Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

I know someone who has one of these machines with the 4K screen and 1 TB SSD. It was bought from Best Buy and has a year left of accidental damage coverage. It's in good overall shape. He wants $1200, which seems decent. Is it?

 

Awesome deal with the remaining coverage!

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Good to know. I wish it was the newer model, but a comparable 9560 with ADH would be stupidly more expensive. I could add an Akitio Node with GPU and still come out well ahead.

 

I would say $1000 is pushing it if it is over a year old.

 

For a system with the 4K screen, 1 TB SSD and a warranty?


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I agree. Our 9550 technology is aging rapidly now. The new core i9's will be out fairly soon and then even the stopgap 9560's prices will nosedive. You can expect that Dell will also be sloughing off even more on their tech support and trying even harder to discourage warranty replacements so they can transition to the newer techonologies.

 

I fail to see how the multi core i9 changes anything for a thin laptop. If you think dell is going to start putting 6-12 core CPUs in the XPS, I would love to have some of what you're having.

 

See what a 2nd hand shop would pay for it, then see what completed ebay listings say. Then knock 20% off for mates rates

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A second hand shop is going to lowball so that's not a good reference. Completed fleBay listings are all over the map, with a couple around $1100 and others as high as $1400-$1500.

I may indeed try him at $1000. Worst he can say is no.


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Lowest ebay taking away fees for ebay and PayPal and you're under a grand, good luck.

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What I usually indulge in is a solid dose of regret each time I buy a new Dell notebook only to find out a year later that what I didn't expect to happen, did. The days of futureproofing are gone forever. I figure with the continuing decline in desktops and the real threat the AMD Riyen chips, Intel will push hard to integrate them into modern thin notebooks along with the Nvidia 1080's. Dell will jump in with both feet to hold or gain marketshare no matter how badly the new ones overheat.

 

Xps 15 with at least an i5 and 8gb ram and ssd is still a darn fast machine. I think you'll be happy with it for along time.

 

BRAVO !! MikeBravo
Truer words were never spoke

 

It's not going to happen for a long time, I hate to burst your bubble. We will probably see it in high end clevos and alienwares, but thermally it's not going to happen in any thin laptops. We can't even keep our Kaby Lakes cool...

If you don't expect Dell or any other manufacturer to have a yearly (or so) refresh then you're also out of touch. Future proofing isn't gone because of Ryzen, it was always a silly term. Nothing has changed, new tech comes out and people who foolishly believe their tech is going to be the best till the end of time are sad. In reality you could still run a i7-2500k and still have a wonderful computing experience.

 

Totally agree. Your realistic outlook is spot-on.

 

I agree that the 2nd Gen i7's still work. We still use our L502x XPS's and now that you mention it, they have had far fewer issues like funky keyboards and ill designed power supplies that twist up snag almost as if they were designed to frustrate you. As far as the i9's go, I defer to your expertise, but I still won't be surprised.

 

Hi, I just got a 9550 in an outlet store, hope you can answer some questions:

1.- It came with a 45 watts PSU, the computers asks for the 100 watts PSU. I am looking to get one, in the meanwhile: can using the 45 watts PSU can cause problems?

2.- Sometimes while making use of CPU heavy software the computers stutters, can this be because of the 45 watts PSU?

3.- Or maybe from hard drive use? I see spikes from time to time using the tasks manager. Will changing to AHCI mode help to prevent this problem?

4.- Task manager shows the system is using 7gb of ram, I have read around here this is because of dell bloatware. Making a fresh installation of windows can solve this problem?

5.- which are the critical driver updates than must be done?

Also, I have read a little bit the forums and it seems the 9560 model has more problems han the 9550, is this perception real or it is just because it is the newer model?

 

1, they sent the wrong PSU with it, demand the correct one.

2,3,4,5, get reading

 

1.+2. Actually it should come with a 130W PSU. A 45W one is okay for travelling light, but the laptop works in a very restricted mode, the CPU works similarly as on battery, the GPU is even more downthrottled. Under continuous load the CPU raises the frequency to nominal eventually though, drawing power from the battery.

