Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

Hey guys,

I need some advice here. I have been running a gadget which shows my i5 2467M CPU usage per core and memory as well as CPU speed since I got the machine. I have never seen the CPU speed go higher than 784Mhz, under minimal load I would expect the SpeedStep to behave this way, but even under heavy load it never changes.

I downloaded Intel's Processor Identification Utility v4.50 and ran it, it maxxes out all cores and reports the CPU speed as 0.79Ghz with an expected speed of 1.6Ghz, this processor should kick it up to 2.3Ghz under very heavy load.

I checked the BIOS and SpeedStep is enabled.

Any suggestions on what may be going on here? I have noticed when browsing and running some light games, I get lag and poor performance. With this CPU I should not be having this issue.

I am going to play around with the power setting modes, although I am set to use a Max performance mode when on AC power which I am using for the testing ...

 

Ok, I figured it out, for some reason the max processor setting in the power setting I was using was set to 5%. I never changed that and it sure seems odd that it would be set that way, things look more normal now with processor speed being reported as high as 2Ghz now.

 

Maybe a dumb question but is it OK to use Western Digital My Passport Essential SE portable hard drive to backup files on the XPS 13 SSD or to transfer files to the XPS 13 SSD? Wasn't sure if one being SSD and the other not would cause any issues.

 

There won't be any issues at all

 

Is anyone else seeing only 3.89 GB of memory usable? I did a fresh install on mines to get rid of the bloatware.

 

That would be very cool. You're right, you can't "see" it in the dark.

 

I have a similar issue. That's exactly how I can describe it. Like a seeking hard drive noise but high pitch tone. I just ignore it and tell my friends that it's a ssd seeking noise... I still didn't ask dell for support about it because it would be to hard to explain here in Brazil because it's a just released ultrabook down here. When Dell US figures what's cause that noise and post here I will have a better chance to have it fixed here. Beside that noise the machine is great after about a month of using it. I'm in Brazil but a bought it early march in the US.

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What is really good about Gorrilla Glass, is the gorilla thing, arrrrrrg ;-)

Dell XPS 13 scratch/stab test [Thai dubbed] - YouTube

 

Yes it's impressive but seriously, what kind of moron would spend £1000+ on a laptop then be careless enough to scratch it? I've owned various laptops since 2001 and usually keep them for 3 years. I've never once got so much as a finger print on any of them. In my opinion if you 'need' something like Gorilla Glass then you don't really deserve to own such a stunning device.

On touch screen laptops,maybe. On non touch, give me matte anti-glare any day.


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Think of those working outside, on the go, and in different situations compare to those sitting behind their desk....this baby is perfect to have it on its legs while watching tv too...

 

You won't be able to see that glossy screen outside, and if you're doing something where it's likely to get damaged shouldn't you be using a ThinkPad or similar?

Sorry not trying to provoke a response, just think Gorilla Glass is an unnecessary expense. I'd rather they stuck another 4GB in the thing or gave it a decent resolution.

I'm waiting for the Latitude refresh.


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Never got so much as a finger print on any of them? Come on, you never touched any of your laptop's?

 

the carbon fiber is way to beautiful

 

i am def gonna get one, if the battery holds more than 5 hours

 

The screen! <sigh>




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BIOS A04 is out:

listed fixes-

1.Increased coverage of supported AC adapters
2.Updated LED behaviors for the keyboard backlight and the charge indicator 3.Improved S3 resume behavior
4.Further refinement of fan acoustics

 

Thanks for posting this, it states file not found currently on the dell uk site iam sure it will be there at some point will try later.

All ok now downloaded and installed without any issues

 

For those struggling with the trackpad. I found something interesting. I saw a post in some other thread reference the problem being related to AVG. That got me looking at my own AV solution which is Forefront End Point Protection.

As I was looking for info on the conflict I ran across a post that mentioned the processes related to the trackpad. The author states that the Cypress trackpad employs a userspace process to capture gesture data. Once that happens and the data is interpreted, commands are sent back to and from the trackpad.

It does just that and the process is called CyHidWin.exe (There is another process called CyCpIo.exe).

You can see why the realtime scanner of any av engine may take issue with this. I also believe that it may have been causing issues when the scanner hit the files that the process was using.


I excluded the processes and files, which are located in C:\Program Files\Cypress\Touchpad, from my av scanner.


