Aaron44126

Yeah, you can swap out the mainboard to replace the CPU. See: https://frame.work/marketplace/mainboards Honestly the prices aren’t that bad. $1000+ for the top model might be a bit steep, but the idea of upgrading your laptop a piece at a time rather than all at once sure is interesting, you can just buy pieces as you need them.... And it looks like you can get a pretty good discount if you are willing to run a generation or two behind. You can check around, in addition to regular stuff like memory modules and NVMe drives, they also have like a fingerprint reader module and a whole display panel that you can buy. Everything also has directions on how to do the replacement. The 16” version is adding room for six "expansion cards" instead of four, the “expansion bay” system (swappable back part of the system where the dGPU goes) and modules for the “input deck” (palmrest/keyboard area) which can actually be swapped around while the system is running. [Edit] I also love that the EC code is open source and you can muck with it, and that manual fan control doesn't seem too complicated (as a guy who prefers to be in control of how the fans work…). [Edit 2] Add some links. [Edit 3] Man I love the configuration page! If you pick DIY then you are free to leave out the memory modules, storage, and OS with the assumption that you'll just "bring your own" components. Really want to see the full specs for the 16" model...

Yes, I saw that too, it does look an awful lot like the original DGFF. I think they have posted specs for everything on GitHub; I don't know if they could have copied it directly from Dell if there was any sort of patent attached to it. (For extended conversation on Framework Laptop 16, let's do it on the Framework Laptop thread...)

Holy cow, just now realizing that RTX 5000 Ada is actually an option in the Precision 5680. That could indeed be a factor, that would be a lot of board space for the dGPU and associated components. But. RTX 5000 Ada on a system that only has 130W PSU? What's the point? 😕 Maybe the spec sheet is wrong about the power supply too. I took a look at the spec sheet. They don't show the motherboard, but they do show one of those breakdown images where you can sort of see the motherboard shape and component positions, as well as the shape of the heatsink/cooler. I don't see anything that looks like SODIMM memory modules.

Spec sheets are public. https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-3480-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-3580-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-3581-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-5480-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-5680-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-7680-spec-sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/workstations/technical-support/precision-7780-spec-sheet.pdf Spec sheet indicates that it is 90W or 130W, depending on configuration. As for SODIMM, XPS 15/17 systems still use SODIMM so I don't see why Precision 5680 couldn't ...?

Not a Dell thing, but I have to point to the Framework Laptop 16 announcement, which also happened today. I know a lot of us wish for modular graphics to return to laptops, and they're onto something here. [Edit] Disagree. While I personally would never get such a low-resolution display at this point, there are people who want/need 100% display scaling, especially in business environments with apps that haven't transitioned well to high-DPI, so it makes sense that such an option is available. As for whether there should be an "in-between" option, I can see that but I wonder if they think they'd sell enough of each type to consider offering two different high-DPI panels.

Note this requires taking some steps to allow Windows to boot. https://www.nbrchive.net/forum.notebookreview.com/threads/precision-7560-7760-owners-thread.836381/page-64.html#post-11112315

Framework today announced a 16" upgradeable laptop, with modular discrete graphics. (This just got a whole lot more interesting to me.) Optional numeric keypad. Optional RGB keyboard. dGPUs require an "expansion bay" which makes the laptop stick out behind the screen a little bit. (This is not an uncommon design for gaming laptops.) You can remove it and use integrated graphics only. The expansion bay can also be used for things other than a dGPU. They teased a dual NVMe enclosure that can fit there. The expansion bay can be variable depth and includes the dGPU cooling, so they can handle future GPUs that require different layouts — it's not like MXM where the board had to be laid out exactly the same from one generation to the next for an upgrade to "fit". Taking orders in the spring but no shipments until "late 2023". Looks like their blog is down right now but here's a video (see 39:55), and an Ars Technica article. (I love that they had the "courage" to poke at Apple regarding the headphone jack module...) They also announced an AMD option for the 13" lineup. I haven't looked super closely, but it looks like you could switch to AMD just by swapping out the motherboard of one of their existing 13" laptops. They have AMD motherboards available to preorder right now. [Edit] Blog post is live. https://frame.work/blog/introducing-the-framework-laptop-16-and-both-intel-and-amd-powered-framework-laptop-13 https://frame.work/blog/introducing-the-framework-laptop-16 I'd like to see details like, which dGPUs will be available, and I'd love to see support for at least two NVMe drives on one of their 16" motherboards...

Dell Precision 5680 — Available May 18 Note the SmartCard slot. This appears to be an original Precision design (like 5470 last year), not an XPS derivative. [Edit] Here's a Dell announcement. The 5000 series lineup is Precision 5480 and 5680.

