Dell XPS and Sandy Bridge

alvester- Looks like it is also available in the UK, should be across the pond soon. Cheers All
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

 

The XPS15 R2 will be available next week according to Dell reps in Germany.

 

And the U.S. Dell store has yet another 2-day sale. I guess they feel they haven't sold enough of the old stock yet?

Nevermind. Woohoo!

 

The wait is over! The US Dell Store now has the L502X and L702X in stock!

 

Very sweet, everything is in! Backlit keyboard, everything! A little surprise there was only i7 but no i5 though...

Set to the config I wanted, price was $1500. Ouch.

Now waiting for it to be released in Malaysia!


Opps, shipping date, 15 March... Another period of waiting!

 

I just had a call from a Dell rep, the 502 to my spec came out at £1270. over £400 more than the one I cancelled.

Now I have some thinking to do...

 

Where are you seeing that the keyboard is backlit?

 

It's a config option that's way down the list into the 2nd set of config options.

 

Hi im new here, ive been reading through these forums in the past few days and I was previously looking at the 1st gen XPS 15 now that the 2nd Gen XPS 15 is out I am not sure which one to get. What do you guys recommend i get? Which one is better the new XPS 15 or 17? My budget is around $1250 US Dollars, i could go a little higher.

 

Depends. If you were looking at an i5 and the 400-series GPU would do you, the clearance prices on the first gen are looking pretty nice.

If you were wanting a i7 quad-core (as I am), I really would look for the Sandy Bridge 2nd gen.

 

LoL, you're right I didn't make it that far. The keyboard is a $40 upgrade. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the response. I was about to Purchase the 1st Gen XPS 15 last week but I kept reading about the new ones coming out soon, so I decided to wait and I am so glad I did. So I am now deciding between the XPS 15 and the 17 (Sandy Bridge) models. Whats the difference between both? I really do not care much for the 3D or the blu-ray drive since i already own a blu-ray player. I just want a good performance machine, for everyday use and school work. My Budget is around $ 1250.00 US Dollars, I could go a tiny bit higher. Or do you guys recommend getting a Different Brand Laptop with Sandy Bridge Processors???

 

Sweeeet!!!

I've been lurking in this forum thread for the past few days once I found out why the Dell site keeps jettisoning my saved configurations in the site shopping cart! I was configuring a Dell laptop about a week ago after getting a nice bonus. I started looking back in December. My Inspiron 1525 is beginning to come apart due to the hinge design issues plaguing that model. My dad could use a new PC and he won't be nearly as mobile with a laptop as I am, so he already said he would LOVE to have my hand me down! Meanwhile, I wanted to upgrade to a 17" screen. So when the bonus came through, I started looking on Dell's web site at the XPS 17.

I was upset when the Dell site kept forcing me to select one of the cheesy artistic cover designs and each time I got a configuration that I liked and saved to my cart, the next day I was informed it was no longer available. That happened about 2 or 3 days in a row and I was starting to get pretty upset!

I planned to pay for it outright with my bonus money. The money is there, but it was being held to verify that the incoming check cleared, so even though I had three or four different configurations saved to my shopping cart at different times, I couldn't pull the trigger. Lucky for me I guess. Now I'm ready to buy!

 

It really comes down to how portable you want it, etc. The 3D screen is also 1080p where the stock screen is 1600x900 so you'd get less screen real estate. The 15" has an upgrade to a much nicer 1080p screen as well.

Performance wise if all you're going to be doing is using the web and doing school work (word and excel I'd presume), then any of the processors will be fine. You may want to upgrade to more RAM if you'd like ability to have a lot of programs at once but 4GB of ram is still a lot. And you'd want to upgrade that aftermarket anyway as it's much less expensive.

My other recommendation would be to get a Solid State Hardrive aftermarket as well, but that kicks the price up quite a bit (probably $300 for a 120GB SSD and 8GB of DDR3 RAM).

I think the point I'm making is these are performance machines and you're really not going to be doing anything that demands performance. So a lot of RAM and a SSD will make the computer fast to use on an every day basis (responsiveness of the file system, boot time, app loading etc).

 

I'd question why you're even looking at the XPS unless you're looking for a gaming laptop. Much of the performance will be similar to the Inspiron line.

 

Dell XPS 15 L502X
Dell XPS 15 Laptop Details | Dell

Dell XPS 17 L702X
XPS 17 Laptop Details | Dell

 

Whoa the L502X is finally out?!

I thought we had to wait until April for those fixed motherboards to come out... I hope they're not using that dumb workaround that nobody wants.

Anyone knows anything about this?

 

They must be Rev B3 mainboards, as there is no workaround for systems with 3 sata connectors (HDD, DVD and eSata in case of the XPS15).
By the way, a week ago Intel announced that they have the Rev B3 ready and started shipping to OEMs. It will however take 1 to 2 months to normalize the situation, until then its essentially the bigger you are the more you get, so Dell and other OEMs get the new mainboards first.

 

QFT. Mega probably saw a previous post by someone (cant remember) who said he had inside info that systems were just sent out from Taiwan for initial testing. That's why you don't believe everything you read

 

Funny how everyone kept saying it would be months before we would see them on sale lol

 

the thing is, can dell deliver?

 

Do you guys think will Dell release the XPS 14 with sandy bridge?

 

Just wondering, how's the difference in battery life if I have duo core and if I have quad core on my XPS 15? I know it's reduced, but at what magnitude?

 

I thought Engadget said Dell has discontinued the XPS 14 entirely?

