Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Unfortunately the Windows 'software raid' does not allow one to create a bootable RAID array. The only way to do that is either hardware RAID or BIOS supported firmware RAID.

It would have been so easy for Dell to implement this. They probably even purposely removed it from the BIOS.

I was really liking the M3800.


Dell just isn't the company they used to be. It angers me that they don't allow me to configure my own machine anymore. Oh, you can "Customize" your machine by adding maintenance contracts and addons. Give me a break Dell.

Here is configurability that the world learned from Dell. ThinkPad W540 | Mobile Workstation | | Lenovo (US)

Give it up at your peril Dell.

 

All QHD+ displays are made by Sharp, the report about an QHD+ display made by LG is wrong, blame to Notebookcheck review.

You have completely reason, I forgot that.

 

I would hardly consider lack of RAID a dealbreaker. Frankly I just don't see the point of either RAID 0 or 1 when you've got an SSD-based system with units that can saturate a 6 Gbps SATA link singlehandedly. But you're right, taking time to remove the feature is a bit odd.

As for configurability, it's a pure cost savings measure driven by the fact that computers in general are increasingly seen more as a commodity item these days, not something special, and with that perception comes less concern with particular details and a greater expectation of lower costs, otherwise consumers may decide that they can just do without PCs entirely these days and rely on smartphones and tablets instead. And even though this may not apply to everyone, the fact is that lots of consumers just don't really care about customizing every single component because their dependence on smartphones these days has conditioned them to simply accept devices that simply come a certain way; they neither can control nor easily find out how fast that CPU is or how much RAM is installed. The problem is that few other major vendors ever offered the customizability that Dell did (and still does if you have a Premier account, btw), so there wasn't much competition in that space to begin with -- just like Dell's at-home warranty service. Lenovo didn't used to offer real customizability, and frankly I doubt that they will for much longer.

In Dell's defense though, they do at least appear to be passing those cost savings to us. For example, the Inspiron 7000 series is several hundred dollars cheaper than the equivalent Inspiron was 4 years ago. I bought a mostly maxed out Precision M90 way back when that cost $5200 before my discount, and today's equivalent Precision M6800 maxes out at about half that cost -- and that's before even adjusting for inflation.

I too miss the days of configurability, but to be honest the only thing I'd have changed on my spec might have been removing the touchscreen if the QHD+ panel were available in non-touch form (which it isn't), and even there I'm glad I kept it now that I've used it a bit. I'm sure that as they become more commonplace, application developers will find interesting ways to use them, so it will only become more fun/useful.

 

The screen on my top tier M3800 is a Sharp screen as well.

I have been using the laptop for almost two weeks now. I am happy to report no major issues still as I had said last week. No noise, track pad, or touchscreen issues, Wi Fi works perfectly... The only thing that I have had from time to time is that as some have reported. When I turn the computer on after sleep (maybe when on battery, I have to pay more attention) the screen turns on and you can move your mouse around, but it does not respond to clicking or touch. The couple of times it happened I had to restart the machine, but not necessarily a cold boot by holding the start button, since I can still swipe from the side and get the charms to show. I will try the start button quick press next time to put it to sleep and back on to see if that helps.

I now have installed most of the software that I use and so far have not had many scaling issues. I guess I am lucky with the software that I use. I mostly use Sketchup 8 Pro together with Lightworks Artisan for creating renderings and they both work just fine. Oddly enough I installed the trial version of Sketchup 2013 and that seems to have some scaling issues. The UI icons are very small and you have to make an effort to see them. Since I know the software well, I am able to use it but it can be a pain. The definition on the image is considerably better though. So I am still debating whether it is worth upgrading...

I have not yet installed autocad since I have to W8.1 and need to upgrade. So I cannot comment yet on that which I know some designers had ask about. I only have one software for Metal buildings design that would not turn on, but I was able to fix the issue with the tech guys. At start up it would say that it allows only small or large fonts and shut down. To make it work I had to change the scaling to 1600x1200 and the program would launch. Once it does, I am able to change back to 3200 and it still keeps working. Though at restart, the problem is there again. So at least I figured a way to work around this.

I really love the machine. It perfectly fits my needs, being sleek, light, very fast and so far nothing really to complain about. I hope that it keeps performing just as well and that other software will perform well too. Hopefully within a few weeks, some updates will come up to fix most of the small issues I have.

 

sorry double post

 

I think you're right. I looked at it with a loupe and I think it's two or more pixels side-by-side. Unfortunately they're really dark, too, which makes them stand out *very* clearly against any kind of even remotely light background, which is driving me nuts..

Closely inspecting the rest of the screen, I see 2 more dead pixels, which brings the total to at least 4. The other two really don't bother me much, it's the cluster of subpixels that is really annoying because it's so visible.

Does anyone know what Dell's policy on dead pixels is?

I received my Win7 disk from them (they overnighted it for free, which I thought was great of them), so if all of the hardware issues I'm having don't go away after installing Win7 with their disk, I might ask for a replacement anyway..

EDIT: I just noticed 5 more dead pixels while viewing a page with a white background, bringing the total to 9.

 

Looking to see if anyone has experienced this problem...

Computer runs perfect with to issues now for two weeks. Finally, got the display-link driver and docking station setup and i will have a random lockup when connected to the docking station only. No blue screen or any other events...the machine just locks up. CTRL ALT DEL doesn't do anything on the laptop or external keyboard. Once this happens the only way to get it to restart is by holding down the power button until it shuts off.

It happens randomly 4 to 5 times a day now, and I cant understand why. There is no specific event that makes it happen i.e. certain program running or such.

I am trying going from two displays to one display and see if that settles it down. Just trying to do the process of elimination.

Also, I am running the laptop and the external monitors at 1920 x 1080. So everything is the same between the monitors and laptop.

 

Have you got the latest drivers? When I first used the dock I had to upgrade the firmware on it (I think the update came with the newer driver, but not certain). This is with an M4800 though.


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They will replace the display. Mine is being replaced on Monday. Contact ProSupport chat and tell them.. should only take a few minutes. There was a shortage of hinges that delayed mine a couple of weeks.

 

How does that work? Do they send you a new laptop, or do you have to ship your laptop to them to be repaired? If the latter, do they put in a new screen or a refurb?

I'd hate to get a refurbished screen or computer since I just got this last Friday..