Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Hmm, ok. Well a beta NVIDIA driver wouldn't do anything since the NVIDIA GPU isn't physically tied to any of the outputs; it's a render-only device. You could try getting the newer Intel GPU drivers if you're comfortable updating drivers through Device Manager (the actual installer will halt recommending getting OEM-specific drivers). Other than that, I'm not sure what else to recommend. This is the first I've heard of an MBP driving a high-res display over HDMI that this system can't.

 

OK. That's what I'm going to do. I found a good review of some of the serious battery makers out there. And I'm still waiting for a reply from BixPower their battery seems a good deal since it is a 60.000 MAH at 300$ plus tax and shipment to France of course.

the external battery review:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/notebook-battery-external-power-supply,2821.html

 

I ordered this one: Energizer XP18000A. Available in France and has good feedback. I will test it an report back.

Amazon.com: Energizer XP18000AB Universal Power Adapter with External Battery for Tablets/Laptops/Netbooks/Smartphones - Black (XP18000AB): Electronics

 

I also ordered the m3800 power tip :

Dell Cable - DC Power Dongle : Connected Classroom | Dell

 

The info here says 19V 3.5A output which is about 65W. Will the M3800 like a 65W PSU?

John

 

I think my M3800 complained about the older Dell 90W supply so I can't see it liking the 65W. It hasn't complained about the 110W that came with my M4400. That + dongle is my current desk power source. I did pick up a spare power pack when Dell had them for just $40. They seem to have corrected that pricing mistake.

 

it will complain and it will not charge the internal battery. but as long it boots and keeps running until the pack is empty I'm fine. The 6 cell battery is a 61Watt so I guess it will work. if it does not I will keep it for ipad and iPhone and get one of those big guys like the PowerPad 130w or the bixpower 220w. Bxpower shipping is 200$ for france

 

The 6 cell battery is 61 Watt-hour, not 61 Watts. It can put out far more than 61 Watts but it under such loads it will run out of charge in less than an hour.

 

See what happens but when I connected my E7440 (max power about 35W under full load) to a Dell 45W PSU the CPU was down-clocked to 800MHz and the slow performance suggested that the who system clock had been throttled. Under full load the power taken from the mains socket was about 12W.

Dell aren't very clever when it comes to connecting lower rated PSUs. Samsung's nearest equivalent to the E7440 runs off a 40W PSU. The sensible fix for the M3800 being connected to a PSU that reports itself as 65W would be to disable the dGPU and leave the rest of the system to run normally but that would require a few more lines of code in the BIOS.

John

 

thanks for the correction. Missed the 'hour' but that's what I meant.