Dell Precision M6800 Review: A Well-priced 17.3-inch Laptop

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Dell Precision M6800: At First Glance

In recent years, Dell has proven to be one of the best laptop manufacturers with the release of its Precision series. This series consists of various high-performance business laptops and workstation laptops.

From its name, it is quite obvious that the Dell Precision M6800 is a part of this series. This Dell Precision laptop offers lots of amazing hardware specs with multiple configuration options.

To make things even better, the laptop comes at a reasonable price. To be more specific, this laptop had a starting price of $548.90 as of April 2022, when this review was published.

By now, I know you can’t wait any longer to know more about this laptop. Well, there is more information in store for you about the Dell Precision M6800 in the remaining sections of this review article.

Thus, read on!

Dell Precision M6800: Design, Dimension, and Weight

Design-wise, the Dell Precision M6800 is a sleek and very attractive laptop that is capable is grabbing one’s attention at first sight. To give more details, this laptop’s body is made of aluminum and magnesium alloy with a glowing phoenix red signature color.

Moreover, due to the fact that it has an aluminum and magnesium alloy body, the laptop appears quite sturdy and durable. In fact, it should be capable of withstanding harsh conditions and rough handling.

That said, on the center of Precision M6800’s lid, Dell included its logo with a reflective/glossy silver finish. Although this logo is primarily for brand identification, it adds to the overall beauty of the laptop.

Besides, the lid of the laptop is attached to the base by two solid hinges that feature a glossy black finish. These hinges are very tight and sturdy, allowing the lid to stand firmly when opened with minimal wobbling.

Speaking of opening the lid, when you open the M6800’s lid, you will notice a 17.3-inch display with an anti-glare coating on its surface. This anti-glare coating reduces the reflection on the display when the laptop is used outdoors or in bright areas.

Therefore, using the Dell Precision M6800 outdoors should be less bothersome. That aside, the laptop offers two resolution options for its display which are HD+ (1600 x 900 pixels) and FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels).

Both resolution options allow the display to deliver decent picture quality for web browsing and video streaming. However, with the FHD resolution, the display’s picture quality should be sharper and better.

This is because the FHD resolution has a higher number of pixels compared to the HD+ resolution. Nonetheless, with either resolution option, the Dell Precision M6800’s display is surrounded by somewhat thick bezels with a matte-black finish.

As a matter of fact, the top and bottom bezels are significantly thicker than the side bezels. Nevertheless, the bottom bezel features an attractive “Dell” logo with a silver finish at the center.

Likewise, the top bezel houses an HD webcam at the center. Performance-wise, this webcam is very good for video calls and regular skyping.

However, for taking pictures, the webcam isn’t ideal as it delivers grainy and blurry images.

Moving on to the base, the Dell Precision M6800 features a standard keyboard. The keys on this keyboard are quite large and well-spaced, with decent key travel.

Hence, the keyboard should offer a comfortable typing experience. In case you are wondering, key travel is the total distance between the resting point of a key to full depression.

Interestingly, the Dell Precision M6800’s keyboard features an anti-microbial coating. This coating uses chemicals to prevent the growth of bacteria, fungi, and disease-causing microorganisms on the keyboard.

Hence, you don’t have to be scared of infection when typing on this Dell laptop, especially after previously used by someone. In addition to its anti-microbial coating, this laptop’s keyboard is also backlit.

Therefore, typing in dark environments should be less bothersome. Asides from its backlit feature, the Dell Precision M6800’s keyboard features a TrackPoint in between the G, H, and B keys.

This TrackPoint features a smooth black surface and serves as an alternative to the touchpad – it can be used to control the cursor on the screen for navigation. Speaking of the touchpad, the Dell Precision M6800’s touchpad can be found on the bottom of its keyboard.

Even though this touchpad isn’t spacious, its surface is really smooth. Also, the touchpad features three dedicated click buttons at the top and another three dedicated click buttons at the bottom.

In terms of ports, the Dell Precision M6800 comes with a reasonable amount of ports divided among its sides. Starting with the left side, this laptop offers a Kensington slot, two USB 3.0 ports, an audio in/out port, and a DVD burner.

That’s not all; the left side of the laptop also offers a 9-in-1 media card reader, a SmartCard reader, and a 54mm ExpressCard slot. Meanwhile, on the back side, the M6800 has a VGA port, an Ethernet port, an eSATA/USB 2.0 port, and an HDMI port.

Whereas on the right side of the laptop, you get two more USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort, and a Wireless switch. When it comes to wireless connectivity, the Dell Precision M6800 features Bluetooth 4.0 and integrated 802.11ac/a/b/g/n Wi-Fi.

For dimension and weight, the Dell Precision M6800 measures 416.7 x 270.6 x 39.45 – 43.4 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 3570 g. In comparison with the Lenovo IdeaPad Z70-80, this laptop is bulkier and heavier.

