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I recommend strongly against buying a Dell, specifically the M4800. I ordered two for my business recently. I chose the Intel AC 7260 network adapter, which tu

I recommend strongly against buying a Dell, specifically the M4800. I ordered two for my business recently. I chose the Intel AC 7260 network adapter, which turns out to have all kinds of problems connecting reliably to 802.11n networks (the vast majority). On my laptop specifically, the motherboard and/or video card had major problems resulting in failure to shut down, an endless cycle of video adapter driver crashes and re-initializations resulting in system lockup, problems waking up from sleep, etc. I returned mine for a replacement, only to find the keyboard was absolutely horrendous--keys would double-press (bounce) almost every other key when typing fast and with moderate to heavy pressure. Upgrading the BIOS did not help as it apparently did with other Dell models. Also, Dell refuses to refund my money on the now two defective laptops because I'm outside of the 30 day refund window. They wouldn't make an exception. I told them I was never purchasing a Dell again. I can (and did) buy a 2014 MacBook Pro with better specs for the same price and now I'm running Windows in Boot Camp (for .NET development) with flawless performance. Combined with a 3-year Apple Care agreement, I never have to worry about being nickeled-and-dimed over way-too-short refund periods. In short, avoid Dell. They are shipping substandard hardware and are even getting things that should be commoditized to perfection (the keyboard) wrong.

arh68 12y ago
Thank you for sharing, I will definitely factor that in. It's harder to find a solid upgradeable workstation than I thought.
- kpil 12y ago
  I have been happy with anything I have bought from Asus. Not so with laptops from lenovo, dell, fujitsu and HP
- nathanaldensr 12y ago
  This has been my life's torment over the past several weeks. There really didn't seem to be a reasonably-priced option that "just worked" except the MacBook Pro. Combined with Apple Care, it means I won't have to go through what I just went through again. And just to be clear, I vastly prefer Windows 8.1 over OS X. My primary tasks are .NET and iOS development, so this isn't a biased decision. I /wanted/ to find a PC manufacturer that made great laptops, but I read too many horror stories for all the top models, and experienced some of my own with the M4800.
synx508 12y ago
As well as dubious wireless adapters Dell also shipped a USB GigE adapter for some XPS15 models that doesn't work for more than a few hours before the adapter crashes and needs to be power cycled by removing and reinserting it. I had a customer with one XPS15 that contained both the terrible wireless and terrible external wired network adapter. The story gets better though, Dell shipped a demo model of a new XPS15 recently and we discovered the improved USB3.0 GigE adapter that it ships with is now stable, so got them to swap the older ones out but customers shouldn't really be testing hardware that is unable to perform its basic function reliably.

arh68 12y ago

Thank you for sharing, I will definitely factor that in. It's harder to find a solid upgradeable workstation than I thought.

kpil 12y ago
I have been happy with anything I have bought from Asus. Not so with laptops from lenovo, dell, fujitsu and HP
nathanaldensr 12y ago
This has been my life's torment over the past several weeks. There really didn't seem to be a reasonably-priced option that "just worked" except the MacBook Pro. Combined with Apple Care, it means I won't have to go through what I just went through again. And just to be clear, I vastly prefer Windows 8.1 over OS X. My primary tasks are .NET and iOS development, so this isn't a biased decision. I /wanted/ to find a PC manufacturer that made great laptops, but I read too many horror stories for all the top models, and experienced some of my own with the M4800.

synx508 12y ago

As well as dubious wireless adapters Dell also shipped a USB GigE adapter for some XPS15 models that doesn't work for more than a few hours before the adapter crashes and needs to be power cycled by removing and reinserting it. I had a customer with one XPS15 that contained both the terrible wireless and terrible external wired network adapter. The story gets better though, Dell shipped a demo model of a new XPS15 recently and we discovered the improved USB3.0 GigE adapter that it ships with is now stable, so got them to swap the older ones out but customers shouldn't really be testing hardware that is unable to perform its basic function reliably.