Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Sure enough. Interesting; I thought they were, and that MS was phasing out selling retail copies of 7. Guess not.

Slightly less opaque MS page here:
How to downgrade from Windows 8

It sounds like they have a method included of "don't use any key, and talk to a phone agent to activate" in the worst case, if you have media from somewhere.

At least as Dell and Lenovo use it, SLP 2.1 didn't actually use a license key in the BIOS, just a different sort of key indicating the manufacturer -- you still need a license file (.xrm-ms) and a license key (the usual 25-digit text things we know and love) corresponding to the manufacturer and license version. It's why you can install a Dell-specific Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate disk on any Dell machine that was sold with any version of Windows 7, even if that machine was originally sold with a lower edition of Windows 7 (ditto for Lenovo, although you cannot use a Dell disk on a Lenovo. I haven't seen a Lenovo disk in years, but you can grab the two files needed off of a Lenovo restore partition. They include only the .xrm-ms file for the edition you purchased, but all of the 25-digit keys for every edition -- which are useless without the file.)

I've seen reference to a non-royalty-OEM disk being able to read a key out of the BIOS even on Windows 7, but I've never seen it work on any machine.

With the BIOS-embedded keys, I was under the impression there was no CoA sticker any longer. Did yours come with one for Windows 8.1? Did anyone who got it with Windows 7 (either only 7 or with the 8.1 downgrade) have one for Windows 7?

Ooops, "SLP 2.1" or "SLIC 2.1" not SLC. I don't think the Windows 8.1 key is quite same thing ... although the SLP 2.1 (or SLIC data) should also be visible via RW Everything. Instructions here:
How to Check or Verify PC Motherboard BIOS SLIC Version is SLP OA 2.0 or 2.1 for OEM Activation « My Digital Life

I'll check on mine when it arrives, although mine was also ordered 8.1 only.

I think the word may be "had" rather than "has," as that disappearing from the BOM is the one change I can see from 12/13 vs. my original order on 11/23, and I have not seen the option show up on Premier since then.

 

What would be the best way to preserve M3800 battery?

 

I just received my system! Build quality seems really nice and they seem to have sent the correct configuration. Windows 7 is installed and there was a Windows 8.1 usb stick in a little baggy that came inside of the box for the power brick. I'll post back with info on how things work out.

 

Ah yes, phone activation would make sense as a possible downgrade means, since they could confirm you have a valid uplevel Windows key and then activate your downlevel version without providing you an actual product key.

Never heard of "vanilla" Windows 7 media activating using BIOS-embedded keys, but it definitely works on Win8 and 8.1. Already tested it.

My XPS did not come with a CoA sticker. I just used a product key finder to view the key so I could back it up just in case. However, on a different model machine that shipped with a Win8 BIOS-embedded key for which I received a replacement motherboard, the replacement motherboard came with a key sticker. It wasn't an official CoA, but at least it was already written down I guess....

 

Here's a post I wrote a while back in this thread on the subject:

 

Okay, so here are some impressions of the system. The keys on the keyboard aren't quite as tall or firm as the ones on my old macbook pro (15 inch 2008 core2duo model), but the spacing of the keys is fine and I don't think I'll have a problem getting used to it. I'm already feeling more comfortable with it.

Clonezilla process was easy and fast.

Installing Windows 8.1 took less than 20 minutes (fastest windows install of my life). Everything seemed like it mostly worked in Windows 7, but in windows 8.1 everything was pretty bad. I had to go download all the drivers from dell and install them and then tweak a bunch of settings to make it acceptable. Then spent some time customizing it. Touchscreen is nice and I could see myself using it to do certain things. The 3200x1800 resolution is going to take some getting used to. Not everything, but some things are just crazy tiny, but text on the screen is really clear and when you zoom in is still really crisp.

Ubuntu installation was also really quick, about as fast as the windows install. Installed the touchscreen quirk and that seems to be working fine.

I can see how this black material is going to get pretty grimy real quick, but it feels nice on the wrists. The machine itself is whisper quiet. It only ever got audible when it was doing the clonezilla backup. It's also cool to the touch, a real change from my macbook. Everything about the machine is really nice so far. No buyers remorse here.

 

Great tips. Thanks. What if the battery is going to be NOT used for a while? In this case, how should it be preserved?

 

Theoretically, after the machine sees that you've had the AC adapter plugged in non-stop for many days, it will eventually disconnect the battery from the charging circuit and let it naturally drain for a while before charging it back up. If you want to force that, you could go into the BIOS and tell it not to charge until it drops to something like 50% and stop charging around 90%. Someone mentioned a while back that that setting doesn't seem to work under the current BIOS rev, but not having tested it myself I can't confirm or deny that. But I'd honestly just leave the machine to its own devices in Adaptive mode personally.

 

I meant what if someone intends NOT to use the laptop for a while. What would be the maintenance to keep the battery in a good condition?

 

Oh, if you won't be using the laptop at all, store it with the battery in the 40-50% range. That's apparently the ideal charge range for longer-term storage of Li-ion batteries, which is why most laptops you buy have about that charge level out of the box.