Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

I don't know about Windows 8, but I used the hints in this posting to setup the additional triggers for my M4500 and Windows 7. Now it always loads the right profiles:

Reducing the Need for Manual Reload of Color Calibration when Docking in Windows 7 | Brian Reiter's Thoughtful Code

 

Dual core low voltage processors. Intel integrated graphics. The Lenovo would not keep up with the quad core and quadro graphics in the M3800. The Latitude E7440 would be a better comparison.

 

Double Post. Mods - Delete.

 

That is a good question, and the answers you get will vary from person to person. For me a workstation is a computer with specs that I like and want, and that delivers what is stated in the description/specs. For example, if the specs say that it has an excellent display with high resolution, then the display should be excellent with no flaws, i.e. no noticeable backlight-bleeding, no color shifting etc, and if it comes with a quadcore CPU, then I should be able to use that quadcore CPU to its full potential, without any throttling or heating issues.

Imo, the most important parts of a portable workstation are the keyboard and the screen, since those two you will be using all the time for communicating and working with your machine.
But thats just me, others will say they need quadro/firepro GPUs, tons storage, tons of ports etc.

I dont like HP laptops, to expensive and nothing spectacular about them. The M6800 is too big to carry around in a bag all day, so is the M4800, which is a great machine but the lack of optimus is something that I cant live with. The lenovos are more expensive than Apple's macs (!) here in Sweden, so I wont even look at them.

Regards

 

That's handy.

I've found a hugely critical thing, I think it's been mentioned here before. Go into Windows Mobility Center and change the color mode from Splendid to Generic. Splendid applies itself after the profile loads and much hair pulling ensues as it turns skin lobster pink. Whatever this splendid does, it seems to do it outside the normal color management chain.

After disabling splendid, restart for good measure and then re-calibrate the display. Now it looks beautiful!

 

HP Zbook 15 can still be had with a Dreamcolor IPS panel (and haswell/k2100m just like M4800) and you can also CTO the Dreamcolor IPS panel on a Zbook 17 as well. Prices are quite a bit higher than what Dell is currently offering though. Technically the non-Dreamcolor AUO AHVA panels have IPS-like viewing angles (80/80/80/80) and better gamut than your typical TN panels as well.

 

3.5kg/7.7lbs may even be heavier than the M4800 (and while I've yet to see the W540, if it's truly 1/2lb lighter than the W530, which was nearly a pound lighter than the M4700, I think Dell may be in a bit of trouble on that already.)

Plus, back to the MSI, no Quadro card, which matters to some folks here and is irrelevant to others.

Yes, although in this case I was asking specifically for yours.
It sounds like in your case, you're just looking for a high-end machine and not specifically an engineering/ISV-certified system.

Dell is a bit prone to inconsistent production on those sorts of issues, and thin-and-light is always going to be a problem on thermals.

(aside) Everybody is making the keyboards worse. I blame Apple. I recently was traveling with a hand-me-down X201 rather than one of my current generation Dells (long story) and was reminded just how good keyboards used to be, even when the machine had 2 1/2 years of hard use before it got to me. (/aside)

Judging the ergonomics and screen quality is IMO best done in person, which is hard with high-end laptops, and even more so with build-to-order. People have given plenty of impressions of the M3800; I'll give mine later -- mine arrived today but is sitting at home; am still at work.

Sure, which is why I asked. There are some good machines on the consumer/media side, some of which might work for you, if you don't need some of the business-side features or professional-3D-graphics GPU. I'm not nearly as familiar with them, but 2 years ago the older Vaio Z would have been one to look into whether the screen quality worked for you for a dated example.

Local cost issues make it hard to translate from place to place; in my experience in the US comparable machines from Dell/HP/Lenovo all tend to be in a very close range lately until you factor in promotions, and at that point it is luck of the draw who has the better promotions.

Given that you don't need a monstrous machine, you might want to give a quick re-check on the Lenovo T540p. It is shipping, seems a pretty good match for your expressed needs, and is enough cheaper at US prices -- about $1400-$1500 with a quad-core and IPS screen -- than any of the other machines discussed that even if Lenovo is not competitive in general, the particular model will be.

OTOH, it is not much lighter than the Lenovo Ws, and only a bit lighter than the M4700/M4800, so you are probably not going to want to carry it all day either. Light high-powered machines have been a province that the PC industry has not done a very good job of matching Apple in, even in general, let alone getting the details and quality right.

Even with Apple, you will have compromises. Heavy CPU use can run into thermal issues on the MBP 15", and heavy CPU-GPU has thermal+power issues.

Still in the same weight-class as the W530 and M4800, so probably not what he's looking for, but looks interesting. I didn't realize the HPs I referenced up-thread were the last-generation

 

Just got my system unpacked, and disassembled so I can take images of the drives before first boot. Interesting -- rather than Lite-on, the 256GB SSD is a SK Hynix SSD with a LAMD controller.

This is a good thing.

 

I am running win7 now. I am not docking this laptop yet. And I may never dock it. I read this and it is way above my head.

I did try the splendid vs generic thing. No difference. This seems to be something with the Intel control panel loading another profile over my custom one upon startup. If I log off instead of restart, "most of the time" it will load the calibrated color profile. I have disabled the Intel Persistence app in the startup. This sounds like it leads to trouble for color cal according to many on the internet for many computers. I wonder if there are other things in startup that should be disabled too.

This stuff drives me crazy. This is why Apple rules this market plain and simple. I am really afraid to call Dell on this. Because I know the conversation will likely take hrs and get me no where.

 

Hi, has anyone had problems with holding in F-buttons while trying to use the trackpad? Mine locks up perhaps a second after holding Fbuttons. This REALLY annoys me in an ISV-certified machine, as the pan/rotate/move buttons are hotkeyed as F1/F2/F3/F4 in inventor or other autodesk programs. Is there a fix available?