Dell XPS 13 2015 Broadwell Infinity Display Owners Thread

Thanks for the detailed reply. I guess I am trying to accept display faults (and a sound fault) when you pay over £1000+ for a laptop and your comment "isnt typically noticeable in everyday use" helps me accept it a little more. It is a great laptop just a shame its not perfect. Cannot wait for next years update.

 

I'd like to know this as well. The manual check on Dell website is kinda pain in the ass.

 

Does the XPS 13 send the audio signal through mini displayport?

 

Yes, my hdmi works fine.

 

I'm looking to get this but I'm used to 15" laptops. A quick question: when typing, can you rest your hands fully on the palm rest? Or does it dig in like the Macbook? I just want to make sure it's comfortable for long typing sessions. Especially since I can't try it out before buying

 

I'm writing this to help out others with an over reactive touchpad on the XPS 13. I found a new Synaptics driver on Station-Drivers.com that seems to have improved things. I suggest anyone having issues forget about the Dell Support site and go to Station-Drivers instead.

 

What's the direct link?

 

Its the trackpad problem solved?

 

Mostly, it's still too big and has no touchpad settings but there are no noticeable problems on this laptop anymore.

 

I continue to like the touchpad. Just wash your hands and make sure they aren't too greasy you dirty bxsterds! LOL

Some issues with the keyboard though. Still I find it too shallow. I am only semi-used to it. I often make typos more than I should be.

Also good amount of "double typing" happening. Like I pressed once, but it will somehow register as if I typed the same letter twice. I heard to happen to some people.

At this point, I am decently satisfied with everything, except the keyboard. I think keyboard was definitely a better experience in the last model, since it had much better depth and feedback, I believe.

And the paint on the keyboard coming off after only small amount of use is utterly unacceptable. They should have used paint for the Latitude lines, that were much better in resisting. Combination of slight oil but actual wear off of the keyboard paint is quite horrendous. This is actually an issue here.

I give keyboard 1/5. Seriously. Only thing that was smart or innovative, was them being able to squeeze in horizontally in this small footprint. But depth/feedback/double type issue/paint wear makes this one of the worst keyboards.

Oh and screen can be... a bit brighter. In a decently bright indoor environment, I always have the brightness at 100%. I never really use brightness any lower than that. Yes screen glare is the cause of this issue, but I was actually expecting something brighter for 400 nits. But yeah, it's not bad, but it definitely could be much more brighter... Because the screen glares..

You feel me Dell?

 

For some reason the direct link is not working for me. So I also linked to the list of all drivers.
Just select 18.1.53.1.

http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/outils/func-startdown/1283/

http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/outils/Drivers/Synaptics/Drivers/

 

hi i have an issue with my laptop. whenever i insert a usb to any of the ports windows freezes! it goes back to normal operation after 3-4 minutes! i can't work or do anything on the laptop in that time!
but once i restart the pc and insert the usb everything works fine the first time. once i remove the usb and insert it a second time i face the above problem until i restart the pc again!
i had updated my BIOS and all drivers except a few which said that i already had the latest drivers and windows has been updated with all the recent updates.
do i need to reinstall windows?? and does anybody have the same problems as i described?

 

Do you have an antivirus installed? Bet your AV software is scanning the usb drive and combined with 600mhz operation it's really slow. I recommend you update the Intel inf chipset drivers directly from intel.

About backlight bleed my first xps 13 had a little around the borders and wasn't noticable when lit up, but when I returned mine for a new one the new one was just perfect.

 

yes i do have eset security suit installed. will visit the intel site and download the updates.

whats the best way to detect this backlight bleed?

