[FILE CREATION 20250421]
A machine gifted to me by my partner Luka, similarly to Darling, it was being decommissioned at their work and was due for either resale, or recycling. They purchased it for me quite some time ago, and after a visit this past March of 2025, I was able to bring it home with me and it's become the machine I use most often in general, though there has been some tweaking and experimentation on my part to try to bring the most out of this laptop.
The first modification, as soon as I was back in Florida, was to add small copper heatsinks to all of the GPU and CPU power delivery MOSFETS in an attempt to stave off the thermal throttling that this generation of Dell XPS is known for. I think it's worked, as sustained all-core workloads on the CPU hover around 2.95GHz, which is far above the base speed of the CPU and WELL above the 800MHz deep throttle speed reported by many users. I would consider that a success.
The second project has been an ongoing effort to cram both a second SSD and a 97Wh battery into this laptop. By default, Dell provides two configurations in this body style of XPS. The first is a 4-cell 56Wh battery with a 2280 SSD slot and a 2.5" SATA bay, or a 97Wh battery with only the 2280 slot accessible. I drew up and produced a ribbon cable to stick an MSATA SSD somewhere else inside the body of the laptop, near the PCH, but a 25cm run is too long for a poorly designed printed flex ribbon to carry a SATA signal. Oops! My second revision is going to be a pair of rigid PCBs that are connected with either a 14-conductor flat flex ribon cable to carry power and data, or if that doesn't work, a standard SATA cable with the ends chopped off and soldered between the two boards with additional wires to carry power and chassis ground. These PCBs also have a provision to power and control the speed of two smaller 35mm fans to replace one of the original 70mm fans if more space is required. This page will be updated when these items arrive.
Current Specs: