DeLL XPS L501X Pics, Review & Benchmark Result

(my blog post)

A little story [you might skip it] :

Spoiler

When I realized I needed a laptop because of portability & comfort [which includes typing lots of things at different angles ], I started hunting for it, in late April, with initial budget of 50K. More I found out about those gaming & powerful available laptops, made me to increase my budget to 60K. At that time there were only few laptops available at high budget, one was in Sony & a Dell Studio. In Sony, the model was VPCCW26FG which had a pretty good config of i5 520M + nvidia 330M. But I needed more powerful processor. Dell Studio had offered better processor, i7, but crap GPU. That was ATI 4570, that'd crawl on new games & suited to play games like Farmville [*sarcasm*].

And one fine day, my friend Prashant suggested me to increase budget to 75K & to go with Dell XPS series which had offered better proccy & GPU. I simply fell in love for its looks. But I continued hunt on laptops and also I started to digg more about XPS series. There were some issues with XPS series such as Frequent lock ups, Continuous flickering of HDD light, Screen resolution & Throttling. Some said FHD i.e. 1080 x 1020 resolution is a overkill for a 15.6" screen & could cause severe eye strains. In NBR Forums, many owners were happy about its screen, so I didn't bother to think much about it. Trust me, it never caused any strains to me till now ! Then there was throttling, for unlucky ones. Few had throttling issues, but not all. I chose to take a chance.

On May 14, I ordered my Dell XPS 1645 with config i7 720 + ATI 4670, which delivered me on 1st June. I simply fell in love with it Two months of research/hunt, was worth.

When everything was going good, one bad day, I started facing Throttling problems. I contacted Dell Support & they were ready to replace mine with another one. On Sept 21st, my laptop was picked up. They said they will replace it with new 1645 which comes with 5650 GPU which had no throttling issues. But very soon Dell declared SXPS as dead & discontinued the model. I was informed to wait for new model to launch or request for money back. As I had immense patience, I chose to wait. On Nov 2nd, my order was placed with estimated delivery date Nov 18th. But Dell canceled the order, which they did in many cases & re-ordered with order date of 30 Nov and with estimated delivery date Dec 20. But they delivered my XPS on 11th December sweet morning

Configuration -
Intel® Core™ i7-740QM (1.73GHz, 4Core/8Threads, turbo boost up to 2.93Ghz, 6M cache)
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 the
500GB 7200RPM
15.6" Full HD(1080p) B+RGLED display with TrueLife™
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 435M - 2GB
9-cell battery
WiFi, Bluetooth, Dual layer DVD write capability, Backlit Keyboard
Bundled DVDs, Two 3.0 USB ports and one shared eSATA/USB jack, HDMI, a nine-in-one flash memory card reader, Skype Certified HD Webcam, an ExpressCard slot, Intel WiFi Link 6200 (802.11a/g/n) Half Mini-card
1 year on-site & accidetal warranty
Windows 7 Profesional 64 Bit.

The Box & Packaging :

The packaging was good with sufficient foam padding & lappie arrived in a briefcase-esque carton, a black box with brand logo Dell printed on one side & XPS on another, which makes it pretty k3wl .



The box contents :

• The Laptop
• AC power adapter
• Drivers & Utility DVDs
• Basic Start up guide
• Support information & FAQ

Upon opening the brief case, a box containing Charger was at the top, below laptop suspended in foam & DVDs with Guides kept in a box at the side.
It had Drivers & other Utility DVD Discs, Windows 7 OS Re-installation DVD [which needs to be ordered separately]. The tiny little box also had Start Up Guides, NVidia 3d setup & FAQs, Support/ Contact Information.
Everything was properly well placed & an extra bag wrapped around Lappie which was surrounded in foam ensured safety against shock protections or other damages.

Build, Design & Looks :



XPS contains pretty good alumminium across the chassis & it weighs around 3kgs, which adds it to Heavy Laptops List.



The left edge of the XPS has a heat exhaust vent & a USB 3.0 port. I believe it's worth mentioning here, that earlier XPS model had heat vent at the hinges of the screen & the screen used to block the vent when tilted, restricting air flow. This issue was quite controversial & hell lot of people flooded internet with it. Dell considered it seriously & redesigned it & gave the heat vents at side



The front edge of the system is entirely plain & just contains 9-1 card reader. The right edge has a optical drive, audio jack, a SPDIF output & a powered USB 2.0/eSATA port.



