Aaron44126

@Steerpike What you are describing is a pretty common issue for screen shots when the scaling ratio is higher than 100%, in any web situation. I've run into this myself. The forum doesn't know what scaling ratio your screen shot was captured at, so it just assumes 100%. If the screen shot has 150% scaling then it will come out on the forum 50% too big. You'd have to manually shrink it down accordingly (divide the pixel dimensions by 1.5). Assuming that the forum doesn't actually downscale the image (it does not appear that it does) then it will still look sharp to other visitors who are using 150% scaling, and it will at least not appear to be blown up to users who are using 100% scaling.

[Edit] Wrote a long thing but decided after several weeks that I don’t want to leave it up here.

First Alder Lake HX leak from another laptop maker? Not really sure if it really counts as a leak. AORUS/Gigabyte has posted information about a new system with an Alder Lake HX CPU. They didn't make an announcement, as far as I can tell, but the system details were found on their web site. This one has i9-12900HX and RTX 3080 Ti. https://www.aorus.com/zh-tw/laptops/AORUS-17X--Intel-12th-Gen/Key-Features ASUS's May 9 event still seems to be the best indication of when Intel may formally announce Alder Lake HX. (No real chance to see a proper announcement from Dell about these systems until that happens.) [Edit] Also, Dell today announced an AMD Alienware system with 17" 120Hz dynamic refresh rate 4K display (FreeSync). I wonder if there's any chance that 7770 uses the same panel...

This has been misrepresented a bit in the press. Dell introduced a new CAMM module, but they are supporting SODIMM modules on these systems as well (with an adapter). Dell is providing an interposer that allows two SODIMM modules to be connected to the CAMM slot on the motherboard. (Their price list shows the equivalent SODIMM option to be cheaper than CAMM, to boot.) None of the news articles seem to be catching onto this, even though it was clear in the original leaked material. They are all claiming that Dell is forcing this standard with no alternative. CAMM does allow memory to be packed more densely so if you want 128GB of RAM in your laptop (which would require four SODIMMs), you have to use a CAMM module. Not necessarily trying to defend Dell here. Just setting facts straight. This has been discussed in-depth over in the Precision 7X70 pre-release thread (before it even started showing up on tech news sites). [Edit] (One week later) Good article on the subject. https://www.pcworld.com/article/693366/dell-defends-its-controversial-new-laptop-memory.html

ASUS has announced this event... I think they blew the lid on the Intel's Tiger Lake H45 announcement date last year with a similar pre-announcement. It may well be the case that Intel announces Alder Lake HX in the morning on May 9 (U.S. time)... then there is this ASUS event (plus new system announcements from several other laptop vendors)... and I guess Precision 7X70 is on sale as soon as the next day? (No need to wait a few weeks for Intel workstation CPUs to be ready this time...)

Now live in the US market. Not sure what is up with China prices. 5770 i9+A3000 config matching the one here (i.e. FHD, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is $3,917 USD... less than half. ETA seems to be about one month, more or less, depending on the model (May 13-23). I updated the top post with links to the order pages and I'm also adding support pages (en-US). @yslalan was spot on about the Precision 3000/5000 launch date. Hopefully, the Precision 7000 launch date is also accurate. ...With Dell staging all of this promo material, I am wondering if Intel's Alder Lake HX announcement is imminent? (Hoping there is some time between announcement and release of the 7000 series for evaluation + Q&A.)

Support pages for 3000/5000 seem to be live (with drivers, manuals, etc.). Here is 5770. https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/precision-17-5770-laptop/overview Systems are not live to order in the US market yet, but it looks like they're working on it. Precision 5570 is listed but the page is broken. I guess they figure that more and more people are using gestures and would prefer the extra touchpad space over the physical buttons. I myself do appreciate the two-finger scroll gesture (but I turn off everything else, especially "pinch zoom" which I have activated by accident on a few occasions). It looks like you can set up Windows to map three-finger or four-finger taps to the middle mouse button. So, this falls into the same category as others... Just seems like the way things are going (like it or not).

It's not just physical space of the modules (which is obviously going to be the same... maybe a little less, if they cram those memory modules together as they have done here). It's also space on the motherboard. Space for the slots, and for the traces running from the slots to the CPU. Now, they have it down to one slot instead of four and the slot is right next to the CPU. Also, not having SODIMMs on both sides of the board allows them to shrink the system height by a few mm. (There is probably no reason for anything "sticking up" on the "top"/keyboard side of the motherboard at this point.)

