Dell XPS 15 L502X - personal review

Hey everyone! I've been lurking on this forum for several months, as I was deciding on a new computer to buy, and then made my decision. Now, I've finally decided to join, and contribute with my own review of the XPS, after almost 2 months of usage. If any of you have any questions or comments, please let me know! Thanks.

Intro: I fell in love with the XPS when I first discovered it last year around Thanksgiving. I decided it'd be a worthy successor to my late-2008 Lenovo Ideapad Y510 (Core 2 Duo T5750 / 4GB DDR2 / 320 GB 7200 RPM / 1280 x 800 LCD) because of its speakers and screen. It's one of few laptops I've seen with (supposedly) great audio and the option for a full HD screen, starting under $1000. I knew I would not want a new laptop with 1366 x 768 resolution, as is common now...the thought of having less vertical space simply appalled me. Anyway, I practically salivated over the XPS, waiting months for a good enough deal on it to come by. Finally, I ordered on March 20, an almost $1500 config for about $1000 after discounts, including:

Core i7-2630QM
6GB DDR3
640GB 7200 RPM HDD
FHD screen
9-cell battery
Backlit keyboard

among other things. I got the computer in early April, and was impressed with it instantly.

Uses: Digital music library management, Web development and testing, social networking, E-mail, watching videos, word processing, MS Excel / Access, occasional image manipulation and graphics creation, and running XP Mode virtual machine.

Pros:

* Not that heavy. I read several complaints about it being bulky and heavy, especially with the 9-cell battery, but the thing actually feels a bit lighter than my old Lenovo with a 6-cell battery. I can actually use this in my lap for some time (with the battery)
* Fast. Sandy Bridge Quad-core i7 blows practically everything else out of the water. For example, I purchase digital music regularly, and then convert to my preferred format, OGG. 300 songs would take about 1 hour to convert on my C2D Lenovo. However, the same amount takes less than 10 minutes on my XPS!
* Great to type on. This is my first experience with a chiclet keyboard, and I have to say, it's great. Opinions will vary, of course, but I got used to it quickly and now type even faster on it than I could on my Lenovo.
* Speakers are as good as described. And they're even better than my Lenovo's, which had 4 speakers and a subwoofer. I was a little uneasy about going down to a 2.1 setup in the XPS, but as soon as I listened to one song online, I was convinced that this thing sounds amazing.
* Screen is amazing. Get the FHD before any other upgrades--it'll make a huge difference. The colors are so vibrant, I wonder how I lived without this screen, haha. More important to me is the higher resolution, however, which equals more work space. The transition from 1280 x 800 to 1920 x 1080 took me only about a week for my eyes to accustom to (and that's with setting the font size in Windows back to 100% -- first comes set at 125%).
* Battery life is impressive. While I haven't run on battery-only that much so far (I usually stay plugged in and disable battery charging--great feature to have to preserve the battery, but I wish I didn't have to set it after each reboot), I have a few times, and have gotten an average of 5-6 hours doing Web browsing (in Firefox--memory hog, but is my fave browser) and listening to music in Winamp, while my screen is set to about 30% brightness. The screen is BRIGHT, by the way. I'd say about 20% brightness equals 100% on my old Lenovo, and anything above 50% hurts my eyes.

Overall, I love the XPS, am satisfied with the deal I got on it, and hope it'll last me a few years. However, I've got a few minor complaints.

Cons:

