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    Dell XPS 13 2015 Broadwell Infinity Display Owners Thread

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by tassadar898, Jan 16, 2015.

  1. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    Dang, that is fantastic lol.
     
  2. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    That is pretty funny, good snag though.
     
  3. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    Just an example, right now I have 4 tabs open, a word document, mail, and a windows explorer and I am using 4.7gb of ram.
     
  4. GoneTomorrow

    GoneTomorrow Notebook Guru

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    AnandTech, a fairly respected review website, noted the adaptive brightness in their review. They have made made a query to Dell about this issue, and the possibility of an update to enable disabling it. Hopefully them being a fairly large website might have a bit more persuasion.

    Link: http://anandtech.com/show/8983/dell-xps-13-review/5

    Also, checkout their results for the battery life on the FHD model! Actually got 12 hours:

    [​IMG]
     
  5. jedolley

    jedolley Notebook Evangelist

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    This is pretty good, but I don't understand why anyone would NOT be a Dell Advantage member. Free 2-day shipping, % back in the form of the gift card (usually 10-20 days), and it's FREE!
     
  6. Andre Hendarman

    Andre Hendarman Notebook Enthusiast

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    AnandTech has an update on the adaptive brightness.

    Quote " Update: Dell has enabled Content-Adaptive Backlight Control, which we have seen in other devices like the Nokia Lumia 930. Dell has let me know they are looking into a way to have the end user disable this feature. " end quote


    I hope Dell found a way soon.
     
  7. gottria

    gottria Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well I signed up and tried to use the 10% off code and it says it's expired or no longer valid.
     
  8. Foofyz

    Foofyz Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all!

    I got the qhd i5 256gb version last week, I have been using it for a week now, time for some comments:

    +++
    •QHD screen is gorgeous, slightly too cold but this is easily corrected. There's a hint of light bleed on the bottom corners of the screen, but only noticable when there's a dark image displayed. All the windows animations are very smooth, no stuttering so far.
    •Touchpad is good IMO, but I never bit the apple so I can't compare :) Two finger gestures are good, there's a slight delay sometimes. I wish there were some more gestures, though.
    •NO FAN in "normal" use: web browsing, coding, compiling, youtubing, netflixing. The fan comes on sometimes when charging, but it can almost always be stopped by FN+Z (resetting dell's fan/thermal control).
    •Battery life: I was able to get the 11 hours dell claims, but not in "normal use": as a grad student I read a lot of papers. By putting all the windows power settings to the minimum and using NegativeScreen (white font on black screen -->dynamic brightness things to the minimum), I achieved 11 something hours. I only had the windows pdf reader opened, nothing else in the background, not even anti-virus. Wifi was on, keyboard backlight off. In normal use, closer to 7-8 hours.

    +/-
    •Keyboard is ok-ish. I was used to a bigger notebook with bigger keys and more travel, but I'm quickly getting used to this.

    -
    •Lack of 3rd usb port, but I gues this is standard with that size.

    --
    •Windows scaling. Has nothing to do with the laptop itself though. BTW< I'm running this thing at 3200x1800 and 150%. 1600x900 is blurry.


    Disclaimer: beforehand, I was using a 2008 laptop, so take my comments with a pinch of salt.
     
  9. submachine

    submachine Notebook Geek

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  10. Foofyz

    Foofyz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I changed the windows power plan settings for the power saver mode. I limited the CPU to 0% (i.e. minimal clock speed, 800mhz) along with all the other options to save battery. NegativeScreen is a third-party tool that inverses the colors of the screen, google it. It has smart inversion modes where black changes to white and vice-versa but colors stay mostly the same. I'm using it when I'm in the dark, the screen doesn't burn my eyes that way.

    I have no issues regarding the touchpad. So far I have not hit it by mistake while typing.
     
  11. Derek712

    Derek712 Notebook Virtuoso

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    I managed to get 13 hours and 23 minutes out of the battery. All I had to do was turn on power saver mode, turn the brightness all the way down, turn off bluetooth and Wi-fi and leave it completely idle at the lock screen. Made a great clock! :D

    I was really hoping to find out where they got 15 hours from.
     
