Dell XPS15 R2 (L502) Thread

Careful with that advice. The more expensive, faster 2620M is a dual core, while the cheaper, slower 2630QM is a quad-core, and the latter is the "base" processor in Canada.

 

Nice. Yours should be shipping this week. Keep us posted dude

 

Want to know if I got a good deal?!?!

Subtotal : $1,199.99
Shipping and Handling : $0.00
Sales Tax : $0.00
Total : $1,199.99
Total Price : $1199.99

for this:

1 225-0675 XPS 15
1 317-6407 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2620M processor 2.70 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.40 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
1 430-4046 Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
1 421-4736 Wireless Display Software
1 410-9455 McAfee Platinum, 36 Month, MUI
1 312-1186 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1 410-0488 Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student, English
1 939-4860 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
1 939-4870 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 420-8878 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement
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
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 430-3893 No Mobile Broadband L501X
1 462-3239 Thank you for choosing Dell

 

Did you order from Dell USA? You might want to cancel that order and spend the extra $30 to get the i7-2720QM quad core if you can still get that deal. At only $30 extra there's little reason not to upgrade.

The 2620M is still a good CPU though.

 

Great deal. Please share how? Thanks

 

I re-ordered on March 1st because of some credit card issues, and the estimated Delivery date is 3/25/2011

 

WTH? mine was ordered before yours but i still do not have an estimated delivery date.

 

if I could get that deal and drop the 540 and extra ram and extra hdd space to save a hundred or two, I'd do it now.
Also, why no sales tax?

 

I don't know if this is already posted. I've already checked and I think this is first...

Dell XPS 15 Sandy Bridge review!

Dell XPS 15 (Sandy Bridge) Review - A Review of the Dell XPS 15 (Sandy Bridge)

Great benchmark scores!
Lower 3DMark06 score than MBP 15 but still beats it in framerates in game tests...
Battery life is ok. 4 hrs 26 min on power saver.

 

thanks for the review link! that confirms the chiclet keyboard. but the l501 kb looks better for some reason.

 

I'm wondering how the keyboard will feel. I just bought my wife the new MBP and the island style keyboard sucks big time, although the keys on the MBP look a little more spaced out than on the L502x. I loved the feel of the L501x keys. They shouldn't have changed it.

 

i just read the review and they say the keys are stiff reducing their typing rate. it depends on your typing style. no mention of keyboard flex though...

 

Well, I read the full review too, which made me type my post. The keys on the MBP are very hard to push in and spaced too far apart. I am sending the MBP back this weekend partly because of my wife's disliking of the keyboard layout.

 

are chiclet keys inherently stiff compared to standard keys? i ve never used chiclet keys before.

i ordered the l502 over the powerful sager/clevo because a good keyboard is important to me. i hope this keyboard is as good as the l501

 

I just bought one today for only $1299 shipped (no Tax in new hampshire!)
My discounts were:
$220 built in coupon
$70 off all XPS
3% off with Dell Preferred account
Free Ground Shipping

I got it loaded too:
Intel Core i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz
6GB,DDR3,2 DIMM
Backlit Internal Keyboard - English
15.6FHD TLF B+RGLED LCD L501X
NVIDIA GeForce GT540M 2GB graphics with Optimus
640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo
92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

 

Does anyone know why (w/ links) or how MBP has 4 hours more (or 2x as) XPS 15, w/ less weight. The XPS 15 has the same CPU and w/ Optimus uses low power GPU. I am guessing not the 540m GPU since only web surfing. The main difference I can think would be 7200rpm hdd vs 5400rpm (MBP). So w/ SDD, and ramdisk for temp data, the L502 should achieve 6-8 hrs?

Thanks

 

Hmm, stiff keys could be a problem. I guess I'll find out if it's really going to be a problem once it actually arrives, but does anyone know of ways to loosen up keys on a laptop keyboard? Maybe they'll loosen up with use?

 

My order status says "Delivery Preparation" does that mean they're done building it something?

 

Does anybody know if the L502 BIOS will support XMP? I want to upgrade to the Kingston HyperX RAM, but if I can't get the full 1600 out of it, I'll buy something cheaper.

 

The other difference that might cause 4 hr less battery time:
1) Speakers sound w/ Subwoofer
2) Brighter backlit k/b?
3) higher resolution 1080p lcd vs 900p
4) 2 GB GPU vs 1 GB
5) Brighter lcd screen?
6) 7200 rpm hdd vs 5400
7) eSATA + usb3.0 + hdmi + DisplayPort
8) 8 GB RAM vs 4 GB.

Any thoughts? or ideas other than disable those devices/ports and test?
Thanks.

 

any aussies got more than 10% off with their xps purchase? there are 10% coupons VHBQS$4MR8081X, 2507P00RT?K7MZ but could you get further discount on the phone?