The support material is showing that they are offering RTX 3500 Ada, and RTX 3000 Ada is not an option. They probably got it wrong on the order page ...? NVIDIA's brilliant naming conventions don't help with this.

I've done some poking on what needs to be done to self-host the iMessage bridge, and even engaged the Beeper guys (prompt & detailed response, nice). Basically: Need a Mac running at least macOS 11. If you want iCloud "Advanced Data Protection" turned on, you'll need at least macOS 13.1. (I was forced to turn ADP off because the Beeper Mac running the bridge for me is only macOS 13.0.1.) You have to disable SIP on the Mac to get full functionality of the bridge. Some features like typing notifications and reactions only work if SIP is disabled. Disabling SIP opens some notable security holes so it's probably best to use a dedicated device for the bridge, not a Mac that you use for other stuff as well. Otherwise, basically you have to be comfortable doing some terminal & text config file stuff to get it set up (pretty typical of doing anything Linux/UNIX-y). OpenCore Legacy Patcher has nice directions & GUI stuff to help get older Macs running on the latest version of macOS. It looks like you should be in good shape if you have a Mac Mini 2012 model or newer. I have a 2010 model, so it has a few gotchas — broken GPU acceleration (doesn't seem like it will matter for this) and broken USB 1.1 support (can be worked around by attaching USB 1.1 devices to a USB 2 hub). I do have a newer Mac Mini as well, but it is used for "work" so I don't want to task it for this project.

New Precision 3000 & 7000 systems are live and available to order. U.S. links: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/workstations-isv-certified/precision-7680-workstation/spd/precision-16-7680-laptop/xctop7680usvp https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/workstations-isv-certified/precision-7780-workstation/spd/precision-17-7780-laptop/xctop7780usvp @Dell-Mano_G Are you available for some Q&A?

For the cloud-based setup (running iMessage through one of their Macs or virtual Macs), you have to provide your Apple ID and password as you say, respond to a 2FA prompt, and then if you want SMS to pass-through as well you have to go to your phone settings and turn on text message forwarding to their Mac. That's really it. I'm mildly uncomfortable about having one of their systems hooked up to my iCloud account (despite their security promises) so, if I do decide to continue using Beeper, at some point I will figure out the self-hosted option for the iMessage gateway. I do have a couple of Mac Minis that I could task with that job.

Hard lock again, one week later. So, it doesn't seem to be BIOS 1.20 at fault (unless something somehow stuck around after I rolled back to 1.19). I'm rolling back Ethernet, IME, and NVIDIA driver updates that I also performed last week.

Not sure when they started offering this but Dell has (expensive) CAMM modules available to order standalone from their web site. 16GB - https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-camm-memory-upgrade-16gb-4800mhz/apd/370-ahfq/memory 32GB - https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-camm-memory-upgrade-32gb-4800mhz/apd/370-ahft/memory 64GB - (not there for some reason) 128GB - https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-camm-memory-upgrade-128gb-3600mhz/apd/370-ahfr/memory

Precision 7X80 support pages are live. (Launch is imminent. @SuperCompute is probably right about "by April 1". It could be as soon as tomorrow. Dell likes Tuesday/Thursday system launches.) https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/precision-16-7680-laptop/overview https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/precision-17-7780-laptop/overview Also, Precision 3480, 3580, and 3581 support pages went live. No 5000 series. A little bit surprised at the abruptness of this launch because in the last few years, Dell has been pre-announcing these with press material a few weeks in advance. I guess with just the CPU/GPU spec bump and no other changes, there isn't that much to hype up ...?

I was testing some cross-device "awareness" this morning and this is pretty slick. For example, if I get a message and then "read" it in Beeper, the unread mark properly goes away on my phone and watch. Same if I go the other way, the unread alert dot thing goes away in Beeper if I "dismiss" a message on my watch. It also seems to know if I'm actively engaged in a conversation from Beeper and it will avoid alerting from my watch on every reply. Very similar behavior to how it works if I'm just using the real Mac iMessage client.

https://blog.beeper.com/p/state-of-the-app-spring-2023 Here they are saying they hope to clear out the waitlist in the next three months. (We'll see....) There seems to be a lot of effort going into this and I have no idea how these guys are making any money, if they aren't charging for the app...

They have a full desktop version. https://www.beeper.com/download The weirdest thing about it is you have to link Google Contacts to get contacts working, so that means I have to do some double contacts work (between Apple and Google) to have contact names (rather than phone numbers) show up right in Beeper. They are saying they will support Apple contacts on Windows later this year.

