With mobile AMD Ryzen finally catching up to Intel's long-running ULV Core U series, all eyes have been on Ice Lake and Comet Lake-U to see how Intel would respond. Pressure has been on Dell to knock it out of the park with its second generation XPS 13 2-in-1 especially since it is the first to ship with the Ice Lake Core i7-1065G7. The flagship convertible mostly succeeds with a few caveats.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-7390-2-in-1-Core-i7-1065G7-Review-Faster-Than-Any-XPS-13-Before-It.436573.0.html
Ice Lake is promising, but this Dell isn't nearly as so because of the lack of ports. Would prefer a 1x USB-A, 2x USB-C (TB3) to to maximize options for charging, connecting needed peripherals, and hooking up tn another monitor. 2 TB3 ports is too low.
@Notebookcheck:
As a developer, 99% of time I use my laptop just as a portable desktop system block. So usually the laptop is attached to a large monitor, while laptop lid is closed.
Is it correct to say that, due to heat output nosels position in this model, my usage scenario of keeping the lid closed would cause serious performance degradation and loud fan?
"The display backlight flickers at 2500 Hz (Likely utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 25 % and below"
and you count is as cons?
i found it very unprofessional. do you even know sombody with <25% brightness on his laptop?
How does it fare against the Asus Zenbook 392FN in terms of graphics and performance?
Finally there's a material performance gain in this form factor compared to the 4770HQ in VAIO Z Canvas.
How does it perform if the power limit is pinned to 25W?
I'm pretty sure Dell opted for 15W, not 25W. Even in your screenshot of GPUz it shows TDP 15W. What's your source to show Dell is using 25W here?
Quote from: Cody on October 07, 2019, 00:43:06
I'm pretty sure Dell opted for 15W, not 25W. Even in your screenshot of GPUz it shows TDP 15W. What's your source to show Dell is using 25W here?
HWinfo shows more than 30W, yet the performance looks more like 15W than 25W, so maybe Ice Lake's power reporting is a bit weird after 4 years of Skylake power reporting
I have the new XPS 13 7390 clamshell in the i5 8GB RAM configuration. I have noticed some lag when I try to change the screen brightness and the battery estimation varies wildly (from 30h+ to <10h in a few minutes difference while only using word processor), and a few other minor issues. I would like to know if your review units of the XPS 13 2-in-1 also experienced this issues or if it's normal and I should just be happy with my unit.
Thanks
QuoteOffer comparable raw performance to the 35 W AMD Ryzen 7 3700U at a higher performance-per-Watt
Found a typo, the 3700U is 15W while the 3750H is 35W and it offers better sustained CPU/GPU performance by your charts.
Maybe that's why MS went with 3780U with Vega11 instead of this 100C cpu.
Good article with a lot of information to digest. I have the top specs 7390 2 in 1 model and my CPU throttles a lot under heavy load. In the article:
"When running Prime95, clock rates cycle between 2.9 and 3.5 GHz for the first minute or so before stabilizing at 3.0 to 3.1 GHz thereafter. "
Mine would never get that kind of stustained frequency... Under Prime95, it would hover around 2.4-2.5 GHz. I wonder what could be the reason for the lower score... I know factory thermal paste degradation could also be the reason... Anyone who has the 7390 would like to chip in?
Update: Under HWinfo, I get CPU Power limit 'yes' on all 4 cores... What does it mean and does anyone know how can I fix that?
Quote from: Andres on October 07, 2019, 08:41:13
I have the new XPS 13 7390 clamshell in the i5 8GB RAM configuration. I have noticed some lag when I try to change the screen brightness and the battery estimation varies wildly (from 30h+ to <10h in a few minutes difference while only using word processor), and a few other minor issues. I would like to know if your review units of the XPS 13 2-in-1 also experienced this issues or if it's normal and I should just be happy with my unit.
Thanks
Hi Andres, I am interested in buying the XPS 13 7390 clamshell version myself. Could you please list all the minor issues you mentioned in your post? Anything that is particularly problematic? Thanks!
