Latitude 15 3000 - Gaming system for $780? Too good to be true?

So, I've been looking for a new laptop to replace my aging Precision m4400. I use it for both work and gaming.

An Alienware 14 with a NVidia GT750m and a crappy low res screen goes for $1200.

Today, I discovered that the Latitude 15 3000 is available with an AMD Radeon HD 8850m and a 1080p anti-glare screen for $780 (currently on sale). The performance of the HD 8850m is on par with the GT750m.

This seems too good to be true, am I missing something?



TrueG

 

It only come with low voltage i5 max though.

Better comparison probably would be single gpu y500.

 

Yes, I suppose the Lenovo Y510p would be a good model to compare it to.

Currently listed at $820, it comes with a comparable GPU, but has a low voltage i7 and double the RAM.

I guess in comparison to anything else Dell currently offers, it seems like a great deal (when looking at the GPU). The Inspiron 7000's that come out on Thursday will also have the GT750m. So it will depend on how they are priced.

I wonder about upgrading the CPU at a later date.

As long as it's not soldered on to the motherboard, it should be fine.



TrueG

Hmm, looking further. No digital video output (HDMI/displayport) and no room for a mSATA or secondary drive.

Surprisingly, tight interior considering it's a 15" laptop.

On the other hand, it looks like the Radeon HD 8850m should run cooler than the GT750m. Paired with a ULV CPU, it should have excellent battery life. Too bad I can't find a single review.

 

Hello folks.

Long-time lurker here. Usually lurk between here and the sister site tabletpcreview. Different user name.

'Had ordered a Latitude E3540 with the AMD 8850m, or as the Dell business site calls it "Venus Pro" graphics last Friday. It arrived yesterday. Total price including shipping was 830 bucks. If anyone would like any questions answered bout this model, then I'd be happy to investigate and find the answers. Otherwise, here are some impressions of this model:

- It's pretty quiet. For most tasks including watching flash video, the system's fan will stay silent. I've tried to catch the system fan rev-up while watching youtube videos by pausing and seeing if there's any sound coming out of the laptop itself and so far - nothing. Even tried to watch youtube videos on one window while browsing NFL dot com (most unprofessionally laggy site I've ever observed) on another window and the cpu fan stays quiet. I'm pretty sure I can only hear the hard drive spin, or maybe it's the electric current running through the system. It's that quiet.

- The screen is matte so there is zero glare. It's also bright enough to use outside at high noon. Indoors, the screen happens to be too bright for my eyes so it's enough to keep the brightness at 60% or 70%. As far as quality, I'm pretty sure it's a TN panel. Viewing angle from above is pretty awesome. Side to side viewing angles are good but not great. When looking at the screen from below, the darker colors look too close to black. Even though this is not an IPS or AFFS+ panel, I still find it much better than many other laptop screens out there.

- The keyboard and the trackpad both have the same setup as the Vostro business series laptops from 2 years ago (with mobile Sandy Bridge cpu's). However, there is a bit more texture in the new Latitude models' keyboard and trackpad. The texture is rougher than the smoothness of Vostro laptops. I think it works well with the trackpad. It doesn't seem to hinder the keyboard experience, but it doesn't help it either.

- It plays Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 in 1080p with all of the settings turned up and 4xAA turned on in AMD ATI Catalyst. Everything is consistent with no slow-downs whatsoever. Using CPU-Z to monitor the Haswell ULV's frequencies, I wasn't able to catch its clock down to normal speeds. From what I can tell, the Haswell ULV cpu stays clocked in turbo mode between 2.3 and 2.6 ghz. Keep in mind, I haven't been using a graphic monitor to observe the cpu's clock history - just going by incidental observation.

- It stays pretty cool as well as I was able to play Mass Effect 1 and 2 on the laptop on my lap for hours at a time. It gets warm on the left side vents but as long as you don't touch the grill it isn't noticeable. Otherwise for non-graphic tasks, the AMD drivers seem to work well by switching to the Intel HD 4400 graphics portion. Pretty seamless going to and from integrated to dedicated graphics.

- The Dell Audio software suite adds a whole lot of audio compression to what you're hearing if you enable the sound enhancements. The highs and lows sorta get muddled together and sound like they're fighting to grab your attention. So it might be best to leave the sound enhancements off.

