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

[the-darkvoid]

I've finally received the Western Digital 3D NAND SSD I ordered earlier.

Model number is: WDS100T2X0C-00L350

It supports nvme formatting in 4K sectors using nvme-cli tools.
Though I had to suspend the Linux system to get the command to operate, as described here: https://tinyapps.org/docs/nvme-secure-erase.html

Due to the only 2 PCIe lanes being available, the throughput is capped. But its significantly faster compared to my previous SSD, uses less power and runs cooler as well. Both read and write speeds are 1500MB/sec consistently in Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

 

[shockingpants]

I am looking for ways to improve power management right now. Besides killing LineIn to stop the crazy kernel_task after sleep, I have also switched off touchscreen, SD card reader, bluetooth, thunderbolt, keyboard backlight, lowered brightness, and undervolted, basically the usual fast and easy remedies. However, comparing between Mac and Windows, I am getting very different performances. Firstly, my idle power consumption on Mac looks like it fluctuates between 5-12W (summing package, IA and DRAM), core frequency between 0.8-1.5Ghz. using thedarkvoid's implementation. I am getting around 4-5 hours of idle. In comparison, on windows dual boot, I am getting close to 8-12 hours on idle. Is this battery performance similar to what you guys are experiencing too?

I have been reading this guide and other resources to get a sense of how I can improve battery performance. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-native-power-management-for-laptops.175801/ I am also trying to understand the power management implemented by thedarkvoid. His method uses CPUfriend.kext and related kexts. How is that different from the methods described in the RehabMan's guide? In the guide, there are
Custom SSDT.aml using ssdtPRGen.sh,
Experimental technique: XCPM only,
Experimental option for Skylake/Kaby Lake (and later): HWP aka speedshift

Before I go on a wild goose chase for the elusive 10+ hours on a hackintosh, is the difference in battery performance between Mac and PC well within expectation? Secondly, there are several methods for power management that have been discussed. Is there any particular method that is vastly superior?

 

[jkbuha]

First off... if you have the QHD+ screen (which it seems like you have, the HD screens don't have touch) then forget it. You'll get 5-6 hours at best. And that's at a stretch assuming you're running a lean OS, optimised power profile, power-efficient NVMe/SSD. Oh and a battery with minimal wear...

I spent a lot of time earlier this year on optimising the power profile for the 9360, and comparing the various payoffs in each scenario. I then compared macOS with Win10 and Kali for a baseline. As a general rule of thumb, I found the best techniques for power saving listed below, best performance first:

1) Disable SD/Touch/Keyb_Backlight/Bluetooth (Saves 0.5-4W depending on your frugality)
2) Undervolt CPU/GPU/Cache (-0.75V on each core roughly gives 1-2W in total, more on the quads)
3) USB device unplug (0.5-2W: this has the potential to save quite a bit depending on the devices you lug about)
4) Disable Turbo (surprisingly nifty results - 0.25-1.5W)
5) XCPM vs HWP (I hate the latter on the i7-7500, it makes the OS clunky, XCPM is best on this device)

With the above, I can get an acceptable power efficiency spread (Win10 < Kali 2018 < macOS10.12.6; delta = 1-2h)

I suspect a lot of users will have varying responses (particularly those on 4-cores not 2). So YMMV...

 

[shockingpants]

First off... if you have the QHD+ screen (which it seems like you have, the HD screens don't have touch) then forget it. You'll get 5-6 hours at best. And that's at a stretch assuming you're running a lean OS, optimised power profile, power-efficient NVMe/SSD. Oh and a battery with minimal wear...

