Dell XPS15 R2 (L502) Thread

Replacing the thermal paste on the i7 and GT540M. These are stock thermal paste pics. I threw them up on my hosting server because of the size. Didn't feel like resizing them in photoshop. Will be using Shin-Etsu X23-7783D paste. Sorry for the crappy iphone pics.

i7 2720QM
http://www.pcrepairandconsulting.com/images/photoi7.jpg

i7 heatsink
http://www.pcrepairandconsulting.com/images/photoi7hs.jpg

GT540M
http://www.pcrepairandconsulting.com/images/photogt540m.jpg

GT540M heatsink
http://www.pcrepairandconsulting.com/images/photogt540mhs.jpg

 

I got the basic 4 gig with my system. Just ordered 8gig from newegg for $84. Cruical 1333 DDR3. The installed memory is slow, WEI of 5.9. The Dell 15r I returned was 6.9. Feedback reports the Cruical at 7.1 to 7.4. Not that it matters but we shall see.

 

Holey. Moley. I have never seen such awesome graphics.

The tag on the video said they were using:
Gpu 2 Gtx 280 SC SLI

... so... um... I'm going to take a wild guess and say no way could the GT 540m do that... lol. Sweet clip though dang !!! The watermelons cracked me up. Too cool.

 

I made a new video, this time sharing my thoughts after having it a couple days. It's a little bit more in-depth than my Vostro comparison. Enjoy!

YouTube - XPS 15 L502X opinion

 

NoSlow, thanks for the pics.
It almost looks like the procs and heatsinks don't mate very well.

 

Have any of you guys actually tried to run games? My intel hd card gets recognised instead of my gt 540m. Happens for stuff like gta 4

 

You already made a thread whining about GTA...do you need two?

 

Can you take a picture of controller USB 3.0?
It is useful to understand witch generation is used in XPS.

 

Sorry, it's already back together. I kinda did this quickly. Didn't even plan on doing it until the weekend, but there was nothing on tv, so I said what the hell. I meant to take a picture of the optical drive for someone on here but forgot about it. I know it's a panasonic Uxxxx..... drive.

 

Haha yeah i know, my bad. But was wondering if any of you experienced performance issues with ANY games. Thats prob one of the reasons why you all bought this laptop with its nice GPU/screen, to run games...

And pls no, that wasnt whining.

 

Dakkon, you ordered LoJack, too, right?
My Dell rep called today and said they fixed the problem with LoJack and will start building the computer, with "priority ". He thinks I should get it by the end of the month. I ordered this thing 22 Feb.

 

I was thinking about your situation earlier. I bought my wife the Inspiron 15 last night. It comes standard with LoJack, and it will be here tomorrow. I'm wondering why they were having problems with it.

 

Any owners of the l502x tell me how much battery life you are getting, preferably by running the battery down not using the meter.

1 person with the l702x is reporting times of 7/8 hours which although would be great I find it very hard to believe.

If someone confirms this then who cares about temps it would be a great portable laptop (kinda portable).

Thanks

 

NoSlow, got any new temps yet? I'll probably try the ICD7, based on your earlier post. If I ever get my unit.

 

I haven't run my battery down yet, but I did surf the net for just over 3hrs and still had over half a charge left. I believe 7hrs is well within reach with the 9cell battery, moderate screen brightness and light to moderate non graphics or cpu intensive tasks.

 

I had the same problem, try this
Error Loading dll: CryInput.dll error code 183 – SOLVED – Crysis 2 Demo | Jason Porter

 

Yeah I had. That's good to hear! My expected ship date is apparently tomorrow. I'm hoping it'll still get here on time.

The only thing I can think of is if there was a bug in the BIOS, since the Lojack function is turned on there and can't be turned off again. I wouldn't be surprised if Rick and mine's ship with a newer revision than everyone else.

 

Great news. Early reports of SB suggested an extra hour or so but this easily exceeds that, basically a 100% increase compared to my L701x.

Seriously tempted to buy 1 for my gf now but will just wait and see what else is uncovered first.

Thanks for confirmation.

 

The fact that optimus actually works for quad core probably has more to do to that then SB

 

Just curious, at what point does Dell charge your card after placing the order? Before shipping/production process?

 

Charges your card the moment you place the order. BUT if you cancel during production, they'll refund your purchase. Takes around 2 weeks for them to credit you back the $$$

 

Can someone help me find the Power DVD 9.6, 3D application and skype? After my clean install i cannot find them on the disc dell provides Plus i cannot find the webcam icon that was on my desktop before???

 

Is there an option to purchase an additional battery? Is it cheaper to buy one now instead of after buying the laptop?

 

Someone posted the link earlier in the thread. The desktop icon is probably just a shortcut. You can copy it from the Start Menu.

 

Skype is freeware, just download it from the website.

 

Lol yeah it's a cool clip of the photoreal map for Crysis, if someone that already has the laptop plz test this, I just wanna know if the GT540 can run it?

 

Has it arrived yet?

How about now? Now?

Wondering how the keyboard is for you...

Or now?

