LGR - Tech Tales - How Dell Dominated PCs

This was possibly the most interesting history lesson I've had this year.

SGT (Join to see) - I have always bought their XPS line of laptops. Their initial Studio XPS series laptops (M1640) were really good, but their replacements (M1645 and 1647) left much to be desired in fit, finish, and the reliability of their motherboards. They were known to throttle the CPU and GPU during high use. By the time they fixed these issues, I had moved on to the Asus Republic of Gamers line.

I also had an Asus EEEPC. It was great for a secondary HTPC.

SSgt Mark Lines - That's one line of theirs I've never touched - only Latitude and Insipiron. I've never given serious thought to hardware throttle issues. Was this simply hardware or due to inabilities to properly handle RAM or 32/64 bit architecture ?

SGT (Join to see) - I am not totally sure myself. I think it was caused by the switch from the Core2 Duo procs to the i7 series. There was a problem with the heat and power management programing in the bios. The i7 ran much cooler and had lower power consumption rates overall than the Core2 Duo and these management tools were still designed for the Core2 Duo. This would cause the CPU, GPU, and SATA controllers to step "down" their speeds to reduce heat and prolong battery life.

Hardware throttling is one of the many things that companies use on laptops to try and balance performance and heat/ power management. Dell marketed the Studio XPS line for those wanted a business style laptop with gaming performance. Unfortunately, they did not get the balance quite right. By the time they did, the line had gained a bad reputation.

SSgt Mark Lines - Studio XPS was before Inspiron and Latitude, I believe. Maybe that was their recovery.

The story supports your past statement about bad customer support. I still have no issues with them, though.