Dell XPS 13 9360 Kaby Lake Owner's Thread

I've had the 9360 QHD model since December and I use it a lot everyday. On average between browsing, Word, some light Photoshop, Google Docs, and a bit of YouTube I average a good eight hours. I could probably squeeze more battery life out of my computer if I lowered the brightness, but all in all I can't complain. Honestly I've been very happy with the machine. I've had no coil whine (I have a bit of this on my new 9365 2 in 1 XPS) or other issues.

 

Does 9360 has the same issue with the keyboard backlight as 9550 (I mean that the backlight times out is about 10 sec)?

 

I haven't timed it exactly but as I'm using the XPS 13 on my lap currently the backlight turns off pretty quickly. I'll admit to being lazy and not figuring out if there is a setting that will change this.

 

I have both models and yes the back-lighting timer is identical on both. Pretty much all dell laptops these days turn off lighting when the keyboard isn't actively being used. It's not seen as an 'issue' but working as designed. With older ones you could adjust the timing or to have it remain permanently on. The newer models have a fixed timer.

 

Hi all

I have a 9360 with the i7 and QHD, and have just completed a clean install of Windows 10. I was about to install the drivers from the DELL website, when I noticed that Windows had downloaded everything itself, and a the drivers seem either more recent, or the same as the DELL drivers.

I think the only odd thing I have noticed is there are no ACPI fan entries under System Devices in device manager whereas there are on my previous XPS 13.

So do people still install the DELL drivers after a clean install? Or just them where a device isn't recognised or isn't working properly?

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, I couldn't find it!

thanks

 

.

 

there is noise in speakers on youtube or any another audio.
please advise drivers or soft that can fix this

 

Wrong. You can customise the timing on XPS 9360, even lock it to always ON (infinite timer). Just install the official "Dell Feature Enhancement Pack", install it, open Control Panel->Keyboard and you'll be greeted with this tab:



Note that the setting is permanent. I use Windows to change the timer, then the new setting is retained in all other OSes.
(BTW, I'm running OSX, I'm the author of this conversion guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...a-10-12-x-lts-long-term-support-guide.213141/)

 

@bozma88 thanks for the tip on the Dell Feature Enhancement Pack. That said, I don't see this under the Dell support page for my XPS 13 (under drivers and downloads). Do you have a link for the same for a version that supports the XPS 13?

 

TBH, I downloaded from the first result I found on Google.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=MHVWP
Installed on Windows 10. I didn't care whether it installed other unsupported software, since I run MacOS and briefly used Windows just to setup the keyboard BKL timer
Let me know if you find a fully and officially supported Dell FP for our 9360.

 

@bozma88: I am aware of the enhancement pack, in fact I have it on my old precision m6400. The reason I didn't mention it to Ament, is because it was designed for older systems with windows 7/8. I believe dell chose to retire it years ago. There's no official support for the XPS, there could be unforeseen bugs/instability so it's: use it at your own risk. If it works ok, that's cool for those that need it.

 

First post and some random considerations about the 9360:

# I had the 9360 for a week now and I can say I feel quite satisfied with the machine. It's not perfect -- and I'll talk about that later -- but I can see why it's still considered the best Windows-only laptop (because MacBook can run Windows too...). My version is just one step below the top spec version with the 3K+touch screen, i7-7500U, 16GB of RAM and the 512GB SSD.

