Dell Continues Its Thunderbolt Streak with the XPS 13 9370 Laptop, Now With Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports

The Dell XPS series was an early adopter of Thunderbolt 3 technology and that streak continues with the XPS 13 9370 laptop. Unlike the previous XPS 13 9365 which had only one Thunderbolt 3 based USB Type-C port and one USB 3.1 based Type-C port, the XPS 13 9370 has two Thunderbolt 3 based USB Type-C port and one USB 3.1 based Type-C port. This is the first time we have seen two Thunderbolt 3 ports on a XPS 13 series model and shows Dell's continued strong commitment to Thunderbolt technology.

The XPS 13 9370 now comes with a beefier Dell 45W AC Power Adapter with USB Type-C Connector compared to the Dell 30W AC Power Adapter with USB Type-C Connector which came with the XPS 13 9365. The additional 15 watts of power makes sense to support the  additional 15 watts of power that Thunderbolt 3 ports typically must provide.

Given the XPS 13 9370 lack of USB Type-A ports, Dell also provides a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter.

Dell uses the Thunderbolt logo to show that the two USB Type-C ports next to each other are Thunderbolt 3 based, meaning they can support  Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gb/s), DisplayPort 1.2, and USB Power Delivery 2.0.

On the other side of the XPS 13 9370, the USB Type-C port just uses a DisplayPort logo and just supports USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s), DisplayPort 1.2, and USB Power Delivery 2.0.

Using the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs to run just a subset of the full USB Power Delivery compliance test suite, we can see that the XPS 13 9370 supports a single 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps) PDO for charging. Note some compliance failures were observed.

DUT Information

Manufacturer	Dell
Model Number	XPS13 9370
Serial Number	Comm

Test Information

Date and Time:

20180224_012708

Controller and Instrument Information

Parameter	Value
GRL USB-PD_C2 Serial No.	035.013.035.032.064.
GRL USB-PD Software Version	1.3.3.8
GRL USB-PD Firmware Version	1.3.3.0.7
Board Calibration	Calibration Success.
App Mode	COMMUNICATION_ENGINE_TESTS
Tx Mask	true
Rx Mask	false
RX mask Power selection	Neutral Power
Device Type	Provider Only
Cable IR drop Imp(R)	0

Product Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
UUT_Device_Type
Vendor_Name
Product_Name
Version_Info
TID
Type_C	NONE
SOP_Capable	NONE
SOP_P_Capable	NONE
SOP_PP_Capable	NONE
SOP_P_Debug_Capable	NONE
SOP_PP_Debug_Capable	NONE
Manufacturer_Info_Supported_Port
Manufacturer_Info_VID_Port
Manufacturer_Info_PID_Port
USB_Comms_Capable	YES
DR_Swap_To_DFP_Supported	YES
DR_Swap_To_UFP_Supported	YES
Externally_Powered	NO
VCONN_Swap_To_On_Supported	NONE
VCONN_Swap_To_Off_Supported	NONE
Responds_To_Discov	NONE
Attempts_Discov	NONE
Chunking_Implemented_SOP	NO
Unchunked_Extended_Messages_Supported	NO
Accepts_PR_Swap_As_Src	YES
Accepts_PR_Swap_As_Snk	YES
Requests_PR_Swap_As_Src	NONE
Requests_PR_Swap_As_Snk	NONE
XID
Structured_VDM_Version
Data_Capable_as_USB_Host	NONE
Data_Capable_as_USB_Device	NONE
Product_Type_UFP_SOP
Product_Type_DFP_SOP
Modal_Operation_Supported	NONE
Security_Msgs_Supported_SOP	NO
USB_VID
PID
bcdDevice
SVIDs Min	0
SVIDs Max	0
SVID Fixed	NONE

Power Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
PD_Power_as_Sink
No_USB_Suspend_May_Be_Set	NONE
GiveBack_May_Be_Set	NONE
Higher_Capability_Set	NONE
Num_Snk_PDOs
Supply Type #1	-
Min Voltage #1	-
Max Voltage #1	-
Supply Type #2	-
Min Voltage #2	-
Max Voltage #2	-
Supply Type #3	-
Min Voltage #3	-
Max Voltage #3	-
Supply Type #4	-
Min Voltage #4	-
Max Voltage #4	-
PD_Power_as_Source
Rp Value
USB Suspend may be cleared	YES
Send Ping	NONE
No of Source PDOs
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Peak Current #1	0x0(A)
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
Max Current #1	0x12C(3A)
Supply Type #2	-
Min Voltage #2	-
Max Voltage #2	-
Supply Type #3	-
Min Voltage #3	-
Max Voltage #3	-
Supply Type #4	-
Min Voltage #4	-
Max Voltage #4	-
Supply Type #5	-
Min Voltage #5	-
Max Voltage #5	-
PD_Power_as_Sink
No_USB_Suspend_May_Be_Set	NONE
GiveBack_May_Be_Set	NONE
Higher_Capability_Set	NONE
Num_Snk_PDOs
Supply Type #1	-
Min Voltage #1	-
Max Voltage #1	-
Supply Type #2	-
Min Voltage #2	-
Max Voltage #2	-
Supply Type #3	-
Min Voltage #3	-
Max Voltage #3	-
Supply Type #4	-
Min Voltage #4	-
Max Voltage #4	-

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	TDA.2.1.1.1	BMC-PHY-TX-EYE	PASS
2	TDA.2.1.1.2	BMC-PHY-TX-BIT	PASS
3	TDA.2.1.2.2	BMC-PHY-RX-INT-REJ	PASS
4	TDA.2.1.2.1	BMC-PHY-RX-BUSIDL	PASS
5	TDA.2.1.3.1	BMC-PHY-TERM	PASS
7	TDA.2.2.1	BMC-PROT-SEQ-GETCAPS	FAIL
11	TDA.2.2.7	BMC-PROT-BIST-NOT-5V-SRC	PASS
13	TDA.2.3.1.1	POW-SRC-LOAD-P-PC	PASS
15	TDB.2.2.9	BMC-PROT-GSC-REC	PASS

BMC Eye Diagram

Here we can see a load trace diagram generated by the GRL-USB-PD C2 Compliance Test Solution App which shows that the XPS 13 9370  takes advantage of various voltage and current levels for charging.