* Keyboard can be difficult to read under glaring, or dim lights. I don't know if this is a problem with the standard keyboard as well, but I find that I must use the keyboard backlight in dimly lit rooms or under glaring lights. In the "right" light, the letters appear to vanish when the backlight's off. Was never a problem with my Lenovo.
* Screen can be difficult to view under glaring light, too. Even just working in daylight from a nearby window sometimes fatigues my eyes, especially when I intently focus on something.
* Function keys aren't so accessible. I preferred how they were on my Lenovo: Fn and arrow keys to adjust volume or screen brightness. Very minor issue, though. On the plus side, I like the dedicated mute key on the XPS.
* i7-2630QM, while it is fast, it's not nearly as fast as I thought it'd be. This is my own error, but may be helpful to describe, anyway. I believed it'd could sustain a turbo rate of 2.6GHz on all 4 cores, but it does so only briefly. Under full load, it seems to level off at 2.0-2.2GHz. Still several times faster than my now-pathetic 2 GHz C2D, but, those extra 400Hz or so for each of the 8 processing threads, probably would've shaved many hours off one operation I did...scanning my huge music library for duplicates using a program called Similarity. I should've considered upgrading to the 2720QM. Fortunately, I'll probably only do that scanning operation once a year. It took almost 33 hours of continuous scanning (and probably would've taken almost a week on my C2D )
* Power cord is short (at least 3 feet shorter than my Lenovo's).
* Also, the cord does not stay securely plugged in to the back of the XPS, when you use it in your lap or otherwise are moving it... Therefore, don't run the laptop on AC only (shouldn't need to, anyway, since you can disable battery charging as necessary).

Synopsis: Despite my complaints (and there's probably a few more I'm not thinking of right now, or that I haven't even personally experienced), I'm definitely happy with the XPS 15... Now, if only SSDs weren't so expensive, I'd look into them, and then have a true speed demon here I hope my review proves helpful...again, if anyone has any questions or feedback, let me know!

 

Thanks for this concise review. Personal experience helps to put things into perspective. I almost believed it was a really heavy beast . Appreciate the cons, too, although I was kind of expecting you'd include the size of the laptop. Not moving it around much, maybe?

 

You're welcome for the review. What did you want to know about the size? You're right--I don't move it much--I usually use it at my desk. Anyway, it reportedly weighs 6.5 pounds with the 9-cell battery... Either my old Lenovo weighed about 7 pounds (when I thought it was closer to 6), or the XPS weighs a little less than 6.5. I haven't weighed either computer exactly--I just now the XPS feels noticeably lighter.

 

Note on the i7-2630QM. Turbo Boost depends on the heat overhead of the chip. If your processor is already running hot, turbo boost will not kick in for for very long. If you get a laptop cooler to keep the laptop running at lower temps, you will get faster speeds. The chip is rated at the lower speed but will allow it to run faster if temperature allows. It is this way with ALL Intel Chips with Turbo Boost. If you have a chip in a Tower that is water cooled, then Turbo Boost would run at sustained maximum. It's all about the heat.

 

nice review, i chose the same cpu though so your words are slightly worrying

 

Thank you for your review, AnthonyM1229. Your review was one of those prompting me to order the XPS 15 L502X over the new XPS 15z.

 

I do use a laptop cooler...I guess it's not a great one It's the Belkin F5L001. I'm not sure if these things work very well. With this one and some Targus model I had years, I never saw my temps decrease by more than 2 degrees C. I do like the Belkin I use currently, though, since it elevates the computer while sitting at a desk. Combined with the elevation the 9-cell battery provides, the computer rests about 3 inches above the desk. So, I'd say I have decent airflow underneath, at least. I do wish I could undervolt the i7, though--that's something I miss about the C2D. Undervolted, I could run the C2D at full-load without exceeding 70 degrees C. My i7 hovers between 85 and 90 degrees C under full load. I've seen forum threads talking about reapplying the thermal paste, but I wonder if that'd be more trouble than it's worth...?

 

Haha, if you're upgrading from an older computer like I did, I think you have little to worry about What do you plan on using the computer for?

 

I'm glad I could help! So what made you choose the L502X over the 15z? Me, I initially wanted to like the 15z, but I'm glad I don't like it enough--I don't need the buyer's remorse Lack of quad-core options and apparently inferior speakers and screen (compared to the L502X) keep me more than satisfied with the L502X. Plus, the 15z keyboard looks smaller--I'm not sure I'd like that very much.

 

AnthonyM1229, mainly the screen (owing to all reviews read, plus I do a lot of graphic work), the quad core, the XPS has a 2 year warranty and the XPS 15z only 1 year with the configuration I was considering, plus the easier battery replacement. The XPS 15 is to replace a 5 year old XPS 400 which is on it's way out. I was *very* tempted by the XPS 15z especially due to the lighter weight for travel, but this will be more so a desktop replacement for me as I will be moving and do not know what country I will end up in as yet. I did get the 9 cell battery....was thinking to get a "spare" 9 cell but when I saw the price decided just to order with the 9 cell.

