Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Finally I get the m3800 and I am using GNU/Linux(Kubuntu), it runs really good... I write M3800 - Communia while installing and setting up.

 

Thanks for the info and thanks to kierontse for the SW test. I think I am sold on the machine. Now to work on the price,

 

Apologies if this has been posted before, but what tech is the FHD screen? Is it IPS, PLS or VA? I really hope it's not TN.

If anyone here has the FHD model, how are the viewing angles? Any issues so far (dead pixels, uneven colors/brightness, backlight bleed, etc)?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I've seen older posts that it looks like it's a TN (shocking) but I've asked one of the Dell reps; he contacted the tech team and promised to email back. I'll post back if he does.

 

It's TN (wide angle). No IPS option so far..

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

 

I believe this is correct, like the rMBP this isn't an LCD "module" screwed into a lid with a glass sheet on top, the lid/LCD/front glass is all one unit and must be replaced as such.

 

Update on coil whine issue.
I had a visit from the engineer. He tried a new cable/adapter with no effect. Next he tried replacing the power socket and cable within the chassis...still no effect. Next he logged into BIOS to play with some power settings. Interestingly the intermittent buzz is constant when in BIOS....still no fix. We are now at the point of waiting for a new motherboard to see if that will fix the issue, but Dell are out of stock of the part and will get back to me when it is back in. To top it all off, my screen is now not working for touch - having been replaced for a dead pixel.

 

Don't forget to re-install the latest touchscreen firmware.

 

Some build-related benchmarks. Unfortunately, this is my company's product so I can't give very details on the build, but it's a big enterprise java suite of applications, about 1GB of sources.

Point of comparison, my work desktop - clean build (after reboot, so fresh caches, but built once already so all the maven stuff in the local .m2/repository directory already i7-3770, 32gb memory, Intel 520 240gb SSD -- 5 min 49 sec -- Linux 3.13.0 x86_64 (Gentoo, btrfs)

M3800, Windows 8.1, antivirus off, Crucial M500 960gb -- 8 min 41 sec
M3800, Windows 8.1, antivirus off, Hynix 256gb mSATA -- 8 min 30 sec (surprising, I'd have expected a bigger difference for the better SSD)
M3800, Linux, antivirus n/a, Crucial M500 -- 6 min 26 sec -- Linux 3.13.0 (Gentoo, ext4)
(interestingly, cleaning and then rerunning on hot caches made almost no difference on Linux)

In other words,
A) these machines are pretty nicely fast (especially since the Intel 520 should be faster than the M500, and btrfs should be faster than ext4 -- that will be part of the 37 sec difference)
B) Windows, even with the antivirus disabled, is slower than Linux

(Oh, and while the maven stuff should all be cached locally, it was over USB ethernet, not wifi...)

 

Oh bloody hell: So I have the choice between a third-rate TN FHD screen that has a usable resolution, or an IPS QHD+ screen with a resolution that will cause pure torture to the point of being unusable with a number of my mission-critical applications. Awesome. I really wanted to like this machine, but I just can't bring myself to get over the huge trade-offs it forces on me. Too bad.

Typical for our broken PC industry, that's trying to sell stuff to people that nobody wants. And then they're all surprised that their market is cratering.

 

The QHD+ panel is not bad when set to 1600x900; not ideal, but pretty decent, and still way better than an average Dell TN panel.

(Haven't seen the FHD on this or the XPS 15 to see if it's better or worse than average.)