Dell XPS 13 2015 Broadwell Infinity Display Owners Thread

Unfortunately the M.2 SSD just uses a SATA 3 interface. So as far as I'm aware PCIe based SSDs are off the table.

 

Yes, you can run the screen at 1080p (or most other resolutions), the reason 1600x900 should work better is because it's exactly half of the QHD+ therefore every pixel in the display output perfectly matches a square of four pixels on the display panel. In theory this should mean you get a sharp display so if you imagine putting coloured pegs into a grid of holes, where you'd have a single pixel on a 1600x900 display you'd have four on a 3200x1800 display running at 1600x900.

The problem with 1920x1080 is that it isn't an exact fraction of QHD (you'd need a 4k 3840x2160 display for that) which can lead to a soft image because you can't directly match the pixels to the physical panel. Having said that I was surprised to see 1600x900 on the XPS 13 looked quite soft rather than the sharp image I was expecting, I haven't tried 1080p on mine to see how usable it is.

John

 

Ok, thanks guys for the answers!

One last question. Someone else mentioned that the QHD+ comes out of the box with 250% Windows Scaling.

I read that some Adobe programs now support max 200% U.I. scaling.

(a) Is it doable to set the QHD on 200% scaling? Or will things be too small then?
(b) Alternatively, if it will be too small... does "Adobe Acrobat Reader"work properly on the QHD at 250%, just for basic reading of PDFs, or is the user interface bad on these settings?
(c) What about Skype? I heard this program also had scaling issues...

 

Will the Dell 90watt XPS adapter work with the new 2015 XPS13?

 

Hi,

a) I currently use 3200x1800 with 200% scaling and find it optimal. No probs so far.
b) Works allright.
c) No problems with Skype either.

 

I don't think we'd know for sure until someone gets their hands on one. Dell made it sound like the slot supports both SATA and PCIe, but I haven't seen anyone use a PCIe card in it.
That being said, a SM951 will be expensive and difficult to get your hands on since it's an OEM only drive. The XP951 took a year before it was available to order without being an OEM and that drive costs about double what a M.2 2280 SATA drive does.

 

Anyone got their iPhone (5S) to connect via Bluetooth?

I tried to use the iPhone as a Bluetooth hotspot but whilst it will pair it will not connect.

 

Since I just gave my yoga 2 pro to my sister a few month ago, I don't how QHD+ work recently. It was good for me just with some little glitches. Adobe, chrome, skype all had problems before.

b) Glad to hear that, Adobe reader used to be bad at scaling, and laggy with high resolution.
c) Did you try "share the screen"? It used to only share a portion of the screen, I am not sure whether it is updated recently.

 

An equally equipped unit on dell's website costs $1099.99. It's $899 on MSStore. That's $200 off, and if you factor in the 10% education discount, that's $290 off. That's a significant discount, and it's not a surprise that this gap is being close up. So yes, if you're on the fence about this base model, better act now before stock is gone again on MSStore.

However, the MS store is only carrying the base model 4gb ram 128gb infinity display. I might buy it since all I do is internet, excel, movies. I wish they had the 8gb ram model.

This is in Canadian Prices

 

My xps arrived 3 days ago, and I think now its time to share my opinion about this little device.

Build quality is extraordinary, except for one thing. I can slightly push the gorilla glas inside on the left and the right side.
I got some little backlight-bleed on the right corner, but its hardly noticeable. And to account some concerns of you, yes, the keyboard has little flex, but not while typing, just if you force it. Key travel is indeed short, but I already got used to that. Well battery life really depends on how you use it. I got very different results so far. I have no issues with adaptive brightness!!! Have the german model. I can understand some had issues with the touchpad, sometimes is not that precise as its name suggests, but its still good. No for those who want to work with photoshop and this touchpad, yes for anyone else.

If you have any questions so far just pm me.

PS: To issue the fan problem!!
When configuring the device my fan went mental, but in my three days use in the library, the fan kicked in not once! But im just working with Texmaker, IE and some music app.

 

In the US, the base model on Dell's website is $100 cheaper than the MS Store, but comes with the i3 processor, not the i5...if you give the base model the i5, they are identical in price. What is a better deal at the MS Store is the touchscreen version, which gives you a 256 GB SS Drive for $1299, while Dell gives you 128GB SS Drive for the same price. Adding the 256 GB Drive adds $100 on Dell's website, so the touchscreen is the best savings at the MS Store.

