Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Your reasoning looks sound.

It is a shame that you can't run OSX on a non-Apple system natively. I know there are lots of guides to make it work, but it is a chore. It would be nice for Apple to let OSX and their hardware stand on their own, but I don't see that happening. I also wish Apple would add a micro SD slot to iPads so that I could add 64gb of memory for $50 instead of $200 at the point of sale. Sorry, just not very pro Apple today

 

Thank you very much for your excellent answers.

The GPU doesn't matter as I won't use any graphic intensive applications. I just need some raw CPU performance and fast memory and fast and reliable storage. Will use it mostly for c, c++, java, python programming, and I also write latex documents every day and for that I need a good keyboard.

What I dont like about the mbp is that none of the components are user replaceable, not even the battery. So some issues with the battery, I have no choice but to send the machine to service, and that can take days or even weeks. I can't live with that.

It looks like that I will go either for the m3800 or the beast m4800. However, you have much more experience of the m6700 and m4700, which keyboard do you like the most? The chiclet keyboard on the m3800 or the more 'packed' keyboard on the m6700?

We will have more to talk about when I'm going to order =).

Regards

 

First, thanks for all the information, and thanks in advance for checking on the 90W (I'm also very interested in the 3-screen test if you get the chance.)

Hasn't been announced yet, but the W530 took the 55W, and I'd be surprised if the W540 doesn't. It also has 4 RAM slots, and we do have confirmed from our Lenovo rep that that will be maintained onto the W540.

 

Thanks for the all the info.
Couple of quick questions.
1) Would you be able to tell me the weight of yours? The dell website has conflicting info:
It says "starts at 4.5 lbs" here: Dell | Dell
and it "starts at 4.15 lbs" here:Press Releases | Dell

2) How far does the screen open - does it open to 180 degrees?

Thanks!

 

Can you disable the dedicated Nvidia GPU in the BIOS/EFI such that only the "onboard" Intel GPU is used?

(I'm a Linux user. On Linux, Intel graphics drivers are way better than Nvidia graphics drivers. I need a very fast CPU and lots of memory but the GPU is basically irrelevant and should therefore consume as little energy as possible.)

 

I prefer the backlit M4800/M6800 keyboards because I have used them for years. There is nothing wrong with the M3800 keyboard, but I had to spend some time getting used to the feel of it.

If you have a T5 torx driver and a Phillips, you should be able to replace the battery, ram, 2.5" HDD, mSata, and Wifi. I have seen a lot of Precision owners over the years. There will be people that buy a 6 or 9 cell battery from Dell spare parts so that they can reconfigure their machine for a project. Lots of long travel legs, swap in the 9 cell and take out the 2.5" drive. Need to store a ton of data, swap in the 6 cell and extra tb of space.

Find me closer to decision time. WIll be happy to help you work though the decision process.

 

I can disable either of the graphics cards at the driver level, but not in BIOS. Hopefully Nvidia will follow through with their promises for Linux users.

You will be able to get a ton of text on the QHD+ screen, but it might be small on the screen. Need to catch up on Linux deals with high dpi displays.

 

The M3800 really seems like a superior version of the Retina MacBook Pro.
Professional GPU + User removable RAM , SSD/HDD , Battery , etc.

I've added the M3800 to my list of notebooks to consider buying in the future.

 

sounds good!

 

I don't know what you are smoking but except if you do basic 2 D stuff, intel drivers are a pile of crap on every OS...