
Dell Launches XPS 15 7590: OLED Display, CPU Up to 5 GHz - jseliger
https://www.anandtech.com/show/14506/dell-launches-xps-15-7590
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anaphor
I've heard about lots of people having issues with the new Killer WiFi
chipsets (on both Windows and Linux). I have a Dell XPS 13 (9350) which had
the Broadcom chipset in it. Eventually, I also started having issues with it
under Linux (see:
[https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=201853](https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=201853)).

It wasn't until I bought an Intel AC 8265 on ebay and replaced it myself that
the WiFI actually started working perfectly.

I can't understand why they don't just ship it with Intel WiFi chips instead
of these flaky Broadcom and Killer ones. Is it because they have some sort of
OEM agreement with Broadcom or Killer? I don't get it. It's a fantastic
machine in every other way, but if the wireless is flaky then it's a
showstopper.

Also with regard to this new machine, I would rather have good battery life
and decent performance than a really fast CPU that drains my battery quickly
and heats up my machine.

~~~
rstuart4133
I've got a bunch of fanless mini-pc's (fit-pc4's). They come with Intel WiFi
modules. I intended to turn them info WiFi hot spots, so I tested them out at
a company conference. It was a mess - PC's kept dropping off the WiFi network
left right and centre. In the end I tracked it down to the Intel modules not
supporting more than 13 clients. And they had a bunch of other limitations as
well, all of which like the 13 clients weren't documented.

In the end I ordered a bunch (10 or so) different WiFi AC modules off EBay
(including newer Intel modules), PXE booted 100 laptops with an image that
created a suitable amount of traffic, and powered them on one by one until
something failed.

The Intel modules were both the worst and most expensive. They best by far
were the atheros wifi modules - and they were also the cheapest.

Now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing an Intel WiFi module in a
router, so that outcome was not as surprising now as it was then. And of
course now I've seen Intel fail to deliver the 5G modems Apple was waiting on.

~~~
jononor
The reason you don't see Intel chipsets in routers is because they don't have
as cheap and plentiful integrated offerings like Broadcom and Atheros (ARM
based SoCs).

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AaronFriel
I have a 9575 and a 9570, and cooling is the biggest issue I have. They both
run extremely hot, and charging the 9570 through the former's 130W USB-C
charger causes it to reach temperatures I can only describe as "unsafe".

It doesn't help battery life that some applications I run like Docker for
Windows like to enter a permanent CPU usage state that prevents the system
from idling and reducing power usage below that high water mark. But since I
run a lot of VMs and containers, I don't expect a lot of battery life on
either.

The fixed camera placement is probably the biggest feature for me. Oh, and up
to 64GB of RAM.

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mises
I've had a 9560 and currently have a 9570. Both have cooling issues.
Undervolting helps, repasting helps, but VRMS become an issue. A guy named
iUnlock did a pretty crazy mod where he diverts part of the fan airflow to
cool VRMS, which is indeed very helpful, but is way too much for almost every
one. I'm glad to see dell added new chips, but unless they greatly improved
the cooling, it will be for naught.

Of course, the OLED is pretty great. I hope more laptops use it soon. Sad I'll
end up waiting about six years before replacing, if I can get away with it.

Also, Dell had better fix their bios bugs. The bios has issues, they reduced
the tjmax for the nvidia gpu a few updates back, there are sleep bugs,
processor state bugs, audio bugs, and many others. If Dell wants to pitch a
premium machine, they'd better ship a premium firmware with it.

~~~
the_pwner224
> I've had a 9560 and currently have a 9570. Both have cooling issues.
> Undervolting helps, repasting helps, but VRMS become an issue.

I have a 9560, and would not have bought it if I was aware of the thermal
issues. I'm very angry that this is even legal - Dell (and the other OEMs,
including Apple) should be required to put big red signs everywhere if their
customers cannot fully use the computer without buying it.

By default, just stressing the CPU makes it downclock to the minimum of 800
MHz and the computer becomes unusable. Undervolting the CPU in Linux took an
hour, now I can run it at max and the temp goes to 70/75 degrees with no
performance issues. But using both the CPU and Nvidia GPU kills everything,
since the GPU heat also spreads to the CPU. On Windows you can underclock the
GPU but it doesn't make a big difference. Playing Overwatch at minimum
settings and 1080p _should_ work well on the GTX 1050, but I have to resort to
hacks like limiting the CPU to 70% speed and putting a 70 FPS limit in
Overwatch to keep the GPU from burning itself. And even then it stays at 90-95
degrees and sometimes crashes. Training neural networks was a bit more doable
but still not fun.

I have no idea how they put a 6-core i7 in the 9570 without it melting down.
And this new 5GHz one seems similarly ridiculous.

TL;DR just buy a gaming laptop - they're cheaper for the same specs and
generally have a sturdy build. You might not get 10-12 hours battery and will
need to carry around a charger, but the thermal issues are not worth it. Plus
you get an Ethernet port included usually, and more USB ports.

~~~
anaphor
The Lenovo Thinkpad P52 looks like a pretty decent machine (but like you said,
you'd need to carry around a charger everywhere)

[https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/Thi...](https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/ThinkPad-P52/p/22WS2WPWP52)

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carroccio
For me XPS is an unstable machine: bad firmware, bad wifi chip, bad tb dock,
kernel modules crash continuously. Next time i'll buy something else (and
cheaper).

~~~
ozmaverick72
Anyone else feel like commenting on build quality and reliability of xps
machines. I bought an xps 13 for my mother-in-law with the hope of minimising
support calls. The motherboard failed within the first year and it took more
than three onsite support visits to sort it out with Dell who eventually
replaced it under warranty. We have Dell Inspiron laptops at work and they are
bearly useable heaps of junk. Hoped the xps range was better but based on my
sample of one,it doesn't look like it.

