Dell Precision 7730 (Core i7-8850H, Quadro P3200, FHD) Workstation Review

[Redaktion]

Dell has redesigned its largest Precision workstations, of which the Precision 7730 is one. The new 17.3-inch workstation has a more compact design than its predecessor, although you may be hard-pressed to tell the two apart. The Precision 7730 certainly has plenty of power, but can its 92 Wh go the distance?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Precision-7730-Core-i7-8850H-Quadro-P3200-FHD-Workstation-Review.420215.0.html

[M2018]

Bravo Dell, only 16GB of RAM, crappy screen, crappy thermal, noisy, coil whine, large battery, but last only 5:35 hours, heavy as hell, don´t forget the "great" audio and all this "package" for only 3000E!

Bravo again, I will buy at least 3 of these!  :DDD

[M2018]

Oh sh.t, I almost forgot the perfect keyboard, shame on me!  :D

[Peter Preston]

Well, I really can't fault the 7730 and am delighted with my purchase. It has 64Gb of RAM, renders my videos etc in record time and I have absolutely no complaint about its performance. I do however miss the buttons at the top of the keyboard for altering the audio output and also the switch on the right-hand side to disable  your Internet connection, which was available on the 6600/6700. As for the pre-installed Windows 10 though - don't get me going on that! Some of the (expensive) programmes I'd bought previously from the likes of Adobe either didn't work or didn't work properly. This can happen following an 'update' from Microsoft. and is very disappointing, as many are now only available on subscription, if at all. Windows 10 seems to change things - or change things back - with its updates whether-or-not you want it too! So in conclusion, delighted with the 7730 but wish I hadn't opted for Win 10.

[Marty M.]

Unfortunately, I'm one of the people cursed with sensitivity to PWM displays both in PC displays and smartphones. After trying a top-of-the-line 7730 with the UHD (3840x2160) display, my eyes felt pretty bad and I couldn't find data on the display but I'm fairly certain it had a relatively low PWM frequency.

The 7730 with Xeon processor & SSD is a pretty awesome laptop, but I soon realized it's overkill for me. I sent the UHD 7730 back due to the eye strain I got.

I picked up an equivalent HP Zbook 17 G5 with UHD display which didn't cause the same issue but simply doesn't have as good of a keyboard. Additionally, the Zbook 17's SSD slots are harder to access - it requires disassembly of the machine a bit.

The Dells are much more user-friendly in that regard.

I decided to try the 7730 1920x1080 (now sold as the 7740) and I'm doing well with the non-PWM backlight so far I'm happy to say!

The 7730/7740 machines seem to be well-made and mine has almost no backlight bleed. The images are wonderfully clear, sharp, and I'm barely able to notice the lack of the UHD's extra resolution. The speaker quality is pretty good, too, which I didn't expect.

I'll address a few rather negative (and inaccurate) comments posted by another reader here:

> only 16GB of RAM, crappy screen, crappy thermal, noisy, coil whine, large battery, but last only 5:35 hours, heavy as hell...I almost forgot the perfect keyboard

1. It's NOT a crappy screen - in fact it's quite good overall. I did have to adjust the contrast as the white vs dark contrast was far too harsh for me. Colors are very good, but as NotebookCheck recommends it could use calibration. Colors may be a bit too vivid/bluish for those used to image editing like me. I dialed down the blue color a bit.

I don't see any discernable backlight bleeding at all, which is great.

2. Yes, it's a big computer, and not a lightweight. You're missing the point completely. Some of us don't care about the weight - we need a machine with more power & more options.

If I wanted a lighter machine I'd get one. Dell & others offer several good options for that.

3. The battery is fairly average for a machine of it's class. All the other workstations with comparable specs are pretty similar. I'll be using an external 20V battery bank for about $70-$90 to double my battery time.

4. The keyboard is pretty good. Others I tried, like its competitor the HP Zbook 17 G5, are harder to type on with a worse feel. The Precision line keyboard isn't perfect, but it's pretty good overall.

5. I got my 7730 (7740) refurbished from Dell Outlet with the full 3-year warranty & 2 SSDs for $1,592 + tax. I've seen the top 7730/7740s go for around $2,500-$3,000 if you catch a deal.

I do think the SSDs are a bit expensive, so you can save some good money by getting your own elsewhere. Similar for extra RAM.

6. The Precision can be bought without Windows 10 installed (custom options). My first machine had none installed and I was able to install Win 10 via an eBay seller for $18 by booting to flash drive (Microsoft provides a free tool to build your Win 10 bootable image).

7. The 16GB RAM is based on buyer options - it's expandable of course.

Overall, I've been really glad I kept trying and I think the 7730/7740 is the one I like. I wanted a good machine I can use for "real" work and travel abroad with.

I definitely recommend checking it out.  :) Thank you guys at NotebookCheck for testing the PWM frequency!

[Marty_]

UPDATE: Unfortunately I have no way to edit or delete my previous comment regarding the 7730/7740 I bought.

Sadly, this one is causing eye strain as well so I do not recommend it for others who are sensitive to PWM or backlight issues.

I'm not sure if it was a recent update or what, but I'm back to having discomfort when using it. I've sent the laptop back to Dell and I'll be trying an MSI next (fingers crossed!).

Sorry for any confusion.