Dell XPS 15 R2 - L502x - Owners Lounge

That is normal. All hard drives generate noise and vibration to some degree, although unusual levels of noise and vibration could point to a failing hard drive.

 

hey i am new to this forum and probably buying new xps 15 i have one question that since nvidia gt 540m is an overclocked version of gt 525m then can i order laptop with gt 525m and then overclock it using msi afterburner software as someone in other thread of successfully overclocking their gt 555m . please please help me in taking decision

 

Yes, you can.

 

then why people buy gt540m because acc to me 2gb ram in graphics won't help and u can always overclock gt 525m , any other benefit of gt 540m u guys know because i don't know much about these cards
and thanks for the reply

 

I thought you could OC the 540m beyond what you can do with the 525m. So how is the 540m just an OC'd 525m?

Yes the only difference between the two is slightly higher clock speeds, but I don't think that's the same as saying the 540m is an OC'd 525m.

Correct me if I'm wrong

 

that i also do not know that is why i am asking it here so anybody here having dell xps 15 with gt 525m can confirm that they are getting similar fps in games as gt 540m after overclocking or does anybody know for sure their isn't anyother difference and there isn't any problem like bios stopping overclocking the gt525m

 

I had this issue and also the HDD generates some heat, I replaced the HDD witn an SSD and the slight vibration went away, I only get vibration when I use the DVD or the fan kicks in at the highest RPM.. Dell will replace the FAN and heatsink and send me a new HDD just in case.

 

For anyone concerned about USB 3.0, works fine here!

Western Digital SE Elements Portable 1TB USB 3.0 Review - YouTube

 

Thanks Risco! how much was it for? lol

 

Cost me £56.99 in the good old UK. Bought it from PC World.

 

I will check if they have the 3TB tho I am thinking to install a NAS at my house so I use it for everything without plugging and unplugging lol

btw.. I noticed that the bottom vent ( where the WLAN card is) gets alittle bit warm, not exteremly hot.. do you guys notice the same, its the far left position of the vent

 

I have the same problem and I have 18mbps cable Internet. Does anyone have an answer?

 

PowerDVD and Cuda.

Can anyone enable the "Cuda" feature in PowerDVD 9.6? It should be visible in the PowerDVD settings > Video Tab > Click TruTheatre HD.

I remember seeing this setting, even sent a customer support request to Cyberlink because it was always grayed out. Now the setting is gone. I'm not sure if my update to the recent Dell Nvidia driver caused the change. At the end of the day I'm trying to get Cyberlink to use the Nvidia 540m GPU.

 

My first post on this forum.

Order confirmed for a Dell XPS L502X Direct Base laptop on 30/08/2011 in Mumbai, India. Following is the configuration:

Intel Core i3 2310M processor 2.10 GHz
15.6" (39.6cm) HD (1366x768) WLED display with TrueLife(TM)
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (1 x 4GB) 1
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M graphics with Optimus
6 Cell Primary Battery
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit (English)

Am basically a student with average multimedia, office and gaming needs. I hope I have made the right choice.

Any opinions?

 

I think you should have ordered the 1080 screen, as I heard 768 is not the best but the 1080 is amazing, I have the 1080 FHD and it is amazing

 

Thanks Risco. I'm not sure I trust what the application window states as the speed transfer. If you ever have to move 10GB+ maybe just time it and do the math. Also, I have a WD external drive plugged into the left rear USB port. I noticed you used the left side port. I wonder if that makes a difference and if you need the Reneasas USB 3.0 software running? Also, there is a firmware update that came out last month for your WD drive. It fixes a few major issues.

 

Hey Moh, please use the search tool. This topic has been beat to death in this thread. It seems the ones who didn't order the 540 beat up on it as a waste of money - and refuse to understand those who wanted the best available GPU (regardless of specs), additional peace of mind, resale value, etc. GPU tests certainly show FPS has some significant differences depending on the game.

 

I tried burning with CDbuner XP , but it says "No burning device found" , but i can burn normally using inbuilt windows burning feature.

Can anyone tell me what the problem is ?

 

I've also got the humming sound from my hard drive.

If I push the screen forward 45 degree angle the humming stops and also when i lift the base unit slightly off the table. I'm not sure whether this has to do with the engineer who repaired a different issue not putting back everything together correctly, but whatever the reason it is quite irritating.

