Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

i read somewhere that you will get an email with the codes for each 30 day period.

 

anybody re-install windows to get rid of the bloatware? i am considering doing that...

 

Anyone using these with Visual Studio 2010 and SQL 2008? Just wondering how the ULV processors stack up, in particular in comparison to a Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz?

 

I would be interested in the answer to this, as well. I am considering the XPS 13 for work related tasks and would use not only the programs you mentioned but also Business Objects and Oracle tools. Am wondering myself how robust the machine is for such tasks before I dive in and buy.

 

Thanks Tizi,

I'll check the emails I received when I placed the order and see if it is included there. I may have to give Dell a call this afternoon to get it straightened out.

I called T-Mobile last night and of course, they could not provide me with a code of any sort.

 

Hey guys, while I have not had time to set things up on my XPS13 machine yet. I am running VS2008 with SQL Server 2008 on a similar but even less powerful i5 ULV based machine with 4GB RAM.

It is a small Acer 1830 and it is more than powerful enough to handle all of these tasks for development work.

Also running Eclipse and various JDK versions as well as MySQL. These Low Power i5 chips a really very powerful. The screen is a little smallish for dev work, but it's workable.

Just my 2 cents worth ...

 

It's not so much the screen size, but the resolution. My work notebook (1366x768 13.3") is rather cramped for Visual Studio /SQL but my home laptop 1440x900 is superb.

I'm told there will be an XPS 13 refresh for Ivy Bridge in June, along with 1600x900 option. Apparently there is a chronic shortage of this resolution in the market at the moment which is why so many manufacturers are forced down the 1366x768 route.

 

Thanks, Azurea. It sounds promising. Can you post feedback when you do have your XPS 13 set up? I'd like to hear how it runs while you have several things going on at once. I typically have several apps going at one time (+ running queries while dev'ing in the other apps) and I'd be interested to hear how it hits the processor/memory. Hoping it doesn't stall or stutter.

 

Agreed, screen size it great for a portable development machine, it is the low resolution that cramps things. Still very useable.

I always cringe when I buy a new machine and immediately begin hearing rumors about a better equipped version "coming" soon, don't you?

 

This is a good point. I've not heard the 1600x900 rumor (that would be great), but definitely read about a forthcoming 1440x900. I'm cogitating over holding off on purchase until the Ivy Bridge chip comes out and the better resolution.

 

There won't be a 1440x900 because that's the discontinued 16:10 aspect ratio, 1600x900 is the new 16:9 equivalent.

There will be a 1600x900 though, as soon as the panels are more readily available. I'm going to wait until then, me thinks!

 

Really?! I've not heard about that - where have I been; must have missed a tech blog or three lately. Considering that, I'm with you on this - will hold out for the changes. Along with the resolution jump, the Ivy Bridge proc is supposed to give a speculated 37% increase in processing power, so that too is enough to hold off. Thanks for the info!

 

Only Apple use 16:10 now, they still have 1440x900, but no one else to my knowledge.

 

Yep. Laptops are now following the trend set by LCD monitors. 16:10 monitors are virtually impossible to find, and when you do find them, they are expensive, as they are no longer being made in the same numbers as the 16:9.

Tangent: It's a shame, because for coding and desktop publishing, that extra vertical screen real estate is mandatory. Most of the larger monitors are now 1920x1080 native instead of 1920x1200, which I absoolutely prefer.

If you're looking for 27-28 inch LCD monitors with 1920x1200 native resolution without going broke, look for Hanns-G or Hannspree monitors, sometimes marketed as LCD TVs. I have one here at home and several at work. They're in the $275 range, and while they are probably not suitable for critical color work, they are great for coding and gaming:

Newegg.com - Hanns-G HZ281HPB 27.5'' 3ms Full HD 1080P HDMI WideScreen LCD Monitor 400cd/m2 X-Contrast 15,000:1(800:1)Built-in Speakers

 

Yes. That is my environment all day long. I've been using a MacBook Air i7 and it works great. I'm trying to switch to the Dell XPS 13, but for me, the fan is big problem. I even have the latest bios update, but the fan still runs constantly and too loud.

I did notice the graphics in VS 2010 on the XPS lagging compared to the MacBook Air. Sometimes I would get black boxes in the UI where the screen wouldn't have completely been painted. Kind of hard to explain, but if you've ever used VS 2010 with a big solution on not a great video card you will know what I mean.

Right now, I wouldn't recommend the XPS 13 as even a light dev machine.

 

contacted dell support about fan issue, they said there is no bios update available. how are people getting it?

 

Maybe we should "stress test" the XPS 13 using WordPad only.

Through private connection.

