Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

I see your point but I've never had this issue with another laptop. Is this a common thing among all 9550's ?

 

Yup. Maybe because I dock my XPS 15 at home and use an external keyboard and mouse I don't notice. It's very thin so the battery is closer to the palm rest, plus I think one of the connection points is right there.

 

I think it's just bad designing on Dell's part. I assume there's a circuit running right underneath the left area which is carrying current. When the battery is charging the current intake is high, leading to heating. And since the CPU, GPU, etc., aren't actually doing any work, the BIOS and OS don't sense the temperature rise which is why at least in my case, the fans don't speed up to compensate for that heating.

Is there any way to manually control the fan speeds from within Windows ? Back like 7-8 years ago, I used to use Speed fan for this purpose, but that doesn't seem to work anymore.

 

It's residual heat from the charging circuit that is located there. People seem to forget that ultrabooks have very little room to cram things like charging circuits that need the full thickness available. As this part of the laptops got no mainboard it went there. So no it isn't bad design as the other alternatives a smaller battery and shove it under the palmrest where you hand sits!

Once you look inside one it makes sense.

 

I had mentioned them in the same post that I provided the intel driver link in. Also on the thread that I sent you earlier it showed that the samsung driver was the only one that gave me full speed. I see you've fixed your problem, glad it worked out.

 

Not claiming what you're saying is incorrect or anything, but I had a Lenovo Y50 for 13 months before it died, and it never overheated, even once (or at least I never recall it overheating even slightly)! That was one of the best things about the laptop, and it was just as thick as my current XPS 9550. Its battery life was also roughly the same initially when I bought it.

 

Yes it worked out for me, thanks for your help .. How did you find this driver in the first place ? When I tried digging around Samsung's site for an NVMe driver, I didn't find anything.

 

Yay, it's me again. After having encountered the last problem about 8-9 days ago, it's now back. Worse than before.

Like last time, after not using the laptop for about a day and a half, it now won't recognize the internal SSD. Again.

While I managed to get it working by booting from a USB drive (it would then all of a sudden detect the SSD in Bios), now even that is not an option.

Really really really should have taken it back to the seller in the 14 day return window.

 

Send it back.

 

For those of you having touch screens, how do you clean them ? Do you use a microfibre cloth on the screen or a liquid or something ?

My touchscreen is plagued with fingerprints now and so needs a clean.

 

Can you please share which screen protector did you end up using ? I'm interesting in trying one out too.

Putting a protector on a laptop screen must be difficult I presume. Such a big screen plus also make sure the alignment is correct, no bubbles, dust, etc .. :S

 

Not an option. 14-day return window passed, can only ask Dell to swap / repair it now. -.-

 

http://www.amazon.de/DIPOS-Antirefl...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

I am not sure if you can get the product where you live. It won an award for the best protector within a roundup-test of a german PC magazine.

It is a big pain in the ass. You better reserve an hour to do it (Even more if you mishandle the protector). Just a hint: NEVER use a cloth to clean the protector on the side that is meant to be attached to the display (even if it is microfibre)! Instead catch dust with adhesive tape.

 

Is that for the XPS 9550 ? It doesn't say so in the description, and neither do any of the reviews. I'm in the US so I assume they deliver here.

And yeah I agree with the hint you mentioned. I have prior experience with such problems

 

Well, it is a protector for any device with a 15.6" inch screen. I have to admit that the protector is about 0.25mm too small (or maybe the screen is just 0.25mm larger than 15.6").

You may try looking for the protector on amazon.com instead of amazon.de.

 

Does it cover only the screen area itself or the whole glass front (screen plus glass border) ?

 

Only the screen, which is why you can theoretically use it for any 15.6" device.

 

Ordered a new xps today for 1480 instead of 1800, hope I am lucky this time...

How is the Inspirion, it has the same specs but it's much cheaper.

 

It's enormous compared to the XPS, and money is saved everywhere from build quality, trackpad, display, battery etc. The display on the one I tested was particularly bad.