 

Hi,

Can anyone point me in the direction of an external enclosure for the DVD/BD drive? I'm planning to add an SSD and move the 500 Gb HD to the DVD slot.

I found this eSATA, USB & FireWire 400 Drive Enclosure for BD/DVD/CD Drives, Aluminium | SATA & eSATA | Drive Enclosures | Hardware & Security | LINDY UK but seems expensive for just an enclosure.

Pretty sure that even a USB2 enclosure would be fine, esata would be better though.

Regards,
Frankyg

 

One of these should do!

External USB 2.0 Case / Caddy for slim IDE CD / DVD / Blu-Ray slim drives (case only! No optical CD /DVD or Blu-Ray drive are include): Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

Thanks for that, but I think I should have been more specific; It's a SATA enclosure I need. Well, I'm assuming it's a SATA connection on the DVD/BD combo drive - can anyone confirm?

EDIT - which led me to this -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-Al...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315232227&sr=1-25
USB3 compatible - still onlu USB2 speed though.

Has anyone moved their DVD/BD Drive to an external enclosure? Which enclosure did you go for?

EDIT2 - bought this;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/23061508388...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2862wt_1089
Will report back when it's fitted and tested.

 

Try at: DELL hard drive caddys

Or you could just get this: HDD Power over eSATA cable eSATA I-type -> SATA HDD plug CAK SATA eSATAp POWER --> HDD 050 0.5m: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

The second one works for me.

 

Which firmware update is this? I will try and do a 10gb file transfer if I can find something that large. Bear in mind, it will be slower if it is moving lots of small files, such as a file folder.

 

Does anyone's computer make any noise when the fan is not running? I get some sounds coming from the top left (maybe the HDD also). However I'm not sure how to describe the sound.

 

Hey all. I have just received a new XPS 15 (L502x), and it's all good so far aside from the 9in1 card reader cover on the front lip which seems to stick out (see attachments). I take that it's not supposed to be like this and am wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how they resolved it. Obviously it's not a huge problem but it is annoying and I'd like to know if I can get a replacement cover somewhere. I'd rather not send the whole laptop back to Dell for this.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

YAY!!! Finally got my xps 15 l502x. Just wow @ screen. WOW!!!

 

Awww already noticed a issue..sound stutters for a break second while playing a song on youtube

 

a break second...?

 

Oops lol "brief" Sorry about that. Updating drivers seems to have fixed it

 

Hi Guys,

I am thinking of buying the XPS 15 for uni but also for the occassional gaming. However, what is putting me off buying the laptop is the battery life. I asked the Dell sales advisors what the advertised battery life is for this laptop and they said its 2-3 hours with the standard 6-cell battery and 3-4 hours with the 9-cell battery. I dont want to be sitting next to a wall plug/outlet most of the time, especially during 2 hour lectures.

Also, I'm going to be carrying this around quite a bit and am slightly put off by the weight - according to reviews the laptop is not considered very portable.

Would highly appreciate the experiences of actual owners before committing to buy.

If anyone knows any similar specc'd laptops as an alternative I would much appreciate it. (Was thinking of getting the Macbook Pro 15" but the ridiculous price is very off-putting and I guess I will get a lot of stick from you guys about Apple, please refrain from this )

Thanks!

 

1) If you're buying the Dell XPS 15, note that you must get the upgraded display in your configuration. Don't get any other upgrades until this one's factored in, and don't buy the XPS 15 without this upgrade because it's a waste of money. The 1366x768 (720p) display has mediocre image quality, and 1366x768 is too low of a resolution in a 15.6" screen anyway: it makes text and things large and hinders your multitasking by only letting you fit one window onscreen. However the 1920x1080 (1080p) B+RGLED display is one of the best quality screens in its class, and the resolution is more suited to this large of a screen: it lets you fit a lot more onscreen at once.

2) Battery life: It should reach four, but I'll let an XPS owner comment on this.

3) Weight: It's not too much heavier than the typical 15.6" notebook, it's just noticeably thicker.

 

2-3 hours is about right for stock. You can bump it up by adjusting things like screen brightness, max clock speed for for CPU, make Intel the preferred GPU, passive cooling, etc etc.

If battery life and portability is a priority, then you will just have to sacrifice gaming power. Unless you have $3000, then I guess you could get the Razer Blade... haha

Another option is something smaller like the Alienware M11.

We all want a 4 pound 15" gaming laptop with 5 hours battery life.... but they just don't exist.

