Next Generation Dell Precision Mobile Workstations press release

Ah, pity. The connector on those slices are fragile enough as it is (my last one had the latch break, and would have to remove it by sticking a plastic knife or similar thing piece of plastic between the machine and the slice.)

That's been better publicized, but in the small print it lists the port as coming in January. I'm holding off on ordering until it's available (and waiting for pricing and someone to review the actual weight of the 7710...)

 

"Mano" prefiously remarked that it could not be added later in a previous post so I assume motherboard and since there are different motherboards for the 7710 as opposed to the 5510 might explain the difference in availability.

 

Also you would probably have to replace the bottom chassis to add the Thunderbolt port, I doubt they are just going to leave a hole where it would be if you decide to order a machine without one.

Better to just wait until January if you want Thunderbolt.

 

it seems zbook g3 is coming in january too. Let's hope there will be a good comparative review of all 3 17 inch 4K notebooks:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/pc/hp-s-new-workstations-1308698

 

Seems like Dell, Lenovo, and now HP all offer basically the same package in different "wrappers." It comes down to preferred manufacturer and perceived build quality ultimately as all of these machines should provide very strong performance relative to their class.

 

i was just going to pontificate if all 3 models were being built by the same odm ...

 

Yes, I definately need to understand better the differences between SSD choices and their comparitive performance in the online store configurator. for example, for the 7510 they offer a 512GB PCIe m.2 NVMe "High Performance" SSD. They also offer a 512GB PCIe m.2 NVMe SSD (that doesn't have the "High Performance" notation). And the 1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD is also missing the "High Performance" notation. Which makes me wonder exactly what the performance difference is. I would like the 1TB but not if performance is dramatically less than the "High Performance", although both would totally kill my current sataII ssds I have now. I just need to understand better what I'm buying. That is why I plan to wait until others get the hardware and I can do a little more research once we find out the Mfr and Part#s of said drives.

Dells online store configurator does give a link "Help Me Choose", but it is very basic info.

The online store configurator also has two sections for selecting the drives for a 7510... the primary and the secondary. It is funny that both sections list 2.5" drives when it is clear there is only room for one 2.5 drive in the system. Although the configurator is smart enough to prevent two 2.5" being selected. The laptop did just come out though and usually takes the website a little time to get those little nuances worked out.

My m6500 froze yesterday. I mockingly threw my hands in the air and said "Time to buy a new workstation!". ha. I'm really itching to upgrade

 

Looks like Dell updated the US Precision 5510 configurator today; it now prevents more invalid configurations such as ordering a 2.5" drive with the 84Whr battery.

 

Also, for anyone else who intends to put Linux on this - I was tempted to get the XPS 15 since what I want out of the 5510 is so similar to their high-end FHD XPS 15 (and the XPS will get you more disk space and ram for the same price) - but I found this tweet:

https://twitter.com/Dell/status/653521493641547776

Makes it sound like the 5510 has a better shot of being officially supported with Linux than the XPS 15.

I think I'll pay the extra money (maybe skimp a bit on the SSD and upgrade someday when the prices come down, and keep the 256GB one in an enclosure). The Precision has an Intel instead of Broadcom card, and perhaps if it does have a professional BIOS that could have a shot at getting things better with Linux. Also, wonder if the Quadro card will have better Linux support, since there are plenty of CAD tools etc. on Linux?

 

I think the number of 1TB PCIe SSDs on the market is only one or two, so Dell probably doesn't have enough options to make performance distinctions in that size range.