Dell XPS 15 L501 *Owner's Lounge*

It all comes down to what MajestyZ said, its a personal preference, I paid extra for the 1080p screen only based on the fact that I need all the extra screen real estate because I like to have multiple programs open when I am programming and doing my work in Illustrator and I like to see as much information on the screen as I can. When I have lines upon lines of code in front of me, the less scrolling I have to do the better and the same applies for when I am doing my design stuff. I do not play games, but I imagine, if I were going to use this laptop to play games the 768p would be better as it would perform better at the native resolution (I do not know, I am still waiting on mine to be shipped)

It comes down to YOUR personal preference, some of my friends who do the same stuff as me find the 1080p too small, I tried to set my monitor to 768p to see if I could work with it, but to me it was waaaay too frustrating.

So you guys need to figure out what is important to you for your needs and go ahead with that. Basically it comes down to the fact that the 1080p screen is probably a better screen in terms of display quality, but to some people it wouldn't really make a difference and not worth the money while to some (like me) just the amount of screen real estate alone makes a world of difference, honestly I couldn't care less about games cause I don't really play much, I have a PS3 for that.

 

I agree with the personal preference bit. The problem that one or two of us here have is that the technocrats on this forum seem to think the FHD screen is the best choice for everyone. I was just surprised to see how good my standard screen is, except for the points I mentioned (screen aspect ratio and viewing at an angle). For the UK purchaser £170 for the upgrade (sorry to bang on about it - but it is an important factor) plus the requirement for a bluray dvd upgrade to watch 1080p movies is rather steep for a 15 inch laptop.

If people feel they want the FHD screen at the upgrade cost then fine. I just wanted to put the argument for the standard screen. That is all. Sorry if I offended anyone by doing so.

 

Not offended and I totally understand that you were trying to state your opinion, and its great to have opinions about the different options available, believe me I understand, when I was looking at the Envy 14 all I ever saw was how great the 900p radiance display screen is and no mention of the regular screen which is the only one now available. We are glad to have your opinion, however to me it seems like both of you guys were defending your sides as though it was personal .

At the end of the day the fact is that most of the XPS 15 will be sold with the regular screen, because most people don't really see the need for it, but there are a couple of us for which the screen fulfills a specific need so we would go with that option. The thing is the few of us who do see the benefit of the upgraded screen are the people who are more likely to be on these forums posting and as a result you would get a sort of skewed view about the needs of a regular users vs a more advanced user who cares about every single detail about his / her laptop.

Would I recommend the upgraded screen for a regular user who just surfs the web and does simple office docs? Definitely not, it would be a waste of money. Would I recommend it for a graphic designer ? Yes I would and even then those guys might scoff at this screen because of things like Color Gamut (which I have no idea about).

 

Has anyone ordered with a TV Tuner card?

I am in two minds whether to order the laptop with a TV Tuner but the thing that I’m not sure about is whether the supplied mini antenna will be sufficient enough to receive channels or whether I would need a proper rooftop antenna?

Anyone have any ideas?

 

To add some clarity here

I don't personally have an XPS 15 - but I'm using the full HD WLED 1080p screen on my Studio XPS 16 and here are my two cents. All my roommates however use 768p screen so I'll give you a comparative perspective

1. Text
Sharper. Much. Pleasure to read on this screen. Downside - some applications (Skype, Tweetdeck, Google Chrome) don't read the Windows set font size settings, which causes text to be small. I remedy this is in Chrome using an extension called AutoZoom - fixes everything.

2. Color gamut
Amazing. Miles ahead of the standard 768p screen. Very vibrant. Pictures and movies are an absolute joy.

3. Contrast ratio
Amazing. Higher than the MBP. The 768p screen is nowhere close.

If you guys need even more material to read up on regarding the screen, have a look at the Anandtech review here
Dell XPS L501x: An Excellent Mainstream Notebook - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

The guys have thoroughly put the screen through its paces. Should help you make your decision.

My opinion - get the full HD screen. Totally worth the money you're paying for it. And if you're going to use it as a multimedia computer, as most of you probably are, it is indispensable, even without the Bluray drive.

For gamers, well, I haven't used the Nvidia Geforce GT 435M myself, but a good compromise if your games aren't running well at native res is to play at 1600x900 resolution. Best of both worlds. No noticeable decrease in sharpness, because of the small size of the screen, and huge increase in framerates.

