Latitude 7480

Also, it would be interesting to see how many PCI-E lanes are connected to the Thunderbolt controller.
Dell crippled the 9550/9560 and 9350/9360 by using only 2 lanes, really curious to see if this is not the case for the Latitude 7480. It would make a nice eGPU machine.

 

This is the first time I am not excited to upgrade my laptop. I have a loaded 7470 and really happy with it right now.....especially since the last ControlVault firmware fixed up a lot of fingerprint reader issues. I was working with Dell and got a replacement and it came with a PM961 512gb PCIe SSD, and it is faster than the 950 Pro!

I have a dock in the E-View stand at my office with 2x LCDs/keybaord/mouse/etc, a dock at one of my bigger customers with 2x LCDs, and a dock at home. The thought of replacing all those does not sound like fun. I did get a WD15 dock for my 7370, will that work? Feel like someone is missing the boat by not making a dock with USB-C to power, few USB, and 2x miniDP ports. I would guess that is all most people need.

At least the power adapter looks the same! I have a Zolt and the tiny power adapter is awesome. That and my wife won't let me get rid of her E7440 so we have power adapters all over the house.

 

The underlying problem is that the Intel CPU packages need more PCIe lanes. A 15w dual core CPU has a maximum of 12 lanes which can be configured as "Up to 1x4, 2x2, 1x2+2x1 and 4x1". A 45W quad core CPU has a maximum of 16 lanes which can be configured as "Up to 1x16, 2x8, 1x8+2x4". What those numbers mean is that a ULV CPU can handle only one 4 lane device and a quad core can handle two 4 lane devices. Priority is usually given to any dGPU and next in line is the PCIe SSD. Thunderbolt seems to be third in the queue. However, a notebook with a quad core CPU and without a dGPU could handle a 4 lane Thunderbolt interface if so designed.

John

 

Sorry to correct your math, but... "1x8+2x4" = 1x8 (dGPU) + 2x4 (M2 + TB3) I don't see a problem here ;-)
For the stuff like LAN, Audio codec etc you have some lanes from the PCH no?

 

I copied those numbers from Intel and interpreted them as 1x8 meaning eight devices each one lane and 2x4 as 4 devices each 2 lanes. I might be wrong and am happy to be corrected by someone who understands this aspect fully.

Yes, some other devices also use PCIe: WiFi and WWAN come to mind and you may be correct about LAN and audio. Security?? So the lanes are largely used. However, the SD card reader is usually on the USB bus (but does the USB controller ise some PCIe lanes?). One can attempt to figure out what is happening in a notebook by using a diagnostic software such as SiSoftware Sandra or HWiNFO but this may not show where there are hardware provisions made for non-used options.

John

 

It looks great but I can't say that it looks "better" then the E7470. I really think they should have made one generation of 7000 series computers with both the E-dock and the newer technology. Most of us business people and executives have docks all over our homes, home offices, and work places. It's going to take some time to swap those all out. Business is going to come to a crawl if companies start handing out new laptops BEFORE the docking stations are all swapped out.

 

Was configuring a 7480 though Premiere and have this option.....not sure the difference....

Processor Information

1. Intel® HD Graphics 620 with Displayport over USB Type-C with Core i5 vPro Selected
2. Intel® HD Graphics 620 with Thunderbolt™ 3 with Core i5 vPro + $0.00

The screen choices are interesting as well. IR webcam? Is that for Windows Hello facial recognition? Narrow bezel? Are they not all InfinityEdge?

1. 14" HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare, Camera & Mic, WLAN Capable ($81.20)
2. 14" HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare, Camera & Mic, WLAN/WWAN Capable ($81.20)
3. 14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare, Mic only, WLAN Capable ($23.20)
4. 14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare, Camera & Mic, WLAN Capable ($17.40)
5. 14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare, Camera & Mic, WLAN/WWAN Capable ($17.40)
6. 14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare, IR Camera & Mic, WLAN/WiGig Capable Selected
7. 14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare, Camera & Mic, WLAN/WiGig Capable, Narrow Bezel + $0.00
8. 14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Touch, Camera & Mic, WLAN/WWAN Capable + $63.80
9. 14" QHD (2560 x 1440) Touch, Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT, Cam & Mic, WLAN/WiGig, Narrow Bezel, CF

 

The fiormer is USB (presumably 3.1) + Displayport only, the latter is Thunderbolt. The only reason not to take the Thunderbolt option, at the same cost, is that there's probably some minor cost to battery life, but otherwise it should work the same until you get Thunderbolt peripherals at which point it may be nice to have.

Yes, the IR webcam is for Windows Hello.

Good catch on the narrow bezel -- no idea what that means in context!

 

Unless the new platform has made significant improvements on the Thunderbolt controller power management then the impact of Thunderbolt on the battery when anything is plugged into the USB C port is significant. I have measured 2.5W to 3W extra power drain on both the Precision 5510 and the Latitude 7370 using the LAN adapter provided with the 5510 but not actually connected to the network. That's potentially 1/3 reduction in the light usage run time. I once tried disabling TB in the 5510 BIOS but it bricked the machine.

John

 

So far everything I have seen shows the same old large bezel (maybe slightly smaller than the old one side bezels, but huge top and bottom still) I am curious what this option is. It would be cool if they made like a 15" screen with slim bezels in the 7480 Body.