Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Did you get a sense from the Rep whether the XPS 15/M3800 refresh with the Broadwell processor would happen in 2014, or would it be in 2015?

I don’t follow these things closely, but I thought I saw on the web there had been some delays with the Broadwell rollout?

 

Screen Brightness Questions

I was playing with a XPS15 (fully loaded, highest end model) in the window store and noticed the lowest screen brightness setting was much darker than the lowest setting on my M3800 (base model).

I always use my M3800 on the darkest setting because anything higher irritates my eyes. I'm wondering if there is a way to make the lowest brightness setting on my M3800 even darker. I have adaptive brightness turned off.

Thanks!

 

See the first post on this page of the free windows software thread.

 

Hi there. I am new to this forum but, as I'm about to order an M3800 FHD, and having read almost every page on this thread (!) - I have a couple of questions.
1. I live in a dusty country - is the rubbery finish on the top of the machine susceptible to dust and greasy deposits (from mildly sweaty hands due to the climate) - and, if so, is it easily cleaned?
2. I fear I may have trouble adapting to the different keyboard layout - in particular the ommision of the Home, End, Page-up/down keys. Is there a one-handed (two-fingered) way of emulating these keys as shortcuts?
Thanks for any advice.
Pete

 

For (2), see the link in my sig.

 

Yes, there have been substantial delays with the Broadwell processors. He didn't say anything about when the XPS would be coming out, although in a broader discussion about their laptop lineup what he said is that is (like in prior years) driven primarily off of Intel's schedule -- and that as usual, they couldn't say anything official until the relevant chips had been officially announced by Intel. Reading between the lines, it sounded like a lot of the actual chassis would be announced pretty swiftly after Intel officially launches the relevant chips.

Whether that applies to the next XPS 15/M3900 pair, no idea, but on the last generation they did not come out quite as quickly as the E6540.

 

I am strongly considering getting this laptop as well but I do have a question about the display resolution. I plan to casually play games on this machine (on lower settings understandably) and would have no issue dropping the resolution to 900p (1600x900) to do so. However, I hate using a resolution that looks blurry and upscaled, but it is to my understanding that there shouldn't be any blurring as 900p is a quarter of the size of 1800p, similar to how 4k displays still look crisp when displaying a 1080p image. Does the m3800 handle 900p without any upscale blurring?

I'm also thinking about pursuing a certified refurbished option. Is there any reason I should be against this line of thinking, or a preferred outlet to do so? I was just looking at ebay.

Thanks!

 

You won't have scaling issues using 900p on the QHD+ panel, although in my experience games don't typically expose blurring anyway because there's very little text in their UIs and the text that is there is often large enough that the blurring isn't an issue and/or in a game-stylized font that seems to make blurring less apparent -- so chances are you could run a game at other resolutions just fine.

I've only bought two systems from the Dell Outlet, but both times the system appeared completely brand new (i.e. no scratches, oily spots on the keyboard/touchpad, etc), and the fact that you can attach full-length warranties to them makes them especially compelling. No experience buying Dell stuff on eBay, although if you do, make sure to complete the online ownership transfer form to ensure that you can call in for service/warranty stuff. Just Google "Dell Ownership Transfer".

 

Outlet:
I second everything said in the previous post. I too bought from dell outlet. Wasnt sure why it was in the outlet as it was scratch less, completely dust free, and looked straight out the factory; didn't have the faintest sign off it ever being used. I paid £1300 for a top spec (excl battery - which is 61Whr) M3800. Outlet was cheaper and hasselfree vs. EBay, which you need to consider import tax for as well or deal with some dodgy sellers who can offer you cheaper prices if you bypass eBay for the sale.

Screen:
The screen is nice; my only disappointment thus far being DPI scaling as I have Win7 on the laptop and I have an external 1080p 24" screen. Currently, if you have DPI scaling enabled to 200% (for example), all external monitor also have the same level of scaling applied. Doesn't take a genius to work out that doubling the size of everything on a 24" 1080p screen and using a laptop with a resolution as high as the 3800 offers side by size is both frustrating and painful on the eyes. What I gained in screen real estate on the laptop I've lost on my external screen.

Good news is windows 8 supports multiple monitors with different DPI scaling per screen.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks both of you for the info. I really would much rather purchase through the Dell Outlet, but they seem to be out of m3800s. I only see the m4700 on the website as available. Do they go back in stock often or are they gone quickly? Also, I'm in the U.S. and I'd most likely deal with a U.S. shipper if I were to go the ebay route. I'm just a bit nervous as I recently had an awful experience with ASUS (brand new even) and feel prone to notebook "bad luck", so I'd prefer a more reputable source if possible.