Dell XPS15 R2 (L502) Thread

This is hilarious. I have just been looking online obsessing over my wireless options for the L502 !... I log back on here and the n6230 is catching hell lol
I'm totally confused.

My question(s) about wireless. (this IS ultimately related to a shiny new L502X... eventually lol)

The best wireless plan that I qualify for with my current ISP provides for:

Downstream Speed: Up to 1.5 Mbps
Upstream Speed: Up to 384 Kbps
IP Address: 1 Dynamic

Question:
I have no idea how bad that is. I have definitely seen higher transfer rates. Is this super slow ?

Question:
Considering the limitations of my ISP plan, will I be able to tell the difference if I have better spec'd laptop wireless n card and wireless n modem/router ???

(the better wireless card being either the n1030 or n6230 option in the L502 along with a good, either single or dual channel wireless n modem/router depending on which card I opt to get)

Example:
My current laptops (a vostro 1400) wireless card: Wireless 1395 802.11b/g PCI Express Mini Card
My current router: 2Wire 2701hg-b.

Current wireless transfer speeds (via testmy.net) 1MB and 6MB download test avgs:
Download: 994 Kbps (124 kB/s)
Upload: 279 Kbps (35 kB/s)

Question:
What do you think ? Will the L502X and a wireless n modem/router give me some better numbers ?

Thanks for all the great info on here !!!

 

with that speed you will not notice slow speeds of your wireless network..

1.5Mbps is very slow these days. *at least in holland where i live it is.

I have 20Mbps down, 1Mbps up.
But we can already get 120Mbps down and 10Mbps up.

So dont think you will notice any bad performance on your internet speed.
But what you would notice if it works bad.
Transfer from laptop to laptop. So traffic between systems in your home could be affected a lot.

 

Mine doesn't vibrate though!

But that's no reason not to get an SSD...

 

It looks like a few people have received their orders in about 10 days according to earlier posts. I placed my order on Friday and it is in production.

 

Managed to finally get an order in. Was looking to spend some time arguing to people over phone to get my will through but things went pretty smoothly....

...thing is, I live in Ireland, where Dell for some reason dropped the new config of the XPS 15 last week while I was still waiting to seal my decision. I have no idea why, might be that Dell see Ireland as a market less interested in power and more in cheaper deals. But I mean looking at the different XPS 15 configs now and before and keeping in mind there's still the Inspiron line, while XPS 15 being a Premium system, that doesn't really make sense. They still ship the SB XPS 15 to UK so why wouldn't they keep one of the advantages over many other manufacturers by offering an SB laptop to Ireland? First I thought this might have been a website glitch but it's still there. Management decisions often betray common, or other, sense...

...anyways, got it even with the backlit kb, tv tuner and 6 cell battery, none of which were offered in the original SB XPS 15 Irish entry. I also got it with the N 6230 which seems like bad news. I've got an old router which I will only upgrade if I get my housemate to upgrade his wireless card as well, connected on a 5MB line and also use the wireless to stream to my PS3. Wil I encounter trouble?

Anyways, it's a i7-2630qm with 540m/2gb, 640gb HDD, 4gb ram, R+GBLED FULLHD. Planning on upgrading to bluray writer, 8gigs ram in the future, possibly even SSD. Quite an improvement on my Inspiron 6400 core 2 duo 1.73ghz with 1 gig ram, dead battery, broken screen and partially working kb I think!

edit: key to getting the order in was having memorized the base configuration during my comparison frenzy, together with the price of said config and the fact that the website stated that the said "offer" (their systems are always on offer, right?) was valid until 23th of March.

 

Could someone do the Retouch Artists Benchmark if you have are running Photoshop? Thanks in advance!!

 

Wow I ordered 3/8 and its still in production even tho people who ordered that day or after already got theirs. Do you think contacting them about this would get any kind of result?

 

It wouldn't hurt. People have called and their laptops shipped the same or the next day. They weren't sure if it was because they called or just because it ended up shipping.

 

Tell them that it has been days since and if that doesn't work, try getting Rebecca Black to tell them the day. I kid I kid.

 

Was it friday?

 

I also ordered on 8th March...mine's not even at production yet...still Work In Progress...rang them lots and they tell me its fine and I can expect delivery 1st April. I'm in the UK.

 

HERE - is the test HERE- Are the benchmarks

OK - PC setup - i7920 (not OC'd), 12GB Patriot 1600MHz RAM, 1x1TB Caviar Black 7.2K & 4x2 TB 7.2K drives, GTX 260, Asus P6T Deluxe V2 MB - CS5

Time - 18.6 secs (A bit off the pace, should be 17's - needs a tune up!)

L502x - i7 2630QM, 8GB 1333MHz Crucial RAM, 1x640GB & 1x500GB 7.2K, GT540M - CS5

Time - 15.00 secs - Crikey!

