Review Dell Precision M6800 Notebook

[Redaktion]

Upgradeable Work Machine. This large 17 inch Dell workstation is well-equipped and offers plenty of space for further customization. But is it enough to compete with the smaller Dell Precision M4800? Find out in our in-depth review.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Precision-M6800-Notebook.105108.0.html

[rafekrat]

I do not agree with laptop being overpriced.  Yes the initial price is high but this can be negotiated with sales team. I have bought a number of laptops from Dell and I have managed to negotiate a better deal than the one listed online.
It is also worth looking out for various offers.
Compared with what is in the package it makes M6800 a good value for money. Performance and reliability for years.

[Mike D]

I'm on my 3rd M6800 from Dell and every one of them had an issue with DVD buzzy every 2 to 3 minutes even after updating bios to their recommended A03 & Chipset update. The wireless 1550 Card has also not worked properly on all three systems. Dell expects their customers to do their trouble shooting for them. I'm very disappointed with the M6800. If you look on the web this is a reoccurring problem with the M6800 that Dell lets you try to address. My advice: Stay away from the M6800 and Dell's customer based trouble shooting system.
Thanks Dell, Disappointed 

[Jack Zhan]

As in the Dell Precision M6700 with the Nvidia Quadro K5000M graphics, we could not use the 1280x1024 and 1920x1080 pixel resolutions.

According to the original German review, resolutions BETWEEN 1280x1024 and 1920x1080 cannot be used, not these two resolutions. Please correct this.

[xanxes]

Could you please review the FirePro M6100 version? Really looking forward to more info on that card.

[mark lee]

i think the m6800 is overprices.  I can easily find MSI Mobile Workstation with better specs at cheaper cost.  Also, MSI has 3K display (2880x1620) models with Raid 0 built in.  They ported over their gaming technology into the workstations to boost up the performance.  I understand Dell has been in the mobile workstation game a bit longer but there are other options where you can get a lot more for what you pay Dell for.. 

[Kuupora]

Overall, 90% of the sRGB color space are covered, although the possible colors that can be displayed (over 893,000) are quite close to the figure the sRGB color space offers.

This is incorrect. First of all, the sRGB color space does not define any number of colors within its three primaries. sRGB defines the chromaticity coordinates of its primaries. The number of possible colors which a laptop panel can produce is defined by the color model the system uses. Most PCs use the RGB color model with 24-bit colors (8 bits per channel) which means 256 colors per channel. The total number of color in this case is 256^3 = 16777216.

In this case the panel can cover 90% of the sRGB color triangle. Whether or not the panel can produce larger color gamut than the sRGB, the number of possible colors is always dependent on the color model.



Please correct this.  ;)

[7Azimuth]

I think I have the same screen:
LP173WF1(TL)(B3)
LGD02DA
PJK33_173WF1

Am I right? o_O

[Petr]

I think there is something wrong with the rating the M6800 received, how come there is a 89% rating in Games performance and only 68% Application performance, this does not make sense at all ... how do you calculate the rating? I found the M6800 to be on of the fastest of laptops and I just think there is something wrong in the review about this

[Jackson]

My M6800 is very hot. Somebody can answer me how to do? Thanks.

[jonathb]

- Does not work OOTB with any linux, because of the BCM4352 wireless hw. So you must replace this with Intel PCIe half-card.
- Make sure you have the wonderful 3-year Dell warranty.
- Pity the drives are not as easily removeable as other systems, still, I had to buy this because I could not find any equivalent spec: 32G RAM, at least 2 swapable HDs.

[A. Roberts]

I'm also on my third M6800 from Dell. Every single one has had a graphics card issue and port issues. The first M6800 had three nonfunctioning ports and a graphics card that just up and died. Dell's solution was that we ship it to them, they fix it, and they ship it back in oh six weeks or so which isn't what the warranty says they'd do.

They finally shipped a replacement that was slightly better than the broken one, but still broken. It took weeks for them to finally agree to take it back and send a not broken one and they only did that because I harassed them on twitter about it.

The third one rapidly blinks so much that it's a wonder someone doesn't have a seizure when starting it up. It again has broken ports and Photoshop doesn't work on it. Their customer service is pretty disappointing ... just like my laptop.

[Julia_B]

Hi, I have M6800 for 4 months and discovered the following ISSUE, dear owners of M6800 with Nvidia confirm please that you have the same problem I have, or write that you don't have, many thanks !!!

MY SETUP/ARRANGEMENT:
1) Dell Precision M6800 laptop (Intel HD 4600 graphics, Nvidia Quadro K3100M),
   switchable graphics (Nvidia Optimus technology) is disabled in BIOS;
2) Windows 8.1 Pro x64, all firmwares, BIOS and drivers are the latest versions, all latest windows updates
   are installed (I performed a clean OS installation, then installed all necessary drivers, then installed
   all Windows updates, no additional software were installed);
3) I always use "Maximum Performance" power plan with the following settings in its section "screen":
   -- turn off display (on battery: 10 min, plugged in: 15 min),
   -- display brightness (on battery: 85%, plugged in: 85%),
   -- dimmed display brightness (on battery: 85%, plugged in: 85%),
   -- enable adaptive brightness (on battery: switched off, plugged in: switched off);
4) There is uniform dark grey background on the Windows desktop (this background might be any other
   dark color, uniform or not, without any bright areas).

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
Display brightness changes in spite of the adjusted settings in active power plan. The problem exists
in two cases only: (i) I work on battery; (ii) transition from battery to mains or vice versa. In case "i"
display brightness increases when a bright object appears on the uniform dark grey background of my Windows
desktop (for instance if you run notepad.exe and its mainly white window appears over the desktop) and
display brightness decreases when the above bright object disappears from the uniform dark grey background
of my Windows desktop (for instance if you close or reduce to the taskbar the notepad.exe window). In case
"ii" display brightness decreases when you pull a power connector/plug off the laptop and increases when
the connector/plug is plugged into the laptop again.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT THE PROBLEM:
This issue does not have a place if switchable graphics (Nvidia Optimus technology) is enabled in BIOS,
and the laptop screen is driven by, I assume, Intel HD 4600 graphics. As I utilize on my laptop
10-bit color depth workflow and correct color reproduction, it's much comfortable to work without
switchable graphics. I tried all latest video drivers, from both the laptop manufacturer web-site and
Nvidia web-site drivers including their latest beta-drivers, but the problem exists regardless of
the driver version installed. There isn't the problem under Windows 7 Pro x64.

[Randy]

World of Warcraft public release came out in 2004, not 2005.

[7Azimuth]

"Overall, 90% of the sRGB color space are covered, although the possible colors that can be displayed (over 893,000) are quite close to the figure the sRGB color space offers."

I asked what exactly the model of screen installed in this laptop. LP173WF1(TL)(B3)
LGD02DA
PJK33_173WF1
or some other? Screenshot of the program HWiNFO is very would help :)