Dell Precision 7770 reviewed: Better than the MacBook Pro M1 Max!

[@RobertStolpe]

Just discovered you from an upcoming PPA webinar. I am relatively new to the DC area. Upgrading my aging PC computers are on my agenda. You have provided me a direction with Dell. Thanks.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Welcome to the DC area!! One of the best cities to photograph. Glad you found this video helpful - I LOVE my 7770 (and the new 7780 is even better!)

[@gtamot0]

Tech3D channel rips this 7770 with benchmarks against the top tier MSI system with similar hardware, saying that it's hampered by voltages that are too high, a power adapter that is too small and thermals that are too conservative to achieve the best performance. Have a look for yourself.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

I saw the video and there are valid points, however it also comes down to actual performance in the applications that's the most important. Even with the 'benchmarks' not aligning with the hardware, the actual precieved performance IS there and can easily be quantified against other models out there (MSI, Apple, Asus etc). I'm quite happy and haven't been disappointed yet; but that's all subjective.

[@gtamot0]

I have the 7770 and the 7730 and I don’t see any perceptible difference between them when using Houdini which is surprising considering the processor and graphics card difference. Surprised because I’ve always loved Dell Precision laptops and the computational power of each generation.

[@f00bar451]

I’m a systems engineer that specializes in virtualization in both widows & Linux. Additionally I run a source based distribution, so almost every package needs to be compiled from source. This kind of laptop is the only laptop I will spend money on. My last laptop was a m7720. I would try to oust that laptop further, but the CPU is not on the Windows 11 HCL.

[@yengsabio5315]

Wow! $8,200.00! That amount is definitely something to deeply think about. Lots'a love, cheers, & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines!

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Thanks for watching!! And yes, it's a pricey laptop but well worth it!

[@matthewhodgkins3317]

Aside from it basically being a space heater, I love this laptop!! So great for timelapse!

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Hahah, I agree - it definitely gets hot after being used... and it also blows through anything you throw at it! :)

@@District7DrewGeraci is that normal in workstations? here i get 61 C temperature. just painting and recording me with OBS

[@LemarGriffinfilms]

This is cool! Great work Drew.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Thanks, Lemar!

[@avalotikeshwara6136]

Precision 7760 has 4 SODIMM slots for up to 128GB, 4x32GB modules, with 2x32GB crucial for 185€ . Precision 7770 has reduced that to 2 SODIMM slots for up to 64GB, 2x32GB, using an adapter or 1 CAMM slot for a single 16/32/64GB (crucial 365€)/128GB Ram module at an extreme high price.

[@dasdos002]

I had to go back and listen to how many gb of ram your desktop had 2 times. I am getting old. I had no idea they made desktops with that much ram. That seems extremely unnecessary. But very cool people can buy that within a reasonable price range. To each is own!

[@District7DrewGeraci]

The amount of RAM I have is because of VFX work - AE, DR, Blender, C4D are all memory hungry apps and honestly even 512GB isn't enough! I'll probably upgrade to 1TB of RAM on my next build.

[@dasdos002]

@@District7DrewGeraci my lord man. That’s absolutely absurd. Back in my day we had 1/2 mb of ram and that was considered enough lol. I buy laptops so I haven’t looked at what kind of ram are in desktops in a while lol

[@NRC131G]

@@dasdos002 you mean you guys had half a gigabyte of ram or half a megabyte of ram?

[@dasdos002]

@@NRC131G lol whoops. I meant 1/2 gb not mb. Nice catch.

[@naturalwayweight8020]

Excellent review. About to buy too, your advice: I can choose either i5 (8 efficiency+4 performance =12) or i7 vs i9. But the upgrade is price significant. Do you think it's going to make a difference in this laptop? Do you think i7 or i9 will take more battery too?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Thanks for watching! I would definitely recommend at least the i7 if you plan on doing any heavy workloads, the i9 is great but not always necessary unless you need the performance. Still my favorite pro laptop!

[@ringberar]

Wow! This may be the model for me! However, I don’t think I’ll get the totally upgraded one. That 120hz 4k display though 🔥

[@District7DrewGeraci]

The 4k 120Hz screen is pretty amaze-balls. My regular desktop doesn't even sport that!

[@mmcengineer1025]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGnVdJiBaNFjhdU watch this before making that conclusion

[@tech6587]

So, this is a maxxed out, tour de force of workstation laptop, with HALF ARROW KEYs. Yeah... that's exactly what I was looking for.

[@jsfbay1]

Yeah it's a pain in the butt on a daily basis (have a 7760.) Very disappointing keyboard layout.

