Dell XPS 15 R2 - L502x - Owners Lounge

Hello XPS owners.
I recently purchased the new DELL XPS L502x.
Someone noticed problems with the touchpad buttons?
My seem to be a bit off(especially the right one). They don't seem to be moving discretely and more of that, when I press them ,it sound like an old pc keyboard.
Would anyone be kind enough to report back if theirs is like this or if they should feel more solid,or smooth?

Here are some pictures with my touchpad buttons:



Thanks!

 

Mine seem pretty smooth and they feel fairly identical. There's a very slight loose feel to them compared to the keys, but overall they're good. I notice that the right side is a bit higher on mine by 1mm. Nothing noticeable.

 

Anyone else having problems with their microphone? Both the built-in mic and the mic in jack is very low and there's this huge static in the background. I tried changing settings to increase the microphone volume and upped to +30db but still the same problem.

 

hello everyone
this is my first day here ..my search in google bring me here for l502x owners
happy to be part of this community
what i got is
dell l502x
i7 2630 qm ,6gb ram ,nvidia 525 m ,1 gb ,display rgb led 1900

my question is which ram is compatible with this model ..i am looking for 8 gb module
pls help me guys
crucial or gskill or corsair
10600 1333mhz crucial
10666 1333mhz gskill

and is it compatible with 12800 1600 mhz also ???
which one is good for gaming .... ???

 

Welcome, haven't seen someone say hello in a while

The i7 2630's max mem speed is 1333Mhz. You could install 1600 Mhz memory, but it will do you no good, it will just operate at 1333 Mhz. As for the difference between 10600 and 10666 mem: there is none. It's just that some mem makers think '666' in the speed rating isn't a good marketing idea. If there is a difference, it's either latency (though I doubt that), or price.

If you already have 6 GB Ram in the machine, upping it to 8 won't really make a big difference, so I wonder why you would want to do that.

 

He probably wants to get rid of the dell stock and put matching pairs in, thats what i did. The i7 can go to 1600mhz but dell limited it to 1333mhz in the bios.

 

Update your sound card driver.

 

bro ram i have in my dell currently is 667 mhz which i definitely want to upgrade ...
tell me one more thing ..is there any option to have ssd in this model ??

 

Doubt Dell would have stuck you with 667mhz stock ram. Hard to come by those these days.

Use CPU-Z to check the speed of your RAM. The bandwidth it reports has to be multiplied with 2 to get the actual speed. So in essence if 667 is the bandwidth of the RAM, then it is running @ 667 x 2 = 1333mhz.

 

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
its shows 667 mhz in cpu-z ...let me knw what you have to say about it ..
and is this ram is compatible with my model
8 GB (2x4GB) Crucial laptop RAM DDR3 1333 MHz PC3 10600 | eBay

suggest about ssd also ...

thanks

 

Whatever makes you happy, but it won't account for a huge speed increase. And you may wanna check intel specs: the mobile quadcore i7 26xx series does 1333 Mhz max, the 27xx and 28xx line supports 1600 Mhz.

Edit: Oh and yes, DDR ram = Double Data Rate, so when it's clocked at 667 Mhz, it actually processes twice as much so runs at 1333 Mhz. Thus, if you already have 6 GB of 1333 Mhz ram, there's hardly going to be a benefit by upgrading to 8, unless you really need it.

 

Wait...667MHz X 2 = 1334MHz, not 1333MHz.

 

Well, took the plunge myself and purchased the
L502X with i7-2670QM, 8gb, backlit keyboard, 540m 2g, 750gb HDD, BD-R drive, N6230, tv tuner, 9 cell battery, FHD1920x1080 display.

They had a deal this weekend for 30% off (in Australia at least), so the laptop went from AUD$2200 to AUD$1540 which seemed too good to pass up.

Want to use this on an upcoming long haul flight from Oz to Us and at MS DevConnections conference. Hoping the 9 cell can handle the abuse.

The TV Tuner is just something I added cause of the 30% off, it looked interesting to have it "built in". Anyone actually used it? To my understanding there is an antennae port at the back of the laptop and they provide an "antenna" for it. How is the reception? Can you plug in a house Antennae with an adapter?

I will do some light gaming but I am not one of these people that need it with ultra high settings, I play the game for fun not for "oh so pretty". So I figure the 540M should be alright, I currently play on my desktop computer which has an oldish GTS275.

I owned a XPS M1710 which I replaced with a M1730 which is now being replaced with this. Downsize from the 17" as you just can't use it in a plane and battery life sucked (then again having dual graphic cards and dual hdd's don't help). So this should be a vast improvement

 

Nice rig

Tweak the power settings and you should be able to get some pretty good use out of the 9 cell. I'm very seldom off A/C power, but I've used the battery once for about 3+ hours of browsing and downloading and still had plenty of juice left.