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  12. ciaspook

    ciaspook Newbie

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    I got my XPS 13 on Thursday. Got the top model with i7, 8GB, 512GB SSD and QHD. Installed win10 test on it. Love the display. The keyboard and touchpad is OK, hope they can fix the touchpad issues with a driver/firmware update.
     
  13. Overtheroad

    Overtheroad Newbie

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    Received my new XPS 13 on Wednesday.

    UK. Top spec i7. 256gb.

    I've found that the fan is kicking in when I put the laptop to sleep and often it won't wake up from sleep, requiring several long presses on the power button to, I assume, completely reboot the machine.

    Anyone else encountering this?
     
  14. GadgetsNut

    GadgetsNut Notebook Evangelist

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    I didn't read thru this whole thread to see how many others ordered the i3. I commented on it a while back, I thought I was the only cheapskate to get the i3 :p so I kept it to myself and let Dell figure it out. Someone opened a new thread about this so I let it out. Dell still needs to come up with a more permanent fix.

    Those who have the i3 and is slow as poop, see my post here for the "fix". As I said in that post, I found this fix minutes after receiving my i3 but I didn't share this "fix" with Dell. They need to work on another fix.

    XPS 13 i3 performance
     
  15. jedolley

    jedolley Notebook Evangelist

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    I posted this in the WiFi problems thread, but figured it might be useful here as well (to users that have the 1560 card)
    ________________________________________________
    Ok, so when I look at the Device Manager with the Dell driver installed the device shows as a Dell Wireless 1560ac and 5ghz networks are NOT detected.

    When I uninstalled just the WiFi device (check box to uninstall driver software), the bluetooth device remains and Windows installs the drivers it has for the device. It now shows as a Broadcom Wireless 1560ac and it now shows 5ghz networks.
     
  16. infzy

    infzy Notebook Geek

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    Just got my new XPS 13. Love the laptop, but there's one critical flaw, so I'm going to have to return it.
    The input devices. The keyboard and trackpad are both abysmal. How do people use these things??
    Anytime I click the trackpad the cursor jumps. It's just impossible to use safely. I think I simply require dedicated buttons, because this is absurd.....
    The keyboard action is way too short; when I'm typing fast (I type fast) I can't tell if I hit a key or not, I constantly have to backspace. The keys are smaller than my old 11.6" netbook. I'm super disappointed, because the XPS 12 keyboard is sooo good in comparison. I wish the 13 was thicker even just to accommodate a better keyboard.
    Definitely going to return it, not sure what to get instead though.
     
  17. Ieuan

    Ieuan Newbie

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    So... had my XPS 13 since about the 6th Feb, and use it for work and pleasure. Core i7, 8GB , 512 SSD and the QHD touch screen. Previously used a MacBook Pro 13 Retina.

    First impressions - extremely attractive laptop visually, quality construction. Nice and small and very light. Decent keyboard.

    Touchpad actually works really well. However in Chrome browser the two fingered scrolling is really jerky. Found myself switching to IE where the scrolling works as you would expect. Not had any problems with the touchpad that others have experienced.

    Touchscreen - works really well, and definitely makes getting around the OS (Windows 8.1 Pro) easier. Only problem I'm experiencing is in IE when I use the screen to scroll, I frequently find that the page ends up zooming in/out which is annoying. Not sure how to prevent this.

    QHD screen - screen looks awesome. If there's any funny dimming business going on, I've not noticed it!

    Extended displays - at the office I'm running two flat panels from the Dell D3100 docking station. However I find that on the extended displays text and the like looks less clear / faint and slightly blurred in comparison to my previous work laptop which was 6 years old but only running Windows 7 and was not high resolution. Another major issue is that the scaling means that on the extended displays, certain applications such as IE have a title bar that takes up about a quarter of the screen!! I don't know why this is happening. Can post a screenshot for anyone interested.

    Battery life - generally pretty good although nowhere close to what official figures are. I estimate I'm getting about 6 hours of continual web browsing usage. Having some issues with it seemingly depleting fast in sleep mode (probably related to wifi problem below).

    Bad points - watching a 1080p movie in iTunes I can see noticeable judder on panning scenes etc. Also with iTunes and particularly noticeable when wearing headphones I can hear a "popping" / glitch noise regularly.