Trying not to play the Dell/Precision fanboy. I have mixed reactions as well. However, having watched what Dell is doing with these systems for over a decade... I can say that I understand their decision making (even if I don't agree with it all the way) and, to an extent, it seems like the Precision 7X70 couldn't have turned out any other way. Everything I see is like, "Well, of course they did that." Got to keep in mind... Dell is, of course, under pressure to shrink the system while also increasing performance and cooling potential; generally, they have been delivering on this every time they refresh the chassis. Especially given that these systems are mostly purchased by businesses and not by individuals, the percentage of people who do GPU upgrades or even simpler things like swapping out memory modules is a tiny slice of their target market. Dell aside, the selection of high-end systems is going to be smaller than ever before, with Intel "dumbing down" Alder Lake H (compared to Tiger Lake H), in terms of memory support & PCIe lanes... I'd only be interested in Alder Lake HX systems and it seems like there aren't going to be that many to choose from, as most OEMs have already launched flagship gaming laptops with Alder Lake H. I honestly don't know where else I would turn to other than Dell. HP seems to consistently under-deliver compared to Dell (offering systems with comparable specs that are a bit larger, typically a bit more expensive, and perform a bit worse). I don't really trust Lenovo, and no one else has the track record for workstation-class laptops. So, I don't want to sound like I'm going against or belittling your opinions, just adding in my takes: Modulatiry in general. I don't feel like this is gone. The memory module is still a separate, discrete component, even if it is not SODIMM. The GPU module is still separate (presumably), even if it is not MXM. They should still have a separate trackpad cable and such. Serviceability in general. It remains to be seen how the Precision 7X70 will fare here, but Dell is one of the only (or maybe the only) major laptop vendors that provides full servicing instructions with pictures and everything, with no special membership or cost required to access the information. (There have been some blatant missteps here, like making the coin cell battery hard to access in the newer Precision systems.) mDP. Honestly, don't care, I was expecting this to happen. I feel like the industry is moving to USB-C over mDP for display output. It gives you a multi-purpose port; USB-C can carry a DisplayPort signal. USB-C to DP/mDP adapters are cheap and easy to find. If you don't want a dongle sitting around, you can just get a USB-C to DisplayPort cable to connect to a monitor (that's what I plan to do). HDMI is obviously not going anywhere as long as it is the standard on projectors and TVs. (Apple, king of dongle-land, even went and put the HDMI port back on their latest laptops.) Trackpad. Basically ambivalent. I never use it, I carry a mouse everywhere. But... I guess I feel like a "clickpad" would not be bad if they can match the level of responsiveness that you'd see on a modern MacBook and also offer a similar tactile feel to the "clicking" function. I've always felt like the touchpad in Precision systems was on the passable-but-mediocre side. (I haven't tried the trackpad on the newer XPS systems. I know that they've been working on it.) CAMM. That's a tricky one. I feel like the best situation would have been for a group of OEMs to get together and decide on a standard for memory modules that allowed for a more dense per-module storage capacity than SODIMM, and roll that out at the same time as DDR5. (That seems to be the driving force; four SODIMM ports+modules just takes up too much space.) Failing that, it seems like something like this was bound to happen eventually. I was hoping for the option to save some money by purchasing memory modules aftermarket (...especially for non-business users who might want to pick up one of these systems for individual use, but find the cost to be a bit steep). But... Given the option to either keep SODIMM, or instead put that space to increasing the cooling potential & performance of the system, I can see why Dell went the way that they did and I don't fault them for it. At least the RAM is not soldered to the motherboard. SODIMM modules are still supported up to 64GB with the interposer, and that will be fine for many people. However... You'd have to pay Dell for the cheapest interposer configuration, and then throw those modules away to install your own. Hopefully, that configuration has a similar price point to the entry CAMM configuration. Also, hopefully they won't make it hard to pick up the SODIMM interposer separately. If I were going to complain about these systems, I'd say: Ports on the back. At least power and Ethernet. The huge exhaust port seems great, but now seeing the design of the cooling system, it seems like those two ports could have been moved "around the corner" to the back and the exhaust port could have been shrunk just a bit to accommodate them, and the cooling would be no worse off really. Fix the keyboard layout, already. It needs dedicated Home/End and PgUp/PgDn buttons. (Can't confirm that they haven't made any changes, yet, but it looks to me like it's going to be the same as 7X50/7X60.) ...I miss the "old days" when you could remove the bottom panel by taking out just two screws. (That said, I hope that I'm opening this system up for tinkering much less often than I did with my M6700.) ...You could also get the battery out by pulling a latch and it didn't require removing the whole bottom cover. (Not a problem yet, but the day that they start trying to hawk a proprietary SSD form factor is the day that I stop buying these systems.) Precision 7X70 will be available with ECC memory; regular Core CPUs support it now (if paired with an appropriate PCH/chipset). You are right... There is no Precision 7570, and Windows "Pro for Workstations" is dead (for laptops anyway). I found right-angle Dell power adapter things on Amazon and I'll be picking up some of those. Ethernet cords are pretty "bendable" so I'll just tie the Ethernet and power cords together and plug the Ethernet straight in. We'll see how that goes...

