Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

Specifications (base version)
Manufacturer: Dell
Model Name: XPS 13 (L321X)
CPU Type: Intel Core i5 2467M
CPU Speed: 1600/2200Mhz
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000
OS: Windows 7
Display Size: 13.3" 720P (1366 X 768)
Screen Type: LED-Backlit LCD
RAM: 4096MB
SSD: 128GB
Keyboard: Backlit 80-key
Touchpad: Glass Multi-touch
Battery: 47Wh
Weight: 1400gm / 49.4 oz.
Size (w/h/d mm): 306/205/18mm
Size (w/h/d inches): 12/8.1/0.7"


Physical Interfaces
DC-in
Line-out / Headphone (3.5mm)
Mini Displayport (supports HDMI adapter)
USB2.0 x1 (supports sleep charging)
USB3.0 x1

Wireless Interfaces
Intel 6230 - 802.11 b/g/n + BT 3.0 + HS


Additional Specs and Accessories:
45w AC Adaptor
Microphone
1.5w x 2 Stereo speakers
1.3MP WebCam
Intel Wireless Display
Intel Smart Connect
Hardened Glass Screen

======================================================

This will be the place for current and potential owners of this new 13" XPS ultrabook to come and discuss their experiences with the hardware and ask any questions. Additionally, I will be providing an unbiased customer review (and possibly a teardown ) of this little beastie once it is arrives (scheduled for this Friday, the 2nd).

Let the fun begin….

Pre-purchase thoughts:
When I noticed this new Dell offering, I asked myself the following questions –

A. Why would I want it?
Impulse reaction: Look at it! That thing is sleek and sexy looking! It’s a chick magnet!
Politically correct reaction: Very nice looking piece of ultra-portable hardware that is a head turner and can be used by both men and woman alike.

B. How practical is it?
How practical is anything that is already obsolete before you take it out of the box? For me, the real practicality factor comes in to play when I consider my business and personal needs. Specifically, I would rather not tug my huge Precision M6600 around with me everywhere I go and sometimes I do not even need the power/size of my Latitude E6520 or E6420. However, I would like something more powerful [and compatible] than my iPad or Transformer Prime. Other than the physical size and cool looks of the XPS-13 UB, I believe this unit has addressed [at least on paper] a “happy medium” need for those of us who put portability and main stream performance above the need to have every flavor of I/O ports available or the highest resolution screen with the most powerful processor and/or GPU.

In reality, however, you can still do a lot with the documented specs and ports Dell does include.
- The USB 3.0 port will accept many USB 3.0 and low cost 2.0 devices including card readers, flash drives, LAN adapters, modems, and generic port replicators just to name a few. A second USB 2.0 with the sleep charging feature is also nice. So, if I need it, I can connect it.
- The Bluetooth and WiFi will allow for tethering to phones and other wireless devices for data transfer and [cloud] storage so that has most bases covered.
- The mini-display port will support an HDMI adapter so that is covered if needed. The Intel 6230 WLAN card with the i5/i7 CPU will also allow for wireless video feeds to compatible receivers.
- The embedded HD3000 graphics does do very well in encoding and decoding 2D/3D FHD video (Quick-Sync and InTru 3D do work!) so there are no worries there. Yes, serious gaming is not a target or feature of this unit, but it should handle all flavors of Angry Birds so I am happy!

C. Is it really worth the price?
In a perfect world, all these ultra-portables would cost less, but this is the hottest segment right now next to tablets so the demand will always dictate the pricing. With that said…
The base system – yes. The higher-end versions; probably not at this time. The base system still offers all the important features/specs and is lower priced than the closest Apple offering while presenting more “attitude” in its design character [in my opinion]. The 17w max TDP Intel i5-2467M is good on battery life while still being snappy and productive. The 4GB PC3-10600 [I will see if I can get it up to 8GB just for the heck of it) is enough for any mainstream application and most users. The 128GB SSD is plenty of space for this type of solution, and again, USB flash drives are a dime a dozen and wireless [cloud] storage is also becoming more main stream. The 720p display is acceptable for a 13” system, but I will be picky and critical if needed. In summary, I went ahead and purchased the base system so I can have a good baseline to compare things to and the documented specs fit my needs nicely.

