Question Dell Latitude 5501: is it worth upgrading the CPU ?

[lukasamd]

Hey,
so far I use Dell Latitude 5501 - I bought post-lease in ideal condition and it's still in perfect state. Use it mostly for work: managing (mostly browser, slack), programming, pretty intensive docker. Configuration:

CPU: i7-9850H (6c/12t)
MEM: 32 GB DDR4 (2x 16 GB)
Disk: Samsung 980 NVMe 500 GB
GPU: Intel + GF MX150, but it's not important for me, not use it for gaming
OS: Win 11 Pro 22H2 with enabled WSL

It's fine but a bit hot and loud on intensive work - probably because of the 14 nm CPU. Performance is enough, only sometimes need "rush mode".
I thought about undervolting, but unfortunately Intel or Dell blocked this in one of BIOS updates and XTU or Throttlestop do not allow this anymore

I thought about some "upgrade", to something with for example Ryzen 5600U or 5800U - maybe even newer like 6800U, optionally new Intels (1240P or higher).
Not sure if it is worth doing that... of course, it means some other advantages: maybe better display (current one is FullHD, but only 220 nits), maybe PCIE 4.x disks support but it cost 2-4x more than current notebook, depending on spec I will choose.

Have money for such upgrade, but do not like to spend a lot if gains may be only marginal
With current setup I can also switch to Linux instead of using WSL, because docker and programming IDE I use work much better on native Linux, so maybe it's better

Any other ideas, how to improve current setup?

 

[Bob.B]

Hey,
so far I use Dell Latitude 5501 - I bought post-lease in ideal condition and it's still in perfect state. Use it mostly for work: managing (mostly browser, slack), programming, pretty intensive docker. Configuration:

CPU: i7-9850H (6c/12t)
MEM: 32 GB DDR4 (2x 16 GB)
Disk: Samsung 980 NVMe 500 GB
GPU: Intel + GF MX150, but it's not important for me, not use it for gaming
OS: Win 11 Pro 22H2 with enabled WSL

It's fine but a bit hot and loud on intensive work - probably because of the 14 nm CPU. Performance is enough, only sometimes need "rush mode".
I thought about undervolting, but unfortunately Intel or Dell blocked this in one of BIOS updates and XTU or Throttlestop do not allow this anymore

I thought about some "upgrade", to something with for example Ryzen 5600U or 5800U - maybe even newer like 6800U, optionally new Intels (1240P or higher).
Not sure if it is worth doing that... of course, it means some other advantages: maybe better display (current one is FullHD, but only 220 nits), maybe PCIE 4.x disks support but it cost 2-4x more than current notebook, depending on spec I will choose.

Have money for such upgrade, but do not like to spend a lot if gains may be only marginal
With current setup I can also switch to Linux instead of using WSL, because docker and programming IDE I use work much better on native Linux, so maybe it's better

Any other ideas, how to improve current setup?

Just to pick around the edges.

Open the case and clean out the dust and lint...etc.

Get the proper bios and drivers.

Clean out the crud in the storage.

Don't run unneeded background stuff.

 

[lukasamd]

I've already cleaned everything inside, fan etc. also replaced thermal paste on CPU and GPU.
After that it's better, CPU can still reach almost 100 C and throttle, but its only on turbo boost and it works better than before

Anyway, it's still a bit noisy. I can manage windows power plan, set max cpu to ~97-98% to disable turbo boost, but not sure it will be fine - its fine for short loads