Is it safe to buy the XPS 9550 now?

Hey everyone,

Months ago, I was one of the many that waited weeks for the 9550 to arrive, only to encounter a suite of problems. I returned it with the idea of waiting until all problems were ironed out. A small list of the problems I encountered:

• CPU getting capped when (dis)connecting it from the AC.
• SSD drive not being found at start up.
• Blue screens (though I don't remember the error, unfortunately).
• The actual build of the device (bottom panel slightly sticking out at the front).
• Dramatically slow SSD speeds, atleast in CrystalDisk.
• The trackpad not registering small (or sometimes even normal) movements.

These are all I remember off the top of my head. So my question is, as the threads title probably suggests, can I safely buy one now? Are all these issues 100% ironed out? Have any new issues developed?

Many thanks in advance for your response!

 

I have heard a lot of these issues were fixed with Dell's latest BIOS update. I am not sure whether or not ALL of them were solved, but I do know that the SSD issue was fixed.

This is what the BIOS change log says (from Dell's website):

1. Improve Audio performance
2. Improve NVMe Battery Life
3. Fix CPU i7 CPU performance became low after AC remove and insert.
4. Enhance system Boot time
5. Fix System may saw NO Boot Device error message with NVMe storage.
6. Enhance battery mode sleep resume time too long.

Now, I do not know about the state of the build of the device.


Hoped this helped a little bit!

 

I don't see that update listed ^

 

By and large, the initial issues related to the XPS 15 9550 have been resolved.

You're still going to get the small chance of having hardware or manufacturing related issues. But you would have that chance with any laptop you bought, from any manufacturer.




Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

I'll let you know when I get my screen working...

Seriously, no they are not 100% ironed out. But I have read a lot of forums and indeed it looks like most but not all of the issues have been resolved; some of the old "issues" lists have not been updated in a while so are not entirely accurate. You really need to spend some time reading through the recent posts here to get a handle on the few outstanding issues.

It seems like may be less posting around 9550 recently; perhaps due to issue resolution or perhaps due to people throwing in the towel.

 

First off all, thank all you for your replies. I am a bit worried that not everything has been resolved yet.

Is there any real other MacBook Pro killer?

 

Just got my 9550 this week. Been waiting too long, so I went ahead and bought one. There are more things I liked about it, coming from the L521X (about 2 generations down), but there are a few things I don't. These include quality issue with the trackpad--the left side where the trackpad ends has a bigger gap than the right side. Another I noticed is a slight light bleed around the screen--e.g. on a single color background like gray or blue, the edges are slightly brighter. Hooking up to my BenQ 1440p monitor via HDMI, the image appears more contrast than it should be. My L521X doesn't do that. I've gotten used to it within a week. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

 

I just ordered the 9550 as well. i7/32B/1TB NvME.. lets see what happens.

 

Far from perfect but some people get good units!

 

I ended up getting a well decked out Precision 5510 with a Xeon, 32GB of RAM and an 512 SSD. As of now, I am very happy with it. I did a fresh install of Windows and haven't had a single issue yet, so that's great. It does seem like small movements are a bit tricky on the touchpad compared to my MacBook Pro, but I guess I will get used to it.

I am looking for a 84Wh battery replacement as spare. Anyone know where I can find one? I live in Europe.

 

After roaming the XPS forums off and on for a couple months now I was wondering if I was the only one with a good unit.

Had mine since middle-late May, no significant issue to report.

Good stuff!

 

How about the issue with the spacebar? Has this been resolved or does this manufacturing issue still exist?

 

I have an XPS 9550 - early build, with the latest BIOS (1.2). Lots of really fun problems!
1. Sometimes it reports no drive on boot. But just reboot and it sees the drive.
2. Computer wakes from sleep/shutdown on its own. All the time I find a previously slept or shutdown 9550 burning away in my briefcase.
3. The keyboard randomly repeats characters while I'm typing.
4. The TB15 dock is a buggy mess.

On the plus side:
1. The screen is great (4k touch)
2. Lots of storage (1GB) on this Best Buy model
3. Processor is fast.

But in the end, this machine is a disaster from top down because I can't possibly rely on it.

 

Not heard much about the cable lifting so it should be sorted, I did get the squeaky space bar but fixed it with an aerosol based graphite lubricant.

 

I've just sent mine back (i7/4K/1TB SSD) for a full refund. Installed every update available and flashed to latest BIOS, had dell tech remote attempt several times, but random BSOD's plagued the machine. 'CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED'

Might have just been a bad unit, but no way I'm paying that much money for a computer that need to be fully functioning. As a work computer, I cannot tolerate BSODs that give no opportunity to rescue work that happens to be getting done at the time.

I'm now back on my XPS M1530 from 2007

 

I'm still very happy with my Precision. No blue screens and such so that's all good. My first XPS 15 was a nightmare, but it looks like they have it all sorted out now. I have none of the problems that @dimsdale mentions fortunately.

 

sounds like the ssd raid/ahci issue

 

I agree. I've been having that issue with the PM951--only in Windows 10 though. Going to find a fix for it; I recall finding a thread in this forum about it for possible fixes. If not, I'm buying the Samsung 950 Pro or the new 960 series chips when they become available.

 

I think the Razer Blade 14 is probably the closest... or an alienware...

I at least narrowed it down between those two before buying the blade...