 

with battery saving options active i easily get 6+ hours with my 9cell

 

I was able to stream 2 one hr movies on Netflix and watch a dvd with the 9 cell...with some browsing and word document editing. the 9 cell lasts 6 hrs easy if yr not gaming.

 

Has anybody noticed an issue where you get the BSOD whenever putting the laptop to sleep or hibernate?

 

Easily 6 hours with 9 cell with screen brightness right down (which is still bright enough).

It's not a featherweight, but neither do I find it an issue carrying it around. Either in a backpack or on one hand if I'm moving around, it's not a big deal. I did consider buying a 6 cell as a backup and for slightly better portability...might be worth considering that. +1 for the 1080p screen, it's superb.

 

@verynice
Try to see ur blue screen dump, using this software
Blue screen of death (STOP error) information in dump files.

Maybe u can find something...

 

Quite frequently alright

 

My HDD led light is constantly flashing and I hear the whirl of the HDD all of the time. Is this normal?

 

I have a little problem here, my touchpad doesn't disable when i click F3, the orange light turns on but it still works, with the orange light or without it. I have tried restarting but the same thing.
edit: oh was just a driver problem.

 

I can get around 4 hours battery life with low brightness, Power Saving Mode, passive cooling, and Intel graphics on the 9-cell battery. Of course, that is with an i7 2720QM CPU and the 2GB graphics card. I think the i5 is less power because it is dual-core instead of quad-core. For most people, that is more than adequate for their needs. I bought the i7 because I am a computer/electrical engineering student and I am thinking I will probably need the extra cores for engineering apps in the future. If you are worried about battery life, buy a spare 6-cell battery.

I am a college student, and I do not have any problems carrying my laptop around. In fact, my chemistry book is heavier than the laptop.

DO NOT GET THE MACBOOK PRO!!! A similarly-equipped MacBook Pro (without a 1080p display or Blu-ray) costs $2,499, while my Dell XPS 15 L502x cost $1,768 brand new, or in my case, $1,195 refurbished with a 1080p display and a Blu-ray drive.

 

By the way, do not rely too heavily on my 4-hour battery life quote. I have actually never fully drained the battery, and my battery meter continually hops around from 6 hours to 2 hours, so I am not sure how accurate it is.

 

I notice that the laptop gets very warm ( not hot) from the bottom left side where the vents are and the wireless card is, specifically the bottom vent, I know it is not the hard disk since I have an SSD, my touchpad gets warm too but I don't know if this is normal, does your touchpad and the bottom vent gets warm?

The techs will show up on Monday so if this is normal then I will cancel them..

 

Yup, it is normal for it to be warm.

 

Is there someone who uses the XPS 15, with FHD 1920x1080 display, for serious photo editing and graphic/web design work, using Photoshop? I would like an opinion of usability with this resolution.
The pixel pitch is 0.17925(mm), to me seems too small for an easy a vision on this display 15.6 ". Any suggestions?

 

For me it's perfect for that, I use photoshop and everything seems to be working great so far. My DPI is set to 125% , in photoshop the 'UI Font Size' is set to large and my display is also calibrated (a must if you are a graphic designer).

 

These machines under load can get hot to touch which is normal, anything under 90c for the i7 cpus and 500 series gpu is normal, so dont panic your machine wont melt lol if you want to monitor your temps use this: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

Thanks for the reply, I set the DPI to 125% of windows (as by default by Dell) and the Windows interface is easy to read, and I've set the Photoshop interface (UI) to large as you did. I have no problems reading the fonts, but the icons in Photoshop panels still remain small (even by increasing the DPI in windows), although this does not bother me much. Instead, what does not change, is when you open an image to work with it, this picture still remains the same size, regardless of the DPI setting in Windows (I measured with a ruler on the monitor), and a real increase of the image size on screen is only possible by scaling the resolution of the monitor (e. 1600x900). But scaling at this resolution you lose the definition of each object (including fonts), because as you know the native resolution is always the best thing to keep with a LCD. It's a shame that there is no a display with 1600x900 resolution with this gamut to mount on this XPS 15.

 

Yes the picture must remain the same size, I work with big images so I don't have a problem with images being too small on the screen, I use ctrl - or ctrl + to fit the image on screen and the quality of the image stays good because I don't have to zoom in more than 100%. Maybe you should consider working with bigger images, it's always best.