Dell Precision M3800 Mobile Workstation Review

Futuremark’s PCMark 7 is a well-known benchmark tool that runs the system through ordinary tasks, including word processing and multimedia playback and editing. Graphics and processor power figure prominently in this benchmark, but graphics power doesn’t play as big a role here as it does in another Futuremark benchmark, 3DMark (which is designed for testing the system’s gaming capabilities). This test also weights heavily on the storage subsystem of a given device.

Futuremark PCMark 7 Simulated Application Performance

Futuremark’s PCMark 7 is a good, generalized well-known benchmark tool that runs the system through ordinary computing tasks, including word processing and multimedia playback and editing. Graphics and processor power figure prominently in this benchmark, but graphics power doesn’t play as big a role here as it does in another Futuremark benchmark, 3DMark (which is designed for testing the system’s gaming capabilities). This test also weighs heavily on the performance of the storage subsystem of a given device.


It's no big surprise to see the Precision M3800 lead the pack in PCMark 7, which puts a heavy emphasis on storage. This is probably why it outscored Lenovo's ThinkPad W540 by nearly 900 points. If we look back at our SiSoft SANDRA results, the 256GB SSD in the Precision M3800 posted a read speed of 534MB/s, compared to the same size SSD in the ThinkPad, which trailed behind with a read speed of 442MB/s. If your work depends on a lot of read and write transfers, this is an important benchmark to pay attention to.

Futuremark PCMark 8 Simulated Application Performance

Futuremark's PCMark 8 has several built-in benchmark tests. The Home test measures a system's ability to handle basic tasks such as web browsing, writing, gaming, photo editing, and video chat. The Creative test offers similar types of tasks, but has more demanding requirements than the Home benchmark and is meant for mid-range and higher-end PCs. The Work test measures the performance of typical office PC systems that lack media capabilities. Finally, the Storage benchmark tests the performance of SSDs, HDDs and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games.


PCMark 8 gives us a more balanced look at performance separated by category. The three of interest here are the Storage, Work Accelerated, and Home Accelerated tests, and the Precision M3800 performed well in each section, taking the top spot in the Storage benchmark.

Given that this is a mobile workstation, one could argue that the Work Accelerated benchmark is the most important of the bunch. The M3800's score here, while respectable, falls behind the Lenovo ThinkPad W540. Simply put, Lenovo's laptop is working with a meatier GPU, the K2100M, which boasts 576 CUDA cores compared to the K1100M's 384 CUDA cores.