 

I have documented the noise levels produced by the XPS-13 UB. See below.

Scott-

Note: These are non-scientific readings. Rather, they are approximate "real-world" levels one might expect from a stock XPS-13 UB with BIOS A01.

 

Thanks for the illustrations. So, when the fan works in earnest, the noise level is in this exciting range:

​

Right?

 

*deleted double post*

 

You get it via email approximately 10 days after your order shipped. The text is right under the magenta box in the middle of the page: T-Mobile 4G Mobile HotSpot | Dell

can't believe I found that after an hour of transfers between Dell and T-Mobile.

 

Now i´m worried, ordered the I7 version and all this fuss about fan noise. I hope my one arrived, the bios fix had been released.

 

It is not bad-bad... but it is almost the same as those small hand-vacs you can buy to clean your computer keyboard and other electronics. To clarify, the fan is not constantly at this 100% level; only under extreme loads or when the active cooling/fan control is not active. It is more active at the 50% level when needed under normal use.

In my opinion, it is still quieter than the XPS 17 L701/2x and on par with the Latitude E series. Now, if Dell can offer a control setting that allows the fan to stay ON at 10-15% constantly and peak at 60-75% when needed, the temps should still stay low while keeping the experience well below 50dB and battery life within 5% of the original cooling profile, which is reasonable.

Scott-

 

I think my M6600 gave birth...

Scott

 

Once again, thank you for your thorough and helpful contribution. I've already repped you, or I'd rep you again. I would love to see those results after you apply the new A02 bios. I'm finding it less intrusive. But I can see how somebody who is doing more cpu intensive tasks could be frustrated.

Meanwhile.... does anybody have any thoughts about my occasional double letter problem? Could it be a keyboard problem, or is it more likely to be a problem of me and this particular keyboard? (As I mentioned earlier, with every Sony I have ever used it happens all the time; my current computer, never...) I am wary about trying to swap out the keyboard, because once you open these things up all kinds of other things can happen.

 

Shelley, how did you deal with not having dedicated Home and End keys? I know it may sound silly, but not having those keys on a laptop would prevent me from buying it (like this one).

 

Doesn't sound silly at all-- look how much time I have spent on this thread, trying to fix my (fill in the blank). I figure we all go shopping for a laptop about every couple to several years, and these things really matter.
For me: I'm a touch typist. Dedicated home and end keys are sometimes difficult to remember, since they're not the qwerty I learned, and they change from computer to computer. I'm happy to have them, but it's not a deal breaker. If you look around, none of the other really nice slim ultrabooks have them either, so it's a choice between dedicated home and end, slimness, backlit keyboard, and/or weight, and/or wobbly screen, etc. I find these up down arrows much easier to locate than some, because they are isolated from other keys, and wide (although half height). It may bug me a bit in the end, but less than the other issues. (Samsung Series 5 has a very nice home/end row of keys, but no backlit keyboard. If the backlighting isn't important to you, I would check it out-- reviewers on Amazon say it's quiet, and it has a swappable* HDD-- so if you already have an SSD, you could just take out the HDD and pop it in, add some drivers and you're done. Or at least, so I understood from reading the threads.) (*by which I mean, not soldered to the board, a regular HDD that can be taken out..)

 

You should try AutoHotKey. Remapping Keys and Buttons

I run Windows 7 on a MacBookAir which has a similar keyboard layout to the XPS 13 UB. Using AutoHotKey I changed the Right Alt and Right Ctrl keys to be Home and End. But I guess this only works if you don't otherwise use those keys.

Lifehacker has a guide to AutoHotKey The Best Time-Saving AutoHotkey Tricks You Should Be Using

 

Trying to paste an image here but the link wants an http// address so I wasn't able to upload it? Anyway, someone posted a screenshot of their Windows 7 benchmarking earlier so I checked mine as way of comparison:

Dell XPS 13, Core i5 1.6 GHz

Processor........................ 6.3
Memory.......................... 5.9
Graphics......................... 5.7
Gaming graphics.............. 6.2
Primary hard disk............. 7.9

Dell Latitude E6400 Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz (2008 model) with Intel SSD (2009):

Processor........................ 6.1
Memory.......................... 6.1
Graphics......................... 4.1
Gaming graphics.............. 3.4
Primary hard disk............. 7.6

Graphics performance is understandably lower as my laptop has integrated graphics which is massively improved with Sandy Bridge. What is interesting is my 4GB of DDR2 memory gets a higher rating than the XPS 4GB DDR3 memory for some reason.

The processor rating is only slightly higher on the XPS which I suspect in the real world would be about the same. My 2 year old SSD is only fractionally slower than the mSATA SSD on the XPS.