Hope this helps

 

I'm having an issue with my screen... it happened once a week ago and I just thought it was a weird glitch but then it just happened again.

Issue: I'm using my laptop on battery power (fully charged) and all of the sudden the screen starts going dim, like someone is hitting the down brightness key (it's not the same as when you're not touching the computer and it dims a little for battery saving).

It keeps dimming so low that I can hardly see the text. If I hit the up brightness key it does nothing. After about 2 mins it starts getting brighter by itself and it's finally back to where it was.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it the screen itself or a software issue?

 

Looks like no one has ordered a TV Tuner?

Anyway, from reading more into the TV Tuner dilemma, I have decided against it as I have read that an internal TV Tuner sucks up battery life quick and may even draw power when not switched on.

So I am not going to sacrifice battery life for a bit of TV.

 

Thank you MajestyZ, spawn782, and mrhohoha for giving some of your time
in replying. It's much appreciated.

Yes, the Anandtech review is one my main references
regarding the gaming performance of the GT420M/GT435M.

My other reference points are from other websites that classify
the GT420M/GT435M in a class of GPUs below the ATI 5850 and
in the range of the ATI 5650 and ATI 5730. So whatever gaming
performance that the ATI 5650/5730 achieves, it can be determined it
will be less or close to those results.

The Anandtech review just confirms what Pontius Navigator
has stated, in which I agree also, that the GT420M/GT435M performs
at their best in a 1366x768 resolution.

Any higher resolution,
performance suffers and settings have to be lowered.

As the Anandtech review states...

"Wrapping up the gaming and graphics charts, we've got the high quality 900p comparisons and 3DMark—both comparisons
equally "useful". Three of the games (DiRT 2, L4D2, and Mass Effect 2) come close to the 30FPS mark but fall just short.
All of the remaining titles are far below the playable mark, with dips into the teens and even single digits.
The 420M can get a few of the test games to break 30FPS at 768p and high detail settings, but it's simply inadequate for
1080p—or even 900p—gaming with the most recent releases. 335M maintains a slight lead at high settings, but it's mostly
academic as neither GPU is really able to handle our high settings."

 

My XPS 15 did the exact same thing while on battery power! I thought the screen had gone bad but it came back slowly. Not a good feeling. It's only done it once so far.

 

Thanks for your reply... at least it's not just me I guess I'll have to call dell if it keeps happening.

 

Well guys, I've gone and done it.

Just pulled the trigger on an XPS 15 with Core i5-460M, 4GB RAM, 500 GB HD, and the 1080p display.

Decided not to go with the TV Tuner in the end as have read stories of battery life suffering due to internal TV Tuners.

I will be primarily using it for movies and tv shows (mkv), youtube (1080p), flash based video content, occassional gaming, itunes, surfing, comic reading. MSN.

Decided to go for the 1080p display due to using it for watching HD movies.

Can't wait for my new laptop now. I have had a XPS M1330 for the last 18 months and have been waiting a long time for a replacement and this is the first laptop I have seen that caught my eye.

Does anyone know how the graphics card compares to the GT 335 in the Alienware M11X? Is it better or inferior?

 

New BIOS has been released!!

I was on the phone getting my Dell XPS 15 replaced due to high fan noise and running all the time and they told me new BIOS has been released.

I got the replacement anyway if the BIOS does not fix the problem.

I cannot download it though........some problems.

 

I've heard there are a few driver kinks when doing a fresh OS install. Anyone who has done that have any tips on what to look for? As soon as I back up the drivers on a disc, I'm planning on installing a new HDD and upgrading Windows, so any tips to save time would be helpful!

 

The drivers I had on disk wouldn't open... try to get the wifi driver from dell.com and put it on a USB just in case.

Also, you're supposed to install the Intel integrated driver before you install the nVidia one (if you have an optimus supported card).

 

Quoting from Notebookcheck...

GT420M

"the GT 420M performed on average between a GeForce GT 330M and GT 335M.
Due to the higher shader count of the GT 420M, the performance could improve with future driver releases."

"The gaming performance of the GT 420M is sufficient for medium detail settings in modern games like
Battlefield Bad Company 2. Less demanding games should run in high detail settings. The best resolution to choose
is about 1360x768 (typo, should be 1366x768) due to the limited performance."

GT435M

"The performance of the GeForce GT 435M is intended to be on a level of the Mobility Radeon HD 5730 in the upper middle
class (in 2010)."