Precisely, the Lenovo IdeaPad Z70-80 measures and weighs 418 x 283 x 25.2 mm (W x D x H) and 3000 g, respectively.

In conclusion, although the M6800 is heavy and bulky, it offers an attractive design with a durable aluminum build. Also, this laptop features an amazing port selection and offers two resolution options.

Therefore, to conclude this design review section, I will rate the Dell Precision M6800 a nine out of ten.

Dell Precision M6800: Processor (CPU) Performance

The Dell Precision M6800 features a powerful quad-core 4th generation Intel Core i7-4930MX processor. In terms of speed, this processor runs on a base frequency of 3.0 GHz and a maximum frequency of 3.90 GHz.

Also, the Intel Core i7-4930MX processor has a cache memory of 8 MB. In terms of performance, this processor should be able to handle almost any computing tasks thrown at it.

Hence, with this processor, the Dell Precision M6800 should be able to smoothly run demanding apps like Adobe Photoshop and multitask effectively. To further verify this laptop’s processor performance, I will be sharing its result on a Cinebench R15 test.

For clarity, the Cinebench R15 test is a benchmark test that measures a computer’s processing performance by evaluating its CPU’s cores. Thus, this test involves two distinct tests which are the single-core test and the multi-core test.

While the single-core test measures the CPU’s performance when one of its cores is in use, the multi-core test does the opposite. Specifically, the multi-core test measures the processor’s performance when all its cores are put to use.

Besides, the higher the score on these Cinebench R15 tests, the better and faster the processor performance. Hence, from the test result, the Dell Precision M6800 scored 736 points on the multi-core test.

Meanwhile, on the single-core test, the laptop delivered a score of 150 points. Comparatively, the Dell Precision M6800 performed better than one of its Precision siblings, the Dell Precision M3800.

To be more specific, based on the Cinebench R15 test result, the Dell Precision M3800 scored 541 points on the multi-core test. On the other hand, the laptop scored 124 points on the single-core test.

It is worth mentioning that the Dell Precision M3800 uses an Intel Core i7-4712HQ processor.

All things considered, I will rate the Dell Precision M6800 a nine out of ten in this processor review section.

Dell Precision M6800 Memory (RAM) Performance

To begin with, the Dell Precision M6800 offers two memory options. Specifically, you can either purchase the laptop with DDR-1600 RAM or 1866 MHz SDRAM RAM.

Whichever option you choose, this laptop has four memory slots and a standard memory size of 2 GB in one slot. Furthermore, the laptop supports an impressive maximum memory of 32 GB.

Hence, with the help of the remaining memory slots, you should be able to upgrade the laptop’s memory up to 32 GB. However, for the purpose of this review, we will focus on the Dell Precision M6800, which features 16 GB 1866 MHz SDRAM RAM.

With this RAM size, this laptop should be able to effectively perform heavy multitasking. For example, the Precision M6800 should be able to run about 30 Chrome tabs simultaneously while streaming two YouTube videos without lagging.

In fact, switching between these tabs and videos should be easy for the laptop.

Having established that, let us now discuss the Dell Precision M6800’s result on a PCMark 10 test to further prove its memory performance. Briefly, PCMark 10 test is a benchmark test that evaluates a computer’s memory performance by simulating real-world tasks.

Moreover, on this benchmark test, a higher score is better. On that note, based on the test result, the Dell Precision M6800 recorded a score of 3803 points.

This score is quite impressive and also surpasses the 3609 points achieved by the Lenovo IdeaPad 330S.

In conclusion, the Dell Precision M6800 offers two memory options as well as four memory slots for memory expansion. Also, this laptop beats one of its closest competitors on a benchmark test.

Therefore, I will rate the Dell Precision M6800 a nine out of ten in this memory review section.

Dell Precision M6800 Storage Options and Performance

In terms of storage, the Dell Precision M6800 offers a whopping five storage options. First and foremost, you can purchase this laptop with a 5400 RPM SATA HDD that supports a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB.

Secondly, you can purchase the laptop with a 7200 RPM SATA HDD that supports a maximum storage capacity of 750 GB. Thirdly, you can purchase the Dell Precision M6800 with a 7200 RPM SED FIPS HHD that supports a maximum storage capacity of 500 GB.

Fourthly, you can buy this laptop with a SATA SSD that supports a maximum storage capacity of 512 GB. Lastly, you can acquire the laptop with an mSATA SSD that also supports a maximum storage capacity of 512 GB.

Apparently, with these various storage options, you should find one that suits your preference and storage needs. In fact, despite its impressive amount of storage options, the Dell Precision M6800 features a 9-in-1 media card reader for storage expansion.

Before proceeding, it is important to note that this review is based on the Dell Precision M6800 with a 512 GB SATA SSD. Due to the fact that it uses an SSD – SSDs are the fastest storage drives available – this laptop should offer a fast boot time.