 

Guys how accurate have dells estimated delivery dates been for all of you. I purchased mine on the second and it isnt supposed to get to me until the 25

 

Mine was a week early, but I ordered Jan 29th, it was supposed to come tomorrow actually, and came a week ago (Feb 5th), but I am not sure if this will still hold true for people that purchased now.

 

Did the online order details track it? Like did it say it was "in production" when it arrived or was that accurate

 

Mine (qhd+ and i7) came 10 days ahead of the estimated delivery date. I even ordered a replacement on the 3rd and allready received it

 

It showed in production the day it shipped, but my order status randomly showed a fedex shipping number. I immediately was excited because I was hoping that means it shipped...and sure enough, the next day, the order status was changed to shipped. But, for the first day, it showed in production, with a shipping number.

 

Mine was suppose to come in today (february 12) but came in almost 2 weeks early ! And the informations on the tracking on dell.ca werent even updated. I received my laptop while the website was showing the laptop still being processed at purolator Missisauga... I was gladly surprised

 

The trackpad works beautifully on Windows 8.1 when using internet explorer. Chrome lags the computer and causes too much CPU usage (LESS FAN SPINUP). Im starting to use IE for the first time in a long time. Its a much better experience.

i5/8gb/QHD

 

Just picked up mine today. I can't wait to compare it to the matte screen of my Samsung Series 9.

 

I'm trying to create a recovery disc on my external hard drive using Dell's backup&recovery program, but I can't seem to get it to work. It says I need 6.38 gb space on my external hard drive which I do.

 

I am also receiving mine earlier than their estimates.
I ordered mine the evening of Feb 3rd and looks like it shipped Feb 12th and should be here tomorrow the 13th.

I was starting to grow impatient but 10 day turnaround is not too bad I guess. In the age of amazon's super fast shipping I have been spoiled, but this is much better than the Feb 26th estimate they gave me. Guess they like to play it safe and under promise.

 

Yes, I have plenty of "space," so to speak, because of the high-res; but in order to have enough "space" on a 13" screen, everything has to be smaller. If that makes sense. Take a look at this image. It has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. If you have a 13" screen (with 1080p res), you'll see what I mean. Scale it to size. Again, though, it's really crisp.

 

Which is exactly why I don't understand it's supposed nature as a "problem."

 

Has anyone gotten any generic Synaptics drivers to work with Win 8.1?

 

Not yet, but not for a lack of trying. I managed to get the os to stop recognizing the touchpad as a precision pad, and did a force install of the synaptics drivers. The device starts just fine, but the synaptics software doesn't run. The result is a pad that lacks the point accuracy of the precision pad, and no more options than before from synaptics

 

I just got this and will start messing with it as well. Can you tell me how you managed to disable it? I see these Microsoft drivers, but disabling them does nothing. I've dealt with dozens of laptops and never had to deal with this before. It's as if they just forgot to give us drivers and the system is picking up some generic MS driver.

Are we sure it's a Synaptics trackpad? I read back in the thread and everyone talks about it but I don't know how anyone found out what brand it was.

 

Photo work is impossible. You can't calibrate the panel, as the auto-brightness messes up the calibration process, and on top of that you can't tell if a picture is correctly exposed, and/or adjust the exposition.
Seeing it yourself as a non problem doesn't mean it's not a problem for others.

 

Thinking of ordering the non touch version with 8 Pro and 8gb ram and leaving the 128gb SSD and ordering the Transcend 512 GB SATA III 6Gb/s MTS800 80 mm M.2 SSD Solid State Drive TS512GMTS800 from Amazon for $203. I don't know much about SSD but I need a bit more than 256gb right now. I carry a lot of large service manuals and with 256gb doesn't leave me room to grow.

 

I was considering ordering the same SSD. My only concern is the height of that one. The Samsung drive that comes in the notebook is only 2.3mm, whereas the Transcend is 3.5mm. I'm still waiting on my actual notebook to ship first though.

 

I think we might be OK at .2 mm difference. with the way it mounts on the boark I'm sure there is .2mm clearance with the back cover.

 

It's actually 1.2mm difference. The stock SSD is 2.3 and the Transcend is 3.5. I'd imagine it'll fit no matter, but worth noting.

 

Yes, it's a Synaptics clickpad per the hardware ID and the available Synaptics drivers for Windows 7. I tried installing both the Dell drivers for Windows 7, as well as the generic synpatics drivers available from their website. Neither would install correctly via their installers, but I went through and manually updated the device driver for the touchpad (you're right, the default shows a generic windows driver in device manager). You'll need to specifically choose the driver you want via the "I have a disk" method, and it will fail if you have driver signing enabled, so do the advance startup to turn off digital driver signature verification.

