Precision M3800 OR XPS 15

Hi guys, hopefully now that the m3800 is out I can some advice as to what to get, I don't know which one to get as both are very similar, main difference I see is the graphics card, but if that's the case, isn't xps15 GT 750M better than precisions Quadro? I'd appreciate any help.

What other differences are there that would make a better labtop from the other?

I do graphics design for a living.

Thanks.

 

Then the answer is simple: If this is a tool for something you do for a living, you get a professional tool: The Precision is your obvious choice: Much better support, vendor certification, and typically higher-grade parts.

 

I have the same basic question. I do a lot of photo editing and video editing. Everything I've read says the two machines are the same chassis and parts except for the video card. So support might be one deciding factor but since the parts are the same (except for the video card) I don't think part are an issue.

I found these links...
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - NotebookCheck.net Tech
NVIDIA Quadro K1100M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

I'm no expert on mobile video cards but my take on these results is that if you're doing CAD\OpenGL stuff the K1100m in the m3800 is the better card. If you doing photo and video editing then the 750m in the XPS 15 is the better choice.

Any video card experts out there agree or disagree with that? (Or know of any other differences between the machines?)

 

What specific video editing software do you use? In this case (1100M vs 750m) you shouldn't have much of a performance gap if it utilizes cuda. Both have similar specs, but the quadro will of course be better for cad/opengl stuff.

 

THIS. software such as Premier pro CC, and AVID will tend to run much better on the quadro cards, you will also find it significantly better in rendering units such as MAYA, 3DsMAX and many others.

if you are running things like Pinnacle / Corel / Sony Vegas, then there will be very few performance differences BUT you will still find a lot less graphics driver crashes during rendering etc.

 

I use Photoshop and illustrator at most. But some 3dsmax.

Can someone please explain why the m3800 is better in this case? I'm just not seeing it. The graphics card is the only difference I'm seeing and

m3800 >> Quadro K1100M 384 @ 705MHz 128 Bit @ 2800MHz
xps >> GeForce GT 750M 384 @ 967MHz 128 Bit @ 2000 - 5000MHz

It's worth mentioning that the new macbook pro uses the same as xps.

The only thing I'm interested is 'higher-grade' parts, but mentioning what they are would be more helpful.

Thanks again.

 

Clockspeed doesn't tell the whole story. As someone said before, if the program you are using utilizes openGL the m3800 is probably better.

The other argument would be that support for precision laptops is more geared towards professionals.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4

 

I'd recommend the M3800 then. The K1100M will do better in all of those applications. The drivers for the Quadros are optimized for those specific applications. The geforce drivers are optimized for games (directx etc). There will be a nice difference in the end.

This should give you an idea of the performance difference between geforce and quadro in pro apps:

SPECviewperf 11: CATIA And EnSight Results - Workstation Graphics: 14 FirePro And Quadro Cards

For comparisons, the GTX 680 is to a Quado K5000 the same way a 750m is to a K1100M.

 

One other important consideration:
The XPS 15 seems to only come in three pre-defined configurations, while with M3800 you have more choices: it comes with both Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1 Pro (so you can choose the one that works better for your applications) and your Dell rep can help configure the system to meet your needs. For example, I have ordered a dual-drive configuration with 512GB mSATA system SSD drive and a secondary hybrid drive for data. This is not a standard configuration, but the sales rep didn't have a problem customizing it on my request. I am not sure if the same can be done with XPS 15 yet.

 

Exactly. If you use OpenGL in 3D graphics, those workstation graphics cards will run circles around the gaming parts. The difference is like day and night, literally. On the other hand, if you're into gaming, then the difference between those cards will be negligible.