[@MrLMB]

Great review! One question, where are the speakers located for the 7770?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Thanks for watching! That's honestly a great question. It sounds like it comes from the bottom portion of the back and top of where the monitor and the keyboard meet.

[@stanjs]

RTX A5500 is a 8nm Ampere card. Wait for the 5nm ADA RTX to be released for the Precision 7770.

[@toxotis70]

which is quiter on render in davinci ? Which has the better battery life with full power ?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

They're all about the same on quietness when rendering; the only time the unit get's loud is if you're gaming on it really.

[@carlosalfredobigurraalzati4913]

La mejor y mas profesional laptop del mundo para diseño, edición y desarrollo de: dibujo - animación 2d - 3d, BIM, SIG, foto, video, audio, multimedios, ciencia de datos, programación, entre muchas otras áreas. Simplemente deja por mucho y atrás a cualquier marca y modelo, vale su precio en lo que puedes crear y producir con ella.

Hola, recientemente trabajo con ella y veo que llega a los 61 grados de temperatura segun el task manager de win 11. Y la bateria no dura mas que dos horas. Yo no lo llamaria portatil. Quizas me puede puede compartir su experiencia con este dispositivo en cuanto a lo que comento? Muchas gracias. Yo me dedico a la pintura digital y captura con OBS, edicion de video, y algo minimo de 3D. Una cosa es cierta el rendimiento si se nota un salto grande.

[@aroonsarin8303]

Hi Drew, you've just earned a subscriber! On 5:57 you mentioned different performance modes based on CPU cores. On windows 11 you can only control the power efficiency of the software's and brightness). And dell power manger only controls the fans & thermals. How do you control these hardware performance modes you showed in 5:57 ?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Thanks, Aroon! If you're looking to turn off/on efficiency vs performance cores you just have to go into the BIOS as change the processing settings there. Very simple to do by either hitting F2 or DEL on the keyboard at start-up. You then go into the processor settings and either enable or disable the cores you want to use. I've turned all but 2 of the efficiency cores off on my machine and it FLYS. Averages 4.6 to 4.9GHz when in use.

[@adamtaylor3201]

I just got one It surprises me how well I can actually game on this as well. 2 pages of specs however it did come in at £9.153 😮 I did opt for 2 x4tb ssds though

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Glad you're enjoying it!! It's a great all around system for sure.

[@univera1111]

​@@District7DrewGeraci dam! Now I know why no one talks about any laptop that can beat a MacBook. This price is heavy.

[@univera1111]

But I'd pay anything to stay out of Mac eco system.

[@yolgezerisvicrede]

I am planning to buy this device equipped with 3080 ti + 64 gb system ram. My only aim is to use it for deep learning. Can i leave this device for 7 days of gpu work?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

If you're buying a desktop system, yes, you shouldn't have any issues - if you're buying (any) laptop to do this, I wouldn't suggest it because the heat will likely cause issues being on that long.

[@yolgezerisvicrede]

@@District7DrewGeraci unfortunately i have to pick this device for some reasons. Btw, i would follow the same path you suggest. However, i had to buy this device. Cant I use a cooler? Moreover, they say this is a workstation. If it is, it has to be capable of handling such a task

[@District7DrewGeraci]

@@yolgezerisvicrede Oh, this will 100% handle the task, I did something similar myself so I know that it can, but yes, you'll 100% need an external cooler. I use a few different ones but it'll be crucial that you use one or else it will overheat at some point. Otherwise, I think you'll find this system to be really incredible with its performance!

[@stuksy4321]

HI Drew, do you have (or have made) a recommendation for 2023 for graphics workstations, using adobe CC, photoshop, illustrator, indesign along with ArcMap, Like lots of folks, very often 3 or more of them simultaneously along with Microsoft stuff. Also considering MSI Z16p

[@drwatsonismine]

What application are you processing your raw stills in? I really appreciate your work so much.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

I use Lightroom and Capture One (specifically for Sony). Thanks for watching!

[@seattledude2022]

video editing comparison here may not be fair enough. as a user, we only care about how fast it can render. On mac, final cut pro should be the most efficient rather than adobe. If possible, you'd better compare adobe with final cut pro

[@Star_Dust___]

How did you get this spec? Dell does not offer that much power, i just looked, the ram is maxed at 32gb, video card is NVIDIA® RTX™ A4500, 16 GB GDDR6. Please let me know

[@District7DrewGeraci]

It may be out of stock at the moment (so it's not listed) - that's happened a couple times in the last 6 months or so.

[@hezekiahmorales3030]

Great video!!! Thanks!!!

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Thanks for watching!