 

I just called Dell Tech Spt, and he told me the L502 does not support XMP. Bummer, dude.

 

Also, isn't the MBP configured with a battery thats "part" of the notebook so that it manages to have a battery with more cells; which however results in battery replacement being near impossible?

 

The MBP has 77.5 WHr battery (around 7 cell) vs XPS15 9 cell 92Whr, which is why it's thinner and .8 lb less.

 

Okay guys What are the difference between OEM And ODM ?

I am chatting with my seller. i told him dell has their own factory in Xiamen But he's telling me Delll China is in Xiamen, but dell laptop is producing by Jiangsu ODM factory. so he's telling me Dell ODM system is made in Jiangsu . So however i have heard OEM But this is the first time i am hearing ODM ? Although i don't trust much Chinese

 

Something is wrong with that review. look at the charts the xps 15 generation1 get a lower score in 3d mark but gets 10+ frames more than the generation 2 in games? They are supposed to be the same card.......

 

No.

The majority of the reason the MBP gets such insane battery life is due to OSX's superior power management when compared to Windows. A MBP running Windows gets ~half the battery life as when running OSX.

 

Well that was because i think in windows the driver for the last gen did not switch graphics so the dedicated ran all the time instead of the integrated. I could be wrong but i believe i read that in the apple forum.

Also something is sketchy about the macbook 2011 review it says it gets 5 hours of battery life then there is a note that they re ran the test and achieved 8 hours how do u just get 3 hours extra out of no where?

 

Thanks. Do you have links so we can learn more how so in greater detail. The battery tests were scripted w/ low power (cpu) usage web browsing. So both systems should be "on" at about the same: LCD, CPU, HDD. It's not like the OSX turn off LCD, CPU, HDD more often during the test, since it's not in sleep, timeout mode, right?
So it should be hardware difference, not OSes that cause 4 hr extra.
Windows Dev team should have the same knowledge and skills as MACs.

Thanks for any other info.

 

Firstly... yes, it IS software.

Take a MBP.
Load Windows on it.
Watch battery life be cut in half.

Secondly...

My XPS 15 is at Delivery Preperation!

Hoping for a bit better battery life than the review because I went for the i7 2620M rather than a quad-core.

 

Again, pls provide link or more info as not everyone has a MBP and time, resource, scripts to do this properly. The scripts was done to ensure that web surfing would force both hardware to use about 10% at all time.
Difficult to believe w/o evidence and details that web surfing (10% cpu) results in 2x effiency or 4 hours battery extra.

Thanks

 

I am sure this is the problem
No Graphics switching in windows

 

Second gen i5 CPUs are now available for XPS 15, for those holding out for it.

 

The difference is in the software and hardware. If you include one, you have to include the other, as one can't work without the other. Yes, the battery in the MBP is integrated and would be a pita to replace. I'm not going into specifics as to why the MBP gets better battery life, these are two different machines running on two different OS's and shouldn't be compared. I'm returning the MBP I purchased last weekend becuase my iPhone 4 does more off the bat than the MBP can. It's truely an expensive iPOS and I had to buy it to prove to my wife she didn't want one. It took her less than two hours to realize this. If anyone on here is even looking at the MBP, don't get the XPS, because you're looking for form, not function.

 

Why would anyone hold out for the i5's when the i7 quad cores are already available?

 

Answer this and you'll get your answer. Why did intel release second gen i5?

 

/shrug

I went for the i7 dual-core personally.

 

Price. There were a bunch of people early on complaining that the i7s were too expensive and more than they needed.

The lowest-end quad core is also available in the US now, so people who want a cheaper quad-core can get it too.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I HATE THE NEW CHICKLET KEYBOARD!!!!

The old keyboard was beautiful, elegant, and proper like the SXPS 16's.
Now its just cheap and trashy, chicklet keyboards just don't have the same feel and feedback of the keys being pressed as a proper keyboard.
Up until now, the XPS 15 was literally perfect, nice specs, ok design, no fingerprints, 6-cell offered on i7.

Then this.

I just cant say enough how much i hate it.

Sony had the same proper keyboards that i loved on the FE. Then the more recent F messed it up , in turn me getting the SXPS 16.

Why Dell, Why do you have to screw everything up.

 

Really?

For the Inspiron Line of laptops.


I mainly posted that to ruffle DakkonA's feathers due to our disagreements on dual cores vs. quad cores for variable functions.

 

Yeah same here, so they are getting ready to deliver, packaging and everything. Will they ship in the same ugly black boxes that i have seen on youtube with people unboxing their L501X dells???