There is a shot of the cooling system. Still a two-fan design, but far from the design you typically see in high-end laptops. The image is the same in both spec sheets so I'm not sure which system it is. (Probably the layout is pretty much the same in both.) Definitely wondering about the effectiveness of the huge rear exhaust port, if the fans are both on one side. [Edit] Actually you can see the position of three NVMe drives slots, WWAN and Wi-Fi cards, and the CAMM module. (Aside from CAMM, the layout of these slots looks pretty similar to 7X50 and 7X60.) I'm supposing this is 7670. [Edit 2] Guessing the CPU is in the "top right" here, where the black thing is, and that thing is a vapor chamber. GPU must be just to the left of that. [Edit 3] Hmm, wait, does this mean that there is actually some degree of active cooling for the primary NVMe drive slot now?

Precision 7670 The dGPU that you choose seems to determine which chassis you will get ("thin" vs. "performance"). There is a UHD+ OLED panel listed as 400 nits. (Yesterday's leak said 500 nits.) There is a FHD+ panel that is 500 nits. (There is another cheapo FHD+ display that is 250 nits. Don't get that.) No non-OLED 4K option. (Wonder about burn-in, if you have the system for many years?) All displays are 60Hz. "Thin" vs "Performance" dimensions and weight are listed in the spec sheet. I think the difference is pretty minimal, you'd probably have to look closely to tell the difference. Precision 7770 Just two display options, FHD and UHD; no OLED; UHD is still 120Hz. For thermals it says: "Advanced thermals (vapor chambers, DOO fans, GORE™)"; not sure what those last two mean. [Edit] Actually found this in the document: Dual Opposing Output (DOO) fan with liquid polymer blades Dual intake venting Thermal insulated material, GORE™ I think "Dual opposing output" just means that the air goes out both sides of the fan enclosure, as seen in the illustration below? One of the leak slides mentioned an "upsell battery" is necessary for four NVMe drive slots. I think that this may have been inaccurate. There are two battery options available; 83 WHr and 93 WHr. You'd think, if anything, the smaller battery would be needed to gain an NVMe slot. I don't see anything in the spec sheet about a configuration change depending on which battery you select. (7670 has the same battery options, and I'd expect that they'd use the exact same battery part between the two systems.) Both There appears to be visible antennas on the front/sides of the system. (WLAN antennas, I guess?) Looks like the touchpad is now a MacBook-like "clickpad" (no buttons at the bottom). As expected, Alder Lake HX "Core" CPUs only; no Xeon or other workstation-specific CPUs on offer. Not clear what the difference between i9-12900 and i9-12950 is, other than maybe vPro? (Same for 12800/12850.) [Edit] Actually, base frequency for P cores is different between 12800 and 12850. It looks like CAMM memory configurations up to 128GB will be available at launch, with SODIMM configurations available "soon" after. 7670 says three NVMe slots, 7770 says four. GeForce 3080 Ti is listed on the spec sheet in both systems. GeForce is no longer a fully "hidden" configuration item. I guess it is still not clear if you can only order it through a rep or if it will show as an option on the web site. (I've got to decide between 3080 Ti and RTX A5500. Any thoughts?) Intel Arc graphics not listed, not even with "coming soon" text. HDR 500 support is listed for the UHD panels in both systems. Both systems have 180W and 240W power adapters listed in the spec sheet. Maybe which you get depends on which CPU/GPU you have configured? (A little sad that 240W power is still the cap, but at least with NVIDIA Dynamic Boost 2.0, power can shift between the CPU/GPU better depending on the load. And... at least I can reuse all of my existing PSUs.) Webcam finally bumped (back) up to 1080p... (Didn't 7X60 have a 720p webcam?) WLAN card is Intel AX211. Prior-gen got AX210. I think that AX211 is not a standalone NGFF card, it is CNVi and partly relies on the Intel system/chipset support for Wi-Fi? WD19DCS is still listed as the dock for these systems. No new dual-connect dock. Windows 10/11 "Pro for Workstations" is not listed as available. No more MS cash grab for workstation CPUs. Can't find a good shot of the keyboard to see if it is different at all... I can tell that the number of keys from "Esc" to "Delete" is the same as before. I was wondering if Ethernet would be higher than one gigabit. There is nothing in the spec sheet about the Ethernet speed (so I think that it is unlikely that they improved it).

