M4800 Owner's Thread

Legend! I didn't need to change from legacy boot or from MBR but it finally got rid of The 'invalid partition table' which required manual intervention (a button press) to boot into windows.

I also deleted some other useless boot options from The list that didn't exist. Thanks dude!

 

I might be one of the first ones to 3D print the Thinkpad trackpoint adapter to Dell trackstick from thingiverse.
I haven't seen anyone using it.
I opened a thread in August last year asking about where to buy the dell caps but I ended up not buying them:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/where-to-buy-blue-rim-trackstick-caps-p-n-t230f.821895/

I've never liked the Dell trackstick caps because they are too flat and they don't give me enough momentum to move the cursor fast and far enough and its too low near to the keyboard so my finger don't get any support.
And I have to clean the cap with a dab of windex every day or so because it gets slippery by the grease from hands and what not.
I have the Alps driver installed and set speed to maximum in control panel and speed to maximum in dell touchpad software.
I am always hesitant to use the computer mobile instead of having it on the desk in the docking station with a mouse connected because my hand get fatigued after an hour of using the Dell trackstick while I can work for hours and hours on my Thinkpad trackpoint and I even prefer using Thinkpads mobile rather than with a mouse on a desk.

I was on the verge to purchase a bag of 100 blue rim caps
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW...trackpoint-mouse-rubber-caps/32822760898.html

But I wanted to try the adapter first:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:316420

Because I already have a bag of 100 of these Soft rim caps that I bought long ago for my Thinkpads.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fre...aptop-Pointer-TrackPoint-Cap/32811009991.html
Classic dome looses its fusses after a week making it glossy and impossible to move the cursor.
Soft dome also wears down its pointy nubs and become glossy and impossible to move the cursor after a month.



I contacted another local 3D printing business because I had already met with another workshop who only did PLA.
PLA is not gonna hold up, we handled some of their thinnest prints and they just crumbled in our hands.
So I got hold of one who did PETG.
More info here on filaments: https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printer-filament-types-3d-printing-3d-filament/

First off:
Opening the file in cura enlarges the object by 1000%.
This is a bug in older versions and was fixed in updated software and plugin for Inventor.
But anyway I pointed this out and they corrected the measures.
There is a thread about this somewhere on the internet on some other forum.
Correct measurements should be 4,5x4,5x3,6mm when scaled down.

I ordered 4 copies for testing and backup in case they brake in the future.
The total cost was $5 USD

Here is the finished product:
Its tiny, its difficult to take a picture of it so bare with me.



Here it is mounted with a Thinkpad Soft rim cap on it:
I thought I would have to glue it in place but it is actually held in place very firm by the inner structure of the adapter. So no need to glue it on.






It sits a little proud of the keyboard but it does not touch the screen when I close the lid so I am not worried about it:




It will take a while to get used to the extra height when I put my finger over it.
But so far I am loving it! The precision over the blue rim cap is out of this world.
I only have to ever so slightly touch the cap for the cursor to move and it will take a while to get used to the precision I now have over the cursor.
Hence the name of this laptop "Precision" ..get it?? haha.
I don't want to decrease the speed of the mouse I like it as it is.
Oh man oh man this was the one thing that kept me from loving my Dell Precision laptop and now I will probably use it mobile everyday instead of having it sitting on the desk!
Forget about the blue rims, this is way better!

 

Anybody know a good place or seller that sells legitimate 97wHr batteries? My current one may need replacing sooner than I'd like, and having to scour through which eBay sellers are selling real 97 wHr batteries is annoying.

 

Yeah I need to do that too soon, I have a battery warning in diagnostics.
You can either buy original or 3rd party.
Look up the brand Green Cell.
I bought a battery for my t420s and they literally look exactly like the original battery even to the type of plastic used.
I have had my share of purchases and failures and scams.
There are good vendors on aliexpress but nowadays no one will ship the batteries other than PostNL so it's very difficult for me at least to buy laptop batteries.
One time I got scammed on a "refurbishing" company in Czech and the battery died 2 months later.. they even had their own custom brand label on the battery.

If 3rd party batteries work I dunno.
I've heard many having issues charging the laptop with non original power supplies and that is why I bought several original ones, one for each location I work at
Now for the t420s, it is the last generation that did not have any protection against non original battery and charger. All newer generations won't charge on a 3rd party brand.

Green Cell
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Extended-Battery-Precision-6600mAh-Black/dp/B01N80GQYB

Original part
https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=19511

 

Do you know if the QHD+ or UHD versions would also work? I heard 2 different MB's were made for this machine. I have a 1366 x 768 panel on mine with a Fire Pro GPU.

 

You need to confirm whether your panel is LVDS or eDP. If it is eDP, then you should be able to upgrade past 1080p, but you will probably need a new display cable as well.

 

Fair enough. I believe that mine is eDP, atleast according to what Dell's config parts list tells me. It tells me eDP 1366 x 768. Several times it mentions eDP, but I'll be sure to double check. Don't mind buying another cable.

Another thing, is that I heard that the GPU (An MXM .A height card) can replace the one in the current notebook. I'm thinking of buying a 1050ti MXM .A card. from Taobao. What exactly would I need to do, aside modify the INF file a little?

 

Pascal cards don't work well in Precision systems before the 7510/7710 generation. An early "engineering sample" vBIOS is needed and at the moment we only have one for the Quadro P5000. You can install the GeForce 965M.

 

I see. Has anyone actually tried a Pascal card in a M4800 or M6800? And a Quadro P5000 wouldn't fit as much as I would love for it to, considering the M4800 only supports MXM A. I've seen the 965M work but it has aged quite significantly

 

You can look at the M6800 upgrade thread which is near the top of this board. Multiple users have Quadro P5000 working with the engineering sample vBIOS. (I have it working in the Precision M6700 myself.) One user has GeForce 1070 working but with Linux only. All Pascal cards tried so far BSOD when booting Windows on the M6800 except for the P5000 with ES vBIOS. I strongly suspect that M4800 will be the same, the BIOS is practically identical between the two systems.