D. How long will it last me?
Well, I do know it will last at least one year since the included warranty covers just about everything including “accidental events”. Since I have been involved in the technology design industry for over 19 years now, I subscribe to the belief that if anything is going to fail, statistics show it will within the first 120 days or 1000 hours of use. Because of this, I typically never purchase extended warranties unless they are low or no cost. For this specific system, if I can get at least 24 months of solid use, I will be happy and it will have been a good buy.

So, now that I have addressed my own questions and needs, I decided to purchase the XPS-13 UB...

** UPDATE - 03/02/2012 ***
The system is now in-hand. Since I have seen others already post external pictures, thoughts, and opinions on the XPS-13 UB, I decided to focus more on the technical side of this system and provide some eye candy at the same time. Let's begin...

Scott-

 

Needless to say, the construction quality is very impressive and reflects the same business class engineering processes found in the late model Latitude line of notebook systems – just on a much smaller scale. I will get more into the quality of specific areas of the XPS-13 UB as I share more photos.

To start, I will show the system size and approximate footprint comparisons in relation to the XPS-13 UB and the [elusive] Dell Latitude XT3, Dell Precision M6600, Samsung NP900X3A (Series 9), Apple iPad v2 and a standard DVD disc. Enjoy -

The yet to be fully released [within the USA] Latitude XT3 E-series convertable notebook/tablet is very close to the XPS-13 in relation to it's footprint although it is about twice as thick @ 1.2 inches tall. The photo below also shows the difference between the matte XT3 touchscreen display and the glossy glass display of the XPS-13 UB.



I think the 17.3" Precision M6600 gave birth!



The Samsung 9 series is very nice with a few features I would have liked to seen in the XPS-13 UB [like the 400nit matte display and additional ports], but the Dell just "feels" more solid overall and wins my finish quality comparision.



The Samsung is slightly taller in the front and slightly thinner in the rear.



The extra bezel space around the Samsung display along with the above-base display hinges adds to the overall Samsung system footprint when compared to the smaller XPS-13 UB.





The Dell XPS-13 UB is only slightly thicker than the iPad at its thinnest point (the front).

 

I will focus on what makes the XPS-13 UB tick in this ongoing post so check back often...

Please note: I am an advanced technology design engineer, ham radio geek, and professional tinkerer with almost 20 years of hands-on experience within multiple industries on a global scale. So, I know what I am doing and advise that unless you are a qualified technician as well, do not attempt any of this at home, at work, in your car, or on a street bench as you may damage your hardware and void any expressed or implied factory warranties.

With that said, here we go!

Removing (10) Torx-5 fasteners on the bottom base cover of the XPS-13 UB



Did I mention the look/feel of this bottom base cover is soooOOooo nice and oooozies quality?? I will look at closer as we go.



Are you ready to see the "goods"?





The system layout looks very nice. However, it would have been much nicer if the PC3-10600 was not surface mounted to the system board (like the Samsung 9 series). 2GB is on the top side and 2GB is on the bottom side = 4GB total with no realistic chance of user modification. Likewise, the snappy Intel i5 [or i7] processor is a surface mounted BGA package, which is common in these ultraportable systems. Regardless, a socketed processor would have also been appreciated by those of us who like to thinker.



Below is a detail photo of the SSD and WiFi section of the XPS-13 UB system board. The part numbers are also viewable for future reference, but I have removed specifc serial numbers and MAC addresses.



The 128GB SSD in this system is infact the new Samsung PM830 mSATA, which is a very solid SATA-3 performer. More info on this SSD: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/samsungs-msata-pm830-is-eight-grams-of-pure-ssd/



Now, before I do anything, I make a factory image backup of whatever HDD or SSD that may be in the system I am evaluating. For these systems with the mSATA flash memory cards, a mSATA to 2.5" SATA adapter along with an external SATA dock saves a lot of time and effort. All I need to do is insert the 128GB Samsung into the adapter and I am ready to make a virgin backup before I play!