Yes, they often have a list of five or so preconfigured systems but only one of them is "fully customizable". In any case, you can go through a rep to get the system customized to your liking (and probably a modest discount from the web price).

Precision 3470 has not been formally announced, but the spec sheet is live. It could launch soon along with the other Precision 3000 & 5000 systems. Alder Lake P CPUs Up to 64GB DDR5 RAM 14" 1080p panel NVIDIA T550 graphics (4GB) - optional Precision 7X70 spec sheet pages have been posted, but are locked down at the moment. [Edit] Someone posted 7670 and 7770 spec sheet pages — https://www.docdroid.net/JzfmNLV/precision-7670-spec-sheet-pdf https://www.docdroid.net/FjViEwl/precision-7770-spec-sheet-pdf Have other stuff to do right now but I will digest and post back soon.......

Feedly for me. I switched over to Feedly after Google Reader died. They presented a similar interface with the same keyboard shortcuts, so it was an easy transition. It is a paid product, but I just paid for a lifetime license so I'm not doing a monthly fee or anything. I generally prefer desktop apps over cloud services, but in this case I rather like having a cloud service. I'm very invested in RSS to keep up on various things and being able to get to the same feed from my desktop or from my phone is very handy. "Read later" bookmarks or article categorization gets synced between the two, of course. Feedly also recently introduced an "RSS feed generator" function which is great for sites that do not offer RSS feeds. You give it a URL and it gives you a page preview. You click a link on that page and it generates a CSS selector to find similar links on the page. It will then generate a feed based on that so new articles or whatever will be caught and injected into the feed. You can also subscribe to public Twitter accounts or YouTube channels and they will show up in the feed as well. You can also set up feeds based on Google News searches, or just keyword searches that will search all feeds that Feedly knows about and put articles that hit the search criteria into your feed. (I used that to be in the loop on breaking information on specific upcoming products.) I don't use the "Leo" AI assistant thing; I'm pretty manual with how I have the feeds discovered and organized but their front page promo-material is really focused on that feature. I like this view with just one condensed list of everything from all feeds sorted chronigically. I can blast through it with keyboard shortcuts.

Thanks for the feedback. Indeed, if the 128GB CAMM module was DDR4, I was thinking that maybe I'd just get a 64GB CAMM module (DDR5) and see if they would release a 128GB DDR5 module in 2023 for the Precision 7X80 systems. But, 3600 does seem to be the correct speed for 128GB @ DDR5, so it looks like all of the configurations will be DDR5. When I was looking at "example configurations" I guess I ignored the very high capacity workstation DIMMs, which I should not have. Also, 3600 is probably a bit too high for that amount of memory at DDR4. Lower speed doesn't bother me too much (presumably CL will also be lower). @Peksha, I guess if they can offer a module that uses 128GB via two channels, it makes sense that they could offer a module using 64GB via one channel. I think that Dell's goal with CAMM is to be able to offer high-capacity memory configurations with less physical space than 4 SODIMMs need, so it will probably be sticking around for future generations (and maybe it will even spill over into other product lines like Alienware, as DGFF did). Hopefully, the modules will have some degree of compatibility between systems and generations. [Edit] Crazy to think that 128GB of RAM will fit on a single CAMM card. Looking at the photo, though, it looks like there is some room to make the CAMM card longer and stick another row of memory chips on it.

So, this is interesting. I found these entries in the parts list — some CAMM, some DIMM. 128GB is listed as "1×128". Also, I think the bottom chunk is for modules purchased separately as aftermarket upgrades (hence placeholder prices). It also lists a 128GB option, so it seems that you could buy a single module with 128GB capacity. Maybe there is just one CAMM slot, and if you use the SODIMM interposer/adapter, it somehow provides two SODIMM slots via the single CAMM slot? Also... 128GB is listed as 3600 speed and not 4800? Is it DDR4? If that's the case, I will have to think harder about the tradeoff. [Edit] Yesterday's leak photo does specifically say 128GB DDR5. I can't find anything out there on existing DDR5 modules that run at a speed that low, though. [Edit 2] Looking at "NS" (non-ECC) options vs. CAMM, the SODIMM route seems to be a little cheaper. We'll see if that holds true when you can actually order a system.

