Dell XPS 15 L501 *Owner's Lounge*

Check the main post. turn off power smart in the facial recognition software

 

Thanks for suggestion! That's really strange - you think power of sound card is being turned off for that disruption?

 

What kind of battery life is everyone getting for the new XPS 15 with a core i7?

 

Depends, 2 hours when watching videos with brightness at 50% and WiFi on.
3.5 hours at 50% brightness with WiFi on and just doing MS Office and research online.

 

I recognized that the google Chrome icon on the desktop becomes.. idk how to put this.. low-resolution-scaled.
I mean, other browers like ie for firefox's icon is sharp and clean, but the Chrome icon is as if its magnified from a small scale to a large scale.
Is it like that for you guys too?

And about the Dell Theme.. I tried changing the theme, but the font type and size seems to stay as it was. It's kinda too small and hard for me to read off. Especially when reading off the website. Maybe this is cuz I'm just not used to the 1080p resolution yet?

 

If you use Firefox, your text will be bigger, try it out. I did not do any changes, I think Dell theme does something to Firefox to make the fonts bigger.

Also the chrome icon is messed up alittle.

 

Hmm... i guess I'll have to move on from chrome now

 

One more thing:

Did any of you guys notice how all the websites "shrink" in scale?
It's my first time using a 1920 resolution, so I may be talking noob, but all the websites (facebook, gmail, etc) are all REALLY tiny... My eyes don't hurt from reading off it, but it just makes it a bit of a burden...

And to those who worry about battery: just turn off the facial recognition. It'll save you a lot of battery usage. (I get 4+ hours)

 

How do you know if your on nividia or other graphics card?

 

go to the nvidia control panel, and u can check off "show notification icon" or smth like that. it'll show you when it's using or not

 

I formatted the drive and did a clean install with my own copy of Win 7 Ultimate and it was kind of a mess, none of the hardware was recognized. Including the 6200 wireless so I couldn't go online to update anything. The dell driver disk wouldn't work (kept saying that I had the 64 bit vers of windows installed) and most of the drivers were for the 32 bit version??

I've never used Windows 7 before so I was kind of lost.

I used my other laptop to get the wireless driver and then updated everything else.

The only thing that isn't working is the fn keys for the screen brightness. I mean they work but the graphic doesn't pop up anymore to show what the brightness is set on. Is that dell software and what do I need to install to get it back?

I'm also a bit confused about the graphics. Does it just switch by itself? When I was loading all the drivers it said you need to install the integrated driver before you install the Nvidia one, which I did.

On a bright note, the screen is beautiful so I'm very happy with that!

 

There was some notification type of thing in the control panel so I turned it on but when I went was on battery mode, I couldnt tell if it was on Nividia or not.....still not sure how to find out which card it is on

 

Someone can test the maximum temperature for an i5 with XPS 15 ?
I saw 70° for an i7. It would be great if we can compare the 2 processors.
Thanks

 

jetcity- download and install Dell Quickset.

 

sprtnbsblplya-

did u notice any of the websites being shrunk...? it's getting quite a bit annoying...

 

-=-=-=-
If scaling the font to 150% doesn't do it for you, then you could try changing the resolution. My laptop is 1680x1050 but it's too high of a resolution for me sometimes, so i drop the resolution to 1280x768. the laptop screen always looks better at native resolution, but for me, i can deal with the lower resolution in exchange for it being easier on my eyes.

 

Thank you!

 

Im wanting to buy an extra adapter for my XPS 15, and Dell doesn't have their parts section updated yet. Anyone with a XPS 15 with i7 740 know what adapter they have? Thanks!

 

a big one - 130W and output current is 6.7A

 

Same 130w adapter as the current 15" Latitude E series.

 

Great, thanks! That's what I though, just wanted to double check before I ordered it. So it would be this one here, right?

130 Watt Adapter

 

That looks like mine. P/N in UK is CM161, which probably isn't helpful at all

 

Wow, not cheap for a mains brick

 

I still dont know how to know if I am on nvidia card or other card, can someone help?

 

Indeed. This one 1/3 the price.

 

That's more like it .

 

Let's say I had 1k and that i could buy the xps configured to game (420m..)

OR

I could buy a PS3, Xbox 360 AND ipod touch...

Which would you choose and why?


Also let's say you already have a laptop but it has intel integrated graphics and a core i5 460m... and a first gen ipod touch.


Of course, all of this is hypothetical

 

Thanks for this thread! Subscribed for when I receive mine.

 

If your looking for gaming .. and all the games are on the PS3 or XBOX that you want to play , and you have a nice TV .. I'd go that route.. sounds like your laptop isn't very old with an i5 ..

1k won't get ya an XPS 15 with i7 and goodies . at least in Canada.

