Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

A glimmer of hope!

 

HI guys. So i finally got my unit (16GB, 512GB, 4K Touhc) I noticed a crackling noise when i adjust the brightness while there is audio playing. My space bar key is a little stuck and the keyboard backlit doesn't stay on permanently. Anyone know how to make the keyboard backlit stay on always? Is the spacebar issue worth exchanging the laptop? I don't want to get a refurbished unit as a replacement. And if you're looking to purchase you could save by talking to a sales rep on the phone or via chat. I saved about $600 just by asking. Worth trying.

 

If you install the dell systems management software it will let you do that..

 

Haha, I wonder how many people, like me, are waiting for the answer to this exact question? I've been poised to buy an XPS15 for months, just waiting for confirmation of this question. My alternative if the Core doesn't work with the XPS15 (or has unsatisfactory performance) is the upcoming MSI GS40 refresh with it's new upcoming slimline dock, which apparently offers full PCIE x16. No news to be found on that product either after the initial announcement

 

In control panel is a setting to adjust the timing on the keyboard backlight. The longest you can set it for is five minutes, which if you use your keyboard a lot should be enough to have it on practically all the time. The sticky keyboard issue has been addressed before here with a fix that has worked for many. It didn't work for my two machines.

The only issue I face with my two machines is the sticky keyboard which from time to time drives us crazy, but based just upon what I've followed here in this lounge and another thread, the misery that Dell is dealing out to those of us who HAD to send theirs back, I think you'd be crazy to take the chance for just the keyboard----unless you go nuts yourself.

Personally, if I can stand it, I'm waiting until near the end of my three year warranty before I try----unless something else more serious happens.

 

Hi ! I just bought my laptop (16GB, 512GB, 4K display...). I noticed this thing that annoys me, when I plug my laptop the fan always starts running around 3200 rpm, and it s noisy. Is there any kind of fix for this issue, I also installed the last update of the bios on my laptop but it didn't seem to do anything?

 

Hi guys, so I've been playing around with my XPS 15 9550 (4k touch) for a few days now and I've a couple of Qs:

1) How do you fix the common 'blurry text' issue for Win10 displaying on a 4k screen ? I know that there's a 'Windows10 DPI Fix' app out there which fixes this, but if I use it on my 4k screen, it makes everything VERY small ! To counter that, I have to increase the scaling by about 100% ~ 150% in the app, and this undoes the DPI scaling fix ... Is there a better fix ?

2) Also, I often use HDMI out to watch shows on my TV. My TV is 1080p only, so which I use HDMI, the stuff on my TV appears twice the size than on my laptop's 4k screen (due to difference in resolutions). Is there a way to fix this ?

3) What's the best way to stress test the hardware in my XPS ? I want to test the CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD to make sure they're performing as good as they should be.

 

I just got my unit today (FHD, i7, 512SSD, 16Ram), and I'm a bit curious about the touchpad.

It doesn't register small movements well, which is very annoying. I found a guide to change to the Synaptics drivers which removed the deadzone but then introduced several other issues, like worse precision, issues scrolling in Chrome, pointer-jumps/skips and so on, so evidently it's not the hardware that restricts the sensitivity as the deadzone issue is not present with the Synaptics drivers.

Does everyone experience this touchpad-issue? Any known fixes I've missed? Would very much appreciate help/answers!

 

I have the default drivers and I sometimes experience a lack of sensitivity to small movements, and issues scrolling say in Skype.

Nothing terrible I guess.

 

you get used to it after a few weeks.

 

Can anyone with a 4K/UHD display confirm how well Lightroom & Photoshop handles 150-200% scaling?

 

Very well.

 

I run my 4k at 175%. Can get by with 150, but it's a bit tiring.

Most everything (like 90%+) looks fine. Scaling support is improving.

 

Hey guys

Interested in this laptop.

I had a first gen XPS13 and it had endless touchpad issues and I ended up hating it.

How's the keyboard and touchpad on this one?

 

That's great news, thanks for the prompt responses! So the UI isn't jagged or blurry like Control Panel or Command Prompt?

I might splurge for the 4K model after all.

 

Adobe CC is nice at 4k, but CS6 and below are unusable. I was lucky to be able to pick up CC through work or I would have been boned.

 

Actually with a little tuning also CS6 works quite well -> http://www.danantonielli.com/adobe-app-scaling-on-high-dpi-displays-fix/

 

I thought CS6 has a scaling option in the experimental section when I had it?

 

Only the Mac version, they never added the feature to CS6 or below You can use a manifest file to get the UI looking better, but the images become blurry as a result.

 

Mine had it, vanished in CC as it is automatic. PC version.

 

Identical....

 

Disregard this post!

