Dell XPS 15 L501 *Owner's Lounge*

I understand why the option is there, and I find it really useful (use it a lot). But my question was actually regarding this post:

According to this post, when the battery is at 100% and you have it connected on AC power, it doesn't charge anymore. So using the Turn Off Charging option would be useless then, right?
I use the option to give my battery a longer life by turning the charging off on 100%. But I suppose it ain't needed, am I right?

Only for, like you said, on places that you are not allowed to charge.

 

You are correct. Manufacturers are now smart enough to put in protections against overcharging and diminishing a battery's life cycle. When fully charged the battery is prevented from being charged anymore.

 

As I said before, if the case is that the battery automatically cuts off the power supply when charged to 100% then I don't see the point of the "disable battery charging" option.

Can't really see the use of the disable charging battery option in daily use apart from being on a plane which is not everyday for most people.

 

Thanks for resolving my little battery situation.

For those of you who did not upgrade to Windows 7 Prof/Ult, what are some of the bloatware that you guys deleted? I deleted two that were mentioned a while back in this thread, but I'm sure there are more.

 

Yes all the battery notebooks are protected from overcharging, but talking about discharging:
The battery tends to discharge when the laptop is turned off, the the next time you turn on your notebook the notebook will charge the battery from the 90% to the 100% for example. Remember that a battery life is basically determined by charging cycles and time. In this case you are wasting 1 charging cycle. its a complete waste.
Anyway if the notebook is connected to the power outlet all the time, the battery tends to discharge just a bit and the start charging, consuming a charging cycle.
This is is why remove the battery or use that option is useful.
Put the battery or enable charging when you think your are not going to be connected to the AC power, and still need your notebook working.
In my scenario that mostly use my notebook as desktop replacement, my battery is not loaded on the notebook. I only put back the battery when i need to visit a client.
In my case i'm saving a lot of charging cycles and avoid unnecessary heat over the battery.

 

Can someone please post a copy of the service manual?
The Dell download link isn't working
Documentation

I would like to know what to take apart to replace the hard drive.

Thanks

 

I received my Dell XPS 15 a few days ago, and after reading some of the issues people are having with WiFi cards opened the back cover and found out that instead of Intel 6250 card I got Intel 1000. That's a bummer. I am going to call Dell tomorrow.

 

Did you upgrade to the Intel 6250? The 1000 is the normal one

 

I got the 6200-N as standard here in India
Is it the same case with everyone?

 

1 charging cycle is counted as one fully discharge and 1 fully charge. So this situation would use up 0,1 cycles. That at least how it worked in my Macbook Pro. And it makes much more sense trying to think of the chemistry behind the batteries..

 

Same thing happened to me, I ordered the 6200 and mine came with the 1000N.

 

Is anyone else experiencing audio stuttering? Playing music with WMP or through youtube I hear regular audio stuttering every couple of min! Doesn't seem to happen with VLC, it's pretty annoying though!

 

Try the suggestion at http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...xps-15-l501-owners-lounge-11.html#post6894361

 

I'm not so sure about the 0.1, think that it would happen several times a day.

•Because your battery has a finite number of charge cycles (nearly a thousand for most laptop batteries), it's worth it to manage them carefully; using your battery down to the 10% level will maximize the use of the battery over its designed life span.

•2Your battery will effectively 'burn' charge cycles whenever it's stored in hot places. Don't leave your computer in the car on a sunny day--even a few hours at 100+ ºF degrees counts as several charge and discharge cycles.

•3If you're going to have your laptop plugged in constantly while it's in use, remove the battery. Even trickling power through it will slowly degrade its charge cycle status.

•4If you're going to be putting the laptop into storage, discharge the battery down to 10% or so, and put it in a cool place--don't freeze the battery, but the coldest room in your home (about 45ºF-50ºF degrees) should be about right

SOURCE
Read more: How to Manage Lithium Notebook Batteries | eHow.com How to Manage Lithium Notebook Batteries | eHow.com

 

How did you find it out?
On paper, Dell India is supposed to have sent me this card, but how does one know what's inside?

