Latitude 7400, fan noise, design flaw?

I have owned a 2-in-1 7410 for almost two months.  I posted the same problem under "7410 fan noise" heading.  It's a nice good notebook when in battery mode.  But when it is on AC, the fan keeps generating high-pitch noise.  This is not what I would expect from such premium model (in price). 

My present work-around (like some has mentioned): use Dell power management software to switch to quiet mode, switch to "balanced" power plan (if you can - when on AC, the unit will switch to High Performance mode automatically.  It refuses to let me change plan.  But these two days, it's been on "balanced" plan,  Thank Dell).  The unit certainly will got hotter, hampering work life.  But less annoying.  If Dell can't fix it, or call it back, it might be that the unit will die after 3 years of warranty.  Time then to switch to another.  

Don't understanding why the unit got so many good reviews on web.  Didn't they notice these issues?  I did check for Dell's problem before confirming buying.  Didn't check this site.  A pity.  

It got good reviews online since dell sends the laptops out to reviewers and sponsors them. Looks like even the 7410 may have it too. The latitude 7000 series are way too expensive compared to equivalent competitors to have issues like this

Images in line..

How do I contact you for this same issue? Would be great if you can post a general solution since it seems to be a general problem. Thanks!

Same thing here! Does anyone have a fix for this? Mine is brand new and with almost anything I open the fan goes full force and is VERY noisy.

I take this opportunity to report my recent "taming" of a 7410 2-in-1 unit - having been annoyed since early Sept 2020 (when acquiring the unit) by the high-pitch fan noise and automatic switching to High Performance power plan (they are related). I found that both 7400 and 7410 are good brothers sharing the same problem. I reported in earlier comms.

I found the culprit to be the "Dell Optimization" program that comes with the unit.  There is an "Applications" section within.  It tries to optimize user-selected applications.  By optimizing, it optimizes/maximizes performance of these applications, hence pushing up CPU and related usage.  So the unit automatically switches to High Performance power plan - regardless my choice. 

I turned off the "Applications" part of the Dell Optimization program, changed the Quiet mode in Dell Power Manager (which didn't help with fan noise problem).  The unit has stayed at "Dell power plan" and stay very quiet - even when on AC charging mode.  As mentioned before, the unit works very well in battery mode.

Fan noise problem is gone.  Except that I notice a greenish column that takes up about 1/5 of the screen sometimes after waking up from hibernation/sleep.  It will pale and fade about 10 seconds later.  Having reported the issues for month, Dell has yet to address this issue.  Given it doesn't affect usage, I can wait - got the 3-year warranty package.

Suggest you try see if it works. 

Hi Architect_FH, sorry to hear that.  According to Dell's web, the Dell Optimizer is built-in.  It was there when I first used the unit - or auto downloaded and installed when updating.  I tried again today, if I turn on optimizing the applications (on AC mode), the unit will immediately turn to High Performance power plan - revving up the fan (and noise of course).  When I turned it off, it stayed at Dell (balanced) power plan, got much quieter - as what good notebooks should act.  I did stay updated on BIOS and others using Dell Support Assistant and Dell Command/update.  I changed the default power plan to Power Saving, but to no avail.   It switched to High Performance - now I know when Dell Optimizer is on (on "Applications').  Indeed, I have switched off all except Power section of Dell Optimizer.  Optimizing/tracking features do consume power.  The battery does last longer when these "intelligent" features are turned off. 

See if other users can re-produce the same, silence and enjoy using the 7400/7410 units.  

https://www.dell.com/community/Tablets-Mobile-Devices/Why-has-Dell-crippled-the-Windows-control-panel-advanced-power/m-p/4412180#M25436

Try changing the sleep state if you are on 1909 or below. This changes the power plan options as well. Modern sleep and modern power settings are a joke. 

The 7410 has similar issues to even the consumer xps 15 line 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/jalqw3/latitude_7410_suffers_from_trackpad_wobble_too/

As for thermals the 7410 has dual heatpipes and a slightly bigger fan so it should be better

I work in the IT department of a company that has deployed these devices to the corp. Some of the times, the fix is rather simple, others not so much... I wanted to post here to see if Dell can publish a solution. 

The users that are impacted by this, I can hear their fans running in the background. 

@DELL-Cares  i am also seeing this issue at my company on 7400 devices, please provide information on the fix for this...

I just started in a new IT department, just came from a HP shop where fan noise was nothing compared to this yet users generally still complained.

This is the first time in my 20 years working in IT that a laptop fan has been ridiculously loud. Working from home I hear it over everything, same in the office really. It does get stupidly hot as well.

It is only present when connected to the docks so either there is a design flaw or a very buggy driver involved. I've seen all the usual fixes mentioned but none seem to work.

I recently updated the BIOS/UEFI Firmware of my Latitude 7400 Laptop and as well as thunderbolt dock. I also installed all Intel power/thermal related drivers from the Dell Website. 

For Laptop, in BIOS/UEFI, I disabled turbo-boost. The laptops processor now runs on a fixed 1.90 GHz and is little better with fan noise. Well this doesn't solve the problem. It is a work around at best. If the Laptop is sold having turbo-boost (oompa-loompa/ hot and angry) feature and then it is loud, it only suggests that there is indeed a design flaw.

Despite updating the firmware on dock (WD19DC), the dock fan runs on full throttle. I was told by Dell that the dock fan maxes out when the CPU is underload... well nope. Right now my PC is using 8-20% of CPU and dock fan is running continuously. I would like to add that it is normal desk with ambient temperature of 22-24 degrees Celsius. To mitigate the dock noise I have a new USB fan (small fan) running at the inlet of dock to force cold air inside. It helps keeping the dock running without it own fan (which is annoyingly loud).

That's all for now. I would like to read your comments and from others too.