M4800 Owner's Thread

Thank you, I haven't touched my screen, I only removed the trim panel to tighten the screws for the latches that had loosened up

On a side note can you please edit your posts in the future when you want to add new text to your post, instead of posting another reply.
The whole thread is filled with pages of your replies

 

No prob.

I opened up both 0T3YTY and 0V5GVY m4800s.

0T3YTY (made in 2014) is using LVDS FHD cable.
0V5GVY (made in 2016) is using EDP FHD cable.. while its actual display is HD.

I ended up not swapping their LCDs. Their pin connectors are completely different. EDP FHD connector seems to be much smaller than old LVDS FHD connector.

Is It possible to implement QHD or UHD on my 0V5GVY M4800? it's already using EDP FHD cable.. I wonder if that means I can upgrade to UDH or QHD? or should I buy EDP FHD panel?


EDIT:

another user confirmed LP156WF4-SPL1 FHD screen works on 0V5GVY m4800. I guess this is the way to go. Thanks everyone. LP156WF4-SPL1 sells for under $50.

 

Top M4800 specs:

- 4940mx CPU
- 4k screen
- 4k edp-enabled motherboard (WNW0H)
- m2200m quadro GPU
- 32GB 1866mz RAM
- Backlit keyboard
- 240W PA-9E Dell adapter
- Dell 9 cell battery
- 1TB Samsung mSata
- 2nd HDD caddy
- two 2TB Samsung SSDs (or two 4TB samsung SSDs)

I'm planning to build this M4800 in the near future. It will cost nearly $2k to buy all of the components. I hope M4800 with this spec won't explode.

 

m2200m is still more powerful than WX4150:
https://technical.city/en/video/Quadro-M2200-vs-Radeon-Pro-WX-4150

It shows m2200m is about 10% to 15% better than WX4150.

and m3000m is mxm B card so it won't fit m4800. Until Nvidia release a brand new m2300m in mxm A size, m2200m is the best GPU for M4800.

 

So I ended up picking up one of these locally in pretty good shape (4940mx CPU, 32gb of ram and SSD) but it's one of the 768p LVDS versions and the screen is killing me. if I wanted to switch over to an eDP panel, other than the panel I would just need to buy https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...board-s947-LA-9772P-C3V2K-0C3V2K/352703927833 to replace the motherboard, the correct eDP cable and a new lid to get the correct mounting brackets right?

and if I wanted to go to 1080 IPS, I would need the upgraded LVDS cable and lid for correct brackets right?

 

Pretty sure that they never offered IPS panels in anything other than eDP for this model. (Not sure what is available third-party.)

 

I can definitely dig around if necessary on this. did the other suggestion for converting to an eDP board make sense (and is that an eDP board I linked)?

 

Yes, that sounds fine. If you procure an eDP motherboard, you should be able to swap it in place of the LVDS motherboard (along with the parts necessary to mount the screen and the eDP cable). There aren't any big differences, all parts should be compatible between the two. I don't know if what you linked is an eDP motherboard (not familiar with the part numbers but I imagine it has to be spelled out somewhere in this long thread).

 

So I picked up an M4800 with the following specs a few weeks ago:

i7 4910MQ
8GB DDR3 1600 MHz (originally 16 GB, some previous owner took a stick out ond now it's running in Single Channel mode)
IGZO display - 3840x2160
Quadro K2100M
SanDisk 2.5" SSD, 128GB

Configuration apart from the RAM is original.

Here's my impression so far:

The device came very clean, just with a few scratches on the lid as usual.

In 2016, I sold my Desktop (Xeon E3-1230v3, R9 290X) and settled with the Latitude E6510 (i7 740QM, NVS 3100M, 4GB) as my main machine. The Latitude was running ridiculously hot even in idle. The noisy fan, once running on high RPMs, was permanently keeping its level. Chrome-ing with a dozen tabs open, YouTube-ing, editing large 16-bpc files in Photoshop and modeling in 3ds Max was possible though it was increasingly noticeable that the device is overwhelmed. So I ended up selling it it and getting the M4800.

Performance on light load (Internet, Photoshop/Lightroom, Videos) feels like going back to my 2015-ish high-end desktop PC. No issues there. 3ds Max starts about double as fast as on the old Latitude which I used with the same SSD. I am 3D-rendering still images using Arnold (CPU) and Redshift (GPU). Rendering speed is very fine for someone who does 3D as a hobby. Animated scenes and commercial work would be a different story though...
Photoshop performance is great and the device does not feel overwhelmed even when editing large files and applying OpenCL-accelerated filters. 8GB of RAM, however, are filled up quickly with some of my PSD files. Will add another 8GB stick whenever I find a good offer.