Back of the system houses power in jack, display outputs & other ports. At the left it has MiniDisplay port, HDMI output ports along with LAN socket. Slightly above which there is a XPS logo which will be on with system. Honestly, it's sexy !



At the right side, there are power in socket, an another USB 3.0 port and a Kensington lock slot. Just above to it, there are LED indicators for Power status & HDD activity.



On flipping to back, there is a JBL Subwoofer of power 12w, three heat vents & four rubber feet which gives elevation & better air flow. It contains a panel with 3 screws; upon removing one can add memory, WWan/TV cards easily. Mine is 9-cell battery one, obviously it gives better elevation and also battery comes with charge level indicator.



All the ports have been so well placed, there's no issue in connecting/using all ports at a time.

Looks :If something greatly sucks about this laptop would be it's looks. Dell made a terrible mistake designing it. Earlier XPS had a classic & royal look which added it to special
category. Looks of this laptop sucks big time & I am highly disappointed with it. Seriously, what's with that hinge ???

Connectivity Options : XPS comes with two USB 3.0 ports along with a powered USB 2.0/eSATA port. For display outputs MiniDisplay port, HDMI are there along with audio outs.

Lets see how it is inside, Opened :



One can easily see aluminum has been used inside also with the keyboard in between speakers and hand rests have a darker brushy design compared to outside body. Below the keyboard, there lies multi-touch capable pad with left/right mouse buttons.



Typing experience on this keyboard is really really good. Keys are well placed, but one can be disappointed with absence of numeric pad. Above the keyboard is a capacitive touch panel which can be used to launch any one favorite application, Windows Media Control / Dell Utility & Maxx Wave Settings and also it has light indicators for Wifi, Capslock etc. The function keys be default are set as Multimedia Keys & Special keys like Brightness, WiFi, Monitor out, Backlit, Voulme & Media control buttons. But those can be reverted back to function keys, by changing a simple setting in bios.
The keyboard is sweet Backlit, highly helpful to fool parents to play games at night At the bottom right of keyboard there are three tiny stickers of Intel Core i7, Windows 7 and energy star. And I am gonna remove that last one.



At either side of the keyboard are the JBL speakers of power 2x4w. [Subwoofer - 12w]. Also there is a Wave Maxx technology which believed to add more power, more clarity & hence more fun

Audio, Display & Webcam Quality :



Only one thing I'd say about Audio is - F*CKING AWESOME !!! As it comes 2.1 speakers, delivers the execllent audio and XPS has the best speakrs on planet. I have never seen so fabulous audio from any laptop speakers. One can easily feel all beats of music. Honestly, you will just crave to listen one more song !
Another sweet thing is, it's FHD B+RGLED display. Honestly it's a bliss to watch movie in it. It has high resolution 1080 x 1920, but trust me it causes no eye strain. But, as because of high resolution, there will be surely FPS reduction in games. Currently XPS is the only laptop featuring HD cam & comes with Skype certified. No more words about Audio, Display & Webcam, these are just excellent.

Battery Life :
It's a gaming laptop, you shouldn't expect much battery life. On normal usage, with default brightness, the battery lasted nearly 3 hours 30 minutes. The movie playback was of 2 hours 20 minutes. But given 135w charger, charges the battery quickly, it fully charged it within 1 hour 20 mins. [Battery tests need to redone]

Detailed Config :

Code:

Model : Dell XPS L501X
Sytem chipset : Mobile Intel 5 Series express chipset - HM57
Processor - Intel Core i7 - 740
Memory module connector - two user-accesible SODIMM connceters
Capacities - 4GB [max - 8GB]
Memory type - 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3
Audio - One microphone-in connector, one stereo headphones/speakers connector
S/PDIF - One headphone/digittal s/PDIF combo connector
HDMI connector - one 19 -pin connector
Network Adaptor - one RJ45 "
USB - two 4-pin USB 3.0-compliant connecters
Mini Display port - One 20 pin conn
eSATA - one 7-pin/4-pin eSATA/ USB combo connecrot with Powersahre
Media Card reader - 9-in-1 slot
Camera - 2.0 Megapixel HD
Video Res - 1280 x 720
NW Adaptter - 10/100/1000 Etherbet LaAN on system board
Audio Controller - Realtek ALC665
Speakers  - 2 x 1.5 watt + 2.5 Watt
Video - Nviidia 435M Gt 2GB
Display type - 15.6" Full HD(1080p) B+RGLED display with TrueLife™

