Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

My system refuses to install 8.1.10600.147, but instead installs DPTF 7.1.0.2103 (for Windows 8.1) on Windows 10 normally, (Turbo mode is still working).
Intel GPU works at 600MHz even with DPTF 7.1.0.2103, but seems that fans working better: with DPTF 8.1.1060* fans working poorly, in fact even a 80°C they are almost inaudible, instead without DPTF and with DPTH 7.1 they work more.
Is there someone that has never installed DPTF 8.1.10604.207 that could check idle clock of Intel GPU? (you can use GPU-Z o Intel Power Gadget)

 

I'm on 8.1.10600.147. I've not upgraded. CPU idles at 800 MHz, Intel GPU idles at 400 MHz.

 

Hello everyone again.

It seems I might end up going this route instead of the W550s.

Two more questions:

1) Does the NVIDIA GPU take over the duties of external monitors through the miniDP port and thus being able to stream 10bit color per channel?
2) Can this machine stream 2.5K from miniDP and UHD from HDMI and also use the laptop's own LCD at the same time? If so, what are the refresh rates of the external streams? 30hz? 60hz?
3) In Lenovo Thinkpad land, besides getting the standard drivers and updates from Microsoft for Windows, one also has a tool called System Update, which connects to Lenovo's servers, checks what drivers you already have and downloads everything else related to drivers or software that relate to your machine (instead of browsing Lenovo's website looking for individual drivers). Does Dell have a similar piece of software to streamline this process?

Many thanks again,

 

Not to be too discouraging, because I love this machine, but the Driver situation really is a pain... at least for me, and at least after Windows 10. A combination of Dell being being awful at it coupled with Microsoft's Windows Update installing out-of-whack drivers it has just left a sour taste in my mouth. Installing Windows 10 over 8.1 and getting the right drivers was a pain. CLEAN install and getting the right drivers was also a pain. Dell finally released a decent (actually great) Synaptics touchpad driver for the machine in November (even better than the stock ones at Synaptics.com).. but it took 2 years. Just scroll up and look at the issues with Video card stuck at 600mhz (which most people wouldn't even realize but affects battery life) or Turbo Boost being disabled for the CPU.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I did read about Dell being rather poor at producing drivers. I'm not saying Lenovo is better, but the machines do keep up working. I would be worried if the drivers inhibitted the machines from doing something, or crashed them. I do admit that I find the CPU lock and the GPU eating batteries as concerning, but not totally discouraging. Annoying...yes. Actually, it took Lenovo some 8-10 months to fine tune drivers and software for Windows 10 for my current W530 (a 2.5 year old machine) with some features missing from the initial batch of Windows 10 upgraders (I waited 6 months to try) and now the machine is working great.

I have been reading a lot from this thread (skipping through pages) and the beginning is rather sad with the motherboard/screen/noise issues reported. That seems to have been fixed with the 2015 4712 CPU versions and the UHD panel is a nice addition. What attracts me to this machine is the rather unique mix of full power CPU and dedicated Quadro graphics which, if working like my current machine, would allow me to output 10 bit color per channel to my 10 bit monitor (because you pay for Quadro and 10 bit screens for that priviledge) so I was worrying about that as well.

I came across, however, a page where there is discussion whether you can upgrade the 61Wh battery from the M3800 to the 91Wh battery from the XPS if you skip the HDD bay.

 

Precision M3800 has been replaced with new Precision 5510.

 

Hi. Yes, I've noticed that. I'm looking at the M3800, though, because of it's current price point refurbished. Hence why I'm here. Is the M3800 not able to do any of the things I asked?

 

Is your CPU Turbo working, so can your CPU runs over 2.2GHz?

 

Yep. If you choose the mSATA SSD (what Dell calls "Mini Card" drive online) you can opt for the larger battery. However, last I checked, Dell was charging exorbitant prices for that that do not reflect the market prices on Amazon. $500 for a drive that you can buy yourself for $177 is ridiculous. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if you can cell them and tell them "hey, give me a machine without an HDD because your prices for them are outrageous." Maybe you can? You can't do it online I don't think.

[EDIT] Plus you're paying $42 for the battery. So... $500 for the drive that should cost at most $200.... plus another $42 for the battery that- if Dell were smarter- should come standard.

 

I can answer only to 3th question, yes Dell has a similar software.