# The issues I fixed:
As it was already pointed before the keyboard backlighting short timeout is not really an "issue" because it's like that by design. And yes it's good for the battery life. But a short timeout defy the advantage of having a backlighted KB, because you can't see the keys even if you're still using the laptop. I changed the timeout to 15 minutes but the Dell Feature Enhancement Pack it's not easy to find and some version don't install at all OR they cause the option panel to crash (for the record, the right version for the 9360 is this one: APP_QHDFW_DBC_W81X64_W10X64_A00_Setup-20JWV_ZPE.exe).
One important issue with this laptop -- and the previous versions too -- it's the screen flashing/flickering. I experienced this thing frequently with the Intel Graphics driver installed automatically by Windows 10 (late May), and also with the latest Intel driver available at Dell. It's now basically almost gone with the latest Intel driver available on the INTEL website (from May '17 IIRC). I was quite scared of this because I saw many long threads with people writing about sending the machine back to Dell for motherboard swaps, issues not fixed, etc. etc. Not my case thou. With the latest driver I can't still say it's ALMOST fully gone to the point I'm no more worried about. I had a single flash yesterday, not a single one today. But I can live with that and IMO it's an indication that's a driver issue, not hardware.

# Coil whine and (no) fan noise:
There's a bit of coil whine on my sample but it's hard to notice because it's a tiny noise. You must be really in complete silence with ZERO ambient noise to notice that. And also, this really tells you how silent this machine is when it's idling. It's almost completely dead silent and I'm coming from a passive ZenBook UX305FA so I had clear idea of how quiet a laptop can be. The fan behaviour is very close to my old mid-2015 MacBook Pro: inaudible at idle, low at mid-loads, noticeable-to-noisy just when you need all the power from the cores. That's good engineering and having used a terrible Yoga 2 and a HP Ultrabook I know how bad this thing can be.

# Inputs:
The keyboard is a bit smaller than the usual for this form factor but at least is basically a top class keyboard. Same for the touchpad, there's not much space for a bigger touchpad but it's smooth, it's responsive (you can't feel any lag), the clicks are really good and it's a precision touchpad, which is something that IMO it's so good that must be mandatory for the Ultrabook specification. It's probably the best touchpad you can find on a Ultrabook, but if you used a recent MacBook you know that it's still not on par with a Force Touch Trackpad.

# Screen and form factor:
3200x1800 may sound excessive, but Windows' font antialiasing is sharper than macOS so you need a slightly higher resolution to match the same level of detail. If you want a Retina-like level of detail on fonts and OS GUI, this resolution makes sense. Touch? I'm not touching this screen, thank you anyway.
16:9 is the form factor to go if you want to maximise portability, but 16:10 makes a better use of space and I feel that should be the basic ratio used for laptops. Plus, you can have more space for a bigger touchpad. And by the way, since the bezels reduced so much the overall volume, why not making 14" the new default?

(more later)

 

I just got my 9360 with i7-7660U. It runs very hot. I am surprised Dell still use the hinge design that blocks the air vents on the right-hand side.
In my opinion, this design originated from Macbook but recent Macbook Pro models have a revised hinge design that allows the hot air to blow more effortlessly through it.

 

I am having an issue where my screen dimming F11 and F12 no longer will dim the screen. Has anyone else had this issue? Does anyone know a fix for this issue?

 

Hi all,

I am shopping around for a laptop for my wife to use for her counseling practice. I am leaning towards the XPS 13 but was curious if there are any Dell sales reps around this forum? When I bought my Alienware M17x R4 several years back now I got a really good deal working through a special sales group for forum members. I am in Canada if that matters and the price seems pretty reasonable but any coupon codes or discounts or extended service deals would be great. Thanks!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

Did you find a good deal from a rep in Canada I am looking to purchase this notebook but want to get a better deal than what is online.

 

New BIOS is out. Dated 20.7. and carries version 1.3.7

Updated it and all went well.

EDIT: MaxxAudio isn't working with this update

 

A 10C+ temperature differential says bent heatsink to me.

 

..aand rolled back to 1.3.5. MaxxAudio wasn't working on 1.3.7

 

No, haven't purchased yet. Was hoping for more response from this thread.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

Ok, a new BIOS. Anyone tried already?

