Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

I second this. We design and manufacture products with aluminum details often. It is a very soft metal, thus why companies like Apple work with it. Easy to mill.

 

Funny that not long ago the use of magnesium structures in laptops was commended. Apple did a great job of convincing people that aluminum was the material of choice. Well it does cosmetically work for them but let's be honest, magnesium is better in MANY ways. It's stronger for the same weight and since the density is about the same for both it's stronger for the same bulk. The real drawback to magnesium is the stuff needs some sort of finish on it. Once you paint it like the bottom of my M4400 it looks like plastic... with slightly worse dimensional tolerance. People associate the tight fit of Apple parts with precision even if that precision comes with no benefit to the user beyond cosmetics.

Still, Apple is clearly a trend setter and one of the things they do brilliantly is not only show people the best way to do some things (if you are going to have a click pad they did it best) but also how to convince people a drawback is a feature (take out the DVD drive and charge more for it!). Get rid of the keyboard's number pad and save money while claiming it's a space saving feature that Apple thought of!

 

Quick question. Who here is using the built in touch pad drivers and who is using the Synaptics. I can't decide if I should download them. Is there any problems that have come up if I do? I am new to 8.1 and I haven't quite figured out how to even do multitouch on the touch pad

 

I'm buying a sleeve right now. Thanks for the warning about the aluminium stuff. Well, I've personally used 2mm aluminium plates as top panels for several arcade sticks without any issues in the past 3 years. People are smashing on it and even I have 3 arcade sticks, which I daily use, and couldn't figure out any stability issues - there are no dents or anything similar. Aluminium is softer than other metals, yes, but it's still harder than many other materials. Still, these bending issues on the M3800 seem like a major problem to me; eventhough it looks tough (and passed my personal tests without any issues).

@stewartlittle: I'm using the official Synaptics drivers on Linux; they work better than the Dell drivers. Simply try it out - you can uninstall them, if you don't like them. Judge for yourself .

 

Also, I know there was some question as to what sleeves work with the m3800. I purchased a Cote & Ciel Macbook Pro Retina sleeve from the Apple store and it fits. Keep in mind it fits like a condom, but I have found with neoprene sleeves that they stretch over time.

 

Only Synaptics drivers version 16.3.15.1 work on this system; the newer ones removed support, so if you want to use Synaptics drivers you'll have to go find the right version still available somewhere. And don't worry about not knowing how to do multitouch since both the Synaptics drivers have video demonstrations of how to do each gesture in their settings, and I believe the Dell ones do as well. That's partly why your touchpad drivers weigh in at over 200 MB.

 

One of the things I like about the M3800 is that every material seems to serve a purpose. The central frame is magnesium, the bottom cover is real carbon fiber, and the lid is a sandwich of aluminum and Gorilla Glass. The only material I would change is the rubberized finish on the palm rest. The finish is holding up really well, but I personally don't like the feel as much. I also wish Dell would offer a blacked-out version of the M3800 with a charcoal grey or black anodized aluminum lid.

 

Anandtech review about XPS 15 9530 is out:

AnandTech | Dell XPS 15 Haswell Edition: qHD+ with a Refined Design

 

I think anodized is a mixed bag. It looks stellar when new, but any nick at all, and it will flake and break off. In my years in the product industry, I have yet to see a 100% durable anodized finish. If they could die molten aluminum, well that would be great, but if possible, its definitely not financially feasible.

 

Where did you download the Synaptics driver for Linux from? I'd like to try it. I guess it is closed source, right? Or can I expect to find it in any distribution or PPA?