Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Take what I mean with slowing down in context of a complex CAD model. I have one that when put in pure wireframe can really drag my card down because it has so many parts and edges. It seems my older M4400 isn't as much slower as the difference in GPUs might suggest and that appears to be due to the extra screen the M3800 is driving. Mind you this isn't a scientific test but as you might know if you have ever tried to boost the resolution of a first person game, boosting the resolution can certainly slow things down. Regardless, the M3800 is always faster than my M4400 but I bet some programs will run faster at 1080p vs QHD.

 

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You do have a point, except for fuzziness caused by Windows’ “dpi virtualisation” of “non-high-dpi-aware applications”. This should not be an issue with 200% scaling typical on QHD+; one should only get more jagged outlines than those rendered natively. (I didn’t test it myself, though.)

Interestingly, too, Adobe PDF Reader’s UI currently only supports 100% scaling or 200% scaling. (It can be made to scale to 150% by editing registry.)

EDIT: Actually, the very latest version of the Reader seems to be willing to accept “System” “DPI” setting…

 

Guys,

Quick one - my M3800 arrived today, QHD, 4712HQ, K1100M, 16GB, 512GB SSD, 91whr batt.... beautiful machine.

But no usb to ethernet adapter in the box.

Is this correct? I have no time to read 331 pages.

Also, just requested Win 7 from Dell too, and it is on its way via post. I cannot STAND Win 8... phew.

Thanks.

 

Mine came with the USB to Ethernet in the box.

I wouldn't be so quick to dump Win 8.1. I've used both (7 to 8 and thanks to a failure on my part back to 7). I'm thinking about moving back to 8.1 again. The secret for me was getting classic shell so I had a start button again and getting one of the programs that enabled the aero interface. For me the aero interface was important because the drop shadow makes it easier to notice windows that have popped up to the side of the screen. This is an issue I've had when using things like Solidworks. I also find that while I don't love the multi-DPI scaling because it makes the "scaled" display somewhat blurry, it's better than not having it which is how things work in 7. My 24" 1920x1200 screen just doesn't seem as useful when text is HUGE. I wish that scaling really worked nicely as I miss being able to move Solidworks from the laptop to the desktop screen seamlessly. If scaling could be changed without logging out that would really improve things.

What is more important about Win 8 to me is the touch interface really does work better in 8. Since the touch screen is one of the things I really wanted I like that 8 handles it better. It's generally little things but say you try to touch a web link, 7 seems to highlight exactly where you touched the screen and then decide if that was on or off the button. 8 seems to think and say, well if you touched really close to a link/button then perhaps you really wanted to click that button, not just near it. There were a few other improvements as well. It seems to me the real problem with 8 was forcing Metro and the flat look on people regardless of whether or not it was what they wanted. Vista was kind of like that. It had a lot of improvements over XP but it also annoyed people.

Anyway, I think I will move back to Win 8 when I get the chance... or wait for Win10.

 

I also received my M3800 on Wednesday as well. I ordered it from the US Dell Outlet. With a 35% off coupon it ended up being a little under $1200 including tax. Really great deal!

The laptop didn't come with a USB to Ethernet adapter. However I was able to pick up a j5 create USB 3.0 to Ethernet adapter from Best Buy which has out of the box support for both Windows 8.1 and Linux 3.x kernels. The restore disk was also a DVD instead of a USB stick. I think because it was an outlet purchase they did not include the extra accessories or the pretty box that I have seen in reviews.

The Linux support on this machine is great. It is nice to be able to use both the mDP and HDMI without having the Quadro GPU enabled. This keeps everything running cooler and quieter without having to log in and out to switch between each card. All of the devices seem to work out of the box on Debian Jessie.

The FHD screen is great. Strangely enough this machine doesn't have any coil whine, even though the demo machine I used a month ago did. I guess it really is luck of the draw.

 

Mine came with USB-to-Ethernet in the box, and USB restore disk. No coil whine Bought directly from Dell and I've used it for ~2 weeks now. Great machine!

If you have the QHD+ screen, use Windows 8.1.
Windows 8.1 DPI Scaling Enhancements

 

This means that the new mainborad with the new processor doesen't genereate coil whine? a hate it.

 

where did you find the 35% off coupon?

Thanks

 

Just follow @DellOutlet on twitter. They publish a new coupon every couple of weeks. I will also mention that I was able to stack another $50 off coupon on top of the 35% off.