Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

On the M3800, if you change the screen resolution to 1920x1080, is the screen not as clear? (I tried this on the XPS 15 at a Microsoft store and it became ever so slightly blurred). Basically is the 1080p setting as clear as on a laptop with a native 1080p display?

 

I see Dell sells a USB 3.0 to Ethernet Adapter (last time I looked it was USB 2.0).

Couple of questions from a non-IT expert that has been hesitating buying an M3800 due to the lack of an Ethernet port (I will not using M3800 as part of corporate network).

1) Is there any difference in using the USB 3.0 to Ethernet Adapter versus using a built in adapter/NIC? That is, if I use the USB 3.0 adapter can I stop worrying about the lack of an Ethernet port and built in NIC?
2) I don’t really know what I’m talking about, but does the adapter have its own NIC?
3) Will it enable me to get Gigabit speeds over a home network?
4) Will it enable me to get broadband internet speeds above 100Mbps, which I understand was the limit of the USB 2.0 10/100 adapter (I am about to get upgraded to 120Mbps fibre-optic speed by my ISP)?
5) Any pros / cons of using this Dell adapter versus 3rd party adapters such as those by Startech? I assume a positive would be better Dell Tech Support.
6) Is there any difference between using the USB 3.0 to Ethernet Adapter or the Dell USB 3.0 Dock in terms of Ethernet performance? I read a user review of the USB 3.0 Dock on the Dell US website which I did not understand which said: “…This dock will NOT let you plug in an Ethernet cable and give the laptop [XPS 12] an IP address. This is only for laptops that have hard wired NICs already.” What does this mean and (if it is correct) does it apply to the M3800?

Dell USB 3.0 to Ethernet Adapter:
Dell Adapter | USB 3 to Ethernet : Connected Classroom | Dell UK

 

39 quid is nuts. I recommend the anker usb 3.0 for usd 22.00 from amazon. Get the latest asix 88179 driver from the asix website. It has been flawless with my xps 15 top tier and gbit ethernet. I observed 100 Mbyte/s transfers from my home server.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

My WiFi reception is a little weaker than I have with my M2400. At my vacation place I parasite WiFi off my neighbor (with his permission) and the signal drops off.

I also have a Alfa AWUS036NH and it is a little better, but not much.

Is there any WiFi Amp that anyone might recommend (signal booster) for this beast? I can hook an antenna into the Alfa.

Any other thoughts for improving reception with this unit or an I stuck... shame radio is worse than previous versions.

 

It's not as clear as 1080p native, but it's a lot closer than running other panels at non-native resolutions. 1600x900 on the other hand IS as clear as a native 1600x900 display EXCEPT that ClearType can occasionally blur things slightly because it optimizes its subpixel rendering for a layout that doesn't match the QHD+ panel's pixel layout -- but if I never told you about that, chances are you'd never notice it.

Wow, there's a lot here, but I've organized this as best I can. Here are answers for a non-IT expert from an IT expert.

First, as far as you and your OS are concerned, a USB NIC behaves just like an onboard NIC, so yes if you get a USB adapter you can stop worrying about the fact that you don't have a built-in NIC (with one possible exception I'll address later in this post). That probably indirectly answers a lot of your subsequent questions about home network and Internet connection bandwidth, but I'll address those too.

Your Question #2 is a bit bizarre, but basically a USB NIC adapter is the same type of NIC hardware you'd find in a system plus a bridge chip to send Ethernet data over USB (since USB can't accept raw Ethernet traffic). There's some overhand translating Ethernet to USB signalling, but USB 3.0's bandwidth is so much higher than Gigabit that it's unnoticeable. I've run side-by-side tests on systems that have wired Gigabit NICs.

