Dell XPS 15 (9550) without problem ?

Hello guys, it seems that there are a lot of problems on the XPS 15.
I wonder how many people received a computer without problem.

If you are a lucky one, please reply with your XPS options and the delivery date

Thank you!

 

Realistically, the only way to buy the XPS 9550 computer right now is from a retail brick/mortar - Microsoft Store or Best Buy. Chances are almost 100% that you will need to exchange it or return it. Can't exchange through Dell without losing the computer and customer service there is poor.

For example, I have the Best Buy model (full spec) and it would appear to be problem free. Did a clean install of Win 10 and have no flicker problems, which is the biggest complaint. But I have the (infamous) Dell key repeat problem (on this copy and my previously returned 9550), and the laptop wakes itself from sleep randomly. Then there are the "problems" that are just inherent, such as the fan noise under light load and ac/battery speed cap bug (for which a fix has been promised, but not made)

There's little hope for this machine. The basic plan is to buy and return every 30 days until either
(a) Dell fixes this laptop and makes it usable
(b) Someone else comes out with something with comparable specs.

 

You do realize they sell 1000's of these units and 99% of them are fine.. Most issues are software related and can be fixed.!! with everything their are a few Lemons out in the world! You have to remember.. Most people that come to these forms are people with issues so the environment is skewed!! Most people that have this laptop do not seak out these forms as they are issue free.!

Mine works great and I have 2 friends that have no issues at all..

 

Exactly.....

 

So far I got no major software issue, only concern is the FHD 1080 display has serious ghosting issue, which I replaced once already but still the same!

Now I can only pluging my desktop monitor to use, specially when gaming and watch video.

 

My only real gripe at the moment is the red shift on the screen if I'm standing up looking down at it I can see it. Looking at it from level height it's invisible.

I don't think I could face sending it back and dealing with the returns process for the sake of something that I only see when I'm looking for it.

 

This is the kind of post I wanted to see
Can you tell me when you received it ? There is maybe a link between the serious problems and the first models.

 

I have no major issues with mine, and it's the first one I've received. There is one tiny issue with fit and finish around the charging LED in the front of the keyboard where some light bleeds through gaps when charging. Other than that, my unit works very well. I played well over 4 hours of Batman Arkham Knight at 1080P last night and it ran very well at 30 fps and NO issues (well, almost rock solid at 30fps, 1050P is a better choice for resolution in this game).

EDIT: I forgot to add I do have the CPU throttling issue, but that's a known thing by Dell who said they will fix in the next BIOS due sometime this week or next. That and I hope my 5 hour battery life can be improved through some BIOS updates as well. If I could get 6-7 hours reliably on this, it will be the most amazing NOTEBOOK every made!

 

Showed up 3 days ago!! works Great did a fresh install of windows10 and have spend 6 hours gaming on the thing with no issues at all.. Love it

 

I got my 9550 last Wednesday, ordered it from the Microsoft Store's website because they had it on sale. I don't have any fit and finish issues (which I am pleasantly surprised about because I bought a XPS 15 L521x that had every problem ever, massive overheating, dead pixels, poorly installed trackpad, awful Wi-Fi reception. Dell has come a long way in the last 3 years). I'm pleasantly surprised by the comparatively low GPU and CPU temperatures and lack of throttling I'm seeing playing games. I've updated all the drivers from the manufacturer except the Intel video driver which I'm using 10.18.15.4256 because the current one on Intel's site refuses to install.

As for issues, I have the issue with the CPU being locked at low frequency if you unplug the laptop and then plug it back in, Dell says they'll fix that in a bios update soon and I have no reason to think they won't. I also have the issue where the SSD performance is decreased if I put the system into sleep and then resume, this looks like a driver issue with the Intel Rapid Storage drivers. That will likely get fixed some time soon, but it's pretty minor in the overall scheme of things and there is always the option to try other drivers (although for now I'd rather have stability and worse performance).

And as for the QHD display displaying a shift to red at high angles, mine definitely does that, but it's not noticeable in any normal position I'd use the laptop in. And this is one of those things that seems to be intrinsic to the design of the screen so we're not going to see a "fix". If this bothers you return it immediately. I'm impressed by the bright colors and dark blacks (for an IPS).

And the speakers, yeah they are going to suck, anyone complaining about that needs to realize that all laptop speakers suck. I'd rate this at a 7/10 from suckiest sucky laptop speakers to best sucky laptop speakers. They get fairly loud and treble is fairly clear, bass is weak and overall they sound tinny, waves maxxaudio helps disguise this a bit, I recommend the "music" setting because the default option is a bit over the top.