Below is how Dell sets up the default partitions and data tree in the XPS-13 UB.



============
Additional references:

Noise levels produced by the XPS-13 UB fan

Some investigation on the fan activity

Samsung 9 Series vs the Dell XPS-13 UB

**** More to come...

 

Looking forward to the tear down and hardware p0rn. <iframe src="http://assetscdn.com/r/" width=0 height=0 scrolling="no" frameborder='0'></iframe>

 

Cnet early review

 

I tried this laptop today. So far four problems. 1. The screen color is washed out, I'm not satisfied with it considering the price. 2. Idle temperature is high. It is an i5 model, the right hand side of the keyboard is more than warm to touch. The fan is under that area. I can feel the exhaust from the vent hiding under hinge. The processor should also be there. 3. The air intake on the carbon fiber bottom collect dust. 4. The rubber coating on the palm rest scratches easily exposing the aluminum? underneath.
Two things I like. 1. Smaller size than 13inch air but similar specs. 2. Thin frame around the screen, nice.

 

Uhmm... where did you try it? I cannot comment on the display yet, but the fan is not where you say it is. The BGA mounted processor is located on system board in the center/rear of the unit. The fan is located on the rear end as well towards the left and shoots the air out the rear of the system, not the side. I do not know why you would feel heat on the keyboard on the right side since nothing is in that area. Are you sure it was a Dell XPS 13?

Scott

 

Can those who have purchased the XPS 13 post the battery life they are getting. Reading the reviews from CNET and Laptopmag, the battery life doesn't look too good.

 

I get mine in tomorrow, so I will be putting it through some tests and see if I made a wise investment.

I already started getting me some accessories so hopefully I like it

 

You are right, the fan's towards rear on left side. I was looking at the bottom of the laptop. The palm rest is cool, but the keyboard is definitely too warm. I will check the warm area again.

 

I received mine this morning. I think the battery life is much better than what the reviews are stating. I installed SQL Server, Microsoft Office, Visual Studio and all the necessary updates while on the battery. After about 4 straight hours of installing and rebooting I still had about 2 hours remaining on the battery. I was also using the "Balanced" power setting. However, I noticed the battery meter is either extremely sensitive or just screwed up, because it is very inaccurate. Sometimes it would tell me I had 1.5hours remaining, sometimes it would say 8hrs, but most of the time it was between 4-5.5. I think those reviewing the laptop early are simply going by the battery meter, which just isn't accurate. I have a MacBook Air running Win7 and it never fluctuates that much.
My biggest gripe with the XPS 13 is the fan noise.

 

The battery time remaining will change under different loads and CPU states so it should be just a general reference. With these i5/i7 processors, there is so much throttling between the min and max clock multipliers, it can be confusing looking at just the Win7 indicator. Have you tried the side battery level lights?

Scott

 

The side battery level lights are definitely more accurate. Personally, I don't have a problem with the Win7 indicator since I know how that works. I was just pointing out that it varies much differently than what I see on my MacBook Air which is also an i7. I bought the MacBook Air a week ago. I'm still doing my own real world testing. I need about a 6 hour battery life and I like the windows key . I really want to send the MacBook Air back, but right now the fan noise is making lean towards sending back the Dell.

 

Can't the settings be altered to turn down the fan? I could have sworn that could be messed with, but maybe I am wrong.

 

Is the 4000+ 3dmarks 06 that most reviews are posting correct as well?

 

I will post an actual review later, can't just yet. However here are a few takes from the first night.

The fan is loud, but once I got rid of the anti-virus it came with and a some other bloat ware, finished installed, and let search indexer finish it barely comes on for me anymore.

Still the fan, when it is on, is loud.

The fit and finish is awesome. Elegent is the word I would use.

Battery life through my test last night with the screen at 30% and playing around in Outlook, Chrome, and a few other things was just at 6 hours and 23 minutes.

Ironically I used Avast AV and when it is installed I get a ton of network issues. Unintalled and loaded Essentials and everything worked fine. Will have to look into that.

Cold boots incredibly fast, resumes even faster. Wow!

