D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk
2018-06-06 16:27:53 UTC
Dell has a sequence of specials for the next few (7?) days. I'm kind of
interested in a notebook with an UltraHD display, so I thought I'd look.
This is what I discovered. This is likely uninteresting to most people --
feel free to stop reading now, before I waste your time!
<http://www.dell.com/en-ca/work/shop/deals/laptop-deals>
Most of the laptop pages come with preconfigured display, and none is UHD.
But the Precision 7520 Mobile Workstation lets you configure a lot of
things, including selecting Ubuntu and selecting a UHD screen.
Interesting things about selecting Ubuntu (replacing Win 10 pro):
- clicking on Ubuntu saves $200
- it's still Ubuntu 16.04
+ why not 18.04? I assume that would work.
+ but the heading is "Ubuntu 12.04 Long term Support" (surely a typo)
- it won't work with the default wireless card, so you have to change
from Dell to Intel. There's no charge so I guess that they think that
the Dell is better in some way (not obvious to me). The Intel is marked
"vPro" so it is potentially vulnerable to Outside Agents.
- it warns me that Ubuntu isn't compatible with Productivity Software.
Just select "none" instead of "free 30-day trial of Microsoft Office".
That sounds like a good idea even for Windows users.
Interesting things about selecting the UltraHD display
- adds $220 over the IPS FullHD display, which itself adds $280 or
$260 over TN FullHD display options. Ouch on both those numbers.
- requires a $50 more expensive battery option. So I guess that it
consumes more power.
- requires a RAM upgrade to two DIMMs, not one. That's fine except
that Dell charges a lot for RAM and I'd prefer to add it from another
source. A second DDR4 8GB DIMM adds $280! More if you wish faster
RAM.
- the default GPU is Radeon Pro WX 4130 w/2GB GDDR5. It is claimed
that that isn't compatible with the "Touch LCD" (the IPS FHD, not
the UHD one). This forces an to update to an NVIDIA Quadro M2200
w/4GB GDDR5 for $480. Ouch! Luckily I'm not selecting this.
Other interesting things:
- you can choose amongst Xeon processors too.
- you cannot choose an 8th gen Core processor -- only 6th or 7th
- you can order it with Win 7 pro. I didn't think that Microsoft
allowed that these days. Not that I care.
- I can downgrade from
i5-7440HQ (Quad Core2.80GHz, 3.80GHz Turbo, 6MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics 630)
to
i5-7300HQ (Quad Core 2.50GHz, 3.50GHz Turbo, 6MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics 630)
losing about 10% nominal processing power and saving $130, about 15%
of the system price. That seems like a good deal.
Summary:
- Expensive! $1839 on sale ($879 off list)
But I did somehow get the configutator in a broken state where it
offered something like this for $1100. I wonder if I could actually
order such a configuration.
- heavy: Weight: (starts at) 6.16lbs (2.8kg)
- Lots of configuring choices
- page warns you about configurations that won't work. I don't know
if it prevents you from ordering them.
---
Talk Mailing List
***@gtalug.org
https://g
interested in a notebook with an UltraHD display, so I thought I'd look.
This is what I discovered. This is likely uninteresting to most people --
feel free to stop reading now, before I waste your time!
<http://www.dell.com/en-ca/work/shop/deals/laptop-deals>
Most of the laptop pages come with preconfigured display, and none is UHD.
But the Precision 7520 Mobile Workstation lets you configure a lot of
things, including selecting Ubuntu and selecting a UHD screen.
Interesting things about selecting Ubuntu (replacing Win 10 pro):
- clicking on Ubuntu saves $200
- it's still Ubuntu 16.04
+ why not 18.04? I assume that would work.
+ but the heading is "Ubuntu 12.04 Long term Support" (surely a typo)
- it won't work with the default wireless card, so you have to change
from Dell to Intel. There's no charge so I guess that they think that
the Dell is better in some way (not obvious to me). The Intel is marked
"vPro" so it is potentially vulnerable to Outside Agents.
- it warns me that Ubuntu isn't compatible with Productivity Software.
Just select "none" instead of "free 30-day trial of Microsoft Office".
That sounds like a good idea even for Windows users.
Interesting things about selecting the UltraHD display
- adds $220 over the IPS FullHD display, which itself adds $280 or
$260 over TN FullHD display options. Ouch on both those numbers.
- requires a $50 more expensive battery option. So I guess that it
consumes more power.
- requires a RAM upgrade to two DIMMs, not one. That's fine except
that Dell charges a lot for RAM and I'd prefer to add it from another
source. A second DDR4 8GB DIMM adds $280! More if you wish faster
RAM.
- the default GPU is Radeon Pro WX 4130 w/2GB GDDR5. It is claimed
that that isn't compatible with the "Touch LCD" (the IPS FHD, not
the UHD one). This forces an to update to an NVIDIA Quadro M2200
w/4GB GDDR5 for $480. Ouch! Luckily I'm not selecting this.
Other interesting things:
- you can choose amongst Xeon processors too.
- you cannot choose an 8th gen Core processor -- only 6th or 7th
- you can order it with Win 7 pro. I didn't think that Microsoft
allowed that these days. Not that I care.
- I can downgrade from
i5-7440HQ (Quad Core2.80GHz, 3.80GHz Turbo, 6MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics 630)
to
i5-7300HQ (Quad Core 2.50GHz, 3.50GHz Turbo, 6MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics 630)
losing about 10% nominal processing power and saving $130, about 15%
of the system price. That seems like a good deal.
Summary:
- Expensive! $1839 on sale ($879 off list)
But I did somehow get the configutator in a broken state where it
offered something like this for $1100. I wonder if I could actually
order such a configuration.
- heavy: Weight: (starts at) 6.16lbs (2.8kg)
- Lots of configuring choices
- page warns you about configurations that won't work. I don't know
if it prevents you from ordering them.
---
Talk Mailing List
***@gtalug.org
https://g