6/28/14
Dell Precision M4800 assessment
Dell's Precision M4800 is all in relation to serious power. Built to see to demanding computing and graphic-intensive tasks, this workstation combines an Intel staple i7 central processing unit with Nvidia Quadro graphics in the field of an elegant and durable armature. A QHD+ make an exhibition of and rich audio classification sweeten the content-creation pot. The 15.6-inch notebook (starting by the side of $1,249, and $2,513 at the same time as configured) plus offers security skin texture so as to spirit command somebody to IT managers exultant. Whether you're having a manic Monday before working representing the weekend, read on to glimpse why the M4800 can see to your workload and so therefore a little.
Design
Dell Precision M4800
Dell designed the M4800 representing function, not devise. However, nearby is an understated elegance to its fingerprint-resistant, gunmetal depressing, anodized aluminum lid. The chrome Dell emblem embedded in the field of the highlight of the lid adds a careful small piece of sparkle. The front of the lid has a soft curve so as to draws the eye to the lock button located on the front lip.
We be devoted to the loudspeaker grille positioned beyond the piano; its dash and dot design reminded us of Morse code. A prepared of dark-gray, chrome volume-buttons sits to the gone of the grille with the power located on the rectify. Unswervingly beneath the piano is a smallish touchpad surrounded by a luxurious black, soft-touch-finish palm relaxation.
The 6.4-pound M4800 measures 14.8 x 10.1 x 1.29~1.37-inches, faintly thicker than the HP ZBook 15 (6.2 pounds, 15 x 10.1 x 1.2 inches). However the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro with Retina make an exhibition of is the sveltest in the field of the home, by the side of 4.5 pounds, 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.71-inches.
Durability
Beneath the unassuming armature of the Precision M4800 mendacity the frame of a additional rough-and-tumble laptop. A rigid magnesium alloy frame reinforces the anodized aluminum outdoor. The laptop has plus vanished through MIL-STD-810G hard representing resistance to extreme temperatures, dust, vibration, shock and altitude. The piano is spill-resistant to shelter not in favor of so as to inevitable coffee before thirst-quencher misfortune.
Security
Dell Precision M4800Our configuration of the Precision M4800 comes preloaded with Dell's Protected Workspace software. Whilst functional, Protected Workspace opens potentially vulnerable applications (Web browsers, zip library and PDF readers) in the field of a virtual container separate from the operating classification, keeping it safe from malware attacks.
The laptop plus skin texture Dell ControlVault, an relevance so as to provisions thin-skinned in order like encryption keys inside a protected boundary so as to can simply stay accessed via an confirmation scheme prepared up by the landlord before the IT executive.
Additional: Cell Security direct: Everything You Need to Know
Make an exhibition of
Dell Precision M4800The M4800 is single of the at the outset Windows workstations outfitted with a Retina-like make an exhibition of. The notebook's 15.6-inch, 3200 x 1800 dull panel is razor-sharp and offers open sufficient viewing angles to accommodate three make somewhere your home. However, parallel to other Window 8 gear with ultra high-res displays, text is strict to read but for you're zoomed in the field of long-ago 150 percent.
The screen impressed whilst viewing high-resolution images. In the field of our favorite pastoral field, the M4800 delivered gorgeous shades of emerald and peridot, and the blue in the field of the sky was deep and glowing, addition a little especially pop to the fluffy pallid clouds.
Whilst it comes to color and irregularity, though, Apple's Retina make an exhibition of still reigns supreme. In the field of an image of a German drive puppy in the field of a flower basket, the MacBook Pro 15 delivered richer color, especially the blacks in the field of the dog's fur and the glowing fuchsia of the flowers. The same image on the M4800's dull make an exhibition of looked low-key. In the field of expressions of irregularity, we axiom the waxiness of the flowers and the puppy's private hairs better on the MacBook. The dog's right-side facial hair were barely discernable on the M4800.
The MacBook continued to outshine the M4800 for the duration of the 1080p "The Wolf of barricade Street" promo. We possibly will unmistakably glimpse the age position in the field of Leonardo DiCaprio's brow on both panels. However, Leo's eyes were a much deeper shade of blue on the MacBook Pro.
The Precision M4800 has a genuinely brainy screen, registering 323 lux on our light gauge. That's well beyond the 211-lux mainstream run of the mill. The MacBook Pro was a bursting 100 points behind by the side of 223 lux. The ZBook 15 did somewhat better by the side of 295 lux.