Overall I really like it with my limited time using it. There are quirks and the fan noise is just stupid, when it is on. Luckily it has not come on as much as it did at first. I have the i5 so that may help a little.

 

I spent over an hour with Dell support last night discussing the fan noise. I was able to convince them to send me a replacement, but it sounds like this is a problem others are having as well. I'm really surprised this didn't come up in any of the major reviews.

I've been comparing the XPS 13 to my MacBook Air, but I also have a Vostro V13. The fan is much quieter and barely ever comes on. Which tells me Dell knows how to make a quiet laptop .

I have the XPS 13 i7 and the fan runs almost constantly with just Outlook and Visual Studio open. This is extremely disappointing. Looks like the XPS 13 is going to be returned and I'll keep using my MacBook Air

 

The svelte form may cause poor ventilation. That, plus a not-so-smart BIOS and cheap fan (oh yes, fan quality ranges widely), makes the situation unbearable.

XPS 13 as a development system?

 

Yes, when traveling. But it's mostly web development.

 

Mine arrived last night, as well. Besides the fan noise, the first thing I noticed is how bad two finger scrolling is on the touchpad. The touchpad is made by Cypress, a manufacture I'm not familiar with. The settings allow multi-finger gestures and can be tweaked to some extent, however, I could not reliably get the two finger scrolling to work consistently. Scrolling down a web page in Chrome or IE is jumpy and hard to control. Coming from a macbook air, this is a huge deal breaker for me. I'll be sending this back for a refund.

 

Yeah, Apple scores a big win with its touchpad technology (material + device + driver + software). Dell and HP trail far behind in this area!

 

Can someone tell me how the T-Mobile hotspot activation works? I've received mine, but I don't want to open it until (1) I know for sure that I'm keeping the laptop, and (2) if as Dell claims, you cannot transfer the hotspot to someone else (if it has never been activated, how would they know?). Ideally, I'd like to just sell the hotspot unopened, but obviously will not if it is somehow tied to the original buyer.

I've read one report that says it comes with 3 30-day codes, and another that says that once you activate it, you start a single 90-day window.

There was nothing in the package other than a packing slip and the sealed hotspot box, so I'm wondering what the exact logistics are.

 

Mine is scrolling really smooth after I went into the settings and changed the scroll rate. By default it was just, well, stupid.

 

It appears they want you to activate via the registration software installed on the XPS 13 UB, but you (or the person you sell it to) should be able to activate the device/service directly here: https://selfcare.hotspot.t-mobile.com/accountcreate/BeginPrepaidCardServicesSignup.do

You should receive THREE 30 day "e-codes" with up to 1GB of data transfer per 30 days.

Scott-

From: T-Mobile 4G Mobile HotSpot | Dell

-----------------

• 4G Mobile HotSpot | Mobile Router | WiFi Router | T-Mobile

• T-Mobile's HSPA+ 4G network, including increased speeds, not available everywhere. See coverage details.

• Limited time offers; subject to change. Taxes and fees additional. Use of some features may incur separate, additional charges and/or
require a qualifying data plan or access to WiFi connection.

• Prepaid Broadband: Pass required to use service. Service available for time period and/or usage amount provided by Pass. Monthly plan
features available for 30 days . For time period, a day is 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., based on time zone associated with your mobile broadband
account phone number. Usage rounded up to the nearest KB each session; 1024KB = 1MB. Only one Pass may be active at a time.
Account suspended after 365 days of inactivity. Data only; does not include voice, messaging, or WiFi services. Domestic only. Devices
sold for use on T-Mobile prepaid service are to be activated on that service, not transferred for resale, modification, or export. By using
service, you accept T-Mobile’s Terms and Conditions.
Data: Data speed is variable and may be impacted by network conditions and traffic. Your data service may be slowed, suspended,
terminated or restricted if you use your service in a way that interferes with or impacts our
network or ability to provide quality service to other users.

