Dell Latitude 5491 and 5591

Just announced, good to see such powerful specs in these units.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...ake-H-and-GeForce-MX130-options.299764.0.html

Hope Dell updates 7xxx series as well.

 

My generation of e5450 had full power quad core options, too. But they were cTDP limited to 35w, since the cooling system can already barely handle a 15 dual core + tiny dGPU. I don’t even game anymore. So we are talking of just the CPU. Maybe the quad core version gets a better cooling system? I’ve occasionally wondered how such a large laptop seems to be outperformed by slimmer ones.

 

My E5470 (on AC) ran OK when I used Intel XTU to increase the cTDP back to the 45W hardware limit, although it hit throttling some even at 35W especially if I was using the iGPU much. I don't remember ever seeing a quad-core E5450 -- I was waiting for a 32GB-capable quad core machine that was lighter than the 4-DIMM-socket 15" workstations and never spotted it.

Regardless, this is likely to be my next machine as long as I'm reading the specs right -- that is, assuming I can get it with a 6-core CPU, iGPU-only with a 90W adapter -- and that it's reasonably affordable.

 

I have got to admit - I have never seen them, either. Like the 62Whr battery, I only ever saw them in spec sheets, and I could never find the battery. It was promised in Spring 2015, and I never, ever found it in the 5450 battery listings. I checked throughout all of 2015 and most of 2016. Later, it turned out the 62Whr battery for the E5470(?) was compatible (pull the 5470 cable and use the E5450 battery cable), so I used that to replace my dying battery.

It should also be noted, at the time, I couldn't find the Nvidia GT840m option on the Dell configuration page, either. I only got one when I googled the configuration I wanted, and google returned a link that went straight into the configurator. After I ordered, I was somewhat worried for the month that I was waiting that Dell didn't have such a configuration and I would get a laptop without the dGPU. Unlike Lenovo, Dell uses different motherboards for the dGPU vs IGP Latitude 5000s, so I had never seen a dGPU version of the E5450 until I got mine. Looking at the Dell page today for the 5490, only two of the 15 configurations offer the Nvidia dGPU, and I have no clue why its offered in some, but not others.



Also, a line in that NBC page has me wondering, "The 5491 now also gains the TrackPoint nub that the 5490 omits[...]." I remember the 5490 already has the trackpoint in the US. I wonder if this little bit was a quirk of region specific configuration.

EDIT: This other line, too "[...]the 5490 and 5590 are limited to 15 W Intel 8th gen U-Series CPUs with integrated graphics[...]," is odd, as well. It's likely the German models were significantly more restricted in their configurations, since the US already gets dGPU and Trackpoint in the 5490.

 

The Dell US retail configurations are decidedly weird. I'm not surprised if the German configurations are both still weird and a bit more limited.

While they no longer (usually) offer a full BTO to the public on the web for Latitude models (unlike Precision), they still do via Premier, and there's usually a fair degree you can do with phone agents if you don't have Premier access.

I haven't looked much at the 5490 because without the H-series CPUs, the 7490 was a much more interesting machine but it looked like it had a pretty full BTO configuration on Premier (sadly, while I have access my employer has long since ceased to employees to order personal machines on it ) ... and given enough patience, most configurations can be found on Outlet (including a few oddball ones) -- I'll probably wait for outlet to come up with the basic configuration I need (8750H/8850H, iGPU, 1080p non-touch, dual-pointing backlit) and just adapt any of the other parts (SSD, wifi, memory) I need and live with or without any of the other minor bits (battery size, etc) I can't get just so. Worked pretty well with my 5470 until the sudden shutdown issues started happening.

On Premier, the single pointer/dual pointer/dual pointer backlight option for keyboards has been there on all the models I've looked at since they got rid of the 6000-series.

 

Speaking of sudden shutdown, that was when I returned to NBRforums. My E5450 had random shutdowns starting in 2016, and I resolved it twofold:
-New battery
-Retightened every single screw in the base chassis (EVERY SINGLE SCREW).

My laptop battery had started going bad without any warning, which caused random shutdowns (always reporting #M1004 thermal overheat - yet the system was often at idle). The chassis had also worked itself loose over the years, which also caused other shutdowns that were not as random.



I think if I ever replace this laptop, it will be with an equivalent Thinkpad (this gen, that would be the T480 - not T480s). I want to see if the Lenovo waters are any better. That being said, my E5450 works perfectly fine new, and it feels just as firm and rock solid as the day I got it (the solidity really impressed me, when I first got the E5450 to replace my dying Vaio S13).

 

Do they offer a T480 with the 6-core H-series processors? In past generations, that would have been the T480p, which has not been announced. Once going with a U-series processor, I'd much rather go with the E7490 or T480s (or X1 Carbon)... price permitting, of course, and at least with the Dells via Outlet, the price premium of the nicer 7000-series machines isn't big.

I've ordered a new battery for the 5470 to see if that eliminates the shutdown problem (a new motherboard under warranty didn't.)

 

I could be (and probably am) wrong, but I think the X1 Carbon with the quad cores is having heat issues.

 

Sometime since Saturday, the 5491 showed up on Premier and on the public ordering site.

Somewhat configurable on the public US site.

The one somewhat annoying surprise is that Thunderbolt is only available on dGPU configurations -- other than that, no problem getting a fully spec'ed out machine with iGPU only. RAM upgrades and SSD size upgrades are currently very pricey at least on my former employer's premier account, but I'd imagine that will come down to be comparable to other models with some time.

For the first time that I've seen, they support buying these with 2x card SSDs (presumably the "class 35" go in the WWAN slot?) via Premier -- doesn't seem to be an option on the public site yet.

Base warranty in the US is 3 years (yay!) although the cost of adding ProSupport has gone way up.

Right now, I plan to wait for these to show up on outlet on an iGPU-only 8850H configuration, but there are few enough Linux-friendly machines with ergonomics I won't hate, so I'm almost certain to get one.

 

Yeah, I was just as surprised to see these come up on the US site, too.

TB3 is finally available, I was afraid that was going to be a Precision-variant exclusive. It's still using the same old MX130 (why is the MX150 missing from this?), but the power requirements have been bumped way up for these quad and hex cores! 65W powers my E5450 dual core + dGPU, 90W is required for the 5490 Uquad+dGPU, now 130W is required for the Hquad+dGPU. In a not-subtle way Dell is telling us the "15W' and "45W" ratings of these new chips are not lining up with reality.

Too bad there is no way to use the 2.5" SATA space for a larger battery, like how many Dell 15" laptops are doing, nowadays.

EDIT: relatively speaking, it's about ~$250 more for a 5491Hquad+dGPU+TB3 than it is for a similar 5490 Uquad+dGPU. Part of that is because it forces you into a M.2 drive if you chose the dGPU/TB3 configuration. I am waiting for the service manuals to up uploaded, since I am curious to see if this is simply an online configurator quirk, or is the internal configuration of the dGPU+TB3 variant different enough to physically require a M.2 card over a 2.5" SSD.