 

My first message ever. Read almost all of this tread, but still need some guidance. I recently bought QHD model, 8 gb RAM, i7 5600 CPU. I am OK with everything except the slowish performance. Before this one I had a 2011 MBP 13 (i7 2620m CPU, 8 gb RAM, intel hd 3000, 1280*800 resolution) and that 4 year old laptop still performs better than my new XPS 13. There is no big difference, but I can still notice XPS is slower (or not as snappy) on any basic operation on desktop + chrome. I dont play games just web and MS office.
I checked any tweaks, TDP settings to max performance, clean win install, disabling speedstep, updating all drivers etc. Not helping. I installed PCMark and did the Home test, resulted 2170. I searched and found some websites and they get 2600-2700 with the same test. I also did the diagnose stuff at Dell which returned no hardware errors. I feel like there is no hardware - software issue, it is just the resolution difference making all the difference, but not exacty sure. The only conflict to my theory is the differing PCMark Home results. I am about to return the XPS as I am really annoyed that, whatever the screen resolutions are, MBP is obviously faster although 4 years older.
Any explanations or help for the above, I really like the design and want to keep it on the other hand.

 

The US version of the XPS 13 2015 power supply comes with a handy clover leaf-to-2 pin adapter (see attached photo).

Does the UK version of the XPS 13 2015 power supply come with something similar, but with a UK 3-pin adapter instead?

20150329_130206000_iOS by Drawffy posted Mar 29, 2015 at 11:22 PM

 

Nope. Just a short'ish cable with cloverleaf at one end and 3 pin plug at the other.

 

I've noticed the same thing with my keyboard and double typing. At first I thought it was from the key bouncing but I've noticed it a few its even when I leave my finger on the key so that's made me think it's a software issue. I've been hoping a driver update will fix this in the future however it does not occur often enough for me to have a serious issue with it.

 

At least for those in the UK, the models with the i7-5500U have an extra £100 discount until tomorrow and the i5-5200U 256GB FHD model has an extra £80 discount making it the same price as the 128GB model...

It's been enough to tempt me into placing my order!

 

Anyone with a 4gb ram model regret their decision? I currently have the base model from the Microsoft store and been noticing my ram usage is around 85% to 90%, from having IE and DOTA 2 running so Im a bit worried about that if my consumption is that high. I also have a hard time justifying the 150$ price difference I'll pay just for going from 4 to 8gb ram. Quite a dilemma.

 

The i3 with the 4gb here. The average usage is about 75%. It is fine for a light work. I am not sure about gaming though. I didn't want to pay $1k for it, so I am fine with the performance.

 

Windows is supposed to use most of the RAM available. It gets out of the way when necessary.

 

Yeah by writing its self to a swap file and if you have an ssd in there not good to have too many write cycles!

 

I have a huge problem now. When I log in the whole pc freezes! I can't do anything cannot open task manager cannot open control panel also. If I click on any icon that is if I'm able to click anything my pointer goes into the circle which means it is processing. Even the task manager does not respond!

Right now I had to restart my pc at least 5 times by pressing the power button. Any solutions anybody.this is actually frustrating

 

Isn't the price difference between the next tier up at the microsoft store closer to $400? I believe the RAM is non-upgradable otherwise, as the RAM is soldered to the board.

What is your RAM usage when you are just doing regular browsing/productivity stuff? If it is generally in a good spot, then I don't think I would worry about it too much. The minimum RAM requirements for DOTA 2 is 4gb, so it's to be expected that it would put your usage up there. If it's causing noticeable slowdown, then just close IE/Firefox/Chrome when you're going to put in a gaming session and restore the tabs when you're ready to get back to browsing. I can't imagine you'd be doing much swapping between the internet and DOTA mid match anyways.

 

At my wits end here been looking at this screen for the last half an hour now!!!

 

Your installation must have corrupted. Just happened to me on one of my desktops. Swear theres a windows update to blame. Got to reinstall...

 

Yes it is. I would be ordering a custom model from dell for the i5 1080p 8gb, which would take me from 809 (with student discount) to 979. To pay over 100 for an additional 4gb ram I just can't fully wrap my head around. Normal usage without gaming is around 70%

 

Is the adaptive brightness issue fixed yet? I returned mine a month ago, but might get one for a family member.

 

That's why its better to buy the i3 version with the 4gb of ram. I paid $700 after taxes . The i5 with the 8gb is close to $1k. The $300 bucks for the faster cpu and more ram might be worth for some people.