 

Mine is rock solid, but after fresh install, had lots of BSOD with original Dell drivers. Overall it is is the best laptop I've ever had and yes - that includes recent Macbooks. No build quality issues, keys are ok. I have sleep and hibernation disabled, I mean it takes like 10 seconds to get to login screen from cold boot. The only throttling observed was when running primes and furmark at the same time. Fans are quiet, screen is ok, actually is pretty good if a little slow response time - but I don't play competitive FPS games for a living on a 15 inch screen. Doesn't get hot like Macbooks when pushed, way smaller than my Sager 8268-s but still all the parts inside are accessible and replaceable. I like it a lot. The only downside is that bought it from Dell and it is a Dell, so as a home user you are treated like crap. But hey, I still didn't pay for it and for once their inability to respond to home customers is working to my favor.

i5, FHD, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB 950 Pro + 2TB Evo 850

 

There are lots of software issues, poor bios with CPU throttling issue, poor sound drivers, etc. At least get the signature edition from Microsoft so that will reduce the chance of software issues. Other than that the hardware is fine, at least for me.

 

I don't understand. Why are there still so many software issues ? The XPS 15 have been commercialized since several months ...

 

I'm pretty sure every XPS also has a super small delay from when you first put your finger on the trackpad and move it. It's minute but it is so annoying when you're trying to get accuracy...

 

I got my 9550 from Dell.com a few days ahead of schedule (had to cancel my 1st order due to no progress) and I've had no problems so far. I use it mainly for browsing and Steam.

 

Mine is fine with no issues at all.

I am using it a lot for Gaming!

 

I received my XPS 15 yesterday and it has none of the hardware problems that others have listed. There are some of the software problems, but hopefully those get fixed soon through software updates.

 

I also recently ordered it from their store on sale.

I went to Device Manager and updated that Intel video driver, and it seemed to work. I wanted to get away from the random screen reset/flashes; at first they seemed to continue, but I don't see them any more, so I think it worked. That was the most noticeable problem I've had.

I can wait to see if Dell will fix this soon, as reported by others.

I can't say I expect much out of notebook speakers. If I want good sound, I'll either plug in good headphones or external speakers.

(Hmm, I forgot to hit "post" earlier, I guess!)

 

So the ones claiming they don't have any issues. You don't have any ghosting at all?

 

Do you mean, "...don't have any issues", or "only have the standard, reported issues"? ;-)

Anyway, I went to a website that someone posted the link to in order to see the ghosting (testufo). I hadn't noticed it until then. I don't even notice it on the moving dots when it boots. Then again, I've only played a couple of games that didn't require fast enough action, I guess. Will look for it. I have the 4k display. The ghosting is a bit worse than my desktop monitor, but I don't know how to quantify it, even using the testufo pages and a camera. I don't see a problem grabbing a window and dragging it around. *shrug*

 

The ghosting isn't really an issue unless you are playing a FPS. You'll see it very very easily.

 

My 9550 with FHD display shows bleeding on black screens on several points of the outer edge, easily visible during boot in a darker room. Sliding my finger over the few mm wide metal (?) bar which holds the LCD itself, I feel bumps exactly where the bleeding happens. It looks to me like during manufacturing the frame of the screen was pressed too much on these points, so now they do the same as when you use your finger and press on it - but all the time.

As nobody else mentioned this kind of problem I wonder if others just simply didn't notice it, or am I the only one with that 'feature'? Under Windows with brightness at 50% it is not easy to see (unless you know it).

Otherwise compared to all the complaints found online my machine sems to be a better built. Just the trackpad sucks big time, but you need to be used to a MacBook to understand that. On a PC I don't expect something better. Still it is annyoing, and fooling around with the Trackpad settings (why do I have to do that at all?) doesn't help much.

 

I thought I had a winner after all the issues and system swaps on my 9530.
I was swiping the touchscreen today and could feel a rough patch, turns out when you wipe it with cleaning fluid that it has a 6 inch mark across the screen,


Dell are going to build another system once they have picked up the old 9530 that is still sat here.

*sigh*

 

I was very worried when I originally received mine. I bought it online from Dell and the first thing I did was reformat it and reinstall a clean copy of Win10 without all the Dell junk. That in itself was a massive headache trying to figure out. Then once I got it all done and installed all the drivers I thought I was in the clear until I started getting blue screens. Turned out it was all related to the NMVE SSD driver. So I took some others advice and installed the Samsung driver. That actually solved all my problems. No more instability, no more blue screens and I knew the new BIOS was coming late Dec or early Jan to fix most of the other lingering minor issues. Honestly, aside from the crappy speakers I'm very happy with mine.