 

Ok, thx, I hope I am lucky with my new xps now.

 

,.
Do what so many here have done....persist. Take them to task. When working properly, its a great machine.

 

Has anybody considered replacing the XPS15 FHD display with another to get better response time?
https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/Dell/XPS~15~9550/

I see this site has multiple compatible LCDs (they seem to be new not gutted from old systems).
They have matte, glossy TN and IPS.

Edit: also, does anybody know the part number for the stock FHD screen? So I can compare advertised specs.

 

Anyone mind installing some monitoring software like HWinfo64 and telling me what your minimum fan speed is? The lowest speed I ever see is 2500rpm (aside from the fans not spinning at all), which seems abnormally high to me. It's not that the fans are "loud" at their lowest setting (I know when gaming this thing can get truly deafening), but they are definitely audible when in a quiet room. When doing non-intensive stuff like web browsing, the laptop is usually dead silent with the fans at 0rpm, and then every few minutes the fans will be audible for 30 seconds or so to bring temps back down. It also happens even when the laptop is sitting idle which is strange. There is a very obvious noise when the fans initially kick on as if they are being overdriven for half a second before settling to 2500rpm for a while, which made me think maybe there is a mechanical issue preventing slower speeds, but both fans seem to run within a few rpm of each other so that can't be it.

The cooling cycling makes sense to me, but the speed and noise doesn't. Granted, I'm used to desktops with large fans that run near silent at a few hundred rpm during idle. Maybe due to the ultra-thin profile of the laptop and the cooler, there isn't enough airflow at very low rpms so they set the minimum higher than I would expect, but I would think there would be some middle ground like where it can keep the temps down during minimal use while essentially being inaudible. I might be completely off base here since this is my first personal laptop, so maybe this is normal. Anyone have any input?

 

Update -- I've since noticed occasional display issues with Firefox and the 4424 driver linked above. At least it's not as bad as previous driver versions.

 

2500 is the minimum.

 

Hi guys. I have the 8GB RAM model with the i5. I am considering upgrading the RAM, I noticed there are currently 2 4GB slot. Do you think I could replace just one of them for a 8GB slot like this one:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb...(2133)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-15-15-15-36-12v

And have a total of 12GB of RAM, or is it recommendable to have two equal slots, and go up to 16GB only?

Many thanks.

 

i don't get why you would buy a screen film for this. It's gorilla glass, it won't scratch when you wipe it with any kind of soft cloth.

 

neo187

better buy 2 odentical 8GB RAM modules. The machine works in dual chanel mode.

 

Not sure if I trust the latest generation of Gorilla glass considering my Galaxy S6 screen was scratched to death just from the s-view case window rubbing the screen.
I had to threaten to take Samsung to small claims court to get a new screen

My 1st 9550 came with a defecting gorilla glass as well so as per usual QC is crap.

 

I'm considering purchasing the 9550 with the i5 processor. Would it be possible to swap in an i7 down the road?

 

no

 

Thank you ChangLoo, so you think the machine may malfunction with 12GB of RAM? I feel like I probably will never need 16, but I see what you mean...

 

It will function with pretty much any mount of DDR4 RAM, be it 4 GB, 64 GB or anything in between.

 

Are you guys using Dell Premier Colour? I have it on default Vibrant profile... I dont know if I should remove the application or not. Is it worth having for better colours?

 

I am not using it, but I calibrated my display rather than using the software.

 

Is there any well working calibration for the FHD version?

 

Every panels different so you will need to use calibration hardware to do your own.

 

neo187, no malfunktion. The machine will work, but not in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-channel_memory_architecture dual channel mode.

 

Got a quick question for everyone here. Where did most of you get your XPS 9550 from ? From MS Store, Best Buy, or from Dell directly ?

 

Due to the amount of answers in an already cluttered thread that could get a lot of one word answers, how about editing your post and making a thread dedicated to said one word answers?

