Dell XPS 13 2015 Broadwell Infinity Display Owners Thread

My local Microsoft store had the i5 4gb model in, none of the QHD's though - although they did say they were expecting them soon (that was about 3-4 weeks ago)

 

Have to say i'm quickly losing patience with this laptop, brought the i7-5600 as wanted to future proof myself as much as possible and get the most powereful version to replace my aging 6 year HP laptop. I'm finding this XPS laggy as anything and its becoming such a chore to use that i'm reverting back to my old laptop which is struggling, but not as much as this. Surely this can't be right?

I'm currently only using this to browse the web, photoshop and a few other light use tasks and i'm finding that i'm sitting here twiddling thumbs whilst it decides what its doing when i'd expect it to be eating up these basic tasks with ease.

I know chrome is a processor hog but 6 tabs open and i'm waiting minutes for pages to open where my old laptop could handle 20+ tabs with ease.

Anyone able to offer up soe suggestions as to how to speed this up before i ditch it completely? Really like this laptop otherwise but my enjoyment levels are dimnishing quickly. Thanks in advance.

I'm fairly certain it wasn't always this bad, and i notice that the fan hasn't switched on once recently whereas before it was on almost all the time (as annoying as that way). Any connection?

 

Sounds like your CPU might be stuck in a low frequency. Open task manager, get the full info and see what your CPU frequency is when it's slow.

 

go to windows power plan -> advanced options Dell power plan -> go to thermal stuff -> go to LDP -> change CPU from 0.6ghz to 2.7ghz

It is impossible to believe that the engineers of Dell are so stupid to have left it on 0.6 ghz. I am sure it is just done to make commercial lies....

Sure, the battery can go 15 hours, but we handicap your CPU, so your computer uses less power.... Normal use, without handicap, only gets 9 hours max. It would be more fair to claim this. Who cares about 15 hours of battery, if your CPU is capped and too slow to open even 3 tabs??

Be ashamed Dell.

 

I can only see percentage of cpu usage in the power plans, cant see Ghz/frequency anywhere

 

Thanks for the feedback, would be flabbergasted if they had underclocked it by that much but not surprised also.

So, I got home and fired up the laptop to check that and guess what.....i get the Dell screen on boot up and nothing else. Looks like my issue is more terminal and must be related to the lagging. Let's see what Dell say.

 

is it possible that one will be able to use xto on the xps13? maybe with a modded bios?
i am lucky that my lenovo flex2 can be handled with xtu and by undervolting i can use 200mhz more within the tdp limit.
its not elementary or something i just love playing around with the xtu program, also its pretty neat for frequency monitoring and stuff

also when i buy my xps13 , whcih will still take some weeks, i will change the tim to liqid metal
i never had a oem devie, laptop/graphics card or anything that didnt experiance a hught temperature drop by around 10° when changed the tim

also id like to know where i can see if there r bios updates out, as imho the bios far from perfect

those fan and backlight issues sure will get fixed with advancig bios settings, it just will take some time.
as its business as usual nowadys to sell unfinished products

 

So has anyone figured out how to make Chrome scroll without jerking yet?

 

Maybe stop using Chrome. I have Firefox with 50 tabs open, no problems.

 

That's not really helpful, but thanks. I can have as many tabs as I wish open on Chrome as well, but that does not change that there is a scrolling issue on chrome when compared to IE.

 

What scrolling issues? I use Chrome and haven't experienced any. Care to record a screencast and show the problem?

 

I can do it later, but this issue has been mentioned in this thread several times. Just open the same website in two browsers, one in Chrome, the other in IE and scroll down in both and tell me you get the exact same experience. I have had two xps 13's now and both have the same problem in Chrome. IE is smooth and easy, Chrome is jerky and fast.

 

I am new to laptops and just received my new Dell XPS 13 (2015) I saw somewhere about setting the battery threshold to 80% to save on the battery, is there a way to do that on my Dell XPS 13 (2015) If so could someone tell me how this is done. I have looked but can't find it. Thanks

 

In the Bios (F2 while starting up)
Power Management >Primary Battery Charge Configuration.
Select Custom.
Set to 50 and 80%

 

Thanks blue 13x .. I found it

 

I've seen quite a few posts here saying that the battery life improves by 2-3 hrs. when you use I.E. instead of Chrome or even Firebox. Anyone take serious issue? Any thoughts as to whether this unique to this model or is it likely to occur with any Windows 8.1 with Broadwell or Haswell Core i5/i7 "U" cpu? Finally, do those battery drain estimates assume some kind of mix of browser and other programs or are they probably normalized/idealized to a complete battery drain from, say, 80% to 20% using browser apps only? I will, of course, experiment and take my own measurements, but it would be helpful to set expectations. If switching to IE doesn't improve the run time of my Samsung Series 9 by at least 1.5 -2.0 hrs, then we'll have look into acquiring some XPS-13s for field use. Thanks much.