As for the precision touchpad, there are two keys I needed to disable (or copy the entries elsewhere and delete them entirely)

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PrecisionTouchPad

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PrecisionTouchPad

Both should have a "Status" folder and a dword entry for enabled or not. There are also some settings available in there for me.

After a restart, you should no longer have your pad identified as a precision pad in the interface formerly known as metro, and you'll also be able to change the device driver and have it survive a restart. At least this was the process for me. Let me know if you have success.

 

I just returned my XPS. . .

another one bites the dust.

 

In Win 8, I'm able to disable it just fine but I can't get any of the Synaptics drivers to recognize the device at all. They al say there are no Synaptics drivers present. I'm also not able to see it in the HW ID, so I'm still wondering if it really is Synaptics. It's not Elan either though. Those drivers actually install but they don't do anything.

I'm at a loss. I'll wait for a little bit but there's no way I can live with a trackpad that has absolutely no gesture support. That plus not being able to scroll decently in Chrome is a huge deal breaker.

On another note, has anyone noticed that the max brightness is a mere 200 nits? That is really dim. Is the FHD panel the same?

 

Has anyone tried removing the Intel sticker yet? Did it come off easily? Did it leave any discoloration/marks?

 

It will come off perfectly without issue.

 

Loving the laptop. Does anyone know if the 2014 model's charger will work for 2015 XPS 13? I have an extra one from my 2014 XPS 13 and would like to know if I can use it for the new one or as a paperweight!

 

Yes you can. It's the standard 4.5mm powerjack for ultrabooks.

 

Thanks!

 

Alright guys one final question. Since there seems to be variations on the screen with brightness ( I see some are not getting anywhere near the brightness advertised) what would be an easy way to tell. I do not have a colorimiter.

 

I finally received my XPS 13 today (UK version), and everything's absolutely fantastic about the laptop bar one minor annoyance. Often when I put the laptop to sleep by closing the lid, it won't wake up again and I'm forced to force shutdown. Has anyone else had this problem and found a fix?

 

You could try a brightness app on your phone. It uses the light sensor for proximity and auto brightness. It's not the most accurate but it's close.

 

Thanks!. Also is there still no fix for that slight delay on the touchpad?

 

Pretty sure the delay is associated with a setting. It is designed so that when you are typing, your hands won't register random clicks.

It's a trade off. You kinda need the delay..

 

Received my i3 unit today. I was able to get win 8.1 to be close enough enough to Win 7 to be happy, but had 3 problems. Was wondering if anyone had any answers:

1) Intel SpeedStep locks the i3 down to 500 mhz. I was able to get around this by disabling SpeedStep in UEFI. Hopefully new driver will fix this eventually.

2) I want to cap battery charge level to around 80% to prolong battery life. In the past I could do it using Dell QuickSet or equivalent third party apps for other manufacturers. QuickSet doesn't appear to be installed on this unit, nor available online. Does anyone know of a way to cap this?

3) The title bar of all windows is transparent. I have reset it many times using Right Click Desktop -> Personalize - > Color but the settings is lost every time after I reboot. I initially installed UXStyle to try and install a Win 7 theme, but ended up removing it because I thought it may be causing this issue. The issue persists even after I removed it.

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

I don't think that is it. I have the delay set to off but I have to slide my finger a couple millimeters before the pointer starts to follow. Ive never experienced this on any other windows laptop.

 

Me either. Where are you able to set the delay?

 

Haha alright, whatever you say. I still don't notice it for some reason, even doing photo work. I don't really do a lot of photo work though, tbh.

 

too bad Dell Xps 13 doesn't have 12GB or 16GB option!

 

Just ordered the base Microsoft Signature unit with the 10% + 5% discounts. I also picked up the transcend 512GB SSD and the dell power companion. I'm planning on swapping to the SM951 when I can get a 512GB version.

I did have a couple of questions. Has anyone used any of the short SD cards designed to fit flush with other laptops with this thing? I want extra music storage on the go without sacrificing form factor.

Also, how long have people's ordered typically taken before shipping from Microsoft? In my experience, they take way longer to fulfill than Apple or other retailers. It's been 3-4 business days between placing an order and shipment but my last order was a year ago and I'm unsure if they've improved.