 

XPS 13 (9360) Kaby Lake - high CPU usage - high temperature - excessive fan noise - short battery life --- FYI to anyone with these problems

My XPS 13 (9360) somehow had the notorious Intel "LMS" service running, which was for long periods taking more than 30% of the CPU and and running the chip red hot (90 deg C!) with the fan spinning loudly. The palmrest was very warm and the bottom uncomfortably hot. Dell support had no idea what could be causing this.

From what little I've found, Local Management Service may have some corporate use but is not needed on a private PC. With admin privileges, go into Windows services management and locate "Intel Management and Security Application - Local Management Service". Open its properties, stop the service, and set its startup type to "Disabled". Reboot. If that permanently fixes your problems then it's probably also a good idea to locate and delete the file "C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\lms.exe". And be aware that a Windows update may resurrect the problem. It will almost certainly return the next time you update the chipset drivers.

The free utility "HWInfo" is great for seeing CPU core temperatures and fan speeds (and much else). After I killed LMS, my CPU temps dropped to about 50 deg C and the fan is almost always either off or below audibility.

 

Anyone have mouse touchpad issues with their XPS 13?

I received my system last week the mouse touchpad just doesn't work it either won't respond or it gets stuck somewhere on the screen.

I updated the drivers, uninstalled it and reinstalled same issue, Dell had me update the BIOS, run diagnostics etc. but it still didn't work so they have ordered an exchange which I am waiting for.

Is this a common issue with this model?

 

Yes and zero problems so far

 

TB16/WD15 dock users report major USB trouble.

 

Looks like this thread is "catch all" for anything 9360 so here goes: just got a refurb 9360 with coil whine. I can live with it but wondering if its a sign of looming hardware failure? A secondary minor issue is that F9 key is poorly backlit. Its significantly dark compared to rest of the keyboard. Anyone else has uneven backlight on their keyboard?

 

Happened to run across this thread and thought that I might get some ideas and recommendations. Been a happy user of a Alienware M11x-R3 for some time and concerned about Dell’s dropping support. I do audio and picture editing and some simple video editing but no games. Over the years I have upgraded the RAM to 16 GB, the HD is a 256 GB SSD and the screen is now a nice matte IPT. My candidate replacement might be a XRS 13 with either an i5 or i7(which?), With a minimum of 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD.
I’m probably 20% mobile and 80% at the desk plugged into a 19” monitor and Edifier speakers with the laptop opened up to 180 degrees to roll under the desktop on a sliding sub desk surface (a little grinding on those hinges with the Dremel does wonders!).
Underneath it all there probably is the “got to have the fastest gun in the West” attitude.
I can see a larger, better definition screen, faster CPU and a thinner machine. That would be offset by the need for a HDMI/SD card slot dongle.
Somehow I'm not overly sold on the step-up. Your thoughts, Please

 

just got mine a day or so ago. Very happy so far. It's better than I thought it would be. I got the i5 256 fhd non-touch. Can't believe how small a footprint it has and keyboard is ok. Only thing I have found frustrating so far is Dell's non intuitive bizarre Support Assist. I've been trying for days to extend the warranty and it's practically impossible to navigate Dell's website. You click on a button to do one thing and it takes you somewhere else with no indication of how to do what you intended. Now trying to set up Outlook sync with Office 365 on my Desktop machine. Trying out Sync2 at the moment. Windows 10 seems quite tricky so far but I'll get there eventually.
Glad I went for this matte screen instead of the touch QHD.

 

Hi, just got my xps 13 with an intel i7-7500u, 8gb ram, 256gb ssd.
I am just wondering how much can i undervolt the cpu to achieve maximum efficiency.
Sorry is i sound like a noob but please help out!!!! Currently using XTU

 

The i7-8550U is now available on their site, I am curious to see what the performance gain is like under sustained load.

 

The sweet-spot is i5 8gb 256gb with FHD matte screen. I bought that config for my daughter for about 650 after tax and its been superb. I myself found it too small so try it out yourself. To me the ideal laptop is XPS-15 16GB 512GB and why not an i7 in that No need for 4k screen though, FHD is sufficient and provides longer battery life.