 

^^Dell Support Center will do it for you
Click detailed System Info and keep searching

 

Hi all,

I just recv'd a new XPS15 from Dell - loaded; i7, 8Gs, nvidia 435 driving 1080 screen. I've been so busy, I've barely turned it on.

My question: does anyone know what version the DisplayPort is? 1.1 or 1.2? Specifically, can it daisy-chain displays? What are the limits? Sorry for the noobQs; DisplayPort is alientech to me...

Oh, my Christmas present to myself: two 30" HP 2560x1600 monitors - with Displayport - one for the office, the other for home (hey, I do a LOT of work at home!)

Thanks!

 

Yes, there is an undefined finite number of charging cycles a battery would work. And I agree that it should be managed properly. Personally I couldn't be bothered about removing battery when on ac and such, I'll just replace the battery when time comes.

Yes, if this cycle happens several times (as it would) the 0,1 would add up. But each 10% discharge and recharge would not count as one cycle.
And that is the only point I would like to promote.

 

Just open the back cover and you'll see it. It's right there you can't miss it.

 

I don't know the answer to your DP question (I didn't even know there had been revisions to it).

But, I hate you for those two 30's.

 

I was so happy when my loaded L501 came last Saturday. It worked great for the first 30 hours and I had just about everything transferred from my old laptop. As I was using it Sunday evening, the screen went black and it stopped working.

I called Dell and was amazed to talk with a live person in a matter of seconds with very good English. I thought it was US support. The guy diagnosed it as a power cord failure and then said to be sure he was also sending a new battery. I was a little skeptical, but he was quite confident. It took about 45 minutes to do all this. Incidentally, it turned out he was in the Phillippines.

The cord and battery came yesterday, Wednesday. Did no good. So I called again. This time I got what was clearly someone in India with good English. In no time at all, the person told me it was the mother board and offered either a new computer or a repair. He said it would take two weeks for the new computer or 2 to 3 business days for the mother board, so I chose the repair.

Hope I hear from Dell soon and that this time they solve the problem.

 

I'm really liking this laptop, but I've got 2 issues with it, I'll be very grateful if anyone can help.

1. I have the I7 version, the temperature of the Geforce 435M hit 96C after 6 minutes of stress testing, is this too high?

2. I have the 640GB Samsung hard drive, I can hear it spinning louder than the fan on low, is this normal? If not is it fixable?

 

Glad you had a good customer care experience and hopefully your problem will get fixed with the motherboard repair.

Wish I could say the same about my phone call to Dell the other day. Thought I would go ahead and send mine back and forget about a new laptop all together for now. Here is a brief summary of my recent phone call to Dell.

The first person I talked to informed me there would be a restocking fee of x amount of dollars even though I'm well within the 21 day return period. I informed him that NO he was not going to charge me a restocking fee because the laptop is defective.

"Sir we have not determined that the unit is defective therefore you will be charged a restocking fee"

Alright then, lets get that determined.

"I will transfer you to tech support and after they determine that it is in-fact defective then you may return here and we will issue you a return authorization"

Transfer....

"bla bla bla, bla bla, bla bla. Oh, OK, I see, yes sir, I will now transfer you to XPS tech support"

Transfer...

"bla bla bla, bla bla, bla bla. Sir I am transferring you to the returns department" bla bla

Transfer...

"Bla bla bla,"

I cannot understand a word you are saying

"oh, sorry sir, this is the Spanish Tech support, please hold, I will transfer you"

Yeah, sure.

Transfer...

"bla bla bla"

Wait just a minute, look, I've been on the phone now with you people for almost two hours and you are giving me the run around. I've been transfered more than enough and I WANT TO RETURN MY TWO LAPTOPS I BOUGHT FROM YOU NOW!

"OK sir, i can help you with that, i am sorry to hear that you will be returning your purchases. However, a restocking fee for x amount will be applied."

