Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

To be honest, I have no guarantee, not having seen it, but I don't see how it could be worse than the 1080p panel in the M4800, so it's likely to be decent, not "wow", but decent.

 

Agreed. This is pure speculation on my part, but I would imagine if the panel were IPS or RGBLED, they'd explicitly state that the way they do on laptops that actually have those panels. Given that they don't, but on the other hand this is still a Precision/XPS model and therefore on the high end, I would expect that the panel will be good -- not the best, but not a mediocre unit you might find in the lowest-cost Inspiron that could be equipped with a Full HD panel either.

 

Ok... so this has me a little concerned. So i was totally SOLD on rmbp Apple. But then this came alone and i did not want to have to switch OS and change all my programs etc. And this one was similar in size, weight and most important to me... the Screen. Per Bokah's semi review, he said the screen is VERY similar to the rMBP's. And... while i am not an expert... i would assume that the Retina display is considered to be a "Wow" screen. So if Dell is catering this to be for designers, I would assue it would have a VERY good "wow" screen. Is this not the case? I'm almost starting to lean back toward the mac because ive heard from this thread that the CPU in the mbp is better that the m3800, and I can actually get the rmbp for probably 250$ or so cheaper... Thoughts????

 

Actually, the rMBP is "wow" as far as the resolution is concerned and "good" as far as color accuracy is concerned. The same can be said of the IGZO display in the M3800. Wow for color accuracy would be the HP DreamColor 2 and Dell PremierColor (no longer available on Precisions IIRC).

 

Bokeh's review unit came with the QHD panel, which IS a "wow" panel just like the Retina display -- not just in terms of resolution, but also contrast, viewing angle, and (once you disable "Vivid/splendid mode") color fidelity. I haven't seen anybody post impressions of the 1080p panel, so all we have is pure speculation at this point (my own included), but I think that if you told Dell you wanted a "wow" panel, they'd tell you that they offer one and direct you to the version that includes QHD. Why they couldn't also make the 1080p panel in the base spec an IPS/RGBLED unit (again ASSUMING they didn't, but it's possible they did!), I'm not sure.

The Dell QHD panel has full sRGB coverage, and as for color accuracy, two people using professional calibrators have verified that its out of the box Delta-E is less than 1, which is phenomenal even for a professional panel, never mind a built-in laptop unit. You just have to disable the vivid/splendid (read: gross oversaturation) mode. For comparison, Dell's UltraSharp desktop panels that are "calibrated at the factory" only guarantee a Delta-E of less than 4.

 

Thanks for both the responses. So that's kind of what i was thinking. In terms of resolution, of course its top notch, as it is one of or possibly highest res display for laptop that i know of. I would Def. be going for the High Res QHD+ . So Yes if it is high res, and has good color accuracy, then thats all I'm really concerned with,. So i was just wondering why people were indicating it was maybe not a "wow" display or a lower end one. quick other question, So i get an employee EPP discount from dell and have previously gotten systems with a discount. Apparently per dell chat session i had, the epp discount does NOT cover "business" systems like the precision. Does anyone know of any possible.. tricks or ways to get a bit of a deal on these, whether it be by coupon, or some "special" company site or something? I'm like SO ready to just pull the trigger, but wish I could see some full reviews and comparisons between this and rmbp etc. I mean.... from this thread it sounds like GPU and CPU are "better" on the apple, but may overheat/Throttle a bit, where M3800 is more rock solid. Would that be accurate?

 

No way around the coupon restrictions, unfortunately. I have the same issue. But unless you need the Quadro GPU, why not just buy an XPS 15? That could be had with the EPP coupon code. Or is the M3800 cheaper for you somehow?

As for the rMBP, GPU is NOT better. The GPU is the GeForce 750M with GDDR5, just like the XPS 15. The M3800 on the other hand has a Quadro which has extra capabilities but is also clocked lower, so whether that's better or worse compared to the rMBP and XPS 15 depends entirely on whether you'll be using the extra Quadro capabilities. GPU throttling has been observed by SOME people with XPS systems (but not on the M3800s), which shouldn't be too surprising given that the XPS is clocked significantly higher in the first place.

The one area in which the Dell is irrefutably better is power supply. The rMBP's 85W power supply just isn't enough to drive it at full CPU+GPU load based on the TDPs of those two parts, so it compensates through a combination of throttling and pulling extra current from the battery, which means that under heavy use you could be DRAINING your battery even while you're plugged in. How often that's an issue for you depends of course on how you plan to use the system.

 

Cool. Yes I do 3D modeling, animation etc... mainly in Cinema 4D, but a portion of work in Maya. And then a ton of Adobe CC, mainly After effects and Photoshop... some Premier. So.. I think i would rather have quadro for that and future needs. Also... I would rather have the 3800 mainly for the non throttle, over heat issues. I have a Studio xps 1645 right now, which is def getting older and obsolete, but omg It THROTTLES and gets literally so hot that I think it could seriously melt componets or catch fire. I firmly believe somthing is not right. But... Its a long story... I personally had 2 1645's and swapped out a screen so i have the RGBLED one on mine that initally didnt have it. So it works fine, but who knows if i messed somthing up internally or possible something internal that doesnt agree with that Screen as far as power consuption or somthing. So.... non throttle and being cool and quiet are a big plus. I also dont want to sound like.. Elitist or anything, but I would rather have a little better build, components, Gpu etc... so rather the M3800 than XPS. Truth is... I'm like sold on the m3800, just havnt pulled trigger and was maybe trying to wait till a few got in peeps hands to see first hand impressions, likes, dislikes, issues etc...

 

You're not going to get better build quality by going M3800 vs XPS 15. It's going to be the same hardware and build except for the GPU (I saw both side by side and talked to an actual Dell engineer), though based on your intended work profile I agree that a Quadro would make sense. As for impressions, there are lots of them in the XPS 15 thread from lots of people (since the XPS 15 launched several weeks ago) on top of the truckload of information that bokeh has given in this thread. Not sure if there's something else you're looking for that hasn't been covered yet, but if so I'd be happy to answer any questions you have since I got my XPS 15 last week (QHD, 512GB SSD, 91WHr).

 

No I think im good my man. I really appreaciate you taking time to drop some knowledge I really am just getting some final info before i make the jump. I was so sold on Mac book,but then this totally changed my mind, so Ive been kinda back and forth, but bottom line is that either will be Infinatly better than my old 1645.

I guess, Just going off yoru XPS... how happy are you? Anything you specially like, dislike? So the QHD is the Higher res or would that be QHD+? If QHD is the higher res option... what are your impressions on screen quality, sharpness.. and especially if you use any specific programs how they look as far as menus/interfaces etc. Also... I think i saw some posts about it, but any idea off top of your head if the Adobe CC suite is able to take advantage of the Higher res Panels yet, or are updates still needed?