In order to exceed 100Mbps on your home network, you need a Gigabit-capable NIC (onboard or USB, doesn't matter), a Gigabit-capable device on the other end (i.e. your switch/router), and CAT 5e or better cabling. If you're missing any one of those components, you'll be limited to 100Mbps performance. But if you achieve a Gigabit link there, the bandwidth you can realize on your Internet connection would have nothing to do with the USB NIC. That bandwidth would depend on your ISP's connection, whether both the WAN and LAN ports on the router are Gigabit-capable (some WAN ports are only 100Mbps even if the LAN ports are Gigabit), and how fast your router can pass traffic between its WAN and LAN ports. That last one is a common stumbling block on cheaper home routers because the manufacturers never counted on very fast Internet connections, so they tried to save a few bucks with slow processing passing traffic between interfaces. Any issues in those areas, however, would of course affect every device on your network, not just this system. The bottom line is that if you buy the a USB 3.0 to Gigabit adapter (and obviously connect it to a USB 3.0 port), then any bottlenecks you encounter will not be the fault of your adapter or the system.

Technically USB 2.0 maxed out at 480 Mbps, not 100 Mbps so there ARE a few USB 2.0 to Gigabit adapters, but USB becomes the bottleneck in that scenario. Those adapters still deliver more bandwidth than a USB 2.0 to 100Mbps adapter, though.

Yes, a Dell USB NIC will get Dell support, but honestly NICs are pretty simple devices, so I highly doubt you'd ever need to use their support for any issues. The only other meaningful difference between third-party NICs and a Dell USB NIC (or one built into the system) is PXE support, which is the exception I mentioned at the beginning of this post. If you don't care about that, buy a StarTech adapter or similar; I think all of the current crop of NICs use the same chipset internally, so they should perform identically. If you do need PXE, buy the Dell NIC that mentions PXE support, which might still be the 2.0 version. That's probably why markets that had USB NICs included with M3800s got that 2.0 version rather than a faster 3.0, since enterprises might need that capability to boot and image these systems. Fwiw, I bought the StarTech adapter that has a passthrough USB 3.0 port built into it so that I don't actually lose a USB port simply by having a NIC plugged in. It's a bit pricier, but handy if you frequently use up your USB ports.

There shouldn't be any difference between using a USB adapter and using a NIC built into a USB 3.0 dock. In terms of that comment you mentioned, docks that use Dell proprietary docking connectors (found on most Latitude and Precision systems) do require that the system itself support all of the hardware on the dock, so if you bought a dock that had USB 3.0 ports but your system didn't support USB 3.0, you don't get USB 3.0. The reason is that those docking stations simply pass the connector pins back into the motherboard of the system, so the motherboard has to have support for everything coming in. That incidentally is why those types of docks don't require any drivers. Docks that connect via USB 3.0, on the other hand, actually have all of their required hardware built in, i.e. they would have an actual full NIC rather than just an RJ-45 connector that would be managed by your system's NIC internally. As a result, those docks DO require drivers, but they also don't require anything internal on your system to function. As for the fact that the comment you quoted was made on a USB 3.0 dock, I don't know what that person's actual issue was, but I'm calling an incorrect diagnosis and/or getting the wrong answer from a Dell support tech. My bet is that he experienced a driver problem of some kind.

 

jphughan. Thanks for taking the time to write that - your answers are very clear and appreciated.

 

This coil whine is driving me insane, any updates on that front? Does Dell know how to fix it?

Also I'm wonder if someone can point me to the latest firmware for the mSATA ssd, I'm getting some BSODs after waking up from Hibernate, with the error msg; DPS Watchdog Violation. Google tells me that it's a ssd driver problem.

Thanks.

 

This is the thread to watch for updates from Dell on coil whine: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19536279/20635754.aspx#20635754. An update is expected by the end of the month. The substance of that update isn't known.

Any firmware updates for SSDs included with Dell systems would be on the support.dell.com page for that system. SSDs purchased aftermarket would get firmware updates from the vendor's website.

 

Incorrect facts stated ... Post deleted.

 

Thanks for the advice.
I have got the audio working somewhat.
There is still an issue with the USB/network adaptor.
The network adaptor is not activated or wont show up under network adaptors until i plug in the cable to network/USB; i have changed the USB and power setting on ports and the network adaptor; the network adaptor is listed first in registry over the wireless adaptor.
This means currently i cannot use my network adaptor as a license server for CAD unless I have a cable plugged in which is basically unacceptable.
I am raising the topic with dell support as I have tried (and failed) at getting the adaptor to work all the time.
If i get resolution I can update the thread, other people must be running Creo or s/w that requires license server authentication.