Dell XPS-13-7390

Question

I have this XPS 13 7390 that is a real piece of work. When I got it it had 285 hours on the SSD which is less than a month of day to day use.

I get my paws on it and first thing I see is that the CPU is thermal throttling real bad. Fine, out some 8 torx screws and a spudger to pry the machine open.

Next thing I do is remove the HS and fan assembly only to discover the thermal material was dried out and powdered. So vacuuming that up was easy enough.

Applying some new thermal material (miniscule amount is all that is needed on the CPU). I then reassembled the machine and booted it up. After some cycles the machine now seems to be working.

Disappointed that the WiFi card soldered into the board instead of the socket most use. I would have liked to install a triband BE200 but that that is not possible.

ejn63 · Answer

The system is still about four years old, so it's not unusual to have to replace the thermal pads.
And most systems this slim have integrated wireless cards -- you can always use a USB external one if you need an upgrade.

HedgeFundManager · Answer

My machine according to the BIOS is 3 years old. Still I was surprising the thermal pads were powdered at < 300 hours.

I know the machine can have the SSD swapped out but the Wifi card is soldered in which is a nuisance.