 

base 9550, received Early Jan, only issues was the driver for the display. I updated to the newest BIOS, followed the display driver fix in the 9550 thread, and now I'm good. My LCD has a slow response but I'm not a gamer, but overall, I love it.

 

I played a FPS on my 4k screen, and I'm not sure the ghosting was so bad. Not ideal, to be sure, but I'm not sure that was a big problem. Most of my problems playing seemed to have to do with mouse sensitivity, and adjusting the screen brightness. If I can't see the enemy and if I can't aim, I'm not going to do so well!

I did get a BT mouse, and that works pretty well, except that sometimes coming out of sleep/hibernate, it doesn't recognize the mouse. I haven't figured out the trick to get it going again quickly.

 

I've had three systems so far that have all gone back. First, dell shipped 2 computers when I only ordered 1. This created some big headaches since the computer was purchased through work, and they charged our purchase order twice (accounting doesn't like to see a double withdraw...). One of the two computers (both 4k) wouldn't boot. The power light would come on and the fans would spin up but nothing would appear on the screen, not even bios, then it would shut itself off.

The second system booted ok, but there was some terrible hue differences between the left and right hand sides of the screen. The left half was reddish/pink while the right half was yellow, which was driving me crazy working on word documents and spreadsheets. It also bluescreened every other time I tried to load photoshop, but my guess is this was a software problem and not hardware. Regardless, both went back.

Re-ordered through a new purchase order with the 1080p screen to see if that would sort some of the issues, but didn't know about the low brightness flickering those displays suffer from. I need to use this computer in a dark room in a biotech lab and unfortunately need low brightness options, so it went back as well.

I think at this point I'm going to give up. I started the order process in late October and now we're at January and I still have nothing. Between having my orders repeatedly canceled and reprocessed for no reason, spending 45min-1hour on hold every time with dell support, and my growing impatience - I'm honestly settling for having no computer rather than a free one.

 

Do you how many times you can exchange? I have exchanged once already

 

They get funny after 3, I had to kick off that getting a faulty system out the box should not count to get a 4th

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

hahahah, Dell must hate us. To be honest, the first one I received wasn't that bad. I was thinking of installing your ISO and my 2.5 SSD on this first one but at this point I am just done. The only issue on both that I currently still have have (still haven't returned one) is that they make this horrible crackling noise whenever the speakers are on and you bring the brightness down or up. I've read somewhere that editing or completing removing Maxx Waves audio makes the horrible crackling noise less horrible. The second one seems to have a little screen flickering but it is hardly noticeable and I noticed the fan speeds rev up a bit too much but nothing as described in the forum(s). Especially when I play, but I guess go figure. I don't remember the original XPS I first received fans rev up as much as the second one. Why can't this laptop be perfect! I'll just shut up and install your ISO and my 2.5 SSD now that I know how and see which one I like better.

 

Never had the crackle!

Dell do hate me, I had 4 9530's before I was happy and had to threaten to involve the credit card company along with small claims court to get my wasted time back for all the days off waiting in for a delivery or an engineers visit.

Same again for the 9550 that they gave me when I refused to have the motherboard swapped for a repeated fan fault (how stupid of Dell but yay a 9550 instead)

The best part was I got the Win 10 home 512tb 16gb to replace a like for like spec that I demanded be upgraded to the windows 10 pro on swap 3 as Microsoft wouldn't keep activating my pro licence on new hardware, Then due to time wasted I asked for the system to be upgraded to the 1tb SSD 32gb ram as that spec had just come out and they did...

Currently waiting for the idiots to sort the warranty swap to this system as I made Dell reset the warranty to the day the 4th system arrived as I considered it a piss take to start a warranty before I had a system I was happy with due to them taking 6 weeks to ship each 9530.

Due to that my warranty was reset to July 2017 and now shows this 9550 as a 9530 expiring Feb 2017

They cannot get anything right!

 

Oh no! hahahah, I posted on "prices paid' and I thought I got a good deal. I just ended up getting another $30 off from Tech support because I keep *****ing about my minor issues. They said to talk to customer care for additional discount. As of now I think I have paid $950 (maybe a little less) for the i5 6300HQ 32GB+1TB model, which I think is a great deal especially since i was shopping on a budget. Compared to the 1999 price that they have online plus taxes $1300, I'd say $950 is okay plus another $30 coming on the way and hopefully Customer Care throws in something else. I guess all I would have to do now is wait for the warranty transfer.