 

I guess you're talking about touchpad scrolling with 2 fingers? Yes, IE is smooth and more mobile-like. Holding 2 fingers down in Chrome while scrolling/sliding down the touchpad, then re-adjusting the position to the top of the touchpad and continuing to scroll down produces smooth results as well. AFAIK there is no "fix", it's how Chrome behaves. This is not a Dell-specific "issue".

 

There is "something" about the dell, whether it is the touchpad, the drivers, or something else specific that causes this. I am no stranger to notebooks and am aware how they behave. My HP workbook, nor my Sony Viao, nor my Razer Blade, MSI Ghost, or any other notebook I have had has behaved like this. Plus when you use two fingers on the touchscreen it scrolls fine. So I am assuming it is some random setting or the touchpad drivers that do not work properly with Chrome. You may disagree and there isn't much I can do to dissuade you of your feelings which is fine, but there is something about this laptop and or the touchpad/drivers etc. that are causing this.

 

Does/did your Sony/Razer/MSI have a precision touchpad? How about we compare apples with apples and ask those who have precision touchpads in other laptops? I bet the issue is either with Chrome and/or precision touchpad, most likely with the former. Dell has nothing to do with either one of those: drivers come from Microsoft and Chrome comes from Google.

I wish they specified the h/w being used: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=457519

 

My Dell notebook at work does have a precision touchpad, though not sure about the others. That being said, I made it clear or thought I did, my problem is not with Dell, but my issue is with how the touchpad functions with chrome. I am aware the drivers come from MS and am aware Chrome is from Google. Point is, I am not the only one with the issue and wanted to know if anyone here since it has been mentioned several times has found anything that may resolve the issue. I understand it is not "technically" broken, but hopefully there is a driver update or some setting somewhere that resolves the experience.

 

Fair enough. The " there is 'something' about the dell" part that made it sound like you're holding Dell accountable. Folks here are way too quick to jump to conclusions. Yes, I'm also experiencing jerkiness when scrolling in Chrome and I hope it can be resolved. After all, scrolling in all other applications is smooth, so there must be something with the way Chrome interprets touchpad input.

 

I am hard of hearing but the high pitched squeal of this computer is quite annoying.. I called up Dell about the possibility of returning the product. They offered me $100 to keep it. I was not expecting that at all, and decided it would be worth the $100 to keep the system. I ended up getting the middle tier ($999 model) for $799 (did some haggling).

 

So I literally just opened my FHD, and the first thing I see is this ugly crap:



About a 1 inch section of the bezel on the right hand side is bulged up. Pressing it down makes it stick for a few seconds, then it just pops out again audibly. Obviously there's some compression force on this part of the bezel. I read a post by someone else in this thread mentioning it so it's not just an isolated case. The annoying thing is that this is basically the only thing wrong with this unit; I haven't heard the fan or seen any brightness changes and I'm happy with the trackpad.

I guess I can contact Dell and see what they can do to sort it out. Returning it seems to excessive for such a trivial issue.

 

I'd definitely return it.

 

I just ordered the i7 model with 512MB SSD. Went through an agent and got offered 5% discount

All I asked was if it was possible to configure it with the i7 5600U processor instead and was unhappy about their response (not able to configure from options available).

 

Are their any other alternatives for additional monitor connectivity to the dell USB3 adapter?

Has anyone had any experience testing alternative devices with their XPS13?

 

Please clarify your questions (i.e., what "alternative devices"?). You can connect a monitor using the mDP port.

 

Yes, but what if you want to connect an additional monitor via usb3 as the DELL dongle enables you to do. What I'm getting at is what alternative devices similar to DELL's are available that are just as good but cheaper?

 

Haven't tried any. I have mDP->VGA adapter for legacy devices. If you manage to buy one, post your experience.

 

I used my MacBook Mini Display Port to VGA adapter and it worked fine.
The Dell adapter is expensive but very good - I couldn't find anything else of similar spec, however I didn't look very hard and I suspect there will be other options and I can't see why any standard USB3 to HDMI dongle wouldn't work.

 

Just saw this: plugable.com/products/usb3-hdmi-dvi
They sell internationally and can output up to 2560×1440. It's only a display dongle (no LAN) and sells around the $50/£50 mark. There's a quote on the website from an XPS13 user as well...

