Dell XPS 13 2015 Broadwell Infinity Display Owners Thread

hey guys

what is your cpu temp when idling? Mines is at 55c. it goes up to 82c when browsing the web. I feel like this is little too hot for normal use. Care to share your numbers guys?

 

degrees celcius? or fahrenheit? 82° C seems hot

 

celcius.....i kno 105c is the max temp before cpu burns out. i thinkk im going to contact dell to reapply thermal paste

 

What utility do you use to monitor your CPU temperature?

 

open hardware monitor. It's the best i found. Simple and no bloatware.

 

That temperature is fine. Laptop CPU's are designed to run really hot, and laptops are designed to run the CPU really hot. If you wanted 50c load temps with the size of cooler you can fit in there, you'd have a 130dBa fan.

 

New Broadcom Wireless driver update available:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...driverID=99G87&productCode=xps-13-9343-laptop

 

Yes, so UEFI is the new "BIOS" which should be "on" by default and has some advantages over the old mode. Some operating systems (Linux old kernels or old windows versions) did not support UEFI, for those should be an leagacy Boot Mode an option, also if you manually wanna edit bootup devices you do this in leagacy, save, restart, switch back to UEFI as on some devices there´s no options to change boot device in UEfi directly. Further more about that can get found here http://www.howtogeek.com/175649/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-uefi-instead-of-the-bios/

If they´re untouched it should be UEFI = on by default (what is good for using with Windows 8.1)

AHCI vs IDE http://www.diffen.com/difference/AHCI_vs_IDE so AHCI is also the newer stand, and should be on by default but i remember a friend got same piece of hardware out of the same shop on different date than me, but in his device they setup as IDE and my device was AHCI and got lot of more performance in direct comparison and it was up on AHCI vs IDE on his device (if you flip from IDE to AHCI windows may not boot up anymore and you need a recoverystick to "repair" but there a lot of how to´s available)

Also you can open Taskmanager on both devices and check CPU/RAM needs in same "conditions" for both machines, you see CPU clock. Watch temperatures (CPUID or something) they should be lower on the FHD but if they´re higher it may throttle?

Regards, aVa

 

Nup, just the fan.

 

My i7 never goes over 70 during web browsing and normal email office application work.

Mid to high 40's is where mine stays unless I play a game then I hit mid 80's.

I did repaste mine with GELID though.

 

I don't have a Smart Connect setting in the BIOS. For that reason I can't install the s/w to enable it. Those on a clean 8.1 install share the same story: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19618873

 

Dang....I hit 94c while playing SC2.

I never opened a laptop before. Do you recommend it repasting the cpu by myself? or do you think dell tech can do it for me when i get my fan replaced?

Also any recommendations for good thermal paste in U.S??

 

The XPS13 is "made in china"? I thought it would have been built in the country sold...

Just got my order tracking details and it says this:

Status DEPARTED MANU.FACILITY
Delivered On n/a
Received By CHINA
Sent On 25/03/2015
Order No. xxxxxxxx
Box Qty 1
Weight 2 Kgs
ETA 01/04/2015

It's no wonder there are QA issues, but then again... iPhones are also assembled there!

 

That's what we get for cheap income in China. It's nothing we can do. Just world trade business.....

I just wished dell would level up on their QA. Make it to premier product as the public view is not that good for home use computers. However Dell business laptops are topnotch

 

I believe European orders are assembled in China. US/Canadian ones are made in USA.

 

Repasting this system is very easy, removing the bottom cover is only difficult part and you will need some plastic shims to remove.

This link will help you. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell+XPS+13+Teardown/36157

I prefer Gelid paste, its a little thick so I heat it up in a pot of boiling water about 3 min before I apply. Make sure you unplug the battery then remove heatsink clean both areas well, I like to use http://www.amazon.com/ArctiClean-60...qid=1427312567&sr=8-1&keywords=arctic+cleaner

Then add a small grain of rice size on each core and place heatsink back on.

The paste job on mine from factory looked pretty good honestly better than any other laptop I have had, but I still prefer to add my own.

After A02 bios update my CPU did hit 94 running 3dmark skydive. I would be interested to see what your temps are running the same test if possible?

Before A02 I never got above 87c.

Thanks.

 

Any prove of this? That schould be not so cool as the notebookcheck.com got a review of the XP13 sample of an US model i guess, which got a great screen and > 400 nits, but the EU version in a test later got 200 nits less in brightness. Uargh ! I still hope my chinese manufactured XPS13 QHD+ will come with a great screen :>

Regards,
aVa

 

What are you talking about? Are you trying to say that chinese manufacturers make worst quality devices than other countries ones? Wow.
Did you know that Foxconn, for example, who is responsible for making the iPhone, is a chinese manufacturer? You can blame them for a lot of things, but certainly not for the quality they deliver. You should start to revise your biased and preconceived ideas about the wolrd, it's not 1990 anymore.

