Dell XPS 15 L501 Thread

@imurgame thanx for info.

if anyone here using CAD can help me out..
i just wanna know dat
which one to be selected for cad work?? i5 460(gt 420m) or i7 740(gt435m)?
which can give better result??
pls give me some suggestion.

 

@ darkendheart22

ya dats true. i mean precision is a business application laptop and it has Quadro Fx and fire pro which targets graphic rendering applications.
But here my usage is for AUTOCAD, PRO-E, NX6. i wont work on maya and studio max which are more intensive.
also i want multi usage. M music lover so xps offers best in class speaker and also i am casual gamer.
so considering system requirement of Autocad, and PRO-E, Which is 2.4 GHZ(recommended), i am confused here whether to go with i5 or i7??

 

Will Sandy Bridge improve TDP much?

 

I dont think it improves TDP (ie quads are still 45w) but it massively raises clocks, I think the quads start at 2.4ghz instead of 1.6!

 

@ninja2000
you doing realy a gud job by informing us and updating us. thanx for dat.
i would raise a question to you, why u sold envy 14?? any particular reason/problem?

 

That's a bit disappointing, although I guess using the (significantly improved) integrated graphics instead of the discrete offerings will help keep overall temps down.

My i7/435 has finally arrived today. I'm either going to put it straight onto ebay and make around £100 profit, sell it in a few months once SB has settled down OR keep it for a few years. Decisions, decisions...

 

personally, I know from 14 years of using a computer that if I buy the top tech today it will be replaced tomorrow by something even better, so either I sell my pc every month and buy a new one each time or I choose something well balanced and enjoy it for years. My first pc was a P133...15 days after I bought it the P200 MMX came out and my cpu, not having the MMX set of instruction, was basically obsolete in a matter of days whilst it was a jewel before. It's technology, we have to accept it
If you really need the better sandy bridge cpus, I'd suggest you to sell it now and wait, otherwise just enjoy your new laptop and be happy

 

One question though i need the bigger keyboard for sure, but 1080 r+bg screen comes with more bragging rights plus, since i will mostly be using it to watch movies and gaming/blogging/ completing assignments/college applications. i will be lazing around with the machine, so i need atleast some better vertical/horizontal viewing angles, i can do with the lower contrast and all.

now only one more thing, i will opt for i5-560m in both the models with 9 cell battery. i.e.

15 inch i5 560m
gpu: 420m 1 gb
9 cell battery


17 inch i5 560m
gpu: 435m 1 gb
9 cell battery

which ones performance will be better and which one will produce lesser heat, as it is also important for me, from where i am coming from.

other parameters stay constant
6 gb ram, 640 gb hard disk. etc etc...

 

Unless I'm mistaken, the B+rg 1080p screen IS actually wled. A very good example, mind.

 

The B+RG -is- WLED. So much for last generation eh

 

And if both are wled's then i guess.. it all comes down to the viewing angles/??
\
any idea if the vertical viewing angles are better in xps 15 or xps 17?

 

anyone have any black ops performance details?

 

Thinking about getting an XPS 15, but the problem I am having is that I don't see a very clear reason to get this laptop over an M15X.

I don't care about weight, or the laptop screen itself... and so other than an HDMI port, what advantage would you say the XPS 15 has over the M15X?

With outlet pricing, I can even get the machines for about the same price.

 

If you can get them for the same price and you are not bothered about size or weight then definately get the m15x.

I had one and it was an amazing machine but just too heavy to be portable and I take it to work everyday.

 

Well the MX-3 has made my temps a lot better My prime temps are now 67-69c and my furmark is 79c

Having put my SSD in this machine it is so much more responsive!
I am now writing a quick takedown guide with a few pics

 

That's good to hear Ninj.....

Seems like it's a real lottery, though, in terms of whether Dell do a good or poor job with the paste and what temps you're going to get

Most folks won't be confident enough to change paste, nor wish to risk invalidating the warranty

 

Very interesting. Can't wait to see the photos so I know what to expect. I've got a bit of swapping out ahead and will be repasting as well

Sorry to hear about the i5 not working, I have a i7-620M I was going to try. Still wondering what led to the decision on Dell's part though. We know the 435 supports Optimus, that's what the XPS 17 starts off with. Either way I'll be happy with it, especially the screen form what I've read.

Thank you!

 

Any chance someone could post a step by step guide to repasting? Would love to do it.

 

Indeed, the Envy 14 is a nice system, and I thought about it for a while. It would have been a nice upgrade from the Studio 1440. Ultimately I waited for something else to come along because of a few reasons: 900p Radiance screen discontinued, huge amount of bloatware, Dell's superior warranty coverage.

