Precision 7530 & Precision 7730 owner's thread

In this day and age, I would've expected Dell to furnish the Precisions with top-of-the line HDR 10-bit 16:10 panels (there is definitely space for 16:10—the bezels on the Precisions are quite large, especially on the bottom edge where the Dell logo is), not some run-o'-the-mill 6-bit panels. At least they're IPS, which is itself a $29 upgrade from the 45% gamut panels (which should never have been offered as an option at all). Dell dropped the ball on this one, really.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Looks like I'll have to call support again, and see if I can get myself elevated to their Resolution Expert Centre. For now, I'm experiencing extremely strange behaviour: with the Quadro alone, I appear to get an average of 10–15 W of power draw, whereas with Optimus on, it goes up to 15–20. It looks like Dell's implementation is seriously borked, and they need to look into their firmware and possibly hardware, too, and issue recalls if necessary.

One more thing: @Aaron44126, do you get brightness controls with switchable graphics enabled? I find that I have to change the refresh rate in Windows before I can change the brightness using the keyboard or the Settings slider.

 

it also looks like your missing the antenna cables for WWAN, i cannot see them in the picture. i think it is possible you have a screen that doesnt support WWAN, any they remove the sim cover on purpose so you wont put a sim in it.

 

Is there anyone with 7530 and just integrated GPU? I would use this laptop for software development and I dont need dedicated Quadro GPU.
Is it reasonable to expect better cooling and slightly better battery life with just iGPU?

 

I know for sure that it is normal for the WWAN antennas to be missing if you order the 4K screen. Mine came like this and we have had multiple reports from other users. If you want to use WWAN with the 4K screen, it "works" but you'll have to find your own antennas to install.

 

After having performed numerous time consuming tests, installed/removed Microsoft/Realtek, integrated/USB audio drivers, and played stereo/mono sound through all possible outputs (speakers, USB and HDMI), here is the final working steps:

1. removed every (integrated and USB audio) Realtek drivers along with Waves MaxxAudio software (which is supplied by Dell's version of Realtek drivers)
2. installed Microsoft High Definition Audio and Microsoft "Realtek USB Audio" drivers
3. no more audio latency or pops from Windows alerts messages box or Edge sounds
4. able to play mono sounds through USB audio!!
5. unable to record from missing "Stereo Mix" device which was suppressed since Windows Vista, but replaced by WASAPI loopback capture
6. installed VB-CABLE in order to record application audio output through a WASAPI-installed virtual cable
7. unable to select audio output after plugged in headphones (output selection window was provided by Waves MaxxAudio); have to manually swap to Headphone output near the clock instead of Line output

I will update this later in case of unexpected failure.

 

I'm considering swapping out the display for the AUO B156HAN8.0 or AUO B156HAN7.0/1/2 (both of which are supposedly legendary 144 Hz low-response time IPS displays with excellent colour quality) but they're 40-pin displays, whereas the LG LP156WF6 in my Precision is an eDP 30-pin display. However, the 4K display option, the Sharp LQ156D1, according to Panelook, is an eDP 40-pin display.

Does the Precision 7530 have two display output connectors on the motherboard? Or are the motherboards themselves different between the various display options?

 

I rather doubt that they would want to add additional motherboard variations (beyond one for each CPU type which they already have to produce). Most likely there is a difference in the cable (i.e. your 1080p panel cable has 40 pins on the motherboard side and 30 on the display side, with the extra pins going "nowhere" — I just checked and such cables appear to be a thing), so you would need to source a new display cable in addition to the panel.

Anyway. I'm not sure how easy it is to access the display port on the motherboard (can you just take out the keyboard?) but if someone can get a good photo then it would be easy enough to count the pins.

 

I have made some research on potential FHD upgrades for 7530. These are the candidates:

http://www.panelook.com/modelcompare.php?ids=24180,34302,34862,33006,32204 (the first one is the original one, at least in my case)

As you can see, some of them still use 30 pins. I believe that cable upgrade is necessary for 4K.

Anyhow, some of them might not be suitable due to some specific details. Also, some people report loosing brightness control after the swap. I wonder how such operation would end up...

 

Right... I disassembled the notebook, and realised that things aren't as simple as once thought.

The eDP cable has 40 pins on the motherboard end, but splits into the webcam cable and the display cable; the webcam has 10 pins, and the display end clearly has 30 pins.

Looks like I can't just buy any cable—I'll probably have to get the cable from the 4K version.

How does one source for Dell parts?

 

1. eBay ... But these machines are probably too new for that
2. Dell Spare Parts line (in the U.S., 800-357-3355) — You'll probably need a part number though; it's difficult for them to look stuff up except by service tag and that will just return parts that are already in your system