Dell XPS 13 2015 Skylake Infinity Display Owners Thread

The i7-6560U model with Iris 540.. TDP limitations are definitely not making the occasional game experience very enjoyable.

Will have to re-apply thermal paste and add thermal pads when I return from vacation.

 

What kind of temps are you seeing after just the re-paste? What paste did you use?

 

Btw i can report that the windows insider builds seem to have fixed all trackpad issues. Trackpad have been damn near perfect in recent memory Only thing still bothering me now is the damned coil whine (QHD, i7 non-iris)

 

If you guys are going to put on new thermal paste, I'd recommend a non-conductive thermal paste like Arctic MX-4. It's not the highest performing thermal paste ever, but most good thermal pastes will only differ by 2-3c at most. Using non-conductive thermal paste greatly reduces the risk for any short-circuits once the heatsinks are squeezed down.

Icy-diamond thermal paste is generally not recommended for bare-die repastes though. The small amount of diamond content inside the paste can lightly scratch the silicon. It usually doesn't affect anything, but personally I'd avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

 

It was pretty bad before repaste. I used Zalman ZM-STG1 and thermal pads, and fan now stays silent even when CPU is working at 3.1GHz for long time.. Temps max out at 78C.

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That indeed looks like some crusty thermal paste.

Can anyone take a picture of the clips that keep the bottom aluminum cover on? Any tips on getting the back cover off once the screws are out?

 

It may be best to start with a plastic pry tool at the sides. Then front and then lift the cover a little bit to unclip the back side. Don't pry at I/O ports and only 3mm max deep into device to avoid mainboard damage.

 

Search around the site for more answers but this will help....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ndervolt-repaste.785963/page-13#post-10213986

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gonz-/sets/72157661224025234/

 

It was very easy to disassemble. Just use Torx 5 for screws. I did the opening just with my hand, slowly and carefully lifted by 2-3 mm front left part of the back cover, then front-right, before moving to the back. There are some stronger clips at rear (below "exhaust grill"), so it is better to start at front, and back will follow.

Oh, and be very carefull with the heatpipe, do not bend it or press it, it is quite delicate.

 

SquareTrade does have a "threw my XPS out my 3rd story window" full replacement warranty. Purchased with my XPS from Amazon. It was rather cheap.

 

Hello Dell XSP owners!

I just recently purchased an XPS13 (i5/8gb/128SSD; 6th gen., Windows 10) and I am extremely impressed with it (so far). I got it for my mom, basically going to be used for internet/email/games (not like Halo but app store, Google play style games). It seems to be running great, its fast - in fact fast to the point where I have to upgrade the internet so it doesn't have to wait for the web to load.

I would like to know if it is possible to increase the video RAM on my XPS 13. My A10 Trinity desktop can be modified and the same with my Asus laptop (all running Windows 10) via the BIOS. Is this possible??

 

Sorry, double posted.

 

Don't think so. Integrated graphics is usually dynamically allocated, since it just pulls it from regular system memory.

 

What are people getting with the I7-6560U and QHD+ for battery life?

Took mine on the plane, and a three hour movie on 0% brightness took like 60% of my battery life..

 

that's relatively short I think. Mobiletechreview said 6-7hours on their review unit. What app did you use by the way? Windows Media Player and VLC consumes way more power than the Movies&TV app.

 

VLC. I watch a lot of subtitled movies, and the built-in subtitles in MKV files don't open properly on the stock application.

How can you tell which applications use a lot of battery? Does Chrome use a lot of power too?

EDIT: It seems that the stock Movies & TV gives more battery life because it uses hardware decoding. If I enable that for VLC, should I expect just as good battery?

 

I am getting around 7hours with C1 state enabled in BIOS....
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-xps-13-9350-battery-life.784327/page-2

 

Last night I turned off one of the super-loud plug-in fans that I keep on 24/7 in my room. I then noticed what I believe was the coil line- it was like an electronic, high(ish)-pitched sound that only presented itself when the AC adapter was plugged in. I changed the AC charging behaviour setting in the BIOS from adaptive to standard and now I only hear it when I put my ear against the device.

