Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/691665
REVIEW www.postmagazine.com 47 POST JUNE 2016 It ran Maya without issues and dis- played scenes with good speed and interactivity with its Quadro M1000M — which happens to be the only video option for the 5510. Compared to the previous generation K1100M in the M3800, the benchmark results using SPECViewperf 11 were mixed. Surprisingly, the 5510 was 12 percent slower than the previous generation K1100M on the M3800 (both GPUs have the same 2GBs of GDDR5 video mem- ory). I expected at least a little better scoring with the M1000M. Subjectively, however, I didn't notice any difference working on the 5510. The 5510 display is beautiful. It's bright, vivid, with rich blacks and a su- per crisp sharpness. I can't fault the 15- inch 4K IPS panel in any way. The only hang-up I had is that viewing a desk- top at native 4K can be a strain, if not agonizing, for those like me with a little grey in their hair. This is where Windows 10 display scaling is a great feature in the OS, making everything as large as you need to, with an especially crisp detail to them. Word of warning, how- ever, some apps like Maya and 3DS Max don't seem fully supportive of Windows 10 scaling, and may throw some errant (usually minor) display issues. Add to that the general feeling that Windows 10 is just not ready for primetime in the world of workstations (IMHO). Therefore, for now I would recommend Windows 7 and going for the HD resolution non-touch enabled screen. 4K at 15-inch is just too hard to look at without Windows 10 scaling. However, the 5510 is more than capa- ble of running an external screen easily at 4K, so having a 27-inch secondary display is marvelous. This you can run through the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) interface, which gives you a ton of con- nection options, as does an HDMI port. I am hopeful that the powers out there in the ether will work out the Windows 10, 4K scaling kinks with these pro apps soon, so I can have the best of both worlds. Though I do realize that this will take time (as will just making Windows 10 live up to Windows 7 stability in general). The 5510 fast disk subsystem (go- ing directly through the bus and not a SATA port) allows you to run your footage speedy quick and comps and edits, and the external ports (one Thunderbolt 3 and two USB3) help in easily adding super-fast storage. A built-in SD card slot makes it simple for photo and video ingestion from most cameras (sorry CF cards, you'll need a USB reader), making this an easier sys- tem to take on-set and process footage as you capture it. IN CONCLUSION Dell's Precision 5510 is responsive and agile. While it won't be replacing an in-studio desktop rig anytime soon, when on-location or on-set, the 5510 can be a super-helpful and easily-mo- bile machine to bring the graphics studio with you and give you serious capability when you're not in the office hammering away on looming deadlines. I just wish I knew about the 5510 when I bought the M3800. PROCESSORS Intel Core Xeon E3-1505M v5 Quad Core Xeon 2.80GHz, 3.70GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W Intel Core i7-6820HQ Quad Core 2.70GHz, 3.60GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W Intel Core i5-6300HQ Quad Core 2.30GHz, 3.20GHz Turbo, 6MB 45W OPERATING SYSTEMS Windows 7 Pro (64-bit) Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) Windows 10 Home Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.2 Canonical Ubuntu 14.04 SP1 CHIPSET Mobile Intel CM236 GRAPHICS Nvidia Quadro M1000M with 2GBs GDDR5 dedicated memory Intel Pro Graphics 530 & P530 TECH SPECS