NO MAM, one of my laptops is defective,

"oh, then we will need to determine that it is defective, I will transfer you"

LOOK, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE TRANSFERRING, YOU PEOPLE CAN'T GET IT RIGHT!

"sir I assure you this will be the last transfer and I will even remain on the line with you to be sure you are connected to the right person, can you hold for just a minute?

Oh, what the hell, sure I will hold

"sir i will offer you x amount of dollars credit to your account if you will keep the laptops"

Huh?

"yes sir"

OK, I'll take it.

At this point I was tired of being on the phone, waiting and getting the run around so I took the credit and now am returning the xps 15 for a exchange after is was determined on another long phone call that MY LAPTOP IS IN-FACT DEFECTIVE.

I have been a very satisfied Dell customer, IN THE PAST but, I can't say the same right now at this point. Maybe this new replacement will change that.

 

Beware, you must get a Credit Return Authorization within the first 21 days of receiving your laptop. My defective XPS-15 required a Dell Tech visit to my home within the first week of ownership. I was so upset with the way the Dell Tech carelessly disassembled my machine and scratched the bezel there was no way I was going to keep it. The parts Dell sent did not fix the problem and they offered me the same option: replace the motherboard or a new system but with a wait of 2-3 weeks. When I asked if the replacement machine had the same 21 day return policy they said no, I would not get the chance of returning the replacement if it was defective. I refused and requested the CRA. It's been returned and I already have the full amount I paid refunded.

 

Those dell techs that come out to your home get paid 11 bucks an hour. Just FYI.

Often they are not even a+ certified.


What I hate about dell is that even their sales staff is from India. I mean how cheap is that? lol.

 

Well, I am from India - No offense taken (currently in the US) but I do admit that whether it is sales or service, sometimes I do get irritated by them as well.

Then I realize their working conditions too. I have had a stint at that industry before coming to the US for my studies. They are usually swamped with calls, understaffed and entry level tech guys don't have a clue about certain products. Their managers are awful,they are paid peanuts in India and recently India is becoming expensive to live in as well due to inflation. I am sure once India's standard of living goes up, companies like Dell will move to cheaper locations.

If anyone is to blame, its the big corporations who only want to make profit and keep moving to cheaper and cheaper places and don't care about lower level employees or consumers.

A tip. Whenever I talk to these guys, I never show irritation or annoyance to them and remain as calm as possible. This has helped me a LOT in the past. Have the service tag ready. Tell them in clear detail all the troubleshooting you tried and why you think you need a replacement/repair. Some guys really want to help you and its like a lottery trying to get the right guy.

I had the Dell Inspiron 1420 before and it failed 3 times because of the faulty NVIDIA card. Initially I was tossed around by the support managers as well even though the lower level support guy wanted to help. Then I got fed up and made a video about the problem, sent them the link and told them what I was experiencing. I also told them I will be forwarding the tech support details to michael dell's corporate office with this link and how I was getting tossed around.

YouTube - Dell Inspiron GPU failing

Once the guy saw this, his voice lightened and showed it to his manager. Wanting to avoid embarassment, he immediately prioritized my repair and the laptop is working fine now. The message here is, you need to fight for your rights and not give up easily. Don't get irritated and annoyed and shout on the phone, NO ONE is going to help you if you do that.

As far as technicians are concerned, if you are confident that you can unscrew the laptop on your own, then do it. Just ask Dell for the parts and make up a story that you are a trained tech blah blah. They will be happy to just send you the part. Only when the motherboard is at fault do you need the tech to replace it since they have a little more clue as to what they are doing.

 

Hi guys,
I'm new. Just received my XPS15.
I got it without backlit keyboard (option not available in Europe).
Any chance I can buy one and replace?

 

if you can find one, you can easily replace it
dont think anyone is selling them at the moment though, should be in a couple of months hopefully..!

 

hi, i have got my xps15 15 days back. i have some queries regarding connectivity.
i want to connect projector having only VGA input. But dell does not sell accesories in India. they told me for Local market. in local market i've got HDMI to VGA converter, but no Result. other option i came across was Mini display port to VGA adapter. But that is not available in india yet. Apple store has Mini Display port to VGA Adapter. But Apple guy told me that'll work only for Apple products.
is it true?
What are the options for me?
even after having superb lappi everytime i've to borrow someone else lappi for presentations.

