Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

So I'm still waiting on newegg to deliver the EVO mSata drive before setting up (week overdue now and tracking just started working today). Have not even turn on machine yet.

After reading the latest round of posts on multiple exchanges is there a checklist for everything I should check before doing the clean install? Specific problems others are seeing that cannot be fixed with a software update and best way to test for them:

Coil Whine
Display defects
WiFi issues
USB ports
...

This would make a good checklist for the Wiki so people catch issues before their 30 day period runs out.

 

Thanks jp. Tried it and unfortunately no luck. Updated drivers and adjusted graphics options too. I did just change the colour of my background to black. Apparently it only happens with darker colour backgrounds (with the exception of black). Am I right to assume this is just a software issue however? Dell pro support suggested it was the system not knowing whether or not to use the NVIDIA card or the Intel card and that can cause the flickering. So they tried playing with those settings but to no avail. I actually like this one they sent me its been a good machine and exhibits no other defects at all.

UPDATE: I noticed when I changed the screen resolution from the native to 1080p all flickering is gone and everything is fine. ???? Driver?

 

Without seeing the flicker myself (and perhaps even if I did), it's tough to say whether it's hardware or software. I don't buy the support rep's answer that the system is confused about whether or not to use the NVIDIA GPU for rendering when it's just displaying a static image, nor that the Intel card can cause flickering (at least not without being considered a defective unit). But honestly if you've got a system that you're otherwise completely happy with and this only issue only occurs when you go out of your way to create specific required conditions, I wouldn't worry about it.

As for the 1080p update, if we were dealing with a theoretical analog signal that could handle QHD, I wouldn't be surprised that dropping from QHD to 1080p got rid of image artifacts because the required bandwidth and thus the likelihood of transmission errors would have dropped dramatically. But on a digital connection such as the eDP signal used on that panel, you either get a perfect signal or you get nothing (which incidentally is why those 6-ft HDMI cables sold at Best Buy for $100 are a total joke). I'm also not sure whether the built-in panel has a video scaling chip to handle displaying non-native resolutions or whether the GPU scales imagery rendered at non-native resolutions up to the panel's native resolution before piping it to the display, so even if this is a hardware issue, it's tough to guess which component is the more likely culprit. But again, I wouldn't worry about it if it's not something you notice in your real-world usage. You can always change your mind within the warranty period, after all.

UPDATE: I tried to reproduce this on my own system by putting up a few solid color dark backgrounds (black, 50% gray, dark brown) while running at QHD+ resolution and on battery power, and I wasn't able to do so. I didn't have any desktop icons on that panel, but I did drag the Personalize window over there. I also played with brightness settings. However, I am in a room that gets a lot of sunlight (and looking closely at the panel cause me to notice the glare more), so it's possible I just missed it. If it's there on my system, it would be really subtle though.

 

Now I'm experiencing yet ANOTHER problem with my M3800 :-(

The past couple of days, when I close the lid the screen goes black, but the laptop doesn't shut off. The keyboard is still lit up, as is the power button. Closing and reopening the laptop doesn't do anything, nor does trying keyboard combinations or pressing the power button. I have to crash the computer by holding down the power button, or letting the battery die, before I can restart it and use it again.

I wish to God I hadn't gotten this computer.

Any ideas?

 

Have you tried madly swiping up and down on the touchpad? I think someone mentioned this would wake theirs up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Finally was able to solve the problem and so that we catalog this for anyone in the future...what had to be done was to go into the battery power options> edit plan settings >change advanced power settings>scroll down to display> and choose the enable adaptive brightness and set both battery and power to "on". Also had to go to device manager and disable the Intel 4600 card..so I am only using NVIDIA card and voila ....its back to perfect again.

A terrific Dell tech guy spent alot of time and every scenario to come up with that and I just wanted to share if anyone else has a flickering issue.

Thanks jphughan for following up and going out of your way to help. As I said I find these boards invaluable so I too wanted to share a "fix" to a problem I have had that others may have at some point. Again, the flickering problem only happened in the 3200x1800 display setting.

Cheers,

 

Tahnk you very much jphunghan and Black cat for the reply.

Yes for me pressure control for opacity and flow control is important.

Probably It's a better idea thinking about a convertible like the Fujitsu T904 but on my opinion It can't manage 10 bit per color under Photoshop this because the graphic card is embedded into the Haswell CPU and It is a Intel HD 4600. And I'd like to have implemented also this feature onto the portable device.

On your opinion does nowdays exist a convertible with touch and digitizer pen with pressure control and 10 bit per color under Photoshop?

Thank you for any help.
Diego

 

I'm not really sure I'd call that a fix. First of all, you haven't completely disabled the Intel card. The way this system is wired is that the NVIDIA GPU is a render-only device, which means it's not physically attached to any display outputs; when it's used, it renders the display output and then pipes it over to the Intel GPU for output to your display(s) -- so the Intel GPU always has to be running. There's also the fact that forcing your NVIDIA GPU to be running full-time is going to affect your battery life.

As for adaptive brightness, that's actually been considered a "problem" by most people here because it causes only about 3-4 levels of actual brightness adjustment to be available, none of which very often include the maximum or minimum brightness levels. I like adaptive brightness on my smartphone, but on my laptop I want manual control. It took me almost a day of wondering why my display controls didn't seem to work well (and why my display was so much brighter immediately before logon and after logoff) before I stumbled on that infernal setting.

I'm not an expert in the digital drawing field, but given that convertibles in general are already such a niche market, I can't imagine there's one that even has pressure-sensitive input, never mind 10-bit color. The closest thing for built-in Wacom functionality I'm aware of is some Lenovo workstation-class machines (I believe the W series?) that have Wacom tablet functionality built in. I'm not sure they still exist, and they're definitely on the larger and heavier end of the notebook spectrum. I think if you want Wacom functionality at the moment, you need to buy a separate Wacom product, like an Intuos or a Cintiq. And I'm not sure you can realistically expect to find any notebook panel that supports 10-bit color. Even if the GPU supports 10-bit output, it doesn't mean the display accepts it. Also keep in mind that most notebook displays (especially in convertibles) don't have the greatest displays in the first place, so the improvement of 10-bit color might not be noticeable even if it were technically supported.

 

You're right but there is another option .. connect a 10 bit display to the convertible.. and use the convertible as a workstation, as a Cintiq and the external monitor as output...


The only thing is that is not so easy to extrapolate such information about 10 bit color also from support of the oem

On my information Bamboo feel digitizer pen work onto these products

Tested Devices
ASUS Eee Slate B121
ASUS VivoTab™ Note 8
ASUS VivoTab™ (excluding ASUS VivoTab™ RT, ASUS VivoTab™ Smart)
Bamboo™ Pad
Dell Latitude™ 10 tablet (excluding Dell Latitude™ 10 essentials)
ErenEben (E人E&#26412 T6
Fujitsu LIFEBOOK® T732
Fujitsu LIFEBOOK® T902
Lenovo® ThinkPad® Tablet 2
Microsoft® Surface™ Pro
Microsoft® Surface™ Pro 2
Panasonic Toughbook® CF-C2
Panasonic Toughbook® CF-H2 Field
Panasonic Toughpad™ FZ-A1
Samsung ATIV smart PC
Toshiba WT310
Toshiba REGZA Tablet AT703 / Toshiba Excite™ Write AT10PE-A-105


Have a nice time

Diego

 

Here a link to Wacom page where they say added pen pressure sensitivity to Windows 8 tablets

Wacom Europe GmbH - Download - Driver - Enhanced Tablet Driver

have a nice time there

Diego