The GT435M is ranked below the ATI 5730 in their charts.

So we can cross reference the GT435M with the ATI 5730/5650 range....

"The Mobility Radeon HD 5730 offers a very good price-performance ratio in playing current titles.
Compared to the Nvidia midrange GT 330M, the HD 5730 clearly sets itself apart."

"The performance should be a bit better than a GeForce GTS 250M in the middle-performance class.
This means all modern games (of 2009) should run fluently on this graphics card in medium to high detail settings
with lower resolution settings (e.g. 1366x768)."

"The Radeon HD 5650 delivers very good gaming performance at a resolution of 1366 x 768, so that a lot of current games
can run with high details and activated extras (such as the AA & AF)."

"The current Nvidia competition (GeForce GT 330M & GT 335M) is beaten most of the time by the Radeon graphics card,
so gamers looking for a middle-class card should look for an ATI one."

"Currently the HD 5650 is a good gaming pick for well priced laptops with a 15 inch screen and a resolution of about 1366x768."

Quoting again from Anandtech.....

The 420M can get a few of the test games to break 30FPS at 768p and high detail settings, but it's simply inadequate for
1080p—or even 900p—gaming with the most recent releases. 335M maintains a slight lead at high settings, but it's mostly
academic as neither GPU is really able to handle our high settings.

Since the GT435M is just a higher clocked GT420M, that Anandtech reference can be the same for the GT435M.


EDIT:

Since not a single FHD B+RG LED screen owner here cares to respond
to my simple question if the FHD can downscale
to 1366x768 (without pixelation/blurriness), then I'll base my purchasing
decision from other websites.

If I had an FHD B+RG LED screen and someone needed advice about it, I would gladly answer
a simple question. I guess that's not the general feeling in this Dell forum.

 

Updated. Seems to do with the Discrete Graphics switching according to Dell's info.

About 2 minutes after updating the BIOS fast Access wanted to update as well. the download is going slooow though.

 

I have ordered mine with a TV Tuner (UK) as I thought I might as well have a "Fully Loaded" system. My experience with older TV tuner cards on Desktops has been that it needs full rooftop aerials to give a good signal. However I have seen TV tuner equipped Laptops in use this year ( no idea of make/models) with small portable aerials that have given perfectly adequate reception with just occasional digital break up and pixelation, so hoping this will be the case with the XPS 15's

 

Well the wife got me one for christmas so its still in the box. Sounds like i got a pretty good laptop. mine was base config with no options. just going to play WoW and SC2. Keep all the good info coming!!!

 

How come you know what your present is?

 

When I try to install BIOS A4 I get the following error:

The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what may be wrong?!?!

 

His wife must be santa

 

I can't even download it. Dell's download manager just says "there is no file to download". How are you guys getting it?

Edit: nvm, chrome doesn't like dell. I just used IETab and it worked fine. I uninstalled IE from my computer, it's a nuisance.

 

I had posted earlier about this and am posting again -

What drivers are the ppl who have re-installed their OSs using to install the - GT 435M & Intel WiFi Link 6200 (802.11a/g/n)?

Also, please enlighten about the drivers for best output for the touchpad & the motherboard / chipset?

What install order has been used for optimal performance?

Any help appreciated!!

 

I was going to order it with the TV Tuner card but decide against it after haearing reports of internal TV Tuners eating away at battery life even when the tuner is not in use.

 

I used all the ones listed on Dell's website.

 

Does anyone know where it is assembled? For Europe, DELL used to do it in Ireland.

 

For Europe in Shanghai

 

Hi guys! I’ve been following the XPS thread for a while now and have a few questions so please bear with me! I guessed the owners lounge is the best place to ask as I can get first hand experience.

I’m looking to order an XPS 15 with the FHD screen as I do a lot of graphic design work using adobe packages. I don’t game (I have a PS3 for that) and as my last laptop is over 5 years old I’m a little unfamiliar with what the current processors can do.

I was thinking of going with the i5 560 with 4g of ram.
1) Would this be adequate for my purposes? How do those of you who have this processor feel with it?
2) I’m slightly worried as most people in here have been having heating problems, mostly with this processor (sometimes getting hotter than the i7). Is this a processor issue or just a coincidence that thermal paste has been incorrectly applied with these configs?
3) The jump in price from 4g to 6g of ram is £160 ($250) and this seems vastly overpriced to me. Would it be easy to buy ram afterwards for cheaper? Has anyone here done this?
4)Also finally this is just a question in general regarding Sandy Bridge. Is it worth waiting for or will it bump up the prices a lot for a small difference in output?