 

my desktop has a 4.2ghz i7 but im upgrading from a single core 2.13ghz pentium M laptop

ill be using the xps17 for most things really. reckoned i could upgrade the cpu later for less than dell charge! (as i did with my old inspiron 6000)

 

Sounds like you made a good choice, then. I'd say the L502X is just portable enough for travel, even with the 9-cell battery. It's certainly more portable than the XPS 400 Hope everything goes well for you, with your computer and your travels!

 

Yikes--I can only dream of the day when decently affordable laptops with 4 GHz chips will become a reality...I don't they even exist in any price range yet, right?

I took a look one day at Newegg, and was shocked to see the i7-2720QM selling for $400...It was "only" a $125 (I believe?) upgrade through Dell. The 2820QM is even worse, at $600, and I'm pretty sure the 2920XM would cost around $1000 if Newegg had it...no thanks! I'd consider buying an SSD before dropping hundreds on a CPU upgrade, haha. So, I don't know if you'll be able to upgrade the CPU later without having to spend a small fortune...maybe you know some place to get them drastically cheaper?

 

ebay and the fact that you can sell your old one

 

So, I just checked out eBay, and thought I was seeing the 2720QM at about 50% discount...turns out they're engineering samples! I learned something new, haha...to make sure if I ever buy a chip off of there, that it's a production model I might seriously look into this one day, though not anytime soon.

 

nice review thanks. There are some on you tube as well.

 

Nice review! thank you, ill consider it
First of all, i dont speak english, so ill do my best, hope you understand me.

I bought a laptop 2 years ago, (HP Pavilion DV5; amd turionx2 2.1ghz, 4 ram, gpu ati hd3200) and it started last month having a problem, my screen gets white. This HP really overheats, (almost 90 °C), so i think that could be the problem.
I took it to a service here in Uruguay and they say it was the gpu, so i have to pay now U$S300 for a new motherboard to repair it.

I will repair it, but im now looking for another laptop, i really like this one you have, DELL XPS 15, i look it at other webpages and everybody talk well about it.
It was really helpful your review, thanks but after having the problems I mentioned with my HP, as you have experience with this DELL, I want to know your opinion about the heat of this laptop.
do you think your DELL overheats while playing any games? how much temperature takes?

I'll wait for your answer! thanks

 

Well that is not a straight comparison. Just for some perspective-

1. The $125 is the DELTA from the 2630 to the 2720. Not the absolute price Dell is charging. Since Dell does not break down the exact allocation per component in their purchase price, you don't know what the baseline is. Newegg is quoting the absolute price for the 2720. I couldn't find a price for the 2630 on Newegg, but for all you know, 2630 could be $350 and Dell is charging you $150 for the difference!

2. Dell certainly wont be buying the i7's off Newegg or at anything close to those retail prices. So even if you think $150 is a bargain for a retail price based upgrade, it might include a healthy margin for Dell.

 

Ellaca, I don't use my laptop for gaming, so, I'm not sure I can give you a qualified answer. I do other things that produce heat, however, such as audio conversion and scanning my music library for duplicate songs. The programs I use for those, run all 4 cores (and 8 threads) of my i7-2630QM, and I get average temperatures between 85 and 90 degrees C at speeds of 2.0-2.4GHz. If I happen to also be doing something else (such as watching TV show episodes online, I'll see my temps peak momentarily at about 95 degrees C, and then the processor speeds will go down to 2GHz or a little lower, to keep the temp in the 80s. I have no doubt that the i7, especially any of the new Sandy Bridge chips, do better with heat management than the AMD Turion. I've never had my Dell overheat and shut off, like my older Lenovo did a couple times, or especially my older HP DV6000 (with AMD Turion). I just can't give you a clear answer of "ok, this is how hot it gets in gaming", because I'm not a gamer. I hope I've still said something to help you, though. Let me know if you have more questions, and I'll try to help.

 

I think it would be quite the same if those programs run all cores, so yes... it helped me! i'll be watching some other laptops, but this one is awesome

Thanks for your answer!