 

it is not that hard. just download the driver, unpack it. download the inf file and overwrite the original inside the driver folder, then run the setup.

 

Hey guys, first post here. I saw the new XPS and was interested, lurking on the forums here for the last month led me to pull the trigger when I found what I felt like was a fantastic deal.
EPP: Ordered 11/29 received 12/16 (Went from In Production to being delivered in two days!)
i5 460M, 4GB, 500GB HDD, GT 420M, Full 1080p screen, BD Combo, Intel 6200N, Backlit KB

I just wanted to share some of my thoughts:
-build quality seems fantastic, after close examination I can find no physical defects, gaps and tolerances all around the machine seem consistent.

-Reading about the screen hinges had me worried, they seem tight, and for what its worth they DO hold the screen tightly shut when held upside-down by the base unit.

-the SCREEN. WOW. As soon as the first Windows screen pops up you can tell how smooth and vibrant the display is. I have a high end plasma TV, and LCDs generally really bother me with black levels and fake looking color tones, this is quite possibly the best looking LCD panel I have ever seen. Black levels are great, colors really do seem deep and rich. Pixel density (1080p on a 15" come on!) is great providing more detail than your eye can make out from a few feet away. Compared to my friends brand new Studio 14 screen the saturation is great and the viewing angles are much much better.

-Text scaling: My first impressions were that it was easy enough to read, upon checking the scaling options I found that Dell had defaulted it to 125% which I feel like is a little too much. After trying several options, I feel like 115% is the best point for me between screen real estate and squinting. Everyone is going to have a different opinion here, but its great having 1080p gives you the flexibility.

-My fan also kicks on and cycles every 4-5 minutes, it is quiet enough that if there is any sound in the room it would be barely audible. Would be nice if there was more continuous speed ramping of the fan, but I don't see how this could be considered a defect.

-The speakers do sound better than most laptop speakers, I would have to say I am a little disappointed though. I prefer the WavesMax (whatever its called) to be OFF. It makes the sound too sharp, while making the mids sound too mushy. I know they aren't going to compare to the sound from my $2000 JBL Studio towers, but I really was hoping for much flatter response. But if you are the type that likes high highs, and low lows (for a laptop) with mostly a muddled mush in between then this is for you.

-My next step is to get alot of the crap that Dell puts on there off the system and then get the media stuff setup. I had a guide for setting up FFDshow and Haali splitter somewhere, now I can't find it. Anyone have a link?

-I'll be measuring my temps and battery life soon. Thats it for now!

 

The 1000 is standard in the US. I ordered the 6200. To tell which one you have you can either open the bottom cover and look at it or go into Device Manager and look under Network Adapters.

 

hey..i need help..when i keep my xps for charging current is passing thru my laptop n im kinda getting shock....i got it from us...n im using a convertor...is it a problem with my chrager ???
n its showing input at 2.5A....n converter has 5A to 5A on it....

 

So, what are your general thoughts on this laptop vs the old SXPS 1645? Has the throttling been fixed properly, does it perform better or worse, any other design flaws?

Just asking since I'm probably receiving this as a replacement for my throttling SXPS and not really interested in having to go through the same annoyance again. I've been really happy with my SXPS, apart from the throttling obviously. The design of the new XPS doesnt seem that attractive from the pictures.. How does the screen compare vs RGBLED?

 

Just got mine. Can anyone comment on the elasticity/flex of the palmrest up and to the right of the touchpad, about right under the CTRL/ALT keys? Mine seems to have quite a bit of give/movement in that area, whereas the left hand side is solid. Is anyone else's like that as well?

 

I got mine two days ago. The first problem I noticed is that the optical drive is not fixed properly, there is also flex on the top-left part of the keyboard. Do I need to call Dell or should I try to fix it myself? Did anyone had similar issues?

