Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

yeah its actually what I did for nearly all my drivers.
just uninstall it from device manager, refresh windows update and whala!

 

Can you replace the video card in a m3800? Mine keeps overheating.

 

Video card is integrated into the motherboard.

 

Arg.. Can I replace my motherboard with an XPS15..? I don't mind the gforce card..

 

Why is your card overheating? One of the earlier reviews I read suggested that was something the M3800 was actually decent about (not overheating).

 

I have no idea why it is overheating. I will be working along fine with no problems, then suddenly the screen goes blank. Usually this happens exactly when I am working on something very important and haven't recently saved. I have to hold the power button to shut it off. If I immediately start back up, I get 8 beeps with no video. A workaround fix: I open the bottom cover and unplug the video cable to the screen. I let it sit until it cools down, re-plug the video cable, and it starts back up..

 

You might run a diagnostics program. The system should throttle back the power when temperatures get too high. Basically it sounds like something is wrong. Are both fans working correctly? Are the vents clean/clear?

 

So I'm considering biting the bullet and buying an M3800. I can get the 4712hq 4K 16gb 512SSD version for ~$1450. However a decent amount of this thread seems to be people dealing with problems. With your experiences, good and bad, should I get one? Should I choose another laptop model, or should I wait until new laptops come out?

 

What are your requirements? I.e. what are you going to use the laptop for? Graphic-intensive games? Autocad and the likes? Are you going to move it a lot? Will you need a lot of battery life? When do you need it?

 

By and large this thread is very positive. Yes, you will see some issues in this thread, but that's just the way forums work. We come here to ask questions and gripe. But, in all honesty, I have not had a single serious issue with this laptop in almost a year and half (early model). Sure, I have some gripes, but for the most part this laptop is downright amazing. Dell really knocked it out the park IMHO. If you want a MacBook Pro like light and thin that is still paradoxically uber-powerful, this is it. Every time I open Task Manager and see those 8 CPU's [yes I know 4 of them are because of hyperthreading] and everytime I see large apps (like Visual Studio) open up in 2 seconds, I'm amazed.