M4800 Owner's Thread

butler_fr, why do you choose AMD firepro 5100m over Nvidia k2100?
Can you run benchmark SPECviewperf 11 with 1920x1080 SolidWorks AA:0x AF:0x and 1920x1080 Pro/ENGINEER AA:0x AF:0x?

 

Not sure whether it's a "m4800 thing" or a "LG BD-R software thing", but ever since I installed the drivers and software for my LG BD-RE drive (5-1/4", connected via eSATA), the sound Windows makes upon loading has been "messed up". It basically sounds like you'd expect it to sound if you had an audio buffer that had to be refilled periodically, but something was interrupting the CPU or DMA & causing the buffer to empty out.

Update: Uh oh... it appears this might be a known Haswell+Windows issue. Apparently, for some crazy reason, Windows is determined to share a single IRQ among every single PCI Express device in the system unless you somehow bend over backwards to force it to do otherwise.

 

Hope you guys don't mind the double-post, I just posted this in a new thread, but thought you all might be able to help as well:

Owners of the m4800 and m3800 (or any other QHD+ screen running at 3200 x 1800) - how does the screen look when running in non-native resolutions? What are the available resolutions on these screens? I ordered the m4800 and did a bit of research into Adobe CC/CS6. Turns out that Premiere, After Effects, and Photoshop do NOT have UI scaling, so they are pretty much unusable at the full 3200 x 1800 because the interface is so small. Wondering if I might be able to drop the res down to 1920 x (??). Thanks for your help!

 

1920 x 1080 is workable, but looks a little fuzzy compared to the native resolution. Definitely usable, but not as nice.

 

Thanks for the reply. That doesn't sound too encouraging, since I need to use the m4800 for design work. Ugh. Not sure what to do. May need to cancel the order before it ships and buy and Alienware 17...

 

They do offer a 1920 x 1080 display - you could probably ask them to swap them out since your order hasn't shipped yet.

 

Yeah this is true, although I really wanted that QHD+ screen for the design work I do. It really sucks that Adobe/Microsoft haven't figured out the HiDpi issues yet. I got a really good deal on the 4800 after a few coupons, but I also don't want to buy it and then wait around for proper support from Adobe. Who knows when that will happen. May just cancel it and stick with my current Macbook Pro 2010 17" until the QHD+ issues get sorted out. The order is also taking forever due to a parts supply shortage. I ordered it 10/31 and i isn't supposed to arrive until 11/18. Who knows though, may get pushed out even farther.

:^/

 

Oh no, I remember this problem. I believe it became an issue with Merom (64 bit), first noticed by those that used certain PCMCIA cards, where it would show up as MTD-0002. I had this problem on my original E6410, but eventually forgot about it because I gave up fixing it. Unfortunate to see it happen on something as modern as a BD-R drive, but will say I am not really surprised. Not to be a downer, but I don't really think it can be fixed.

I think you might be getting luckier by getting your order pushed back. There seem to be a lot of sporadic (Dell 1601 wireless issues, Win 8.1 return from sleep issues, Enduro issues) problems and some non-sporadic (OPTIMUS) problems right now. I ordered a week before you did and also got a nice deal with coupons, which is not available now, and got it about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately it is going back Monday because there is no indication any dealbreakers (for me) will be solved, and because my return period expires really soon. I don't think I will be getting a similar deal for a while.

With the W540 delayed (maybe some of the same issues with Haswell chipset?), ZBook 15 completely non-compelling, and new rMBP/M3800/XPS 15 not significantly faster compared to my cMBP (same 16GB RAM limit, CPU is not that much faster, 750m/similar not that much faster), I probably will just suck it up with the uncomfortable keyboard, buy 16GB RAM, and a matte screen cover and hold out until broadwell/skylake.

 

If they do ship it, and I decide to return it, don't I have to pay a restocking fee? I thought I read that somewhere on the support site. How will you handle your return?

 

I do not have to pay a restocking fee for mine because I have a support ticket open that includes both a Dell error and a hardware defect. The Dell error is that there is no Optimus on QHD+ and K2100m (I was the first to notify the entire engineering team) and the defect is the wireless is broken. However you will have to pay shipping, which considering that the system itself (with dock) was a 18lb package and I have 2 accessories, is going to be A LOT of money. I am working on getting them to cover it because this return is entirely their fault.