Dell XPS15 R2 (L502) Thread

Something interesting I didn't notice is that the 2720QM actually scores higher than the 2820QM. Unless I'm missing something...

 

Ordered 3/20 - Out for Delivery

I called yesterday they had no information scheduled shipping was 4/5 with expected delivery of 4/8. Check this morning and label was printed on 3/28 and picked up last night from warehouse. Weird. Can't wait to pop in the SSD and watch this thing go.

 

Did you do the deal with the $99 Dell Streak? I ordered a day before you and still no update.

 

I exchaged to XPS 1502X from an XPS M1530 which I still had a LoJack subscription. I installed the software from their website and it appears to be working fine, will update if there's a change


EDIT: I performed a test call and went through just fine, also checked the account status on their webite and the machine is communicating with their server just fine.

 

Man.. what the heck, I ordered 3/18 and mine hasn't shipped. I used the chat to talk to someone last night who gave me the same "scheduled shipping on or before 4/5 with expected delivery on or before 4/8" line and said there were no problems with the order or production but couldn't tell me much more. I guess I will have to call to see why it hasn't shipped yet.

 

That's funny, I'm looking forward to taking mine when I go on orders, received 9 March. :]

 

I don't think you are reading it wrong, I ran this test earlier this morning and actually scored over 7700 on the cpumark with my 2720qm. I think this has a lot to do with TurboBoost 2.0 and the ambient temperature you are running the test at. In my case, it's 68f in my house at the moment so I think turbo boost was able to hold the speeds up a bit longer than it would if I was running the test at something like 78f for example. I think turboboost 2.0 is going to cause all kinds of confusion when it comes to benchmarks because of this. I actually entertained the idea of letting my laptop sit outside for a couple hours, booting it up and running the benchmark again just to see if it made a difference.

 

Ordered mine late on the 25th, have a tracking number from the dell website should be here tomorrow according to fedex. Coming from NJ. Looks like like others said whatever parts they were waiting on they must have gotten a boat load of

 

Ordered 3/20 with scheduled delivery date of 4/8/11
Dell site now says "shipped". Dell streak is still in production

XPS15~i7-2630QM~6GB~B+RGLED~NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M~640GB 7200 RPM~9-cell Battery~Wireless-N 1030 and Bluetooth 3.0~Backlit Keyboard~Wireless Display Software

 

Argh, called the order status line again and it's been updated to now say that my order was shipped... on April 5th. Guess that means I am waiting the full duration since my EDD has always been the 8th.

 

I wouldn't count on that, I called that number this morning and it said my order SHIPPED on April 14th, this was before my order actually changed to shipped so all that line does is recite the EDD it would seem.

Chances are you'll get your tracking in the next day or 2,,when did you order?

 

Interesting, I ordered on 3/18. I hope you're right!

 

My order was placed with ground shipping. I did call Dell earlier in week to ask about the shipping date as I was shipping to a friend. Maybe they upgraded it to express because my order says Shipping Method:Next Business Day!
Let's see if I get this tomorrow!

 

I had ground shipping selected and as soon as I spoke to them on the phone they fed me a line about being a valued customer so they are upgrading me to next day shipping, think thats just one of the few things they have the authority to do for customers without any questions asked

If it says next day on the method I'd bet they upgraded you, mine changed from 7 day to next day after they upgraded me.

 

Weird...I ordered on the 23rd and still nothing. What are your specs?

 

Same as whats in your sig except the regular DVD burner and the 1gb video card

 

The wait is killing me...it's my fault though. I originally ordered on the 23rd and changed my order twice...last order was the 30th. It's worth it, I got exactly what I wanted.

 

Thought I would post something for those that bought the L502X during the dell streak deal. I ordered during the special to get the following specs:
2630 processor
6GB ram
1080p screen
BD-RE drive
525M graphics card
6230 wifi
Backlit keyboard
9 cell battery

Anyway, my total with epp discount (before the $89 streak) was $1146. I got my invoice in the mail the other day and noticed that the items were broken out and the laptop itself was $972 and the rest of the cost was accounted for by an extended warranty that was bundled into the package deal cost ($110 Extended in home warranty, $10 Extended one year warranty, $50 base in home first year warranty).

