Precision 7710 Owner's Thread

Right now it looks like Intel will unveil the high performance mobile Kaby Lake CPUs at CES 2017 in January according to Digitimes. But we have yet to see new Pascal-based mobile Quadros from nVidia. I don't think we will see new Kaby Lake business laptops with old Maxwell based graphics solutions. nVidia has been teasing Pascal-based mobile Quadros in July, so I wonder what takes them so long. Laptops with GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 graphics have been available for months.

 

No surprise there, don't worry... The mobile Quadros pretty much only go in the Precision, Zbook, and Lenovo high-end workstations. None of those companies tend to refresh GPUs separately from the main line, and NVIDIA does not make them available to anyone besides OEMs. I'm sure we will see them when the refresh happens.

 

Interesting thanks for the info. So there is potential for Dell to make an announcement mid-Jan 2017?

 

Does anybody know if there's a noticeable difference between the backlit and non-backlit keyboards on this model other than the lighting? I've heard that on Thinkpad laptops, the backlit keyboard feels more mushy and has a glossier finish than the non-backlit ones. I rarely use backlighting, so I'm wondering if replacing the keyboard with a non-backlit one is worth it.

 

I have a 7710 with the backlit keyboard, I think it is very nice. I realize that's very subjective though! I also use a Zbook 17 and I like it's keyboard, but I like the 7710 better. Sadly I do not have a non-backlit to compare to, if I can answer any specific questions let me know.

 

Thanks! That's all I needed. I've decided against swapping the board.

I've tried the keyboard on the Dell Latitude E5570 once at a Microsoft store, and I loved the key travel and slightly slippery texture. Hoping the Precision is similar.

 

The Precision uses the exact same keyboard as some of the current Latitudes. If the keyboard looks the same... it probably is the same.

 

I just got my model yesterday and spent most of last night setting it up. Yeah, I know, the new version is coming out soon, but I need a new machine sooner rather than later. I needed a large, powerful notebook to replace my Thinkpad Yoga 12, an excellent machine that was just too small for my tastes.

I basically chose the i5-6300HQ, W7170M GPU, FHD IPS display non-touch, 91Whr battery, and I added in my own m.2 SSD and upgraded the RAM to 16 GB.

Current first impressions are very positive. I love the thick hinge design and the soft-touch finish on the back and palm rest. It feels very sturdy in the sense that no part of it bends or creaks. The machine is on the heavy side, but you get replaceable components and a beefy cooling solution in return. Battery life impressed me the most. After activating switchable graphics in the BIOS, I’m getting around 10 hours of battery life at medium brightness. That’s actually better than the 12-inch Yoga.

The FHD IPS display gets very bright, and color accuracy is fine for my work. The keyboard is okay; not as good as the Thinkpad’s since the travel is shorter, but it’s fine nonetheless. Touchpad tracks well, though the buttons at the bottom are a little mushier than I’d hope. I think the Trackpoint is pretty good too, as it’s accurate and feels okay.

The 7710’s weak point would probably be the speakers due to their awkward placement, but they get reasonably loud and sound good enough.

I’ll do some performance testing later, but so far I’m happy with it.

 

Speaking of Nvidia 10xx series laptop GPUs... not that I plan on upgrading my existing GPU anytime soon, but I'm curious if any pascal (quadro or otherwise) nvidia 10xx series will fit in current (2016) precisions. I think 1070 & 1080 pascal boards might be physically larger than current maxwell quadro MnnnnM series. I've not seen any measurements though. I read that the GeForce 1080 laptop GPU is 165W compared to M5000M 100W. Then there is heatsink and thermal pad location differences if the cards can even fit. Still is interesting to think about for future upgrade potential.

 

GeForce 1060 will fit.
Every GeForce 1070 module that I have seen is larger than standard, though it technically should be possible to make a standard one. Some are only slightly larger so they might fit anyway (would take some measurements to see).
GeForce 1080 is too large and also has an extra power connector on it, so it would be a no go.

There are no mobile Pascal Quadros available yet, but we will see them once Dell, HP, and Lenovo do their next product refresh of the workstation line. (They generally all release new models within days/weeks of each other.) Too early to say but I suspect that the Quadro P5000M will be on par with a GeForce 1070 in terms of shaders/clock speed.