M4800 Owner's Thread

I've been very happy with mine, would recommend!

 

My father in law's M4800 is pretty good overall. My only real issues with it are I've worked with laptops easier to tear down before, and also his has a wierd quirk where it doesn't boost properly unless you sleep it and wake it up again at which point it fires on all cylinders.
Not game breaking as the CPU is fast enough for his needs vast majority of the time, and he knows what to do if he wants a bit more, but it is a bit annoying.

It would have been nice if it had a full sized MXM card also as that would have made replacement GPUs a lot easier.

By the time he NEEDS a faster GPU for his day to day however there will probably be faster second hand machines available. These things are built like tanks so no complaints there.

 

Honestly, I think Dell should make a newer version of M4800.
I've searched through all of new Precision series models but they're not necessarily better than M4800 in terms of hardware design, durability, look, etc.

The only new model that looks similar to M4800 is Precision 3541:
https://aecmag.com/technology-mainmenu-35/1793-first-look-review-dell-precision-3540

However, it doesn't have enough HDD slots and M4800's keyboard is still much better.

Dell should make an enhanced version M4800 with perhaps a little lighter body. M4800 is already perfect but I'm concerned with its aging components and batteries.

 

It's quite surprising that no manufactures have made a better laptop than M4800 since 2015.
M4800's stability, durability, modular architecture can't be matched!
I think M4800 is the best workstation laptop ever made. Too bad even Dell can't make a better laptop than M4800.

I've used many Chinese gaming laptops. Their engineers have inferior understanding of hardware and OS. Their laptops sometimes crash and show blue screen errors. I never see this behavior on my M4800. M4800 works like a brand new laptop everyday, 365 days a year.

Its real metal body completely protects its internal hardware and guarantees perfect operation any time. I'm convinced that M4800 is the real workstation laptop and all other brands are fake.

 

As much as I love my M4800, statements like this feel a bit over the top, and don't ring true to me. You've never seen a crash or freeze once? I had all kinds of issues with mine right after it was released. Every product has some teething issues, and Windows and other software are far from perfect.

It's a good machine, sure. But the rest feels like hyperbole.

 

So it's been two years since I purchased my open-box M4800.
It never crashed. I've never seen that blue screen error.. it works like a brand new laptop every day.

My Lenovo laptops used to crash the whole hard drives.. even when using an SSD.

I think M4800 has the best stability among workstation laptops.

 

My apologies if this has been answered before, but in my search I could not find it. Is there a list of the differences between different M4800 motherboards? Obviously some are LVDS and some are eDP, but is one specific for AMD and the other for NVIDIA GPUs, like the M4600 was?
I ask because, my friend and I both have M4800s. Mine is a FirePro M5100, LVDS machine with the 1080p panel (board is a 03YTY according to Dell and) CPU-Z
His his a Quadro K2100M and 1080p, but is eDP. Not sure which model number it is, he'll get that to me soon.
Anyway, he broke the hinge/lower case and I'd like to frankenstein the two machines together. Will the FirePro fit in the other board?
And yes, I know that the drivers are more problematic on the AMD GPUs, but for the work I'm doing I haven't had any issues. The M5100 is also a better performer.
TIA!

 

There is not a separate motherboard for NVIDIA and AMD systems (on any Precision system back to at least M4600/M6600 as far as I am aware). You do have to worry about the GPU heatsink which may be different between the two.

 

Appreciate it! That means, in theory I should be able to snag the board, screen cable, and screen from his broken machine and use them in mine, with my GPU, heatsinks, and other parts. Does that sound correct?
The final goal is a nicer panel with wider gamut, but it seems those are all eDP. Plus, my screen has some pressure damage on it from its previous owner.

 

Can't say for certain that there isn't some difference between the LVDS and eDP versions of the display panel enclosure with different screw positions or some such. (You can find display enclosures with hinges on eBay for less than $25 though...) But in general, yes, you should be able to mix and match most parts.