At a Glance
Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
The Precision M2800 is big and heavy, but its performance is hard to beat if you need a high-end mobile workstation for graphics, video or 3D design. Battery life is quite respectable for such a powerful laptop, and along with Dell’s three-year on-site warranty will ensure that the M2800 earns its keep.
Best Prices Today: Dell Precision M2800
Dell quotes a weight of 2.5 kg for the 15.6-inch M2800, but that’s for an entry-level model with an Intel Core i5 processor and 6-cell battery. We reviewed one of the top-of-the-range models that is equipped with a more powerful Core i7 and 9-cell battery, and weighs in at a hefty 2.8 kg. It also measures a chunky 33.4 mm thick, with the large battery protruding out of the back of the unit like a small docking station. This is the sort of laptop that will require a proper carrying case rather than just being slipped into a backpack.
It looks old-fashioned too, with a chunky black plastic bezel running around the edge of the screen, and running a good old-fashioned copy of Windows 7 Pro. It’s very sturdy, with good support for the screen panel, and a firm keyboard with comfortable moulded keys and a separate numeric keypad.
Dell Precision M2800 laptop review: connectivity
Connectivity is good, with four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, and VGA interfaces, built-in DVD drive, two-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi and gigabit ethernet for wired networks. There’s also a docking port on the base of the unit – Dell’s port-replicator unit will set you back another £179. One complaint here is that the trackpad is also old-style and annoyingly small, at just 80 x 45 mm.
The M2800 packs in plenty of power to justify its above-average size and weight. Prices start at around £1200 for the dual-core Core i5 model, and our review unit included a quad-core Core i7 processor running at 2.8 GHz, 8 GB of memory, 128 GB solid-state drive, and an AMD FirePro W4170M graphics card.
Dell Precision M2800 laptop review: performance
The general-purpose PCMark 7 benchtest produced a respectable but not record-breaking score of 5700 points, but that particular test doesn’t really make full use of the FirePro graphics card.
Those are the highest scores we’ve seen since we started using PCMark 8 so there’s little doubt that the M2800 provides true professional-level performance for graphics, video and 3D design work. The only minor disappointment here is that FirePro doesn’t score particularly well in Windows gaming performance, only managing a modest 50 fps on our Stalker: Call of Pripyat casual gaming test.
Dell Precision M2800 laptop review: display
The 15.5-inch display is a fairly conventional twisted-nematic (TN) panel – and its 1920 x 1080 resolution is far from state-of-the-art anymore – but the image is bright and colourful, with good sideways viewing angles and a matt finish that reduces glare and reflection.
Battery life is a pleasant surprise, as that huge 97 Wh lithium battery pack managed to run the Dell for six hours when using the integrated HD 4600 graphics to stream video from the BBC iPlayer.
Specs
Dell Precision M2800: Specs
- 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080 pixel, 141 ppi) TFT display, matt-finish
- 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7-4810MQ (3.8 GHz Turbo)
- Intel HD Graphics 4600 + AMD FirePro W4170M (2 GB memory)
- Windows 7 Pro (64-bit)
- 8 GB DDR3L RAM
- 128 GB solid-state drive
- 802.11b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO
- Bluetooth 4.0
- 1x HDMI 1.4, 1 x VGA
- 4 x USB 3.0
- SDXC card slot
- 720p webcam/microphone
- 1x headphone socket
- 97 Wh lithium-ion battery
- 379 x 250 x 33.4 mm
- 2.85 kg
Best Prices Today: Dell Precision M2800