 

I ordered 3/8 and again on 3/13 and haven't been charged for either. They charge when the item ships (which hopefully will be soon!).

 

You can get an additional battery, yeah. It's in the 'accessorise my dell' tab. Not cheap though - £125 in the UK! The part number isn't listed (on .co.uk) as available as an individual purchase, though it's probly available via the phone.

 

They definitely charged for mine before they even started building. I got a call from my bank within 20 min of completing the order online and didnt get the confirmation (as opposed to acknowledgement) mail until the payment had gone through.

Maybe it's different in different countries though.

 

Normally they just put a hold on your account for the order amount. Charge it when it ships.

 

Ah ok, I see.

 

Probably right about different countries/different policies. I'm in the US. Dell did check the card and obtained an authorization when I ordered, but they have yet to actually charge the card.

 

Looking forward to getting my XPS today in the UK - out for delivery now. Will run the usual tests and take some snaps if wanted? Have 8GB RAM coming tomorrow too and the HDD caddy to install with a 500GB 7.2k HDD and the external eSATAp cable for the BluRay drive.

 

I want to order today but worried by Dells 4 week delivery in the UK. On the phone they say it should be two weeks but not sure if i should believe them!

anyone from the UK received the system yet?

I want to order without the 9 cell. Am i crazy? i've the SB i7 and the optimus have improved the battery drain vs. older models......

 

No temps besides idleing temps. I turned it on and let it idle all night long to cure the paste. I turned it off this morning and noted idle temps were in the high 40's, which is better than the high 40's/low 50's it was before. I've documented every test I've run including the crysis temps, so I have a lot to compare against. Will post max temps and differences between stock/Shin-Estu paste later tonight or tomorrow.

BTW, just got my Inspiron 15 in. 36 hours from ordering to receiving. I'm going to check temps on it as well just because. It has Intel T4500 dual core.

 

Thank you everyone for your helpful advice. Just ordered my own XPS 15 (will post specs soon). First new computer since 2002. Can't wait!

 

Nice setup Could you possibly point us to these accessories? I'm mostly interested in that ODD->HDD caddy, but eSATAp cable seems quite handy too...

 

I phoned my order in and they gave me a free upgrade from 6GB to 8GB.

2720Q / B+RGLED+FR / GT 540M 2GB / 640GB HDD / 8GB Ram / Blu-Ray RW / 6230 & BT / BL KB / Win 7 HP - $1409.19 + tax

 

True it is Optimus I just keep saying SB meaning the laptop in general.

 

The batteries from the L501x and L701x seem to be compatible with the new models and therefore can be brought from other places than Dell for a lot cheaper.

The only problem with buying others is the quality and unfortunately I am no expert but have seen some for £65 $80 roughly....Google search L502x/L702x batteries and you will find some.

 

I ordered one on the 8th March and it still hasn't even gone into production. I rang Dell today who said they'd check on it and let me know Tuesday next week...not great service for my first purchase from Dell - specially when it's a pricey top spec laptop as well.

Does anyone know how easy it is to swap the internal optical drive. Is it simply a release latch under the laptop and it swaps out? I have 8GB RAM and a Blu-Ray writer waiting for the machine to arrive and be fitted.

 

Ordered a XPS 15 l502x ~10 hours ago.....
It went into "In Production" few hours ago, and still EDD of 4/13/11... 5 days short of a month, is that accurate?

i5-2410 and everything else basic model.....
Got it for $740 USD total after all taxes etc...

 

I recently purchased a XPS15 R2. I did not do a fresh Win7 install, but did remove all the bloatware and shrunk/defragged the C: partition before creating a D: partition for storing my data and documents. Unfortunately trying to open a corrupt data file from my old PC seemed to make the system slow and unstable. I decided to “start over” by hitting F8 during boot and using the Dell DataStore Emergency Recovery option to return to factory settings. This reformatted my (now smaller than original) C: partition and reloaded all of the original factory installed settings and software. My D: partition and data appears to have been unaffected.

My question is: would this type of Factory Settings Recovery also return my system registry etc. to the original factory state even though the HDD is still repartitioned with my new D: data partition intact? The system does not seem to be suffering from the obvious slowness/instability I experienced prior to taking this action, but I want to make sure that my system is now functioning as it should. Is there any sort of system speed test that you would recommend to insure that everything is now as it should be?

Thank you very much in advance. The expertise on this thread has been invaluable!

 

There is a pretty good service manual here: Documentation

 

Top man! Many thanks!

 

i need advice on how to know which gpu is active? my game usually runsa 60+ but right now its at 15 frames. Ive change the nvidia profile to automatic to nvidia gpu but it still did not work.

 

Just received my XPS 15 today and i'm loving it! I reinstalled windows and I'm wondering how to get the screen icons for changing brightness back? Anyone know what to install?

 

You need to assign dedicated GPU to that particular game in NVIDIA control panel.

When you're on Dell drivers page, look for Dell Control Point.

 

Hey all just a quick question. Do all 540m graphics cards come with Optimus? My spec simply says
Graphics : 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Graphics card
No mention of Optimus.
I have ordered the i7 2630qm and usual specs with it.