Argh! Can't get XPS 15 config I want!

I need to replace my big Alienware M17x, it's been great but after 3+ years has some problems. I want something less bulky, lighter, with good batter life but also good power. I'd decided on the XPS 15 - but I cannot get the configuration I want/need! Really? Will they not sell me a machine with the combination of features I want?

Basically, I want the i7 processor, the 1080 screen, 16 gig ram, and either a 1T SSD (overkill) or a 512K SSD plus a 1 T HDD (my current config.) I just don't see any way to get that combo.

They sell machines with each of those features but it appears they won't sell me, for example, a 1 T SSD unless I purchase the 4K screen. They won't sell the 32 SSD + 1T HDD in an i7 config. And so on.

Is it possible to get the config I want by calling, or do they just decide I can't have the combo I want?

 

You can upgrade the ram and hard drive yourself if you get an 1080p version with an i7. You could get an i7, 1080p, 16GB ram, 512GB SSD version then install whatever 2.5in drive you want.

edit: Actually if you get a 512GB SSD they give you the bigger battery and take out the 2.5in drive cage.

 

Yeah, that's the problem with that approach. Plus from what I've read, even if you could get the smaller battery with the 512 GB SSD config (which you can't!) they don't seem to provide the connections and hardware to be able to add an HDD.

Sheesh. I'd done enough reading to thing the XPS 15 was what I need, in terms of size and weight and power, and they won't sell me what I need! And I really don't know of a good alternative that combines the size and weight and power and battery life.

 

Get the $1500 configuration. You can't change the CPU and screen, so make sure you get the configuration on those two components you want from the start.

Core i7 CPU
FHD 1080p screen
8GB RAM (easily upgraded to 16GB or 32GB at any time during the life of the laptop).
256GB SSD (512GB would be preferable, but the SSD is much easier to upgrade than the CPU or screen).
53Wh battery (critical if you want a 2.5" drive in your laptop).

Order the following parts from Dell.

The Isolator (ribbon cable) P/N XDYGX - (XDYGX - Cable, Hard Drive, SATA 7MM, 9550 / 5510)

The Interposer (data connector) P/N 3XYT5 - (3XYT5 - Grommet, Hard Drive, Rubber, 9550 / 5510)

Call Dell sales, and order them specifically by part number. Reports on Reddit show that they have unpredictable stock levels... So call frequently over several days, and speak to different sales reps until you get the answer you want.


Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

If you want to game don't get the 1080p screen as the latency is on par with a BBC Micro computer.
Get 4k and set the resolution to 1080p

 

Thanks. I'll have to see if my google-fu can find the instructions to use those to do what I want.

The frustrating part of all of this: one, that you have to pay for those parts to simply add an HDD, and can't have the higher power battery/longer battery life. Expensive to have to replace the SSD (256 is just not enough for my usage of the SSD side of things, based on current useage, especially if the old advice of needing to partition it to reserve a chunk in order to keep performance up is still true) so I'll be buying an additional 512GB SSD - PCIe at that (another $300 or so) and have a 256 PCIe SSD sitting on the shelf. Adding RAM is no problem of course (I'd read somewhere Dell glued the RAM in? Surely that's not true?) I assume this will use a SATA 3 HDD - those are cheap these days, you can get a 2T Samsung or WD for less than $100. Sounds like I pay as much for the Dell parts to attach it as the HDD!

Don't mean to sound so negative, but I've been buying Dell notebooks for myself and my wife and kids (now adults!) for many, many years and I've always been able to just tell them what I want on it and order it. It's just frustrating to have to jump through so many hoops to get the config I want. ESPECIALLY since they offer the XPS 15 with an SSD and HDD together - just not with an i7. They offer the i7 - but not with an SSD + HDD config. They offer the 512 SSD - but only with a battery that fills the 2.5 in bay. And so on. Oh, and if you do buy the system with the SSD and open bay, you have to call (apparently from my short google) and call and call to hope to get someone to sell you the parts to add the HDD, and even then you may have a long wait. Arghhhh.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I don't plan on doing much gaming on here, I've moved most of my gaming (other than strategy type games) to my PS4s. I'm really looking to max out battery life.