 

Like everyone said, it's mainly software. OSX has good power saving capabilities and most of OSX is optimized for the hardware. Since Apple only has to deal with a dozen laptops they can optimize the software so that it is very efficient. On the other hand, there are thousands of PC laptops and it's not feasible for Microsoft to optimize W7 for every PC. I know that Lenovo tweaks their Thinkpads/W7 so that they boot faster and are faster at certain apps. (look at the x220 and its 8 hr battery life on a 6-cell!)

 

Thanks Kingp1. Your point on x220 & Windows7 proves that it's more hardware than software. Sure, software might make 10-20% difference, but even less so when both systems are only web surfing around 8% load or less.

That's why I pointed out the hw diff. There might be a very good reason why Apple chose 5400 rpm and not 7200. 1 GB GPU not 2 GB, etc.

I was hoping to have more technical discussion (pls share links) such as exactly how the CPU reads the codes per instructions, load data from disk to RAM. I also said that using RAMdisk for temp data would help.

Much thanks.

 

ya^ thanks for adding

 

Looks like this....0001000111000110010100111000111000111

 

Check out this article from Anandtech: Apple's Redesigned MacBook and MacBook Pro: Thoroughly Reviewed - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Anand shows almost a 50% decrease in battery life for wireless browsing in one test and a similar decrease in a test of DVD playback just by going from Mac OS X to Vista on the same MacBook Air. I'm sure that things have improved with Windows 7, but that shows you the difference that software can make.

I'm sure that this makes a difference as well, but I have no idea how significant.

That's beyond the scope of my knowledge, but we'll probably see improvements in battery life as SSDs are more widely adopted.

 

I don't know about wireless, but the DVD playback is certainly no mystery: the Apple DVD player reads from the disc at full speed into memory, and then shuts down the drive until the buffer starts to run low. It's very clever and obvious, but not common.

As for hard drive speed, a quick browse of specifications indicates that 5400RPM -> 7200RPM means a jump in power consumption of about 10--30% for the drive. However, since we are talking about only a couple of watts, it isn't going to be a major difference. (And the manufacturers will tell you that because you are getting the same amount of work done in less time, the faster drive can spend more time in idle.) I wonder if Mac and Windows have different sleep intervals on the hard drive by default...

 

Does anybody know if Dell UK plans to introduce any other gfx card options apart from the 540M ? And how hard would it be to replace the HD?

 

Thanks so much. This is exciting info that it's very possible for us to have much longer battery life.

Comments from users: "... I get 5 hours battery life IF I disable Vista sidebar. It does not matter whether there's no widgets running, it seems to use 10-15% of CPU time no matter what. This translates into a big loss of runtime - I'd get 3.5 hours versus 5."

We can find ways to remove sloppy coding/features & ways to improve battery, such as use RAMdisk to playback video, store OS temp data, disable Aero, visual themes, use black background, SSD, etc.

If we users continue this effort, eventually Microsoft will continue to optimize their OS even further.

Thanks so much again.

 

after much whining, finally purchased:
Item Number Quantity Item Description
225-0675 1 XPS 15
317-6405 1 2nd generation Intel Core i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
317-6414 1 6GB,DDR3,2 DIMM
331-1669 1 Standard Internal Keyboard - English
320-1673 1 15.6FHD TLF B+RGLED LCD L501X
421-3874 1 Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
421-3642 1 Basic Stage
320-2120 1 NVIDIA GeForce GT540M 2GB graphics with Optimus
342-2372 1 640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
318-0490 1 Elemental Silver Aluminum (WLAN)
420-6576 1 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-6436 1 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
330-6222 1 Windows 7 Label
421-1737 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
420-9876 1 Cozi-Calendar
421-2086 1 eBay Webslice
421-0757 1 Skype VOIP Application
421-4118 1 WHITEPAGES.COM,Webslice
421-4289 1 Dell Support Center Software 3.0
318-0392 1 Windows Live Wave 4
331-1674 1 Resource DVD (L502X)
430-4038 1 Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card
410-1883 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
318-0427 1 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
318-0434 1 Roxio Creator Starter, FI
318-0138 1 JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3
430-4046 1 Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
421-4736 1 Wireless Display Software
410-9452 1 McAfee Platinum, 30 Day, MUI
312-1186 1 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
410-0487 1 Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word and Excel with ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
939-4860 1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
939-4870 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
950-3337 1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
420-8878 1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement
933-0410 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
988-0099 1 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
927-2357 1 DataSafe Online 2.0 2GB
421-4356 1 Software, DataSafe Online 2.0 2GB
430-3893 1 No Mobile Broadband L501X
Subtotal: $930.99
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Sales Tax: $67.90
Total: $998.89


also a pretty nice monitor deal :
320-8966 1 Dell ST2210B 22-Inch Full HD Widescreen Monitor, Retail, Customer Installed
992-2309 1 1-Year Advanced Exchange Service
Subtotal: $129.99
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Sales Tax: $10.07
Total: $140.06