Has anyone tried this, and is it a permanent fix?
Additionally, will my battery life/charging be affected negatively by the switch?

 

Yesterday evening i replaced the 1820A wifi with intel 8260 following bluetooth issues and cooments on the broadcom.......t'was almost a disaaaaster as removal of the black wire from the old card came away with coonecting point (gold ring) coming away from the wifi card to rather than unplugging.....sheesh...thought i'd never get it out of the plug to be able to connect to new card.

Finally got it out using a needle...

Be wary.. Maybe i had a dodgy wifi card in the first place with that socket.

Thought i'd share, always easier to laugh about the drama after you sort it.

G

 

That indeed seems like a dodgy wifi card. Must've been a bit of a scare.

Do both bluetooth and WiFi work? If you had the flickering screen issue, is it gone?

 

Not sure as have not had opportunity to play, but will report back if it fails to mitigate those issues

G

Ps bluetooth and wifi did appear to work fine, the screen issue i've yet to see flickering but have experienced weirdness when opening ie with favourites pinned on the left, the have flickered black as the screen refreshes to display.

 

I received replacement XPS 13 today. I am not pleased.

So the first one had 2 issues.. one major and one annoying. The CPU fan was unable to spool up and would try to move, but couldn't. The left side of the keyboard made quite a bit of coil whine/electronic noise.

Well, this one has a loose charging port and the same coil whine. The charger cannot be moved once I finally get it to recognize and start charging. What the hell is going on over at Dell? And I just saw some chart for 2016 that put them as the number 2 rated best laptop/notebook company? Pfffft.

I am not going to try for a third time. It's really too bad because it appeared to have everything I'd need. I'm not sure what I'll buy next. I really have no confidence in most of these manufacturers as of late. Color me sad :(

 

That's a pity. I'm surprised mine has been relatively issue-free considering I picked it up the first week it was released right in the microsoft store.

Pretty sure most of these laptops do have coil whine though. Mine has a faint buzzing sound.

 

What were you considering before choosing the XPS 13?

 

the coil whine seems to be very apparent when plugged in and at High Performance profile or when plugged in and charging the battery.

Mine is dead silent when I pick the Dell power profile, set at High TDP, Max power on everyrhing when plugged in, and battery set only to charge till 65%. When I switch to High Performance profile, the coil whine begins.

 

The Samsung Notebook 9 is one of the best alternative I'd say. It's far lighter, less expensive and pretty much the same in terms of performance. Also, it doesn't have the forced CABC unlike on the 1080p version of the XPS. The only drawback I think is the display is glossy, although it's regarded as one of the least reflective glossy displays out there, probably as good as on the Macs. Battery life 6-7 hours. so 2 hours battery less.

 

I'll check it out! I just need a small notebook that can handle Source games.

 

Had that happened twice with two 1820A cards. First time it happened when I replaced it for the Intel 8260. I had ordered antennas when I got the 8260 so I just used one new one and routed it as best I could. Then I had to send it to Dell for a screen issue so I put the old card back before I sent it in. Well they replaced the 1820A and the screen which has the antennas (new antennas and new 1820A). When I got it back swaped the WiFi adapters it happened again (always the black wire/antenna !!!). Neither time could I pop out the tiny ring, used needle and magnifying glasses but no luck. Called them up and explained. Long story short they sent me another screen with the atennas and a third 1820A, they can't just send you the antennas. So I replaced screen and hooked up Intel 8260. Overall bad experience . Those Broadcoms 1820A are crap!!!.

 

New BIOS Update available:

XPS 13 9350 1.4.3 BIOS (15 Jun 2016)
Fixes & Enhancements
1.Improve Dell Docks stability (Must restart system to take effect)
2.Improve McAfee Drive Encryption Compatibility

(Includes USB Type-C Main Controller update)

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=VNT5J

First impressions: Installed and WD15 dock still working with two external monitors. Hope the CPU/Package temps are better with WD15 dock attached, I'll have an eye on it.