So I called up Dell and told them I didn't want the extended warranty and wanted that portion of my order refunded. After getting transferred no less than 10 times, I found someone helpful enough to put the request in. I heard back the next day and the $120 + tax had been credited to my card. That brings my deal down to ~ $1000 all said.

Just thought I would share in case anyone else didn't have a use for the extended warranty and wouldn't mind saving some money.

 

nothing special ...

2630 processor
4GB ram
500 gb HDD
1080p screen
BR drive
540M graphics card
6230 wifi
Backlit keyboard
9 cell battery

... and 4 years of warranty and some "free" services which could not be unchecked in the order form.

 

Wow!! I just ordered and mines already shipped!!





































































April fools

 

For those who asked I did not order the streak.

So....it's a great machine, the screen is WOW awesome. Makes me want to replace my big screens now.

I immediately installed the 120GB SSD and put the 640GB mechanical drive in the optical bay (switched faceplates so you can't tell). I used this one NEW! IBM 12.7mm SATA 2nd HDD Caddy Bay R400 R500 DV16 - eBay (item 300537962559 end time Apr-17-11 01:17:54 PDT) because it was the cheapest and they're all the same. The only problem is the clip that holds on to the optical drive inside the machine can only attach with one screw to this unit which is obviously no big deal. The other problem is the screw(s) holding it to the DVD drive isn't long enough. BUT there is a piece of the adapter that has to be removed anyway and voila it's held on by the same screw but longer...instant solution!

So I did a clean install of Win7 64 so I lost all of the Dell bloatware which kinda sucks in a way, but whatever. I downloaded the optimus test tools and I haven't seen it switch on its own yet. It also doesn't switch during Windows Experience Index which is a huge bummer. Solid state drives scores 7.8 though

 

So I figured out how to run WEI with it in NVIDIA Mode. Here are the scores (I have the i7-2630 and 8GB RAM). I think it may have actually been switching before but I didn't notice.

Scores
Processor - 7.4
RAM - 7.6
Graphics - 5.9
Gaming Graphics - 6.6
Primary Hard Disk - 7.8

To give a comparison I just built a desktop with the same 120GB SSD Drive, 8 GB 1333 RAM, and an i7-2600k using no video card (HD Graphics). And it scores:

Processor: 7.7
Memory: 7.7
Graphics: 6.4
Gaming Graphics: 6.4
Primary Hard Disk: 7.8

 

how do you run it in nvidia mode on wei please?

 

Well I'm assuming that it actually does switch because the scores didn't change when I knew for sure it was running on the NVIDIA card, but you go into the NVIDIA control panel and default the NVIDIA card instead of having it on auto.

 

You can also go here for the 64bit Optimus monitoring tools. http://files.laptopvideo2go.com/Nautis/Optimus/OptimusTools_64bit.exe

 

Im stuck in a dilemma while ordering my Dell XPS

which config would suit better for multi-tab browsing, med. res gaming(fifa, nfs, cod), watching movies, multitasking etc.

1)i5-2410m + 2GB 540m or
2)i7-2630Qm + 1GBGT 525m...

would like to know if I would really feel any significant performance boost if I choose the i7 over the i5 in day to day tasks as mentioned above.

Also wanted to know the performance difference between 1 GB GT525m and 2GB 540M??

 

I was stuck on this same dilemma until I looked at the average cpu score from pass mark.

i5 2410M Average CPU Mark
Description:
CPU First Benchmarked: 2010-12-30
CPUmark/$Price: NA Overall Rank: 147
Last Price Change: Not Available
3531

i7 2720QM Average CPU Mark
Description:
CPU First Benchmarked: 2011-01-21
CPUmark/$Price: NA Overall Rank: 18
Last Price Change: Not Available
7580

I coundn't find the score on the intel i7 2630M

 

Thanks.