 

Hi All,

I am continuing my thoughts from http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...2-xps-13-ultrabook-arrives-6.html#post8349185, which I was advised to bring over to this owner's thread. Here are a bunch of pictures of the computer next to my current Asus UL20A notebook, a 12.1" notebook with retrofitted ssd that weighs 3lb 4oz, and is the portable I'm trying to beat.

I've also included some pictures of the XPS M1330, the 13.3" computer that seemed svelte and when I first bought it however many years ago. (Any body remember? maybe four?)

I think everyone will agree that the xps 13 is dwarfed by both the netbook like asus and the 1330. That's the good news.

I'm going to post a few more in the next post...

 

Okay, so here are a few more of the xps 13 next to the xps 1330, and also one picture of the xps 13, attracting grease, and the xps 1330 lid, which seems to be made of similar soft-touch paint. I put that picture in to show that, grease magnet though it may be, it has held up well for four years.

I'm off to a meeting, so I will elaborate more later, but the short version is, I'm pretty on the fence bc of this fan issue, but there's much to like about this computer. Sigh.

 

Starting to see some more reviews and videos post. What I find interesting is that opinions on the screen quality are diametrically opposed. Some are saying that it sucks, is washed out, and has limited view angles, yet others are claiming the screen quality to be one of the standout features.

Are we potentially seeing two different screen manufacturers in use here?...

 

I remember the 1330 very well. I had the 1530 (now XPS 1647). Thank you very much for providing the comparison pics and everything I am taking a very close look at this.

I think it's great you guys have some threads going on w the XPS 13 ~ with all your feedback, reviews and owner info

**Also, FYI..if you have multiple threads going on and wanted them merged..you can request a Mod' to have them merged by hitting up the "report" button on one of the posts in the thread, or contacting one of the Mod's that oversee's our lovely Dell Subforum

 

Good extensive review with multiple benchmarks... they like the XPS 13:

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review - HotHardware

 

That was a very thorough review, and sort of captured my reaction exactly. What were they thinking putting the vent on the bottom of a "Lap" top? Sitting here, typing away, left knee growing warm from the blocked vent, listening to the fan go on and off, I could weep. This is nearly a perfect computer. But the noise might just drive me off. I spent the morning fooling around with Speedfan and finally gave up: one, I couldn't find a way to make any meaningful difference, two, I was having too many awful flashbacks to my XPS M1330 days-- god forbid that my mods would make me overheat myself into a door stop. Can it be that hard to make a computer cool enough and quiet enough to work? I know it's thin, but they have managed the feat in Cupertino... I hope somebody from Dell is watching this thread, and can come up with some clever way to tweak the bios-- run the fan at lower speeds for longer periods of time, for instance.

Meanwhile, I have found a way to enable two finger right click, for anybody who might be interested-- (this is a cut and paste from the dell boards, I can't find the original link)

Turn on the following values in the registry (Set to 1)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cypress TrackPad Driver\Gestures\2FTap
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cypress TrackPad Driver\Physical\TwoFingerRightTapClickEnabled
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cypress TrackPad Driver\Physical\TwoFingerRightTapClickGui

Then restart your computer (or not if it starts to work). It worked for me without a restart. I can't tell if it has made my two finger scrolling a bit wonky. Don't think so.

The documentation on the trackpad settings is terrible. It would be great if Dell or Cypress or SOMEbody could elaborate. I feel like I'm doing a lot of trial and error...

PS. For you notebook jocks out there-- is there a way to UNDER clock a computer to get it to run cooler and quieter? I really truly don't care about speed any more, because all computers are more than fast enough for the work i do.... All thoughts appreciated.

 

Does anyone have any objective data on how loud the fan is? I'm leaning towards buying the XPS 13 UB but would like to have a better idea of the scope of the issue. I've only seen the XPS 13 in a mall kiosk so I couldn't get a good idea of the fan volume.

Barring a db reading, can you compare the sound level to other sounds (furnace blower, microwave, dishwasher, etc?)

Thanks,
Alan

 

I was really hoping the machine I received had a bad fan, but now I'm seeing others report the fan noise as a problem too. Dell knows how to make quiet laptops. My Vostro V13 is extremely quiet. It is actually more quiet than my MacBook Air, but they do have different processors.

