back to article Dell uncloaks trio of muscular mobile workstations

Dell has introduced a trio of new Precision Mobile Workstations, with the 17-inch top-of-the-line models offering such goodies as Intel Core i7 Extreme processors, 32GB of 1866MHz RAM, Nvidia 3D Vision Pro technology, a raft of graphics-chippery choices hooked up via third-generation PCIe x16, and four storage bays that support …

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  1. amanfromarse
    FAIL

    Keyboard

    No full size Return key. Fail.

    1. Wibble

      Re: Keyboard

      That's a 'Merkin keyboard.

  2. Dave 126 Silver badge

    shiny object

    The 'shiny object's Covet model with Corning glass makes sense for showing ideas to clients - many of them have a habit of poking the screen with their fingers when discussing an idea.

    1. h4rm0ny
      Happy

      Re: shiny object

      I also like the openness about it: 'The marketing people like to have shiny things.'

      That's a person who's come up via the engineering route, I bet you.

  3. Christian Berger

    ECC? Linux compatibility?

    Not that the later is much of an issue any more *, but unless you have both, you are not likely to attract serious users.

    *) It's very rare to find a Laptop with hardware incompatible to common Linux distributions, unless you buy in the "shiny object" market

    1. Alan Scott
      Linux

      Re: ECC? Linux compatibility?

      Looking on the Dell website there is a M6700 Linux option so you can have it shipped with RHEL.

      1. koma
        FAIL

        Re: ECC? Linux compatibility?

        but the nvidia driver for linux does not support Optimus...

        there are workarounds but not half as good.. I wonder what the RHEL distro does there ?

  4. CADmonkey
    Thumb Up

    Stuff the battery life - fingers crossed for a decent screen size

    From the photos, they look like 16:10 format. Anything less than 17"@1900X1200 is not good enough on it's own for pro use. The extra 20% vertical pixels make a world of difference. Plugging in a secondary monitor as a minimum requirement just defeats the purpose.

    And might I say, it's about time too!

    I wish Lenovo were still in this market. I'd love to update my 3yr old W700. Still, 3Ghz+8gb ram+raid 0 remains quite useful on the move, and nothing looks better to walk into a meeting with it, if only for the 'gosh thats a big one' double-entendre opportunities.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Re: Stuff the battery life - fingers crossed for a decent screen size

      Sadly the options are for a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 display..

    2. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Stuff the battery life - fingers crossed for a decent screen size

      20%?

      The difference between 1080 and 1200 is 11%. Useful, but given the huge availability of 1080 screens currently, I suspect that extra 11% will carry a big price premium.

      GJC

      1. CADmonkey

        20% is within building tolerance

        If performance translates to productivity, price premiums lose their sting.

        The ability to play Portal with all bells & whistles is a total fringe benefit.

      2. JC_
        Pint

        @Geoff Campbell

        Love that someone voted you down for using maths! Looking at it the other way, 1080 is only 10% less than 1200; of course that won't stop the widescreen-haters from voting me down now, too...

        1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge

          Re: @JC_

          Yeah, accuracy and good research is not a popular approach to life, for some people :-)

          GJC

  5. kokoro
    WTF?

    yeah lenovo...

    agreed, completely over the 1080 high screen meme. developers take note...

    those of us who make entertainment/vfx content actually buy high end mobile workstations to make content on them on the go, not just watch it. if that's all we wanted to do, there's plenty of cheap options for much less. doubly crap is that resolution can't even fit all the UI side content in maya or even a full page word doc.

    so i'm glad we've got over the shiny screen rubbish phase at the pro level (cept apple of course), now can we have 1920x1280 back please. sticking with my W500 on the move until then.

    1. Robert E A Harvey

      screen screen screen

      I can't believe they even have a x900 option. I would have thought, for that sort of money we would be getting x1440 or at least x1280

      I am sick and tired of waiting for a 2003 screen on a 2012 laptop.

  6. spegru
    WTF?

    Nice i guess but

    who the heck buys such things in a laptop form at those prices. I can understand servers and workstations, but surely your data and development work is at risk in a luggable. Why not a Desktop?

    1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

      Re: Nice i guess but

      Easy...

      Project not operating as customer expected because:

      * Sales rat sold the impossible

      * Manager agreed to unfeasable delivery time

      * Developer had to cobble together the best they could in half the time required, usually with a vacant spec. document and requirements that will change up to the delivery date.

      End result? Developer is sent to customer site, laptop in hand, and has to bodge and prod everything until it works. This tends to need a laptop, and a good one at that else even a manager can spot that the developer is a little hamstrung on a 1080x768 pixel screen laptop with 2GB or RAM.

