Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Look at the Inspiron 7000 series, available in 14, 15, and 17". SSDs are only available in the top configs or not at all, but all of them can be retrofitted with them (mSATA or 2.5" depending on model). No QHD, but dedicated GPUs are available on the 15 and 17, though your workload arguably wouldn't require a dedicated GPU. I've used the 14 and 15 and have liked both. And they cost about half as much.

If you must have one of these though, the XPS will suit you better than fine, and there's absolutely no reason you should be looking at the M3800 over the XPS unless somehow the M3800 is cheaper for you. Even if you need ProSupport coverage to be part of the rest of your org's systems, you can get that on the XPS by ordering through the business store.

Not sure what thoughts you're looking for on the hybrid drive vs SSD. Obviously the full SSD solution will be faster overall since everything will be on an SSD (though the 256GB and 512GB SSDs themselves are close for comparing data that would be on an SSD in either case), and the 512GB option has the larger battery, whereas the hybrid option gives you both an mSATA and 2.5" slot for storage expansion, more total storage to start, and costs less, but with a smaller battery. Weight difference will be negligible in the real world even if it influences a spec sheet; spinning drives don't weigh much.

Pirx and I have gone back and forth on QHD, but I think it's beyond argument that QHD is a luxury, not a futureproofing necessity even on a system you'll keep for years. And it's true that if you use apps that don't scale well, right now it'll be a headache rather than a perk. I got it for future proofing and most of my apps work fine scaled, but while it's nice, it's not a requirement.

 

I honestly believe that warrants a completely new thread, as the opinions and answers will be ay least as extensive as the QHD vs FHD and M3800 vs XPS going on right here. I appreciate your situation, but this is hardly the place for laptop recommendations (other than the M3800, that is).

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

 

On the samples that came by, it seemed to be the same material they use on the Latitudes. If so, I just use a Chlorox wipe, or in the absence of those, a little window-cleaner on a paper towel. Seems to do fine.

In general, yes, they're a long way behind and if the part-manufacturer makes a driver available, I tend to use it.

If you use applications which require ISV-certified drivers, I'm not sure if this is a good idea on the video drivers or not.

Dell usually specifies one way or the other, at least on business systems; on premier, you can order it either way

Memory
8GB (1x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Selected
8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3
+ $0.00
12GB 1600MHz DDR3L
16GB (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3

OTOH, you might well be better off replacing both either way; these things aren't as picky about matching RAM as they used to be, but it can still cause trouble in some cases.

They differ only in the video card. I'm not sure what Pirx means when he says the warranty's are different; they're both one year base NBD on site. If you call and do a custom order, you can get return-to-depot instead of on-site and save a little money on the M3800, and you can pay up to prosupport on the M3800, but the base warranty is the same.

Make sure you know what you're getting into with the QHD+ -- I still want it, but many people seem to be having issues. YMMV. That said, I'm not aware of any other lightweight, quad-core machines with > FHD except this and the MBP with Retina. There aren't terribly many FHD thin-and-light quad core systems, but you would have a few options there.

OTOH, there will probably be more QHD and QHD+ systems coming soon; right now panel availability seems to be the issue.

If you can wait a few months, I'd expect both to eventually show up on the Outlet site, but given the short supply on these (and that refurbs will go first to warranty replacements) it will probably be March-April if not later.

Has anyone got a weight comparison on the 500GB HHD vs. the 9-cell battery? If you custom order, you can get the M3800 with the 6-cell and only an mSATA SSD which would be the lightest option.

Also, there's little reason to get the M3800 over the XPS 15; if you're tight on cash, the XPS is likely to go on sale sooner, and show up on the Outlet sooner, given past Dell habits, but "likely" is far from a given.

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If you don't mind a little more weight, and a slightly smaller, rather less than great FHD screen, the Lenovo T440p seems to be very much the machine to beat these days on price/performance, and scales up to a bigger processor. OTOH given your heavy emphasis on visual media rather than coding or gaming, I'm not sure you'd be pleased with the panel quality on those. OTOH, they're essentially half the cost ($1250) for a base quad core configuration for a machine with a slightly bigger CPU, a fairly beefy GPU (if a little lower end) and a FHD screen. The current Dell business lineup will all be tremendously weaker processors (Latitude 7000-series, E6440) or a very great deal heavier (Latitude E6540, Precision M4800.)

