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    New Dell XPS 15 (L521x) First Impressions Review & Pictures

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Elands, Jul 7, 2012.

  1. KSMB

    KSMB Notebook Deity

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    Wow. This Xps have Absoutly stunning design. I rate it more beatiful then macbook pro actually.
    If this model had gt650 i had bought it right away(it still awesome, gt640 isnt bad at all.

    L521x and studio xps 16 have clearly best design (Yet).
    Xps is allways Xps..... Very nice!
     
    KSMB, Jul 9, 2012
    #51
  2. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    As I said, we're still waiting for an official feedback from technicians. I keep fingers crossed, this XPS woud be the laptop which better fits my needs (if I manage to get a blu-ray on it)
     
    alfling, Jul 9, 2012
    #52
  3. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    UPDATE:

    Added album with images of XPS vs. Envy 17 screen comparisons and side by side.

    Benchmarks coming soon, about to tun 3DMark06. I'll add a screen cap right to the first page.


    Yes the Envy is the 1080p IPS Radiance Display. I also just ran 3DMark06 but the drivers for the GPU are too up to date so I'm downloading 3DMark11, also it's sad to say I experienced the same CPU issues.
     
    Elands, Jul 9, 2012
    #53
  4. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Thank you VERY much! Viewing angles seem to be really good! Does the Envy 17 have an IPS screen??
    I'll definitely buy this laptop if they solve the throttle thing
     
    alfling, Jul 9, 2012
    #54
  5. dorekk

    dorekk Notebook Consultant

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    If it's missing home/end/page up/page down keys, IS it a good thing? I don't think so. I think that makes it a crummy keyboard.
     
    dorekk, Jul 9, 2012
    #55
  6. funkmasterta

    funkmasterta Notebook Evangelist

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    Does it get hot on the bottom?
     
    funkmasterta, Jul 9, 2012
    #56
  7. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    It will get noticeably warmer when running something intensve around the CPU and GPU (top left corner) but not so hot that it's uncomfortable.
     
    Elands, Jul 9, 2012
    #57
  8. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    You mean Bill? I saw that he don't post as many as before, it's normal?
     
    Arès1511, Jul 9, 2012
    #58
  9. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Yes, he told us that he would have brought the problem to their engineers, but it was friday evening, so he couldn't do it until today for sure. Maybe he's waiting for an answer before writing here again, since I guess it will take some time to find a solution :(
     
    alfling, Jul 9, 2012
    #59
  10. Skareem2

    Skareem2 Notebook Evangelist

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    both screens look gr8 and the dell's viewing angles are gr8 as well but to me the hp seems a little richer in colour

    hey can u link me on that wallpaper thanks
     
    Skareem2, Jul 9, 2012
    #60
  11. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Elands, Jul 9, 2012
    #61
  12. Bungral

    Bungral Notebook Consultant

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    Nice comparison shots... I actually think the XPS screen looks better from them pictures but there ya go.
     
    Bungral, Jul 9, 2012
    #62
  13. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    I'm agree, especially the blue and violet colors which are crispers for me. The red seems crisper too. But it's only my opinion base on a picture^^
     
    Arès1511, Jul 9, 2012
    #63
  14. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    UPDATE:
    Played some Skyrim and it seemed to have not throttled on me, results and thumbnails to screen caps on the first page. If you want to request some other games to test let me know and I'll see what I can do.
     
    Elands, Jul 9, 2012
    #64
  15. Risco

    Risco Notebook Deity

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    Try Crysis 1 demo. Also is the throttling only on battery? Does the same occur when plugged in?
     
    Risco, Jul 9, 2012
    #65
  16. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Haven't tried anything on battery yet, but I did run 3DMark11 and the graphics tests were all great except when it came to a CPU test the frame rates were horrid and on CPU-z it was running at 1.2Ghz. I'll test this demo on both battery and power.
     
    Elands, Jul 9, 2012
    #66
  17. KSMB

    KSMB Notebook Deity

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    There is just 2 laptops with IPS techognly right now.
    Macbook pro Retina and Precision photographer(rgbled)

    After that (if we talking colours & sharpness) the new 3d True life led comes. (thats the best TN you get right now)
     
    KSMB, Jul 9, 2012
    #67
  18. TomK

    TomK Notebook Guru

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    You sure these are the only 2 laptops with IPS screens?
     