Wow! These Sandybridge CPU's really shift. A bit gutted that my 18 month old PC built has already been killed by a 'mid-line' laptop! Then again I could over clock the PC to 4GHz and still be running under 70C with the water cooling it has...not like the L502x

I will try and find some time to do some more Premiere Pro CPU/GPU tests as soon as...I have a busy week so it could take a while. I did a rough test the other night on GPU enabled processing on the L502x but I didn't have time to run long enough tests to get meaningful results.

 

Greetings folks!

I got my shiny new XPS 15 this past weekend. It's the i7-2720QM, 750GB Drive, 8gb mem, nvidia 2gb 540M.

I had four VM's running yesterday. 3xWin2008R2 and 1 Win7 using VMWare 7.1.3. There's some memory issues with VMWare 7.1.3, but otherwise the VM's ran great.

I'd like to be able to move two VM's to an eSata drive. So I have two questions;

1. Does anyone use the eSata port? Does it work without needing a DC connection to the device?

2. Does the eSata port share the same controller as the internal Sata?

I appreciate any input on this.

Thanks,

-Matt

 

Don't go by the online status...mine still shows "in production" and it shipped today, it typically takes 2-3 days after they ship before they show shipped status. Also, don't get anything but the free (slowest) shipping they offer...they always ship them 2 day anyway, so why pay them for it.

 

Really? One of the CSRs said they upgraded me to 2-day shipping, so really they did nothing but change some text on my order status page? Lol

 

Wow, that is insane! My oc'ed Q9450 is only pulling 17 sec and the fastest desktop SB's are doing ~11 sec!

Are you running dual HD's? Are you using that part that was linked earlier that replaces the DVD drive?

And thanks for posting this! This makes me very excited to get this lappie! I only got the 525M video card...I hope that doesn't affect Photoshop performance too much.

 

I have ordered about 15 systems from Dell, it doesn't matter what kind of shipping, they alway ships FEDEX or UPS, 2 day. Maybe some other folks have had different experiences, but I have NEVER seen them use a ground delivery service that takes 7 days. When I get mine (which was the free 7 day service), I'll let you know what delivery service it is, but I guarantee, it will be Second Day Air.

 

i ordered my laptop on the 13th of march and its been in production since, so today i decided to call dell, and a rep told me it will be shipped tomorrow and they will call me and tell me the tracking number. so if you have any doubts or worrys, just call dell

 

My dell products always ship out from a dell factory an hour or two away, so I really don't need to upgrade shipping. I have always had good luck getting next day air for free when buying, just in case it's not being made close by.

 

Dell Canada. I ordered March 11, shipped March 18.

I wonder if it'll get here by Thursday evening... I have to leave town for work Thursday night. It'll be a bummer if I miss it. I doubt it'll come in time.

 

I ordered the same day and it's been in "delivery preparation" since the 16th. I called this evening and was told it was ready to ship, just waiting for the courier to pick it up. Don't know where it's shipping from, but I'll be happy if it makes it to Va before the weekend.

 

what specs did you order?

 

Is anyone *not* having problems with the 6230 Wireless Card?

 

Lol! Mine WAS shipped on April 8th.... lol, according to their automated phone thing.

I wonder if a i5-2410 could get W7 boot times of <40 secs? Seem possible?

 

Damn, that sucks. Yeah I was kinda afraid if I called they'd tell me that their eta is april and blah blah. But thankfully right after I posted, I got an email saying they shipped.

I'm not sure how much CPU factors into boot times, I'm pretty sure its mostly HDD speed. If you got a legit SDD I wouldn't be surprised at sub 20 boot times.

 

Can anyone verify that the software that is provided with the laptop is available for download such as Roxio Creator, Power DVD, and facial recognition software? A clean install is required onto SSD drives and it would be nice to have these pieces of software. I know drivers and utilities are available from the Dell support site.

 

How are all those n-6230's doing out there ???

Did ANYONE get a n-1030 !? lol

 

how do i check if there is a problem? i have the network meter gadget on win7 but don't know what speeds i should be getting.

 

Yes. Check out this thread. Seems that if you are using the 2.4GHz band for your WLAN connection, you have to change the 802.11n Channel Width to AUTO instead of 20MHz. Of course you need to make sure channel bonding is enabled on your access point as well.

 

Uh-oh...Chasing my Dell UK order placed on the 8th March....

"Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Care. We apologize for the inconvenience as there were delays on the response due to high volume of email queries that we are receiving. My colleague Romeo is currently handling this issue under service request ******* and sadly, the reason for the delay on the order is that there is a shortage with the graphics card. Romeo already expedited the order but the order can only be prioritized once the part is already available. If you have other issues or concerns, please let us know so that we may able to assist you. I've included him on this email to be informed on this issue. "

Not sure what's more disturbing...the fact that my laptop's delayed an unspecified amount of time or the fact the guy's name is Romeo!!