    Also had an issue with Wifi where laptop could not see any networks when coming out of sleep mode. I have a fix for this from Dell but which I think causes the battery to deplete faster in sleep mode.

    The 512GB SSD I though would be PCIe but appears to be normal SATA.

    Finally, the laptop often feels slow (even typing this there is noticeable lag). I am using the standard "Dell" power plan on battery, and this plan appears to limit the amount of CPU. 4GB of RAM is nearly always used, both Chrome and IE easily take about 400MB each.

    Overall a great laptop - probably my biggest issues being the iTunes problem and general slowness.
     
  18. Ieuan

    Ieuan Newbie

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    I have the same problem. But in addition, the window bar for certain applications is MASSIVE in IE and other applications. It's as though the 250% scaling (for the QHD screen) is also being applied.
     
  19. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    I am not sure if this is just an issue with my machine or just the way it looks because of the corning glass that is put on these things. But it looks like there is some texture to my screen, so it does not look as clear as I think that it should I had another IGZO display on my Razer Blade and it did not look like this, but it also did not have that protective glass as well. It is a beautiful screen, but I don't have another machine to compare it to, so thought I would check.
     
  20. Dellienware

    Dellienware Workstations & Ultrabooks

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    One thing disappointed about the keyboard:

    After just weeks of small usage (this is used few hrs a day at most..), the paint on the space bar starts wearing away.

    I remember the Latitude keyboards from 2009-2010 having exceptionally strong paint that took at least months for this kind of usage sign..

    No, it is NOT greese. I cleaned it. It truly is paint wearing away, making that shiny spot on the keyboard.

    Darn shame to see a back move. But then again, the previous gen XPS didn't have as robust paint anyways.
     
  21. GamerJoe

    GamerJoe Notebook Consultant

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    Yep, me too. I don't mind as much though because the 1080p is worse.
     
  22. GamerJoe

    GamerJoe Notebook Consultant

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    It's the soft rubber finish they put on the keys.
     
  23. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    It's something I can get used to, just find it interesting they have such an amazing panel, but put something else over it that has that affect.
     
  24. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    I have heard similar complaints, might want to look into the Yoga 3 Pro or the Samsung ATIV 9? I personally love the touchpad and can use it easily, it's the best touchpad I have ever used on a Windows machine. Not sure if there is a difference in our systems since I have the no-bloatware version from MS, but I am a fan. The keyboard is fine for me, if a little short on the key travel. My desktop at home and the office I use full mechanical keyboards with cherry mx switches so it takes some getting used to but so far it's alright. Everyone has their own opinions however.
     
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  25. Dellienware

    Dellienware Workstations & Ultrabooks

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    One thing that new prospective buyers should notice is that the SILENT MAJORITY is still very satisfied with the laptop. This is a "troubleshooting" forum. You will only see issues posted here, whether it's limited to individuals or to the entire line of laptop.

    Just saying. The whole laptop itself is still very worthy of its price and ownership, given how every competitior has models that look like toilet seat in your public library.
     
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  26. Derek712

    Derek712 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Not so sure I agree with you. Many post here to praise the laptops as well. If anything, I get more info here than from critical reviews on the mainstream tech websites. Sure you hear a lot of cons, but that's all laptops in general. But the problems with this laptop are very real, and prospective buyers should beware rather than listen to the silent majority. The fact is, there are issues that can and will be resolved and there are competitor laptops out there that do not have these issues. Blindly ignoring critical reviews from new active users is just dumb.

    As for value, the cheapest model only has 4GB of ram and no touchscreen. I had to pay $1200 for the 8GB i5 model and I feel it's a little overpriced. The i7 model is absurdly priced. Seriously, $300+ more for a part that Intel says is only $100 more than the i5? The UX303LA is under $900 and is the same thickness and processor, doesn't have touchpad or brightness issues. Sure it's 1080p, but from what I've been experiencing, my Ivy bridge i5 is rendering webpages at FHD smoother than this Broadwell i5 at QHD+. QHD+ was also sluggish on the Haswell i5, so I'm still not convinced that 4k screens are ready for Ultrabooks yet.