Engadget link: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/20/dell-xps-14-discontinued-will-be-replaced-with-something-thinne/

 

Yeah, I saw that. It doesn't sound the entire XPS 14 will be discontinued but more likely, XPS 14 (version 2) is coming out. That's why I was wondering if the XPS 14 + sandy bridge is arriving soon... maybe I am wrong.
It feels sad if the discontinued of the XPS 14 is true since I just got my XPS 14 about two weeks ago.

 

Well it makes some sense. A 14" version of the XPS15/17 really isn't a great draw. What they need is a thinner, more mobile XPS for that size to be a draw.

 

This is what I read:
Intel and OEMs Find Workaround for Chipset Issue, Sandy Bridge Notebooks to Ship Again

I just don't like the idea of buying something that's sort of "defective".
Well, if the Dell XPS L502X doesn't use SATA2 at all, maybe I shouldn't worry about it...
I'm not too familiar with that stuff. How do we know if L502X uses the affected ports?

I haven't been keeping up with the news. This article was from two weeks ago. lol

 

Basically, the problem was that they didn't make a single transistor thick enough to handle the voltage, and it turned out that this transistor wasn't needed, so they essentially just removed it. There should be 0 problems on these boards that were caused by this issue.

 

The way I read the article was that Dell had the go ahead as long as they only used two of the Intel SATA ports and if they needed more (which I believe is the case for both the L502X and L702X because of the external eSATA), they would have to add a thrid party SATA controller. The article didn't say anything about a transistor. Is the transistor removal the permanent fix? Is this what Dell is using, or are they adding a third party SATA controller?

 

Transistor is internal to the die. It's an excellent question though, how Dell is getting around the issue given the internal SATA drive, the optical drive, as well as the E-SATA port. That's 3 in my count and bumps into the chipset issue.

 

The Source of Intel's Cougar Point SATA Bug - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

"The solution Intel has devised is to simply remove voltage to the transistor. The chip is functionally no different, but by permanently disabling the transistor the problem will never arise."

Intel apparently started shipping fixed silicon last week.

Intel to start shipping remedied Cougar Point chipsets on February 14th -- Engadget

 

So in theory, Dell should be using the remedied chipsets and not a third party SATA controller. This would be good news, especially since I've already pulled the trigger on my new L502X.

 

The chassis for the L702x is the same as L701x. Surely there must be two HDD bays on the L702x, as in the L701x. Can someone confirm this new gen system DOES have tWO drive bays?

 

yes dear it has 2 hd bays....
dell US is offering dual hard drive on new xps also....

 

wow Dell UK have a host of new configuration options today, including the nvidia glasses and backlit keyboard

I was waiting for the SB HP Envy 3D to hit the UK but it's not even out in the US yet. So I'm defecting to Dell

 

I know, it's really annoying, having placed a second order and confirmed yesterday without the backlit keyboard, I'm now loosing my sanity.

 

aye I nearly purchased one last night. I asked and asked if UK were getting backit keyboards, all the way up until 11pm last night and everyone I spoke to on Dell chat said no, same with the nvidia glasses. Anyway it was late so I gave up.

hope you can get yours sorted so you can re-order

 

XPS 15 R2 already in the uk site: Dell XPS 15 Laptop Details | Dell

(still not accepting purchase orders)

 

Many thanks, is it just me or are the Dell sales staff very misinformed?

What sort of spec are you going for?

 

dell staffs are misinformed... guess you have to cancel your order again.
Well, time for me to call up and ask if they have some backlit keyboard in stock for my 701x...

 

I was planning on getting the XPS 17 3D version (med to high spec). Still umming and ahhing about getting extended support. It seems quite expensive, but then so are repairs

anyway I'll have a go tonight..... or should I wait until more new options are unhidden tomorrow?

 

I'm waiting until next week (it's killing me) to see how it all shakes out. It's all changing way too much daily.

 

Any word on a date for the XPS 14 Sandybridge?

I can't wait for this. Hoping it's under 2kg's with a strong GPU and quad CPU.

 

Their press report says they discontinued the XPS 14, but are going to be launching a thinner lighter product later this year.

To me, "later this year" means after the first half, but that's just a guess.

Dell Discontinues XPS 14 Notebook

 

It was discontinued.

 

Question about the Sandy bridge processors: The quad-core CPU is 45 watts, while the duo-core is 35 watts. How will this affect the battery life of the laptop? And how does the quad-core SB is more energy efficient than previous gen quad-cores?

Need some answers to help me decide on my CPU.

EDIT: Also, which is considered to be more 'extreme': a quad-core CPU or a 2GB GPU? (i7-2720M & GT 540M)

 

SB quad core is pretty much top of the line in the market right now, and GT 540M is somewhere above medium, by far from extreme.

 

Is the GT 540M really a 2GB GPU? Or am I misinformed by Dell?

 

As for battery power, the TDP means the peak output of the processor. It is entirely possible, even likely, that it will rarely reach that load except under high stress like playing an intensive game using every core, or rendering or such things. The early tests of quad-core reference notebooks had battery power times of over 7 hours just doing web surfing. It is possible that the dual-core will be more efficient than that even, but the power saving technology (shutting down cores and lowering the clock speeds of the remaining ones) is such that there might not be much difference in relatively low-stress conditions.

The 540M is a mid-range GPU, and only a little bit faster than the other choice, 525M, with no other features different. As for 2GB, they aren't lying, but the 2GB that it is able to use comes from the main system RAM, not from dedicated chips. [EDIT: But apparently this isn't quite right, see reply below]

 

Damn, Apple refreshed their MacBook Pros, with quad-core i7 SB processors and AMD Radeon 6490M or 6750M graphics on their 15.4"!

Woops, I just decided to go upgrade from i7-2620M to i7-2720M and get a 540M rather than a 525M. Gotta match those MBP's.