With the 14" 900p screens gone, I'm automatically looking at 15" now just to avoid a downgrade on the screen resolution, and while my travel lappy will be a little chunkier/heavier, it's also more powerful, so I can live with it

As for the Arrandale/435m, who knows what kind of reasoning the Dell engineers came up with. We know the power and compatibility would be just fine, they offer the combo in the XPS 17. Still seems strange.

 

@ ninja2000:

could you please post what software ur using to read out the temps of cpu and gpu?

since throttlestop v2.85 and hwmonitor pro v1.10.1 both give different temp readouts i have become slightly suspicious. while under heavy load(prime95 + furmark[1280*1024 + 4 MSAA + Extreme Burning Mode]) throttlestop reported a cpu temp of 98 degrees. hwmonitor however reported a cpu temp around 80 degress. its kinda puzzling... and i hope throttlestop is not right!

 

9 cell battery: 4:30 mins with web surfing, light video and frontierville and some other flash games.

I have not optimized for battery life yet, still using the basic dell settings while on battery. I was hoping for 6 hours, but I realize this was unrealistic. Though I don't think 5 hours is out of reach once my power options are optimized.

 

@ninja
please a step-by-step guide on how to assemble the XPS 15 and which paste to use and such, would be great. Also which software do you use to get the internal tempatures? I'm really exciting about getting this laptop, gonna repase it as soon as i get it, but a guide on how to do it would be great mate.
Thx in advance.

open question:

How is everyone felling about this laptop, comparing with the price?? This seems to be the cheapest laptop i can find that comes with a quad core i7 processor.

 

The viewing angles on the 1080p for the XPS 15 are excellent. The screen really does rival the MBP screens, and I realize that's not saying a whole lot in terms of screens overall, but for a notebook, it's quite good.

 

Are you going to do a tear down guide for this laptop? And how much of a drop are we talking about? I am going to order some Arctic Silver 5 and do this as well probably in a couple weeks.

 

Which is better, MX-3 or AS5? Used to use AS5 on my old desktop builds.
I've seen some people liking IC-7 in laptops too.

If ninja's breakdown looks easy enough to follow I may do the mod if my temps are on the higher end.

 

Are there docking options for the new XPS line?

 

They are all better than stock. I'm used to AS5, so that's what I stick with.

 

It's all a matter of opinion. An opinion can't be a lie, because it's an opinion.

Let me put it another way. Dell's typical notebook screens SUCK. This is not Dell's typical screen. Better now?

Another way would be to say that Dell's typical screens barely rival that of my 5 year old Compaq. This is better.

It is also marginally better than my HDX18T screen. Mainly in terms of better blacks. Viewing angles are about the same. But that's just the difference between LED and CCFL

But if MBP screens are terrible by your standard, you''d REALLY hate a typical dell screen. They are washed out with poor contrast and bad viewing angles.

And if you look again at your beloved Anandtech review, you'll notice that the Dell screen and apple's MBP screen were first and second for contrast. As I said, they are on par-- With Dell and Apple doing better and worse depending on the category. SO if you don't like Apple's screen, don't buy a Dell.

 

Just received my laptop:
Display : 15.6in FHD TLF LCD L501X
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7 740QM (1.73 Ghz, 6MB, 4C)
Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Hard Drive : 500GB Serial ATA (7200RPM)
Optical Drive : 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
Power Supply : XPS 130W AC Adapter
Battery : Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
Graphics : NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M 2GB graphics
Wireless : European Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Keyboard : Internal US/International Qwerty Keyboard


And I'm amazed by it! I posted a small dutch review on another forum, a bit too lazy to type it all out again right now, but I'll review the main parts.

Audio is just very good for a notebook, haven't ever heard a notebook with an audio quality like this before. The subwoofer is very easily hearable, the table starts shaking when I put everything on loudest (this of course gives a lil bit of distortion), but not that bad even.

And the screen.. Damn, I love it. I love the resolution (normally working on a workspace of 1680 x 1050, 22" screen), and the colors. Really awesome. I've downloaded some Samsung / Sony trailers from: http://www.demo-world.eu/trailers/high-definition-trailers.php
An oasis of video and audio .

I removed most of the Dell preinstalled software. Or at least turned off booting at start up / showing icon in system bar. I really like the "Dell Batterylife" feature, with that you can (when you're connected to a wall socket) deactivate battery charging until you reboot the laptop, very useful!
After removing some bloatware and rebooting, it gave me 53 running processes on task manager, not that bad in my opinion. I might kill some more processes later on.

Had to get used to the touchpad at first, but it's actually a very nice touchpad. It's a Multi Touch one, so just like a MacBook Pro for example, you can scroll down with 2 fingers and go to the previous page by swiping 3 fingers to the left, zoom in etc.. The size of the touchpad is lovely as well!

The webcam is indeed a high quality cam, it even performs well when it's totally dark around you.