    This laptop has plenty of pros, don't get me wrong. But after actively comparing it to the other laptops I have right now, I think it falls short of being a keeper. In fact, I plan on returning it tomorrow. My reasons are mainly the touchpad, lack of honesty on the laptop thickness and lack of honesty on the battery life. Also, hearing about paint peeling off keys on such short notice is disturbing enough to warrant caution. I may buy this again at a later date if the issues are worked out, but I think I'll probably settle on some of the cheaper alternatives that are available. UX303LA, updated UX301LA and S7-393 are on my short list. May even just wait until Skylake.
     
  27. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    g
    That's a very good point. I have been looking for a similar laptop for quite a while and though the laptop is not perfect, it is dang good and better than most of the competition. I was going to buy an Acer S7 or a Yoga 3 pro before this. So far I am not 100% sold on it, but I like it a lot.

    On the troubleshooting front, does anyone have random slowdowns with input that cannot be explained by resource utilization? I get random spikes, even while I am typing this that the words just don't appear as I am typing and then come up jumbled? I sure how else to describe it.
     
  28. cipsaz

    cipsaz Notebook Guru

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    Well, this is exactly how I feel. You aren't going to do any gaming on this ultrabook even if you get the highest specs. Serious photo or video editing? I doubt it. It's not really capable of that. You would need a quad core and at least 16GB of ram for that.

    I'll see how my i3 performs once I receive it, but for the price I paid, I can't complain. It's simply a bargain. Considering the Skylake is on the corner, and the Broadwell is just to fill a little gap here, I would not invest over $1k in this, but that is my opinion.
     
  29. jedolley

    jedolley Notebook Evangelist

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    I think you missed the point of the previous post and I also hope you aren't saying that other laptops don't have issues.

    The bottom line is that EVERY laptop has issues, there is not a single model that has come out ever that has had no issues. This is a every solid laptop that does a lot of things right. It's not perfect, but does a lot of things right and as many reviews have stated, it is hopefully pointing other laptops in the right direction.
     
  30. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    LOL, there is always something right around the corner... Keeping up on tech get's pricey... I had to build a new desktop a month before the GTX 980's were released but I needed a solid video card so I bought a 780 in the hopes the 980 would be out within the 30 day return period. Luckily it worked out for me, but it usually doesn't. Anyways, point is, the new best thing is always right around the corner, so waiting for it always a game.
     
  31. Derek712

    Derek712 Notebook Virtuoso

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    No, I got his point and I know that all other laptops have their issues too. I've tested over 2 dozen of them in the past year and have a pretty strong opinion on each of them. From my point of view though, this configuration of the laptop is overpriced. Sorry, just my opinion. It's a good machine though and deserves some praise. I just can't stomach paying $1200 for laggy performance. Maybe if it were really the thinnest Ultrabook out there or if it really did get over 10 hours of battery, I would tolerate it. If I were in the market for an internet and media playing machine, the low end models are bargains. But I'm not. I'd actually rather pay for a MBA than this and I'm no Apple fan. Just my two cents though.
     
  32. cipsaz

    cipsaz Notebook Guru

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    I built a 2500K system four years ago and still performs just fine.
    According to Intel they released the Broadwell because the manufacturers were pushing them and needed to fulfill their "tock" strategy. They already have the Skylake and it's ready for release later this year. Depending on your needs, whether it's worth it or not, I would leave that to the buyer, but as Anandtech stated, the top spec model is kinda overpriced.
     
  33. mrcasual

    mrcasual Notebook Guru

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    "Nice to have" ≠ "must have". I do professional photo editing and XPS 13 (i7/QHD+/512GB) has now become my "desktop replacement". In fact, I convert all my RAW files in RPP that runs on OS X (Yostemite) inside VMware 11 on Windows 8.1. Yes, Lightroom 5.7 can use additional RAM but it's not sluggish at all and combined with Photoshop CC, everything is pretty snappy on this machine. I don't really care about the screen that much since I use an external monitor with Adobe RGB coverage, but I do hope that Dell fixes the adaptive brightness issue so that I calibrate the built-in display and do some quick/dirty editing on the go.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2015
  34. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    I am not sure if everyone is talking about the same thing but I turned adaptive brightness off in advanced power settings. I have not noticed my brightness changing at all. Are you guys talking about something else?
     