    TomK, Jul 9, 2012
    #68
  19. Risco

    Risco Notebook Deity

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    Cheers Eland. I have another test, that should help determine throttling under normal multitasking conditions.
    1. Download this h.264 Ted Trailer
    2. Download Handbrake
    3. Encode the video with the iPhone 4 profile, while at the same time converting 20 mp3 with iTunes @ 128kbps.
    How is the throttling while doing the above?
     
    Risco, Jul 9, 2012
    #69
  20. AdmiralPanda

    AdmiralPanda Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sony VIAO S have IPS displays also, a lot of professional laptop also come with IPS displays.
     
    AdmiralPanda, Jul 9, 2012
    #70
  21. nunomoreira10

    nunomoreira10 Notebook Consultant

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    @KSMS there are alot of ips laptos nowedays, there is even a pls screen on a samsung.
    3d true life only has 72% gamut, and true life is just a way to say "glossy"
    there are screens with better specs for evryone liking.
     
    nunomoreira10, Jul 9, 2012
    #71
  22. TomK

    TomK Notebook Guru

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    Yea, I know, I was trying to be polite in the way I asked.

    :)

    TomK
     
    TomK, Jul 9, 2012
    #72
  23. Jaybs

    Jaybs Notebook Consultant

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    Could you try diablo 3 and let me know it works out?

    Thanks for your help.


    Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2
     
    Jaybs, Jul 9, 2012
    #73
  24. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Handled it fine, see attached screen caps of during and after.

    http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/424/multitaske.png

    I'll have the game demos up tomorrow at the latest.

    UPDATE:
    3DMark11 score added.
     
    Elands, Jul 9, 2012
    #74
  25. d4nz0r

    d4nz0r Notebook Evangelist

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    Exactly. The $1699 config was starting to look pretty good as I could pop in a SSD and use the 750GB HDD as external storage. But that sucks it's so hard to access the 2nd ram slot
     
    d4nz0r, Jul 10, 2012
    #75
  26. KSMB

    KSMB Notebook Deity

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    Eerhhh. A lot of Profesionals ???? ( i dont think so)
     
    KSMB, Jul 10, 2012
    #76
  27. Risco

    Risco Notebook Deity

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    Thanks for doing that, have some rep! I can clearly see it throttles @ 1.2ghz though.
     
    Risco, Jul 10, 2012
    #77
  28. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    It boosted up to the 2.7GHz range until it was finished than went back down to 1.2GHz. I'm gonna do some gaming tonight with CPU-z side by side and see if it actually throttles even though it seemed to work fine on Skyrim.
     
    Elands, Jul 10, 2012
    #78
  29. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    I'm still wondering why it always stay so much under the nominal 3.1 GHz turbo boost frequency: 2.7 is not 3.1, since they're so fast charging you 200$ for a 0.2 GHz more capable CPU...
     
    alfling, Jul 10, 2012
    #79
  30. Bungral

    Bungral Notebook Consultant

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    The CPU's only turbo up to 3.1GHz if only a single core is under load.
     
    Bungral, Jul 10, 2012
    #80
  31. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    UPDATE:

    Added Sniper V2 results on first page, will have some Dirt 3 results up hopefully by the end of the day. I won't be able to get Diablo III up because I don't yet have a copy of it.
     
    Elands, Jul 11, 2012
    #81
  32. Jaybs

    Jaybs Notebook Consultant

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    While playing these games, have you experienced any of the throttling issues that since owners have reported?

    Also, what's the duration when you play the games (ie 30 min, hr, etc.)? Thanks!
     
    Jaybs, Jul 11, 2012
    #82
  33. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Strangely I haven't even though during benchmarking you can clearly see it. I played Skyrim for about 30 minutes than this morning played Sniper V2 for roughly an hour and experienced no drop in FPS and also no excessive heat.
     
    Elands, Jul 11, 2012
    #83
  34. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    I'm starting hoping that there were only few defective units... :D C'mon Dell, let me buy this baby!

    Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk
     
    alfling, Jul 11, 2012
    #84
  35. chrisholland03

    chrisholland03 Notebook Geek

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    This has been consistent with what I've generally been experiencing too
     
    chrisholland03, Jul 11, 2012
    #85
  36. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    Funny that you should mention that. I played Diablo III for 30 minutes last night to test out my new notebook. The CPU didn't go over 86C and the GPU didn't go over 71C. I was seeing 65-15 fps with the low dips with large numbers of effects on screen at 1080p (high all but medium shadows). I didn't notice any throttling and HWINFO64 didn't show any.

