Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Does somebody heard of a GTX850/860M refresh? Does dell refresh a model with newer hardware? or is it always a comepletely new design?

 

Occasionally new GPUs get added to existing models as they become available, but that typically happens on higher-end Precisions and Alienware systems where there were multiple options in the first place and where the graphics card is physically separate from the motherboard (unlike this one). I'd be very surprised if this system got a new GPU option before a full-on refresh, which I wouldn't expect to happen until about a year after the original launch date.

 

Too bad, cant buy one if i know you can get 50% better performance in just weeks/months away. Maxwell is a big jump in performance compared to GT750M (or quadro equiv)

 

Don't hold your breath. This system is only a few months old as it is, and given that the GPU is integrated onto the motherboard, I just don't see it happening. Whatever you do, I'd pick a set amount of time you're willing to wait before you force yourself to buy something no matter what the rumormill says, because if you decide to wait 3 months for example and nothing happens, by then there will probably be some new product rumored to be only a few more months away. If you don't actually need a new laptop at all anytime soon then by all means wait until something perfect arrives or you can't afford to wait any longer, but otherwise if you don't have a set timeframe you'll always be waiting because there will always be something announced or rumored to be released "a few months from now".

 

Gotta agree with that 100%. I went through that myself, and I finally just decided to pull the trigger and stop waiting, because as you said, something new will always be right on the horizon.

 

I know, but maxwell is already out for desktops, so we know the results (and it is very fast per watt). I cannot remember such a boost in the last 5 years: gen after gen.
Also there are already notebooks announced with it.
We are speaking 3DMark11 P5300 scores vs P3000 for the gt750M, if it was <20% i would get your point, but it isnt

 

I was hoping someone would be able to give me some advice/input. My primary reason for wanting this laptop is its capability to run SolidWorks and other 3D modelling software as well as the fact that it is super nice! However I am just a mechanical engineering student and would not be using it for my profession (at least not yet). I was wondering how much of a performance drop I would see by going with the XPS, which I could get for quite a bit less at Costco. I know that Real View wont work but would it still run smoothly (no lag and able to run simulations)? How much better would the performance of the XPS GPU be compared to an integrated card when running SolidWorks? Also I've read that the m3800 and XPS GPU's are integrated into the motherboard, so does this mean that they are not replaceable?

Thanks for any advice!

 

Similar to my reply in your post on the XPS side, try entering "Precision M3800 Solidworks site:notebookreview.com" into Google to bring up results.

Correct, the GPUs in these systems are not replaceable.

 

@aertw: Yes, CPU and GPU are soldered on the motherboard and cannot be replaced / upgraded. You have to stick with your original configuration, so you should choose wisely. In terms of gaming power, the XPS 15 beats his workstation brother M3800, because the GTX750M is more powerful than the Quadro K1100M, which in turn is about on par with a GTX640M - it's about 10% - 15% slower than the GTX750M, depending on the game / application. However, should you need any Quadro extensions or Quadro-supporting Applications, the K1100M will easily beat any gaming grade graphics card. I'm personally using the K1100M for 3D modelling and 3D animation and am simply blown away seeing a mobile graphics card performing so good in terms of viewport performance; I couldn't see much of a difference between this mid-end workstation GPU and my overclocked, high-end HD7970 GHz GPU - that's great news! The integrated HD4600 is no match to the K1100M / GTX750M and is only used for rendering the windows / desktop.

If you could save some money by choosing the XPS 15 and don't need the workstation GPU so bad, go for the XPS 15. Afaik, SolidWorks doesn't support / doesn't run on consumer grade hardware ("SolidWorks 2013 is limited to workstation-class graphics cards" - SolidWorks 2013: Results Overview - Workstation Graphics: 14 FirePro And Quadro Cards), so you would need to go for the M3800 in order to run SolidWorks.

I get your point. If you don't need a notebook asap, just wait. There are no rumors or announcements about an M3800 Maxwell refresh so far, I guess that you'll probably need to wait for about 6 - 8 months in order to get such a refresh, probably hitting the market in September - November 2014. However, please keep in mind that a refresh doesn't mean, that you'll get a perfect machine - they will bring along new problems, new limitations, new drawbacks. And you will probably have to give Dell about another 2 - 3 months time to fix early, critical bugs, until you have a fully functional, productive system.

On the other hand, you can just pick up your M3800 right now. Mature hardware, low amount of issues (coil whine), well built. However, if you still want to get the Maxwell asap, you will need to look elsewhere.

 

I would bet money that we won't see Maxwell until the Precision M3900 (or whatever they call it) that I wouldn't expect to see until about a year from now at least. This system is just too integrated for me to consider it likely that Dell will consider a refresh rather than simply designing a new model -- although that highlights the potential for new issues and/or unappreciated feature or design changes even more than an M3800 refresh.