Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Would it be possible at all for anyone with the top spec m3800 and SW13 to do a Solidworks performance test??? We have been rebooting the computers here and immediately doing a test. It would really help me gauge where this pc ranks here. Posted results would be amazing! Thanks in advance for helping me with my indecisiveness.

 

This is Blackcat.

Here are the scores from my Solidworks Performance Test. You can search the benchmark site for Blackcat or M3800 (it's the only M3800 posted at the moment)
Machine is base model with a Samsung SATA 840 EVO 1TB SSD in the place of the factory 500GB SSHD.

Name : Blackcat
Solidworks : 2013:3.0: x64
OS : Microsoft Windows 7 Professional:Service Pack 1:x64
Computer : Dell Inc.: Dell Precision M3800
CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4702HQ CPU @ 2.20GHz [Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3] (8 processors)
RealView : 8.1
Graphics : NVIDIA Quadro K1100M
Ram : 8095
Hard Disk : 1000:IDE

SolidWorks Preformance Test (sec) (overall= cpu + Graphics + I/O)
Overall=71.4
Cpu= 37.6
Graphics=9.4
I/O=24.4
Render=31.2

 

I opened a 288+ component assembly, and it was quicker than my older m4400 and older Xeon at work. It was a subjective observation. To be objective... I posted my benchmark scores in an earlier post.

 

Processor: Much faster on mostly-single-threaded stuff... will be very noticeable. On highly parallel stuff, it'll be slightly faster but not necessarily noticeably so on interactive stuff (although the improvements should be noticeable on long-running stuff)... the practical clock speed on all 4 cores is very slightly lowerbut you've got 4 years of core improvements since the W3540 is a Nehalem core.

For code compilation, which I grant is a fairly different workload from the 3D stuff most of the folks on this thread are talking about, the i7-2720qm performed slightly behind the W3565/W3570s we had in out desktops until last year but the difference was not noticeable in practice unless you were running a timed build... and the i7-3720qm outperformed the W3565 by a little. The i7-4802HQ performs around where the 3720qm did.
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Compared to the Quadro FX4800, you've got twice as many CUDA cores, half a gig more RAM, and 4-5 years of core improvements. While all but the highest end mobile boards are going to have trouble keeping up with newer desktop boards, in this case I'd expect to difference to be very noticeable. I'm not sure the core counts are truly comparable between newer or older chips, or what the clocks are, which I'd need to be to be sure.

 

I really wish Dell offered a matte screen for this laptop. I'm finding the glossy screen almost unusable many places I work from, such as the library:



That's facing the dimmest side of the room

 

I wonder how hard it would be to disassemble the display assembly. If you only wanted 1080, you could find a relatively cheap replacement. I'm considering it for my m3800 since they're giving me the 1080p screen.

 

I suspect that if separating the panel from the assembly were easy, they would be available as separate parts (as they are on other Dell laptops) rather than display issues on this machine being resolved by sending an entire replacement display assembly. Part of that very likely has to do with the presence of a touchscreen. Additionally, the glossy coating I believe is mostly due to the edge-to-edge glass coating that covers both the display and the surrounding bezel, so even if it were possible to remove the panel -- and find a replacement panel with the same motherboard connector types as the original -- I don't think the replacement panel would perform any differently behind that glass, nor do I see a feasible way to remove the glass entirely even if you were ok with the loss of touchscreen functionality.

 

I'm going with "hard". No apparent fasteners, so it may be using adhesive to hold it together. The top panel is so thin, the lcd itself must essentially be like a glowing sheet of plastic. Using a heat gun on that adhesive might damage things.

 

Gorilla Glass is usually glued to the display.

 

The glass forms an integral part of the structure of the top plate. That's how it can be so thin.

Coming from a matte screen, I would suggest turning up the brightness, and you do get used to it. Whenever I get new eyeglasses of a different shape, apparent reflections in the corner of my eye dog me for a few days, then my brain adapts and tunes them out.