Beeper is now free as well (check their blog, there’s an article about it). They will put certain features behind a paywall for a “pro version” at some point. I’ve been using the app only for a day or so, and while it is “rough around the edges” in some ways, it has been stable and it is the best “iMessage-on-Windows” experience I have had to date, easily. I’ve also sent some questions in through their built-in support chat and they’ve been very responsive and friendly. [Edit] Blog link - https://blog.beeper.com/p/beeper-is-now-free

Nice. Poked through a bit. No surprises. Chassis is the same as 7770. Heatsink/cooler is the same as 7770. dGPU card looks to be laid out the same — I didn't have time just yet look extra close but if the screw positions and such are the same then upgrading a 7770 with a 7780 GPU might be possible.

Two here. Canon PIXMA MX512 — A multifunction inkjet/copier/scanner, I use it mostly for scanning photos and documents. I'm big on digitizing and then shredding paper documents, and I have an ongoing family photo archive project in progress. Occasionally I use it for color photo prints which it does a pretty decent job at. Bought in June 2012. Samsung ML-1210. A plain, black & white laser printer. I was gifted this in 2009 by a Mac-using colleague because this printer wouldn't work with Mac OS X anymore, I think after the transition to Intel CPUs (Samsung never released a proper driver). It still works fine with Windows (though you have to use a different printer model's driver in order to have a "signed" driver, which has been required since maybe Windows 8). ...I do need to do some work on this one, it has recently started sometimes picking up more than one sheet from the paper tray, I think it needs the rollers cleaned or something. The Canon is attached to the network via Ethernet. The Samsung is USB only (err, it also has a parallel port) so I have it attached to an AirPort Extreme which is able to serve it up as a raw TCP socket printer. I'm happy to continue using these as long as they still work. If I ever have to get a new printer, I won't get anything with "ink DRM" which may limit my options, it seems.....

At GTC today, NVIDIA formally announced the new mobile workstation GPU lineup. Here it is. https://nvdam.widen.net/s/dmdqnnwcmk/proviz-mobile-linecard-update-2653183 Ridiculous mouthful names aside, it should be noted that A1000 is an Ampere GPU and not Ada, and also GeForce RTX 4090 should be the same specs as the RTX 5000 Ada GPU (minus ECC memory + professional-locked features). [Edit] Also noting that the 4000 ADA GPU has only 12 GB of vRAM, a step down from last generation's A4500. [Edit 2] A1000 6GB has different specs than A1000 4GB. More CUDA cores, but narrower memory bus.

The images that I posted are out of the Dell support manual for those systems. I'm thinking that one is from a Precision 7670 "thin chassis" dGPU, which probably has the fans scooted over a bit to the right so the dGPU has less space. From your photo, it does appear that the larger "performance chassis" dGPUs are the same size between the two systems, and the heatsink screw receptors seem to be in the same places as well. The dGPU footprint between Precision 7670 and 7770 is not the same. It is similar, but you will see that the 7770 dGPU cards are a bit larger with more/bigger VRMs, and heatsink mounting screws are not in the same place. [Edit] Actually, the Precision 7680 only has one set of dimensions listed. Have they done away with the "thin chassis"?

Precision 7670 GPU upgrade potential? First, it has to fit. Here we have a 7670 dGPU on the left and a 7680 dGPU on the right. The 7680 dGPU is physically wider (left-to-right in the picture above), check the extra space to the left of the DGFF connectors. I'm not sure if all Precision 7670 cards are the same size as the one pictured here, or if there is extra space to the left of the dGPU to allow a wider card to be installed ...? [Edit] The screw holes for the heatsink attachment are in different positions, but that may be expected in "thin" chassis vs. "performance" chassis dGPUs. In any case, it's feasible that you could take both a Precision 7680 dGPU and heatsink and install them in a Precision 7670 — Precision 7X30 could be upgraded that way using Precision 7X40 parts. [Edit 2] It appears that this is a comparison between a thin chassis dGPU (left) and a performance chassis dGPU (right), so no good.

Precision 7680/7780 documentation page is live at the Dell Education site. https://education.dellemc.com/content/emc/en-us/prm/home/product-details.html?id=cninv000000000663221 There's a page for the 7680 service manual, but not the 7780 as of now. This page tends to be kind of slow and flaky compared to the regular Dell support site, at least for me. You might have to wait a bit for the service manual to actually load. There are views of the chassis in the service manual. Best I can tell, the Precision 7670 and 7680 chassis are identical. Here's the Precision 7680 cooler (dGPU version). It's a little different than the 7670 cooler but they have not gone crazy and added a giant vapor chamber or anything. [Edit] Like last year, no ECC CAMM modules. ECC configuration caps out at 64 GB. dGPUs listed are: A1000, A2000 Ada, A3500 Ada, A4000 Ada, A5000 Ada, and GeForce RTX 4090. Windows 10 support is still on the list. Ethernet is still "only" gigabit.