But unfortunately here in India we have only two processor options right now:
i5 2410m or the i7 2630QM

Hence wanted to know which configuration of CPU + GPU would suit me better other things remaining.same depending on my usage which would primarily be watching movies, multi-tab browsing and playing games like fifa, nfs and others

 

I see sorry I couldn't be of more help...I would go for the higher processor as it wouldn't be likely to be replaced.

 

i7-2630 all the way!
I read somewhere that the 2GB VRAM doesn't really matter and you could just OC the GT 525M to GT 550M speeds anyway. A reason why the VRAM doesn't matter is that the speed of the RAM is still the same and unless you are using aomething that demands 2GB VRAM you are definatly better off with the i7-2630

 

2630qm passmark: 6318

Multicore apps would show quite a noticeable improvement with a 2630qm (vs the i5).

 

He stated he was looking at the 2630M- which there isn't one listed.
There's the 2630QM or the 2620M.

So we need to know which it is?

 

If its the 2630qm i got 6752 for the cpu in pass mark

 

overclocked gt 540m 876mhz/1000mhz

 

How did you even get it to run stable with that? What driver are you using? Mine locks up the 3dMark06 and crashes it at those speeds.

 

i am almost sure its not 100% stable just 3dmark stable but after about 1-2 hours it will artifact or freeze. mine did at 775/1000 now running 740/950 just cuz i do not want to test it anymore.

 

Do you know what driver you are using? I've got the newest one, I have a feeling that performance is getting hit with it.

 

I'm using the beta 270.51, i was expecting it to crash at those settings but there was no issues. i ran gtaiv for about 20mins with no problems. and my fps in the bench went from 26 to 30 and the game ran smoother.

 

OK bud, how did u get it to install?

 

All US owners, could you please check whether your TV tuner supports DVB-T (euro digital broadcasting)?

From what I know you can see this in the tuner diagnosis program, TVT20EU_WinDiag at the AVerMedia folder.

 

Im looking for the i7-2630 QM....the quad core CPU

I also want to know the difference in performance I would experience for usage like watching movies in 1080p, listening to songs, playing med-res games(likes of fifa,nfs and all) with the

i7 2630QM + gt 525m and the
i5-2410m + gt 540m...

Im really confused here... my budget can permit only one of these configs..
Also Im lookin for keep using this laptop for a good 4-5 years..
Also I know that gaming mostly depends on the GPU, but would teaming a better CPU(i7-2630QM) with a not so better GPU(GT 525M as opposed to GT 540M) give me a better performance

 

I have a PVR with an i3 540 (the lowest pre-SB i-x processor) that can play 1080p video from disk while being mostly idle. You shouldn't have to worry for movies, songs, etc from either of those configs - these things are very fast. Can't help with games though.

The CPUs are socketed but the GPUs aren't, so there's an upgrade path for one in your 4 to 5 year window.

 

the drivers installed directly from the download, i dont know how as i didnt the first few times i tried they wouldnt install??
The procedure i done was as follows: installed the new dell drivers then the 6.06 nvidia system tools and the the 207.51 beta, im not saying thats how it installed but thats the order i done it, just lucky maybe?

 

So how is the island keyboard on this? is there flex? does it look out of place?

 

The keyboard is great with a very solid backing with no flex. It took a slight adjustment to get used to the key placement and movements, but it didn't take much time. I also really like the placement of the delete key.

 

I 2nd that, I got mine a few days ago, such a solid feeling keyboard, not a mm of flex

 

Mind if I ask when you ordered?

 

Do you guys think the 15" XPS is too heavy to use as a commute/school laptop?

 

Well, too heavy is pretty subjective, but I'd say it's fine. 6.4lbs with 6-cell and 6.6lbs with 9-cell. Still comfortable on my lap, doesn't break my back when I carry it somewhere. IMHO, the only downside to the 9-cell is bulk, not weight.

 

How's the battery life with the 9 cell while just using word?