Dell Inspiron 15 7000 7506 2-in-1 Black Edition vs. Silver Edition: What's The Difference?

[Redaktion]

If you want one of the first Intel Xe Max laptops, then it's going to cost you about $1500 USD. Early adopters will definitely want to upgrade their drivers ASAP to make the most of the Dell convertible.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Inspiron-15-7000-7506-2-in-1-Black-Edition-vs-Silver-Edition-What-s-The-Difference.512626.0.html

[S.Yu]

I don't get the point of this, unless Intel heavily subsidized this model. Shouldn't the main advantage be that since Xe Max and 1165G7's GPU are essentially the same thing they should be able to run very efficiently under some sort of SLI-like implementation? As yet it's absolutely pointless to get this model, even MX350 is more worth the extra power draw.

[ugh]

Wtf is this cooling solution? One heat pipe and one fan for a CPU and a dedicated GPU? What are you doing, Dell? Even HP has better cooling solutions, putting 2 heat pipes and 2 fans in any laptop that has a dedicated GPU. Even for $1600, they decide to keep only one heat pipe for a CPU and  dedicated GPU, and let that one fan screech along at max speed, at freaking 50 db. Unacceptable.

[Jack G.]

Wtf is this cooling solution? One heat pipe and one fan for a CPU and a dedicated GPU? What are you doing, Dell? Even HP has better cooling solutions, putting 2 heat pipes and 2 fans in any laptop that has a dedicated GPU. Even for $1600, they decide to keep only one heat pipe for a CPU and  dedicated GPU, and let that one fan screech along at max speed, at freaking 50 db. Unacceptable.

Literally my Dell Inspiron 7490 that I just got yesterday SCREAMS in "Quiet" mode. In Ultra Performance it's even worse, this is while using only 30% CPU in Roblox of all games. After resetting windows it's marginally better, but Dell just can't figure out proper cooling at all unless it's XPS and even there they're slightly better compared to great.

[mik]

Looks like the CPU is throttling quite a bit which is not that surprising. It's a single heatpipe which has to deal with the dGPU in addition to the CPU. The silver edition don't have an additional GPU and therefore the cooling works better for this model. Dell failed really hard on this.

[creativeowl]

Thanks for the review. One suggestion: Could you please add a review section concerning the touchscreen and pen input capabilities of this and other 2-in-1 laptops? According to Dell, the main difference between the 4K black and the HD silver edition display is that this one has 4.096 pressure sensitivity levels, tilt detection and the PN771M pen included (compared to only 1.024 levels, no tilt detection, and the compatible PN350M pen NOT included). In theory this should make it a great alternative to expensive Wacom pen tablets when working in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

You say this machine is aimed at content creators. So content creator me would like to know: How accurately does the display detect the position, pressure and tilt of the pen? How well does palm rejection work when in tablet or tent mode? Is the keyboard locked or do you accidentally press keys when you have the PC on your lap or lean it against the edge of your desk in tablet mode? How quickly does the screen orientation change when you rotate it 90 or 180 degrees? Can you pinch to zoom with two fingers of one hand while drawing with the pen in your other hand?

[S.Yu]

Thanks for the review. One suggestion: Could you please add a review section concerning the touchscreen and pen input capabilities of this and other 2-in-1 laptops? According to Dell, the main difference between the 4K black and the HD silver edition display is that this one has 4.096 pressure sensitivity levels, tilt detection and the PN771M pen included (compared to only 1.024 levels, no tilt detection, and the compatible PN350M pen NOT included). In theory this should make it a great alternative to expensive Wacom pen tablets when working in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

You say this machine is aimed at content creators. So content creator me would like to know: How accurately does the display detect the position, pressure and tilt of the pen? How well does palm rejection work when in tablet or tent mode? Is the keyboard locked or do you accidentally press keys when you have the PC on your lap or lean it against the edge of your desk in tablet mode? How quickly does the screen orientation change when you rotate it 90 or 180 degrees? Can you pinch to zoom with two fingers of one hand while drawing with the pen in your other hand?

I have the 2019 XPS13 2N1(top tier) and advise against buying Dell for the digitizer. My digitizer has horrible diagonal jitter with a severe lag and already too much "stabilization", and you know none of that has anything to do with the pressure gradient(which cannot be adjusted effectively because Dell's interface only has a retarded slider instead of an actual pressure curve to control). Among my iPP, my GN8 and the XPS, the XPS has by far the worse inking experience, my handwriting on the Dell looks like someone with Parkinson's. Incidentally, the other two work fine without any adjustments.