Screenshot of Everest Ultimate Edition when I was browsing the internet, downloading some stuff:


Got home late today so I'll make proper pictures of the laptop tomorrow.

 

Yep, I took some photo's just need a spare few minutes to write something up. I was quite easy to do by following the service guide, but the palm rest removal is a bit fiddly and I wouldnt want to do it too often for fear of breaking the clips.
Putting MX-3 shaved 10c off my temps. With stock settings I am now running 70s rather than 80s.

 

Excellent. Yeah I ordered AS5 and will be doing this myself next week or the week after.

If you could PM me after it's posted I'll add it to the main page in the owner's thread.

 

I ordered XPS 15 with Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD). Does anyone know what's the speed on the Blu-ray player (2x, 6x)?? I couldn't find this information anywhere. Thanks!

 

Me too. I use a Dell G2210 1680 x 1050 (16:10) display and really love it for internet browsing. Don't you find text on the 1080p screen a bit on the small side?

Good mini-review, btw!

 

Would the owners recommend this laptop? I'm on the verge of buying it, but could use some assurance that it's a great laptop. Thoughts?

 

I do, but only with the 1080p screen, and while it's too early to tell, I think a lot of folks will be reapplying thermal paste to lower temps and increase the lifespan of this notebook as Ninja2000 has already done and I will be doing when I get more AS5 (already ordered) probably in the next week or two.

 

Is it possible to have a stress test on CPU only not CPU + GPU ? ( with the i7 )
I'm looking to buy a new laptop but I affraid when I saw 80° for the CPU on a new system without dust in it...

 

Sorry to ask white, but I have been wondering about something.

Ninja and many others that complain that their systems run hot had i7+435m CPU/GPU combo.

Do you think there might also be heating and dissipation problems with xps 15 with i5 and 420m? I haven´t seen yet an user review with this configuration saying that there is heating problems.

Btw, just want to know if openning the laptop and reapplying thermal paste might be considered as an excuse by Dell not to apply the 1 year warranty?

Thanks you.

 

Here are a few pictures I made of the laptop, just in case more user pictures are preferred:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...-xps-15-l501-owners-lounge-2.html#post6890548

I'll test my temperatures on load later tonight, but as shown before my normal temperatures are all below 46 degrees.

 

ninja 2000 can you link your review thread/page please..

 

what for? This thread is messed up with delivery dates/specs/expectations of everyone in the world - not interesting to those who are owners already

 

I have the i5 (see sig) The heat is definitely an issue, I run as hot as some with the i7.

 

Sorry, I didn't read all your sig. m(_._)m

Sigh...Well, I was hoping that i5 xps 15 would work at a lower temp than i7s....I don't like much the idea of openning a brand new laptop.

I will wait and test it with my cooling pad when my laptop arrives. If temp is too high, I will apply the thermal paste. Thanks again!!!

 

Intel® Core? i5-460M Processor (2.53GHz, 2Core/4Threads, turbo up to 2.8GHz, 3M cache)
6GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (1 x 2GB + 1 x 4GB)
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 420M graphics with Bluetooth
Prize is 55k including shipment........

 

dkwhite, i am also opting for an i5-560

how do you think and i5-560m with GPU435M will fare in comparison with the i7's lets say 740QM with GPU 435m and apart from the heat issue, do you get extra battery life out of your i5 due to optimus tech? or is it only a myth, as i was preferring i5 cause i thought i'd get lower heat values and atleast much better battery life, if both the variables don't change, then there is no point opting for an i5. Any ideas ??

 

Dude... In XPS 15 with i5 you donot have the option for choosing between 420M and 435M. You will have to stick with 420M. If you want 435M then you'll have to switch to quad... I know it's frustrating and almost all of us have been through that path...

 

Okay, I just have one question about the new Dell XPS series: why the hell is the HDD light on the back of the computer where you can't even see it? What use is it?

 

well gr8 thread.I m currently waiting for my 1645 replacement and dell is giving me an xps 15 with blu ray drive,1080p screen,740qm,gt435m!,4gb ddr3,500gb 7.2k rpm,BACKLIT kb
Actually i had m1330 which had to be replaced with 1645 but it reached EOL,so m gettting a xps 15 instead.Pretty excited to get this bad boy and oc it.I hope it fares well in gaming performance in 1080p when oc'ed!
Cheers !!

 

My XPS 15 (i7, 435, 1080p, backlit keyboard, wireless 6300) just entered "Delivery Preparation". I placed the order on 11/04 and the estimated delivery date is 12/07. I seriously hope that they don't take 2 weeks preparing it for delivery.

 

Looks like you have the same config as me. Nice to see someone who ordered the 6300 have theirs shipped. Ordered on 11/1 EDD of 11/23. Do you live in the US?

 

Any upddates on gaming performance!!
crysisAS2,shift,MW2,BC2