Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

I've successfully used two finger tap for simulating right click in the .26 driver used by the 15z. I come from using an older generation macbook which supported two finger scrolling and two finger tap, so I've gotten used to just lightly tapping with two fingers to emulate the right click (that, and the older macbooks had a single large button so there was no true right click button also).

In the registry, under \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cypress TrackPad Driver\Physical, you can find the TwoFingerRightTapClickEnabled and TwoFingerRightTapClickGui values. I believe they are defaulted to 0 and so do not normally show up in the Cypress Trackpad settings.

edit: one thing I've noticed with the two finger scrolling, is that once you've initiated scrolling movements, you can actually just use one finger to continue scrolling, but the instant both fingers are off the trackpad, you'll need to use two fingers to begin scrolling again. I suppose this could count as a feature! lol

 

I find i have to physically click for right mouse button. Other trackpads would allow you to tap in the lower right. The settings would have an option for "tap lower right for right click"

 

Although i can use the regedit to enable a 2 finger tap checkbox in the GUI, it is not functional - even when enabled via the registry. The new driver for the XPS 13 does not support it.

 

Nice, and no, I'm not listening. (joking)

 

I was wondering if anyone had put a matte finish screen protector on the display to eliminate the glossy finish?

I just placed an order for the basic configuration and I was wondering if there are anything that I should do for optimized performance? Will the new xps 13 come shipped with the new bios?

Thanks!

P.S. I'm new to the forum but I've been reading through this long yet helpful thread!

 

Even if it doesn't come shipped with bios A03 installed, the flashing process is completely automated and simple. Takes all of about 3 minutes.

 

A03 was supposed to have been factory cut in the day after the web post, so I suspect you will receive with A03 at this point.

 

I upgraded my trackpad driver (2.3.6.33) several days ago and agree with most, that it is a vast improvement. I hadn't, however, done much typing since upgrading the driver. Today as I was typing out a few e-mails, I found that the cursor was jumping all over the place, aparently due to the palm rejection not working. It is enabled in the trackpad settings, and I have set it to high sensitivity, but that doesn't seem to solve the problem. Any suggestions?

 

I have found that if i stop typing, that my palm will cause a movement - maybe if both were touching at the same time, it would work better. But i do have the palm sensitivity set to light, and trackpad sensitivity set to 3 (from the left).

I feel that if I tell the trackpad to look for super light touches it may make the palm rejection work better. I just tried lowering trackpad to lightest setting and it seems to be even better in regards to palm rejection.

 

I set my palm rejection to high and it seemed to help quite a bit.
I agree, the sleeve should be a bonus for helping them work out all the bugs, installing our own driver updates, etc....

It is really nice looking, I might have to order anyway....

 

If my fingers are already in the center of the touch padfor scrolling and general clicking it is not only more convenient , but less stressful on my wrist to just tap two fingers on the touch pad then trying to stretch my thumb down to the dedicated area.

Or maybe it was the years using a Macbook, who I think do a touch pad better then anyone, ever.

 

I have switched back to the 15z drivers for the trackpad. 2 finger scrolling works good enough and I get my 2 finger tap back. Plus I don't get the random cursor freezes anymore. Hopefully the next version address the shortcomings.

 

I have tweaked the battery settings to the best I can, but still can't quite get 2 movies out of it. I wonder if there is some sort of charger that can charge thru a usb connection.

My basic question is whether Ivy Bridge will increase battery performance. This laptop doesn't work at all while I wait for a Dell technision to come to my house to replace faulty hardware. It might be easier to just return this and wait a few months for Ivy Bridge and dust off my old Gateway for use in the meantime. I only need about a 10% gain.

 

I am starting to think there's a problem with the battery in my system. Was plugged in the whole day yesterday and switched off at 100% while still plugged in (not put into sleep, shut down). Came home today, fired it up, the battery percentage reads 10%.

The system has too many quirks that I have spent a week fixing, I think might end up using the 21 day return window after all. Too bad, I don't think I will like form factor of another ultrabook after having used the Dell XPS 13

Edit, add: Wow, Dell makes return so difficult. Logged into Dell support website, found the number for returns, called that number, gave me details, was told they will forward me to returns department (what the heck did I call into then?), was kept in hold for a long time, and finally told customer care is closed right now with normal business hours being 7 am to 7 pm central.