[@Tech_Publica]

Dude , I hate to have to defend Apple, but ... twice the price for a shaving off a few seconds in rendering ( I assume thanks to the more powerful GPU..) ? but having the whole thing reach volcano temperatures (which obviously compromises machine longevity, besides being uncomfortable) , Boeing level noise and ridiculous battery life? I would say it can be the right machine only for that minority of people who need to do VERY high end work and have to switch from home to office to client's locations..

[@District7DrewGeraci]

It's more than just 'shaving off a few seconds - it allows you to do more in real-time editing, especially in Resolve and in 3D programs there's almost no lag whatsoever when you're creating meshes, splines, and compositions. As far as noise levels go, it's almost identical to the MacBook Pro when it gets fired up so there's no difference there (the fans on the Dell probably kick in a bit sooner though) but otherwise it's comparable. The battery life is the only real difference, but being 2-4x faster than the M1 Max is a huge leap in performance. We'll see what happens with the M2's come out though. Thanks for watching!

[@Tech_Publica]

@@District7DrewGeraci considering the huge difference in power consumption I find it hard to believe that the noise level of the Precision can be comparable to a MacBook Pro 16 fully configured.. but I understand that for the few people who really need to do high end work on the go the noise level can be overlooked. I guess the price alone is an indication of who really needs this dream machine... Anyhow I would love to see a side to side video with the two machine in action.... I am crossing my fingers for 3 nanometers on the macbook this spring!

[@District7DrewGeraci]

@@Tech_Publica Yeah, this laptop definitely ISN'T meant for general use, it's 100% for high-end niche work. That doesn't mean the MBP isn't bad but for those looking for the BEST performance this guy takes the cake. If Apple does go the 3nm route they may end up taking the lead but looking at the performance gains on the M2 vs the M1 in the Macbook Air, Apple will have to do A LOT to accomplish that.

[@babouzeyassine9402]

just got it beast !

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Yeah it's an amazing laptop!

[@LucvanVliet]

Would love to see this beast watercooled!

[@District7DrewGeraci]

That would be pretty amazing! Probably wouldn't fit in the chassie but maybe a future model will hold some advancement there!

[@foreign-livingtheamericand8782]

hi, currently research to jump from a 3530 to this model for working with blender 3D software.. do you think the software will run at peak on this?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Absoultely. It run Blender, C4D, Nuke, AE, and 3DMAX as if it were a desktop computer. The A5500 in it is incredible for 3D work. Highly recommend trying it out!

[@WhiteoutSnowy]

7780 is basically the same as this ? Just different intel generation processors ?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Pretty much; the 7780 has a little better thermal design but overall they're nearly identical.

[@nickhuijs9240]

I also have this laptop but with a a4500 card, but i cant seem to run overwatch at 144 fps even on the lowest settings. i have tried installing some other drivers since the a4500 one doesnt have a new feature branch driver. Could someone help me with that?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

The RTX (a) series is quite difficult to game on honestly as it's not meant for that. You probably won't reach 144fps because the cards aren't fast enough for that. The A5500 can only do 1080p @ 120hz and in 4k it's more like 40-60fps at the lowest settings.

[@ramouz]

I have the ThinkPad P16 (has a vapor chamber) with a RTX A4500 and it runs games a bit better than my RTX 3070 Legion 7i Gen 6, at QHD resolution. I bought the QHD resolution. You can lower the resolution on yours in game. It might be that cooling on the Dell isn't the best.

[@nickhuijs9240]

@@ramouz Damn, i do keep track of my GPU temp, it doesnt go above 75 tho. But i think its mainly because the new feuture branch driver hasnt been released by NVIDEA. Could you tell me which driver you have installed? I currently have the 517.40 running on windows 11, that works OK.

[@ramouz]

@@nickhuijs9240 75c while gaming is great. What about CPU temps? Make sure to let it run for an hour though to really see the temps. I checked in my P16 and I'm using 517.40 also. The GPU is at 130W in NVIDIA Control Panel. What about your wattage? My RTX 3070 in my Legion 7i goes to 140w. And, what District 7 said about gaming not reaching 144 FPS isn't true, unless the 7770 has issues. I can reach 250 FPS with the RTX A4500 (compared to 220 on my RTX 3070) in a certain scene at max graphics, QHD, in A Hat In Time. In another scene, 125 in RTX A4500 and 102 in RTX 3070. This depends on the game and resolution. 4k will reduce FPS though. I don't think laptops are ready for high FPS in 4k gaming unless it's an older game or one with weak graphics. Maybe with the next GPUs from NVIDIA.