“I only have 1 usb 3.0 port on my XPS13 from dell, but I just daisy chained my USB hubs and now when I am at home, I have my 6 27″ monitors (all on one stand). The product just worked out of the box, no configuring needed.” richardpnolan

 

Dell Power Companion - I already have a portable battery that is 1200mAh and was wondering if it's possible to use to give the XPS some additional juice. My battery only has USB outputs though - is there such a cable that can be used (USB to XPS13) cable?

 

So I'm not sure if this is a good place to ask but I've done a few searches and can't seem to find an answer, but when using Firefox do you guys also get very small video controls in some videos (like youtube and embedded FB videos)? I've tried to make the switch to FF because Chrome seems to be using a lot of CPU as soon as i watch a video and it's killing my XPS's battery.

 

The portable battery you described will not work with the XPS 13 since the XPS 13 requires a 19.5V and 2.3A (45W) supply and your battery will only provide 5V (1-2A).

I purchased a ROMOSS eUSB sofun 4 ( http://www.romoss.com/proview.php?ID=1) for ~$60 about 18 months ago for charging my mobile devices (USB) as well as my Acer S7 (19V). It is similar to the Dell Power Companion and includes a set of interchangeable charging tips. It works well with my XPS 13.

 

Which wireless card do you have. I have the Broadcom which does not support connected standby. I think the Intel one might. You might try this one. I used it on my SP3 and Dell DVP8.

http://www.trishtech.com/2013/04/show-hibernate-in-power-options-menu-in-windows-8/

 

Follow up to the bezel issues, how is everyone's machines in terms of electrical noises (coil whine etc). I can hear some buzzing with my ear on the keyboard. Also, when loading up the GPU (I used CineBench OpenGL test) there is some audible coil whine. Lastly, when the screen turns off due to inactivity, there is some more coil whine that sounds like a beeping noise.

Can anyone else confirm normal/abnormal? I would help me make a decision about the bezel issues.

 

That's abnormal. The ultrabook is dead silent except when the fan kicks in.

 

same here dead quiet my fans rarely turn on.

 

So let me confirm, if you place your ear on the keyboard with the laptop awake, there is zero noise? It's pretty faint but there is a buzzing noise on mine. It's not audible at all more than about 2" from the keyboard.

More audible though is the higher pitched whine when the screen goes to sleep, but the laptops still awake. Can anyone confirm this, or the similar noise when stressing the GPU?

 

I got the exact same thing going on with mine. It switches from a high pitched squeal to a buzzing noise..

 

All of a sudden after plugging in the power cord the fan on this notebook went to full throttle! Sounded like a jet engine and is very unacceptable. Its running the A01 bios. It goes away if unplugged. Dell has more work to do here that's for sure!

 

I have no noise with ear to keyboard unless I am multitasking then i have a very light fan and i mean you have to listen for the fan.
delete all that dell crap off it. Dell needs to stop adding all their BS to the systems.

 

The Windows installation is clean. It's not the fan (my fan only ever came on once when I ran some rendering software), it's electrical coil whine noises and it changes with load (especially GPU), and also when the screen is asleep.

Apparently some people just can't hear these noises so I'm unsure whether it's actually an issue with this one or it's just me.

 

honestly if I had a whine like you describe I would be asking for a replacement if that one has the same then maybe you have bionic hearing?
Seriously I would exchange it.

 

Wish I had a Microsoft store, exchanging is gonna take friggin aaages. I'll wait another day or so and build up a case and do some more investigation ( goldenglove2 above said they have the same noises, so it's at least not just this particular unit)

 

I have very poor hearing and I can hear the whine and buzz.

 

Have you considered getting a MST adapter that splits the mini DisplayPort to allow 1 or more DP monitors to be connected? The Dell's DP port should be a >1.2 port that supports it.

http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/multi-stream-transport-mst-hub.html

Using a USB3->DP dongle is going to reduce the display performance. It's like adding a 2D-only capable video card.

Unfortunately, price probably isn't any cheaper.

 

-

 

Can aynone try this? When i turn up the sound...there is like a vibration sound coming from the keyboard. At first I thought it was a blown speaker, but putting my ears next to the speakers themselves theres no cracking noise. It seems like while listening at higher volumes (80-100%) causes some parts to vibrate (maybe the keyboard) causing an annoying sound. Sorta like when you have a sub and it cause things to vibrate/rattle and create some noise. But its not coming from the speakers, but its like an interaction between the produced sound with the chasis/body. Anyone have this...while listening close to 100%

 

how can i disable pinch-zoom... preferrably in windows itself

I installed some addon in firefox/IE to disable (accidental) pinch-zoom with touch-pad; it does not work, which may me believe that it's a windows feature... the usual touch-pad settings in win 8 don't have an option, maybe some registry?