I went to a store last week to check out Spectre x360 and the SP series and found that the two behave similarly, except for an SP unit that had a glass film applied, which seemed to have greatly reduced diagonal jitter for some reason. Anyhow, they all work better than the Dell, I'm just not sure if they can match the iPP or my Note. And if you want to use an alternative stylus, Dell doesn't support most of them. The only one that works is the Bamboo, for some reason(performance is basically identical, only difference being the buttons and the pressure curve). The Dell stylus works on both SP and the HP but the Surface Pen doesn't work on the Dell, which claims the same MPP2.0 protocol.

And I'd like a review section about the digitizer too but they've been ignoring me.

[AHA]

A YT reviewer has compared the pen and touchscreen pairing of several of these laptops and the Black Edition performs very well apparently. This website won't let me post the link but search YouTube for the channel Tablet Pro and he posted the comparison in November titled '2in1 Pen drawing test for artists...'

[creativeowl]

And I'd like a review section about the digitizer too but they've been ignoring me.

Yeah it's really hard to find 2-in-1 reviews that also look at digitizers. Which I find weird, since it's what distinguishes this type of machine from a conventional laptop.

I have the 2019 XPS13 2N1(top tier) and advise against buying Dell for the digitizer.

In the YT video fellow commentator AHA suggested, this particular model is doing OK. But it's also apparent that pen specs and accuracy wildly differ between models by the same brand, sometimes even within the same series. Probably because they're using all kinds of displays with different specifications from different suppliers. 2019's 500$ Dell Inspiron 7573 was favorably reviewed by another YouTuber (search for Michael Clarida Arts).

Regarding pen compatibility: Dell has a PDF titled Dell_Pen_Compatibility_Brochure at least, but it doesn't yet list the PN771M pen or any third party manufactures. And unfortunately Wacom's compatibility list also seems to lag 1-2 years behind.

[creativeowl]

A YT reviewer has compared the pen and touchscreen pairing of several of these laptops and the Black Edition performs very well apparently. This website won't let me post the link but search YouTube for the channel Tablet Pro and he posted the comparison in November titled '2in1 Pen drawing test for artists...'

Thank you, that video was actually very helpful. I wish I could just go and test this machine in the shop. But now anything "non-essential" is closed due to Covid.  :'(

[S.Yu]

it's what distinguishes this type of machine from a conventional laptop.

I agree, it's not the flipping over, it's the inking. And we've had these hybrids for years yet almost nobody tests the jitter and lag.

pen specs and accuracy wildly differ between models by the same brand, sometimes even within the same series.

I only just learned about that in the video, I tested the 13" Spectre x360 but was actually looking for the 14" version which isn't available in my area(I'd have to go grey imported, should I actually decide on it), and the video doesn't cover that model either but at least I now know that the 13" and 15" aren't really reliable indicators for how the 14" would perform, nor is the price.

And not even the video answers the question of how much the stylus influences jitter and lag (he arbitrarily switched styluses in the middle) and what influence a protection film could potentially have(I tried a matte film on my XPS yesterday and contrary to the effect of the glass film on the SP, it seemed to have made the lag on my XPS even worse).

Just FYI my experience(no tilt test because I don't care, but in addition to the diagonal line I wrote "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" in cursive each time which tests lag and stabilization far better than just a line) using my Dell pen (tilt) with SP7 is that only the one with the film applied was as clean as his demonstration in the video, the other SP7 unit right beside it without a film had about the same jitter as his unit of 15" Spectre x360. There was no broken ink in the 13" unit I tested. Also for some reason he used thick semi-transparent lines in some models which mask jitter and thin solid lines in others. He should use the exact same ink in the same software for each test.

Dell has a PDF titled Dell_Pen_Compatibility_Brochure at least, but it doesn't yet list the PN771M pen or any third party manufactures.

I know, it's really poorly made as I heavily use Onenote 2016(the iOS version doesn't cut it or I'd be sticking with my iPP for this) and the Surface Pen's layout generally works best for me but I had to find out for myself that it's not compatible.

[creativeowl]

... but at least I now know that the 13" and 15" aren't really reliable indicators for how the 14" would perform, nor is the price.

I agree. So please Notebookcheck, if you read this, please include criteria such as digitizer lag, tilt detection, pressure detection and jitter problems in your review. It would be really helpful, especially now that we're stuck at home and can't go to the shops to test how well these 2-in-1 laptops perform with the included (or a third-party) digitizer.

[blake]

Has anyone had any issues with the the touchpad periodically not recognizing touch? I've been having this issue pretty often. Dell replaced the touchpad, and then the board but it still has issues.

Another issue is the bluetooth. It sounds like like hot garbage. The audio coming through bluetooth earbuds (tested multiple brands with all the same result) sounds very "tin-y" or "echo-y". It makes listening to anything through the laptop unbearable. It is especially noticeable with dialog.