Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Can I ask you when did you buy your M3800? and although its obvious from your earlier comments, but have you had any troubles with the machine that required calling DELL support so far?

 

May 2014. I believe it's part of a revised crop of the original "Late 2013" model, though not strictly a new model.

No issues that have required calling Dell yet. Knock on wood. I have been using Dell's for 15 years... and although they've gone through their rough patches in terms of customer support (particularly between 2006-2010 IMO when they moved all their call centers out of the U.S.)... I've found them to be pretty competent (although nowhere near as great as the award winning Dell of the late 90's, early 00's).

 

Whoops, I totally misread that, my bad. Thanks for the clarification.

 

I hope it keeps working that way for you for quite some time. The best way you can tell which batch you have is by looking at the CPU model and the version of the thunderbolt. The original came with an Intel Core i7 4702HQ and an ordinary Display port. However the updated batch ships with Intel Core i7 4712HQ and Thunderbolt 2.0 / Display port.

I know I mentioned earlier that I am a student, but what I failed to mention was that I am a so called mature student who never got to finish university and worked as a cable monkey, help desk manager and finally the IT manager of a multinational company for 12 years. I have also been a fan of DELL's for the past 18 years and always found their products very reliable and endearing. Also I have never had a single reason to call their support no matter if it was for something as petty as their mouse, to their fantastic blade servers we used, knock on wood!

Although I always do my research no matter what I want to buy, this time in particular the tight budget has made me more paranoid than usual. If I was still working full time, I would have not even bat an eye at all the bad reviews and bought this thing already! but I guess tough times call for paranoia!

 

Not necessarily; there were at least some 4712HQ motherboards without the thunderbolt update -- I got one as a warranty replacement.

 

I used to have the problem 2 that you described on my machine. You need to install all the drivers in the Dell support page, then you are good. Yes, drivers fix the exact free fan spinning on and off in 10 seconds.

 

Can anyone recommend a perfect snug fitting case for the m3800, or xps 15 I guess? But too expensive but something that'll protect it; if it's splashproof at least that could be good, but not essential.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I have this one and it's great: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007IXNF86?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

 

Thank you

I was just about to buy this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X97M8X8 until I stumbled across this Thule case: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thule-Mobile-Crossover-Protective-Transportation/dp/B004N6ZC8W. Bit expensive, but have luckily stumbled across it on sale for only £15!

This thread also suggests that it should fit: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/thule-gauntlet-great-sleeve-for-m3800.759542/

Thoughts?

 

Hi everyone,

I am currently working together with Dell Technician to fix the hissing sound/ coil whine issue. I was told that they made some changes on the design of the motherboard. I have all the correct drivers install from the website. Unfortunately, I am still having a really bad coil whine issue on my machine. Below are my motherboard REV version and specifications. If you are still having coil whine issue, please describe your problem as I need to show the proof to the technician that I am not the only person that is still facing this issue.

You will notice the coil while easily if you machine is running SSD. If you have HDD, the noise from your HDD is going to cover the hissing noise.

i7 4712HQ, 16GB, 500GB Curcial MX200, 91Wh battery, UHD 4k2k IGOZ display, Windows 8.1 Pro