Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Maybe because they reused the XPS chassis? That would my guess anyways.

 

There may not have been space for the accompanying keyboard mechanics in the chassis.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4

 

Got an answer on the GPU clock for the XPS15 Haswell on their thread:

vs. 706mhz base on the K1100M. Would be curious about the max clock under load on the K1100M, but the base clock is substantially lower.

 

Interesting. Maybe the extra features enabled on the Quadro lineup make up for the performance gap created by the clock differences in apps that would actually use the extra Quadro features. But I guess this could explain why some XPS 15 owners report throttling even though Bokeh never saw any on his eval M3800.

 

Generally (to my experience) there IS a performance gap between GeForce and corresponding Quadro cards. As pointed out, Quadros are designed for professionals who generally care more about stability, consistency and compatibility (SolidWorks, ProE, NX, ect) than that 10-15% of extra fps and therefore the cards are somewhat "underclocked" compared to their gaming-oriented siblings.

Earlier (at least for desktop cards) it was not unusual to see the Quadro offering stocked with more (up to twice the amount) and faster VRAM that the "gaming" versions, but today most cards are using GDDR5 anyway, and high-res monitors are requiring more VRAM so that difference is not so prominent anymore.

I expect my K1100 to perform about 10-15% lower than a GT 750M. One can always overclock to get to the same performance for gaming, but I prefer a rock-solid, non-throtling, card for my professional needs. For gaming and other areas where the special Quadro certification isn't needed (basically only needed for 3D CAD/CAE, as the CUDA libs are available on GeForce as well) I'd pick the 750M any day (performance and cost)...

 

Having gotten the Precision rather than the XPS primarily because once I extended the warranty (and using my employer's corporate pricing), the Precision was the cheaper option, I'm planning to look into overclocking the GPU.

While it runs even further to a lot of the 'then it's not a real Precision!" arguments, I actually wish Dell and Lenovo would start offering configurations with a quad-core CPU and only iGPU, preferably in a thin and light configuration like the M3800/XPS 15. For software developers and technical field employees at my employer there is no need to to have any more GPU power than is necessary to render text, while dual-core CPUs do not cut it for the work anymore.

Apple now offers this.

 

The base XPS 15 only has an iGPU, but then you lose the QHD+ panel. Might be able to get it in a custom order over the phone though, and since the XPS 15 is also sold in the business store you may be able to get the same discounts. But I find it strange that you're asking for iGPU-only in the same post that you mention looking into overclocking the Quadro.

 

Hi Gentlemen,
has anybody successfully replaced the internal HD with a Samsung PRO SSD?

Based on what I understood the existing Hybrid 500 Gb HD is only 5mm. thick, and the SSD is 7mm.
Does the 7mm. HD fit anyway or do I have to remove the external box? Is it complicated?

Thanks for your kind collaboration.

 

The XPS 15 offers a 1tb hard drive. I doubt there will be an issue using a 7.5mm drive.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4

 

Ok, so the touchpad drove me nuts out of the box, but I've made it completely usable by installing the Synaptics driver and under the settings and only enabling the following:

Two-Finger Scroll (others might prefer edge scroll, but I wouldn't recommend both)
Pinch Zoom
Rotating
Three-Finger Flick
Clicking

I hate tapping the touchpad to click anyway, but the Edge Swipes were by far what got me the most. I figure between the touchscreen and the equivalent mouse click/cursor hot zones actions for those (not to mention the fact that I hardly expect to use those functions ever anyway), losing quick access to edge swipes was well worth making my touchpad usable. I now have no issues with it at all and find that clicks register even in the extreme edges.