this is an important feature, for me.

That is most likely true, although I haven't seen this particular screen myself. Who knows, maybe if I see one, I would change my mind.

Ahh, you never know; there's all sorts of people visiting this forum. Some of these may in fact have access to several different configurations of this laptop.

 

I can run Autocad and Adobe products without crashing on pretty much any modern laptop that meets the minimum requirements listed by the software, so I guess workbook certifications are about as useful as certifying that hotdogs are tube shaped. Doesn't mean they are edible one way or the other.

When people run businesses off of these things, it's kind of a big deal. And of course Dell offers one pre-configured model with the lower res screen, but you get lower end everything, no ssd, etc.