Dell XPS15 R2 (L502) Thread

Well, after much research and anticipation I received my L502x today.

Blu Ray drive is the most shocking excuse for a drive I have ever seen in a laptop since my mother's Acer from 5 years ago. The draw flexes about 1cm when pulled out - yuk. Also, it doesn't work! All DVD's rub in the tray and it sounds like a lawn mower, it also drops the drive from the 'My Computer' randomly and the soft 'tray open' button is unresponsive.

Also - the wireless doesn't work. Lol.

On the phone to dell support now, jumping through hoops like a dog. On the plus side, Dell saw fit to include an Internal Dell Wireless 5540 built-in 3G/HSDPA and vodafone SIM - which i didn't order or want!

 

Thanks for the photos. The GT540M module looks like it might be removable from the motherboard? Pls confirm?

Much thanks.

 

It usually isn't. That looks like glue on the corners, and its probably soldered to the mainboard.

 

Blarg - that's a shame. Wireless won't associate at all, or you can't get any web traffic? McAfee firewall seemed to block all outbound HTTP traffic for me, when I first used it. Ping and DNS worked though.

Seems that they all come with the HSPA module in the UK - winner that you got a SIM though! Wonder where the bills go.

Did you get a UK BL keyboard? Was worried you'd end up with a US-layout one as has been happening to the 702x guys...

 

Hoping someone can confirm 100%. Glue might indicate it's not soldered? Thanks.

 

Discovered that Quickset64 controls the onscreen icons, when you change brightness and volume.

 

Man - all my tech disasters are happening today! My main PC just decided to have a brain fart and BSOD...and the new L502x I can't do much with until they replace all the parts on Tuesday. The wireless has been installed incorrectly i think - it's just showing 1 bar if placed 2 ft from various routers. Dell have been remotely accessing it for 1 1/2 hours now and conceded that the wireless is knackered and the bluray drive needs replacing - engineer coming tuesday.

This is a brand new PC - not impressed with Dell QC!! Although there phone service chap was helpful and competent.

I have just shoved an Edimax USB 300mbs Wifi antennae in the laptop and now it's screaming along on full signal - so definitely the inbuilt wireless issue.

The laptop - Stunning! I did get a UK BL Keyboard and it was worth it Sorry! It's great and a must have. The screen - Amazing. I'm reallt picky about screens, being a photographer - and this one is the best I have ever seen on any laptop. Period. So bright, it hurts. The colours and depth of colour is fantastic.

Interesting to hear you say that maybe all UK buyers are getting this HSDPA vodafone modem for free - I got a vodafone sim card in mine, but i'm bu**ered if I can figure out hoe to activate it or use it...any ideas? I'll take it out and put it in a phone and see what it says

 

Right... Dell QuickSet! That's what I meant by Dell Control Point, except that DCP is on Latitudes... My bad

 

Good that they're coming to you to fix the wireless, rather than shipping it back to where it came from! And coming quickly too. Obviously not good that they dont seem to test these things at all before shipping them, or that they're getting bashed about enough in transit to cause problems. My button's broken again so will be trying to make the same thing happen for me, and for a keyboard to come too.

On your SIM there should be a long number - the IMSI. Usually you'd get a little plastic pack with Voda blurb and instructions in - you dont have one? You'll need to ring them and quote the IMSI. They'll then make you an account and associate the IMSI with it, activate it and set up billing etc.

Worth checking that Voda do the package you want, if you want mobile broadband. Anyone'll give you a free SIM with some free initial bandwidth so shouldn't be any need to be tied to Vodafone. 3 seemed to have the best occasional use packages when I looked and I've heard it be said that they have good mobile data infrastructure.

 

Question about RAM

Option 1: Order the L502X with 4gb and then swap that out with an 8gb dual kit down the road.

Option 2: Order the L502X with 6gb and then swap out 2gb of that with a 4gb stick later.

Will both options have the same end result performance wise ?
Any advantage to installing the dual kits ?

Thanks

 

Looks like Cnet has a review up finally. Dell XPS 15-L502X Review - Watch CNET's Video Review

 

If you read this you have the answer

 

Thats from 2009

 

Actually yeah, that doesn't really address his question.

Pretty much there won't be any performance difference, just a wallet difference.

 

Thanks for the good info. I really appreciate it.

 

I love these threads, but I never get a single response to any of my questions. Am I just asking questions that are too stupid to deserve an answer? (I guess I'll interpret a lack of future responses as a "yes".)

 

Any tried to replace the HDD with a Hydbrid HDD? In my Studio XPS 16 I put this drive in: Seagate Momentus XT STAN500100 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Laptop Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive.

I ordered the XPS 15 R2 with the 640GB HD, probably remove and replace with the Hydbrid Drive and to a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thoughts?

 

To be honest: sort of, yeah. If you nuke and replace Windows, you are by definition replacing the registry. So if the problem was with the registry, it will be corrected by that.

 

Thanks for that info - No, I didn't receive any info on the HSDPA at all - no Vodafone info, nothing. Just a Vodafone SIM already placed in the slot under the battery.

