Review: Dell Precision M6800

Introduction and design

The Precision M6800 is Dell's biggest and most powerful business notebook, which means a high price – this £2,075 (around US$3,490, AU$3,750) machine is twice as pricey as some of its rivals. That's expensive, but Dell has packed this laptop with every feature a professional will need on the road.

Every aspect of the M6800's design speaks to its business credentials. The chassis is built from aluminium and magnesium alloy, and build quality is top-notch: there's no give on any surface. Dell has also tested this machine using MIL-STD-810G protocols, so it's resistant to dust and works in extreme temperatures.

It's versatile, too. There are four USB 3.0 ports, D-SUB, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, two audio jacks, an Ethernet socket and an SDXC card slot, and it's also got rarer additions: ExpressCard, eSATA and Smart Card slots, a docking station connector, a hot-swappable hard disk and a physical Wi-Fi switch.

Dell has kitted this machine out with a traditional keyboard rather than a Scrabble-tile unit. It's a sensible decision, and it boasts an excellent layout, plenty of travel on each key, and a reliable, comfortable action thanks to the high quality feel and rock-solid base.

It's a pleasure to use, and the trackpad is good – a tad small, but accurate and with clicky buttons. This is a work laptop, so it also has a trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard with three discrete buttons.

Touches of detail

Little touches impress. The lid is held in place by an old-school clasp, there are numerous status lights, and the keyboard's backlit. The base panel is held down by just two screws and components are easily accessible – and the screws used on the heatsinks are ordered – plus there's good upgrade room.

It's a strong start. The nearest rival is Dell's own Precision M4800, which is a 15.6-inch version of this machine. Those who yearn for bigger screens could look at the Toshiba Satellite P70, or HP Envy Leap Motion – neither are workstations, but they're larger laptops that are slimmer and lighter than the M6800. There's also Dell's own Precision M3800 which bridges the gap between consumer and business by offering good power and style.

Few machines stand up to the M6800's business pedigree, but it's not all positive. The M6800's 3.8kg weight and 40mm thickness mean it's bulkier than every machine mentioned here, so you'll need a robust case. It's not exactly a looker, either: the gunmetal grey metal and exposed seams highlight a system designed for function, not form.

The price is high

As usual, Dell sells several M6800 specifications. The cheapest, at £1,739 (around US$2,930, AU$3,140) has less RAM, a smaller hard disk and AMD FirePro graphics, and the model up from our sample has a better processor and an SSD alongside the AMD GPU.

The top model is a £2,675 (around US$4,500, AU$4,830) beast. For that cash you get a better Nvidia GPU, a faster processor and improved storage.

The three-year warranty is generous, and four- and five-year packages are available. Anti-theft options, customisable installations, factory BIOS tweaks and recovery tools add to the M6800's business credentials, and the Precision is available with Windows 7, Windows 8 or even Linux.

Performance

Benchmarks

PCMark 8

• Creative battery test, High Performance, 100% screen: 2hr 35m


• Creative battery test, Balanced, 50% screen: 2hr 54m


• Creative battery test, Power Saver, 25% screen: 4hr

3DMark

• Ice Storm: 82,461


• Cloud Gate: 13,879


• Fire Strike: 5,208

Cinebench R11.5

• OpenGL: 27.33fps


• CPU: 7.29

Cinebench R15

• OpenGL: 85.62fps


• CPU: 671cb

The Core i7-4800MQ runs at 2.7GHz and hits a mighty Turbo Boost peak of 3.7GHz, and it's paired with 16GB of RAM. That fearsome specification delivered in benchmarks – this laptop's Cinebench R15 CPU score of 671cb easily beat the 609cd of the Precision M4800, and in the older Cinebench R11.5 benchmark the M6800 hit 7.29 – better than every machine mentioned here.

The Nvidia Quadro K3100M is based on the older GTX 680 desktop GPU with a reduced specification, and it's ISV certified. It swatted away rivals: in Cinebench R15's OpenGL test it hit 85.62fps – almost twenty frames ahead of the Precision M4800, and double the pace of the M3800.

In the SPECViewPerf benchmark the M6800 led by a similar margin, and it outpaced consumer competition too – its result of 5,208 in 3DMark's Fire Strike is three times the speed of rivals. The M6800 isn't able to match desktop workstations – Nvidia's top desktop Quadro cards have almost four times as many stream processors – but it's still as much professional power as you'll find in a laptop.

The 750GB hard disk has decent space, but it's slow. In sequential read and write tests the disk hit 118MB/s and 108MB/s, with a boot time of 39s – all slower than SSD-based systems.

Quiet performer

Despite the copious power, Dell has kept the noise down. When handling simple tasks the M6800 was barely audible, and the fans only produced a little noise when the system was stress-tested. It's easily drowned out by quiet offices, and the internal temperatures remained impressively low.

We ran PCMark 8's Creative battery test in Balanced mode and the M6800 lasted for six minutes short of three hours – and just five minutes shy of the M4800's longevity. We could only eke four hours from the Dell when we used Power Saver mode and dialled the screen down to 25% brightness. We never expect high-end workstations to last long, and that's the same here – you'll be lucky to manage even a half-day away from the mains.

Sensible screen

The screen is sensible: 1080p, matte and non-touch. We expect high quality from a machine of this standard, but benchmark results were varied – this panel has fantastic colour accuracy, which is a boon for graphical work, but it's let down when it comes to contrast.

The average and maximum Delta E figures of 1.26 and 3.68 are the high point. They're better accuracy figures than most laptops, and they're bolstered by a colour temperature of 6,352K – not far enough from the 6,500K ideal figure to cause any issues. The sRGB coverage of 93.4% is excellent, too – although the M4800's IGZO QHD+ version was better.

The 257cd/m2 brightness is less impressive, and the contrast ratio of 734:1 is similar – good, but not great.

Verdict

The M6800 is clearly built for business, from its hard-wearing chassis and versatile exterior to the superb keyboard and powerful professional components. It's a powerhouse, but it's thick and heavy, battery life isn't great, and the screen falls short of expectations in some departments.

We liked

The Precision's exterior impresses – it's rock solid, and with every conceivable port and socket. The interior is accessible, the keyboard is excellent, and the good trackpad is helped by the inclusion of a trackpoint.

The processor has enough grunt to motor through tough workloads, and the ISV-certified GPU offers more power than other workstation notebooks.

The screen is sensibly designed and has top-notch sRGB coverage and colour accuracy, which are important qualities for colour-sensitive tasks.

We disliked

The 17.3-inch screen and heavyweight design means that the M6800 is chunky, so you'll need a big bag to take this notebook into the field.

The screen's impressive colour accuracy is let down by brightness and contrast figures that are bettered elsewhere, and the hard disk has good capacity but lacks speed. We never expect good battery life from powerful laptops, and that's the same here: you won't get through half a day without plugging in.

Final verdict

The M6800 is impressive, but it's a niche product. Few employees will truly need the versatility and power offered by this machine, especially when it's this bulky and expensive. If you can justify investing in such a powerful notebook, it excels in every important area, which makes it an excellent high-end workstation.

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