 

Just to give some hope : My XPS13 3200x1800 8Gb 512Gb XP941 Fresh 8.1 is now tweaked perfectly...
- Fan almost never kicks in
- Get 6-7h of job, not in lowest energy, but 2.4Ghz config
- No particular noise at all (boot, operations, etc...)
- Everything fine & quick

Only thing is that is I ask "sleep" manually, it works perfect, but if I close the lid first, it goes to sleep but never wakes up when I reopen the lid. Some ideas ?

 

Did you do a clean install?
I restored to factory defaults and the system comes preinstalled with the software. Somehow the bios i think removed.
So if you would do a factory reset, would it return on your system?

 

So I'm trying to decide whether to buy this or the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 14 (Core i7, 2015 version -I know they are different types of laptops). I'm currently leaning towards the Dell, but I have a couple of questions for the owners, which would be very helpful if answered

• Noise levels. Some say it can get a little bit loud? I used to own a Sony Vaio Pro 13, the noise was too loud so had to sell it. Is the fan loud or the sound high pitched in any way?
• Some say the keyboard is terrible, no feedback etc. is it really that bad?
• What about the wifi range/strength, I have read several places saying it's not good, is this true/has it been fixed?
• Touchpad -how does it fare with the laptop resting on the lap for example? My old Vaio Pro 13, was too thin, so if it rested on something soft, you actually couldn't click on the touchpad because of it. I assume this is not the case with the XPS?

If any of you owners could give your 50 cents on any of the above, that would be very helpful, thanks.

 

My fan never was noisy, it only ever came on when I ran a long benchmark, and it was just an air whooshing sound. Some people seemed to have louder fans, but that appears to have been fixed with the latest BIOS update.

I find the keyboard good. The travel is quite short, but that's what you get on a very thin laptop.

I haven't had any issues at all with WiFi, full bars at all times.

Touchpad works very well for me. I have no issues using it on a bed duvet, but you can also click and right click using finger taps if pressure to mechanical click is too much.

 

I went back to A01 bios, My fans were never loud and I like the temps I get better with A01 than A02.

 

• Everybody has different standards for noise (not including defective units). Personally I find it very quiet, and the sound is almost non-existent when I'm just doing light browsing. Even when playing Hearthstone the noise level is not unpleasant.
  
• The keyboard is actually surprisingly good. It's certainly much better than you'd expect from a notebook so thin. My WPM (~90) barely takes a hit, if any at all. My biggest gripe with the keyboard is that the backspace key is shorter than I'd like. I think any decrease in my WPM is mostly down to missing the key with my pinky.
• I haven't had any issues with the wifi on mine.
• I'm not sure what you mean by being unable to click on the touchpad because it's too thin, but as GoneTomorrow said you can also use tapping in lieu of left/right clicks. I began using the touchpad buttons but have since come to prefer using taps.

 

Stay away from Dell consumer laptops. Terrible quality control. I have the XPS 13 and it has given me tiny ridiculous issues causing me to exchange it thrice already and the fourth one has another problem I made a thread to find out more about.
Lenovo on the other hand, especially the thinkpad line, is said to have great quality comparatively.

 

Been keeping all my drivers up to date (based on Dell recommended driver list for my config) and just installed the new wireless driver. Immediately upon reboot the XPS can no longer can see my mobile phone hotspot. Another laptop (Dell Latitude) connects and sees the hotspot as usual. The XPS does still see some networks just not my mobile phone hotspot (which is I believe running at 2.4 GHz). Until now the XPS wifi has been flawless (immediate pickup, connect and hold).

Has anyone experienced any other odd behaviours following this latest driver install? (I am running all current Dell recommended drivers and also yesterday switched from A00 to A02 BIOS.) Multiple reboots of my phone and laptop still seem to leave my phone undiscoverable by the XPS.

UPDATE: just tried switching from 2.4GHz to 5 GHz on the phone hotspot settings. No effect - hotspot is still invisible to the XPS 13.

UPDATE2: just used Windows restore to roll back the wireless driver update and all is well again! Be interested to hear if others have problems with this driver. Seems to render only certain networks undiscoverable.

 

My Intel Smart Connect used to work just fine. After the Bios update cant turn it on.
Didnt notice it until I saw the blinking the yellow exclamation mark in the notification panel.

Reset to factory defaults/Bios downgrade didnt help.
Some people seem to have this isssue now. I think even more do, but they just didnt notice the exclamation mark which sometimes is hidden. As the notification area sometime hides icons.