So broadly speaking the specs are almost the same - so for me to shell out £1000 on an XPS 13 it wouldn't actually be much of an 'upgrade' in terms of spec, so I'd be forking out cash simply for a classier chassis.

I think this reinforces my decision to wait for the Ivy Bridge XPS 13 which hopefully comes with a full voltage CPU (or at least scores a 7 on the benchmarking!), or maybe the Latitude refresh which is pencilled in for June/July this year.

 

The SSD used in the XPS 13 is not soldered to the main board. Instead of the 2.5" HDD/SDD form factor usually seen in notebooks, it is of the mSATA (mini PCI-e) form factor and is user-upgradeable.

 

Hey, this looks very interesting. And I actually do NOT use the right Alt or Ctrl keys! How well does this work?

I'm on an iPhone right now but I'll look into this when I'm back on the computer. Thanks very much!

 

Has anyone seen any dead pixels on their screens? I have one black dead pixel in the bottom 1/3 of the screen.

 

Yes... and this display panel is not user serviceable.

Scott-

 

Wouldn't you return it then? I hate and won't accept dead pixels...

 

The last time that I checked on Dell's policy regarding dark pixels, it was 3 or 6 dark pixels before they would replace it. Does anyone have any other up to date information on where the number is? I do think that they would go as low as one if it was on a "premium panel".

 

Got my 13z yesterday and was having major issues with the 2 finger scrolling completely sucking... uninstalled and reinstalled the cypress drivers a few times but it would work for a while then stop working.

Finally started reading up on the issues people with the 15z were having with 2 finger scrolling and noticed that they had cypress version 2.3.6.26 available. Uninstalled dells latest 2.3.6.25 and installed 2.3.6.26... scrolling is smooth as butter now.

Input_Cypress_W74_A06_Setup-19VRK_ZPE is the filename, you will find it on dells support site under drivers for the 15z.

 

First post, great post! Thanks.

 

Okay, found it here: Dead or Bright Pixel | Dell

 

In reality, Dell handles it on a case by case basis, but is known to be very supportive to those who raise the issue with documented backup such as photos. The widely referenced dead/stuck/bright pixels per quadrant allowance is so outdated, it was a joke 8 years ago. The LCD yields are much higher these days and screens with these "lower" resolutions/pixel density should be error free since the typical 1-2% rejection rate should be caught before the final product is placed into the distribution channels.

My Dell rep will be contacted on Monday and I am sure everything will get worked out fine.

Scott-

 

Thanks, Ive been enjoying it... 4 finger swipe doesnt work, but the 2.3.6.25 didnt work well anyway...

on another note, can someone upload the A02 BIOS file to a fileshare site? or email it to me? [email protected]

Not enough posts yet for PM's...

 

I called Dell support and they are sending out a tech to replace the panel in the coming week.

 

Perfect, thanks for the confirmation 7ouie and for the link +rep

 

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This is why I LOVE this forum. THANK you.

I'm also going to try the new driver.

 

Posted my first thoughts and some video on the XPS 13 here, though I'm embarrassed to say it's not half as thorough as what a lot of people have posted here. Just got mine on Friday and have not had a chance to test the battery life but can confirm what others are saying here in regards to disappointments being the fan noise + screen. I have the Envy 14 Spectre right now too and wow am I spoiled by that, putting it next to the XPS 13 allows you to see why an extra $300 may be worth it. That said, the ENVY 14 is a full 1 pound heavier and a larger footprint, so we're not comparing apples to apples here in terms of size.

What I do like about the XPS 13 is the solid build, what I consider light weight given the quality of construction, thinness and excellent price for what you get. It's $999 and then with the free T-MO hotspot which you can probably sell for maybe $99 on a good day, it could be considered $899. I hope to see the price get there soon, $799 would be awesome.

Re: missing Home and End keys. I actually use Print Screen a lot for my work (seriously) and miss having a dedicated button for that, I'll try the AutoHotKey solution.

 

if i were you id have them send you a replacement machine. do you really want to roll the dice and hope for a tech who at least won't damage anything tying to disassemble this machine for their first time?

i have sent back multiple machines in a row just for this same issue. there is absolutely NO reason you should be accepting repairs on a week old machine.

 

Uh-oh. Are you saying it doesn't have a Print Screen key either??

 

Can you guys tell me how you would go about installing win 8 than back to win 7? Is win7 restore on a partition of the ssd? Thanks

 

There is a print screen key. It's shared with the insert key, need to hit Fn to use it.

 

Thanks for emailing the A02 bios over to me Shellyevans! the fan is noticeably quieter now. Between that and the .26 cypress drivers Im very happy with the 13z now.