 

Can people open the laptop lid with one hand without having to keep a hand on the bottom part?

I have to place a hand on the bottom and then lift the lid open with the other hand.

I was hoping that the bottom half would be heavy enough so I could open the lid with one hand.

 

Thanks, but I don't have that software installed so that is not causing the problem for me.

 

Finally got a chance to use the laptop. Amazing screen and speakers!

Quick question, the laptop keeps hibernating after 30 minutes in Dell mode, but I switched it so that it wouldn't sleep or hibernate ever while plugged in. Yet it persists and is annoying because I leave it on for downloads. Any ideas?

EDIT: Issue resolved (probably)

 

My optical drive does not open properly either. It will click when I hit the eject key but otherwise doesn't move, I have to then lift the laptop to pull the tray out completely.

 

Anyone playing Black OPS with i5/420M?

I have my 420M OC'd to 650/800, stock 435M speeds, not getting great results, 1280x720 everything set as default, no AA, dell drivers.

Getting a lot of stuttering, just about playable, no artifacts, max GPU temp 71C, CPU 73/74C.

Anyone else experiencing this or does anyone have recommended settings?

 

Does anyone know?

 

I'm very pleased with my XPS 15 but I'm encountering one problem. When I'm just surfing on the internet (or just typing in Word) my fan is audible but not annoying. When I start up a youtube movie the fan kicks in and is clearly noticeable (quite annoying really). Do other users also experience this or is this not normal? I thought that playing movies om youtube doesn't stresses the notebook!

I'm using the XPS 15 with the i5-460m processor btw.

 

Bluetooth Stereo Headphones
I am looking for some Bluetooth headphones to listen to Internet radio while I sit in my chair reading my favorite newspapers on my XPS 15. Is anyone using Bluetooth stereo headphones that they are happy with?

 

Hey guys, i'm outta myself, just received my XPS yesterday!! After almost 2 months!! I placed my order on Oct-22nd... after being cancelled 2 times by dell and then modified by me to upgrade the screen, mi l501 is finally here!!!

I took the i7 740; 435m, 4gb ram, 500hdd, 9 cell batt. and the 1080p screen.

So far i can tell:

1- Its damn huge!!!!! Ok, understand me, i got teally used to my good old HP dv4!... I knew it was a sort of large sized laptop, but wasn´t expecting it to be THAT large and bulky, and becomes a bit more heavy considering the 9-cell batt; but of course, form the beggining it´s a 15,6, and the 16:9 format (against my old 16:10) does make it wider; anyway you can tell they weren´t really concerned into making a thin and stylish laptop, but more like an all-terrain multimedia center.

2-Looks better in pictures: looking at the first pictures at dell´s official site, the l501´s design took a long while to grow up on me; but as i said, not a beauty; out of the box, i can tell, it´s a kinda weird stuff, looks dull, in part because everything has matte finishes (wich is good for the fingerprints) and meybe we are used to this "shiny beautifull gadgets" filosophy, in part because it´s all raunded and soft, in part because its robust and bulky, at a first impression, looks kinda old school, but looking at detail, old school lappys weren´t like this. I think its the materials and round shapes treatment. The inspironR series are very similar, but they look better than XPS's.

3-It feels very solid: a lot of aluminium and hard lastic, design may be kinda null, with no fancy details, but taking a close look at all the joints and encounters between the parts, and the way the covers are designed (it´´s not apples unibody, but bottom cover ie. is mae of only 2 parts), it´s greatly built, maybe not a rugged laptop, but you can handle it without excessive care, and that´s very good if you´re always on the go.

4-The screen... OMG, the screen... its just damn great!! I never expected it to be that shiny, shapr, accurate, and forced-view angles capabel, i just love it. I use it at 100% windows size, i don´t care if characters look small, if icons look small (only zoomed the desktop icons, but just for aesthetics), it's really pleasent to my eyes. Yes, reds are freakingly vibrant; i know this is not accurate, but i like it, so i´ll only change it when i need it.