It looks like the left-side port configuration is (back to front): Power, Ethernet, HDMI, USB A, USB C, USB C (No space in between the ports really.) ...So, with no mDP, it seems like a sure thing that the DGFF physical form factor is changed. ...I can't even figure out how they could have HDMI attached directly to the card, like they have had in the Precision since DGFF was introduced. (You'd think surrounding Ethernet and USB ports would need to be attached to the main logic board.) So it may be the case that the HDMI port connects though the system display mux (like the USB-C ports do on the Precision 7X30-7X60) and the DGFF card has no direct output ports at all. (Edit: Especially the case since the CAMM card seems to be pretty close to the HDMI port as well. The CAMM card would be near the CPU. The DGFF card must be more on the other side of the system.) You can see a CAMM module illustration in this picture. Lots of memory chips piled on. Presumably, these would be double-sided like DIMMs are, so there are just as many on the other side. Not sure but it seems likely to me that there are just two of these slots and one of them will still be hidden under the keyboard. Weighing out 128GB RAM vs 64GB ECC RAM and I'm definitely leaning towards the former. DDR5 does have on-die ECC which does have partial protection (fixing errors in memory on the chip, but not errors in transmission). This guy explains it pretty well.

7770 has similar “cutouts” in both the bottom chassis cover and the display enclosure, so it seems like it will have a similar hinge. At the very least, it should be able to lay flat 180 degrees again.

Cool, that’s from the same guy who “leaked” the stuff I posted yesterday… First photo of the 7670 (completely assembled anyway). Nice thin bezels (can’t see the top though). Chassis cutouts do appear to be to support the hinge, which has a new design. 7670 has “thin” or “performance” chassis options (as @yslalan mentioned). OLED display, 16:10, 500 nits. CAMM is a Dell proprietary interface for memory modules, as I speculated. It seems that you can somehow install SODIMM modules, with an adapter, but you have to use CAMM to get 128GB of RAM in the system. So, probably CAMM is just about increasing memory density (per module) and saving physical space over SODIMM.

It's been understood for a while now that Alder Lake HX ("S-BGA") will not have an integrated PCH like the H series CPUs do. It will be a separate component on the motherboard like it is for the Alder Lake S (desktop) CPUs, and also like it is with Tiger Lake H45. I believe this allows for a more robust PCIe configuration than you could get with Alder Lake H (full 16-lane PCIe4 GPU connection + 4×4 PCIe4 NVMe drives, etc.). A5500 (mobile) and RTX 3080 Ti (mobile) both use the GA103S chip from NVIDIA with practically identical specs. A difference that I saw is ECC vRAM for the A5500 (and A4500). Going any higher would require a GA102 chip which doesn't seem feasible for a laptop right now.

https://twitter.com/emerald_x86/status/1508116954137174016?s=21&t=usGWt7rq1RSkAh4lnQu2iw Computex starts May 24. Not sure if this is real, but, notes: 64GB max ECC memory? Not sure what this business is with CAMM interposers for the memory. Is CAMM a new replacement for SODIMM? I can’t find any information about this; maybe it is Dell proprietary like DGFF? PCIe4 for all NVMe slots. Looks like you might need a battery upgrade to fit 4 NVMe drives in the 7770. (Not that worried about it saying A5000 instead of A5500, probably a misprint of sorts, there is ample evidence that A5500 is coming to both systems. Thought that only one of them was getting Intel Arc graphics, though…)

"System (Enhanced)" can cause window layout issues in some apps, so just be on the lookout. "System" will pretty much always work for apps that don't handle scaling well, but it introduces a sort of blur effect as the app is just bitmap scaled up from 100% scaling.

I will check this out ... Thanks.

I need access to the Windows advanced power options that are hidden when it is enabled. (PCIe link state power management, maximum processor state, etc.) I saw someone mention that these are no longer hidden in Windows 11. Haven't checked that out yet, myself.

Do you have the "enable direct discrete display output" option enabled in the BIOS? Try flip/flopping it and see if that changes the behavior. (The NVIDIA HDMI audio output driver would not come into play if this option is not enabled, as dock displays would be driven by the Intel GPU.)