This ultra-thin Dell XPS laptop is running at 15W mode, not at 25W as stated. Whatever happened to the idle and video playback tests?
I've had this exact model for a month now and I'm getting absolutely nowhere near the battery life I read about in reviews including this very thorough one. I'm getting 3-4 hours of time while at work, running productivity apps (spreadsheets and browsers primarily). The screen is really bright and very nice, but even when I drop it a notch or two it doesn't seem to add too much to battery runtime. What am I doing wrong?? I am definitely a power user but I'm not doing anything graphical. I've even installed Great Suspender in an effort to tame power consumption from my ~40 open Chrome tabs. That doesn't seem to have done the trick either.
Is it really running with LPDDR4-1866 only?
Sorry, but painting this as 35W vs 25W TDP CPU seems rather disingenuous to me, seeing as - in your own reviews - load power draw characteristics of both machines are rather similar, with the XPS even drawing more under load both on average and maximum.
I mean Notebookcheck is well regarded for doing large amount of actual measuring - why not doing it properly and read the actual configured power limits with tools like e.g. XTU, uProf or others.
Especially since TDP as it is used by the manufacturers is an increasingly useless metric anyway.
Quote from: crespi on October 07, 2019, 16:37:48
Quote from: Andres on October 07, 2019, 08:41:13
I have the new XPS 13 7390 clamshell in the i5 8GB RAM configuration. I have noticed some lag when I try to change the screen brightness and the battery estimation varies wildly (from 30h+ to <10h in a few minutes difference while only using word processor), and a few other minor issues. I would like to know if your review units of the XPS 13 2-in-1 also experienced this issues or if it's normal and I should just be happy with my unit.
Thanks
Hi Andres, I am interested in buying the XPS 13 7390 clamshell version myself. Could you please list all the minor issues you mentioned in your post? Anything that is particularly problematic? Thanks!
Hi there, the last issues it's given me are that it won't turn on when I press the power button (>70% charge) even if I waited, tried a few times and could only fix it by closing and opening the lid again, weird. Also it wouldn't connect to the wifi, l thought it was a signal problem but when it happened in a few places I restarted the laptop and then it worked. I will contact Dell about this because it's only 2 weeks old. For all the rest, l love the laptop so much. It just doesn't feel reliable enough for my use.
What is exact thickness of the top and bottom bezels?
Hi, how did you guys managed a score of 2024 under cinebench R20??? That's a crazily high score and outlandish. Can you reproduce that consistently? My maximum score is around `1650 for R20 and 734 for R15... I would like to know what clockspeed do you reach under thermal throttling? I'm suspecting the XPS 13 7390 have wildly inconsistent ice lake performance. Do you guys purchase your own laptops or are they sent by Dell?
" You'll be giving up a lot of extras just for the thin aesthetics of the latest XPS 13 2-in-1."
Thin aesthetics and 32 GB RAM option - which if it matters to one none of the alternatives seem to have.
Quote from: Nastav on October 30, 2019, 14:36:43
" You'll be giving up a lot of extras just for the thin aesthetics of the latest XPS 13 2-in-1."
Thin aesthetics and 32 GB RAM option - which if it matters to one none of the alternatives seem to have.
As long as there's another SODIMM slot, it's often better to get another stick yourself. 32GB RAM is often bundled with overcharges like a 2TB SSD or an improperly cooled i9 or something.
>As long as there's another SODIMM slot, it's often better to get another stick yourself. 32GB RAM is often bundled with overcharges like a 2TB SSD or an improperly cooled i9 or something.
Quite true. That said, light-and-thin 13-14" laptops rarely come with extra slots these days.
Connect charger, click battery icon and change power mode to 'Best Performance'. Go into Dell Power Management and change thermal setting to 'Performance'.
Doing this I got 2072 on Cinebench R20.
