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XPS 13 8th gen i7 16GB RAM QHD+ Battery Issues 4hrs battery life tops
Hey there,
Yes you read it correctly: I have just received mine, which I purchased because of battery life and overheating and fan noise issues on the Dell XPS 13 i7 7th gen. The 8th gen was supposed to have solved all the issues the previous version was plagued with...
Well... I unboxed it, loaded all of my softwares, installed all the WIndows updates, Dell drivers, you name it. Charged it and started using it. When I unplugged the power cord, first estimate was 4hrs on the Windows battery indicator. Then I installed BatteryBar to have a more reliable estimator. Same.
Later on, I discovered a very strong and very loud fan. Unsurprisingly, the underneath was burning hot.
Got the support team on the phone, whilst I was talking with them, the fan kicked in and I even could give them a glimpse of how loud that was over the phone.
Has any of the lucky owners of the XPS 13 i7 8th gen come across similar issues?
Sometimes, I am just baffled by the world there is between the promise and the reality....
jphughan
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October 27th, 2017 15:00
A brand new system may have an unusually high level of background tasks running simultaneously, such as Windows and other applications checking for and downloading updates, Windows monitoring your usage to optimize technologies such as PreFetch for your usage patterns, etc. You might want to conduct a battery test after things have settled in a bit more. The QHD+ display takes 2-3 hours off of the expected battery life, but you should still get 7-8 hours under normal use. Then again, if you're heavy on WiFi and max out display brightness, you'll get less than that. The fact that the fans are kicking on also suggests there's an unusually high level of background activity running, so check Task Manager to see if you can find out what's responsible for that.
Elzostyle
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October 27th, 2017 15:00
Hi, thanks for your quick reply.
When I reached out to the Dell Support team, we've done the battery test from the Dell portal, and the result came back normal.
No max out display brightness as I have to have the XPS on Power Saver pretty much all the time.
The CPU never exceeds 40% and the Memory 59% in the Task Manager. And no significant or noticeable process running.
So far, the culprit definitely seems to be the QHD+ display, and I am thinking of returning mine and try with the FHD.
If there is any chance I might get to even 5 hours with some extra tweaking, I could even consider keeping it. Otherwise, I'll just make my peace with it, and get over my beloved XPS 13...
Saltgrass
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October 27th, 2017 16:00
If Task Manager is showing 56% memory usage, something is going on. As mentioned, a new system will run heavy for some time. Since the Win 10 build upgrade came out on the 10th, it could also be involved. I don't remember seeing a battery good on my 9365 for more than 5:30 but I don't really watch it.
Keep an eye on the system for battery usage while on battery and not being used.
You may see a battery performance slider if you click the battery indicator on the Taskbar, if you want to use it.
jphughan
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October 27th, 2017 17:00
Memory in use doesn’t affect power consumption, but 40% CPU is quite significant if that’s an average. Regular usage should keep it in the 0-20% range.