 

It's just barely not good enough for me. I just need about another 10%. I love everything else about it. That's why I thought it might be best to return it, and wait for Ivy Bridge. I'm currently waiting for a Dell technision to come to my houe to replace faultly hardware. This might be the perfect time.

sorry for the confusing post; I forgot to use the quote button

 

Charging circuit has some kind of issue - not me.

Used laptop last night. Closed lid, it slept, then hibernate 2 hours later. At about 50%. Plugged it in when i woke - didn't turn it on. Came back 10 minutes later - no charging light. Is it charging? No way to tell. Turn it on, says it is charging. But was it charging when the light on the front was out?

I need to try to reproduce it.

 

@Dell-Bill_B: 2 finger scrolling (vertically) is not working in Windows 8 CP. (With the New drivers.) But horizantally scrolling is working. Not sure if you are testing the drivers for an OS in beta, but have you come across this issue?

 

Same here, I picked up a Knomo leather case which is very high quality and is made for the MBA 13" but it fits the XPS 13 very well. I could have saved 30 bucks on the Dell custom case. The MBA front to back when closed seems to be about .75" - 1" larger, so my Knomo is just a little to deep but it fits snugly which is what I wanted, plus it is classy as all get out which is what is required for this little gem.

Thanks by the way to the forum member who directed my to Knomo, very nice sleeve. I may pick up one of the Dell custom sleeves just to have it ...

 

See my signature.

We are not testing yet. I have seen a couple of user comments saying the same thing.

 

Leather bag for 13" XPS as well.

 

that's a nice looking bag...and looks like it would allow room for the powercord, mouse, notepads, etc....
Has anyone purchased this yet? Comments?

Also, has anyone tried any of the macbook air covers that the laptop stays inside while in use? I saw a nice looking one, but was wondering how well they work and whether they interfere with allowing air flow?
http://twelvesouth.com/products/BookBook_for_Air/

 

I purchased this sleeve / case. I love it because it has just enough extra room for a few peripherals, pens, notepad, business cards, etc.

Amazon.com: casesmpl Ultrabook City Case: Leatherette: Electronics

 

So I flashed the bios the A03 and the fan is definitely on more just at a lower speed. Is that the point? Was the A03 optimised for i7 I'm not sure it works so well on my i5. Is everyone else who sees improvements with a03 using i5 or i7?

 

This CaseCrown horizontal messenger bag is the best bag I've yet seen for ultrabooks and iPads.

This is compact, yet easily fits an ultrabook, an iPad, a PS Vita, and all accessories. HIGHLY recommended.

Amazon.com: CaseCrown Horizontal Mobile Messenger Bag (Brown) compatible with the new iPad / iPad 2 / iPad 3 / Amazon Kindle Fire (tablets & eReaders): Computers & Accessories

 

It's not specifically tuned for one CPU over the other. The profile we developed was in direct response to the majority of the feedback we got from this site and our own forums (95% this site). The issue we heard the most negative sentiment around was loudness in the peak RPM range. Our solution is to have the fan engage at lower temps more often to keep the higher temps that trigger the peak range at bay longer.

That said, if you prefer A02 to A03 because it suits your preference and usage model better, you can roll back by flashing A02 over A03 from within Windows. It's a snap.

 

Oh, and one possibly interesting bit of information: My VP has a short blog post coming out shortly that talks a bit about the interaction of Dell and NBR customers that led to the BIOS and touch pad updates. He links back to this thread in the post. Pretty cool IYAM.

 

@Dell-Bill_B - i have confirmed what i believe to be a bug:

Charging light does not illuminate when laptop is in hibernate via intel rapid start. I can reproduce this, but it takes a particular set of steps. I have set my hibernate to 2 minutes via the BIOS and if i close the lid and let the machine sleep and then entire hibernate - if i then plug in power and no charging light. The weird thing is that sometimes it will show a light if a plug it in during subsequent hibernate; but if i reboot it will go back to not illuminating.