Quote from: ryo4ever on October 17, 2019, 18:40:47
Hi, how did you guys managed a score of 2024 under cinebench R20??? That's a crazily high score and outlandish. Can you reproduce that consistently? My maximum score is around `1650 for R20 and 734 for R15... I would like to know what clockspeed do you reach under thermal throttling? I'm suspecting the XPS 13 7390 have wildly inconsistent ice lake performance. Do you guys purchase your own laptops or are they sent by Dell?
A short review from me: I've received my i7 unit with 32GB ram in September 2019. Since then it has been permanently under repair with several parts literally falling apart:
Various keys get stuck over time and don't come up anymore. I had 2 keyboards in the first unit I received, both suffering the same problem. The keys already have a short travel, but in my model some keys randomly get stuck half down. Including sometimes the space bar, at whichtextslook likethis.
The rubber at the display and at the bottom of the device gets loose and disconnects after about 1 month of use. I attribute this to the general hotness of my devices.
The bottom of my device tends to get very hot with an ambient temperature of 25C, as hot that I can almost burn my hand (keeping it a few seconds is ok, I would not hold it longer than that).
Fans are almost always on, probably tightly related. Even in idle mode.
The audio jack port got loose after 1.5 month of use and the headset connector does not stay properly anymore. This causes audio to partially go through the speakers, partially through the headset.
Related to that are loose hinges, which make the display very shaky.
I'm now with a replacement device. It also tends to get very hot again and as that started the process of breaking the first unit, I'm now the third month since buying in constant touch with Dell.
My impression is that the i7/32GB model is a design flaw: while yes, it supports 32GB RAM, if I fill it up with some browser tabs (tweetdeck, facebook, reddit, etc. - quite someheavy tabs), the machine becomes cpu bound and is almost as slow as the 5th gen Lenovo X1 carbon, which is constantly swapping with the same workload.
Reliability wise, it's the worst notebook I've bought in 22 years and would strongly recommend to avoid this device.
Quote from: Nico Schottelius on February 17, 2020, 17:00:35
A short review from me: I've received my i7 unit with 32GB ram in September 2019. Since then it has been permanently under repair with several parts literally falling apart:
Various keys get stuck over time and don't come up anymore. I had 2 keyboards in the first unit I received, both suffering the same problem. The keys already have a short travel, but in my model some keys randomly get stuck half down. Including sometimes the space bar, at whichtextslook likethis.
The rubber at the display and at the bottom of the device gets loose and disconnects after about 1 month of use. I attribute this to the general hotness of my devices.
The bottom of my device tends to get very hot with an ambient temperature of 25C, as hot that I can almost burn my hand (keeping it a few seconds is ok, I would not hold it longer than that).
Fans are almost always on, probably tightly related. Even in idle mode.
The audio jack port got loose after 1.5 month of use and the headset connector does not stay properly anymore. This causes audio to partially go through the speakers, partially through the headset.
Related to that are loose hinges, which make the display very shaky.
I'm now with a replacement device. It also tends to get very hot again and as that started the process of breaking the first unit, I'm now the third month since buying in constant touch with Dell.
My impression is that the i7/32GB model is a design flaw: while yes, it supports 32GB RAM, if I fill it up with some browser tabs (tweetdeck, facebook, reddit, etc. - quite someheavy tabs), the machine becomes cpu bound and is almost as slow as the 5th gen Lenovo X1 carbon, which is constantly swapping with the same workload.
Reliability wise, it's the worst notebook I've bought in 22 years and would strongly recommend to avoid this device.
Very interesting, I have the 16GB/512GB version and although it's yet to see extended usage I have none of the problems you mentioned except the loose hinge, however my fingerprint reader is really unstable and having registered 3 times the same fingerprint there's a ~50% chance of Windows forcing me to PIN from 3 consecutive failed attempts at fingerprint unlock.
I'll be keeping an eye out for the issues you mentioned, good thing my unit is on extended warranty.
Has anyone undervolted this? Worth it?