[@nickhuijs9240]

@@ramouz Hi, is also had 140w, the specs of the 7770 i had were: i9 12900k, A4500, 32 GB RAM. It was not that good because i did not have the new feature branch drivers from NVIDIA because there werent any. I now tried a 7760 which has: i9 11900k, A5000, 32 GB RAM. This works excellent, everything on ultra still getting 144 FPS on 1080P in shooters. I did not test 4k yet. Also Elden Ring maxed out on 1080P gets around 50 to 80 FPS. I think the 4500 just needs a specific driver.

[@AP_Sim]

Just got a fully loaded one. 120hz 4k. And wow

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Love it! And congrats!

[@Anonymous-cn6zl]

I am torn between this and Asus Studiobook ProArt

[@District7DrewGeraci]

They're both solid platforms! Get what fits your needs and your budget. I love my 7770 :)

[@fxguidetips]

How about thermals and fan noise?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

I believe I spoke to the fan noise in the video (sounds like a Jet engine taking off) and it does get hot, around 65c-72c under a full production load, and 74-85c for gaming. With a cooling mat though the temps drop around 10c.

[@rgsauve]

@@District7DrewGeraci And that's why I'm passing. I'm ready for a quiet machine now after dealing with my Gigabyte Aero that's been absolutely horrible with fan noise.

[@rohitRraina]

Performance > noise , noise isn't an issue for me

[@District7DrewGeraci]

@@vbritain1 I did replace the thermal paste in mine and it performs quite a bit better now. That being said, I don't think thermals are truly an issue (even with the stock paste/fans). I haven't seen any throttling occure yet which is promising.

[@vbritain1]

@@District7DrewGeraci Ive worked with Precision's since the mid 90's. In recent years the quality has gone down. This model has serious issues. Dell has also replaced the fans in this on newer releases. I would expect out of the box for the cost of this model to flat out perform it doesnt. Theres forums in China also reporting the same issues. Heres another review. Ill wait another year perhaps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGnVdJiBaNFjhdU

[@BLITSFRAPPS]

In my research leading up to now (very close to buying this) I am just too worried about the thermal throttling and low performance over long term usage. I am aiming to use it as a work horse CAD and simulation workstation but feel a little apprehensive about taking the jump.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

So, I honestly haven't seen the thermal throttling from my unit, but I did manually set all of the cores to P-cores to on and at 100% max threshold (and only 2 e- cores). I bought a simple cooling matte for mine that I can bring with me and it works great. Edited for a solid 5 hours (8k, 16-bit raw footage inside of Davinci Resolve) and it never slowed down. I also use it for Blender and the performance (with the a5500) is bonkers. It definitely gets hot (there's no denying that) and I have/had encountered a few heat-related shutdowns (before getting the cooling matte) but other than that, it's super solid.

[@BLITSFRAPPS]

@@District7DrewGeraci Thanks for replying, see that's what I am worried about like spending 10 grands and still encountering heat related shutdowns is concerning. Just one other option the MSI creator pro x17 , if I can find it somewhere to buy that is. if not then Dell.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

@@BLITSFRAPPS I've used the x17 it's very similar to the Dell but has less M2 add-on drives, but otherwise nearly identical. It gets hot too so just a heads up (law of thermodynamics is present in any full sized laptop).

[@kenhew4641]

@@District7DrewGeraci paying ten grand for a laptop, yet able to accept it shut down because it runs too hot, sounds crazy unacceptable to me. I would have called my lawyer and sued Dell for compensation for my work progress loss if that happens to me. I bill my clients according to time and every second of loss productivity, is a loss of income for me which I cannot bill my client for. Your nonchalance about it and making excuses for Dell only further exacerbate the problem in that Dell can continue charging exorbitant prices for very obviously defective products with the gall to tell customers to just "suck it up, it's your problem not my problem"

[@firstgear6751]

Wow a workstation having heating issues, that's a new one. We better get ourselves Asus Rog Strix then and change the graphic card driver to "Invidia Studio"

[@youtubecommenter4069]

The PCIe 4.0 has me sold to this. Migrating from HP.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

It's a solid choice. I'm in love with my 7770 right now. It's literally better than my $15k desktop, lol, and that's only a couple years old.

[@SunnyTechno]

How much is the ssd slot? And max of the ssd upgrade

[@stevendalton6952]

I got one from work with the i5 vs. the i9- 128mb ram, A5500 also. Is it possible to switch out the CPU to i9 easily?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

I don't think there's an easy way to do it, but you could contact Dell and see if they'd be willing to upgrade your machine. Worth a shot!