Right now I can get a i5 560, 4g Ram, 500gb, FHD screen and Blu-ray player for £766 inc delivery which is about 140 less than the same with i7. Is it worth the extra money?

Thanks everyone,
Adrian

 

Just got my XPS 15 with i7 and FHD. Doing a clean install in order to get w7 pro now.

The sound is just amazing. Unlike anything I have ever heard from a laptop. I'm very impressed with the build quality. I'm liking this a lot.

For reference:
My previous computer was a 3 years old Macbook Pro.
I'm just hoping that my revert back to windows will go smothly now. =)

 

^I routinely use both Mac & PC.

The only thing that gets annoying is switching between ctrl and cmd since their placement are different.

I use to be diehard OSX but I'm not a fan anymore tbqh. I much prefer Windows 7 now but I still use Mac for certain things.

 

Hi guys, I just want to ask the owners some question regarding the ship date, if I may. Were your units delivered on the exact date stated on the website? I'm planning to place my order but was told the ship date will be on 12/21. I'll be leaving on the 27th, I just want to verify if I can still get the unit before I leave. Thanks guys.

 

I am suppose to receive a replacement laptop due to fan issues in the laptop, they said I will get an email with the info about the replacement laptop, but I did not get anything today.

Someone know how the replacement suppose to work?

 

Yes, to that. And I miss the two finger right click...

 

For any Norwegian readers:

A few weeks or so ago there was information on dell.no that this laptop had a illuminated keyboard. That information is now removed.
Dell does not (currently at least) supplying illuminated, nowergian, keyboards.

 

I've got some "tearing" effects when i'm playing video files with vlc.
Do you know how to correct that ?

 

I actually got mine a day earlier. But I live in Austin, TX where Dell is located.

 

Just got my replacement XPS 15 for the subwoofer/audio crackling issues (light popping when no audio is playing after waking, from prior threads on this topic).
This is now the system I have been looking forward to, not a single flaw in it. The audio in my old one was the only problem with the old one.
This is one bad@$% system now, rocking out the way it was supposed to be right now...

 

Okey, I finished doing a clean install a little while ago. Going thru my system now I see that the Intel Turbo Boost is repporting an issue. When I check the driver it states that it is up to date. Still it's not working.

My cpu is the i7 740QM.

I used the drivers from Dells website.

Any idea what could be wrong?

 

Yes, Pontius Navigator, that is also my assumption that the image quality is degraded (pixelated/blurred) when the FHD B+RG LED screen is downscaled to 1366x768.

Since not a single FHD B+RG LED screen owner here is willing to confirm or deny this,
then the FHD B+RG LED screen is not good for gaming in a 1366x768 resolution.

Thank you mrhohoha for your suggestion of 1600x900.

But the Anandtech review states otherwise,

" The 420M can get a few of the test games to break 30FPS at 768p and high detail settings, but it's simply inadequate for
1080p—or even 900p—gaming with the most recent releases. 335M maintains a slight lead at high settings, but it's mostly
academic as neither GPU is really able to handle our high settings."

Since the GT435M is just an overclocked GT420M, the same can be said for this GPU.

This is one of the reasons why I'm insistent to know the FHD B+RG LED screen's downscaled
1366x768 quality before I purchase an XPS 15.

 

Most people who ordered during/after mid-November seem to be getting their machines ahead of the EDD. Those prior to mid-November seemed to have delays because of part shortages/engineering issues.

I ordered mine from Dell Canada on November 15th, and it had an EDD of December 7th. Mine ended up shipping from Austin, TX on Nov. 26 and I should have it by tomorrow, so it definitely is scheduled to arrive before the EDD.

 

I've tried to update the BIOS but when I open the file I get a message 'The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you;re running. etc etc. What the hell is this? anyone else get this? I'm running the win7 that came as stock.

 

Regardless of what anyone says about the date they received theirs all i would say to you is that its a gamble, I haven't got mine yet but it seems to be on time so far, but somebody that ordered a different spec on the same day as me has an EDD 10 days later therefore noone on here can really give you a yes or no answer and i suggest you speak to Dell and get some assurances. Also make arrangements for it to be returned for you if things do not work out.

