Precision 7530 & Precision 7730 owner's thread

So, I got my hands on the elusive Samsung M474A2K43BB1-CTD 2666 MHz 16 GB ECC B-die modules. I've installed them, and ECC works at the rated 2666 MHz speed:




I hope this isn't a bamboozle.

 

Now your RAM matches the rest of your system.

 

Exactly. ECC, Xeon, Win 10 Education. Wait, that last one is questionable. I want to move to Linux ASAP.

 

Hmm, new BIOS version 1.8.1. Plenty of changes and security patches:


EDIT: Firmware updated smoothly, with no issues. It took significantly longer than the others, though, given the USB PD controller and the Intel ME firmware was also updated...

EDIT 2: No power draw improvements.

 

This BIOS has been pulled and is not on the web site anymore. (https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=5n75n)
I saw it posted yesterday but didn't go to download it until this morning, and I can't.

 

Indeed. I wonder what bugs made them pull it. Fingers crossed. Or perhaps I should downgrade...

 

Got it from Windows Updates and decided to let it install. Version 1.8.1 made me think "at least not 1.8.0, something was fixed"...

Worked flawlessly on my 7730 after first reboot connected to TB18DC in the office. Hibernated at the end of work.

Restarted today at home, no TB18DC. Hmm, power button, caps lock and keyboard light up - blank display.

Used long power button press to turn off. Repeated a few times, with and without power supply. Went away to get a screwdriver to open the bottom and remove the battery. When I came back the 7730 showed that date/time is unset and I could enter BIOS setup. BIOS settings were reset (I guess my multiple long power button turn offs did that) and I could set date and time. Rebooted. Blank again. Kept patient. After multiple very long seconds the Dell logo appeared and Windows started. Oh my, too much thrill to start the day ;-)

Mayby the steps above help some other "testers".

I would not recommend to try BIOS 1.8.1 without a spare machine or a close connection to Dell support...

 

Aaron44126
Can't comment on noise yet. We have some big fans and dehumidifiers running in the office because of a water incident on Monday which drown out any noise that could be coming from this system.

Right. Totally agree with you. The noise from the laptop even in idle mode above the noise level of a standard laptop by 6 dB. When working under load, the noise is simply wild. As a specialist from the Dell department said, the noise level is 58 dB at maximum load. During long-term work under load, the processor falls into throttling. Therefore, maximum performance is available only for a few seconds. It was a disappointment.

 

What extra HDD options does the Zbook have?

 

Going by the customisation options, you have 3 M.2 slots, one SATA slot and another SATA slot where the optical drive plugs into.

It gets really expensive, though. Easily twice as much as the Precision. If anyone is getting these machines for personal use, and isn't having a company pay for them, I'd strongly suggest they upgrade only the CPU, GPU and other non-replaceable components, and self-source RAM and storage.

$600 for 32 GB DDR4 (that is neither overclocked nor ECC, but bog-standard 2666 MHz JEDEC), even at the height of the DDR4 shortage in late 2017 and early 2018, would be outrageous.