Have a new Latitude 7400 with i5-8365U and when there is nothing going on - no application opens, the CPU is sitting at 2.40-3.0Ghz per Task Manager. I would expect it to be <1Ghz. I think that is causing the fan to kick on (albeit pretty low) but it's annoying. Annoying to the point where I want to return the machine after 48 hours.
I checked and I only see 'Balanced' power plan available.
Went to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power on the right, one of the keys near the top should be called CsEnabled. Changed the value of this key from 1 to 0. Got all the power plans back after a reboot. I set the power plan to Power Saver and saw the CPU throttle down to 0.87 and 1.43Ghz. Much better and after a bit the fan turned off.
I exported the Balanced setting from my XPS 9370 (where throttling works just fine) and imported on the Latitude 7400 then applied it. Watched the CPU climb back up to higher speeds and the fan kick on, machine get warm, etc.
Open Additional Power Settings to get to Change plan settings. However there are lots of programs running behind the scene. Open Task Manager, Processes and also Services to see them all.
I am aware there are lots of programs running. There are just as many running now, but with 'Power Saver' set the CPU will throttle down, the system cools down, and the fans go off. If I change it back to balanced, the CPU sits over 2Ghz, the system gets hot, and the fan comes on.
I am seeing this behavior when running dual 1440p displays with the CalDigit TS3Plus+ Thunderbolt 3 dock. When the machine is undocked, it performs normally. When it is docked with only a clean Windows 10 1903 install running, it ramps up the fan to full RPMs and begins freezing for 10-60 seconds at a time.
I raised the following, and it was marked spam by the moderator. It was a salty rant, but justified one. I am probably returning this Laptop. A valid critique and they shut down my message. Hopeless.
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I have this new, for work, Dell Latitude 7400 with Intel Core i7-8665U CPU. 90% of the time, the fan is so loud. CPU is throttled up when it is plugged to the charger or when tethered to this expensive dell thunderbolt port. And yes, I use it on a proper wooden table. Now as I type this message, even on battery the fan is blowing full speed.
It just seems that the Laptop is more like a jet engine, or hairdryer, and believe me, it is beyond annoying to me and others around me. In this work from home time, the least I would expect is a noisy laptop driving me nuts.
I had come back to using Dell after 10 years of hiatus. Have had used laptops from all brands from Dells, HPs, Lenovos, Fujitsus, Acers, MacBook Pro’s and never would have imagined myself to this disappointment.
To be honest I do not give a damn how business laptops should look. This run to make laptops sexy and thin, then ask to buy all these port replicators is pure nonsense. It is like selling an electric car without charging cable. I would have been impressed if you made purely functional laptops. In our architecture and design industry, we follow this adage, “Form follows function”. No wired LAN port on a business laptop is blasphemous enough. Imagine the pain of getting it started on private networks where WIFI is locked out.
Note for Dell Product Designers:
1. Did you guys just push off an engineering sample to market without testing?
2. Please note, if you are making business laptops, do not forget a physical LAN Port, or give those USB Lan adapters free. I give you an IDEA, which you will cash on in the future. Make an attachment of LAN Adapter which could be attached to laptop chargers for portable carrying, use magnet coupling, or plastic latches or whatever.
3. Third is, learn from this another adage which states, you reap what you sow.
I am sorry for my rant, but I cannot contain my disappointment.
We have been rolling out 7400s this year after going through 7480s and 7490s previously.
I'm one of the remote support techs for my company so I hear about this complaint frequently.
With some models, you can run Dell command update and update the BIOS and the intel dynamic platform and thermal framework drivers, and, sometimes, this will get the fan back under control. But not with the Dell 7400 model (I mean, you can run this updates, but it doesn't help).
I used a 7400 for about 3 weeks earlier this year while still working in the office.
Immediately, I noticed that the bottom of the device was hot to the touch. Not just 'oh, that's warm' but physical hot to a point that I think if you had this on your lap it would burn your skin. I also had issues with the fan running at high speed and being loud.
Granted, I chose to run 'high performance' power plan but even with that, ad idle, the computer ran loud and hot. I also used a Thunderbolt Dock (Targus 4k) but didn't think that was relevant. I never took my laptop to meetings so
I don't know how it ran off the dock specifically. After seeing where the air exhaust was on the device, it seemed like it was obstructed when the laptop was closed (attached to a dock). I propped the laptop on end and had it slightly open in a V standing on the side of my desk. it looked dumb but it seemed to allow better airflow and the computer ran at normal volume.
We continue to have complaints from our end users in the field - some working at construction sites where they may not be working in air conditioned offices. They complain of the loud fan interfering in conference calls using Teams and being loud in general. I really don't have a good answer for them on this one.
It almost seems like a design flaw.
And I can't believe how many times I had to try to submit this response.
It kept failing to the point that I was starting to think that Dell was preventing me from doing so!
It's true, mine doesn't go above 1.9 ghz. But for what I do it's still plenty quick. I'll wait a fraction of second longer for something if it means a fan isn't screaming at me the whole time.
Would love to try the software fix but my employer is very strict about software that is installed on the machines. It's not even worth asking to DL it haha. My other plan was to mount a Noctua case fan with USB power to the underside of the laptop while docked!
Mary G
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Posted May 20th, 2019 14:00
Open Additional Power Settings to get to Change plan settings. However there are lots of programs running behind the scene. Open Task Manager, Processes and also Services to see them all.