 

User @Hakujou posted his EFI hack to enable SpeedShift on the XPS13 (9360). It is a nice feature to boost speed and efficiency. Preliminary summary in the first post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-xps-speed-shift.796891/

 

Hi everyone,

I have a Dell XPS 13 laptop model 9360 with 16gb RAM and 512gb SSD @ Intel I7-7500u with max speed of 2.70GHz and Turbo Boost to 3.50GHz.

I don't know why the processor maxes out at 2.18GHz and the utilization rate never passes 75% (I checked from Device Manager and also from Speccy)...I already confirmed that Intel Turbo Boost is enabled in my BIOS and my maximum processor state is 100% under Power Options. Furthermore, my BIOS is the most updated @ 2.3.1

I am very confused and stumped at why this happens..Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks in advance!

 

Got this notebook recently. XPS 13 - 9360, 8/256. But I don't see any adaptive brightness. How to check this?

 

After a 5 year excursion with a MAC I'm back with this purchase. I just couldn't wait for a decent MacBook Pro to come out, and Apple delaying adding 8th Generation was the straw that broke the back.
Things in PC world have changed in the last 5 years, I'm reorienting. So far I like this laptop and its performance I'm just not thrilled with the track pad. I guess you can't have everything.

 

Cool... I recently got one with the i7-8550U and 16GB with 512GB SSD as well for $950 from the outlet and when I called up wanting to return it because of a Yoga 720 13" deal I found on Slickdeals, they (Dell Customer Service) offered me another $100 off to keep it.

 

Anyone know best way to limit the max multiplier ratio on the 9360 with the i7-8550U?

It can hit up to 40x on 1/2 cores with 37x on 3/4 cores at once.

I would like to limit it to something like 32x to deal with temperatures as it can occasionally spike up to 90-95 degrees celcius.

I've tried changing the maximum processor state, but even at 89%, it does nothing to limit the max clocks. At 88%, it drops it to 1.8GHz max, but that's too much of a performance drop.

 

A couple of easy ideas I use:

- free ThrottleStop allows you to set multiplier

- Intel SpeedShift will allow you to adjust the CPU performance via the EPP setting (0=max performance, 255=max power savings). Anything above say 80 will start capping max turbo speeds. This is a great feature for laptops.

I don't know if Dell has enabled SpeedShift in 8550U via BIOS. Doesn't matter as there are a few ways to enable it. ThrottleStop is the easiest. This quick primer should get you started:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-xps-speed-shift.796891/

 

Hi all,

I posted my experience with this machine on the Dell subreddit, but I don't think anyone there has my exact configuration so trying to find people here who can share their experience with me:

So having this laptop for about 6 weeks now, and spending some time experimenting with undervolting, Speed Shift, etc, I wanted to share my experiences and also ask about other folks' experiences. First off, my laptop is actually previous-gen and has the i7-7500u with 8GB ram, 256gb SSD, and QHD+ screen.

Regarding the fan: I feel like it only turns on after the CPU core passes 90 degrees C and stays at that temperature for at least 8-10 seconds. So if I'm doing a Prime95 torture test (which causes temps to spike FAST) I only start audibly hearing the fan at 94 C or so. Can I adjust the fan to turn on earlier?

I have enabled SpeedShift via ThrottleStop and I am undervolting like this:

• CPU Core: -0.100
  
  
• CPU cache: -0.090
  
  
• GPU: -0.060
  
  
• SpeedShift EPP: 70 while plugged-in, 128 while on battery
  

I did the following temperature test while plugged-in: Prime95 torture test, small FFTs, but only 2 threads instead of 4. I ran it for 20 minutes. CPU speed stayed at 3.5ghz for the duration (meaning full turbo and no throttling - GOOD!) but CPU core temp was pretty much 94 C for the test (BAD!). That disappointed me considering I'm only running 2 threads instead of 4, and I'm already undervolted!!