    It's possible that there are only a few defective units, but it's also possible that Diablo 3 (and the other games we're testing) don't stress the CPU very much.
     
    Quix Omega, Jul 11, 2012
    #86
  37. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    That's kinda what I was thinking I really want to try out something that's really heavy on CPU (I think Civ 5 is?)

    It would be great if you could log a session to see what the CPU is doing and post it on here!
     
    Elands, Jul 11, 2012
    #87
  38. cgyguy

    cgyguy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Civ 5 will be the first game I test. It has arrived in Calgary! Probably should arrive tomorrow! I have thought a lot about all the alternatives after reading about these concerns, but I have decided that as long as it can play Civ 5 well, then I am happy. All the other alternatives aren't a fit for me.

    If it has problems running it, or the fan is too annoying, I will return it and wait until after Christmas... struggling along with my current aging laptop :/
     
    cgyguy, Jul 11, 2012
    #88
  39. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    After playing Skyrim for almost an hour and seeing no signs of throttling I decided to call it quits and take a look at the HWiNFO64 log. I attached it as a pdf and you have to scroll down to see the main numbers. I highlighted red the clockspeed (scroll down to page 35 to start seeing that) than green the CPU temps and yellow the CPU load (those start on page 69)

    It's hard to say if it's throttling or just not being worked enough. Anyway I'm no expert on reading these stats but it looks like the CPU temp doesn't go past 80C and the load doesn't go past 40%. I can say that the entire time on high settings (the ones I posted) that it played very smoothly and didn't even become that warm on the outside.
     
    Elands, Jul 11, 2012
    #89
  40. The Muffin Man

    The Muffin Man Notebook Consultant

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    Sorry to ask this, but do you mean to say 80 Celsius or 80 Fahrenheit? Because 80 Celsius = 176 Fahrenheit.
     
    The Muffin Man, Jul 11, 2012
    #90
  41. golfguy251

    golfguy251 Notebook Guru

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    Celsius. CPUs run IDLE at 40C even with a good cooling system usually.
     
    golfguy251, Jul 11, 2012
    #91
  42. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    80C as in Celsius, from what I've been hearing people that have been having the problems have experienced temperatures above 90-95C.
     
    Elands, Jul 11, 2012
    #92
  43. The Muffin Man

    The Muffin Man Notebook Consultant

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    Thank you.
     
    The Muffin Man, Jul 11, 2012
    #93
  44. [-Mac-]

    [-Mac-] Notebook Deity

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    Has Someone with problematic unit tried to repaste it?

    Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2
     
    [-Mac-], Jul 11, 2012
    #94
  45. ejl1980

    ejl1980 Notebook Evangelist

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    If you read the manual it actually says the grease can be reused. I love it. I don't feel like tearing my machine apart, but I think a nice TIM could help the matter.
     
    ejl1980, Jul 11, 2012
    #95
  46. sameermishra726337

    sameermishra726337 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey Elands, I'm really sorry but where is this album with the comparison pics between the Dell and the HP? I'm not seeing it anywhere.
     
    sameermishra726337, Jul 13, 2012
    #96
  47. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Scroll down and it should be before the benchmarks and game results.
     
    Elands, Jul 13, 2012
    #97
  48. sameermishra726337

    sameermishra726337 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Got it. Thanks a lot! The screen actually looks really great based on the pics but can you give a rough estimate on how the screen compares to other displays on the market?
     
    sameermishra726337, Jul 13, 2012
    #98
  49. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    I really haven't been able to compare it to that many. In person against the Envy 17 it is definitely brighter and the colors look a little more crisp. I can say it's the best laptop screen I've ever had (doesn't mean much since my past laptops were crap).
     
    Elands, Jul 13, 2012
    #99
  50. remib333

    remib333 Newbie

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    Well I played about an hour of Civ 5 on pretty much max graphics for about 2 hours (granted the map wasn't yet super populated) and have gotten no issues whatsoever. The computer has run it's hottest during Civ 5 for me so far but still never got over 80C and no throttling that I've noticed (though I wasn't using any software to track the frame rate).
     
    remib333, Jul 13, 2012
    #100
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