Also, charging gives no indication if charging while in sleep mode. This is probably due to the fact that there is only a white LED and it blinks at one rate.

I am not sure if it is charging or not during the time the LED Is not illuminating.
I would propose that charging light blinks faster if charging in sleep mode; and charging light should illuminate when box is hibernate via rapid start - just like charging when box is off.

Can anyone else reproduce this?

 

Too much drama. When I was younger, we design engineers and our QA colleagues were doing our jobs in a much more methodical and thorough manner than any "social media" can provide. Why make customers and potential customers spend their money and time "debug" your products?

(I own and use Dell products.)

 

Thanks dell Dan. Sounds like fan is working as described. Will stick with it for a while. Great support and product.

 

It used to work via a registry hack, see bottom post of page 3 of this thread. It doesn't work now even though the registry keys are still there.

I too want an alternative way of right clicking seeing as the buttons are indecently loud and there's no menu button on the keyboard. I also have to contort my hand to click the right button on the trackpad (I'm really more of a mouse user), and if I'm not precise in my pressing the cursor doesn't right click but instead flies off elsewhere.

 

I have confirmed it does charge - even if the light is off... went up 20% in an hour or less.

 

I completely agree. Why wasn't this laptop thoroughly tested and fixed *before* releasing it to the public?

(and I've owned, used and recommended more Dell laptops, desktops and all-in-ones than you can shake a stick at)

 

Posting some of my remaining quirks with Dell XPS 13:

1. Trackpad behaves erratically. Half of the times it won't register taps as clicks, no matter how hard you tap. I have the latest trackpad drivers from Dell website. Only way to right click is to press right click button, would have appreciated some tap-to-right click option (like two-finger tap, tap on bottom right of trackpad) On the upside, two-finger scrolling is super smooth
2. Battery meter in windows/actual battery seem to be malfunctioning. If unplugged at 100%, will get to 92% within 30 seconds. This is not to say that the battery life is sub par, just that it is either being reported incorrectly or battery doesn't charge to it's full potential
3. System included no recovery media with no way to order it with the system (by paying extra). The good people at Dell promised to send me a free recovery USB, this was on 3/16. As of 3/23, I haven't received it.
4. As per system description and my order, the system included a premium subscription to Skype. Nothing was included preloaded on the system, in the shipment or via Dell Digital Delivery. Called and registered a complaint, promised a solution within 5 days, nothing has happened after 7.
5. The power adapter arrived with a broken tip used to plug in the strap used for cord management. Not a biggie, but goes to speak of the flimsy nature of the same.
6. I am okay with the screen resolution, though vertical viewing angle could be better.
7. Many of the product review images showed a keyboard with additional symbols like Euro, Indian Rupee on the Number keys. Product shipped does not have this keyboard. Dell support confirmed that their internal system does show the global keyboard which was not shipped with my system.

Hope Dell fixes some of the above for me.

 

If I led you to believe social media is core to our QA, sorry about that. It's an element. And a darn good one, IMO. What better way to improve a product for your customers than listening to your customers? I can guarantee you if we had not moved on the timeline we did, and the fixes came slower, we would be lambasted for not taking heed of the information posted in forums such as this.

Some companies may tell you "you're holding it wrong," or refuse to acknowledge a problem. We don't. Sorry if I'm blowing our own horn, but that ain't us. We're here. We're listening, and for all our short comings, we're acting on customer feedback as quickly as we can.

 

Skype premium key is emailed to you... it took a couple of weeks for mine. It is really just a code to unlock normal skype.

As for 2 finger right click it is not an option, so of course it doesn't work. I could also say that tapping the right corner does not make a right click - but again not an option - so to say it doesn't work is a bit misleading. BUT, I would like one of those options.

Dell-Bill has said that contacting support via the links in his sig is your fastest way to get things done.

 

It was. We made decisions with fan profiles and touch pad driver settings we believed were the right ones. Turns out the folks who pay their money had different opinions. So we changed. It's hard to find any product that launches without issues.

Samsung Series 9, 1st gen- isn't there a WiFi issue that still remains un-addressed? (I honestly know very little about the situation. Just asking.)