I can see the number your talking about on the SIM - I'll call Vodafone tomorrow to see what's going on - although a kind member on here just PM'd me some drivers that will enable me to use a non-vodafone SIM in it, so i'll give that a go too.

When I start the Dell Mobile Broadband manager software, it doesn't work since the internal Wifi also needs to be on to activate the HSDPA card as well - and mine doesn't work - says network access disabled. SIM status is 'Ready' though, so it must be a network thing.

I'll get a 3 SIM and use that

 

Thanks DakkonA. Apologies for asking a stupid/obvious question. My perception is that my system still seems somewhat slower than it was when I took it out of the box, but maybe I fell victim to new laptop paranoia. If there is anything else (even seemingly obvious) that could still be affecting my system speed after a factory settings recovery, please let me know.

 

Windows 7 handles HSDPA connections by default. No need for additional software such as Dell/Ericsson manager, except for hardware drivers, obviously. You can just connect to WLAN or WWAN (or both...) - all via operating system's network manager in your taskbar. I've used it on Windows 7 HP on my Studio and use it currently on Windows 7 Pro on a Latitude.

 

How can I identify when the IGP is running instead of the GPU?

 

Finally took the plunge on this! There's a pretty good sale going for EPP this weekend and the EPP $100 coupon stacks with the sale discounts so I ended up with around $530 off.

Quantity Item Number Description

1 225-0675 XPS 15
1 317-6409 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz
1 317-6414 6GB,DDR3,2 DIMM
1 331-1668 Backlit Internal Keyboard - English
1 320-1673 15.6FHD TLF B+RGLED LCD L501X
1 421-3874 Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
1 421-3642 Basic Stage
1 320-2120 NVIDIA GeForce GT540M 2GB graphics with Optimus
1 342-2372 640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
1 318-0490 Elemental Silver Aluminum (WLAN)
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 330-6222 Windows 7 Label
1 421-1737 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 420-9876 Cozi-Calendar
1 421-2086 eBay Webslice
1 421-0757 Skype VOIP Application
1 421-4118 WHITEPAGES.COM,Webslice
1 421-4289 Dell Support Center Software 3.0
1 318-0392 Windows Live Wave 4
1 331-1674 Resource DVD (L502X)
1 430-4038 Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 318-0151 Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
1 318-0434 Roxio Creator Starter, FI
1 421-4550 Power DVD 9.6, 3D
1 318-0138 JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3
1 430-4048 Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 and Bluetooth 3.0
1 421-4736 Wireless Display Software
1 410-9453 McAfee Platinum, 15 Month, MUI
1 312-1186 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1 410-0487 Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word and Excel with ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
1 939-4850 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Extended Year
1 939-4860 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
1 939-4880 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 1 Year Extended
1 939-4870 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
1 950-3338 2 Year Limited Warranty
1 987-5271 Accidental Damage Service, 2 Years
1 412-0358 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement
1 420-8878 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement
1 925-4561 Warranty Support, 1 Year Extended
1 933-0410 Warranty Support, Initial Year
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
1 927-2357 DataSafe Online 2.0 2GB
1 421-4356 Software, DataSafe Online 2.0 2GB
1 430-3893 No Mobile Broadband L501X

Order Subtotal: $1,371.99

Shipping and Handling Total: $39.00
Shipping Discount: -$39.00

Tax Total: $61.96

Total Amount: $1,433.95

 

Looks like you got a pretty good deal. I paid about $400 more than you for not much more, and you have a good warranty to boot.

 

A quick thermal paste review running only 3dMark06. Temps on all cores are between 3-4C lower than before, with the gpu being 6C lower on average. Typical temps from default free 3dMark06:

Core 0 - 85C
Core 1 - 84C
Core 2 - 84C
Core 3 - 80C
GPU - 68C

So, there is a little improvement, but not much. Running Furmark and Prime95 resulted in closer temps to stock paste, but core temps didn't go past 90C. GPU did hit 92C also. This was after 10 minutes of 1080p Burn in and Large FFT's for max heat. This is ~3C cooler on cores and ~2C cooler on gpu.

As you can tell from my pictures earlier, the thermal transfer surface area of the i7 and GT540M are very small. My i7 920 has about 300% the thermal transfer surface area for a not much faster chip. I must admit I really don't think the paste will yield much better results. I think the cooling efficiency of the laptop is too poor to keep temps under control at 100% load for any sustained period of time. It's main purpose is to slow down the duration of time in which the cpu reaches TDP, and allow the cpu to throttle itself afterwards to keep the frequency as high as possible without going over it's limit. This goes along with the theories in the high temp thread, and this repaste only confirms those theories.

 

Hmm... maybe I can turn my delayed XPS 15 to my advantage due to this sale. I'd take another $300 off (for my config) in exchange for waiting a few more weeks.

 

just noticed the bluray burner option went up from $176 to $260 in Dell australia website. but you get a free carry bag

 

Asked yesterday but it got swollowed up.
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.

 

Yes, you will have Optimus

 

Thanks mkj been looking around but could not find a definative answer.

 

I just ordered an L502x to replace my L501x, and I'm curious about a few things:

1. Will my battery life with the 6-cell improve moving from the i5-460M to the i7 2630QM?

2. I've read a lot of reports in this forum about heat issues with the Sandy Bridge i7 2720QM. Does the i7 2630QM have the same issues?

