I recently ordered up a Dell Precision M4700 laptop for a co-worker, and it just arrived, and I thought I'd share my impressions in case anyone else was in the market for a new laptop for running Revit. This replaces a Precision M4400 laptop I ordered up a few years ago.
It's fairly well loaded with the i7-3920XM CPU (2.9GHz w/ turbo boost to 3.8GHz); Nvidia Quadro K2000M GPU; 16 GB of RAM (4x4GB); 256GB SSD; 15" anti-glare (i.e. not glossy) screen sporting 1920x1080 resolution; backlit keyboard; bluetooth; 9-cell battery; Windows 7 Pro.
I posted the RFO 2012 Benchmark here.
First impressions:
Quality & Weight: It's heavy! At about ~6.5 lbs, not anymore heavy than laptops from a few years ago, but after getting used to all these "ultrabook" laptops, this thing is a tank. It feels as solid as one as well. Excellent construction.
Screen: Looks nice. Personally, I'm very pleased it's NOT glossy! You'll definitely need the higher-res screen (over the 1366x768 they also offer). Everything looks sharp. It has VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. Most of the time, this will be hooked up to a Dell 24" Ultrasharp display.
Keyboard: Typical laptop keyboard - includes numeric keypad. You'll either appreciate the keypad or find it a nuisance. Personally, I find it a real nuisance - when typing, I feel off-center from the screen. I wish there was an option to not have it. The M4400 that this unit replaces didn't have the keypad.
CPU: Very fast! Normally I wouldn't splurge for the top of the line "Extreme" CPU and would have instead gone with the i7-3820QM - however we got a very special deal on this particular unit. I wouldn't go any lower than the i7-3720QM, but would recommend the i7-3820QM if the i7-3920XM breaks the budget. (fyi - the i7-3940XM @ 3GHz has just been released and may find its way into the M4700 at some point)
GPU: So far, the K2000M is working flawlessly. Everything is nice and smooth. The K2000M is the best GPU they offer on the M4700, and I wouldn't recommend anything less.
SSD: I would like 512GB, but they're still too expensive. 128GB is too small - sure, you can make it "work", but 256GB should mitigate regular "out of disk space" issues. Originally we ordered it with the "mini-card", but it turns out that Dell isn't allowing that as an option unless you order it with a hard drive as well. If all you want is an SSD, you're forced to get the "regular" SSD that takes up the hard drive bay. This means that if I want to add a hard drive down the line, I'll have to replace the DVD drive bay with a hard drive.
Wi-Fi: I ordered it up with the Intel Centrino N6300, which seemed like the "best" option... though I don't know for a fact whether it's really any better in the "real world".
Extras: Seems kind of crazy that you have to actually "add" things like bluetooth, backlit keyboard and webcam to a $2,500+ laptop: Actually, I missed out on the webcam - I would have gotten it, but I didn't see it as an option. It's buried on the order page under a "hidden" section called "Integrated noise reducing array microphones" (at least at the time of this writing).
Crapware: Comes with "Trend Micro" anti-virus 30-day demo. Though I uninstalled it using the add/remove program manager, it's still somehow running. I usually order a separate OEM copy of Windows with each computer I order for the office and immediately wipe the drive; I didn't this time and I'm already regretting it.
Dell: I hate this company. Their website sucks. Their customer service sucks (unless you have a large account). However, other than the Lenovo W530, I'm not aware of another directly comparable Windows laptop. The Apple MacBook Retina was also in the running up until the last minute, but lost out on the uncertainty of it not being specifically designed to run Windows.
Bottom Line: Recommended! If the weight isn't a deal-breaker, and you need a "desktop replacement", this is an excellent laptop. If you've already got a Revit workstation at the office and you only need something for occasional use on the go, I'd look for something a bit lighter and more compact.
:beer:
It's fairly well loaded with the i7-3920XM CPU (2.9GHz w/ turbo boost to 3.8GHz); Nvidia Quadro K2000M GPU; 16 GB of RAM (4x4GB); 256GB SSD; 15" anti-glare (i.e. not glossy) screen sporting 1920x1080 resolution; backlit keyboard; bluetooth; 9-cell battery; Windows 7 Pro.
I posted the RFO 2012 Benchmark here.
First impressions:
Quality & Weight: It's heavy! At about ~6.5 lbs, not anymore heavy than laptops from a few years ago, but after getting used to all these "ultrabook" laptops, this thing is a tank. It feels as solid as one as well. Excellent construction.
Screen: Looks nice. Personally, I'm very pleased it's NOT glossy! You'll definitely need the higher-res screen (over the 1366x768 they also offer). Everything looks sharp. It has VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. Most of the time, this will be hooked up to a Dell 24" Ultrasharp display.
Keyboard: Typical laptop keyboard - includes numeric keypad. You'll either appreciate the keypad or find it a nuisance. Personally, I find it a real nuisance - when typing, I feel off-center from the screen. I wish there was an option to not have it. The M4400 that this unit replaces didn't have the keypad.
CPU: Very fast! Normally I wouldn't splurge for the top of the line "Extreme" CPU and would have instead gone with the i7-3820QM - however we got a very special deal on this particular unit. I wouldn't go any lower than the i7-3720QM, but would recommend the i7-3820QM if the i7-3920XM breaks the budget. (fyi - the i7-3940XM @ 3GHz has just been released and may find its way into the M4700 at some point)
GPU: So far, the K2000M is working flawlessly. Everything is nice and smooth. The K2000M is the best GPU they offer on the M4700, and I wouldn't recommend anything less.
SSD: I would like 512GB, but they're still too expensive. 128GB is too small - sure, you can make it "work", but 256GB should mitigate regular "out of disk space" issues. Originally we ordered it with the "mini-card", but it turns out that Dell isn't allowing that as an option unless you order it with a hard drive as well. If all you want is an SSD, you're forced to get the "regular" SSD that takes up the hard drive bay. This means that if I want to add a hard drive down the line, I'll have to replace the DVD drive bay with a hard drive.
Wi-Fi: I ordered it up with the Intel Centrino N6300, which seemed like the "best" option... though I don't know for a fact whether it's really any better in the "real world".
Extras: Seems kind of crazy that you have to actually "add" things like bluetooth, backlit keyboard and webcam to a $2,500+ laptop: Actually, I missed out on the webcam - I would have gotten it, but I didn't see it as an option. It's buried on the order page under a "hidden" section called "Integrated noise reducing array microphones" (at least at the time of this writing).
Crapware: Comes with "Trend Micro" anti-virus 30-day demo. Though I uninstalled it using the add/remove program manager, it's still somehow running. I usually order a separate OEM copy of Windows with each computer I order for the office and immediately wipe the drive; I didn't this time and I'm already regretting it.
Dell: I hate this company. Their website sucks. Their customer service sucks (unless you have a large account). However, other than the Lenovo W530, I'm not aware of another directly comparable Windows laptop. The Apple MacBook Retina was also in the running up until the last minute, but lost out on the uncertainty of it not being specifically designed to run Windows.
Bottom Line: Recommended! If the weight isn't a deal-breaker, and you need a "desktop replacement", this is an excellent laptop. If you've already got a Revit workstation at the office and you only need something for occasional use on the go, I'd look for something a bit lighter and more compact.
:beer:
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