Optimize a Dell 7480

Hey there all,

I've a Dell 7480 provided by work - not quite my first choice, but it does the job. I was curious if any of the resident experts here had any thoughts on how to make it chug a bit less. I've pruned off all the bloatware, but wasn't sure if there's anything hardware (RAM?) or software side I could do to improve performance a bit. It's primarily a productivity workhorse, but occasionally I'd like to be able to game on it while in transit.

Thanks in advance!

-JP

 

Latitude, I presume, so I'm moving this to the appropriate sub-forum.

Can you tell us more about the specs: Which CPU, how much RAM (and one or two modules?) and what type / capacity of storage drive (HDD or SSD although I don't think that HDD is an option). Probably the only tweak to get slightly better gaming performance is to make sure you have dual channel RAM of at least 16GB (2 x 8GB) as the integrated graphics uses the system RAM.

John

 

Ahh, my thanks.

Here's the specs:

Intel i7-7600U Dual Core, 2.8GHz, 4M cache, 15W, vPro
16GB (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR Memory
14" FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare, Camera & Mic, WLAN/WWAN Capable, Non-touch
M.2 256GB SATA Class 20 Solid State Drive

So, probably borked, no?

-JP

 

Unfortunately, i'm afraid that is indeed the case. By the sound of it, the CPU may well be your bottleneck, if things are "chugging". That being said, for gaming, the integrated graphics will be even more so.

 

Well, crud.
There's nothing in the Latitude series that could offer beefier performance, is there? I certainly pestered for a souped-up Microsoft Surface, but Latitude is where I'm stuck.

-JP

 

IMHO those are good specs for a thin and light notebook. The CPU will run at up to 3.9GHz in turbo mode. It should be quick in everyday usage running normal business software (usually only single-threaded). For better performance running multi-threaded software and/or 3D graphics then you need a quad core CPU and a dGPU. The Latitude 5480 has quad core CPU options (eg this) and mentions Nvidia graphics 930MX for Thunderbolt and would be the next step up from what you've got. It is a thicker and heavier notebook and the fan might well be noisy under full CPU/GPU load. The next step up the Dell ladder would be the Precision 5520 which isn't much bigger than many 14" notebooks due to the narrow bezels.

I would also flag up the issue of gaming on battery if you have a decent hardware setup will rapidly drain the battery. The 5480 might struggle to run graphics-intensive games for an hour while the slower 7480 (make sure you have the biggest battery option) should run for 2 or more hours. You can also speed up the graphics a bit by lowering the logical display resolution while running games.

John