 

Which kind of issues have you been having?

Thanks for the input. There is a thread on the dell forum, with people complaining about fan noise etc. but it seems to have been mostly fixed with the A02 BIOS update, is that correct, or are the noise issues just a loud minority?

 

I think you're more likely to hear from people who have issues than people that have none at all. That's not to say that people aren't having issues; I don't doubt that there are people who have had issues with consecutive returns/exchanges.

Depending on the configuration you want, it might be easier to get a signature edition XPS 13 from the Microsoft Store so you have an easy out with regards to returns.

 

My Canadian version clearly says made in China

 

I guess they´re all manufactured in China as it won´t make so much sense to have 2 similar manufacturing facilities on different continents.

Further more i hardly guess all single parts get manufactured in China <- if that is true it won´t make a difference if anyone in China assembles them to an laptop or anywhere else in the world, as shipping fees from China to "anywhere" may be nearly similar, and associates who put stuff together are cheaper in the east.

But i have no plan (there´s also no reply if there are 2 different kind of Sharp QHD+ display qualities as de tech website recognized for 2 XPS 13´s there 200 nits between in brightness). Globalisation rocks ;O)

 

In my case, the issue didn't seem to be the BIOS update - I had been using my laptop on my phone wireless hotspot for a good 1/2 day after the BIOS update. However, immediately after the wireless driver update I couldn't connect and this was quickly rectified by rolling back the update.

Having said that, it is interesting to note that as I spent some time in Device Manager looking at driver versions before and after I experienced my wifi problem. After the restore when everything was working I went back to device manager and noticed a problem reported against a device (don't recall what it was - may have been Bluetooth related). I interrogated it and it reported that the required drivers were not present. Very odd - was this due to the restore? While I had my problem all devices were reported as working correctly - go figure! Anyway, I let Windows find the appropriate driver, had it install and then the device was reported as working correctly.

 

remove

 

So did you manage to get Intel Smart connect working again? What did you ?
In my device manager there doesn't seem to be a problem. What should I look for?

 

My unit came straight from the factory in USA. Unless they first shipped it there from China, I have no reason to suspect that they don't have an assembly line there. European orders come from China (according to what I've read in this thread).

 

Perhaps they have an assembly plant there, but the parts still most likely come from China or someplace else in Asia.

And it might very well have been assembled in China, then shipped to USA, then shipped to you.

 

I am having a problem with sound... Can somebody else do a quick check?

Pressing the speaker icon on the toolbar (bottom right) at 100% and I can hear the normal Windows ding, but pressing it many times quickly I also hear a cracking from the speakers. If I press it a few more times all sound on the laptop stops working and I just get like a static click when any sounds tries to play, nothing else until I reboot. Have updated the sound drivers to the latest from dell. Just checking if anybody else hears this static click or looses sounds completely?

 

Obviously the parts are all (or most) made in Asia. However, the quality of the assembly line workmanship can differ.

 

If I press the speaker icon in very rapid succession then yes, each sound is accompanied by a "click". However, no matter how much I press it I am unable to get the laptop into a state where all I hear is static. I.e. after pressing the speaker icon repeatedly audio behaves as normal. I am using driver version 8.4.1.78 (which I believe is the latest) and Bios A02.

I do have one, as yet, unexplained audio (or should I say audible!) gremlin which I have not been able to diagnose. Occasionally, I will hear what sounds like a sudden burst of static, I assume from one of the laptops speakers, just for a fraction of a second. On two occasions it was followed by what sounded like a miniature excerpt from something musical. I initially took it to be a mechanical sound. This is fairly infrequent (may not happen on a given day) and if it does happen occurs no more often than twice in a typical session of 2-6 hours. I've also noticed that after the first static like sound, 3-10 seconds later I may hear the other "musical" sound (though again too short to be concretely identified as such). This has always occurred while I am actively typing on the computer (almost as though triggered by some keystroke) - once scared the daylights out of me late at night! I've disabled most of the background processes from applications I have installed but still had it occur once since. Initially I thought it might be something generated by IE but see no clear evidence that this is true. So far this has always occured while IE is running but that doesn't say much since I usually have it up and running.

Not sure if some system event is triggering this, some IE content or a sound card issue (driver or hardware). Unfortunately I have no way to reproduce this. I wonder if there is a way to record all sound card activity so that I can capture the sound and/or events triggering audio production?

 

What you're probably seeing is it coming from is the local distribution centre. My delivery original source was in Auckland, New Zealand, and I can guarantee we don't have any assembly here.


