Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Thank you, Tijo, Kamueone and Ashers for your responses.

I've always (for at least 4 years) been able to set single Fn keys like F9, F10, F11, not using the the Fn key itself at all, as shortcuts for telling screen capture software what to do (Snapshot, Start Recording, Stop Recording).

I won't try to hack the BIOS because I'm not competent, even tho you say it's easy - my short-term memory is so bad I can't remember what I thought 5 seconds ago when I'm doing a shopping list!

I've just ordered an mSATA and hope, if I can galvanise myself, to put Win7Pro on it. I need to know if that will get rid of all the touch-screen nonsense (I know it's wonderful for a lot of people) and free up pre-programmed keys, and behave like I think a Windows laptop ought to - I'll just have lovely specs and a super screen.

Will that work?

 

Windows 7 also supports touch displays. Regardless of the OS you choose, if all you want ti to have touch disabled, you should be able to do that from the device manager. It is possible that 7 will need a specific touch driver and that if you don't install it, it'll do the same as having disabled touch.

 

Anyone know what adapter I need to order for the M3800 to work in Germany? It's my first time travelling (from the U.S.).

 

Not even a minute looking on google: http://www.amazon.com/CKITZE-Grounded-European-Adapter-Adaptor/dp/B0098B5GN8

Your other choice would be to order the cable part that goes from the outlet to the power brick for the german outlets. It might be slightly more expensive, but in my opinion is a more elegant solution, it should bot be too hard to find one on eBay. Heck, that's what I'd do to avoid using an adapter, most adapters I see at my university don't seem to hold in place in a secure manner.

 

Here's the cable.

I would add that the notebook PSU will have no trouble with the European voltage and frequency. Typically they are rated at 100-250V, 50-60Hz (check the label on the PSU) but can usually handle electricity outside of that range.

John

 

Yep. I wasn't sure if I needed the whole cable to the brick are just an adapter would suffice. Thanks Tijo and John.

 

You can actually just get an adapter that converts the end of the plug to fit the German socket and that will work fine. (I don't have a link handy but I used a similar adapter when visiting the Netherlands.)

 

Man, is anyone else having as much trouble with their M3800 as I am? This thing is turning out to be a real piece of cheap garbage to me and I am very disappointed. First the touchpad went about after a month of use; The left side was sticking like crazy and it wouldn't register touches. I had that replaced, and now almost a month later it is happening again. Then I look up yesterday and I have this white spot on my monitor. It's definitely not a dead pixel and it almost looks like a white smudge or like someone is shining a tiny tiny white flashlight/spotlight on my screen. All of this is on top of the crazy amount of banding I am seeing on grey and other solid color backgrounds with this thing.

Please keep in mind that I take EXTREMELY good care of computers. I never eat/drink anything near them, drop them, and I keep them well protected while traveling. I had a Macbook Pro that gave me zero issues during a year of use, I just couldn't stand OS X so I had to move back to PC land. I am seriously considering getting this M3800 repaired and then just selling it. Either I go the heavier HP ZBook route or I have to settle for another brand of laptop that does not have a Quadro card in it.

I have attached an example of the banding that I am seeing. The smudge/spotlight issue is almost impossible to capture on camera unfortunately.

This is really disappointing.

 

Solved!

Apparently, Dell have helpfully "customised" the F keys for multimedia functions without having to use the Fn key itself. This makes them unconfigurable by third-party software.

If only we knew, the problem is easily solvable in Control Panel, which you must set to display by Category (not icons).

Click on the link "Adjust commonly used mobility settings" (really logical, isn't it?!) ...



Change the setting in the dropdown from Multimedia to Function key.



My shortcut keys are now hunky-dory.

I would remind you that Dell Support told me I had to refer the problem to the software companies, as they couldn't help.

 

I have just had a second motherboard replacement within the space of 3 months to fix broken Sleep/Hibernation functionality (and ultimately failure to Start) on my M3800.

I am in the process of testing whether it has fixed the issue and this threw up a couple of questions.

Coincidentally I just took delivery of an Anker AH241 USB 3.0 Aluminium 13-Port Hub + 5V 2.1A Smart Charging Port, as recommended by some posters on this thread.

Using the Anker USB 3 hub has caused a couple of unexpected behaviours and I wondered if these were typical:

1) Using the Anker USB 3 Hub has caused the time taken to Resume from Sleep to increase to as much as 30-40 seconds (prior to using the USB hub it was circa 2 seconds). I have replicated this result with numerous tests including both using the Anker USB 3 hub: (a) when I am only using my laptop and (b) when I have the laptop connected to an external monitor (Dell U2415 connected using DisplayPort). The only USB devices I have attached to the Anker USB 3 hub are: wired keyboard (USB 2); wired mouse (USB 2); USB 2 connection to printer; and, USB 3 to Ethernet Adapter (the USB 2 connection to printer seems to be the biggest culprit in increasing the Resume from Sleep time).

2) When the Anker USB hub is connected to the laptop and I am using my external monitor in “Second Screen Only” mode, when I Resume from Sleep mode (by opening laptop lid and pressing Power Button) sometimes only my laptop screen turns on rather than what should happen (only my external screen should turn on). I don’t understand if/why the Anker USB 3 hub would interfere with the screen behaviour – I did not have this issue before using the USB 3 hub.

My questions are:

a) Is it normal for USB 3 hubs to take anywhere from 10-40 seconds to Resume from Sleep (Anker support says the 30-40 seconds Resume time is normal)?

b) Any ideas how I can ensure when I Resume from Sleep when using the USB hub only my External Monitor screen comes on (as it should in “Second Screen Only Mode”)?

c) I may end up sending the Anker hub back and getting the Dell D3100 dock. Seeing as I connect my monitor directly from M3800 via DisplayPort the D3100 dock is really overkill, but if anyone has used the D3100 and can confirm it does not cause such long delays in Resuming from Sleep I would be grateful. However, from what I have read, there may be other driver issues with the D3100 dock so I am not sure if it will be an overall improvement?