 

i7 2720QM
FHD B+RGLED
GT 540M 2GB
640GB HDD
6GB RAM
Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 + BT
Backlit keyboard
9-cell battery
Win 7 HP

Got a tracking number shortly after posting last night, it's coming from NJ so I'll have it tomorrow. I hope this works out better than my (disappointing) HP experiment! At least I can still use the HDD and RAM upgrades that I bought for that system...

 

As long as your name is not Juliet, you should be fine...

 

I'm only Juliet on weekends ;-) (but don't tell nobody)

 

It's good when technology takes big jumps as opposed to incrementally tiny upgrades Yes - i'm using the 'newmodeus' XPS 15 drive caddy for a twin drive set up with the BluRay on an external cable. Attaching the Dell face plate is really easy and the caddy is a perfect fit. I ran EVGA precision whilst running the tests and my GPU wasn't used one jot - pure CPU power, so your choice of GPU should not effect your CS5 performance.

I look forward to running this test with a Vertex 3 as the main OS drive

 

I placed my order on March 15th.
EDD is April 8th.
Order Status phone number tells me it was shipped on April 5th, but it's March.
My Account page says "Delivery Preparation".
Order Details page says "In Production".
Recent Orders page says "Ship Complete."
I spoke to a representative and he said I can expect it on Wednesday, March 23rd. But I don't have a tracking number yet and I selected the basic shipping method. I'm hoping for Wednesday, but honestly I'm not expecting it. Very confused. Which should I be relying on?

 

Seems like everyone is ordering their xps with i7-processor.

Is there anyone who ordered a i5 that could share what battery life their getting when doing everyday stuff? (internet, word, music etc.)

Is there a big difference in battery life between i5-2410m and i7-2630qm?

 

The i5 options haven't been out that long. People may not even have them yet.

 

I see. Since it been an option since day one in Sweden I just assumed it was available in other places too.

 

Received mine yesterday. Not had a chance to do much with it yet but I think the sound is pretty good and really like the B+RGLED 1080p!

 

i will receive mine on 25th. Can't wait to see it

 

I had the same issue, I ordered mine on Mar 9th; till today it showed as "in production" today it changed to shipped on 17th. FedEx showing delivery date as 23rd

fedEx just delivered my laptop, planning to do a clean install after I get back from work.

 

Just ordered mine yesterday, hope to receive it soon!

 

Wow, Dell Canada is slow as heck. Mine shipped March 18 with Purolator so I was hoping it'd be here by the end of the week. I called Purolator today and they said the soonest I can expect it is April 4!!! Ugh! SO SLOW!

 

Hello, everyone. I'm considering an L502 with i7-2630QM CPU (willing to go up to 2720QM if you think it would make a difference), GT 540M, and 8GB DDR3. I also definitely want the 1080p display. However, I wonder about its gaming capabilities and battery life. I know that the 540M is not a class 1 GPU for gaming. I don't mind not being able to play on max settings. However, I'd at least like decent to high settings in 1080p with at least 30fps. Do you think this system can accomplish that? Specific games are StarCraft 2, Dragon Age 2, and (in the future) Duke Nukem Forever, Portal 2, and BioShock Infinite. I do not play shooters online on a regular basis at all, but I do play the occasional single player game like those mentioned, and I want it to look nice and play well enough in 1080p.

Also, what should I expect out of battery life with either the 6 or 9 cell battery? Keep in mind I pretty much never play games when on battery, so I just want to know about general web-surfing, movie-watching, music-listening, and video-streaming battery life; not gaming.

Thanks for reading.

 

I have the 6230 on my l502x. I have a 54Mbit G network and have seen speeds of ~25Mbits/second.

 

No. It can't do that.

 

I decided not to go this route myself so I ordered the CD/DVD bundle. It was free of charge. I got the set yesterday which includes all the app software and the Windows Media disc.

I never liked the idea of having to be online to reinstall my OS. Ever so now since Comcast has a cap on data.

 

Nuts, not even medium settings in 1080p?
I guess I need a more dedicated gaming machine then. I just feel a little out of place in those gaming rig forums, though, because everyone's talking about online shooters, max settings, and very frequent gaming, but all I do is play the occasional single-player game, so that's why I was looking at the XPS line. If the answer is no, though, I will keep looking.

 

Go on over to notebookcheck.net and check out what people are seeing. The information doesn't include the resolution used for testing, but I am having no trouble running on high settings at 1920x1080 for Source engine games (and others from around the same time).

No, it can't compete with a desktop in terms of performance. But what mobile computer does? It works well enough for me as a primary gaming system.

Of course it goes without saying that you could drop the resolution to greatly improve performance, if it were needed, and hardly notice the difference in clarity.

 

Well, whatever you get on that DVD, it will be really outdated before you reinstall your OS next time. So the idea is that you download all you need (most of it updated) prior to OS installation and therefore don't need to be on-line during the process... That's just how I do it