I spent a lot of time earlier this year on optimising the power profile for the 9360, and comparing the various payoffs in each scenario. I then compared macOS with Win10 and Kali for a baseline. As a general rule of thumb, I found the best techniques for power saving listed below, best performance first:

1) Disable SD/Touch/Keyb_Backlight/Bluetooth (Saves 0.5-4W depending on your frugality)
2) Undervolt CPU/GPU/Cache (-0.75V on each core roughly gives 1-2W in total, more on the quads)
3) USB device unplug (0.5-2W: this has the potential to save quite a bit depending on the devices you lug about)
4) Disable Turbo (surprisingly nifty results - 0.25-1.5W)
5) XCPM vs HWP (I hate the latter on the i7-7500, it makes the OS clunky, XCPM is best on this device)

With the above, I can get an acceptable power efficiency spread (Win10 < Kali 2018 < macOS10.12.6; delta = 1-2h)

I suspect a lot of users will have varying responses (particularly those on 4-cores not 2). So YMMV...

Thanks for the breakdown! I couldn't find the FHD version with i7-8550u and 16gb ram for a while, so I got the QHD+ instead, and it is taking up so much power! If you are also getting just 5-6 hours with an even more optimized profile than mine, then short of coding power management from scratch, I don't expect to see any huge gain in performance with minor tweaks...

Looks like the best workaround would be to switch to Win10 whenever I need extended battery life.

 

[postbreak]

Thanks for the breakdown! I couldn't find the FHD version with i7-8550u and 16gb ram for a while, so I got the QHD+ instead, and it is taking up so much power! If you are also getting just 5-6 hours with an even more optimized profile than mine, then short of coding power management from scratch, I don't expect to see any huge gain in performance with minor tweaks...

Looks like the best workaround would be to switch to Win10 whenever I need extended battery life.

Just to give you an idea I have the i7 with FHD display with almost 0 tweaks to the system, backlight on, bluetooth on, etc. I get around 2 hours per 25% of battery, so 8 hours of normal browsing and usage. So if I undervolted, turned all the stuff you did it would be 10-12 I bet.

 

[sohumc]

How do I make sure my power management is working? In HWMonitor, the lowest it goes to is 1.3MHz on idle. Everything else in my system works - backlight, lid sleep, audio, etc. I am still waiting for WiFi card in the mail. I have attached the required problem reporting files.

Also - my battery doesn't give me a time estimate on how much is left, only a percentage. Is there a way to enable that?

 

[ToyoRob]

I've finally received the Western Digital 3D NAND SSD I ordered earlier.

Model number is: WDS100T2X0C-00L350

It supports nvme formatting in 4K sectors using nvme-cli tools.
Though I had to suspend the Linux system to get the command to operate, as described here: https://tinyapps.org/docs/nvme-secure-erase.html

Due to the only 2 PCIe lanes being available, the throughput is capped. But its significantly faster compared to my previous SSD, uses less power and runs cooler as well. Both read and write speeds are 1500MB/sec consistently in Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

This sounds nice but for newb like me I think I have to stick with simplicity right now.
Which would be an 860 evo SATA right?
Or the 850 listed on the first page but the connectors have less pins. I'm finding conflicting info on the webz, does this still work?
Here's the one I'm looking at.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07822Z77M/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[RehabMan]

How do I make sure my power management is working? In HWMonitor, the lowest it goes to is 1.3MHz on idle. Everything else in my system works - backlight, lid sleep, audio, etc. I am still waiting for WiFi card in the mail. I have attached the required problem reporting files.

Also - my battery doesn't give me a time estimate on how much is left, only a percentage. Is there a way to enable that?

Your ioreg shows CPU PM working (X86PlatformPlugin is loaded).

 

[sohumc]

Your ioreg shows CPU PM working (X86PlatformPlugin is loaded).

Is IGPU PM working as well? Also, do I need DarkVoid's WhateverGreen kext? When I add it I get a kernel panic related to ACPIGraphics.

 

[RehabMan]

Is IGPU PM working as well?

Yes.
You have renamed GFX0->IGPU and you can see AGPMEnabler/AGPMController is loaded.

Also, do I need DarkVoid's WhateverGreen kext?

WhateverGreen.kext can be used for patching the framebuffer.
But it is new, requires specific configuration, and is not really needed until Mojave.