 

New Intel Graphics Beta driver released... Version 4444.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...ows-10-and-Windows-7-8-1-15-40-?product=88345

Version 4424 is no longer beta.

 

I would like to make a little inquiry about everyone's experience with USB-C accessories, also related but not limited to fan speeds.

I think that the normal fan profiles (without USB-C) are not designed so well; on battery the machine is quiet, but on AC even on 100% and when the machine is running rather cool, fans often run at 2500 RPM, which I find quite high.

However, with USB-C I already read some wild stories on this forum. I did not get a thunderbolt dock yet because of the problems I read. However, I still experience some issues. I have a USB-C to mini DisplayPort adapter, which works quite well and fans seem to stay rather "normal" at 2500 RPM when not taxing the system. However, I have a USB-C to HDMI 2.0 and a USB-C to DVI adapter, that both cause the fans to get loud shortly after connecting them. Also, the USB-C to mini DisplayPort adapter seems to not work with some other adapters such as mini DisplayPort to HDMI.

I am still running BIOS 1.19 because I read of several issues people are having. I am not sure what a good stable combination of ThunderBolt drivers, firmware and BIOS are. I would like to hear what other people experienced. What versions for BIOS and firmware/drivers are you using, are you having the same or other issues? Any other thoughts about the noise of the system? I am a bit worried that Dell may not fix this issues, maybe it is hardware related and the USB-C/ThunderBolt part of the system is not thermally well designed.

 

Even after reading all the issues this laptop is after having I'm still thinking of buying one. Am I crazy?If so, can anyone recommend an alternative with similar specs and price?

 

The latest issue of 'Maximum PC magazine evaluated the i7 16GB 4K version of the 9550 and gave it a '9' out of '10' rating calling it a very good gaming machine. Absent the many issues reported here, it would seem to answer your question.

 

Ireland will fall under the same support as the UK, you get onsite cover and if you are in no way happy when you get it you can demand a new one be built as you don't want a new laptop taken to bits.
You keep the original one until the new ones delivered then they collect it.

It is expensive so be very fussy over build quality. And buy an extended warranty, in hindsight I wish I got the 4 year not 3 year as I had a few issues after a year and after questioning what they wanted to do to resolve an ongoing fan issue got offered one of these for my 9530. Only a fool would say no to that!

 

Thanks for the replies. I'd be buying from the UK outlet site. I've never heard of the '...demand a new one be built as you don't want a new laptop taken to bits.
You keep the original one until the new ones delivered then they collect it...'

Anything I've ever bought from outlet before and wasn't happy with I either returned or else they tried to fix it NBD and when I still wasn't happy I returned it.
I think often with Dell you need to buy 2 or 3 systems and pick the best one out of the 3 and then return the other 2

I'm looking at an i7 FHD with 16GB RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, 84W battery,and 4 yr NBD warranty for £1275. It will be the most expensive laptop I've bought to date.

 

Walmart currently has an Dell Inspiron 7559 for $1000 which has the i7-6700HQ Processor, 16GB Memory, 4K Touchscreen, 128GB SSD with 1TB HDD, GTX 960M with 4GB GDDR5, etc ... I'm wondering if I should return my XPS 9550 and get that .. I'd save like a $800 ..

The only problem is that Inspiron 7559 is basically a budget laptop with cheap parts, a screen that easily flexes, shallow keyboard, poor touchpad and speakers, etc (all youtube reviewers point these out) ... while XPS has a solid build quality .. The touchscreen on Inspiron is also hard to operate.

Decisions, decisions !!

 

As you said, the outlet will not build a new system, it's rip it to bits by an untrained 3rd party tech or return it, I have had shocking on site service in the past so I would never use the outlet.

 

Or on the other hand I have used the outlet countless times (including 24 9550s) and only one has had a scratch on it. I do agree that if you have a new laptop with issues, you should get it replaced by with a new laptop.

 

Does anybody know if I can buy a spare screw for my XPS 9550? I mean the ones in the base. I seemed to have lost one