~~~
anotheryou
I got two, now older generations and had problems:

\- display dims when using dark themes. Had to use a sketchy unofficial leaked
firmware patch to fix it.

\- bluetooth + wifi not working

\- changed chipset, now bluetooth only working when I activate/deactivate it
once after startup

\- after 2.5 years or so the battery of one bloated (got free replacement,
quite nice to have the battery refreshed actually)

\- bluescreens

\- the dock... I had my display not turning back on when disconnecting, USB
stopping to work after disconnecting, slight electric shocks from one even. Oh
and the USB-c dock blocks your only usb-c slot and does not have any usb-c
hub.

\- I blew a speaker in week 2 (don't EQ it, neither yourself, nor with the
dell eq stuff)

\- the case screws are tiny. I was afraid I put one in at an angle, another
one got lost because I didn't have any locktight.

Other than that very nice machines... I also now people without any of these
problems.

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intsunny
I'll never understand why people gush over the raw specs of a machine, but not
the bloatware that chip away from the effectiveness of the hardware.

~~~
the_pwner224
The bloatware is universal across all non-Apple computers. You can download a
Windows 10 ISO for free from Microsoft's website (apparently they've started
blocking it if your User Agent indicates that you're already on Windows, but
that's trivial to bypass). Download ISO, burn to USB, reinstall Windows and
you get rid of all the bloat. The license key is embedded in the hardware
these days.

That said, MS gives ridiculous freedom to drivers. It auto-installs drivers
for my 9560's audio and Thunderbolt controllers. The audio drivers include a
'Waves MaxxAudio Pro' application that stays in the system tray; stopping it
makes the audio stop working. The Intel TB drivers also have a permanent
unremovable notification in the system tray.

What's worse is that when you plug in a Logitech Webcam, Windows automatically
downloads drivers (which are not necessary if you're on Linux since webcams
use the same standard protocol), and then the Logitech drivers pop up a giant
popup window asking to install their bloatware application (which is not
required for the camera to work). What else does Windows let hardware
manufacturers autoinstall onto your computer? Keyloggers? Rootkits?

~~~
dvlsg
Why would they block you from downloading windows if you're already on
windows?

For what it's worth, I successfully downloaded that windows iso from microsoft
less than a week ago from a windows machine, and used it to reformat that same
machine without any issues or workarounds.

~~~
vetinari
They don't block you.

They offer to download Media Creation Tool, which itself either downloads the
ISO, burns DVD or makes an USB with installer for you.

There is one subtle difference between the ISO you can download and what the
tool downloads: the ISO contains install.wim file, which is larger than 4 GB
(i.e. it won't fit on FAT32 usb, if you are going to make it yourself; it is
fine with UDF, when burning), while the MCT image contains install.esd, which
uses different compression and fits into FAT32.

TLDR: if you want USB stick with installer, use the Media Creation Tool. You
won't be able to make it easily from the ISO (aside from wim-splitting, esd-
recompressing, or using NTFS if your UEFI supports it).

~~~
the_pwner224
Oh, that's cool! Seems like it's not malicious then (though it _may_ be the
case that the media creation tool doesn't allow you to download a higher level
of Win10 - the normal ISO download allows you to install Win10 Home OR Pro
during setup, unless your computer has an embedded license key in which case
it automatically installs that version).

That also explains why I always had to flash the ISO to a USB stick with Rufus
(inside VirtualBox) - just `dd` or `cat`ing it onto /dev/sdX never worked.

~~~
vetinari
If your target is UEFI boot only, you don't need any special tool to make the
install media. Just copy all the files to a filesystem supported by UEFI and
you are good to go. The FAT32 support is mandatory, and the UEFI bootloader
looks into the efi directory in the root to find the boot files. Some UEFI
implementations also support NTFS, but that's optional, so it cannot be used
on universally usable boot medium.

The magic boot sector that all those tools like Rufus create, is needed only
for legacy boot.

The Windows 10 ISO from the download is using UDF filesystem and is intended
for burning. If you dd it to a block device, very few firmwares support that
from non-optical drive. Prior to 1809 release, it's install.wim was smaller
than 4G, so you could make UEFI installer by just copying all the files to USB
drive, but since 1809, the easier way is just to use the Media Creation Tool.
The harder way is to recompress install.wim into install.esd, or just use NTFS
if your firmware has the support (e.g. Intel NUCs do).

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thevagrant
I am not keen on oled screens for laptops. Screen burn in would be a massive
annoyance. I suspect manufacturers will push in this direction though to give
people yet another reason to have to throw away a device and upgrade...

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ppetty
For articles and reviews like this, is it responsible journalism to not link
and therefore promote the product? I’m genuinely curious if this is an
oversight or something else; I see this a lot. It’s not hard to cut n paste
the model number and on Dell’s site; but linking to the thing you’re reviewing
is convenient; on the flip side Amazon embeds wirecutter reviews and
wirecutter almost exclusively reviews products but links to Amazon instead of
a manufacturer.

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mamon
The title is misleading. Dell did not launch it yet, it still says "Comming
soon" on their website.