On another note, people who have done exchanges; what was it like?
My experience so far has been pretty horrendous. It's been 8 days since I submitted the exchange request with nothing back from Dell, and each time I ask customer support they tell me to wait another 2 days (3 times now).

I could probably order the individual parts from a crooked supply chain manager, get them shipped here via row boat, build it myself and I would probably have a new one before they've even found their feet.

I'm this far from just getting a refund and then a Macbook. Apple could have replaced one of their units 3 times by now.

Also fed up with having to do an entire phone conversation in NATO Phonetic. Damn multibillion dollar companies not wanting to spend the small change on a "native" call centre.

 

You're right, it could be that. Here's some more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell#Manufacturing

 

Looks like A02 fan profile update is love or hate thing.

Some people hated the fan noise and they REALLY corrected that part. Even with the charger plugged in.

Fan noise WAS one of my major concern. It appears to be addressed.

Thanks for the solid (could have been sooner hehe) bios update Dell!

 

I can say with absolute certainty that 100% of Dell consumer laptops and tablets are made in China. Most of the manufacturing is just assembly of parts sourced from different manufacturers, virtually all of which are in China or elsewhere in Asia, such as Malaysia. As someone pointed out earlier, all of Apple's products are made in China, and they are widely considered the highest quality electronic devices in the world. Labor costs and environmental regulations (or lack of same in China) make it impossible to manufacture in the U.S., be competitive on price, and not lose money! Fact of life. As labor costs in China rise - as they have been doing for the last several years - and unbreathable air forces it to impose environmental regulations a good deal of world production of electronic products will likely shift to other countries in Asia that are at earlier stages of economic development and will be able to undercut China on costs.

 

Well, apparently it's China and Malaysia with a small portion made in India. There are US assembly plants for desktops. I don't really care where it's made as long as the QA process is sound and the replacement process is quick in cases of build defects.

 

Actually they sold their main Desktop PC assembly plant in North Carolina (Winston-Salem) a few years ago but they do still make servers - Dell's most profitable line of business - in Texas (not Austin 'coz RE Costs too much but not far.

On e related note, I was sad to see Motorola's smartphone plant in US (Texas?) shut down, but I guess Lenovo (new owner) has too much efficiency and control doing it out of China. I guess there's no more customizing colors and materials for the Moto X .

 

In a darkish room, or at night, change your Windows wallpaper to a solid black color, then turn the brightness up. On my screen it look like 2 torches shining in from a point on the left, and a point on the top, sad :-( This is in addition to the accepted light bleed on the bottom left and right of FHD panels. Anybody else see this? How good are the replacement screens if you have had it replaced, don't want it getting worse?

 

Very hard to say how your screen compares to the average without seeing it in person (a photo might help but even there interpretation is tricky depending on lighting conditions, camera etc.). As I've mentioned in past posts, I've seen half a dozen XPS QHD displays, and a few FHD displays. Light bleed was present in all of the QHD screens and was apparent in broad daylight (especially on a white background) when you know where to look. This is likely what you are calling the "accepted light bleed". The exact amount and balance of that light bleed does seem to vary amongst samples with some being more prominent than others.

It is possible to find a display that exhibits only the usual form of edge lighting effect. I found one QHD display that had a little more of the accepted light bleed than average, but was otherwise perfect. I found another XPS that had less noticeable of the accepted bleed but had a very slight (i.e. you need to look for it on a dark background, dark room) panel bleed at the bottom of the screen. After inspecting a bunch of XPS 13's I concluded that the normal pattern of bleed was unavoidable (likely a design or manufacturing issue) but variable in degree. Other panel bleed may or may not be present. As to whether it is worthwhile for you to try to exchange is hard to assess. If it is really bad then you have a good chance of ending up with a better panel, if it is marginal you may end up with something similar in degree but differing in where the bleed occurs.

Interestingly, of the three laptops I use most- a MacBook Air, Dell Latitude and the XPS, the XPS is the only display that is obviously flawed. However, it is also by far the nicest display and the machine I use whenever I can. In my case the bleed that is present isnt typically noticeable in everyday use. I did log the problem with Dell who offered to do a screen swap (requires a depot return) while the machine is under warranty. I plan to continue enjoying the machine. If it looks like Dell is able to improve the panel consistency then I may go for a swap at that time. But more likely than not I will hang on to the Dell until I see an OLED equipped Skylake or Cannonlake machine of similar form factor.

 

hi everyone new dell xps 13 owner here. i have been going through the forums and finally made the jump! got the i7 8gb ram with 256 GB Samsung SSD and the Dell Wireless 1560 802.11ac wifi card. how do i check my exact system specifications???

 

windows button + R

type: msinfo32

 

Thank you and how do I check if I have the latest drivers?