Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

You're going to be very pleased I'd bet. I actually took my Dell XPS13 into the local Apple Store and test fitted into the case against the Macbook Air. The Dell actually fit the case better in my opinion. Case quality is phenomenal.

 

Hope dell don't over bundle 3rd party software and lable it as Free.

Business users don't like those, we consider it a hidden costs. Most of us already have Anti-Virus or Internet Security. And take out those 2GB Free storage on the cloud.

Price is also a concern. Right now, Samsung Series 9 (2nd generation @ 2012) is the winner with it's downside only of not having flexible configuration like Windows 7 Pro x64.

Bundle in the Ethernet or HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort Dongle. Other Ultrabooks are providing it as a standard bundle. No need to buy external. It's extremely hard to get these stuffs in Malaysia.

 

IS there are Dell Representative for Dell Precision's ?

 

"Dell-Bill B" for participating in this forum I salute you and Dell.

1. 1440x900 is an optimum size for XPS 13 Ultrabook. Anything small will be like the rest. I have been using 1600x1200 UXGA on a laptop since 2005 on an IBM (before-Lenovo). Now with my last Precision, it's got an awesome 17" with 1920x1200. Just a little disappointed Dell Precision has changed it to 16:9 (1920x1080) instead of retain the 16:10 (1920x1080). The 16:9 is good for movie and media consumption but 16:10 (1920x1200) is ideal for content creation.

2. Matte Screen. Because an ultrabook is meant to be portable and people will use it in the airports where the downlights can be bright.

3. Better cooling designs. Coz when used on the lap, the ventilation will be completely blocked. The XPS 13 will just be sucking air from my lap! . Sony Vaio Z Series and Asus Zenbook has a good design for airflow.

4. LCD to open up 180 degrees flat. Just like the Fujitsu Ultrabook announced at CES2012 that supports docking, matte screen + plans to adopt a higher resolution screen.


5. Don't have a XPS13 yet, but I am sure the Dell softwares are buggy on all platforms. Easily replicated problems. e.g. TouchPanel pop up. and the clunky side bar for touchscreen control which I can't reposition, take a long time to shutdown on my Precision coz waiting for the TouchPanel apps to close. It also interfere with some of my Apps control tool box. The next buggy Dell software is the - Dell Smart Settings. The moment when I open it and minimise it, it will be stuck at a state which I can't resize - only by reboot.

a. Opened "Dell Smart Settings"


b. After I minimise (-) or close it (x) it. IT will be stuck in this state if I reopen it again.


Happens in both my m6500 and the current m6600.

Also please consider integrating the docking station capability on the E-Port Replicator Plus for XPS13 Ultrabook. This would be an awesome feature.

As I am looking at Samsung 9 (2012) and also Fujitsu Ultrabook (yet to release with ivy bridge - with docking station capabilities)

** Have to reboot now to get rid of the "Dell Smart Settings" stuck app window - can't resize, can't right click it and no longer able to minimize it.

Cheers.

 

Hi Scott,

you mean the XPS13 I can't upgrade the RAM?

Am thinking of swapping my m6600 excess 4GB RAM 1333mhz out when I upgrade the m6600 to 16GB (8GBx2) dual channel.

 

Yes, see my original photos on the first page. The DDR3 is soldered to the top and underside of the system board. There are no DIMM slots. Likewise, the processor is a PGA package (soldered as well).

Scott-

 

Battery Chargers? Where are people getting spare chargers for the XPS13? I need one for work, one for home and will keep the charger that comes with the computer in my bag. Thanks in advance...

 

as soon as i turn my laptop on the fan goes on, and wont turn off till i shut it down

have problems connecting to my schools wifi, and phone tethering sometimes, at home it works fine.

 

Joanna Stern's new review:

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=15921866

 

You guyz rocks !
That makes me keeping my trust in DELL.
I don't mind if the next one is in the same "philosophy", but with enough space to have everything needed (like ETHERNET), more ram excellent screen and more options.
Like the 1st DELL they used to be seriously durable, and built to last...

 

Ditto.

Not only durable, but a good balance of price, features and direct communication with Dell.

 

Ok, thanks for the photo. The 4GB is stuck smack built-in to the mboard !

hahah, didn't know Windows machine became a chic magnet. Thought it would be an apple machine.

Deal breaker for me:
1. Price is not comparable with Samsung Series 9 (2nd generation with i5-2467) RM3299 --> which is approx USD1099. With better LCD and similar 3 years warranty/service but self-carry into service centre here. Heck, if a machine is reliable, we don't need the onsite service.

Here XPS13 UB is RM3599 ! Add on the 3 years service its RM3699.

