Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Those are appealing specs, particularly the GPU, dual DisplayPort outputs, and Blu-ray drive, especially considering the price. However, while I don't have any experience with MSI laptops, the pictures on their site suggest that build quality will be quite a bit lower and more gimmicky, plus it's 7.7 lbs and a lot larger than this system, so it's hardly a direct competitor to an M3800 or even an XPS 15. No experience with MSI's warranty or service policy either. But if your goal is maximum performance bang for your buck, I guess I can see the appeal.

But the nearest Dell equivalent would be an Alienware system, though there isn't a 15.6" Alienware model.

 

Specs look nice but that's not the only reason to get a Precision. What about build quality? Is the chassis made out of anything but plastic? What about warranty service / support? Even if they have a support presence in the U.S., I doubt it's possible to get a rep on-site.

Maybe that stuff isn't a big deal to you, in which case, go for it.

 

"Gaming laptop" and "workstation" are meaningless distinctions at this point; the XPS 15 Touch could readily be sold as a gaming laptop rather than as a more generically premium consumer-market system, and the only thing that sets the M3800 apart as a workstation is a minor difference in the GPU (which matters a lot to a few people) and the branding (which matters a lot to corporate IT departments.)

The BIGGEST distinction between the GT60 he mentions and the XPS 15/M3800 is that the former is a chunky, nearly-8-lb desktop-replacement-size system and the XPS 15/M3800 are a 4.5lb thin-and-light. The Razer Blade is a similar thin and light sold as a gaming laptop (with a much less nice screen, or I'd probably have bought one rather than wait for the XPS/M3800.)

--

For CMerlin, the big difference is the weight. On my last machine, I traded a work-provided choice of an E6530 or a W530 for paid-out-of-pocket E6430 because the latter two were both too bulky (the W530 honestly was no heavier than the E6430... Dell has not done well with E6x20/6x30 generation of Latitudes on keeping down weight.) There's NO way I'd go with a nearly-8-lb laptop.

If you want a lot of power and a good GPU at a lower price, look at the Lenovo Y510p. No premium/IPS/retina screen, but their FHD screen is by most reports better than the HD+ screen in the Razer, and they are super-cheap for the specs you get.

 

There is actually a mobile workstation class for the GT60 too: MSI Global – Notebook & Tablet - GT60-2OK Workstation - 3K IPS Edition This is probably the fastest laptop in the world (1500 mb/s SSD RAID!!!) and I think the screen being IPS makes up for the lower resolution compared to IGZO. I'd also guess that the wireless is even better. I haven't seen it in person but if you don't mind lugging around such a behemoth and are looking for a desktop replacement, it seems amazing.

BTW: Where would one buy this online in the max spec. config? I can't find it. I would be interested in other laptops with a fast RAID SSD config. and great screen too.

 

Samsung Announces 1 TB mSATA SSD :thumbsup:

Samsung Announces 1 TB mSATA SSD

 

I can't seem to prperly figure out a good dual screen setup;
I connected a NEC P221W (1680x1050) via mDP to the M3800
and programs/icons look huge on it.
If I turn down the scaling, everything on the Dell screen is too tiny.
Is there any way to individually set the scaling for both screens?
Also, if I set it to only display desktop on the Dell, the NEC turns off and only comes back on after I redo that setting. Strange behaviour....

 

I know and thats what I dont like. My problem is, I have at home a good deskop workstation. But now I need a laptop because im moving a lot, and I need to work outside. Im dont looking for the best, I only need a decent laptop to can work normally whit premiere pro and davinci( I know, Davinci is more complicated, but I dont need to worl real time) dont know how works the Quadro GPU, but always looks like is worst than the GTX. Thanks a lot

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

Hey folks,

thank's a lot to all of you for this nice thread - I'd like to go for an M3800 now. Some last questions which I was not able to figure out via the forum search: does the DELL Precision M3800 (to be ordered in Germany) support NFC, Intel Wireless Display and/or DELL's WiGig? Our DELL support guy was not able to tell me.

Cheers

 

You can configure different DPI scaling for different monitors, but only in Windows 8.1. Are you running Windows 8.1?

 

thanks!
yes, I am running 8.1
in the display settings I can only set it to use one scaling mode for all screens or, if that is unchecked, Windows decides the scaling.
Where is the individual option?