[Guide] Dell XPS 13 9360 on MacOS Sierra 10.12.x - LTS (Long-Term Support) Guide

[skydrops]

My new XPS 13 also has i7 7560U https://ark.intel.com/products/97540/Intel-Core-i7-7560U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

I am using Pike's _xcpm_idle patch and bozma88's beta setup pack.

This are my scores while messing with PM:

View media item 189132Without HWP and without PT1

View media item 189134With HWP and with PT1

View media item 189133With HWP and without PT1

Seems that it works best with HWP enabled and without SSDT-Plugintype1 patch. X86PlatformPlugin doesn't load without PT1. In this scenario, freq goes from 700MHz to 3.7GHz (shouldn't be 3.8GHz?). Attached problem reporting files are with this setup.

With HWP + PT1, X86PlatformPlugin will load, but the system will have just 2 frequencies: 1.20GHz and 2.20GHz.

 

[RehabMan]

My new XPS 13 also has i7 7560U https://ark.intel.com/products/97540/Intel-Core-i7-7560U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

I am using Pike's _xcpm_idle patch and bozma88's beta setup pack.

This are my scores while messing with PM:

View media item 189132Without HWP and without PT1

View media item 189134With HWP and with PT1

View media item 189133With HWP and without PT1

Seems that it works best with HWP enabled and without SSDT-Plugintype1 patch. X86PlatformPlugin doesn't load without PT1. In this scenario, freq goes from 700MHz to 3.7GHz (shouldn't be 3.8GHz?). Attached problem reporting files are with this setup.

With HWP + PT1, X86PlatformPlugin will load, but the system will have just 2 frequencies: 1.20GHz and 2.20GHz.

Don't forget that the FrequencyVectors in the X86PlatformPlugin (plist associated with your board-id) must be tweaked to match your CPU...

I find that especially true with HWP...
(so far, HWP seems like a great way to waste time...)

 

[skydrops]

So your recommendation is to disable HWP through Clover setting, stick with MBP13,3 smbios (until 14,2 is supported), load X86PlatformPlugin and change its plist to match my own FrequencyVectors?

Many thanks for your reply!

 

[RehabMan]

So your recommendation is to disable HWP through Clover setting, stick with MBP13,3 smbios (until 14,2 is supported), load X86PlatformPlugin and change its plist to match my own FrequencyVectors?

Many thanks for your reply!

No.
You can only disable HWP by modifying the FrequencyVectors data in the plist or by using an SMBIOS that does not use HWP.
Clover HWP settings are just not useful for anything.

 

[johnyg07]

I have very annoying coil whine from my dell xps. I can hear it when opening browser tab or with every click on launchpad.
Is there something I can try to improve the situation.

I read at a few places that disabling C state in bios can improve situation. When I disabled that, OS did not boot. It was stuck on the apple logo with no progress bar. I tried to boot into verbose mode, I could only see two lines of initial text and then it got stuck there. It did not event change the graphic mode of text display.
how can I disable C states for this laptop. I want to try a few things before pulling the plug and returning this back to retailer.

 

[bozma88]

I have very annoying coil whine from my dell xps. I can hear it when opening browser tab or with every click on launchpad.
Is there something I can try to improve the situation.

I read at a few places that disabling C state in bios can improve situation. When I disabled that, OS did not boot. It was stuck on the apple logo with no progress bar. I tried to boot into verbose mode, I could only see two lines of initial text and then it got stuck there. It did not event change the graphic mode of text display.
how can I disable C states for this laptop. I want to try a few things before pulling the plug and returning this back to retailer.

Mine is completely silent, especially when idling or doing light tasks like browsing a web page. Return yours asap.

 

[skydrops]

I've modified a version of syscl's modded VoodooPS2Controller.kext, which is also based on RehabMan's, that uses most vanilla gestures without needing to remap them on keyboard shortcuts prefpanel.

 

[bozma88]

I've modified a version of syscl's modded VoodooPS2Controller.kext, which is also based on RehabMan's, that uses most vanilla gestures without needing to remap them on keyboard shortcuts prefpanel.

Please document your changes if you want it tested and included.

Ps: have you tried the beta release? Any feedback?

 

[skydrops]

Your beta pack works great on my laptop. Don't have any power cord freezes so I can't tell if that was fixed with your improvements.
Rehabman said Power Management was incomplete, I am using SSDT-PluginType1.aml with MBP13,2 which loads X86PlatformPlugin. Maybe we should add correct FrequencyVectors for each supported processor (and forget HWP).
Laptop runs a bit hot, but is quite silent most of the time.

Changes on VoodooPS2Controller are gestures keybindings which match 1:1 default OSX configuration so you have:

- V/H scrolling with 2 fingers
- Mission control all windows swiping 3 fingers up
- Mission control app windows swiping 3 fingers down
- Back swiping 3 fingers left
- Forward swiping 3 fingers right
- Show desktop swiping 4 fingers up
- Minimize window swiping 4 fingers down
- Prev desktop swiping 4 fingers left
- Next desktop swiping 4 fingers right

Someone implemented 4 finger gestures, but I couldn't find the source code of that version (RehabMan's version only supports 3 fingers). I think we have room to improve the trackpad, specially 2 finger scrolling, which is laggy and unresponsive. Scrolling works a lot better in windows, so hardware is there

 

[R.MnTnA]

@bozma88 or anyone else for that matter- have you tried to install Windows for dual booting WITH your NVMe in 4k native format? I've tried to install Windows on it but it does not recognize the ssd.