2. Stuck with only 4GB of RAM, not upgradeable.

3. Stuck with a common 1366x768 resolution. Ideal on that screen size should be 1440x900.

4. HDMI-to-Mini Display Port & Ethernet Dongle is not bundled free. Samsung Series 9 comes with a cheaper price tag and bundles the mini-HDMI dongle.

5. Complains from forums on a clunky touchpad. Very crucial for an ultrabook. Unlike my main workstation m6600 which I only use the touchpad 10% of the time.

Dell should have waited till ivy bridge for the XPS13 UB.

 

Ok, you keep restating your objections over and over and over and over again. We get it.

Even though this has been repeated multiple times, I'll do so AGAIN: RAM and CPU are not upgradable on the majority of ultrabooks; there isn't enough space in the ultrathin chassis for user accessibility or materials not soldered to the motherboard. The majority of 1st generation ultrabooks are 1366x768 resolution. Driver updates are coming to fix the trackpad issues. It's already been said that an Ivy Bridge refresh with likely higher resolution screens is coming mid-year (although Ivy Bridge in general seems to be seeing some delays).

Just wait for the refresh rather than contrinually rehashing your objections to the current XPS 13.

 

It sounds like the Samsung is for you then.... You keep posting the same comments. Get a Samsung.

But this is an Ultrabook (or competing with MacBook Air) so I find most of your complaints invalid.

The size and weight are why people are buying this - if those are not your criteria, then there are hundreds of beefy machines that will do what you want. But let's dissect your complaints:

1. Price - subjective and regional. In the USA the price is great and the Samsung is hundreds more.

2. RAM - it would be nice if upgradeable, but not a deal breaker. 4GB of RAM should be great for the workload of an Ultraportable. By the time i need more, the processors and everything else will be 2X or more faster

3. Resolution - a balance is needed. Just because you can make a denser screen does not mean it is a good idea. If the characters are 1mm tall, it makes it hard to read. The review i read gives the Series 9 the 1366 x 768 panel. Another says it is 1600 x 900.... not sure which.

4. Bundled Dongles - if this is a bought for business, then HDMI does not do anyone any good - most projectors i connect too are still VGA. And connecting to TV - most people don't. Nice to have feature, but for those that want to do it, buy the Dongle. For those of us that don't need it - I save $5 - because the price would have been passed on.

5. Trackpad - go read about the series 9 trackpads and then comment. Dell reviewers say the new upcoming driver fixes the issues.

But the new Series 9 does offer short battery life and no backlight keyboard - 2 things i wanted on my machine - good battery and keyboard backlight. And I love the SSD the Dell has - Samsung cut costs by not using their top of the line product.

As for Ivy bridge... whoever buys that will face the dilemma that something new is coming out 3 months later.

 

Make sure you guys are comparing it to the NEW 2nd generation Samsung series 9, not the old one. The new one is slightly smaller, lighter, has 1600x900 resolution and has fixed some of the problems from the first release. It's still more expensive though.

 

I did... surprised by how nice the new one is; BUT still no backlit KB, battery life is poor, and price is nuts - $1800 US for entry model.

It is lighter and thinner 2.88 lbs, but i think they skimped on battery.

The bottom line is that there are tradeoffs. Couple that with the fact that everyone has different needs too.

Apple was first and showed that people will pay a premium for thin and light and sacrifice a little in performance. Dell had Ultraportables for years in the Latitude line, but they were too small.

Samsung is hoping that people will pay extra for good looks (and i might if the XPS 13 had not come out) but no backlit KB is a deal breaker for me.

 

I'm not sure which one you're looking at, but...

The new Series 9 does have a backlit keyboard, it weighs 2.56 lbs, the new size is 12.4" x 8.6" x 0.51" and it starts at $1399. Look here:

Specs - Series 9 Notebooks NP900X3B | Samsung Laptops

See the backlit keyboard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrpfSwU7m6E

 

Thanks for the update... i was reading the EU sites that reviewed yesterday - i think i must have viewed the EU version of the 9 as well. So $400 more gets a higher resolution screen, lighter product, and card reader, and ability to upgrade to 8gb of ram (if new one has this - i don't see it in specs) micro ports for connections (all need dongles).

I am happier spending my money on i7 and 256gb SSD

 

Oh, I'm not trying to convince you one way or another (or anyone else, for that matter). In fact I'm not sure myself which of the two I prefer. But if a comparison is being made, I think it's only fair that the correct stats are used.

 

Really which ultrabook you buy boils down to all personal issues; What processor do you want? What SSD do you want? What maker are you more comfortable with? What's your "price pain" point. For me, since the cost wasn't an issue I went with what felt right to me. The XPS 13 was, and is, everything I was looking for. With the release of the updated BIOS and Trackpad drivers this little puppy is ideal in my eyes.

 

Right now you have to order from Dell. None of the after market charges has the proper tip yet. There's a 2-3 week lead time though from Dell. I ordered mine the day my system was delivered on 3/6. Scheduled delivery of the additional charger is 3/22. It would have been nice to order a second charger when I ordered the system but didn't see that option.