 

Glad you finally got it sorted...and that your heart survived the experience... I was somewhat vexed having fought to prise the casing of without any marks only to leap onto the simple wifi swap only to agonize over that damn 1820A sovket ring dilema

 

Thanks for letting us know about the update. Installing now. Notice any changes?

 

Second external monitor (via mDP) is intermittent blinking (on/off/on/off) after resuming from standby.
Fan is still starting very easy when attached to USB-C dock.

 

Single 4K Dell monitor, still having the flickering about once an hour, after newest bios release.

 

Hello all, I am expecting my 9350 in the next few days, the Os is win 10 home. I wanted to install/upgrade to the pro version, and I do have a very valid Windows 7 pro key, is there any easy way to do this rather than downgrade to 7 pro and then upgrade to 10 pro? I went this route on the 9343 last year, but it was rather time consuming, so hoping there'd be an easier way.

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BTW I joined the MS Insider thing and opted in to the slow ring of updates. I got a new version the next day and I just wanted to say I believe this has 100% fixed the track pad issues. No more jumping up and down when scrolling and also it is much more instant now, there is no gap/lag when the cursor moves.

So it seems like MS (which handles the drivers for these native touchpads) has caused Dell quite a bit of negativety with these issues. It will come to everybody in july I believe.

 

So I received my XPS 13 yesterday and I love it. It's damn near perfect! I think I'm lucky because i'm not experiencing any issues so far. Screen is good, touchpad is good, space bar good, battery good.
The only noticeable thing is some coil wine I think. Although it's not a whining noice, it's more like a harddisk rattle when the CPU/GPU are doing something.

 

I didn't understand... The new bios fix the TouchPad?

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Is anyone here experiencing very low package c state percentages? My cores are 90+ when idle, but my package states are in the low single digits.. If i uninstall the graphics driver, the c6 package state is about 40+ when idle!

 

After updating BIOS, I'm not experiencing screen flickering anymore! YAY!
Also, my notebook in general is colder than before and is working around 50 C.
Until now, didn't heard the coil whine.

Now I'm just experiencing poor and low speed wifi reception... but I think I'll need to upgrade to Intel one. Am I right?

 

XPS 13 is running cooler with Dell WD15 dock with Bios 1.4.3 but the fan starts earlier at low 55°C and stays on. Hope for a Bios quiet fan setting fix.

 

No I meant the Windows 10 Update i got in the Insider program. It will come to all soon. But you can get it also by joining in now. You can then opt out when the next stable release arrives and you are back on the regular updates.

 

Although I downloaded and installed the new bios....appears it was taken down from their website less then 1 hour later.

 

Strange I saw it there earlier today, but now its gone. Likely it had issues then and they are fixing stuff again before releasing it?! Well things work okay here with it, I think better with the TB3 port even.

I have had a issues with rebooting, starting from cold. 50% of the time it stops at the Dell logo and no Windows spinner comes... But this has been quite a long time, nothing to do with this bios.

 

I have had the same issue since the beginning. Just hangs until I turn off and restart. I don't restart very often, so not a big deal - but glad to see I am not the only one!

As far as the touchpad issues people have noted, replacing the touchpad solved every one for me. Not sure if mine was truly faulty or I just got lucky, but works beautifully ever since the swap.

 

Ah! Ok.. Thanks!

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i wanna buy this ultrabook... it looks amazing... but i'm not sure about the touchpad... i've read a lot of different opinion... what can you say about it?
i was reading about the new microsoft insider driver. it's all fixed with them?

 

I can say my touchpad has been perfect since day one. I turn off pinch zoom because I personally find it annoying. Everything else works perfectly.

 

Intermittent flickering of external mDP monitor is gone with WD15 dock with BIOS 1.4.3 and unplugging all cables once from the dock (reset).
Temperatures when using USB-C are better with BIOS 1.4.3 than 1.3.3, but fan stays on at lower temps too. So almost always fan noise with dock attached.
Hope this will be fixed to make the XPS 13 perfect and silent at normal use (browsing/yputube 720p) in desktop mode.

 

Ah! Ok.. Thanks!
I've just updated win10.. It seems better.. I've to try..

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