Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

On that basis, I'd get the XPS. If you don't need or benefit from the Quadro for the specific pieces of software you use, it's unlikely to offer any benefit, and the screen cannot be upgraded later. Others have given advice on how to figure out whether the specific software will benefit.

(The extra 8gb of memory and the larger disk are both trivial upgrades later, and on this side of the Atlantic, relatively inexpensive ones. I don't have a sense of prices elsewhere.)

Thanks for passing that on; that sounds much easier than the method I ended up using.

 

Mine was set to legacy with Windows 7

 

Interesting, considering Windows 7 supports UEFI as long as you keep Legacy Option ROMs enabled. Then again, the Windows installation media has to be modified somewhat to boot in UEFI mode and thus install Windows in that mode (at least when booting off USB, not sure about CD), so that could be what happened.

 

I'm considering buying m3800 and m4800.

The specs of the computers are:

M3800

QHD+
gforce k1100
16GB RAM
i7 4700HQ
500GB HDD
256GB SSD

M4800
FULL HD
K2100
16GB RAM
i7 4700QM
Wi-GI
500GB HDD
//no backlit keyboard!
Both are almost in same prices. M3800 is 100 punds more expensive

I will use computer mostly for CAD, but at work i have proper workstation.
At home i will finish some projects+ occassionaly make renderings.
I need solit notebook for 3-4 years of usage.
I'm worried that m3800 is not solid enough.
Ive heard that housing is making glossy after few weeks under the wrists?

Which laptop should i buy?

 

Well to make it a fair fight, I'd factor in the price of installing an SSD into the M4800 spec, otherwise the M3800 will be substantially faster overall due to that alone. But otherwise, you have to decide here between better performance or better portability (and IMHO better looks overall). Both are fine systems. I haven't had the palmrest get glossy; some are speculating that it might get dirty over time because of the material itself, but that has yet to be seen. The trackpad on the other hand does get glossy rather quickly, but at least one person has mentioned that taking a microfiber cloth and some water cleaned it up nicely. I was surprised how quickly it happened, but that's hardly a dealbreaker for me.

 

I just got my m3800 this week, and I checked the BIOS. Here are the settings:

Boot List Option: Legacy
Secure Boot: Disabled
Load Legacy Option ROM: Enabled

 

At the moment i would not like to pay extra money to new laptop.

Probably M4800 would be better performing machine in future in case of upgrades.
I'm considering is the k2100 in M4800 worth QHD+ and ssd in M3800?
Is the k2100 much better performing graphics?

I'm not able to choose othe configuration because it's from dell otlet.

 

Hey guys,

I've been following this thread for quite some time and it has really been a great learning experience on whether I should pull the trigger on the M3800 or not.

I'm still a little hesitant, but I'm willing to give it a shot with the lowest M3800.

I am not too concerned with not having a QHD, as I don't think that is necessary on a 15.6" screen, but what I am concerned about is the upgradeability of the RAM and the HDD. Do you think a first timer would be able to upgrade those later on? I'm looking at possibly adding my own SSD and RAM in there, as the very bare model only offers 8GB of RAM and 500GB of HDD.

Thanks!

 

This machine is pretty easy to open up and the RAM slots and HDD connector are all easy to get at. I think this laptop is easier than most to upgrade yourself, if that's your concern then this is a good laptop to pick.

 

So then, with the very base model, I should be able to add an mSATA SSD on top of that 500GB HDD, correct?