  35. mrcasual

    mrcasual Notebook Guru

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    Exactly. I've replaced my Sony VAIO VGN-A190 that I bought in 2008 that had 8GB of RAM, Blu-Ray burner, built-in CF card, 18.4" FullHD display w/100% Adobe RGB coverage, etc., etc. If it weren't for the Core2 Duo T7400 CPU that's slow by today's standards and the outdated GeForce 9700M GT card, that machine could still compete with what's out there now even being 6 years old.

    Yes, XPS 13 does become expensive when configured to the maximum, but how often do you change thigh-end laptops? It will last you for at least 4 years and still be a solid system in 2019.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2015
  36. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    I trade and sell my notebooks either every year or every other year and buy something else. This is my 3rd notebook in 12 months but I hope this one will stick around for a while. So far only a few minor gripes.
     
  37. GadgetsNut

    GadgetsNut Notebook Evangelist

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    I have not had a single instance of the touchpad jumping the cursor while typing. I tested the keyboard on typingtest.com, 90WPM 95% accuracy. Keyboard is just fine, better than the MacBook Air which I can do no better than 85wpm on because of the even swallower key travel. Sure I love super deep travel like the Thinkpads or Latitudes where I can reach over 100wpm, but I'll take the trade off for the sexy chassis.

    Strange I posted the screenshot of my typing test in an earlier post. The attachment is gone..
     
  38. gohanssjn

    gohanssjn Notebook Evangelist

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    Got my XPS 13 in but is has one issue: the backlight is dark in one section of the screen (like 3mm x 10mm to the left if center, maybe 5%-10%less bright). You can only see it when scrolling on webpages and such, not when there is a static image.

    Dell called to make sure I got my order and when I told the lady about the darker area she immediately ordered a replacement and return sticker. And I can use this one till the new one arrives.

    Good service in my book :)
     
  39. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    That's awesome service! Kind of wish I would have ordered from them other than the price.
     
  40. Stefan H

    Stefan H Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have the i7/5600/256 version, just got it a day ago and I did actually get my laptop into this state by changing power plan to quite and back, noticed it was locked to about 600mhz and slow like hell. Well, chaning powerplan did not do it but going into the advanced settings and changing it there did the trick. It looks like the dell thermal program actually corrupts the power plan
     
  41. gohanssjn

    gohanssjn Notebook Evangelist

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    I got lucky on the price. Went to Member chat a few times and ended up with a FHD, i5, 8gb ram, 256gb SSD, 2 year warranty and 2yr ADP for $1294 after tax and all. Each time the chat rep said theyd beat the prior price, lol.
     
  42. Keeper151

    Keeper151 Notebook Consultant

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    That's not bad! Price was the main thing keeping me away, and build time. Mine was $1260 after tax and I got the QHD model (same as yours).
     
  43. Johny

    Johny Notebook Enthusiast

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    Dell is now shipping all units obviously with SATA SSDs. But in few reviews, it is stated that Dell is planning to use PCIe drives soon. So i am wondering whether the M.2 interface is also compatible with PCIe SSDs or not? I read that M.2 interface designed to be compatible with both SATA and PCIe, but it is finally up to the PC OEM to choose whether both will be supported or not. Have anyone tried replacing SATA SSD with PCIe one?

    I am planning to buy the new XPS. My old notebook is an old Vaio Z with RAID SSD and i noticed that my Vaio is still snappier than some new Ultrabooks (with SATA SSDs) i tried. I believe this situation may be the result of the higher bandwith of the RAID interface of Vaio. Therefore it is important for me to know, whether if the new XPS is PCIe SSD compatible or not? After replacing my nearly 5 years old Vaio i want my new notebook's general responsiveness to be better than my old one.
     
  44. clabern

    clabern Notebook Enthusiast

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    Got my i5/8GB/128SSD/1080p FHD unit in a few days ago...