[@jaydillard7258]

i just cant pay that much for a overheating laptop. fix that and im coming to get one

[@firstgear6751]

Why would a workstation heat, it's ridiculous

[@mikenspired]

Any idea if the usb-c ports connect to the dGPU for VR?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

You can definitely run any VR system off this laptop... and if you want to hook up an eGPU you can do that too.

[@mikenspired]

@@District7DrewGeraci The problem is Thunderbolt on 12th gen intel's do not connect to the dedicated graphics card. Sorry I meant dGPU not eGPU. But websites like excalibur starting listing thunderbolt and USB c ports of whether they have a direct connection or not, and randomly a laptop will have a non thunderbolt port that's connected to the dGPU.

[@durmustalipoglu386]

What is the average battery time for normal usage?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

3-5 hours - really just depends on what you're doing. If it's just web stuff / text maybe 10-12 hours.

@@District7DrewGeraci hmm that is weird, here, my device is about 2h in a zoom meeting, nothing special, and painting 2h. If i use 3D then my laptop flies.temperature after 1h is about 60 C. What is happening then?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

@ Great question - you need to see if the E-cores are kicking in or the P-cores (the more the P-cores are used the faster the processing but also faster the battery drain). You also want to make sure you're in Efficiency Mode if you're just web browsing or writing documents. Using Paint Programs will engage P-Cores so that's why it's probably dropping quickly for you. 60c is a pretty average temp on this laptop unfortunately. There are A LOT of high-powered componets next to one another which generate a ton of heat.

[@JonackFilm]

What an amazing machine :)

[@TheMichaelkww]

I want one

[@District7DrewGeraci]

It's a super solid laptop - you won't be disappointed if you get one!

[@mmcengineer1025]

cant reach 5ghz with the charger supplied

[@MarcoAndrade00]

How much is the equivalent Mac?

[@District7DrewGeraci]

The equivalent Mac is about $2k cheaper at $6200 (but 50-90% slower vs the 7770). Apple doesn't currently offer a laptop that can outpace this one.

[@ItaloDance2000]

如果你是专业人士，屏幕应该选择EIZO，而不是只使用笔记本电脑内置的显示屏。

[@m.e.p.r]

No battery comparison with the M1 lol :D that's where Apple absolutely dominate! So, if you are in the field and not plugged in, its 100% Apple all the way.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

I did one in another video - this laptop lasts about 1 hr and 20 minutes on battery at full load, and compared to the M1 or M2 that I have running on battery on full load, it lasts 1 hour and 22 minutes so both are nearly exactly the same... just less processing power on the Apple side, so no, there's no advantage here.

[@ronbackal]

That looks amazing ! I want to get into cinematography and wanted to use RED Komodo in 6k redcode hq, and I think that will be great for it

[@District7DrewGeraci]

100%! It'll handle pretty much any codec you throw at it up to 8k and not skip a beat. Love it!

[@bitkahuna]

must... resist... another... dell... want... to try... something... else

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Hahah, I'm telling you, you'll love this one!!

[@bitkahuna]

@@District7DrewGeraci my 2 hesitations are 1, battery life which i think the mac is way better, and 2, heat/fans - i've read the mac m1/m2 max run really well without tons of fan noise.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

@@bitkahuna they're both loud when under a full load and the battery life is about the same when using it under a full load; really just comes down to OS preference or if you want more power/fast processing.

[@bitkahuna]

@@District7DrewGeraci thanks very much! i just had a new lenovo p16 i9 in for client setup... nice, but too bulky/heavy and startup still didn't see very fast.

[@HusarDesign]

Please notice, that DDR5 have 4800MHz (see Specs).

[@District7DrewGeraci]

Yup, that's a typo!

[@michaelhovalot8171]

A 5500 < rx 3800Ti ...

[@District7DrewGeraci]

The A5500 has more VRAM though, which is a huge boost for productivity apps like Davinci Resolve, Blender, C4D, and other VFX programs. T

[@tejiriamrasa3258]

@@District7DrewGeraci they both have 16gb varam.

[@hungk1610]

hay

[@bansterref]

Can buy two or three MACs with this price 🤣🤣🤣

[@District7DrewGeraci]

True, true! You'd also see a 2-3x performance drop! haha

[@PabloSerranophotography]

wow this is a very expensive computer at a much higher price than a mac, so it better be better than a macbook pro M1 LOL.

[@District7DrewGeraci]

I mean, you get what you pay for :)

[@PabloSerranophotography]

@@District7DrewGeraci most of the time not always, at twice the price of a Mac book pro M1, it’s definitely not worth it. But obviously some people do think it’s worth it.

[@jasyamaha]

Ahh, it's like flogging a dead horse. Read all of the comments for this video and hear what Drew's has said.