Dell XPS 15 R2 - L502x - Owners Lounge

The 720p screen is that bad and it is not over exaggerated. I have a 720p and 1080p XPS 15 in my house right now (waiting for my return label for the 720p)

The difference is ASTOUNDING. I, too, thought well it is still HD so it can't be that bad. WRONG. The color spectrum alone is night and day. When my sister, who knows NOTHING, absolutely, nothing about quality in electronics, saw them side by side she picked the 1080p screen as the better one by far. (and no I didn't tell her which was which...hell she wouldn't even know what 720/1080p is) Side by side the 720 is washed out and very dull. The 1080p is very colorful and bright. Plus, you can always go to 720p on the 1080p screen if you want.

I am not saying that you will not like it but, again, I thought it was being exaggerated as well and I was severely mistaken. If you can somehow cancel and upgrade the screen it is well worth it.

 

by looking at lots of comments for the 1080p screen , i m also now tempted to get one .. i hav got 720p i5 2410 which i recvd on the 26th of may ... is there anything i can do now if yes then how... plz let me know thanx in advance

am in uk london

 

I was wondering how many external displays the Gt 540M can run together? Does nVidia have something like Eyefinity?

 

my XPS I configed with low rez screen planning to upgrade it to a matte FHD. I have the original panel, its an LG LP156WH2 (TL) (A1)

my laptop is less than 2 months old

just for those wondering

 

I don't think anyone was hating on you, just trying to offer advice. I guess the XPS 15 with an i3 isn't the worst choice, but there are TONS budget laptops with the same low rez. I never researched them, maybe you did and found a good deal. If so, grats you.

I think I understand now your main question was about the ECC RAM, but when you post full specs of your system people might zero in on that.

 

You must have gotten lucky to get the LG Panel. I believe that's the same one used in some Inspirons. It's still not the best screen in the world though.

There was someone who recently got a 720p screen and it was the AUO one. I still think the AUO panel is more common.

 

OK, then there is NO option to connect the laptop to an analog-only projector (which in my estimation is at least 90% of installations in universities and corporations). BIG FAIL for me on this!!!

Completely unsuitable laptop for anyone that gives presentations.

No, the test with the Dell Vostro 1500 was simply to verify that the projector and VGA cable worked. No Mini Display Adapter was used.

 

Then you must buy an active adapter mDP -> VGA, they are quite a bit more expensive.

Or active adapter mDP->DP->VGA. Just as expensive.

Same goes for active adapter HDMI->VGA

-----
The laptop was designed for consumer use in mind, not for business use. (Completely unsuitable laptop for anyone that gives presentations. Not really, just more accessories to carry to get it to work )

Most people who buys an XPS, most likely use a monitor/projector with a digital input.

 

Received the laptop.

It appeared as new, still had plastic on keyboard and the dell logo.

As far as the panel goes, Monitor Asset Manager lists this as SEC5441 by Samsung.

So far, liking it. Will have more time to mess with it this weekend.

 

Well, finally pulled that trigger.
Here's what I should have in my hands no later than August 24th:

XPS 15 L502x
-Intel Core i7-2630QM
-6GB,DDR3
-15.6FHD TLF B+RGLED LCD
-NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1GB graphics with Optimus and TV Tuner
-750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
-Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo
-Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 and Bluetooth 3.0
-9-cell Battery
-2 year warranty

For $1,176.19. There was mental struggle in my head over this and comparable laptops, but after reading through this thread and the first several pages on google, I set my mind on the xps 15. The final swing votes for me were all the positive comments on the B+RG LED screen and JBL speakers. I'll give own comments when I receive the laptop. Wish me luck.

 

also UK'er, doubt it makes any difference to the type of screen but I would recommend upgrade after comparing both screens even if its a little more expensive than US customers are paying. Had XPS for just over a month now and not regretting it. It’s nearly as clear when zooming into text on a web page as when you do the same on an IPhone 4.

 

Guys, can I get your feedback on something? One thing about my new XPS 15 is bothering me. There's some flex in the keyboard. Do me a favor, put your finger between the keys in the center of your keyboard and press down on the plastic there. Do you get any flex? Mine flexes like half a millimeter in the middle, less on the sides.

It wouldn't really bother me that much except that I was checking some laptops at Walmart that also had chiclet keyboards and there was pretty much zero flex with all of them. Even on the cheaper laptops, it was rock solid. And the XPS is supposed to be a high end laptop.

So I'm wondering if they are all like this or if maybe this one had the backlit keyboard installed after factory and someone did a shoddy job. I see some signs this laptop may have been opened and worked on.

So please let me know about the flex on yours. Thanks.

 

XPS 15 is not supposed or be and is not a high end laptop.

There shouldn't be much flex. Some wire/cable could be caught under the keyboard assembly. Comparing its keyboard to other laptops is useless.

 

Mine does move down a little bit (less than a mm like yours) but I have to press really hard on it for it to move - much much harder than the pressue you exert during regular or even fast typing. As far as I am concerned and for all practical purposes, that's zero flex.