M

 

Is a 130w needed?

I have 4 90w 's kicking around from my 1533 are these going to work?

M

 

They will charge the laptop (assuming they have the same connector) but your laptop may (and probably will) throttle when gaming or using intensive programs with a 90 watt adapter. But it will be fine if you use it for travel and are just browsing the web or using Office applications.

 

Has there been any update on that thermal paste application guide someone mentioned? I think ninja was putting it together?

 

Right click on the desktop and go to the Nvidia control panel. Click on Manage 3D settings. From there you go to Preferred Graphics Processor and choose either Auto select, High Performance Nvidia, or Integrated. You can set it either globally or for specific programs.

 

Thanks for this.

I hope there was a better way to switch the graphics card, because if I go on battery, it shows no notification that it has changed the graphics card to intel from nvidia, and the same for when I go on plugged in charger.

In my previous laptops it always showed notification and showed which graphics card the laptop was on.

 

Mine is showing right now in the notification area that it's on integrated.

Oh, and I'm on battery right now.

 

Well, first ask yourself if you want a laptop to play games only or if you want to play games when you aren't working with auto/math/psi+lab and other heavy utilities at the same time while you are travelling. XD

If your answer was the later, I think the upgrade might worth it.

If you answer the first one, I will say it isn't worth it. But instead of buying all that, I will say buy a great tv and then buy either PS3 or Xbox.

But this is only my opinion. XD

 

I turned on "Display icon in notification are"

Can you tell me where it says your on integrated when on battery?

I am on battery now.

Also when changed to battery, the laptop does not automatically go to power saving mode.....

 

I concur - I got the standard 720p screen as the upgrade was expensive and I wanted to be able to do some moderate gaming, so a lower res will help frame rates.

So far I'm rather impressed. The screen is of good quality and suits the machine well. I've no doubt a 1080p screen is better if you have the money, but the standard screen does the job.

 

I did a clean install of Windows 7 and loaded all the drivers myself... I don't know if that has made a diff in our notifications. I only had the preloaded version on for 10 mins and didn't pay attention to any of the graphics or power settings.

That said, my notification area is showing integrated when on battery or plugged in because I haven't been running anything that would need the Nvidia graphics.

In the Nvidia control panel there's a power management drop down that I have set to adaptive. Also click on help there's a lot of info about optimus settings.

 

So does anyone else get any distortion in the bass when listening to music?
The JBL speakers are awesome but every now and then there is crackling in the sub when listening to music.

Also, as from my other thread, when I turn the unit on there is muffled popping coming from the sub when not listening to music or anything.

Hopefully Dell will just have a driver fix.

This machine is amazing other than that, rip-roaring fast. Even my MBP-owning friends in class are impressed with it.

 

How do I know which programs, displays, and videos are using the NVIDIA high-performance GPU?
Click the NVIDIA GPU Activity icon in the Windows notification area. The window indicates:

Which displays and video are accelerated using the NVIDIA high-performance GPU.

Which display connections are driven by the NVIDIA high-performance GPU.

If there is no GPU Activity icon, click View from the NVIDIA Control Panel menu bar and select Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area. (See Using the View Menu)

 

75-80C under load on my xps 15. I suspect dell did an especially crappy job with the paste.

 

I think after finals I might apply some aftermarket paste, not sure which one to choose yet. I love to tinker...

 

Is it CPU stress only or CPU+GPU stress ?

 

CPU runs hotter than the GPU. But it was done using the usual stress tests. furmark, 3dmark etc.

 

ok. So if you only run OCCT or prime95 the temperature must be lower.

Thanks for the info

 

If that's indeed the reason, it's rather shocking that they allow such bad workmanship in the first place and, worse still, not check and rectify it before shipping. Or maybe they think allowing an i5 to run as hot as an i7 is acceptable

Out of interest, is shoddy cpu thermal compound pasting commonplace amongst laptop manufacturers or likelier to happen with Dell?

 

As clearly do a lot of the enthusiasts who visit this forum.

Yet I reckon that the vast majority of XPS customers would not have the confidence to do it- nor should they be expected to.

 

I think they are running within the recommended heat ranges , or it would be a big problem and dell would not have released the great number that are out and being shipped currently.
I think it comes down to people wanting them to run cooler.. and wanting to tinker and repaste the CPU and GPU .

My XPS 1533 ran flawless for 2.5 years without a repaste , and yet I read on the forums about mobo's being replaced 2 and 3 times due to heat issues..
This could be a matter of maintenance as well , I cleaned the heat vent paths every 3 months on it.
And it is an automated assembly line I think , so errors do happen there as well.

M

 

Well now they aren't shipping them. My order amongst all the other 15's and 17's at least in Canada and US are on hold from engineering due to heat issues with the palmrest.