Dell Precision 7560 & Precision 7760 pre-release discussion

Yeah, unfortunately, no touchscreen and not any higher than HDR 400, but it's matte. 120 hz is a nice goodie although I have never used a display above 60hz so 120hz when non gaming is probably completely useless, but hey, who doesn't want to see their mouse cursor at 120 frames per second?

 

I've also never used a screen (laptop or desktop) with refresh rate higher than 60Hz, but those that did often mention there is a noticeable difference between 60 and 120Hz even for just desktop app use.
Anyway, it is a differentiating factor for Dell, because Lenovo does not have it on its comparable model (P17 gen 2).

 

It's tempting to wait... but I suspect performance improvement will be around 20-ish%, which is around the same increase from 10th to 11th gen. Considering that I use programs that are heavily GPU accelerated, I don't think it's worth the wait if it's still stuck with Ampere.
Maybe Intel will make a comeback? Although comically, they are on 10+++ node...

It's still a shame that many programs are not very optimized for multithread performance, meaning that going from 8C to 8C + 8c might not be a huge difference. And regardless of CPU efficiency, battery life on a workstation while actually doing things is going to be hot garbage unless they increase the max battery capacity allowed on an airplane.

I suspect in a few years, CPU's will far surpass even Alder lake when we (hopefully) see 5nm and maybe ARM. So that's when I'm probably going to upgrade. Maybe I will wait even more because spending $5,000 on a laptop really hurts, but at least I know it will last. I had a charging port issue on my XPS 15 7590 which had me send it away for weeks to get it fixed... not ideal. But my XPS was also 1/3rd the cost of the Precision that I specced. Only time will tell whether I'm buying into mobile workstations in the future. At least I will get jacked arms from carrying the thing around

 

That's true. However, I'm not sure whether these integrated graphics can handle 4k 120hz

Edit: the graphics should be fine

 

Go for it if you can afford it. You pay a crap ton for the chassis, but it's a good chassis. However, if you like moving around a lot and using a computer while lounging, etc., I would recommend against it. It definitely won't be the most comfortable laptop to put on your laptop. And it's size and weight limits it to mostly on desk use. But if you are jacked, ignore what I said about the weight. It's not too heavy to make it useless as a laptop.

Also, I would recommend to avoid the T1200 as it's not too future proof. It's pretty much the same as a 1650 which is meh and definitely not suited for games in the future to take advantage of a large 17 inch 4k screen. The A3000 would be the minimum that you would want for the laptop to last a good few years.

The XPS 17 is a really good option, but it's lack of ports makes it a less than satisfactory option. However, if you are willing to embrace dongle life, the XPS 17 would be a better laptop. it should be powerful enough and it's small for a 17 inch laptop. I don't know of any other 17 inch laptops as light and well rounded as the XPS 17. LG Gram is lighter, but with significant compromises to build quality and performance.

 

Well. I bought my M6700 at launch (2012) so it will be a full ten years old when I replace it. These things can last a while

 

https://www.techspot.com/review/2262-intel-core-i7-11800h/

This graph is interesting; look like the 11th gen processors can really take advantage of more power. Going from 65 to 90 watts gives around a 15% improvement in performance. Kinda bummed that the Precision can't sustain higher wattages than 48 watts for CPU and GPU load. However, in CPU only loads, performance should be significantly higher than last gen.

TLDR: at 75 watts, the new i7 11800H (8c/16t) is 35% faster than the previous i7-10870H (8c/16t)

This is probably the biggest generational upgrade in countless years after stagnant progress, considering the advancements in CPU and GPU. Well, maybe going from 2c to 4c was a bigger improvement than this. If you are waiting for an upgrade, this year is the one to pull the trigger. Though, if you want to roll the dice and wait another year, that's also fine. 12th gen intel should be a decent improvement over 11th gen, but there likely won't be new GPU's.

 

My M4800 (old work laptop) is 7 years old, and the CPU is fast af. Never repasted or cleaned the fans, and the temps with full cpu and gpu load are 85C and 65C (gpu is slightly overclocked). However, Quadro K2100M (the best that you could get) was a huge disappointment. For context, the K2100M is on par with 14nm intel UHD graphics. K5100M wasn't an option because I'm pretty sure it will power throttle in the 15 inch chassis. If it was the 17 inch version, it would have lasted a few years more with a K5100M upgrade.

But now with thunderbolt, an eGPU is a nice way to easily extend the life of a computer for a few more years. Technically, computers don't get slower; software gets more demanding. But I think we have reached a point where software isn't developing as fast as before in the creative space due to photorealism getting so much easier to achieve with modern render engines, making more demanding render engines not worth it for a negligible visual improvement.

My XPS 15 7590 (got it for $1750 on black friday 2019) is still usable for another year with my workflow although nowhere near ideal.
Considering that the 7760 that I ordered is a 2x CPU improvement, and 4x GPU improvement (it's 10x faster in RT accelerated applications), I won't need an upgrade in a loooooong time. 5 years warranty also won't hurt.

 

Has anybody noticed how tight is the power supply of the 7560 (180W) towards the laptop power requirements when you add a 4K screen together with the A5000?

180W power supply against:
45W for CPU (not even the peak power)
90W for A5000 (maybe not even the peak power)
18W for 4K screen (source: 7560 manual; FHD is approx. 7.4W)
2.5W for audio (source: 7560 manual)
12W for 4 ram modules?
21W for 3 SSDs?
Total: 188W
Not counting Wifi, WWAN, USBs, etc.

The chances to have some power throttling or loss in performance at high CPU/GPU load looks realistic in this case

I really do not understand why Dell sticks to 180W power supply in the 7560 vs a 240W power supply that the 7760/7750/Lenovo 15 inch laptops already have

For this reason, if anyone is considering the 4K on the 7560, he probably should also consider this issue

Or is there anyone with experience in e.g. using the 7750 240W power supply on the 7550? Can the 7550 safely draw more power than 180W in this case?

I guess it might not make any difference because of the power supply restrictions set within the laptop itself

However, I would be happy to know your opinion

Thanks anyone in advance for his feedback

 

Slight correction: Pretty sure the speakers are 2/2.5 watts for each speaker, so 4 or 5 watts in total.

Chances are, the CPU and GPU won't be able to go over 45/90 watts respectively for a long period of time due to limitations to a 15 inch laptop thermal design. The system might draw a bit of battery power under short spikes of load, but should settle down to have a power draw of around 170-ish watts.

And also I thought laptop NVME ssd's took up much less than 7 watts of power each...

Edit: I probably didn't make it too clear, but I think the system will opt to draw a bit of battery power over limiting power for short bursts of load. The short bursts shouldn't drain the battery more than a fraction of a percent.