As a matter of fact, the laptop should also offer a fast transfer speed. To prove this, let us briefly discuss the Dell Precision M6800’s performance on a file transfer (copy) test.

On the file transfer test, it took this laptop approximately 12 seconds to copy 4.97 GB of multimedia files. This equates to a whopping transfer rate of 424.1 MB/s.

If you think that’s super-fast and impressive, wait till you find out the laptop’s result on a CrystalDiskMark test. In brief, CrystalDiskMark is a benchmark test that assesses a computer’s storage performance by calculating its storage drive’s read and write speed.

In case you’re curious, the read speed is how fast a storage drive can open a file. On the contrary, the write speed is how fast the storage drive can save a file.

Moreover, a high “MB/s” value on the CrystalDiskMark test means a fast read and write speed. So, according to the test result, the Dell Precision M6800 delivered an outstanding read speed of 2300 MB/s.

Also, the laptop delivered an excellent write speed of 2800 MB/s. In comparison, this Dell laptop has a faster read and write speed than the ASUS ZenBook 14 UX434FLC, which also uses an SSD.

Specifically, on the CrystalDiskMark test, this ASUS laptop recorded a read and write speed of 1956.9 MB/s and 1614.5 MB/s, respectively.

After much consideration, I believe the Dell Precision M6800 deserves a rating of nine out of ten in this storage review section.

Dell Precision M6800 Graphics Card Performance

Similar to the storage, the Dell Precision M6800 offers two graphics card options. These graphics card options are AMD FirePro M6100 and NVIDIA Quadro K5100M.

The former has a standard frequency of 1075 MHz, while the latter has a standard frequency of 771 MHz. Besides, both graphics card options are dedicated graphics card that comes with dedicated VRAM.

Specifically, the AMD FirePro M6100 comes with a 2 GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM. The NVIDIA Quadro K5100M, on the other hand, features an 8 GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM.

Performance-wise, with either graphics card, the Dell Precision M6800 should deliver an adequate graphics performance. However, with the NVIDIA Quadro K5100M GPU, the laptop’s performance should be better.

This is because the NVIDIA Quadro K5100M has a higher dedicated VRAM. In fact, with this GPU, the Dell Precision M6800 should be able to effectively handle graphics-demanding apps and high-end games.

Speaking of games, this laptop with the NVIDIA Quadro K5100M GPU can play F1 2013 at an impressive frame rate of 118 fps. That’s not all; the laptop should also be able to play Batman: Arkham Knight at 65 fps (frame per second).

To further verify the Precision M6800’s performance with the NVIDIA GPU option, let us discuss its result on a 3DMark 11 test. For clarity, the 3DMark 11 test is a benchmark test that evaluates a computer’s 2D and 3D graphics rendering performance.

Furthermore, a high score on this test implies good graphics performance. Hence, according to the 3DMark 11 test result, the Dell Precision M6800 recorded a score of 6894 points.

Sadly, this laptop’s score is slightly lower than the 6935 points achieved by the Lenovo Yoga 730 15, which uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 GPU. For this reason, I will rate the Dell Precision M6800 an eight out of ten in this graphics card review section.

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Dell Precision M6800 Battery Life and Performance

The Dell Precision M6800 offers two battery options. Hence, you can either purchase the laptop with a 9-cell 87 Wh Li-ion battery or a 9-cell 97 Wh Li-ion battery.

However, this review is based on the Dell Precision M6800 with a 9-cell 97 Wh Li-ion battery. To find out the battery life of this laptop, we will be discussing its result on a battery rundown test.

This test involves continuously surfing the internet over a WIFI network while the laptop’s brightness level is set to 50%. Hence, at the end of the test, the Dell Precision M6800 delivered a battery life of 5 hours and 52 minutes.

Although this battery life can’t last a full day, it is quite decent. However, compared to most of its competitors, the Dell Precision M6800’s battery life is poor.

For example, on the same battery rundown test, LG Gram 17Z990 delivered a battery life of 7 hours and 10 minutes. Also, the HP ENVY 17t delivered a battery life of 6 hours and 12 minutes.  

As a result, I will rate the Dell Precision M6800 a seven out of ten in this battery review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

In my opinion, the Dell Precision M6800 is one of the most-equipped workstation laptops on the market. This laptop offers a long list of high-performing hardware specifications.

To mention a few, the laptop features a powerful Intel Core i7 processor. Besides, this laptop also offers various storage options, graphics card options, and screen resolution options.

That’s not all; the Dell Precision M6800 also has a sufficient amount of functional ports. However, as a 17.3-inch laptop, this Dell laptop is considerably heavy and bulky.

Also, its battery life isn’t that impressive. Nevertheless, if you need a large-screen laptop with a high-end performance at a reasonable price, you need to check out the Dell Precision M6800.

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