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Comment by djsumdog | Hacker News Reader

I have a Dell XPS 15 (2017) and the thermals are really bad. I saw constant throttling in my kernel logs and the laptop sometimes slowed to a crawl when compiling, running a ton of docker containers, using Light Table or even just having a ton of browser tabs open.

I finally ditched it a few weeks ago, finally replacing it with a Ryzen 7 desktop.

I'll admit my XPS 15 was a factory refurbished model, so maybe I just got a lemon. It got so hot the battery is now swelling and it popped out the trackpad (I think there might be a recall; or if not take it in since that's gotta be under warranty).

My current laptop is a HP Spectre. It's thicker than the XPS, but I think it's got a much better cooling solution and preforms better. I don't think I'd recommend a Dell XPS again.

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I don't know if this is sad or funny but my $350 Chromebook[1] that I modified to run Linux happily runs large Docker based Rails apps and has overall been a great development laptop for the last 2+ years. It has a 1080p IPS panel, a keyboard that I like more than my workstation, a real SSD and it weighs under 3 pounds.

[1]: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo...

YMMV, but in addition to a dodgy (manufacturer defect) and oddly designed (strangely shaped modifier keys) keyboard, my HP Spectre got really hot under comparatively minor load.

The higher end Latitudes seem like a better comparison to the MBP, I'd be interested to know how they stack up (thermal and otherwise).

I have the new 2018 9570 with an i9, and throttling is very modest. My workloads tend to be bursty rather than sustained, so I probably wouldn't notice in normal use anyway. But running the Intel XTU stress test, I only get very short periods of throttling.

Perhaps the 9570 is improved, or as many suggest Dells QC is poor and I got lucky.

Oh man, it's not a lemon...My experience, with a pricy 7700HQ, 4K touch, is exactly the same. First a faulty SSD which first replacement of SSD and motherboard didn't solve (second repl. of drive did), then throttling, and then the swollen battery pushing out the touchpad - I even also got a Ryzen desktop instead (1700x)!

Thermal on my i7 xps13 is abysmal. Never again.

Same. It's hot, loud, and still never feels as fast as it should.

Loud? it's the quietest machine I ever had. No problems so far (9370 model)

Mine is the 9360 with the i7-8550U. In high performance mode, it's a hair drier. In balanced, the fan is a constant annoying whine if I have, for example, Webpack in watch mode, or am typing code quickly and keeping the IDE's language service active, or if any browser tab has any active JS at all. Basically if the CPU is at a reasonable speed and at 20% load, constant fan noise.

It's quiet if I have it in "silent" mode, but then I might as well be using a 350$ machine, as far as performance is concerned.

Maybe you have a slower CPU, or they fixed the thermals in your model?

Same here.

I have 9360 with i5-7200U. I've just checked, fan kicks in after 90 seconds of sha1sum /dev/zero and stays always on lowest RPMs. 25C ambient. With 50% core load at 3.1GHz it stays silent most of the time...

50% at 3.1GHZ would make for one noisy experience here. Either mine's a lemon, or, more likely, there's no way to get a CPU like the i7-8550U into such a small case without causing thermal issues.

Then I'm glad I have the '18 model, despite the USB-C tyranny. I don't know if they fixed stuff, but it's a pleasant experience so far. CPU is i5-8250I with Windows 10 if feels snappy.

https://imgur.com/a/afvqtbQ

The fan is running at around 10%, barely noticeable.

Thermals on my early 2018 9370 i7 are perfect and I haven't really seen any throttling even doing video rendering unless I'm sitting in my apartment while its 85F+ (Seattle still doesn't know what AC is) and it's on my lap.

The fans do spin up and they're audible, but not louder than my Thinkpad or any of the Macbook Pro's we have at work. It is dead silent unless I'm actually doing intensive work.

It seems people have a lot of issues with older models though, so YMMV.

My old xps 13 with the i5 had great thermals on the other hand, but was still snappy enough for almost everything I threw at it. Didn't like it b/c the screen was just a tad too small for me and I had some problems getting good audio on the machine. Also, coil whine. It was awful.

Same here. 13 inch XPS, coil whine is insane. Had the motherboard replaced 3 times, no improvement. It was a replacement for my ageing Air 13", and I honestly wish I didn't swap. At first glance it's just as nice, the build quality and form factor are identical - and then you start using it, and see that Dell charges just as much if not more than Apple, but quality of several different elements is ages behind apple.

I was thinking about getting an XPS 15 soon so this gives me pause.

> Dell charges just as much if not more than Apple

Not even close. XPS 15 with 6 core, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD is $1500. MBP is $2400 for the same specs.

What I really like on the XPS 15 is the 97 WHR battery. I haven't seen any other notebook with this capacity.

Yes, I mean obviously right now the brand new MBP is absurdly expensive. But when I got the XPS 13 it was actually more expensive than an equivalent MacBook Air(with the caveat that the XPS had a higher resolution screen).

MacBook Air is not comparable to an XPS...

The one I have(9333) is literally identical in form factor and inside construction to the Air - if you open the bottom cover, the layout of everything is exactly the same, it's as if Dell copied the whole design as-is. Nowadays the XPS 13 has exceeded everything the Air can offer, but just couple years ago that was not the case.

I bought a Nvidia/i7 XPS 15 in March and have never understood the coil whine complaints, yeah there is some but nothing too bad (comparable to my 2012 MacBook Air). Alternately everyone else has super hearing or I’m deaf, YMMV.

You can buy older (but unused) Macbook Pro with these specs (except it's 4 core instead of 6) for $1000 and it has way more battery life, nicer screen and better touchpad.

The Aero 15 has a 94WHr and a better gpu

What model XPS 13? My 2018 9370 has no coil whine even when I hold the keyboard to my head.

I think it's a fixed issue, but only in 2018 models, so YMMV.

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