I know I need to look into re-applying the thermal paste next, but first I wanted to see how other folks experiences compared to mine. And for the other guys who are undervolting: do you have your CPU core and cache at slightly different voltages, like me?

 

You should have your CPU core & cache undervolt identical or they are likely ignored by the CPU. There is more detail in the ThrottleStop thread if you like.

Search the forums for undervolting ranges of other users; I know there is a ton of 9560 data but don't know about 9530.

Thermal paste on these XPS units is poorly applied so that generally provides plenty of additional thermal headroom.

 

Thanks for the tip regarding core and cache undervolt! I had no idea. I thought that one of the benefits of ThrottleStop vs XTU was that you could de-couple the 2 voltages.

BTW my machine is a 9360 with a Kaby Lake CPU, hence why I posted in this thread

https://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel-Core-i7-7500U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz-

 

Hi @pressing - I tried to look this up but could not find any info on this. I did, however, find a couple of users stating they were fine running CPU Core at -0.125v and CPU cache at -0.100v (for example). And at one point Uncle Webb seemed to indicate that was fine.
Perhaps what you mentioned is no longer an issue with 7th gen and 8th gen CPUs?

 

Here are some places to look but there is more in that thread. One problem is that very little Intel documentation exists so you this is trial and error you need to run

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-730#post-10656766

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-656#post-10594063

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-710#post-10638278

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-710#post-10637749

 

Finally put my order in for 9360 after seeing & hearing about 9370 and deciding not to go with it since I can get 8th gen. Intel with last year's model as well! The only question I have beforehand is that does Dell have some kind of an automatic battery cycle management builtin? I mean I'm used to having to limit max. battery charge at 80% because I'm working with it plugged-in most of the time, but e.g. newer ThinkPads handle usage like this automatically without the need to manually intervene in any way.

 

Yes it's in the bios. i have my 9360 set to "Primarily on AC". By default it's set to "Adaptive". You can also set it to "Custom" and type in your own values.

 

So I got my 9360 xps 13 (i5, 256gb, 8gb memory), did some testing, and was getting 94C and throttle to about 2200mhz with stock paste. Undervolting I was getting about 2300mhz and 94C.
Not the worst application i've ever seen, but pretty overkill still.

So I reapplied with Arctic MX2. I now get about 2500mhz, and it hovers around 93C. A smidge better, but surprisingly, still a fair bit of throttle. I am not sure there is much else I can do, I did try reapplying 2 more times to make sure it was not my application. I also tried Arctic Silver 5, and got similar results. So i'll either have to live with it, or return it and maybe try something else. I was actually expecting more out of the i5 8250U.

Playing a little more with undervolting, I am now getting:
93C - 2850mhz
GPU -45.9mV
CPU -85mV

 

You're not going to get much more out of a quad core cpu in an ultrabook. You can try a high end paste but you're really at the mercy of the cooling system that is crammed into something that thin. Need speed then buy something that isn't an ultra book...

 

I don't need the speed, but I want to get it as close to good as I can, within reason. I see a lot of people on here have gotten 75C~ and max mhz, with the same setup, so I am not sure why mine is so different!

 

There's a new BIOS

Dell XPS 13 9360 System BIOS

XPS 13 9360 2.6.2 BIOS
Fixes & Enhancements
Fixes:
- Fixed incorrect Windows operating system logon message.

Enhancements:
- Enhanced SMM Security Mitigation feature.
- Updated Embedded Controller Engine Firmware.
- Updated Realtek USB LAN firmware.
Version
Version 2.6.2, 2.6.2
Category
BIOS
Release date
22 Mar 2018
Last Updated
22 Mar 2018

Any idea what the effects are, specifically anything to do with the embedded controller engine and thermal management?

 

I want to update and say that I think my i7-8550U is now power throttling to 18W after this update, without engaging the thermal throttle. Performance is down. Can anyone confirm?