On Wed, Jun 06, 2018 at 12:27:53PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote: > 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.
Well my past experience with AMD (ATI) graphics and linux were extremely unpleasant. > 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. I wonder if the keyboard is still as bad on the Dells as they were 4 years ago. Not to mention the pointy stick and touchpad horror. I think I will stick with my 5 year old thinkpad, although the higher res screen could be nice (it can also be quite a hassle as a lot of software still doesn't grasp the idea of that level of DPI). -- Len Sorensen --- Talk Mailing List [email protected] https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