Dimensions :
Height - 7.62 inches
Width - 13.55 incehs
Diagonal - 15.6 inshec
Resolution - 1920 x 1080
Refresh rate - 60hz
Operating angle - upto 135*
Horizontal viewing angle - 40/40
Vertical viewing angle - 15/30 (H/L)
Pixel Pitch - 0.2265 mm x .2265mm

9-cell "smart" littium ion :
height - 8.70 inches
width - 2.14 inches
depth - 1.67 inches
weight - 0.49 kg

Kyepad -
No of keys 86
layout - QWETY

Touch Pad :
X/Y position res - 240cpi
size
width - 3.94 inches
height - 2.2 inches

Physical
height - 1.27 - 1.5 inches
width - 15 inches
depth - 10.45 inches
weight - 3kgs

you can download Full Hardware Report by Everest from here - Everest Report.mht

Performance :
Note : All tests have been run at default settings, without cooling pad & on AC power.

3D Mark 06 - 7393


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3D Mark 11 - P958


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3D Mark Vantage - 3875


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Passmark Performance - 1299.9


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Furmark - 11588

ran for 10 mins.


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Furmark stress 10 mins - 96C max


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wprime - 18.504s

32m test with wprime v1.55


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Super Pi - 14.649s

1M Calculation


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Fritz - 13.58


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Everest Disk Benchmark


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Everest Cache & Memory Benchmark


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Conclusion :
Buy it eyes closed. This laptop is just awesome & has great value for money. It has everything you need & latest USB 3.0, HD webcam, 2.1 JBL speakers & HDMI 1.4 connectivity. If you want a performance beast & pretty cool gaming laptop, this is for you. As its comes with very high config, the Intel Core i7 blows anything in its way, from little programs to heavy ones. Its a complete bliss watching High Definition 1080p movies in the 15.6" screen. The build quality is solid & superb & the backlit keyboard just rocks. Though the looks are crap, looks like crap 40k Inspiron , is as not at all good as old XPS, still it has elegent & professional looks. Also the i7 + 435M combi doesn't have nVidia Optimus, hence no switchable graphics. But at this budget & with great VFM, is the only laptop you should opt for

Pros :

• Highly powerful !
• Awesome crystal clarity High Definition display
• Latest technology - USB 3.0, HD webcam, 2.1 JBL speakers & HDMI 1.4
• The Audio is like OMGBBQ !
• Nearly 4 hours of back battery up (in Power Mode)
• Great value for money
• True awesomeness

Cons :

• The crap looks
• No switchable graphics
• Little finger print & dust magnet
• Heat
• DVD Drive is frigging noisy
• Absence of DVI and VGA-outs, FireWire 400 port,
• Little heavy as it comes with 9-cell battery
• And that energy star sticker

Bottom line - This machine just gonna make you WOW !

 

Thanks, nice review

 

Great Review, I have similar specs to yours and i love the system.

 

does your screen look warm out of the box? for example, on a white background page, does it look yellowish? not cool blue white?

 

What did you use to change the look of the dell dock on the bottom of your screen?

 

Haha just noticed the Fritz mark, very nice.

 

Hey there, nice little review you did of the XPS 15. Hope the XPS will continue to run as perfect as it came.

 

Good review man. I have a pretty similar machine and love it.
Crazy fast in Adobe photography apps, plays the latest games at good settings, and can multitask with some extra RAM like nobody's business.
Sucks for everyone ordering for the holidays that the 1080p screen isn't available, that is a shining point for this machine.

 

Thanks for this. Two quick questions:
1. Where did you get that Mac theme / skin ?

2. Why didn't Dell load my XPS with that girl?

 

best review!

 

Screen looks absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to turn on mine for the first time!

 

I'll copy paste my review of XPS 15 (translated from Italian) made on another forum, i hope it is understandable

---------------------

As promised, here's my quick review of the product.