 

Not yet. The last software update they released was on 03/23/15 regarding :
Self-Upgrade Issue and support for Microsoft Proof Of License

 

A modern SSD can handle it just fine. Unless you habitually leave the drive 98% full, the machine will be obsolete before you wear any drive sectors out.

 

Not if it's just cache usage, which it almost always is. Stuff cached in memory (which Windows tends to use most of the RAM for) is just data put into memory to speed the system up. It's not important, and just gets thrown away when something needs the memory; it isn't swapped back into the page file. It just means that whatever was cached needs to be pulled from the (slower) drive when it's needed, not the faster memory cache.

 

the laptop finally logged in and then started hanging! i'm trying to uninstall mcafee from the system and the uninstaller is not even opening! any idea how to get into safe mode???

 

Dell XPS 13 9343 System BIOS

XPS 13 9343 A03 BIOS
Fixes & Enhancements
1. Fix I3-5010 CPU performance issue.

 

Just ordered i5 with 8gb and 256gb from another country because the computer is not available at my country.

My question is does XPS 13 windows have option to reinstall and change language? If not can I use product key to windows version which supports my language or do I need to go pirate?

 

1. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/language-packs#lptabs=win8
2. There is no product key; as long as you use the same version of Windows as shipped with your machine, you can install it in any of the available languages

 

Despite your MacBook is about 4 years' old, but the CPU is not slow at all. i7-5600U is only 15% more powerful than i7-2620M, and can be slower when throttling (that is the trade off to be thin and light). Chrome and XPS 13 don't like each other (a lot of people here reported that), even simple web browsering may use a lot of CPU powerful and generate a lot of heat, which leads to the throttling. You may need to check the cpu usage and frequency during the web browsering. If CPU throttling is causing the slow down, you may need to take a look at chrome (probably check the plug-ins).

 

found out how to refresh the windows installation did that and it uninstalled all the programs i had installed and its now good as new and working well!!
if anyone wants to know how to do it here's the link
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-safe-mode

 

Hi,
I am considering to buy this laptop but because of those problems some people is having I would to buy it from a different place than Dell website.
Microsoft Store do not have the i5 8Gb - 256 nontouch model.
Neither I didn´t find it at amazon.

Do you know any other shop with full refund that sells this on USA?

Thanks!

 

Although I love the laptop and it performs great, I decided I could not live with the 2 areas of light bleed at the top of my screen. As this seems not to be normal I called dell for a replacement. No problems, new one ordered and they will pick this one up after its arrived. So for now the Dell service and returns policy seems to work just as I needed.

 

Did you pay anything at all for the shipping of the replacement?
What happens if the next one has the same problems?

As far as I know Dell only accepts returns on case there is a poblem, but they have a restocking fee if the laptop is not broken.
If I am going to spend this money I would like to make sure I can return it in case it is not what I am looking for (or being able to test it on a shop before to buy it).

 

If its not broken then there would be no need to return it? If you don't get a faulty one its the best in its class.

As the laptop had a fault from new that they acknowledged and I sent them a photo when speaking with the tech guy, I am entitled to a full refund. I still wanted one so they offered to replace the screen or asked if I wanted a full new laptop, I wanted the new replacement. They said they would deliver the new one and pick-up the old one. No mention of any costs as its a genuine fault from build.

If the next one is faulty I will also return that one and try again, or decide to keep this one. I will see what the others are like as light bleed from the top is not a common reported fault so I hope I was just unlucky.

Besides the long phone call (glad its a free number) the support was good and to the point. They quickly accepted it was faulty and ordered a new one.

 

How do you guys use an external display with it? Mine with the QHD display I'd connect a 21 or 22" monitor, forget exactly, which has a native resolution of 1440x900 over the mini display port, however the way windows scales it it makes it super blurry because it's almost like it tries to simulate the same resolution on the external. There's lots of forum posts on Microsoft with people having the same issue on all machines with high dpi displays but where the monitor isn't. Is there no option to use my external display at its native 1440x900 without any of this scaling? I'd at least be able to use apps that don't support scaling at all on that one, but right now they look the same as on the laptop display (buttons and text all cut off etc).