3.+4. Wait until you have the proper PSU.

5. Mine seems okay with the most recent versions. Set "Hibernate after" in Advanced power settings to Never, because the switchover to Hiberante from Sleep might fail and result in the laptop running hot in a bag.

Also: one would expect the 9560 to have less problems due to lessons learned. But it seems to have gotten a fair share of fresh ones.

 

I mostly use my laptop on AC power, but I've noticed lately that my battery life hasn't been the greatest. Is 3 hours of battery life typical when on "balanced" power mode? If I switch to power saver the life goes up, but I notice pretty big performance drops.

 

The memory that i have using now is around 6.6/7.9gb so around 84%. It typically is around this percentage more or less.

It rarely gets over 90 percent though unless i have a lot of things opened etc.

So based on this, would you say i should get more ram? It does lag a bit.

 

Another thing i want to ask. Sometimes i get electricity outages where im located. The thing is when im on the computer, i need to have power on etc. Does anyone know what settings i can put on my laptop where i get the most battery available etc where there is power outage?

Also how many hours in battery are you guys getting on your laptops when unplugged? Does anyone here just have it plugged in all the time? I pretty much do as im using the laptop in the apt only connected to an external monitor. Im guessing you can get max 2 hours at the very most? I think when i did this, i got at most 1.5 hours but this was with low battery setting. But when im busy doing things on the laptop with programs opened, it seems like i get maybe a bit more than 1 hour?

Does anyone know about UPS for this laptop? Such that if my power goes out and i need to still be using my computer for a few more hours, how long would a UPS make my laptop last for? What about if i want to have it connect to my external monitor? I read online that you need to calculate the amount of watts you need etc. So my thinking is if my power goes out, i probably get a bit more than 1 hour on my battery. But after this, could a UPS last me say at least another 2 hours or more etc? What about 5 hours or would that be not enough etc? I basically want to know what settings i can put on my laptop where i get the most amount of battery left in case i have a power outage. I also would be curious how to do this just to test it out when im on the computer to see how long i would get just on the battery.

 

Most UPS makers have some form of calculator to spec a UPS with runtime, me I have a 2200w UPS currently running a server taking about 150w and probably another 50-100w of other stuff such as networking, printer etc connected and I have 3:25 hours remaining.
I would expect something like a APC 1500w UPS would be enough to get an hour or 2 extra before it is discharged.

 

Does this laptop require a pure sine wave UPS? I haven't checked.

Make sure you find out prior to buying a UPS. I haven't tested my laptop on one of the low end (not pure sign wave) UPS', so I"m not sure if it would even provide power (after the power goes out).

I have one around here somewhere and can give it a try.

 

Can you give me some links of ups on amazon that you would recommend?


Also how could i use my laptop where im using very little power? The only thing i know is make it battery saver mode etc...

 

Try the repaste and temps thread as they discuss undervolting http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rature-observations-undervolt-repaste.785963/
I can suggest the APC SMT1500i as I use the bigger version the SMT2200i (just a bigger battery and runtime) as I have no idea what your location is you may as well search yourself. Whilst expensive they are pure sine wave but I doubt it would be a requirement due to the power supply used but you never know!

 

The easiest is to use it with a weak charger, for instance the Dell 45W. Then the laptop throttles down automatically, the "on battery" settings in Advanced power options apply despite the charger and you will likely want to turn them up a bit; the GPU is even more restricted than on battery (you can even try switching it off in NVidia config or in Device manager).

 

I just came back from my 3 day trip and my xps 15 just died all of a sudden.
I didn't take the laptop with me and I just left it on my desk with it turned off.
When I push the power button, it lit up for approximately 10 secs and turns off again.
I don't understand how things like this can happen.. it worked perfectly fine 3 days ago..
I tried to unplug the battery and pushed the power button for 30 secs but no luck.
Is there anything else that I could try to fix this??

 

try holding the fn button when you power up or the esc?

 

I just tried those but it's the same.. power button lit up for 10 secs and then turns off..