It seems right to me to start from the configuration chosen, therefore:

The reasons behind this configuration can be found in three basic points:

• Battery
• Heat dissipation
• Price-performance ratio of the product (whereas I'm not really a rookie in disassembling the notebook, it bothers me to waste money giving them to Dell for components that can change at any time I go (especially speaking about ram and hdd) . In addition, the GPU is calibrated to give the best performance in 720p, so due the semi-enthusiast usage that I'm going to make, choosing 1080p resolution would have meant to use it always downscaled to 720p.

INTRODUCTION:

| EQUIPMENT | VOTE - 8

| BEAUTY | VOTE - 8

| PERFORMANCE | VOTE - 9

| BATTERY LIFE | VOTE - 7.5

| OPINION |

| GALLERY |

Overall Rating: 8.5 ​

 

Thank you

 

Thank you

I am not getting what exactly you're asking me

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you

1. It's Macbuntu
2. Mine is special

Thank you

 

YEAH

@SimoxTa - nice review bro \m/

 

Hii all,
I have a question.
I have already ordered the XPS and its tentative delivery date is 20th Dec.
Yesterday I was just going through the specs sheet and there i saw 2x3W JBL speakers, and I though !!!
The XPS 15 series comes with a 2.1JBL, and mine laptop cost me around 66k
(same config as the TS except the FHD).
I just want to know wether it, mine will have a 2.1(It was some mistake in the specs sheet) or it is like2x3 only .

Thankx.

 

If it's the XPS 15 then it will have the 2.1 speakers, I would say the spec sheet is wrong, nothing would surprise me with Dell.

 

Nice reviews, both of them, nice work lads.

@SimoxTa: I'm also very happy with the GT 420M, it seems super stable OC'd to 435M frequencies (650/800) and beyond, but haven't had time to do much testing above 435M speeds

 

Thankx kgh, for the reply I also hope that it is printed wrong on the sheet.
though I have mailed to Dell(the salesperson) regarding it but haven't got any reply yet .
And is there anything I can do if I get the laptop with those weak speakers??
And how much better is the FHD vs the HD??
Thankx

 

go to a site with a white background (yahoo news article for example), how does white color look? is it more like cool blue white or yellowish warm white?

 

The XPS 15 only comes with 2.1 speakers, so I would say they have it wrong on their paperwork!

The FHD screen is gorgeous, but I haven't seen the 720p screen in person, so I can't really compare. I've seen reviews that say the 720p is good, but in my opinion the FHS is amazing

 

Thank you

 

Very nice review But would you mind trying to install ACTUAL mac please? Mines gonna arrive next week and thats the first thing I'm planning on doing lol. "iATKOS_S3_v2.zip"

 

^Thank you

I have my exams going on, after that I am gonna install it

 

Nice review! But... 3D Mark 06 - 7393 ??

That's only 1300 points above my 3 year old 8600M GT... I would expect at least 10k 3d06marks to be gaming-competitive nowadays :S

 

well in that case u gonna need GT 445M at least....

 

g8t review...ive got a similar one as well
got rid of tat energy star sticker too

 

Hey ya!
What camera did you use for the first couple of photos? Looks awesome!

 

I have XPS 15, i7, 4GB ram, 2GB nvidia 435 M, 6 cell battery. I get 3D Mark 06 score of 3801 and 3D Mark Vintage score of P2178. These are much lower than the ones posted on this thread!!What might be the reasons for having such low scores? Can everyone please share their scores and specs for comparison.

 

nice review, and nice pics lol. someone has a crush...

 

thanks for the review, really helpful. The pictures you took are quite nice, thorough, and helped me and showed what the system is actually like.
The only complaint i have (body wise) is the placement of the lights behind the screen (?), i mean who thought of that? And the removal of the touch media control bar and the screen protection the SXPS 16 has.

and check out the link in my sig aswell

EDIT:

I was looking over the keyboard, and noticed something, an odd key after F12. I wanted to ask, what does that button do?
On my Studio XPS 16, its the external monitor mode selection button (idk the name for it), but they have already used that on F1. So..... (?)

And could you send me that wallpaper, the one you have on the Mac screen, I quite like it.