 

Glad to hear you were able to get prompt action from Dell! Let us know how the replacement works out. And I believe you are right in that light bleed from the top of the screen is not common (I have never seen it) so I would be optimistic that your replacement would be an improvement. If you get a chance, a photo of the bleed of the old screen and the new would be interesting (ideally side-by-side hence with same lighting conditions etc.) - I have been using these two screen tests for looking at bleed ( http://www.ledr.com/colours/black.htm and http://www.ledr.com/colours/blue.htm). The black I find is better at highlighting "traditional" screen bleed where white light moves significantly into the screen. I have found the blue test to be the best way to compare the severity and balance of the edge lighting effects that seem to afflict the XPS QHD displays (lower left and right sides, the "accepted" flaw you refer to). Also of note is that the edge lighting effects are most noticeable when viewed at an off angle (e.g. 45 degrees) and often significantly less noticeable dead on. By the way, do you have a QHD or FHD screen?

Still enjoying my XPS but yesterday I watched a couple of movies on a calibrated plasma TV and have to say I will likely never be satisfied with the black levels or contrast afforded by LCD displays regardless of how they are backlit - hoping we will see more OLED TVs, monitors and laptops roll out next year.

 

I chose the FHD due to windows scaling issues and also thought if I was scaling 200% on a QHD its actually less working area than native FHD, plus less battery time. Never need to scale and everything looks great on the laptop and my external QHD display.

Will keep you updated with the replaceable process. Here is a picture of the bleed I could see at night or with black backgrounds. During the day it was harder see... ..
..

 

The fact that the bleed looks as though it may be more prominent than that from the normal spots (although these areas are partially obscured by the taskbar) tells me you have a unit that is out of the "normal" range. Having said that, the "accepted" bleed is often very hard to detect on the FHD so you likely have an even better chance of getting a screen that is a significant improvement.

And I fully appreciate the scaling issues with high dpi Windows machines. Just yesterday I installed Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom on the XPS. Whereas Lr was useable out of the box, Photoshop was laughable. I spent a good hour on the forums until I discovered that Photoshop CC comes with a (somewhat hidden) "Experimental Feature Manager" which allows one to select PS to scale for high DPI Windows displays. Interesting that Lr just works out of the box (PS also works great on the Mac) - go figure. Not sure the extent to which this is due to the Windows APIs making it hard for developers or lack of effort on the part of third party software providers. I hope that these issues and the scaling for external displays is fixed in Windows 10.

 

Although I got a 5% discount by talking to an online sales rep, £100 discount is a better saving. Looks like I'll have to contact DELL and see if I can get an extra £100 refunded of what I purchased for as I've only just bought it and haven't received delivery yet.

 

Me too!
€100 discount and I've thrown also a VIP 10% discount over to a grand total of €1,169 Tax inc.for the model with QHD, i7 5500U, 256GB.
Much less that Dell USA sell it... $1,599 plus Tax Vs €1,169 Tax inc.
Less that Dell UK sell it (£999 Vs> €1,299) even without VIP discount.
I can't believe still !!
With the euro in free fall I think that Dell will raise the prices soon... so I pull the trigger.

Update
The Delivery Date is set at 27/4
I'll be happy to await 1 month for a SSD PCIe...

 

When I spoke to technical support to get a replacement, they asked for photos of my issue(s) (in my case, a warped/popped out bezel). Once they have this evidence, it is reviewed and a replacement confirmed/rejected. Once it is confirmed, you have no costs to pay at all, as they have already acknowledged the fault.

You then get a quote for a new unit to accept, which is "Prepaid" with a total of $0.00. Once you accept this it basically gets handled like any other order, with a new order number to track.

They ship you the new unit, and once delivery is confirmed, they organise for the old unit to be picked up. So basically you don't even have to really do anything to return the old one, just work out a time and place for it to be collected.

My replacement is currently a "Work in progress" with an ETA of the 7th of MAY. I hope that's just a really pessimistic estimate and not a case of putting replacements in the slow queue.