 

Ok, maybe not high end, but mid to high-end. Besides Alienware gaming laptops, the XPS line is pretty much the high end for Dell Home. And I think it's perfectly valid to compare the keyboard to other laptops If other manufacturers can make chiclet keyboards with zero flex, Dell should be able to as well.

 

I wouldn't consider that zero flex. I agree that it's not really any functional problem, typing isn't affected or anything. But it does seem like poor design and makes the keyboard seem cheap. Just go to Best Buy and look at keyboards on other laptops... on the vast majority the keyboard surface is truly zero flex... it doesn't move with pressure applied. There's just no excuse for keyboard flex anymore with chiclet keyboards.

 

Well, I guess that just about says it all.

Seriously, what's wrong with a little flex beyond your own personal perception that it's 'cheap'?

 

It just doesn't need to be there. The flex is there because the plastic keyboard layer is bowed up a bit from the surface underneath. Most other manufacturers have figured out how to avoid this by now. It's disappointing that Dell wasn't able to. The backlit keyboard is great in every other way. Hopefully in their newer models they'll get rid of this flex.

I also thought flex was a normal thing that you just needed to accept... that is until I went to Walmart today and saw even cheap Acers that have a keyboard surface that's solid as a rock.

 

I officially join your ranks today Or more like yesterday.
Specs:
1080p.
2mp webcam with all the works, minus facial recognition.
Sandy bridge i7; I forget it's full name. 2630QM? Something with QM at the end
GF GT 525M+ optimus to the intel 3000. I considered upgrading, but eh.
CD/DVD RW. Windows thinks it's a bluray. The little graphics on the outside say it's a DVD player, and I didn't pick one with bluray in it xD
6GBs of DDR3.
640GB 7200 hard drive.

I love this thing. Haven't maxed out the hard drive, processor, or Ram yet.



It's funny how on some older games that run graphics options on the desktop instead of in-game think your GPU is garbage cause it's on integrated graphics, so they always want to put me on super low detail.

I know right? And the space bar, dell keeps making laptops with space bars. I'M SICK OF IT!!!

 

Welcome aboard... and LMAO...


I think the "flex" is probably designed into the keyboard sort of like cars have built in crumple zones. Say you're extremely tired after being at the keyboard for hours and doze off, or just distracted while texting and skyping... well, when your head hits the keyboard it'll have some give to it and most of the energy from the impact will be dampened and transferred into the frame of the laptop and not to your face. Dell cares about your safety.

 

Have any of you noticed that program windows do not maximize all the way to the top of the screen? There is a 5/32 inch gap between the top of the maximized window and the edge of the display. What's weird is that the mouse can enter this zone, you can even try to drag an un-maximized window into the zone, but on maximization the window snaps back lower leaving this 5/32" gap.

Any obvious fixes?

 

In! Got my setup a few weeks ago and was so happy with it I ordered one for my wife as well lol. Each cost about $1530 spec'd below.

Wife's is the combination of two outlet Prev. Ordered New laptops due to availability. I wasn't able to find any 1080p LCD's so we settled on the 720p, then a day later the 1080p shows up...ordered for the swap since I prefer the 540M 2GB over the 525M 1GB the 1080p machine came with. Also swapped out some other parts etc that the 1080p had. So she kinda has a Frankenstein machine lol.

I'll probably just sell the lower spec'd machine in the marketplace after testing it for stability.

 

kave2 mentioned this behaviour back on page 149, can't see that anyone has an answer yet though... Got one coming myself hopefully tomorrow so am interested in finding a solution myself,

regards,
J.

 

villosa: aw man wifey's doesn't come with an SSD! that isn't very fair!

coke: don't sweat the 525m instead of 540m. All you did was save some money. You can OC the 525 fine, and the extra memory is just fluff. Even using both at stock, the difference isn't worth the $100 or whatever it costs.

 

Lol she likes the storage for all her media etc so I did 2x 750GB for her. I prefer fast boot so SSD for me.

As for 540M vs 525M, I haven't tested extensively on the 540M or 525M yet but I would recommend dishing out the $100 if you can for resale value since, personally, I would click on a 540M 2GB thread faster than a 252M 1GB thread. Lol that's just me though.

 

I had the same issue. Wasn't able to fix it, not even a Dell Tech. So i reinstalled OS and its gone.

 

Hey guys I'd like to have a well cushioned, durable backpack for this puppy and my Intuos 4 Small. Any recommendations? There won't be any books in the bag, just tech and/or clothes. Right now it's looking like the Wegner Synergy, but I'm also considering HP's $35 bag despite some of the negative reviews (got a chance to look inside myself)

 

Still getting used to the big touchpad. I used to use a modified typing style (getting ~70 wpm accurate) but my palms would rest on the edges of touchpad and the cursor flies everywhere.

So I'm typing with my fingers slanted towards eachother. How do you guys type?

