Are XPS 12 and XPS 13 laptops (Haswell) to be avoided for now?

I have read in so many owners' forums that each of these two much heralded machines in reviews are not very nice to live with. I've read that the XPS 12's screen has such bad image retention and backlight bleed problems that even Dell has suggested that purchasers wait for a fix coming with a new batch of production models.

As far as the XPS 13 goes, it appears in many respects to be the absolute pinnacle of 13" Ultrabooks, except that again in owners' forums there are reports of "coil whine," and overheating (at least hot enough to make them impossible to put on one's lap!) of these machines. Still, the build, keyboard, trackpad and screen - and battery life - appear to be exceptional in tests.

Finally, I have heard such a mixed bag of reports about Dell service and of their acknowledgement of hardware defects that require replacements of screens (XPS 12) and mainboards (XPS 13) as well as the quality of their on-side NBD service, some of which have praised it to the hilt, others of which have absolutely panned it and sworn off Dell. I went through a similar series of incidents with the "old Dell" in 2009-2011.

Should I avoid getting either of these models until the issues have been remedied by Dell?

Thanks for the advice - and for reading the long post!

 

Bump!

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I don't have anything to add except that I just purchased the i7 xps 12 from Dell Outlet with the 20% off coupon and it is due to arrive today (after returning my 2nd Spectre - I just couldn't deal with the fan whine). I figure it's worth a shot to see if I like this laptop since it's getting pretty thin in terms of options - at least at a reasonable price point.

I'll let you know if I have any serious issues. Granted it is an outlet model so I'm not sure if that puts me in a position to have more/less problems.

 

Any update?

There is a coupon right now for 25% off and I am tempted to pick up an xps 12. I had the first gen model and it was ok, but the trackpad and fan were horrible. The haswell refresh added a better trackpad and haswell itself runs cooler, so the fan may be manageable now.

As to the OP's post... I think for the most part dell is safe to deal with. They usually offer returns for free if you don't like the product. You often get booted around in customer support, but if you have 45 minutes to kill, you generally get an answer or solution. They are not as good as lenovo with some respects, but they are not as bad as say... acer?

 

I have the latest model of the XPS 12, i7. There is image retention problem, but it really depends on what you're doing as to whether or not you notice it. If you spend most of the time in the web, you'll barely notice it, but moving to full screen different colored programs will make it very obvious.

It's important to note the difference of image retention and burn in. The IR that we have on the XPS 12 is not permanent. You can literally sit and watch it dissipate within minutes. It is not permanent. It's honestly more of an annoyance than a real problem for me; I'm in IT but not a designer, so it could effect others much more of course.

All that said, I've purchased a new laptop each year for the last year, and of the latest 5 laptops I've owned (Lenovo U300s, Lenovo Yoga, Asus Zenbook, XPS 12) the XPS absolutely blows the others away. The XPS is rock solid, super fast performance, quiet, excellent keyboard, no screen flex. Carrying this around daily in and out of different environments has proven this model to be the best laptop I've ever used.

One last thing, I've set up about 10 or so XPS 13 laptops for work and have heard or seen absolutely zero problems. The whine on that model is definitely not universal.

I hope that helps!