Latitude 7450 Owners' Thread

Hi John,

thanks for the reply. I have read the previous threads and I was actually looking for an SSD drive with a PCIe interface, though I don't really understand the differences. The specs of the drive I mention say "Interface: Mini PCIe (SATA)".

Is this PCIe then or SATA?

George

 

I agree that the specs are confusing but the mention of SATA suggests it is SATA as are all the other M.2 2242 SSDs which we know about.

There are other M.2 devices which appear to be PCIe but then mention SATA in the small print. I've been doing a so-far-unsuccessful search for an adapter to connect an M.2 PCIe SSD to either USB or 2.5" SATA as I don't like the prospect of using an M.2 PCIe SSD which I am unable to read if the computer malfunctions. Those which appear to be PCIe have SATA mentioned in the small print.

John

 

Hi, I'm looking at getting a new e7450 with the fhd touchscreen, but am a bit put off by the heating/ fan running issues. Is this a deal breaker? Are there any other things that should be considered before going ahead? Thanks

 

My E7450 doesn't have these problems but it's the version with the dGPU and a better fan. The non-dGPU version has a smaller fan (same as the E7440 which I also had for a while) which can be noticeably noisy under load when in a quiet environment. If you are concerned about fan noise then (if you can't find the dGPU version of the E7450 you may want to look at the E5470. It's slightly heavier than the E7450 but includes a decent fan (similar to that in the dGPU E7450) in all versions, whether or not shipped with the dGPU (which is not a good option for some people since you lose a RAM slot).

The E7450 is now two generations out of date so I'm surprised you can find a new one. The E5470 is now superseded by the E5480. If you have access to Dell Outlet in your country then you can save a lot of money and get the same warranty.

John

 

Does anyone have an issue where the screen will go black for a second and then come back? Any video playing suddenly stops working and I have to refresh the page. I've updated my intel graphics drivers.

 

That sounds like an Nvidia graphics driver issue. It used to happen on one of my older machines. Total shot in the dark.

 

I recently started getting Intel wireless dock software fault errors popping up twice each time I reboot or come back up from sleep. I can not turn it off because the software will not run.

I updated Microsoft .NET framework, checked with Dell for updates and reinstalled the dell supplied drivers for the wireless interface.

Any other suggestions?

Oh and I use hardwired docks not wireless, so if I could completely disable the wireless dock I would be fine with that.

 

What device is that in Device Manager? I can see an Intel WiUSB on my E7450 but haven't a clue what it is.

John

 

Hi John. Is there any room inside E7450 to install regular 2280 PCIe SSD and use this kind of extender? Maybe next to mSATA drive?
https://www.amazon.com/SMAKN®-NGFF-42mm-M-2NGFF-adapter/dp/B01113N8LM/ref=pd_cp_147_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RD5C146BZYJ0PKXRFBF6

 

Is your objective to add to the storage or to get the extra speed which PCIe might provide? Unless you have the dGPUE7450 y ou can achieve the former with a 2.5" SATA SSD. A higher capacity SSD tends to have a larger cache and hence better performance than the low capacity members of the same family.

If you have the iGPU version of the E7450 then you might be able to put an M.2 2280 into the 2.5" bay using that cable but the description of the cable advises against folding it, which you would probably need to do at two points along the cable. Otherwise there's no obvious space.

John