Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

By the way did you try to enable both the ac7260 wlan + bluetooth and use a bluetooth mouse, I did have a lot of trouble keeping the bluetooth running, had to uninstall and install the original Dell drivers to keep it running, seems to be ok for now, but I look forward to new ac/bt drivers from Dell.

 

By the way did you try to enable both the ac7260 wlan + bluetooth and use a bluetooth mouse, I did have a lot of trouble keeping the bluetooth running, had to uninstall and install the original Dell drivers to keep it running, seems to be ok for now, but I look forward to new ac/bt drivers from Dell.

 

It's a Windows 8.1 issue. Yes Photoshop will look fine by using the setup you describe, but the dealbreaker side effect of that is that the image you're looking at will be scaled up as well as the toolbars, which negates all of the benefits of QHD+ for photo editing and is arguably worse for precision work than simply having a lower-resolution panel running without scaling. Adobe needs to deliver a solution that scales ONLY the UI and leaves the content alone.

As for the behavior in general, having to log off and back on after connecting a second display is expected if Windows is changing the scale factor, which it most likely is. If you want to check yourself, with the external display disconnected, go to the Screen Resolution pane and click "Make text larger or smaller", then note where the slider is on the Smaller/Larger spectrum. Then close that, connect your external display, and go back and check again. If you set that slider in one scenario to match the other, then you shouldn't have to log off and back on when you connect or disconnect your external display, but that of course assumes that there's a single scaling setting you'd be happy with under both setups. But try playing with changing the scaling slider, remembering to log off and back on to see its full impact since only certain elements change immediately when you move the slider.

 

sorry can't delete #1442

 

I experimented with the single scale setting and it eliminates some of the quirks, but it results in a suboptimum compromise when you have two monitors with very different DPI's. A window will be too large on the 1280x1024, and too small on the QHD.

Overall I'm pleased with how 8.1 changes scale on a monitor by monitor basis, most apps look great. Ironically, the programs that stand to benefit the most like capture one and photoshop have the hardest time with it it seems.

 

Despite the fact that I ordered my unit on December 5, 2013 - Dell this evening informed me due to yet another parts shortage, i would not receive the unit until the middle of February at the earliest. Therefore I have cancelled my order and will likely pickup a Mac or the new Lenovo, or possibly the new Samsung ATIV 9 introduced at CES in a few months. My original date for delivery was December 23 2013 not February 21 or later. In fact the Dell rep told me that there could be further parts shortages which could push the date back into March.

For those in Canada I custom ordered my unit but when the mid tier package became available the very next day I must have been one of the very first to order that set up because I called the morning of the first day it became available. Hope other Canadians (if any) on this board have better luck. I run a business and I expect a certain level of professionalism and transparancy - not to be led with a chain like a pet dog with incremental delays every 10 days. I ordered a computer...not a hand made Bugatti Veyron. Two to four months is ridiculous - period.

Hope you all enjoy your units and thanks to those who provided feedback and information for the unit. I am sure I will be back to the forum when I have decided on an alternative for my business needs.

Cheers,

 

I should have been more clear. I didn't mean choosing the "Use one scaling setting for all of my displays" and finding a single percentage. I meant leaving that option UNchecked (i.e. using the scaling you've got now) but seeing if there's maybe a single notch on the Smaller/Larger continuum that would work both for when you're only using the built-in panel AND when you have the external display connected. That would allow you to keep per-display scaling, but using the same notch in both configurations should eliminate the need to log off and back on since that notch won't be moving. But you have to make the selection twice, once with the external monitor disconnected and once with it connected.

 

No. I prefer wired mice because I've had bad luck in the past with wireless mice not responding to movements as smoothly (jittery response).

 

Shame on Dell for this. I guess I was lucky. I received my M3800 in only 3 days! I ordered the baseline model with only 8GB and the hybrid 500GB hard drive, and at the same time ordered the other 8GB RAM DIMM and the Intel 530 (480GB) SSD from Amazon.com.

 

I ordered mine November 14th got it on December 6th an returned it a week later. I've been working with a macbook pro 15 inch for a month now. I have to say that the QHD+ display is nowhere near the macbook display. Issues with the m3800: I noticed inconsistent colors and bad reaction times. Type on darker backgrounds had tails when scrolling and I had problems to find a good viewing angle. The color profile is not loading correctly.

I have a HP z420 with a 3,6hz 4c|4t Xeon and 24 gig ram and a quadro 2000 at home and i did some after effects render tests with the m3800, the macbook and the z420. The m3800 was the slowest while the macbook and the workstation were rendering at similar speeds.

I never considered buying a Mac but the frustration I had with the m3800 and me wanting a potent lightweight laptop of excellent build quality made me buy the rMbp.

So if you consider both i'd recommend the mac. The screen is way better and the performance to. The downside for me really is Mac osx. I have to use the mouse more often than on windows 7.

On the other hand no one knows if w7 ever will provide Hidpi capability and windows 8 was a bit distracting, too. If you do Graphics or layout you'll need to clean the screen every 2h if you use the touch functionality (it's fun to use unscaled after effects with you fingers) Photoshop does not support touch gestures btw.