 

To further confuse the XPS l502x and projector issue:

I have much the same setup as GPUFan. A certain projectors just will not work, and perhaps they are analog only (I though VGA was analog by definition). However, I've found that if I plug the XPS l502x + VGA DisplayPort adapter into a monitor it does support, then pull out the VGA cable only and walk over to the projector that was not working previously, it will get a signal and work fine. Obviously I don't want to carry around another LCD display in my laptop bag just to prime the VGA port on my l502x, but this may indicate that it can send an analog signal and it may be some weird PNP problem.

 

http://www.crumpler.com/us/Laptop-Bags/Laptop-Backpacks.html?LanguageCode=EN

I buy crumpler whenever I can, they are well built and so stylish!

got a laptop bag and camera bag from them so far.

 

change the sensitivity settings for the touchpad. once you do that it wont fly all over the place.

 

PNP with external monitor/project doesn't always work. Usually you have to manually enable it via Monitor Key, Nvidia Control Center or Window Display.

VGA is analog but at least you got the idea of using an active adapter right.

 

Oh, also, random curiosity. I bought mine as a refurb off of Dell's US site. It was never called R2. Just XPS 15 L502X. What's the R2 mean?

 

Yeah, the L502x isn't officially known as R2, but it means Revision 2 (or something similar). Dell uses R1/R2/R3 on some of their other models to designate what generation it is.

 

Ah. Yeah, it's basically a modified XPS L501 with new hardware.

 

so i got my l502x today and wanted to a fresh install of ultimate but being mayor of noob town this backfired on me because i didnt have a system restore and i have no wifi drivers to download the essentials, my question is what would be the next step, as in trying to get back to factory settings without the back up needed, and also what OS do you guys run on?

 

I plug in a mouse and turn the touchpad off (Fn+f3) when typing for any amount of time so no cursor flying issues at all

Loving the backlit keyboard and the action / feel is pretty good for me.

 

Finally Got my xps today
extremely happy with it, played a bit of Crysis 2 :L
have the 720p screen and its quite good, must have got one of the decent screens... when I try check the monitor make,I just get generic monitor or something.
not sure if I have the blue-ray drive how do I check without actually putting in a blue ray disc ?

 

Check on the side of the drive itself...if its Blu-Ray there should be the logo there

 

You can also check under Computer-Devices with Removable Storage

or

Device Manager should be able to ID the hardware

 

I'm about to place an order for this, and I was wondering if there are any issues I should be worried about? It seems pretty good for college. How is the keyboard, and could I replace the ODD with a boot SSD?

 

Hi! I am interested about getting this laptop however I would like to know a few things :

-Are the fans really loud when you are gaming on this laptop?
-How long does the battery last while gaming?
-Is it heavy to carry around everyday?

Thanks

 

@ CrimsonVoid,

The keyboard is pretty good, one of the best I've used on a mobile. Be sure to get the backlit keyboard because it's awesome! Also, skip the 6230 WiFi and just get the lowest one and replace it yourself with a 6300 etc. Both mine and my wife's 6230 ran pretty slow for some reason. That is my only issue with the L502X.

It's definitely a solid machine. The HDD is user replaceable with any laptop HDD/SDD, not sure if 12.7mm will fit though so check up on that. A SSD will definitely work though, you'll have to remove the palm rest to access it.

@modstorm,

Noise is subjective and while I don't find full load 'loud', others might say otherwise. There isn't a noticeable whirling of the blades, just sounds of expelled air.

Battery depends on if you're at 6 cell or 9 cell. I haven't gamed on battery but I'd estimate about 2 hours on the 9 cell.

With the 9 cell the laptop is a bit heavy on one end but nothing most can't handle. I think you should be fine.

 

Thanks for the info

So basically on the 6 cell battery I should get something about 1hr 30 min right?
Also I will be getting the 1366x768 version (I can only get that...I'll just hope its the good one) so should that give me more battery life ?

 

Yeah I would say about 1.5 hours with the 6 cell is about right depending on background processes and CPU type.

May I ask why the 1366x768? I've had both and it does not compare at all, like not even close. If it's a money issue, I HIGHLY recommend saving up the $150 or whatever it is for it. Then again, it might not be available in your area so best of luck on getting the good 720p panel. I had the 'good' panel but it looked like junk next to the 1080p LCD.

 

Mainly its an issue of not being able to get in in my location...I will be staying in London for 3 days so my only option is to get it from a store not online and I have not found a store which sells the Full HD Resolution. Can anyone tell me if the 720p screen is at least as good as the Aspire 5750G?

 

You should not even buy the XPS 15 if you can't get the 1080p screen.

 

Harsh words but honestly very true lol. The 1080p is spectacular, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend finding a way to get it. If you have the time, the Outlet provides some lower spec'd 1080p machines the last time I checked.

 

Thanks for the quick reply villosa. I forgot to ask, but does it come with optimus so I can use on board graphics to extend battery life.

 

Yes, the Dell NVIDIA and the official NVIDIA (the one I'm using) drivers both have Optimus built in. You can use it to set which programs will use integrated and which will use dedicated.