For me this has resolved most issues. It is still delayed in responding when resuming from sleep intermittently but that may be unrelated.


I may be WAY off base but I thought I would throw it out there just in case it helped someone.


-PS I also forgot to say. This may explain the instances where initially the trackpad functioned normally and the ceased working. There was likely a security patch or virus definition that caused the process to be scanned or halted. I was able to reproduce the process above slamming my CPU when the AV did not have an exclusion.


If you have been reinstalling the driver over and over, you will also want to check in the device manager and make sure that all the entries are cleared. In mine I found that under the Human Inteface Devices near the top of the tree, I would have an entry for the Cypress Trackpad. But in addition further down the tree there is another entry for HID Mice Keyborads.... Under that I found several instances of the device. I removed all but the active one which will have no remove option. DO NOT remove the top entry or select uninstall driver in Advaced options. On reboot the device will detect and reinstall

 

On a related note, has anyone sold the t-mobile hotspot that came with the deal? I have no use for it and dont' know how much to sell it for...

 

I do plenty of work outside and the last 2 laptops I've bought have had glossy screens with no problems, this being one of them. Reflections are stronger but the matte screens actually just create a dull white haze that is terrible on bright days and even worse on overcast days.

I recently did a "taste test" with a client and showed them 4 iPads we have been prepping for field deployment. 2 gen 2's and 2 gen 3's, each gen with a matte anti-glare and a glossy screen protector. Inside they were all convinced it was a no brainer to go with the anti-glare versions. They asked me what I ran and looked surprised when I told them glossy. They asked why and I told them to walk outside of their office and go sit in a truck cab or stand outside for a couple minutes.

It was then unanimous that the glossy screen, even with its stronger reflections was much easier to see outside. I attribute it to the matte coating creating the haze when it diffuses the reflections combined with the fact that it also saps the brightness right out of the screen as well putting it at an even greater disadvantage in the sun.

 

You need to get some better anti-glare SS's for your IPads. You're not seriously trying to convince us that a decent matt, outdoor viewable display like the HP Hydus, the Panisonic Toughbook or, to a lesser extent a 400 nits X220 outdoor display is inferior to a glossy display outdoors, are you. Have you tried that test with people who can see?

 

Good stuff. I'll get that over to the planners fist thing in the morning.

Hmm. An engineer was asking me if I had heard any chatter about AVG and the touchpad. Now I have. I'll get this over to the engineering team in the morning. Thanks for this. Very helpful.

 

I have to agree with the OP. The XPS 13's screen is easier to see outside than many matte screens I've seen (I've worked a lot with the Toughbooks). There are better screens for outdoor work, but the XPS is definitely better than the Ipad, IMHO.

 

Glad to see the XPS 13 is a big hit with enterprise customers. Dell Says it Can't Build Enough XPS 13 Ultrabooks

The most interesting quote is the comment in at the bottom that "sister and brother" products to the XPS 13 are on the Horizon. Looking forward to seeing them.

 

Don't know if I like the A04 just yet. The temps stay decent, but in a quiet room it sounds like a siren off in the distance going off. It is not super loud but it just keeps going up and down. Pretty annoying if you are in a quiet place.

Also have been noticing the same thing a few others are mentioning where the SSD almost sounds like a regular hard drive doing a seek. This just recently started. Hopefully it does not mean something is going bad in the SSD. Very weird.

 

Weird, I'm not having any of these problems. A03 was a huge improvement for my fan, and A04 made it quieter. I also don't have the SSD whine. Could it be your power adapter? Did you have it replaced?

 

So not DOA? (memory like an elephant)

June-ish for 2 of those products and October-ish for another.

 

So go or no go on A04? Does it break anything? Any major benefits?

 

You notice I don't own one. Yet. Still, always happy to see Dell do well with a promissing new model. Enterprise users clearly agree with you. You have to admit though, Dell is so strong with enterprise users that you can probably sell them a ham sandwich with a keyboard and a display . There are few companies who can compete on warranty, price or service. Shurely not Asus, even though it probably has the best first-gen ultrabook on the market. I won't buy an Asus product because their service is so incredibly crappy (non-existant actually). HP enterprise service is probably closest to Dell reliability and their prices are in a different universe.