New iPad- I hear people think it has over-heating issues.

HP Folio- I hear those track pad buttons are way too stiff.

Not trying to bash the competition. All 3 companies above are great and make great products. (I own some of them.) Just trying to make a point that everyone has issues, and how you address them matters.

 

Tweeted and posted on FB. Waiting for some action now. Thanks.

 

Will change my post to say nice-to-have alternatives for right click desired.

Already tweeted this post, lets see what happens. Adding one more quirk above.

 

There ya go. Let me know how it goes. I can ask them for a status check if you don't hear back. You can retweet your tweet to me (@BillatDell) if you want to.

 

I disagree.... I think the laptop works wonderfully... the biggest bugs - that are minor - have to do with the trackpad and the battery meter.

Everyone uses these things differently - period. And EVERY consumer product has little issues that appear after the fact because testers have bias. Take the trackpad - it does what i want it to do. Most of the time it works fine. How long should a tester test it? At some point they may move to a mouse to test other features.

Some things that people had problems with, I don't use - the 2 finger scroll - and somethings are the responsibility of other product vendors to debug. Product testing may even have been done with an earlier driver, then the vendor may switch in a new one - it doesn't blue screen and seems to work, so it ships.

No products ship without some bugs - things are just to complex. The good companies fix the bugs in a timely manner.

I wish more users on forums could spend time in a software environment and see the iterations of Dev and QA that go on. Testing is extensive, but things still slip through. People make mistakes.

 

Battery meter issue being worked as we speak. Will update when I have some new information.

Your "no charge light while in S3 state" issue I just sent over. Same goes for that one.

 

Done. Bill, do you have an idea if the systems got shipped out with different style keyboards? Though not-an-issue, but having an Indian Currency symbol was a driving factor for me (I come from India and routinely use this in documents, everytime having to copy paste - thought I'd bid goodbye to that with the XPS 13 keyboard)

 

Of course in a perfect world, the product would suit every customers need. But in the real world, its nice to have the next-best thing, a company listening to it's customers. I appreciate Bill and Dell putting up this much effort.

 

Just checked. They said they are "just a few tweets away from" yours. Someone should be replying shortly. I also looked for an international keyboard from the US parts list. I only see US English, French, Spanish. Don't see any others. You may have to request one from India tech support if/when you go over for a visit, or from India spare parts and have a friend ship it over. I don't even know if that's accurate advice. Sorry, but that's about all I know about keyboards from regions outside North America.

Edit:
Thanks for the kind words. And that keyboard is not easily customer replaceable, so it looks like my advice here is indeed pretty much useless. Sorry again.

 

Techradar, engadget, CNET, BusinessInsider, Slashgear - all show the international keyboard. All of these reviews are from first page google results for XPS 13 review.

 

This is a great thread. It has been extremely helpful. I have a couple basic questions that seem simple but for whatever reason I can't figure out.

1) Is there a way to change the duration that the keyboard stays lit? I wish it would stay lit longer.

2) I am using the Targus 3.0 docking station and I wouldn't recommend it. FYI the model recommend on the Dell website doesn't power the laptop. Also, the first one that came with the order was completely dead. Just received the new one. Anyway, I want to fully close my laptop when hooked up to the docking station however when I close the cover it shuts down or sleeps (depending on setting). How can I fully close the laptop but have it still turned on when hooked up to a docking station?

Thanks!

 

Remind them that the Quickset icon in task tray does not launch quickset.exe - it would be great if it did as that is what brings up all the mobility settings.

 

1) Open the Windows Mobility Center and click on the icon next to Keyboard Brightness. I think the default is 1 minute. I changed it to 30 seconds. This is also where you can turn off the ambient light sensor.

2) You should be able to change it by going to Power Options and clicking "Choose what closing the lid does" and change it to "Do Nothing".

 

I usually just use Windows key + X, but I'll ask about Quickset.

 

They replied on twitter, asking for the Service Tag of the system. Let's see where this goes.

Btw, ever since I posted on twitter, the trackpad is working much more smoothly. Hope this remains as it is.