Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

One other thing i am noticing is when playing music or youtube videos online the sound can occasionally go crackle and robotic and even once almost slow motion . I know it is not my broadband as other devices work fine . Also the machine shouldn't be lagging as i only had firefox running and nothing else . Any advice please ? Thank you

 

Thank you for the helpful reply - I just saw the XPS 15 as well - in fact this open's up some cheaper possibilities for me.
The 3 display's (I already own them) are unfortunately HDMI only (no DP) so going to look for the right converters/cable and MST hub solution for them too. Thanks again.

 

I've been reading this thread from page 1 and bought the 256+500gb option soon after release. Thanks to Bokeh for that excellent review, Dell should pay you commission. I was originally going to get the new zenbook/AB9+/MBP for general/travel use and a dedicated desktop for 3D CAD. But the M3800 fills both roles nicely. Yes, it's 1lb heavier than those ultrabooks but in exchange you get quad-core CPU and quadro graphics, to me it was an easy decision.

I've been using this thing for the past week, here are my initial impressions:

Pros:
-Running Win7 at native 3200x1800 resolution at 200% scaling. It feels like I'm using a 15" iPad, everything is so crisp and clear. Colors are nice and vibrant compared to all the TN panels I usually work with. I don't do graphic design so no comments about color reproduction.

-This computer is fast. In Solidworks I no longer have to dial back the image quality/resolution and I can now leave all the bells/whistles on (like RealView). Frames that used to take minutes to render in PhotoView now take seconds. I don't do PC gaming so no comments there.

-Wifi speeds are adequate on all the N networks I usually connect to. Not the fastest but no complaints here.

-Keyboard is decent. It's not as nice as the MBP keyboard but I just hit 123wpm @ 97% accuracy at typingtest.com so it's good enough for me.

-Touchscreen is surprisingly useful for things like web browsing, I prefer it a lot to the touchpad. For 3D CAD without a mouse I almost want to say it's worlds better than trying to manipulate the model with the touchpad. Plus it makes me feel like Tony Stark, minus the suit, money, and cars, of course.

-I get between 3.5 and 4.5 hours battery life, depending on how much 3D modeling I'm doing. This laptop is probably 70% desktop replacement and 30% travel for me, so that kind of battery life is more than adequate.

-No coil/cap buzzing or whining yet

Cons:
-It's too thin, I have to lift up the laptop to unplug USB sticks (I know, first world problems).

-That rubbery surface feels nice but it won't last long.

-Yes, there are a few programs that don't scale correctly, including Solidworks. I use a lot of hotkeys so it doesn't bug me so much. I realize for some people this is a dealbreaker. I recommend trying out your programs and seeing if you can tolerate it or not.

-I use a 1920x1080 extended monitor. Yes, it sucks. I know Win8.1 allows separate scaling for external monitors, but I won't upgrade to Win8.1 unless I absolutely need to. I'll be getting that Dell Ultrasharp 24" 4k monitor when it comes down to a reasonable price. In the meantime I can live with the scaling issues. The built-in display is tolerable at 1080p so I could always resort to that if the scaling issues bothered me that much.

-Touchpad is typical Windows experience. Scrolling is choppy, sometimes the 2-finger vertical scroll doesn't register, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'll be using a mouse for 70% of the time anyway. For the 30% of the time that I use the touchpad, it's fine. Fortunately I use hotkeys as much as possible so this doesn't affect me too badly. If you will be using the touchpad 100% of the time, go Apple. I would be willing to pay more if Dell would just pay Apple royalties for their patented touchpad software, although I'm pretty sure Apple wouldn't license it for any price.

-Not really a con, but when CPU is pegged at 100% on all cores, the bottom side gets hot and the fans sound like a small airplane or vacuum. Core Temp reported up to 89°C at full load. To be fair I can only get the CPU to go full load when doing PhotoWorks rendering which only lasts a few seconds. But that is the price you pay for having this much power in such a thin package. If this is a dealbreaker then your only other alternative is to go bigger and heavier.

Bottom line if you need something thin, light, and powerful for 3D CAD and modeling, this is it. There is literally nothing else on the market that hits all of the checkboxes. Yes there are flaws but you should know about them before buying a cutting-edge laptop anyway. Most of these will be fixed as more programs gain support for retina display.

 

I had audio issues and solved them by reinstalling the same audio driver. The installer will first uninstall your existing drivers, make you reboot (do that), and then immediately upon logging back in it will launch the installer and then prompt you to reboot again.

 

Lowest spec is $1800 with 1080p screen, 8GB memory and 500GB spinning HD. Buying a second 8GB stick and 256GB mSATA SSD will probably run you about $300. Just my opinion, it's worth getting the $2250 configuration unless you absolutely need the laptop now and/or you cannot tolerate the scaling issues.

 

You might be able to get the QHD+ display but keep the otherwise lowest-spec if you call sales, rather than use the web site. The combination is certainly available via Premier, and at least one person up-thread has said they were able to do a custom order calling the public # for small business sales.

In general that's correct, although there is an important exception: if you buy Dell-branded parts from Dell, separately from the machine, they will be covered by the machine warranty.

Dell is not overcharging as[/I ]massively for pre-installed RAM as they do with many machines, but it is often cheaper to get Dell-branded RAM outside the box than pre-installed even without account-specific discounting, and they frequently have parts/accessories coupons that cover RAM.

We do that a LOT at my work, although it's on corporate discount, and on large server orders with 128gb+ of RAM (or occasionally more), and the savings at corporate discounts per DIMM can exceed $100/DIMM, and when we're ordering a lot of servers, that can total up $10k+ per order in savings.

Depending on the machine, the parts can be either very difficult to install (I'm looking at you Mini-10v, requiring a motherboard removal to get to the DIMM socket) or very easy (most Latitudes over the years.) This one doesn't look like the easiest, but other than the torx screws, not an especially difficult one either.

Given the PC industry's propensity for crapware (Dell is no worse than other manufacturers, and better than some, but is still prone to it), with Windows 7, it's usually best make a backup of the Dell image an then do a clean install to begin with. Not sure if things are any better with 8/8.1.

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That said, having priced the combination with QHD+ with minimal RAM and no SSD, and it did not seem worth it at the premier pricing. The most cost effective option was 1x 8gb and no SSD, adding 8gb more and an mSATA SSD, and while the savings were quite small at my employer's discount level, probably would have been more substantial on the open market.

If these weren't so backordered, I'd switch my config to 16gb/no SSD -- I've definitely got some worries about whether the Plextor/LiteOn will either perform as well or be as reliable as the Intel drive I'd be buying separately (and paying very slightly more for a likely slightly inferior drive), but having the Dell warranty on it is a plus, as is being able to try out the Dell provided image on SSD and not just on the 500gb SSHD.

 

A quick check of my order status shows my delayed order has shipped early! What was supposed to be on 1/6 is now coming 12/30. Unfortunately I'm on vacation which means I'll still be getting it 1/6...

 

After 40 days waiting I got my M3800. This machine is a beast. Gorgeous. I want to buy an external DVD burner with it. May I have some recommendations? Thanks.

 

I bought a Samsung SE-218 from Amazon. It's a tray loader, but a good middleground in the thickness / price tradeoff.

 

For Firefox, go Tools, Options, Advanced, General Tab. Uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available," hit OK and restart Firefox.

I know Chrome has the same option in the Settings page, just search for "Use hardware acceleration" and the same field will show up.

I really, really hate iTunes so can't help you there!