 

We have seen your posts. Thanks for providing great feedback and information. I saw the difficulty you are having with service. Please allow me to assist you by replacing your computer with a new one. I am new to this forum, so I am unable to send or receive PM's. Please PM your service tag, name, phone number, email and shipping address to Bill so he can forward to me,and I will get with you in email.

 

@Dell-Jesse_L - is there anywhere else that the Dell support team is more active? The Dell.com forums seem to be dead - since there is just a laptop forum and nothing subdivided - i originally posted there, but got no responses at all.

This forum is great, but if there is an XPS forum you are already established in, that makes things easier sometimes.

 

Grrr....can't wait to get my hands on the XPS 13. Ordered last Friday, Fedex still shows it to be in Tennessee where it was shipped from!
Meanwhile keeping my fingers crossed that I receive a silent fan, better screen unit!

 

Oh, good deal then. If you want to PM me your name, service tag, address, phone number and email, I will forward to Jesse so he can contact you via email. Unfortunately, we don't stock Scandanavian keyboards in the US- only Spanish, US English and French.

Sadface. Can you sit tight while we investigate? I don't think it's hardware, so another replacement will only frustrate, and we should be able to figure it out.

There are, but they don't work this forum. If you want to use social media channels for assistance, you can reach out via Twitter to @DellCares or reach them on Facebook.com/Dell at the "support" link on the left. They are not the team that handles Precision, but they have a path to forward you quickly to the appropriate team. I've found that Precision phone support is top notch, though. This is a rare instance where I'd suggest calling in to see what they can help with.

Make sure you update your BIOS for the fan issue. I'll update the status of the new BIOS in my next post. As far as WiFi, Intel and our engineers are looking at this now. I don't have a time frame or ETA for a new driver, but I'm pretty sure there will be one relatively soon.

 

Updates:

BIOS A03- We have a targeted release date, but per usual, I don't want to give an exact date. Sometimes dates slide for one reason or another, and it gets a little frustrating to be told of another delay. I will say "very soon." Very soon. As in days from now, not a week. (It could still slide, though.) Factory cut in of A03 should be about one day ahead of the web post. So if your order is placed after the new version comes out, you should have that one.

Touch pad driver- There are several improvements to the experience rolled into the upcoming release. We've adjusted palm check sensitivity and how the algorithms detect touch pad contact, among other things. You should notice a marked improvement. We also have a target release date, which again I can't share. I can say "soon." You should see it available for download very shortly after the A03 BIOS is posted.

WLAN connectivity- We've recently started investigation on this issue. So far, there are not a lot of calls to tech support or a ton of mentions in social media, but the social media mentions are on a slight upward trend. Nevertheless, we are treating it as though it is a bona fied concern. We have feelers out for a couple of unit captures now. More to come.

 

read post reply below

 

I see you have been working with Bill on this issue. We would like to capture this system and setup a system exchange for you. I am new to this forum and cannot receive PM's. If you send Bill a pm with your name, service tag, address,shipping address, email and phone number I will get this setup for you. My dispatch rights are for North America only, so if you are outside the US or Canada, I will have to work with the overseas team in your region. That will make it take a bit longer, but we can still get it done."

 

oops double post

 

Anyone have any idea when or if we will be getting the e-pins to use the t-mobile hotspot?

 

I would be really hesitant about pulling the trigger on a Samsung Series 9. I followed the blogs very closely when that one came out, and TONS of people said the WiFi was terribly weak. I think the conclusion was that it was the very cheap (tiny form factor) WiFi card being used in combination with the metal case (top & bottom) not letting the signal get into the laptop.

 

Unfortunatly, we do not have an XPS forum at this time. If you are having issues and noone has responded to you try sending Dell-Terry B for laptops and Dell-Chris M for Desktop a private message on the Dell forum with your issue and they will take care of it for you.

 

Wow! Thanks! You guys are awesome! I just saw the PM. I really appreciate that! It is a little wonky but if you don't force it too hard and close it properly its fine. I realized the proper way of closing it after the fact. LOL. Thanks!


Dealing with reviews/reviews all day at work I usually take most of them with a grain of salt. I noticed that most reviewers don't consider something properly "reviewed" until they find something wrong with it or they compare it so insistently to their favorite child that the second born never lives up to it. LOL. Who cares how the colors are washed out on a screen when looked through binoculars, at 30 feet away while hopping on 1 foot.

I installed the Intel Proset drivers and turned on the WiFi event viewer early last night. I used the Wifi last night for a few hours and no dropped connections. I will post the log if anything happens in the next few days.

If A03 improves on A02 it would be awesome! Thanks again! your the man!