5-Sound: Hails JBL!! Sound is very accurate, great definition, every detail can be listened, maxx audio dos a perfect job when i comes to surround effects, and the subwoofer really kicks out low frequencies!! I may sound a little bit exaggerated, but i said all this considering that we are in front of a laptop! There was a rule before this lappy that said "laptop's sound sucks" but this is definetly THE exception. Then again, the EQ presets and mode presets of maxx work perfectly, personally i like to listen to music using the "voice" modce with "rock-hard" EQ preset.

6-Trackpad: awesome, very big, nice surface, very accurate tracking and i like a lot the gesture-enabled features and their ease to use.

7-Keyboard: feels solid, great for work but it´s mushy.. anyway, i tink my opinion doesn+t count as my favorite keyboard of all time was the old dv4's (i dont´even like apples or any modern chiclet styled from any brand).

8-Noise & temp: left side palmrest is always a little warm, get´s a little bit warmer when installing apps (it´s all i did since i don´t have 64 bits software to try i just tealized that!), but it's aluminium, it transfers a lot of heat through it´s surface, so it's understandable; lots of warm air coming out from the vent, wich i suppuse is good because that heat is not staying inside the system, and the fan has kinda 3 o 4 working levels and sometimes you can hear it, sometimes you can´t; maybe (if i get the courage) i´ll do a repaste job, but i prefer not to touch it

9-Performance: i can´t tell!! O only have colin mc rae dirt (it´s the only game i play, i don´t really like games) and seems not to work in 64bit win 7... and all of the software i use (solidworks, vray, hypershot, etc etc etc) are 32-bit versions... i'm not making benchmark test neither, because i'm only interested with the final results: managin very very large solidworks assemblies, very large corel compositions, and real-time rendering with short final renderings time. I tkink i´m getting all of that with the i7 anyway.

So, i can now tell, i LOVE this laptop, i don´t care if it´s heavy, bulky and dull, because in the same way it feels very robust and well made, and it doesn´t need a lot of care for scratches and stains; i can take a lot of power wherever i go, with good battery life thanks to the extended pack.
Performance expected to be excellent, and multimedia and interface capabilities (screen, sound, trackpad) just blowed me out!!!!

THANKS to this forum becuse while i was waiting for to receive my XPS, i read a lot of comments that mede me be sure to not asking for a refound (wich was one option due to the order's cancellation by dell) and to modify my order tu upgrade the screen.

Sorry for the lengt, he.

 

Anyone else having problems with their laptop where it goes to sleep even tho you have set it on the performance power setting? I've got sleep set to never when plugged in, but it still goes to sleep.

 

Hi Guys! I 've just got mine laptop today, and noticed that there was no remote control included with the system(only the adapter and the antenna). I ordered the system with 2gb 435M with tv tuner. just wonder if this is normal that this system does not come with remote control or dell forgot to include one for me . Thank you for your input.

my spec:
dell XPS 15 L501x
I7 740qm
Nvidia GT 435M 2gb graphic with TV tuner
9 cell battery
1920x1080 screen

 

Sadly, it does. If I were you, I would check to make sure the dedicated graphics is not waking up to accelerate the video; if it's just YouTube, the integrated graphics should be fine.

Aside from that, you can try disabling hardware acceleration so that the video is decoded through your CPU and not either of the GPU; I don't know what this would do for temperatures, but I do know that this isn't the ideal way to go about this. It saves energy, but the video won't play as well and the processor will boost up almost all the way.

You can also make sure you're not lying in bed watching YouTube with the vent obstructed or something like that.

 

hey..i need help..when i keep my xps for charging current is passing thru my laptop n im kinda getting shock....i got it from us...n im using a convertor...is it a problem with my chrager ???
n its showing input at 2.5A....n converter has 5A to 5A on it....

 

Hi, yeah whenever the Nvidia Graphics card is turned on the fan comes on too. So just select integrated graphics for IE under Manage 3D settings in the Nvidia Control Panel even 1080p youtube vids play fine with the integrated graphics!