 

Next thing to try is removing and reseating the ram then take out the SSD and WiFi card to see if it will POST without them.

 

I am using the SMT1500. I have a Backups Pro 1500 around here somewhere. This weekend, I'll test it on the Backups Pro to see if a pure sine wave UPS is required. It all depends on the power supply. Since I'm also using the TB16 dock, I'll have to factor in that into the testing.

 

I don't have a weak charger. The have the one that came with it.

But there are settings to make it go at lowest setting where you get the most battery right? I would like to try that.

 

I thought you wanted to use least power when plugged in.

Turn on the the "power saver" profile. Each profile has separate settings for "on battery" and "plugged in" (though with a weak charger the on battery setting apply). You can tweak the profile further in Advanced power options. And battery life depends a lot on how you're using the computer. When plugged in you can observe on-line with a watt meter.

 

Hi there. Why would people want to use least power when plugged in? Im confused with this.

I turned on power saver mode when not plugged in. Where is the advanced power options? I see overview and battery saver and few other things. At the bottom there is battery savings tips.

I thought there was an option where you set your computer to a percentage for usage such as 50 percent? I believe the default is 100 percent. I heard about this.

 

Wanted to add another thing. I had my laptop unplugged and put battery saver on while basically web browsing, i seem to have about 2.5 hours battery. Is that about right or not? Im sure if i use it more extensively, even with battery saver, probably 1.5 hours at the max? So if no power saver, im guessing it last 1 hour 45 minutes web browsing and probably like 1 hour if using it a lot while not in power saver?


I know most laptops advertise like 5+ hours battery minimum but i never had a laptop that would even come close.


Thanks.

 

Depends what proc/screen you have. I have the i5/1080p screen and I probably get 4-5 hours with the 56whr battery that is probably 2 years old.

 

As Fant said, it depends on what piece of string you are running an what is happening in the background, weather the nvidia GPU is running, clock speeds etc.

 

Check your light settings, turn off keyboard light and use a little screen light as possible, this normally double my battery life.

I recently got my battery replaced which made a huge difference as well, my previous one got swollen, pushed the touchpad so it protrude from the hand rest...

Ps. I bought a 5520, full hd screen, i7, big battery, to one of my employees. She gets 12hours of work on one charge...



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Sorry that was probably a misunderstanding. That would be good for working with a weak power source, for instance on a plane where the fuse doesn't allow 130W. Small chargers are also good for travelling light.

Advanced power options are where you edit power profile settings. But the main things are already set in the power saver profile, the processor power turned low and the screen dimmed. Check if you have any programs using the NVidia GPU, or anything using the CPU too much in the background.

 

My laptop is i5 6300hq processor. Its a quad core. Since that is the case, wouldn't that mean its impossible to really get more than 3 hours battery at the very max?

How i check what string im running and those other things you mentioned?

There are light settings? I did not know abuot this. The thing is i rarely use my laptop keyboard... i use my external keyboard.

 

Heard about this new Windows 10 version called Windows 10 Workstation just in beta that according to initial reports is going to be designed to better leverage modern computing architecture to provide enhanced power and stability. Anyone here heard more? Any initiall opinions about whether our 9550's would benefit from it?

 

All it will be is slimmed down to cut the crapware and possibly drivers locked down so I doubt anything you can't do already with a bit of work.
Power comes from hardware so I am already dubious.

 

Understood.

 

So if I wanted to use the WiGig dock with the XPS 9550, would that work if I changed to a different wifi card? If so, any recommendations for one?

 

Which WiGig dock?
You could try Intel 18260. With the additional 60GHz antenna.
Mind wired USB3.1 dock have faster connection, let alone TB3.

 

I think someone tried one of those and it doesn't fit due to the width of the card.

***edit, looking for the Intel 18260 on ebay shows a slimmer card than intel's site.

 

I think tke previous gen was bigger, now they have an even smaller size. Must be 2230 size.
One would also have to fit the antenna module somewhere.

 

Antenna module, god knows where that could go...

 

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