Audio
Dell Precision M4800Those speakers aren't a short time ago representing honor. They bathed our lesser hard liberty in the field of loud, rich audio with balanced mids, highs and lows. At the same time as we listened to Lorde's "Royals," the singer's funky alto ruled the track and blended beautifully with the soprano background vocals. The low was deep, but not overwhelming. Our simply quibble was so as to the finger snaps in the field of the song didn't sound at the same time as frosty at the same time as they be supposed to retain.
The notebook reached 88 decibels on the Laptop Audio Test (measuring decibel output by the side of 23 inches from the laptop), matching the ZBook 15 and scoring a coat beyond the 87 dB run of the mill.
Piano, Pointing Stick and Touchpad
Dell Precision M4800Comfortable typing awaits on the M4800's traditional piano. The keys retain a slight curving so as to cradles your fingers and offers corporation criticism. And with the soft-touch palm relaxation, we typed representing hours with nary a cramp. We scored 60 expressions for each follow up on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, advanced than our 55 wpm run of the mill. The backlighting was pretty brainy, too.
By the side of 3.1 x 1.75-inches, the touchpad is a slight on the lesser section. A short time ago a half-inch wider would retain made a humanity of difference. Despite the cramped working conditions, gestures such at the same time as pinch-zoom, two-finger rotate and three-finger press were approachable. Three-finger flick was additional particular, requiring so as to the gesture stay performed in the field of the exact highlight of the touchpad.
Dell Precision M4800The discrete buttons surrounding the touchpad are mushy, with the exception of the top rectify button. However, both of the buttons knowledgeably performs its function. We particularly like the seamless scrolling experience provided by the pair off of buttons in the field of the highlight of the configuration.
At the same time as with other small business notebooks, the M4800 has a pointing stick prepared amidst the G, H and B keys. However, the black nub is faintly recessed, and, despite its lesser raised dots, was insincere to the strike home. At the same time as a consequence, our finger kept back slipping inedible, making it strict to navigate. We much like better Lenovo's pointing stick, which is additional prominent and offers a better grip.
Reheat
Subsequently streaming a Hulu cartridge representing 15 minutes, the notebook's touchpad measured 79 degrees Fahrenheit, while the liberty relating the G and H keys sensation 86 degrees. The substructure of the notebook blew a warmer 92 degrees, but that's still beneath our 95-degree comfort threshold.
Webcam
Dell Precision M4800Using the pre-installed Dell Webcam Central software, the M4800 captures stills and cartridge in the field of 720p. While nearby was a slight pallid haze, the camera did a accomplished mission of capturing the tint of our blue-green sport shirt. Overall irregularity possibly will plus stay better, at the same time as images were somewhat fuzzy.
Ports
Dell Precision M4800It a short time ago wouldn't stay a workstation devoid of a embarrassment of ports. On the rectify, you retain two USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort and a Wi-Fi switch. There's any more pair off of USB 3.0 ports on the gone, with a DVD burner, 9-in-1 certificate person who reads, a SmartCard person who reads, a 54mm ExpressCard slot, a lock slot and jacks representing headphones and a microphone. The M4800's rear has an eSATA/USB 2.0 docks, a VGA docks, Ethernet and HDMI. And a short time ago in the field of set of circumstances you need even additional ports, there's a connector land on the substructure of the notebook.
Performance
Recognition to its 2.8-GHz Intel staple i7-4900MQ CPU with 16GB of RAM, the Dell Precision M4800 can crunch informationtion with the superlative of them. The laptop capably streamed an episode of "House of Cards" while running a virus skim with 13 friendly tabs in the field of Google Chrome, Internet voyager and Mozilla Firefox.
On the PCMark7 scale, the notebook sensation 5,701, surpassing the 3,356 mainstream run of the mill. It plus a short time ago beat the HP ZBook 15's 2.7-GHz Intel staple i7-4800MQ processor's do of 5,406. On Geekbench 3, the M4800 scored 13,559, well beyond the 9,047 group run of the mill. The ZBook 15 came in the field of succeeding with 12,797, while the Apple MacBook Pro and its 2.3-GHz Intel staple i7 CPU came in the field of third with 11,928.
The M4800's 256GB SSD took 30 seconds to load Windows 7 skilled, a short time ago missing the 29-second run of the mill. The ZBook 15 was a slight closer, booting Windows 7 Pro in the field of 25 seconds. The MacBook Pro on track OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) in the field of a short time ago 15 seconds.
The Precision's SSD is very fast in the field of everyday expend, duplicating 4.97GB of multimedia library in the field of 24 seconds. So as to equals a hand on rate of 212 MBps. The 52 MBps run of the mill didn't viewpoint a opening. Neither did the ZBook 15, which worn out collected 48 MBps. The MacBook Pro was close, but fell dumpy by the side of 196 MBps.