 

I see what you're doing, Mister. NBR mods do not appreciate your gaming to get 10 posts in. (I think 10 is the requirement anyway.)

(I keed. I keed. )

 

Ok Bill keep me posted. I did notice if Disable the quickset app from starting in msconfig the xps does better, but once in awhile the screen will still dim when waking up from sleep. So I wonder if it's a bios setting as I have taken most of the software/settings out of the equation.

 

Thanks, no problems so far - except that the ambient light sensor does not appear to work at all, and the quick set icon in task tray does nothing.

But Bill is aware of this - I just wanted to know if there was a more better place for info. I am happy you guys are here and are so responsive.....

I have had many Latitudes and i love this XPS 13. ZinoHD let me down and took a leap of faith for me to come back - but so far I am not disappointed.

 

I fixed it by: In the Power Management Settings -> Advanced Power Settings -> Display -> Auto Dim ->

I think it's "Auto Dim" or one of the other (4) options. Unfortunately I left my XPS at home. It worked for me

 

Hmm there is no auto dim feature. I went to power options/powerplan/advanced and then to display. Nothing ?.

Do you mean adaptive brightness ?. If so I have that turned off. Still having the issue.

 

It was worth a try. I will give you more specifics when i get home. I had that problem early on, the first day I had my XPS probably. It was driving me crazy. Every time I resumed from sleep I had to press the + Brightness hotkey for the brightness to go back to normal, but I tweaked some settings and it went away. It also could have been a setting in the Intel Display Settings or in the MS Mobility Control Panel. Sorry I am trying to do this from memory.

 

Thanks for the info. I checked both of those places and everything I have it set correctly. Max brightness and performance in the intel display settings. Honestly I'm thinking of just returning the xps13 and maybe waiting till the bugs are fixed.

 

Odd. I set display brightness on battery to 98%, put it to sleep and it resumed at 98%. Then I looked at my setting, and it was 60%, with no user intervention. Puzzling how the setting a) changes and b) didn't take it down to 60% on resume from S2. Something else is over-riding Windows power settings. We'll figure it out. If it makes you feel any better, 2 pretty senior Dell engineers have reported seeing the same thing on their units and are also trying to figure it out. So you know we're looking at the customer feedback and personal observations we have so far.

 

If @volvoshine from Twitter is anywhere on this thread, thank you very much for the shout out. Very nice of you to notice. Encourages us all to bear down a little more and make the XPS 13 ownership experience even better.

https://twitter.com/#!/volvoshine/statuses/180168293649350658

 

I noticed that when i click on "Smart Power..." in the Power Settings that the screen instantly dims and stays at about 30%. Are u guys using the Face Rec software? I think the "Smart Power" and Face Rec software are interrelated. Maybe there is an issue there.

I reset the power settings to the default settings and it started staying dim at resume from sleep just like you are experiencing.

Then I disabled the "Adaptive Brightness" and set everything to 100%, except the "Dim" setting (left it at 30%) and then moved the slider to max on the Main Power Setting and also used the +Brightness Hotkey to Max. Finally I set the brightness to Max on the Mobility settings in the Control Panel.

Voila! No change in brightness after resume from sleep. Of course mileage may vary...

 

If you go into the advanced settings:

power options-> edit plan settings -> advanced power options
click on "change settings that are currently unavailable" and scroll down to display - there are different settings that seem contradictory:

Display brightness (battery and plugged in)
Dimmed Display brightness (battery and plugged in)

If you have display brightness at 30% on battery, what does "dimmed display brightness do" - maybe what Auto dimming is supposed to do - control how low is low?

Maybe this is where some of the issues are appearing.

Options are not intuitive - i know that.

Thanks for looking into it...

 

Just got an email from Dell with codes for 3 free months of 4G wireless web access for the TMobile HotSpot. I know a few people were asking about it. They are coming...

 

Nope I am not using the fac rec software. I changed my power plan to high performance and made sure my display is set to max. However after a long sleep (few hours) when resuming the display dims on waking back up. I always had the adaptive brightness off as well.

 

I tried it with short sleep (couple of minutes). I will try it with long sleep a little later. My settings are probably different than yours though. I changed the BIOS setting for the Intel Rapid Resume to "30" and I have the Intel Smart Connect completely off. So my long sleep starts in 30 minutes. I will let you know what I find.

 

Finally got my email with my T-Mobile codes and the skype premium subscription (that I had forgotten all about)

 

So guys, I just made the jump! I ordered an i7/256gb model, which should arrive in a week to 10 days.

I loved seeing the support available here, and I think Dell is really proud of this model.

That said, what are the recommendations for when I unbox it? Does it need to be charged overnight? Should I perform a clean Windows installation, or is it in decent shape as is? Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

Uggh, still haven't received mine yet, and it's now 16 days since mine shipped. When did you order?