    The track-pad is wonderful throughout the OS and Internet Explorer. In Chrome/Firefox it's horrible... Using the Chromium Wheel Smooth Scroller extension helps a bit, but it's still no where near as smooth as in IE. The lack of touch-pad options is a bummer and I'd hope that Dell and/or Microsoft fixes this at some point, though it's not a deal breaker for myself (I always have a Bluetooth mouse connected when doing any serious work).

    The 1080P matte display is amazing. I personally don't find touchscreens too great on a non-convertible notebook, and the higher resolution is unnecessary on such a small display in my opinion. I have it set to 125% scaling and most things look fine, though there are a few apps/etc here and there that are a bit blurry, but nothing I use regularly.

    I upgraded the SSD to a 512GB Transcend SATA III M.2 module ( http://amzn.com/B00KLTPVV8). Note that the M.2 slot seems to be only for the SATA interface and not PCIe (based on what I've read... someone attempted to use a PCIe based M.2 drive with no luck). I used Acronis True Image 2014 to clone the stock 128GB drive to my new 512GB along with a ZTC Thunder M.2 Enclosure ( http://amzn.com/B00KQ4LNJC). Note that for some reason Acronis was unable to read the drive/adapter connected directly to either of the USB ports on the XPS once it booted into the cloning interface. I had a USB 3.0 hub, so I plugged the adapter into that and Acronis was able to access the drive correctly.
    Here's a quick comparison of the read/writes I got for the stock 128GB Samsung SSD:
    (Note that there must've been something else going on to cause the low write speeds)
    [​IMG]

    and the 512GB Transcend SSD:
    [​IMG]
     
    jedolley likes this.
  45. JRey

    JRey Notebook Evangelist

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    Does anyone know how the "Config TDP Level" setting works in the advanced power options menu? Between the 15W @ .6GHz and 15W @ 2.2GHz, which would give better performance?
    [​IMG]
    As an FYI, I'm running the i5 4GB 128GB version

    Thanks in advance!
     
  46. gottria

    gottria Notebook Enthusiast

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    Clabern, that is the same M.2 drive I plan on getting also, glad to see it fits and works. That's the same setup I plan on getting also, if you don't mind me asking what did you get it for?
     
  47. clabern

    clabern Notebook Enthusiast

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    Before any cash-back/advantage rewards/etc it was $924 after discounts.
     
  48. Cooleddie

    Cooleddie Newbie

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    Hey there. So I'm trying to decide between the i7 QHD+ touchscreen version, or i5 1080p matte version.

    I like to play games like Starcraft 2, Sim City and other "moderate" 3D games.

    Originally I was going to go for the i7 QHD+ for the touchscreen (it's a want, not really a need, but why not). BUT then I realized that QHD+ has a screen resolution of 3000x1800 - and I wasn't sure how it did for games. Thought it might be safer to stick with the i5 1080p for running games.

    Will the QHD+ that be a problem for running games? Anyone who has the QHD+ can testify?

    If you own a QHD, do you scale down the resolution? Does that make the game look crapy / sluggish? How does the scaling down work?

    The last thing I want is to buy the QHD but not being able to play my favourite games like Starcraft too.

    Let me know
    Protoss out.
     
  49. JRey

    JRey Notebook Evangelist

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    I have the i5 matte, 4GB version. I'm able to run SC2 and Heroes of the Storm with everything low but at max resolution.
    The games you want to play will be much easier to run and will look better on the i5 matte version, mainly because you don't have to lower the res. Games ALWAYS look better at the native resolution of their screens. Just my 2 cents. Go for the i5 matte! =)

    Cheers!
     
  50. alkpit

    alkpit Notebook Consultant

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    Hi

    How do you compare the broadwell XPS to the haswell one? Except for the "infinity display" (the haswell model has very small bezels itself), is there any major improvement? As far as i know, the keyboard of the haswell model seems quiet superior and that's important for me. I am asking because when the new XPS comes to Greece where i live it will surely be insanely expensive (the model i would like to buy will probably be at 1800 euros, compared to $ 1300=1150 euros!) but i have found the previous model in a fairly good price (900 euros, for Greece this is a great price because all the electronics are very costly) and i am wondering if it would be a good deal.

    Thank you
     
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