this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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Mine actually has a dGPU and at 20W it doesn't thermal throttle, but it still runs way too slow. Today I tried unlocking the boost again so it goes up to 50W or so.. but it barely makes a difference as the CPU hits 100°C in 0.5 seconds (:
I was even toying with the idea of repasting that crap, but it's a work laptop, so nah. Annoyed the IT department about a replacement PC again. We switched to Dell, so the new XPS 14 looks kinda nice, but when you look at benchmarks and noise it also sucks. So desktop PC it is, I'm sick of it.
Yup, 100% intentional. Any time there's any sort of a load (even opening small programs) the CPU will go balls out to load it as fast as possible, then when the loads done should cool down quickly... Unless the load doesn't stop then it hits PL2 and performance drops off a cliff. Any Intel laptop you buy will do the exact same thing. 30 watts seems to be the sweet spot to me. The factory 20 basically disables the P cores, and above 35 and you're at the point of diminishing returns. If you set the fan speed manually to 100% it will sustain almost 40, but then it's screaming and burning hot.
IMO never buy an Intel laptop unless you have no other options. AMD is much better about keeping their clock in their pants unlike Intel. But they still do something similar. I have a one gen older T14s AMD and it's faster in almost every single way in real world usage.
Dell seems to be really busy trying to be Apple with their XPS line, but they don't have the Apple Silicon that makes their laptops so good.
How do you actually set the fan speed? ThinkPads seem quite resistant there, the one software I found for it wanted me to install a driver, which failed as it has security vulnerabilities :-/
I wish Dell would offer AMD CPUs, they are mostly an Intel shop.
On Windows I use TPFanControl But I think the version on sourceforge doesn't include some installer you need first. But I think the Thinkwiki version isn't a PITA? IDK I found the version that worked and saved it a long time ago.
The software came out in the pre turbo boost age so the default automatic fan curve is almost useless and will constantly change the RPM. I just set it so it starts in manual mode and manual mode defaults to 7 (full blast) so when I'm running intensive stuff I just open the program, and when I'm done I close it.
Yeah, no, for a work laptop this is all way too hacky. Somehow ThinkPads are really locked down when it comes to fan control.