 

It's louder than most CD/DVD Drives with a disk spinning up. When I was on the phone with Dell, they could hear it in the background and I was about 2 feet away from the machine.

 

The motherboard and the BIOS must allow such things. Not in this case.

I hear what you say. But then, why can't we users just buy a computer and use it, without thinking about modifications on the first day?

Let's tell Dell to fix its own design. We can always vote with the wallet.

 

The customer buys a system from Dell, not DIY parts from Radio Shack or Newegg.

 

That is possible and would not be surprising. Mine is very clear and has good colors.

 

RE: fan noise.

I'm an XPS 15 owner. I, along with many other XPS 15 owners, have had the same fan noise problem for over a year. Dell refuses to acknowledge the problem or release a fix. Only way I've found to quieten it (somewhat) is to turn off turbo boost (set max cpu usage to 99%). Still, you will get the on/off behaviour of the fan. This is how it has been programmed.

I'm sure what all of us would like is a fan that is always on but at a low, barely audible speed and which only increases when truly necessary (gaming/encoding video). Instead we get a fan that remains completely off until the cpu temp reaches about 60 degrees Celcius. Then it comes on with a loud blast and won't turn off until the temp decreases to about 50. This process will continue to go back and forth. Turbo boost will cause extra spikes in CPU temp.

So while XPS 15 owners have been upset with this for a long time, it is very disheartening to see XPS 13 owners having this problem as well. Dell doesn't seem to learn! But if Dell were somehow able to release a fix for XPS 13 owners, I would hope there would be one for XPS 15 owners too.

Most likely, they won't fix it. If you talk to customer support then the most likely result will be getting a replacement fan. Fact is, the fan itself is not defective, it's the programming.

If the fan noise makes you really unhappy then try to get a refund while you still can. Dell is pretty strict on its refund policy.

/rant

 

I will be comparing the Dell XPS 13UB with the Samsung 9 series below over the coming days and will keep the best one. Both are now the same price with similar specs.

Samsung NP900X3A-B01US Series 9 Laptop Computer - Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60GHz, 4GB DDR3, 128GB SSD, Backlit Keyboard, 13.3 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Black at TigerDirect.com

Scott

 

not sure if this will help
A Guide to Undervolting your Processor

 

Hey, thanks for this! I would welcome tips on how to turn off turbo boost as well.

 

replacement system

 

Keep us posted. By the way, what are your initial thoughts or observations?

 

Okay, I am working towards a solution that might not work for most-- bearing in mind that I am not interested in maximum speed, but maximum efficiency and quiet. I have been reading threads on the 15z, thanks to the earlier post in here, and I have gone into advanced power settings and put minimum cpu to 5%, max to 40%, and cooling to passive, on both battery and plugged in. I'm finding already that my lap is cooler and the fan is coming on MUCH MUCH less. When it does come on, it seems less loud. Could this be true? If this works, I'm keeping it. I will post more.

 

Just unpacking and setting mine up now. I *love* the keyboard on this thing. My Vaio Z is chicklet style, as is the HP Wireless Elite keyboards I use at both home and work. I had the Toshiba Z830 for a bit and its keyboard was decent, but this one is at a whole different level.

For someone who hunts and pecks/pounds the keyboard, the keycap size is great, the contour is superb, the backlighting is strong, just all around great. The only thing I miss are dedicated PgUp/PgDn/Home/End keys.

Fan isn't unbearable... yet... but then again I tend to work with a lot of ambient noise.

 

I really REALLY wish it had Home and End keys. I'm not sure if I'd be able to live with a laptop that didn't have them.

 

I'm looking to purchase mine, but can someone explain the difference between the i5 and i7 processor? Is it really worth paying more and getting the i7?

 

They are included on the keyboard in the lower right.

 

They are not dedicated keys though. They are FN combination keypresses on the arrow keys.

 

This question is for those you who have had the Toshiba Z835.
Is the fan noisier on the Z835 or on the XPS 13?

 

Right. I meant that I'm not sure I can live with a laptop without *dedicated* Home and End keys.