I recently puchased a new M4800 with an i7 quad, and a Firepro m5100 GPU. So far i have been rather satisfied with the purchase as it does everything i need it to do. However there are some quirks that are preventing it from being 100% :
When I run the descrete only card, the windows 7 log in has lag such that unless i move the cursor the screen does not update : you can type things in and no ****** symbols display in the password box. If you move the mouse constantly when you type the ***** does display in real time ? its a really odd sort of lag i have never experianced before in my life.
This does not happen with the integrated card. HOWEVER, the computer will not dynamically switch between the Intel and the AMD gpu (amd Enduro/ power express) as advirtized. When running in switchable graphics mode the global settings dropdowns are 100% blank in the CCC panel.
If you set it manually per application basis : it either does one of two things :
1) most games seem to launch fine, though monitoring it with RTSS indicates its running on the intel HD GPU, and the performance decreases substantially in reflection of this...
or 2) launching professional software like Cheif Archetect x6, or SolidWorks2014 causes the display to hang, fans to cut off and the computer wont do anything till a hard reboot via the power button.
*I have dissabled the inegrated GPU in bios and only run the AMD card as a work around. Is there a fix for this other than to ignore the Intel card ? Googling around brings me to a dell resource that states disbling switchable graphics in the BIOS is the only work around. All the programs work fine this way, but sometimes say in travel or during a lecture class i dont see a reason to keep the amd GPU powered up.
Soruce for the work around www.dell.com/.../EN
Will this be fixed in a future bios or driver update ?
and Lastly : the computer is dead silent most of the time, even the fans are rather quiet. However when the GPU fan kicks on after being off for a long time there is sometimes a noise i can only describe as "electronic chirping/scraping" before the fan whirrs to life this affects it not at boot, but randomly as you use it on battery and on AC power. setting it to "max performance" thermal managment to keep the fan on all the time to some degree eliminates the sound. Is this normal ? or is this an issue ?