Dell Precision 7560 - several problems

Question

Dell Precision 7560 (Xeon W-11855M, NVIDIA T1200 GPU; 95Wh battey) OS: W10 Enterprise, UEFI/BIOS 1.15.2 and latest drivers. Problems 1. Battery drain:  (about 3 hours in battery save mode; Dell Power Manager: Quiet/Cool). Load: idle (no apps running) and Microsoft Teams (in background) / Microsoft Remote Desktop connection. Really do not know what is going on here but it is far from results from reviews with much stronger GPUs. I can see 5hs but this is a theory value. Maybe there is some bug in UEFI or Intel/NVIDIA drivers (default settings), 2. UEFI: user cannot disable dGPU (use integrated GPU only) and I cannot see any reason because I believe from HW side there is an additional multiplexer to switch between GPUs (this is what makes Precision series different from other in terms of GPU feature). If user does not use multiple LCD monitors (Dell U2720 connected via TB4 port) and internal laptop screen and we do not need a lot of GPU power it would good to use integrated GPU. I could disable it in Windows HW manager but since dGPU board is installed and power cable connected it still may drain some current (if it is neglible around 0.n Watts you can confirm). a) One option is to remove GPU board and / or unplug GPU board power cable but I would like to know if this can bring any significant benefit in terms of battery life (maybe the main reason is 45W TDP 6-core CPU? b) What UEFI video settings shall be used after removing GPU board to transform to UMA version? c) Is there any difference in heatsink between UMA and dGPU except amount of thermal pads? d) Service Manual: there is a picture with heatsink screws (eight for dGPU version and four for UMA and you give an information in which order to tighten them however you forgot to number these screws on picture. Could you update it please? 3. Dell Power Manager: when we compare performance (Cinebench R23 Single/Multi Core) of Dell Precision 5540 to 7560 in four power modes in Dell Manager we can notice that there is something strange with 7560 model: Dell Precision 5540 Intel Core i7-9850H (power adapter) Dell Power Manager - Thermal Management: Optimized: 5930 Cool: 4033 Quiet: 4603 Ultra Performance: 6404 As you may notice CPU performance increased significantly after setting Optimized and Ultra Performance mode. Dell Precision 7560 - Intel Xeon W11855H (power adapter) Dell Power Manager - Thermal Management: Optimized: 7995 Cool:  Quiet: 8249 Ultra Performance: 8868 As you may see result in Optimized mode is lower than in Quiet mode (really odd since Quiet and Cool modes are to dissipate less power and conserve battery energy). Also see that difference between Optimized and Ultra is not significant (this is odd even if we take into consideration that 7560 model has much better cooling system and flat performance characteristics). Really do not know what designers wanted to achieve here. 4. When user switched from Microsoft RDC application to Microsoft Teams then fonts look like they are washed out. This is some driver bug here or maybe LCD panel has some light sensor? 5. Thermal management: even in Dell Power Manager - Thermal Management - Cool mode bottom is too warm (on battery and with power adapter). There is lack of additional mode with slightly higher fan speed (when you does not want to use on desk). 6. LCD 400 nit FHD from BoeHydis: there is noticeable red tint. Calibration result is horrible here and innaceptable for CAD workstation. In 7760 model 4K UHD panel has the same red tint (poor calibration) and visible silver grain!!! Image quality is noticeable worse (low contrast) than on Precision 5540. This is a cost cutting. Dell take LCD panels from suppliers like Boe but in requirements there is a much higher tolerance. There is no ANY comparison to Apple where there is no place for such LCD parameter distribution / tolerances. 7. Keyboard layout is real regression to engineers compared to old models: typing is not comfortable at all; arrow keys are too small for engineers. If Lenovo can make an additional cut for arrow keys in magnesium chassis and for keyboard why Dell cannot? Again cost cutting and please do not tell me that you wanted to lower cost of final assembly on production because it is so complicated (high) compared to Apple laptops where there is one mainboard, speakers, touchpad and battery and that is all! To conclude: extreme silent workstation with good performance/cooling system but some final tuning is needed here to fill these gaps. Regards,

pb79 · Answer

Ad 1. 3 hrs is also a theory: in fact Windows battery meters shows 2.5 to 1.5h after a while. I know that this is estimation but there is no any significant workload.

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