Good luck.

 

anyone tried to upgrade the HHD yet? SSD?

I wonder how hard it is to open and get access to the HHD?

 

I put an intel 160gb ssd in my xps 15. It was very easy to do. Download the service manual for instructions but in summary:
remove battery.
remove 1 screw under battery compartment that secures palmrest.
pop the two palmrest tabs in battery well.
from the top (near the screen) slowly prise up palm reast/surround, from top down sides to bottom (it is clearly oulined in manual).
Be careful not to pull too hard as touchpad and sensor ribbon cables are attached.
You now have full access to the hard drive caddy

 

So how is your machine after a few weeks-happy with it?

 

After talking to dell tech. support I installed the driver from the CD instead. Now the "Intel Technology Turbo Boost Driver" vanished from Device Manager -> System Devices all together.

When trying to stress the CPU (encoding video, creating zip archives etc) the highest readings from the Intel gadget is 2,8GHz, shouldn't it go all the way to 2,93GHz?

 

Hey all the XPS owners out there!
i have decided on buying a dell xps 15 L501X with this config in India:
XPS L501X
Intel® Core? i7-740QM Processor (1.73GHz, 4Core/8Threads, turbo boost up to 2.93Ghz, 6M
cache)
15.6 FHD (1920x1080) B+RGLED display with TrueLife?
Anodized Aluminium LCD Back Cover (WLAN)
4GB (2GBx2) 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Tray Load Blu-ray BD-ROM / DVD + /-RW Combo Drive
Intel Wireless Driver(6200/6300)
2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 435M graphics with Bluetooth
Waves MaxxAudio V3.0 audio enhancements software
Intel WiFi Link 6200 (802.11a/g/n) Half Mini-card
Dell? Backlit Keyboard with Touchpad (English)
Genuine Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64bit (English)
McAfee(R) Security Center - 30 Days Trial Version
1-year XPS Premier Service with 1-year CompleteCover

My budget is 70k INR(thats around $1500).
i am a moderate gamer and i want it mainly for games like NFS shift, COD black ops and crysis, far cry 2 stuff. can i pay these games with medium-high resolution with this config?
please suggest if this config will suffice. should i go for a 6 GB or 8 GB RAM upgrade?
how much difference will it make if i choose core i7 840 QM processor which is costing around 27k INR (around $600) more?

PS: i would appreciate it if any of you notebook geeks could advice.

 

Still loving it. Have had fun and games at home with my little one so not had a great deal of time to play but since re-pasting the GPU and adding an intel 160gb SSD the laptop has been astounding!

I have clocked my machine to 800/1600/1000 which has been rock solid stable. For RTS games I have been playing DOW2/RUSE/COH/SC2/SupComm2 at 1080p high settings without a single stutter.
For FPS games BFBC2/MOH 2010/COD BO I have been playing @ 720p with high settings and AA/AF which still looks amazing. The panel scales much better than any previous laptop I have owned.

Also been doing a fair bit of handbrake encoding and so very glad I got the i7 now, the battery life is only 2 hours with my 6cell but man does it cut my encoding times down.

The only thing I have found as a small negative is it feels much bigger than my envy 15, and I find it too big to use as a mobile machine so it just stays on a desk. I have now picked up a cheap 13" for mobility (I work in IT so need a machine with plenty of battery and mobility as I carry it everywhere).

Also one other small negative, after taking it apart, I can see Dell definately cut a few corners with these machines. The sxps 16 were built a lot better, I would put the build quality and materials used in these machines to be just above ordinary studio quality. I wouldnt want to be repeatidly taking it apart as a lot of it is just clipped together, and I feel they would break under repeat use.

 

That's a bit worrying considering the 3-years warranty extension is so much on the XPS (£170). Many people will be tempted not to have it.

I asked a rep a while ago while it was £170 on the XPS and £60 on the Vostros and he said because the XPS had 'better quality parts inside'

Good stuff anyway and pleased to hear it's working out well.

 

lol those reps should be comics, they make up any old bull just to make a sale! My guess is the warranty is so expensive as they know you will have to keep shipping it back to them

Dont get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the machine, but having taken a lot of laptops apart (including about 20 different Dell/Alienware) this is no where near the xps quality of old.

The Envy/MBP build quality is head and shoulders above it.