 

Quick question, how do I remove the smudges from the hand rest area and touch pads ? They really make the laptop look dirty.

I also asked a question regarding the 4K screen yesterday but no one replied.

 

Does anyone have a 4k monitor hooked up to this via thunderbolt?

I'm trying to find adapters that can output 4k@60hz.

I bought this adapter http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=&cs=04&sku=470-ABMZ
but don't have a 4k monitor to test yet.

I'm not so sure this adapter has the bandwidth to output 4k 60hz 4:4:4 if it's usb-c

usb 3.1 maxes out at 10gbps, not sufficient for 4k uncompressed.
That means crappy text.

There doesn't seem to be any solution to outputting 4k 60hz 444 over thunderbolt yet.

The regular hdmi port can do the same 4k 30hz that all the stupid adapters can

 

I just got this machine, what sound profile is everyone using in Dell Audio? The sound seems a bit weird in the headphones...

 

Hmm, but I like the options it provides. Then probably I will just do 2 extra clicks everytime

 

Yes I tried. Still the same

 

Afik 17 is the brightness it always goes to

 

Yeah. And another funny thing to try is the mapping between the brightness in PremierColor and that in the system.
Try chaning the grightness in PremierColor, you'll find that brightness 64 there is actually 50% in the system. But if you change the brightness in the system to, for example 50%, Premier will show the same value. And now if you increase the brightness in PremierColor to 51, the system will show that the brightness is actually 40% and your screen will go darker.

 

Hey guys. This machine (xps 9550) passed mines HARD STRESS TEST - 10 hours rendering from Adobe Media Encoder (all night..) to render this one visualizer -

Also noticed that new BIOS fix problem with long boot up. So guys - Have a nice day! FRIDAY!

 

The sudden black screen issue had been away for some time and since last wednesday I was suffering again with 1.1.19. Today I discovered the new BIOS on the Dell support site and installed. Together with the black screen it didn't go into sleep mode and actually crashed with no information in the eventlog. I can have it go to sleep with the new BIOS version and haven't had a sudden black screen yet...

Have others resolved this issue which really annoying especially when doing some presentations ...

 

Do any of you know any third party software that adds an icon in the notification area of the taskbar to indicate wether function lock is turned on? The esc key should have had an indicator like caps lock imo

 

question

has anyone charged the laptop through usb c?

 

Yes, I use the Chromebook Pixel charger (60W) and it works fantastic. In theory it won't keep up during heavy workloads, but during movie watching and web browsing it keeps up and adds charge to battery. Haven't tried to game with it, I have the stock 130W sitting at my desk..... Overall super happy I bought the USB C charger as it will charge my next phone and tablet also.

 

I have a 45 watt xps charger and it charges it too slowly.

I just want to make sure the c takes a charge. there are msi laptops that dont charge the laptop from the c port

 

Do you guys have cpu whine?

Is this what yours sounds like?.>>>>>>>>>> https://clyp.it/3tiqt5qq

 

Guys, I asked this 2 days ago but no one replied: How do I remove the smudges from the hand rest area and touch pad ?

 

I just use a microfiber cleaning cloth and it works very well

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Do you apply any liquid to it before cleaning ? Because if the cloth is dry, won't it just smudge the grease a little instead of removing it altogether ?

 

Nope, dry cloth. Completely erases everything. Use it for my phones and the laptop

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Thanks. I just tried it on the body and you're right it does remove the grease, however at least for me it's not so effective on the touchpad surface. What do I use for that ?

 

Well, for that I just put 2 drops of water on the track pad and clean haha. I do that only when I turn the computer off because I can't disable the touchpad while it's on. Before this water method, I used left over pre-moistened wipes I had laying around and that worked fine.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Thanks. I'll try that soon.

 

Agree with the microfiber cloth. I also use some window cleaning liquid, and if its too bad isopropyl alcohol.

Oh that sounds awful man. Fortunately mine does not do that. You should call dell support.

 

I have another question. For those of you having the 4k screens, do you ever have an issue that the Windows Taskbar starts floating in the middle of the screen when you're using HDMI Out on a 1920x1080 TV ?

Examples:

 

The reason people don't always reply to questions like this is the fact is gets asked so often and can often be found via the search button.

Anyway I use window cleaner then isopropanol spray for the stubborn grease marks from my hands and a soft cotton cloth or microfiber, Cotton works best to remove streaks.

 

Hi, does anyone have fan issues? When I plug my laptop the fan always starts, but when it's on battery the fan is always very quiet (most of the time off).

 

At the risk of repeating myself, it is by design during fast charge. It will cut out around 80%

 

Thank you for your quick reply, but it is set on standard charge and the fan also run at 100%.

 

Standard charge still does it's bulk at a fast rate, it has a faster mode that you can select. As I said it is by design.