When it comes to gaming, here's a small list with games from different generations showing what the K2100M is capable of:
Crysis (2007), 1080p, High settings: 40fps on average
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (2005), max settings, 4K: 60+ fps
Mafia II (2009), max. settings, 1080p: 50fps on average
Watch_Dogs (2013), low to medium medium settings, 720p: 30fps on average

So my impression in terms of gaming: Native 4K resolution is possible only in ancient titles. Anything even remotely modern just stutters too much in 4K to be enjoyable. Things that run well in 1080p on max settings even stutter on lowest settings in 4K. That is due to the GPU's narrow 128-bit interface which is just not enough for such a high resolution.

4K video playback is very smooth even though you hear it is challenging the device quite a bit as the fans turn up after a couple minutes while doing this.

Dell's fan control and the overall cooling system makes a great impression to me. The case and the keyboard never run very hot even while gaming or rendering. Thanks to the two fans noise levels are acceptable an older mobile workstation. Plus, the fan RPM is properly regulated which you notice just a few minutes after going back from heavy load to idle.

Build quality seems nice. I'm using this machine on a desk and as I have a separate notebook at work am not planning to take it anywhere so I cannot say much about portability other than: It's heavy and bulky but also gives this rigid and industrial look-and-feel.
The touchpad is too small. Coming from the 2009 Latitude E6510, there clearly has not been much evolution since then. Even comparing it too my wife's 2011 Macbook Air it clearly lacks in that department. The point stick is what I use the most if not my external mouse. The keyboard is good and I prefer the traditional layout over chiclet-style keyboards. Typing feels good but not as good as on a Toshiba Tecra 8200 ( ), Thinkpad T60 and similar devices that have been praised for excellent keyboards. It was no challenge to get used to having a numpad on the right side.

I bought the device without power supply and connected my E6510's 110W charger. First wondering why everything runs slow as hell, including mouse movements and opening the task manager under Windows, I figured out that the M4800 runs only one CPU core throttled to 800ish MHz when the power supply doesn't deliver the proper wattage. Battery mode throttles as well by the way, even when you configure the CPU to run at a constant 100% clock speed. Only after picking up a used 240W charger I was able to run the device on full clock speeds.

The IGZO IPS display with 3840x2160 pixels offers subjectively great color accuracy and a stunning viewing angle. It's what I love the most about the workstation. However, maximum brightness is still not very bright — probably the darkest maximum brightness among every device that I've used. Keep that in mind if you're planning to upgrade to the 4K panel. Also, I was not able to run anything on 2560x1440 resolution as it is not available. Even trying to set this as a custom resolution in the Nvidia Control Panel just failed. Furthermore I tried to overclock the panel's refresh rate and it fails even at 61 Hz. My Latitude E6510 TN panel with 1920x1080 px I was able to run at 100 Hz which led to a much smoother experience compared to 60 Hz.

All in all, if you have a limited budget and care less about portability and battery endurance than computing power and having a capable desktop replacement, the M4800 in used condition right now is an attractive solution. There are no huge flaws that would let me go to another manufacturer.


Few questions to you guys regarding the GPU as I think it would be the upgrade I'd profit the most from:
What is the fastest GPU I could upgrade to?As the 4K IGZO panel is already equipped, eDP is available.
Any huge drawbacks from upgrading to a GTX 965M for example if I'm planning to run the device mostly with the charger attached?
Will I need to modify the heatsink to fit the GPU's position on the MXM card?
Has anyone with the 4K panel achieved to add WQHD resolution or run the panel on more than 60 Hz?

Best regards!

 

2 FYIs:
- You should be fine with a 180W charger as well (slightly smaller). Mine came with a 180, and my dock came with a 240 - IIRC, only the Mx800s need the 240W.
- I've heard rumblings that RAM and SSD prices are likely to go up in the near future, so the time to buy may be now. There are 4 RAM slots, but two are under the keyboard - only two are easily accessible. When I got mine it came with the two factory installed sticks in the hard to reach slots, so you may be able to easily bump to 3x 8GB.

 

So the m4800 would be a step forward coming from an old m4600? I have read that performance between m4600 and m4800 is like 15% in real world, but i am thinking it because my m4600 still works but the m5100 i have is digging his own tomb, and seeing that the upgrade of the GPU would be without any trouble the WX 4150 which is cheap compared to a GTX 965m, i am considering invest my money in something neweer than getting a w5170m which is more expensive right now.than a m4800 barebone with motherboard that is like 75 bucks or less without the LCD screen, also i think would be fun building my own m4800 and at the same time learn more about laptops. The only drawback i see is the CPU which is kind of expensive. Fun part is that m4800 barebones are cheaper than m4700

And there is the option of a 4k screen too but for gaming i think that wx 4150 would struggle