I use my TV tuner quite frequently and it works extremely well. You should receive the small digital antenna and an adapter to connect to cable. If not, Dell will send you the adapter if you contact them. It is VERY convenient to have it internalized.

I've played the following games on mine at reasonably high settings so far: Crysis2, Bioshock2, COD MW2, The Witcher, Dragon Age: Origins, Mafia II, Fallout3, CS:S and Half Life2 and Mass Effect 1 and 2. No complaints or problems with 'em.

Enjoy!

 

I have the TV tuner and it works well with my $12 RCA rabbit-ear antenna. Don't use the antenna Dell gives you. I only got 2 channels with that.

 

I think you are not inserting the cover properly. Make sure that you slide the cover with it's bottom touching the base and the cover is not inclined while inserting.

 

Are we likely to see another bios for this laptop?

 

Just upgraded RAM from 6gb to 8gb and what a difference! Everything is faster, from boot-up start time to opening programs to browsing. The matching pairs do make a great difference. When I first got my laptop I thought "this is fast but it could/should be faster." Now it feels like I thought it should be. Very stoked!
Thanks for all the input from the guys and gals in this forum.

Old: 4gb Samsung and 2gb Nanya
New: 8GB PNY

EDIT: It didn't show much of an increase in the Windows Eperience Index (WEI) but I was never a fan of that anyway. I go by the ramosj88 Experience Index which is very high!


L502x ~ i7 2620M ~ 8 gigs RAM ~ GT525 ~ FHD B+RGLED ~ 6230+BT ~ B-Ray ~ 9-Cell ~ 750GB HD ~ Backlit KB ~ Windows 7 Ultimate

 

Two questions, what's latest bios update for this laptop and also what's recommended 8gb memory I can put on this system?

 

As long as its a 1333mhz 204pin SODIMM module it doesnt matter as these systems are limited to 1333mhz so even a 1600mhz peice will be downclocked. I put 8gb crucial into my l702x and its good ram.

And its A12 for the l702x i believe its A06 for the l502x but check dells driver page to be sure

 

Great to hear you have had a good run with the battery, yeah, I expect to have to tune the power settings to squeeze as much out as possible (I won't need processing power, just battery life )

Thanks for the info on the Antenna, sounds great that you can use a simple rabbit ears to get some channels. I suppose it all depends on how strong your signal is, the provided antenna probably works well when there is a strong signal (ie close to tower and not much interferance).

From what I read the i7-2670QM is a new processor only just released in September, I can't find it on Intels Ark which is a little odd. So will be interesting to get more info on the processor and it's performance both in computations and battery life.

 

I bought the PNY cause it was on sale at New*** with a free movie download for about $35. Works great!

 

can some one post your 9 cell battery life stats?
i have 23% wear and get about 3 hours of browsing is that normal? i remember i used to get alot more when it was brand new when it was 0% wear but no where what the reviewers were saying such as Anandtech.com .

 

Do we need one?

 

Hey....has anybody used the sim slot in battery bay for internet access (or for any other purpose)..??? I am wondering if I can use the same for accessing internet on the go...is there any other service which has to be activated in order to use the sim....???
Btw I am in India...

 

Question: where I can buy mini pci-e tv tuner for my l502x?

 

Got 6+ hours on the 9 cell last night, dont know how much wear is on it , how do you check ?

 

Try eBay or Amazon.

 

Yes if it sorts the fan behaviour out!!

 

I get about 4 hours on my 9-cell. Download Dell Support Center if it is not already installed and then look at the Battery Status.

 

I bought my G-Skill 8GB RAM off Newegg for $64.34. This deal included a free Kingston 4GB flash drive. I then sold the flash drive on Craigslist for $8, and the old 6GB RAM for $40. Therefore, I essentially upgraded to 8GB for only $16.34.

 

Hi,
I am interested in a stand / cooler for Dell XPS L502x.
It is well known problem with overheating Dell sites, especially Dell's XPS. Therefore I concluded that I really need a cooler stand.
The laptop is 15.6 ".
Importantly, stand to be extremely quiet (given that already sound "F16 Jet" from XPS).
From those who own XPS's (DELL XPS especially L502x), request a solution to solve this problem by suggesting some fan Products.

Thanks!

 

I tried to find tvtuner in ebay, but no result

 

Type USB tv tuner in eBay. I just did and saw lots of them

 

I think this card it's OK.

Avermedia A306 Mini PCI-E TV Tuner Card For Dell XPS | eBay

 

That is for a USB TV tuner, though. He wants a mini-PCIe TV tuner card.

