Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

The max specs for Y50 are 4702HQ, GTX860m, 4K display is optional FHD is standard, battery life 5 hours, JBL speakers + subwoofer, touchscreen is optional.
More info in the follow link (it's written in Italian, but video is in English):
Lenovo IdeaPad Y40 e Y50, gaming notebook in video - Notebook Italia

More info in the follows videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5FGHCqyhto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xJ2wtEqE2s

 

It can be configured with either, but the present retail configs are Windows 7 -- that could be subject to change. Mine was 8.1. My employer has one one order with Win 7, and can check when that comes in.

The Windows 8.1 install came with Secure Boot enabled, and Legacy Mode turned off. I switched it back, as I dual boot with Linux, and it is much easier to just use F12 to boot off the other drive to get to Linux rather than dealing with UEFI boot managers.

It is possible to convert a WIndows 7 image between legacy and UEFI without (quite) reinstalling; I've done it at some point in the past. I don't remember if there were other "gotchas" but in order to do it, it involved taking a Windows image backup, then restoring the image having booted off of a Windows DVD in the other mode. I think there were other steps, and this was certainly not for the faint of heart. But it can be done, if needed. I did it out of curiosity about the boot time improvements, which on a last-generation Latitude with Windows 7 were not worth the trouble.

 

so I just want to make clear something up, because I may have made a little mistake....

in my country ( the netherlands ), the xps price is including all the tax that you have to pay ( 21%)
but the precision is exclusive tax, so if you have a price of €1399 you have to pay another 21% on top of it...

So the xps 15 will cost: €1699
and the precision m3800 will cost: €1736,14

so there isn't much savings on money, but when i buy the xps 15 I will get a lot more for my money.... but no K1100m....
So what should you do? go for the xps 15? or the precision m3800?

 

I've done it using the Linux tool "gdisk' which allows you to convert a MBR disk to GPT in-place. You have to manually create the EFI boot partition and then run the Windows command "bcdboot" to recreate the boot-loader. Yeah, a little tricky, but I've done it 5 or so times without issue.

 

Interesting, thanks! I wouldn't have guessed that was possible, especially the image restore method. Previous post edited. :thumbsup:

Still curious what the default BIOS configuration is for an M3800 that ships with Windows 7 though.... anybody?

 

I already explained my recommendations in this earlier post, which I've tweaked a tiny bit based on the new price information. The simple answer is that determining the right spec for you involves first researching how the apps you'll require will handle the QHD+ display and whether they run significantly better on a Quadro vs an equivalent GeForce card. If they won't handle QHD+, then that alone should disqualify the XPS spec you're considering. If they will, then take some of the other factors I already mentioned into consideration.

 

"I already explained my recommendations in this earlier post, which I've tweaked a tiny bit based on the new price information. The simple answer is that determining the right spec for you involves first researching how the apps you'll require will handle the QHD+ display and whether they run significantly better on a Quadro vs an equivalent GeForce card. If they won't handle QHD+, then that alone should disqualify the XPS spec you're considering. If they will, then take some of the other factors I already mentioned into consideration."

I have had a look at the other laptop as well. I am unclear as to where to find which programs will work on which processor. I use, for example
DxO Pro and I intend to use a desk monitor with the new setup. I know the Quadro will, even if having some problems at present , deal with calibration for both laptop and external monitor. Will the xps 15?

I have tried to find which would be better but really have little idea where to look, so any ideas would be very welcome.

 

I assume that by "processor" you mean either GPU or display? The best way to find out whether a product takes advantage of Quadro-specific enhancements and how well it handles scaling on very high resolution panels is probably to look at forums dedicated to those apps. You could also email the tech support contact for those apps. Unfortunately very high resolution panels are so new to Windows that there might not be a lot of information on that subject out there (but there should definitely be information about the Quadro), so if you can't find any info and the vendor support reps are no good, then you'd be taking a leap of faith ordering the QHD+ panel.

The GeForce GPU in the XPS will definitely handle color calibration; a few people in the XPS 15 thread have already calibrated theirs.

 

Thanks have e-mail DxO but there is a very mixed message on nit and use of Quadro on the web.

 

That mixed message is probably because lots of people confuse general GPU acceleration with Quadro-specific feature acceleration. Hopefully the company itself will give you a clearer and more reliable answer.