My office was exclusively a Dell shop until a few years ago (mostly Latitudes). My old Vostro 1500 and Studio XPS 13 are still in use by staff members. I've been waiting for the13" XPS line to be revived for quite some time. But, as you can see, I'm fussy and demanding. Am particularly interested in that October release. I'll be keeping my eyes open. Thanks.

 

You're my kind of customer, TBH. I was just having fun, because for some reason your "DOA" post stuck in my memory. It's not so much I have a great memory, as my wife can attest, but that one somehow got hard-coded into the brain housing group. What did you think about the Asus build quality, especially compared to the XPS 13? There is an XPS 13 MLK in planning now, naturally. Not sure when it launches just yet. What would you be looking for in the "October product," if you don't mind sharing? I wonder if we are on target to deliver something you'd look at.

 

I am looking for a thin Ultrabook from Dell with a killer screen. If you need to understand what killer is, look closely at the PLS screen on the second generation 2012 Samsung Series 9 13.3" Ultrabook. Color, contrast, blacks, and brightness are important attributes along with excellent screen angles. Matte finish preferred.

After that I am looking for dell to break apart all of the support services so I don't have to pay for services I don't need. The 256GB XPS 13 still has stuff in the price I don't need.

After that I am looking for a machine that has two standard 204 pin DDR SoDIMM slots. I want the ability to upgrade the RAM as I see fit.

Mini DisplayPort out preferred. Backlit keyboard a must. 4-5 hours of battery life required.

 

Assuming that October is a W8 device, I'm hoping for a convertible tablet in the XPS 13 footprint. Any hope?

 

SODIMM slots are hard to find in Ultrabooks right now, but I think manufacturers are going to start launching products with them. Not sure if the XPS 13 refresh will have them, but the upcoming XPS's in June-ish might have them. Screen options are a topic of hot debate internally at Dell right now. We'll see what we manage on future products.

 

See you in October. <-That's a knowing smiley wink

*October-ish. Dates can change.

 

Got my 2nd replacement Dell XPS 13 unit in today. So, now we're at 3 units in hand, one on its 2nd motherboard... and the noise is still fairly obvious in all the units.

The general operation of the 3rd unit is just a tiny bit quieter than the other 2, but the pulsing noise while in sleep mode may possibly be louder than the others.

I tried taking some sound bites of the issues and it's difficult to record. One of my mics was cancelling out the noise, while the other was picking up a lot of background noise. When amplified to 200%, the background noise distracts from the problems quite a bit.

- The normal operation noises were mixed in with a lot of background noise.
- The sleep mode noises were picked up the best and are the most obvious.
- The power test noise is mostly overpowered by background noise.
- The fan noise may sound bad but keep in mind that it's amplified 200%. I have the least problem with the fan while using the device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9i_mAFUdBA

Sending replacements at this point was not the answer. Still, I don't think the support team understands the issue at hand. I feel bad for wasting Dell's time and money trying their best to please me because this is clearly not just an isolated issue with me or with just one of the units I received. I'll give the phone support some credit today though, as they didn't try to tell me that the noise was from the fan.

If Dell wants to continue to send new units and techs over, that's fine but I think it's become quite clear to me that the issue is not currently resolvable any may never be. My personal opinion is that it's a power supply or motherboard component issue. I feel confident that the unit meets all the specs required for manufacturing set forth by Dell. Unfortunately, I'd wager that the noise level was not taking into consideration for that specific component.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. Is this issue ever going to be fixable in any capacity? As I mentioned in my first post, I love everything about this system but this noise problem. I want it to work for me, but these noises will drive you insane once you pick up on them.

 

If you're taking requests... see if they can get 1440x900 in this thing (not 1600). And while I'm at it, being able to push the screen back a tad farther would be appreciated by at least a few of us.

 

Uh oh.....my new toy is acting up. It's been taking multiple pushes of the power button to get it started. The light on the front and the keyboard flash the first few pushes. Anyone else seeing this?

 

1440x900 isn't an industry standard resolution these days. It's either 1366x768 or 1600x900 due to the move from 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio.


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I'd like to ask Dell Bill B if he has any information about an updated driver for the XPS 13 Ultrabook's wi-fi driver.

This is my main beef about the XPS 13; the wi-fi reception is about 0.5 to 0.25 what I get on my other laptops. I suspect this is due to the aluminum casing for the monitor and so can't be fixed, but I think you did mention previously that a new driver was being worked on to address poor reception. For me this is crucial as one of my prime working locations is just on the edge of the XPS 13 wi-fi reception and so it constantly looses connection (but strong signal for my other laptops in the same location).

