Hands on Dell Precision 7710

With switchable graphics disabled the new BIOS 1.4.8 update installs normally and seems to be working quite well so far.

I really didn't know what switchable graphics did until now - I would have disabled it from the get go - one of the main reasons for getting the machine was the M5000M
I need that for realtime playback of my 4K videos in Davinci Resolve color grading program so I could care less about the onboard graphics.

 

Do you get display port audio to other devices besides your Asus display while using Intel?

 

Is there a good fan control program that can be used with our 7710?

I've been using Dell's Command Power Manager thermal profile setting of "Quiet" fans. The software honors the setting, but then the fans speed up again after about 5 minutes or so very gradually even if the CPU, GPU, mobo, are the same temps they were when I initial applied the quiet option. I almost do not notice the speeding up of the fans because it is so gradual.

If I re-click the "quiet" profile option again or even if I click the "Optimized" profile then the fans suddenly slow and go silent again. A bit strange. I'm wondering if there is something similar but allows better control of our system fans besides the Dell software. I tried SpeedFan unsuccesfully which gave some funny temp1 and temp2 readings of about 42 billion+ degrees (and didn't allow control of fans).

*edit: The fans are increasing because I've disabled switchable graphics this morning in my BIOS. The dGPU is being utilized all of the time and requiring a bit more power even for simple tasks. Previously my quadro only sipped about 6W-10W while it was at idle with the iGPU doing the work instead. Right now, with just my browser and a few non-intensive programs running, my quadro is pulling 28w - 29W

So this is normal. The fans are speeding up to maintain the same temps. Which is why I don't notice any temp deviations regardless of fan speed. Still, it would be nice to have software with tighter control of the fan speeds. The fans are not very loud or fast, but I do notice after a while if they are running faster than usual.

 

I do not have any other display port devices with speakers to test that. But I'm unable to use the Asus display built in speakers when using optimas (switchable graphics enabled).

 

My systems do this too.... if I change the power profile then the fans suddenly go silent (unless the system was already under load with fans going really high). I think something in the BIOS/firmware that controls the fan speed gets reset when you switch profiles. Fans go back to normal operation after a few minutes.

On M6700/M6800 no one was ever able to find a good way to control the fans via software, so I'm not too hopeful for the 7710...

 

Has anyone who uses their 7710 for doing photo work or video editing/color grading noticed that the maximum brightness of the 4k UHD screen seems a bit on the low side - the colors seem to be spot on (I have it set for sRGB with Premiere Color) and match up very well with my Dell UP3216Q 4K monitor (also set for sRGB) but the brightness of the larger monitor compared with the laptop screen is noticeable.

Anyway of altering screen brightness to a higher level? Obviously, I have everything in BIOS and Windows set for 100%.

 

Has anyone else tried audio from HDMI or DisplayPort while using optimus?

 

Screen brightness might be limited to the fact that the screen is high density. That many pixels on a 17" screen doesn't allow for much light to penetrate between the pixels, hence why they had to go with an IGZO display to try and improve backlight performance but it still isn't as good.

 

That does sound logical (about the pixel density). Since I only got my system a few days ago, I hadn't had a chance to test it more thoroughly so I pulled up the same 4K video files on my desktop workstation with full screen preview on the Dell UP3216Q and also played the same clip simultaneously on the laptop - actually they compared quite good - the decreased brightness of the laptop was barely noticeable and the colors were very accurate.

I will have to say that the color accuracy on this laptop screen is the best I have seen on a laptop.

 

I can't seem to get my new 7710 to boot from the USB key to setup Windows.

My machine came with a 1Tb spindle and Windows installed there, but I want to do a clean setup on the Samsung 950PRO I installed. I have Legacy ROM options disabled on the BIOS, Secure Boot enabled, created a GPT boot drive with Rufus, but the BIOS doesn't give me an option to install from the key!

If I press F12 at POST I get this list:
LEGACY BOOT:
USB Storage Device
UEFI BOOT:
Windows Boot Manager
UEFI: HGST HTS721010A9E630
OTHER OPTIONS:
...

Anything I need to be aware of to do the installation?