 

That probably works, but the exact card used in my XPS 15 L502x is the Avermedia H339 Hybrid Analog/ATSC/QAM card. Try Google searching for that model.

 

Here's another convert to the SSD bandwagon.

Got myself a OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB SSD and a caddy drive to replace the BDROM.

Wow...what a difference an SSD makes. Clean install of Win7-x64 with all service packs/patches + complete drivers takes <10-12 secs from boot to start button click.

The 500 GB OEM HDD went into the caddy. Have setup my system with dual boot, fresh SSD+old oem hdd.

Now only hoping the SSD don't turn up into frequent BSODs as being faced by quite a lot of users.

Below is the WEI rating for my fully loaded L502X (i7/8GB/RGBLed Display/GT540...)

 

Cool! I'll be doing the same soon!!

 

What is the point of this? Now you won't have an optical drive.

 

Cool thing is the caddy drive with HDD can be removed at will and the BD/DVD rom can be inserted anytime you want. Depends on your requirement & usage of the optical drive. Just need to ensure the HDD on the caddy drive does not contain any operating system files.

Also, since this machine comes with USB 3.0 as well as eSata port, for regular usage of optical drive, I believe some external enclosure are already avlbl if anyone is interested.

 

Personally I found this to be a huge benefit as in the past my laptops have been limited to a single hard drive. I have an SSD, but the biggest disadvantage of having an SSD is lack of storage.

Now I have an SSD for the OS drive + apps, and my 640GB drive that came with the laptop in the place of the optical drive.

Sometimes you do need an optical drive, and mapping one over LAN is not an option, or very inconvenient. An external USB DVD drive filled that void for me. It also serves as a backup optical drive in case one of my desktop drives fail, so that was also bonus for me. The downside is cost, and more to carry, but for me I did not mind at all.

In my opinion the benefit of the second hard drive outweighs the loss of the optical drive. I use the secondary hard drive for virtual machines, which I could never do with just the SSD. I also get the performance benefits of an SSD when using applications located on the SSD, which I would not get with just the original 640GB drive.

TLDR Cliffs: SSD + HDD & Caddy + USB Optical = Speed win/ Storage win/ Optical necessity win (IMO of course)

 

Mee tooo!


Although i'm still dreaming of 2 SSD's (one on right place and other on optical drive place).

I wonder if the transfer rate from SSD-caddy will be reduced??

 

The caddy I got from ebay has a label depicting SATA 1.5 GB to which I have put the oem 500GB hdd. Intel Rapid Storage Technology- RST software reports the speed as 3 GB/s.

Since I have configured my system as dual boot, I am continuing to use the caddy to boot into the previous os install (till I have installed all apps and completed configuration of my SSD os install). I notice first 2 boots for caddy slightly slow compared to earlier, but 3rd time onwards no noticeable difference.

IMO, the SSD I have opted for is Vertex 3 which is fully Sata III compatible, and hence is operating at 6GB speed. In case of Sata II compatible SSDs, even installing the SSDs in the caddy and booting from it should give a tremendous speed benefit.

BTW, the ebay caddy nicely fitted without a hitch including the DVD tray outside cover. From outside no problem with aesthetics whatsoever.

 

I have the Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD in my XPS and yes the drives are SATA 3, but I bet the controller in this laptop is only SATA 2 so isn't running at full speed.

 

Just some info on the vertex 3, it like many sandforce drives have many issues. Many users have claimed they dont work longer than 2 months and in one case someone got through 4 of them. This has all been discussed on these forums so please do research into it first. I personally was going to get one but then found out about all the problems with it and got a crucial m4 instead which i recommend.

 

+1 for the crucial m4. fantastic drive, and with the 0009 firmware update, it's smokin!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...cial-m4-256gb-0002-0009-bench-comparison.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...ge/606767-crucial-m4-009-firmware-update.html

 

Thanks for headsup. Am aware of the issues, however decided to take the plunge since OCZ was the only brand which is available locally in my area with a local service /support center. Considered Intel but deal breaker costwise.

Keeping my fingers crossed

 

Very happy with everything on my L502X except for my Wifi 1000BGN card. The receive rates are only around 72-144mbit, while the transfer rates often dip down to 7mbit (10 feet away from the router). I've read alot about this card being pretty bad, I found an open box Intel 6200 adapter from newegg for $13, that should be arriving on Monday. Hopefully that works out better. Running Tomato firmware on my Linksys WRT320N that I flashed to E2000. My wife's laptop with 802.11g pretty much gets a solid 54mbit in both directions.

 

Hey has anybody else been getting BSOD from the intel HD graphics driver igdkmd64.sys. I've had around 10 lately, wondering what's going on!!
I've reinstalled the driver but it just happened again!