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

[the-darkvoid]

I use laptop when on travel for photo stuff, mainly Adobe LR and PS. So I need a big internal drive (1 or better 2TB) and 16GB of RAM, at least.

The battery life on the XPS 9360 is not as good on MacOS as it is on Windows, keep this in mind when using for travel purposes. The 9370 or 9380 have a soldered in WiFi chip, which makes the travel case even harder.

To be very honest, if you want a trustworthy MacOS machine for travel which does what you need from it every time, buy a real MacBook. When traveling you might not have additional equipment on you to resolve issues if anything goes wrong with the hackintosh installation.

 

[jkbuha]

The battery life on the XPS 9360 is not as good on MacOS as it is on Windows, keep this in mind when using for travel purposes. The 9370 or 9380 have a soldered in WiFi chip, which makes the travel case even harder.

To be very honest, if you want a trustworthy MacOS machine for travel which does what you need from it every time, buy a real MacBook. When traveling you might not have additional equipment on you to resolve issues if anything goes wrong with the hackintosh installation.

I tend to agree on having a MacBook for durability and longer battery life, particularly the new MB (not MBP). That said, I guess with some advanced optimisation you can get better battery life on MacOS than Windows (but not Linux) if you apply a few tricks, mainly because POSIX-based systems allow for better tinkering under the hood.

For example, on the 8th Gen i7, disabling turbo boost when on battery, mid brightness, and cautious undervolting gives me 7h battery life with a QHD+, which I haven't yet experienced on Windows. Linux goes one step further, using the steps above, plus specific kernel patching, together with powertop on Kali I can get 10h, but it's (probably) not for the faint hearted...

 

[Azimuth1]

To be very honest, if you want a trustworthy MacOS machine for travel which does what you need from it every time, buy a real MacBook. When traveling you might not have additional equipment on you to resolve issues if anything goes wrong with the hackintosh installation.

thank you! Above all for your straightforward thought on the reliability. It means that even if I don't upgrade the machine (for sure I will two or three times per year, but never before leaving!), an XPS9360 would not be reliable on travelling?

9370 or 9380 are not an option if I cannot use Wifi, that's for sure. On travel Wifi is crucial! And I don't want to rely upon a dongle for it. But facts are also that I can have an XPS9360 with 16GB, best screen option, and a swapped 2TB NVMe for less than 2K€, while with Apple it's more than 4,3K€ ... it's really a lot of money!

 

[Azimuth1]

For example, on the 8th Gen i7, disabling turbo boost when on battery, mid brightness, and cautious undervolting gives me 7h battery life with a QHD+, which I haven't yet experienced on Windows. Linux goes one step further, using the steps above, plus specific kernel patching, together with powertop on Kali I can get 10h, but it's (probably) not for the faint hearted...

Thank you! I was exactly looking on Ebay to a machine with i7-8550U, 16GB RAM and QHD+ screen. But reliability when on travel is a key factor. The machine must working all the times in the same expected way! (Provided that I won't change a bit of Clover/MacOs configurations) ...

 

[selfassembled]

For example, on the 8th Gen i7, disabling turbo boost when on battery, mid brightness, and cautious undervolting gives me 7h battery life with a QHD+, which I haven't yet experienced on Windows. Linux goes one step further, using the steps above, plus specific kernel patching, together with powertop on Kali I can get 10h, but it's (probably) not for the faint hearted...

It's a small point, but I get about 9 hours sometimes on Windows, same configuration. Similar tweaks on windows also help.

 

[the-darkvoid]

For example, on the 8th Gen i7, disabling turbo boost when on battery, mid brightness, and cautious undervolting gives me 7h battery life with a QHD+, which I haven't yet experienced on Windows.

What do you use to disable turbo boost while on battery? Something like Turbo Boost Switcher or Disable Turbo Boost kext?

 

[Azimuth1]

Here is the Geekbench4 for my actual MBP:
MBP Early 2013

and here it's the new 2018 i7 MBP geekbench. Can I see a geekbench of one of yours XPS 9360 with i7-8550?

 

[jkbuha]

What do you use to disable turbo boost while on battery? Something like Turbo Boost Switcher or Disable Turbo Boost kext?

Turbo Boost Switcher Pro. I liked it so much I got the paid version. It also gives me temp readings and CPU loads from one icon on the toolbar.

 

[jkbuha]

Here is the Geekbench4 for my actual MBP:
MBP Early 2013

and here it's the new 2018 i7 MBP geekbench. Can I see a geekbench of one of yours XPS 9360 with i7-8550?

MacBookPro15,2 - Geekbench Browser

Benchmark results for a MacBookPro15,2 with an Intel Core i7-8550U processor.

browser.geekbench.com

That's with turbo boost enabled but on battery power.

 

[Azimuth1]

MacBookPro15,2 - Geekbench Browser

Benchmark results for a MacBookPro15,2 with an Intel Core i7-8550U processor.

browser.geekbench.com

That's with turbo boost enabled but on battery power.

uh nice!!! ... and yours is underclocked now, right? When you have a sec, please retest it on AC power and not undervolted.