3. I've heard that the L502x is heavier than the L501x, but I don't believe it. True?

 

what do you call heat problems?
Turbo Boosts just smash out the max of the CPU.

You will see high temps inside of the Core yes. Doesnt mean the outside get as hot as well. You wont burn your legs on it if you think so.

also your not running on 100% load for long periods like they use in testing to overload the system.

About 3: just check out the specs on the site.

 

Interesting if yours is operator locked to Vodafone. Tried mine with an Orange SIM this morning and it worked right away. Worth checking before you try forcing it with the special software.

The Win7 support for it is much nicer than operator specific stuff I had before.

Such a shame about the wireless thing!

 

I've been waiting for a sale like the one going on in EPP now, but some posts on slickdeals.net have given me pause...

Anyone experiencing problems with Optimus and gaming? The nvidea forums are pretty scary to read:

NVIDIA Forums -> Optimus & Hybrid Graphics

 

You're going to need to explain why some posts are giving you pause, assuming it is separate from Optimus?

 

OK - can someone pop the back plate off there L502x and tell me what cable goes where please?! I took the back off to upgrade the RAM and noticed two (!) completely unattached wireless cables. Nice one Dell quality control, nice. Explains my wireless issues!

Thing is - there is only one terminal free to attach the cable too. (See photos)

I have a grey wire and a white wire free - which one do I attach to the free terminal on the WLAN chip? And why does is there no other place to attach the other free wire? What function is this extra one? Thanks

 

LOL! Looks like you only have the secondary/backup antenna attached (black cable). You need to attach the primary antenna (white cable) to where the white triangle points on your WLAN card. While both antennas are exactly the same, the card primarily uses the white one or, say, the one attached to the white triangle socket.

The gray cable is for TV tuner, which goes, where the WWAN card is. You can get either WWAN or TV tuner, same on L702X.

 

White cable to white arrow.

I'm more interested in why there isn't a third antenna for a Wireless N card

IEEE 802.11n-2009 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The third antenna makes a huge difference to signal quality.

 

Thank you MKJ! All issues wifi related are now solved The HSDPA module also seems to work on all networks I've tried, 3, Orange & O2 - all ticking along nicely on the standard drivers that came with the laptop - it wasn't locked to Vodafone only. Just odd that Dell included a vodafone SIM card and absolutely no written reference to it - or how to use it?

Still i'm happy that the WiFi's working, one less thing for Dell to replace. Just a new BluRay drive and i'm all done...for this time!

Cheers, Rod

 

what do you think about Lenovo's Thinkpad series?
Is it worth buying? or IBM is better

 

just out of interest, has anyone used the Dell GPS utility? I suppose that this works off mobile signal triangulation...unless there's a GPS module in there too?

 

Because he has a 6200 series card and not a 6300 card. Unfortunately on consumer lines Dell only installs as many antennas as required. So if he had a 3-antenna card, he would have got 3 antennas to use with it. Same with WWAN - if he didn't have that WWAN card, he wouldn't have got WWAN antennas (black/gray and white/gray). And that really sucks, because it makes it difficult to upgrade these cards.

I'd say... I there isn't a thread on that model in Lenovo forums, start one And I believe there is no IBM ThinkPad anymore...

The Dell 5540 WWAN card is GPS enabled. I've used it with a Sat-Nav software.

 

Intel's Ultimate 6300 series is 3x3. The Intel 4965 card in my m1530 is 2x3. I think the simple answer is that they wanted to put out a range of prices to fill the market. And unfortunately, Dell only made the mid-range card available.

 

That's changed since the M1530 series, on there you got all the wires in the system regardless of the actual cards fitted. So if you buy a WWAN card post delivery you have to do a complete strip to mount the antenna? That's crazy......

+1 for the 5540, it's got a great GPS chip onboard that does not rely on mobile connection, the drivers include a specific driver for the GPS. The best GPS software IMHO is the IGO8 stuff on the Windows Mobile phone, unfortunately there isn't a very good PC version available.

 

Has anyone installed 'nix on a 502 yet?

 

Mine shipped today ordered on 11/3 should have it on Monday it's coming from china to ireland, two days to come from china sounds abit optimistic? edd was 6/4,

 

Not quite... You need to order a brand new back cover with a full set of antennas. Pretty much the same effort to install and more costly, than you'd pay for antennas, if they were available separately.

 

There appear to be lots of incompatibilities with Optimus seemingly caused by the requirement that the Nvidea GPU basically stream its frames through the i7 instead of going directly to the monitor as was done prior with dedicated GPUs.

 

In Italy we can't have the backlit keyboard Italian on XPS, but the new Vostro 3550 has a backlit keyboard Italian on board and looks the same as that of XPS.
I wanted to ask the owners of XPS if in these photos you notice differences between your keyboard and that on new Vostro 3550.

 

Ordered my XPS 15 on 3/12 and its on a truck out for delivery today. 7 days, pretty impressive. It appears that it was shipped from New Jersey.

Thank god I didn't have to work today!