For the duration of the OpenOffice table Macro Test, the Precision M4800 matched 20,000 names and addresses in the field of 3 minutes and 39 seconds. That's closer than the 5:32 run of the mill, the MacBook Pro's 4:14 and the ZBook 15's moment of 3:44.
Graphics
Dell Precision M4800The Dell Precision M4800 packs an Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU with 2GB of VRAM, denotation it has additional kick than your run of the mill mainstream notebook. We axiom stalwart results for the duration of real humanity and imitation scale tests.
The workstation sensation 2,661 on the 3DMark11, topping the 1,430 mainstream run of the mill. This was sufficient to overcome the HP ZBook 15's Nvidia Quadro K610M GPU with 1GB of RAM, which scored 1,277. The 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro's Nvidia GeForce GT 750M GPU and Intel Iris Pro graphics both delivered 2,275.
On the "World of Warcraft" scale, the M4800 achieved 98 fps on autodetect by the side of 1080p, matching the group run of the mill. The ZBook 15 sensation a frame rate of 42 fps. The MacBook Pro delivered 94 fps by the side of 1280 x 800. Whilst we switched the M4800 to its native decree (3200 x 1800), the frame rate dropped to 50 fps, while the MacBook Pro achieved 84 fps by the side of 2880 x 1800.
With the settings on Ultra, the M4800 managed 27 fps, which futile to match the 51 fps run of the mill, the MacBook Pro (41 fps) before our 30 fps playability threshold. Still, the Dell beat the ZBook 15's do of 23 fps.
Battery Life
Dell Precision M4800We don't expect marathon-like endurance from workstations, but the Dell Precision M4800's endurance was still disappointing. The mechanism lasted 4 hours and 16 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous net surfing concluded Wi-Fi). So as to runtime is an hour with a reduction of than the 5:35 mainstream run of the mill. The HP ZBook 15 lasted 7:46, while the Apple MacBook Pro clocked in the field of by the side of 8:02.
According to Dell, Nvidia's graphics-switching Optimus machinery is not existing on the M4800 with QHD displays; if you opt representing an FHD (1920 x 1080) make an exhibition of, you can expect up to 16.8 hours of rated endurance.
Software and Warranty
Dell Precision M4800The Dell Precision M4800 is a prop, mean small business mechanism, which course there's nix area representing bloatware. Nearby are a the minority Dell add-ons, such at the same time as the Dell Power executive, which lets you substitute the power procedure settings on the battery. The Precision Performance Optimizer without human intervention tunes the notebook's classification settings according to which programs are at present running.
The Dell Precision M4800 comes with a 3-Year straightforward Hardware Service with 3-Year after that small business day of the week Onsite Service subsequently Remote Diagnosis. Glimpse how Dell fared in the field of our Tech Support Showdown and superlative and nastiest Brands check in.
Configurations
Our configuration of the Dell Precision M4800 overheads $2,513 and skin texture a 2.8-GHz Intel staple i7-4900MQ CPU with 16GB of remembrance, a 256GB SSD, an Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU with 2GB of VRAM, and a 15.6-inch 3200 x 1800 make an exhibition of.
The $1,249 immoral archetypal is quite friendly to your substructure line, offering a 2.5-GHz Intel staple i5-4200M CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB 7,200-rpm strict drive, AMD FirePro M5100 GPU with 2GB of VRAM, and a 1366 x 768 make an exhibition of.
Dell plus offers a $1,689 middle-of-the-road option, with a 2.7-GHz Intel staple i7-4800MQ central processing unit so as to has 8GB of RAM, a 500GB 7,200-rpm strict drive, Nvidia Quadro K1100M GPU with 2GB of VRAM, and a 1080p make an exhibition of.
Verdict
Dell Precision M4800In addition to its durable yet princely armature, the Dell Precision M4800 is a productivity beast. This workstation offers a powerful Intel staple i7 central processing unit and Nvidia Quadro GPU, which can definitely see to graphics-intensive tasks like cartridge expurgation. We plus like the comfy piano, razor-sharp QHD+ make an exhibition of and robust audio. However, the M4800 is a slight absent whilst it comes to battery life.
Representing $89 additional, users can get a hold the $2,599 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro, which offers not quite 9 hours of juice and more-lush Retina make an exhibition of in the field of a lighter, sleeker armature. However, you'll get a hold far fewer ports and not not quite at the same time as many customization and security options. Ultimately, the M4800 is a stalwart first-rate representing users searching representing a notebook with power, durability and security.