The W540 will be available with QHD soon, and will be in between the two in price if configured judiciously. OTOH, fully loaded the price won't be much if any less than the M3800, and while it's supposed to be lighter than the W530 (which was already nearly a pund lighter than the M4700) you're still looking at a 5 1/2lb laptop in the best case rather than a 4-4.5lb model like the M3800.

 

Base warranty on the M3800 is ProSupport, whereas on the XPS that's only available when ordering through the business store. The differences between ProSupport and regular on-site service likely won't matter to non-corporate customers, but they're different nonetheless. ProSupport at least USED to get you immediate access to North American support reps, but that's been removed from the benefits list. Not sure if that's a website error or a policy change though.

Not everyone has access to custom orders on the phone or via Premier.

 

Still showing on the benefits list right now on the graphic on the public-web-site ordering page.

For US customers, every one can; regular small business sales can do custom orders on Precision/Latitude over the phone. Can't speak for non-US, and I highly recommend calling during central time business hours on a weekday, as the off-hours call center guys tend to be less likely to get things right.

Also, regular 1-year NDB without prosupport is what's showing up on the public web site today as the base warranty on the $1799, $2249 and $2499 models. Prosupport is available at 1 year, and is the only option available for > 1 year, but the phone agents can do 2-5 years of basic support, and probably at a slightly lower cost, return-to-depot as well.

1 Year Basic Hardware Service with 1 Year NBD Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis
Learn More Help Me Choose
Basic Support
1 Year Basic Hardware Service with 1 Year NBD Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis [Included in Price]
ProSupport
1 Year ProSupport +1 Year NBD Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis [add $55.30]
2 Year ProSupport +2 Year NBD Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis [add $146.30]
3 Year ProSupport Service with 3 Year NBD Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis [add $226.10]
Dell Recommended
4 Year ProSupport Service with 4 Year NBD Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis [add $387.10]
5 Year ProSupport Service with 5 Year NBD Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis [add $541.10]

 

Good news, my system shipped early (relatively speaking) and should arrive tomorrow!

Do these systems ship with a serial and recovery media for the Windows 7 install as well as the Windows 8 serial and usb stick I know they include?

I'm planning on doing a clean Windows 8 install and then dual-booting with Ubuntu, and I'm just wondering whether I will need to make a clonezilla disk image in case I ever want to revert to Windows 7.

 

If the M3800 comes with recovery media for EITHER version of Windows, I'll be surprised. The XPS people have had to call Dell to get a free USB stick sent out if they want one.

If you're comfortable doing a clean install of Win8, why do you want to back up the Win7 image? Just note the Win7 key (use one of the many free Windows product key finders if you don't have it on print material) and then do a clean install of Win7 later if ever required. I'm betting that the Win8.1 key will be embedded in the BIOS, but after you do a clean 8.1 install (not 8!), you'll be able to reveal that key too.

 

Wondering why your m3800 ordered online might be late with no sufficient explanation? Dell laptops ordered online targeted by the NSA?

NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy malware | The Verge

Seriously, I dont know whether to laugh or be disgusted.

 

Check the detailed bill of materials on your order; if it comes with Windows 7 recovery media, it should be listed there. In terms of the Windows 8 Pro downgrade rights, my impression was that it was the same key for both Windows 8 Pro and Windows 7 when used that way.

For Dell Windows 7 installs from the factory, on pre-Windows 8 machines that was generally the all-Dell SLC 2.1 key and activation, which is reusable only if you also have Dell recovery media and would never need to be entered. I don't know if that's still the case with the new ones -- I am very curious if these still have SLC 2.1 enabled in the BIOS.

That's the safest approach. I'd recommend doing that even if you want to revert to Windows 7 later via a clean reinstall (which would be my recommendation) as having an unmodified copy of the Dell-provided image can be VERY handy when some guy on tech support asks you to recheck the problem with a clean install.

For my order, it specifically lists
Windows 8.1 USB OS Recovery(English) Windows 8.1 USB OS Recovery(English) [620-AASO]
so I'll be rather disappointed if it doesn't come with that. I can't remember whether this was a no-cost option on Premier when I ordered it, but adding a new M3800 to my card (the cheap one at that, on the public web site) and doing "detail view" on the cart shows:
Operating System Recovery Options Windows 8.1 English OS Recovery - USB
... so at least in theory it's supposed to come with ones ordered now.

 

I got a Windows 8.1 USB stick with my M3800. Windows 7 came preinstalled on the SSD, and I'm assuming the recovery partition on there is for Windows 7.