As for the monitor, I agree that it's disappointing. If a refresh XPS13 is released with an improved monitor, do you know if Dell can swap monitors on the current model for a price?

Thanks in advance.

 

I don't know if they do but I'd assume it would work out cheaper/be easier to sell your current one and buy a new one.

 

Yep... but I *much* prefer 16:10. Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

 

I agree it would be easier. I would be surprised if it was more expensive. As my XPS 13 is a work computer (and so not owned by me), there isn't really an option of selling the current one to finance the purchase of a second one. The finances are a bit complicated, but for me personally, getting the current computer retrofitted with a new monitor (and possibly an Ivy Bridge CPU) is a realistic option if it's something Dell (UK) can offer.

 

My guess (and its purely a guess) is no to both. A higher resolution display is likely to have a different connector which would not permit an easy swap. We explored this with our Acer 3820tgs and finally gave up. I also don't think IB is backward compatable.

 

I'm not a dell tech, so I'm just taking a stab at some things here...does the XPS make the same noises unplugged as when its plugged in? Does it make the same noises plugged into different outlets (preferably on different circuits, or even better, plugged into an active line conditioning UPS)? Do you have external speakers plugged into the unit? Does it make the noise when the speakers are plugged in/unplugged? Is there cellular or other electrical noise generating equipment in close proximity that may be causing interference? Some noise problems can be caused by dirty power coming out of the wall or other environmental issues.

In an absolutely quiet room, my XPS is the loudest thing in there...everywhere else its extremely quiet. I have a hard time imagining you've received three bad units in a row, so I'd start looking at external causes.

 

Any idea when the XPS 13 will have a refresh with the IB?

 

I'll have to check on WLAN driver status. As far as the screen goes, Bronsky's answer is my answer.

Yes, but it's too far off to say or hint at right now. October-ish will be the next product for XPS in the 13" size range.

 

I just purchase a dell xps 13 for my girl friend and I been trying to do a clean install but without success. Has anyone did a clean install on the dell xps 13 yet? I had try burning a ISo image of window 7 and that didnt work. I also burn a factory image and that didn't work either. Every time I boot into it, there a error saiding I'm missing a driver dics. Any help be greatly appreciate. Thank!

 

That's how I took it - good spirited. My hyperbole tends to stick in people's minds. As much as I like the specs of the Asus, I was not overly impressed with the build quality and I've already mentioned my aversion to Asus, so called, service. I will say this, however, the UX31 was far better built than the Acer S3, which is on the bottom of my first-gen ultrabook list.

Octoberish, Novemberish, no matter. My Timeline is still working fine. Warranties on the Acer and my HP Slate 500 lapse in December, so, I'll probably be replacing both by the end of the year. I'll be keeping my eyes open. Thanks.

 

Has anyone had a replacement power supply in the uk due to the noise issues with the original one. I know from reading through the threads it is an issue and the flextronic model apparently is being refreshed with a model from lite on. The tech support guy i spoke to today didnt seem to be aware of the problem and said he would be sending a new flextronic one.

 

- Yes, same noise plugged in or unplugged, or in different outlets. Since the noise is made with it unplugged, I think we can rule out that it's the line or charging. When the Dell tech came to my house, we heard the same noise when we removed the battery and had it plugged in, so I think we can rule out the battery itself as well.

- No external speakers. I'm using the unit completely as-is out of the box.

- Yes/No on if there is cellular and electrical noise generating equipment nearby. During typical use, yes there is, though I have taken it elsewhere and had the exact same problem. As I've mentioned before though, I can replicate the noise with the unit in sleep mode, and also with the unit 100% off (by pressing the battery test button).

The Dell tech and I tried to troubleshoot this the best we could. I'm fairly confident that I've ruled out the possibility of any specific environmental factor relating to my office effecting the unit(s).

I find it extremely hard to believe that I've got 3 bad units as well, but when you have people come visit with other similar units from other manufacturers and mine is buzzing like a bee and the others are silent then I have to conclude that it's either back to back to back bad units or the noise is by design.

We know there are others who have this issue. I just don't think Dell knows about the problem because they frequently pawn it off as fan noise because that is what most people complain about.