    2. Wibble

      Re: Nice i guess but

      'Cos you can't lug the thing from client to client.

      Some of us work at different locations and need a decent box to drag around. Clearly you don't get out to client's sites.

    3. CADmonkey
      Happy

      Re: Nice i guess but

      It also means I can go sit next to the Med for a few more weeks a year than if I just downed tools for a fortnight.

      Gosh its a real problem keeping the blazing sun away from the screen. Where's the smug icon?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nice i guess but

      we've got quite a few Precision mobile workstations, our modellers use them, if you're a big Matlab user etc you need something with a bit of balls to run your models

  7. Ross K Silver badge
    Holmes

    "Covet" My Arse...

    "Covet" my arse... Dells have never been sexy and never will be.

    Leave that style over substance nonsense to the fruity mob.

    1. Midnight

      Re: "Covet" My Arse...

      The original and more accurate name was the "Duvet", but the sales team had some trouble agreeing to that so it was changed at the last minute to "Covet".

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    With Windows 8

    Great. You can have them with Windows 8 and use Metro to view your photographs and have one more app running at the same time.

  9. pprotus
    FAIL

    Yet another motorcycle with a V8 engine...

    What? No 1920x1280 video? How about 1980x1200?

    I guess that I will not be buying one of these, either. Maybe Asus will detect the money in my bank account that is currently awaiting a portable product having reasonable performance and adequate resolution for development work.

    Is this some bizarre by-product of the new economic environment? Companies like Dell have decided to make products that customers like myself decline to purchase, thus coercing me to keep my funds in an investment account?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Display sucks

    I've had to get a MacBook Pro to run Linux, since Dell doesn't offer any high res displays any more. I'll go back when they do...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Misunderstanding technology direction

    People will need less and less hardware spec on the client (PC) side as all of the processing is moving to the server in a thin-client model. Client devices/PC are basically just there to show the end user what the server has processed, generally via a web-browser.

    1. Chezstar
      FAIL

      Re: Misunderstanding technology direction

      > People will need less and less hardware spec on the client (PC) side as all of the processing is moving to the server in a thin-client model.

      Except, you know....the people that this laptop range is designed for? You don't buy these units to check your webmail and talk to nanna on skype while watching The Voice on tellie, you buy these to get WORK done.

      1. Ross K Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Misunderstanding technology direction

        That's just the thing - these laptops shiny toys will be used by management types to check their webmail, watch porntube and skype the missus from a hotel room while they're away on business.

        The only "work" done will be regurgitating powerpoint presentations to other management types.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Misunderstanding technology direction

          "The only "work" done will be regurgitating powerpoint presentations to other management types."

          Pick any position you like, Java developer, financial analyst, you name it. Why would they need this spec on the client side? They all work for companies that have servers and use the servers for serious computing power. People conflate the idea of needing computing power with needing computing power on the laptop/PC.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Misunderstanding technology direction

        Alright, if you are getting work done, presumably you work for a company with servers. Are you running SAP or Oracle EBS or any other major enterprise application natively on the desktop? No, it is run on the server through a browser. If you are a developer, are you running any development images natively on the desktop? No, it would make no sense as they will eventually be deployed on a server. What are people doing, outside of the occasional video editor or Autodesk user (which is also moving toward a server with client access), are you doing on a laptop/PC which requires huge amounts of spec on the PC? No one has been able to give me one example. As Sun put it years ago, the network is the computer. The screen in front of you is just that, a screen to show you what the server is computing.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Misunderstanding technology direction

        "Except, you know....the people that this laptop range is designed for? You don't buy these units to check your webmail and talk to nanna on skype while watching The Voice on tellie, you buy these to get WORK done."

        This is just a complete misunderstanding of the way distributed computing works. How many applications do you use that run natively, not pulling from a server, on your laptop/PC? Probably just Office.

        1. CADmonkey
          Thumb Down

          Re: Misunderstanding technology direction

          Doesn't work that way with Autocad. Autocad doesn't distribute, therefore I'm needing one core per seat, as fast and responsive as can be delivered, with several hundred/thousand pounds worth of graphic card to show it all off. Thin client is JNGE.

          The pretty-picture and sample files look good and in all probabilty work quite well in a 'cloudy' format. Just don't try loading up any real working files and then expect not to cry.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trackpad position

    I've currently got a M4500 (which I'm very happy with). Won't be getting a M4700 anytime soon due to the offcenter trackpad. Hopefully the M4800 will fix this.

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