Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

just to add a quick comment on the few pages back discussion regarding FHD vs QHD panels. All was centered on apps scaling issues but I'm shocked that nobody talked about battery life. Looks like nobody cares on a laptop anymore ! Reading Anandtech XPS13 review, we can clearly see the huuuuuuuge advantage of FHD panels in battery life. In light usage scenario, the difference is 5 hours !!!
So maybe the vast majority of M3800 users are not on the go, but for me, much better battery life + no HiDPi problems = FHD easy winner

 

But who knew about Superfish until now? That's my point. I have no idea what these companies may be secretly installing behind the scenes, and I'd rather be safe than sorry. Superfish wasn't just jumping right out at people, and just "uninstalling" it from one location wasn't even sufficient enough to get rid of it (until Lenovo finally released a Superfish uninstall utility).

I guess it's just personal preference, but I personally like starting with a fresh Windows install without any of the "extras" installed, known or unknown. I don't even install any of the proprietary Dell utilities, just the system drivers and that's it.

I guess this is another personal preference situation. Everyone's needs are different and I can totally see perfectly legitimate reasons why someone would choose either option. I went with the 4K screen (and the bigger battery) to more future-proof my machine, and because of my occupation. I rarely use my laptop for extended periods of time on the go, so long battery life just isn't a huge concern for me. Plus, if I will be using my M3800 on the go for a long time, I will just take my cord/power brick with me, because nine-times-out-of-ten there will be a plug nearby for me to get some juice from.

Different strokes for different folks I guess

 

So I haven't to format? What Program I have to delete when I'll get the machine(Any useless default program)?

 

Leave. It. Alone. Just use the damn laptop.

 

Ahahahaha

 

At the end of the day man, just do what you're most comfortable. Again, I will repeat that there are pros (such as sneaky malicious things like Superfish) to reformatting and starting fresh, but if you don't feel comfortable with it, then don't do it. I do, and I will always continue to reformat and start fresh as soon as I get a new PC. As I said before, I own 2 Lenovo laptops, and had I not reformatted them from scratch, I could have been a potential victim to that Superfish mess.

Better to be safe than sorry in my opinion, but again, do what you feel most comfortable with and enjoy your Precision M3800.

 

Thank you so much


Inviato da mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

As others have said, a clean install probably isn't necessary on this system, and given that you're asking relatively simple questions, you might create more trouble than benefit for yourself here, but since someone already asked about this in the XPS 15 thread and I answered it, here is the (slightly different) list of drivers you would want to install if you insist on doing a clean install:

Intel Chipset
Intel Rapid Storage (if using mSATA cache, get the full app, otherwise you can alternatively use the F6 driver package if you know how to use Device Manager)
Intel GPU
Intel WiFi (or Dell WiFi, depending on what comes with your system)
Intel Bluetooth (or Dell Bluetooth, depending on what comes with your system)
Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework
Intel Management Engine
NVIDIA GPU
Audio
Touchpad (Dell's latest release is apparently good, but I'm on Synaptics)
SD Card Reader
Freefall Sensor (even w/ SSD-only system, though it will auto-disable in this case)
Airplane Mode Switch
Intel Rapid Start (optional, not recommended on SSD-only systems)
Intel Smart Connect (install even if you will disable in app, or disable in BIOS and skip app installation)
Dell Quickset (not really a driver, but still useful)

Lastly, yes almost all of the information in the XPS 15 Wiki would apply to the M3800.

 

Thank you so much!very helpful


Inviato da mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

Hopefully what I am posting is able to help you as well latitudefan. I'd like to report that I have finally found a solution to getting my USB charging devices to consistently connect to my computer properly, and it all makes perfect sense now. The issue actually was the cables that I was using, and the problem is that you can't use just ANY USB cable, you must use a very specific kind of cable. Some USB cables will work on some computers some of the time, and then completely not work at all on those same computers at other times. Now I know exactly why. The devices that are charging from the computer seem to require more power than almost every USB cable can handle, but if you use 28/24 AWG (28 AWG data connectors and 24 AWG power connectors) USB cables, they are able to handle the higher current that these devices demand (heck, even my HTC One M8 apparently needs one of these to connect properly). Again, you can use nice and thick "high quality" USB cables all day every day if you want to, but if they aren't 28/24 AWG USB cables, then you are going to continue to have problems.

After discovering the above today, I have run multiple tests with multiple devices on my Precision M3800 and I have had zero issues whatsoever connecting them to my PC every single time.

Problem solved for me, and I am extremely happy that I did not decide to reformat my PC with Windows 7.

Hopefully this helps anyone else that is having issues as well.