I don't think I stated my use for the machine - just some occassional gaming, most of that these days is on my PS4, a lot of video editing with Cyberlink Powerdirector (so I have a ton of HD video files,) photo editing with Photoshop, a Plex server for a lot of media files, normal web useage, a lot of Office style work, freelance writing and other misc stuff. The games I have on my current Alienware are Crusader Kings II, I was playing Skyrim with a ton of mods, a couple of sports management sims, some older games. But gaming is less important by far than video editing. In fact, if I could get Cyberlink Powerdirector on the Apple, I'd consider some of the Apple notebooks (but it isn't and in fact it's surprising how few video editing programs are available on the Apple system.)

 

I'm assuming the $300 for 512GB SSD is for an M.2 NVMe drive, like the Samsung 950 Pro. It's worth noting that M.2 NVMe drives benchmark well, but don't yield any real-world performance difference when compared to "regular" M.2 AHCI drives (like a Samsung 850 EVO M.2).

A Samsung 950 Pro is faster in benchmarks and sequential file copies. And even then, it's only faster in file copies if you can find a source or destination drive that can keep up with the 950 Pro speeds. But for everything else (OS boot time, application loads, game loads), a 950 Pro performs nearly identically to an 850 EVO. So the "smarter" buy would be to get a Samsung 850 EVO M.2 drive in the capacity you want.

And the 256GB SSD that comes with your system shouldn't sit on the shelf. It has a lot of value. It's most likely a Samsung SM951 M.2 NVMe drive, which sells for about $120-$130 on eBay.

As for soldered ("glued") RAM... Dell does that with some models, like a Dell XPS 13. Laptop manufacturers usually do that on super thin-and-light laptops, because they can save space from not having to put in DIMM sockets. But you're fine on the Dell XPS 15 9550.

All SATA drives you buy these days will be SATA-3.

If you're buying a new drive, you actually want to specifically look for a 5400rpm drive (and not a 7200rpm drive). A 5400rpm mechanical HDD will run cooler, quieter, and drain less power than an equivalent 7200rpm drive. These are all desirable things in a laptop hard drive.

Furthermore, the speed difference won't matter, because you're using that mechanical HDD to store bulk media content (music, videos, movies, photos, pr0n, etc). And something like a 4GB Blu-ray MKV rip file will play back equivalently well on a "slow" 5400rpm drive, or a "fast" 7200rpm drive. So you might as well take the cooler, quieter, lower-power drive option.

 

That's good info, thanks. So if I pull the 256 GB PCIe drive, the XPS 15 will support "normal" SSDs like the Samsung 850 EVO? Am I going to have to purchase odd parts to do that the way I will for the HDD?

Yeah, thanks for reminding me on the 5400 rpm HDD. You're absolutely on the nose on your recommendations there.

 

To be honest, if you're doing heavy video and photo editing, you should probably consider the 4K screen instead of the 1080p screen. Most people who do professional (or pro-sumer) level photo & video editing prefer laptops with high-resolution screens, for two reasons:

1) Higher resolution. This means you can cram more content into your video editing timeline. And that makes it easier to "scrub" your videos, and jump to the right spot in the timeline a lot easier than if you used a low-resolution screen.

2) Color accuracy. The 4K screen covers 100% Adobe RGB color gamut, while the 1080p screen does not. If color accuracy and color gamut are important to your photo work, then the 4K screen is significantly better for those tasks.



The 1080p screen is better-suited if:

1) You intend to use the laptop for gaming as its primary purpose.
2) You prefer matte and/or non-touch screens (over glossy touch-enabled screens).

 

Another question: how practical would it be to use an external USB 1 or 2T drive instead of an internal HDD as a workaround to the inability to the the SSD + HDD issue? I know the current USB HDDs seem to take forever when it comes to moving a lot of large video files back and forth, and while the HDD on my current M17x is only for data, I use it a lot.

 

Yes, the Dell XPS 15 supports "normal" (AHCI) SSDs like a Samsung 850 EVO M.2.

In fact, the laptop configurations with 128GB SSD actually come with an M.2 AHCI drive. It's only when you get the 256GB & 512GB SSD configurations that you get an M.2 NVMe drive.

I'm also fairly certain that the 1TB SSD configurations also come with an M.2 AHCI drive. To my knowledge, there aren't any M.2 NVMe 1TB drives released yet (only M.2 AHCI). But my info could be out-dated, if there has been some new development or release related to this in the past 3-4 weeks.

 

Showing my ignorance here - does an ACHI SSD like the 850 EVO M.2. just slide into the slot where the current NVMe drive is and internally the system figures out it's not an NVMe or does it require adpapter cables, etc?

 

Correct. You just plug the M.2 SSD in, and the system just handles the rest. No extra work or equipment required from you.