- So for the first 24 hours or so, I've noticed that the pre-installed McAfee Security software was causing the laptop to hiccup every few minutes or so while using an internet browser. By hiccup, I mean a 10 to 20 second period when the laptop would seemingly freeze - but then it would respond again. Upon checking the Task Manager as well as Process Explorer, it was identified that McAfee Security's real-time scanning was the culprit. So if anyone plans on purchasing this laptop and decides to keep using McAfee's 1-year subscription, then you might want to turn real-time scanning off. Without the real-time scanning protection, the system works as it should without any delay at all. Otherwise, I find the McAfee Internet Firewall to be pretty useful.

 

Awesome, thank you for the mini-review.

They have the same model in Canada for $400 more!!! I was able to get then to knock off $200, but it doesn't feel like a good deal when it's $200 less 2 hours south of me.

I'm definitely leaning more towards the Radeon HD 8850m over the NVidia gt750m. The clocks are significantly lower while providing similar performance. I'm all for cool and quiet over hot and noisy.

I also think I could live without digital outputs. I get that most projectors in use are old and use VGA, so they would want to include it on a business class laptop. I don't see why they didn't include a mini display port for everything else.

And mSATA should be standard on all new laptops.


TrueG

 

Oh man, Dell Canada just put the i3 version of the 3540 on sale (now only $60 more than US version on sale). Knock on wood that they mark down the i5 version as well.

 

Ouch dude. That 400 buck premium doesn't sound justified at all. Maybe if you try and talk to a Dell Canada representative, he or she might be able to bring the price down to US prices. (EDIT: Oh, I see that you've already talked to some Dell reps. 200 bucks seems a lil better... ) I mean, it's ridiculous to see a 565 buck difference from 2 different trims. I've tried to find and use some Dell Canada coupon codes for the Latitude, but the price just doesn't seem to change at all.

I'm not sure what size mSata is. Is that 1.8"? I believe the Latitude can support the slightly larger 2.5" standard. Maybe down the road, I'll install a 2.5" SSD since the prices are starting to become bearable.

About the video-out. This might cost a lil more, but if you use Apple Air TV or Intel WiDi, then the Latitude can broadcast a mirrored stream to the TV without any hassle. I happened to set up a mirrored connection from the Latitude to an Apple TV using a program called AirParrot. Was streaming a ball game (legally of course) from my Cable provider's streaming site to the Apple TV, and it's smooth as butter. It's as easy as using any Mac or iDevice.

 

The digital video connection isn't the end of the world. USB 3.0 docks are available, there's just a hit while gaming using one.

By having a mSATA port, you could have two hard drives. mSATA drives are fairly inexpensive and then you can keep your main drive. Otherwise you have to replace the main drive and get a SSD big enough to cover everything.

As for the price difference. Normally prices are pretty close. The base price is close, it's just that it's on sale in the US and not in Canada.

 

OK, as I suspected they (Dell Canada) also put the i5 model on sale. They have it at $850 which is $71 more than the US price. I'm very tempted to just go for it.

It looks like Dell uses the same hardware on the Inspiron side.

I found a "New Inspiron 15R" that is identical to the Latitude 3540 (same GPU & chassis), but has an i7, 16GB of RAM and an HDMI port in place of the VGA port. The problem is that it only has a glossy 768p screen with no option to change it for $150 more than the 3540.

I would gladly pay $150 more for an i7, more RAM and HDMI, but I can't handle a glossy low res screen.

This is why Dell needs to bring back hardware customization. It seems impossible to get what you actually want.

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-1...7-b55b-91b77b88a885&c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1


TrueG

Ugh, I can't decide what is more important/better.

Latitude 3540 - i5-4200U, 4GB, 500GB, VGA port, 1080p anti-glare for $850 (on-site warranty)

or

Inspiron 5537 - i7-4500U, 16GB, 1TB, HDMI port, 768p glossy touch for $950 (after coupon) (mail in warranty)

Both are identical in other respects. (2GB Radeon HD 8850m, 6 cell bat, etc etc)


TrueG

 

itchyass022, is there any flex in the keyboard when you press down on it?

Feel like providing any new insights now that you have had it for a couple of weeks?


Thanks,
TrueG

I guess the review here, would be similar to what you get with the 3540, assuming you ignore the differences (low res screen, lack of GPU, HDMI instead of VGA).

Review Dell Inspiron 15R-5537 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews