New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

Morning Bill

Can you give us UK folks any insight into when the UK configs are being updated please? The sales staff do their best, but they appear to be confined to a parroting back only what's available on the website.

I'm looking at a build with 8GB, i7 and SSD which is only available via the business site at £1790 inc tax and shipping. As a comparison I can buy a rMBP for £1799.

 

Sorry man, you're wrong. The base clock for i7-3612QM (source: ark) is 2.10GHz. The 1.20GHz is the POWER SAVE clock speed!

@Bill: Mercuri0 has the A04 bios version... I don't know if it's the last available...

EDIT: Mmmmmm... if also the Asus exhibits this strange comportment, maybe it's a problem of the Ivy Bridge microcode... in that case, I'll have to apologize with Dell... I'll do some research...

 

OK I did my homework

Source: Intel Datasheets (a HEAVY lecture) Intel® Core™ Processors Technical Resources

In mobile manual #1 there are the thermal characteristics of the Core Ivy Bridge processors. Maximum junction temperature is 105°C for all model. This is the temperature limit for not having silicon damages, but in real world application there's the need to stay well away from those limits.

To ensure that the maximum temperature won't be reached there are different power modulation schemes, and the temperature threshold can be set by the manufacturer. And 90°C sounds a common temperature, because it is exactly 15°C less than the max allowable temperature.

Quoting from the datasheet:

And this is exactly what the Italian user Mercuri0 is having: thermal throttle.
There are no reasons for the processor to use frequencies lower than his basis frequency (2.1GHz for the i7-3612QM as stated before) except than protecting himself to overheating.
Maybe it's better for Dell to use a second fan instead of the optical drive

 

Ok well in the UK apparently it's a 14 working day lead time on the XPS 15 according to a support Rep I just spoke to over in email, and the reason quoted for this is that the production is in China, so I guess they're being produced on an as need basis??

 

Seems possible - mine was produced in china, and thus far has been to Korea and Kazakhstan on the way to me in the UK.

 

Alrighty, I live in hope that their estimate is conservative. How long did it take from ordering to receive yours?

 

Happy to read this ! Maybe could you add in your report something about more mSATA alternatives please? I'm referring to the possibility to choose some high-capacity mSATA instead of the 32GB

Since you seem to be more expert in this regard, could you please suggest a test which can give us reliable informations about performances in a reasonable real-world scenario?

 

I ordered on the 28th June, and the laptop is due monday (not yet arrived - it's still in Kazahkstan)

 

I've been considering the configs on offer too; for the build you're after (which is what I'm edging towards), I'd buy the top consumer (i7) build for £1299, and put the 8% quidco cashback towards a Sammy 830 256GB SSD (or a Crucial M4) to swap in for the HDD. Even if you get a larger SSD, you're still better off.

If you look carefully at the build for consumer and small business models on offer, the consumer ones have 1 x 8GB RAM, versus 2 x 4GB sticks for the business versions. From what others have said, one of the RAM slots is really tricky to get to, so (assuming the 8GB stick is in the inaccessible bit) it would be much easier to max out the RAM if and when you decided you need to...

Just my two penneth! Just waiting for an invoice to be paid, and then I'm going for that setup myself.

 

Watch out for banking on the QuidCo money - dell declined my cashback already (although I've raised a dispute). If they refuse again the laptop will go back.

As for refresh of the options - I can't see that happening for months yet - the mgmt will want to see how sales are and how they might be better with a different config. This isn't the sort of thing that'll be decided quickly I suspect.

 

Anyone know why on dell it says the base i5 model comes with a 2.6ghz processor but best buy says it's a 1.4-1.7?

 

Well, one of those companies makes the product. the other is a box shifter.

I'd guess that BB have got it wrong.

 

C'mon, this sounds like something I'd see on macrumors.com. I'm also interested in details about the screen, since I expect a premium screen for the prices they are asking.

 

Thanks for the insights MC.

Unfortunately I have zero competence at adding hardware and re-installing the OS. And to be honest, I don't see why I should have to Dell are offering this as their top tier design to people who are prepared to pay for a premium design, components and construction. It's not a bare-bones offering.

I suppose I'm most disappointed that the Dell UK haven't got any SSD offering on the Home side of the site, even for the top model, but do on the Business side. This is even more strange now we're learning that all systems are build to order in China.

The pricing is also "ambitious". As a professional marketer myself, I can understand why Dell want to position this at the top of the market and maximise margin, but at the same price as a rMBP? I don't think so.

 

I'm not exactly pro at reading these. What's the color gamut on this screen?

 

My quidco hasn't even tracked yet, and I ordered 3 days ago. Not happy to see this...

 

Bad news from Italian forum.

XPS 15 doesn't need to run prime95 to downclock itself at 1.2GHz.

Mercuri0 (Italian forum user) just launches Prince of Persia.
The game starts with cpu over 3GHz with 80fps, but after a short time it downclock itself to 1.2GHz and go to around 35fps...
Seems gpu downclocks itself because has nothing to do.
If speedstep is disabled cpu run only at 1.2GHz, but base clock of 3612QM is 2.1GHz.
The user reports that he has never seen the cpu operating at 2.1GHz.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

That's really weird. It's obviously not working as intended.

 

I don't know if it's the same problem, but people have mentioned a similar thing happening on the Sony S15 whereby a game will start at decent FPS but randomly drop to poor FPS. People think this is linked to optimus on the Sony, as that laptop has a hardware switch for graphics (as well as software) people have gotten round it with switching that off/on. However, both the XPS15 and S15 have exactly the same CPU, so maybe it is this that's actually causing the problem given that something similar seems to be happening on the Dell too??

 

I've heard something similar also for Asus N56...

So maybe this time it's Intel the culprit...

 

Is it relatively simple to enable/disable optimus? That would be convenient if you could only have it enabled when the laptop is not plugged in.

 

The 90W power supply is insufficient?

 

This also happened on sandy bridge too

It may be something with the motherboard cant handle that much power, or the bios limits of current consumption.

The solution was to disable turbo boost, on power management (99% max processor), but that's not really a solution.

 

That italian guy we were speaking before is LiquidSilver here in notebookreview, you can find his description of the problem in the Owner's Lounge

 

Convert a 30fps h.264 Video with quicktime using movie to ipod, while in the foreground encode some mp3 files.

 

Someone from India posted asking me to compare the Inspiron 15R to the Inspiron 15R Special Edition. I'm sorry I didn't save the link, but here's the response.

I think most of the questions can be answered if I take these example questions and answer them one by one. If more is needed, please let me know.


Do any of the Inspiron 15R SE configs in India include the Full HD display? Yes
Do any of the Inspiron 15R SE configs in India include the back keyboard? Yes
Do any of the Inspiron 15R SE configs in India include the mSATA SSD device? No
Do any of the Inspiron 15R SE configs in India include Blu-ray? Yes

Found it.

 

Details are here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ps-15-l521x-owners-lounge-17.html#post8683402

Any thoughts about buying the XPS put on halt until that is invstigated :-/

 

Putting off buying the XPS until the bugs are worked out and the price drops and for some more configurations to come out

 

Ive just pushed the button on ordering (10% voucher for UK). Disappointed to read about problems now.

Ah well I can always return it

 

Is it a secret where to find these vouchers? Still found none for Germany :-/

Edit: 10% voucher is only valid for XPS 14 in Germany :-(

 

Can you point me to the UK voucher please? Those I've found don't get accepted by Dell online.

 

Dell Coupons, Online Dell UK Voucher Codes and Free Delivery - discount.co.uk

FFM12HC2ZXSN3G

Found this, did you try this one already?

Btw, I found this one (and Dutch one) by simply searching: "dell discount". Of course change the "discount" word for equivalent in your language.

 

me too... Until more information is available on this apparent problem, I'll be putting off for sure...

 

Can't seem to apply a 10% off code for the XPS in the US. 10% off is ehh, only covers taxes. Needs a bigger discount still. Hoping for a 25-30%

 

Typing this now on my new XPS 15 that just came in the mail

@Bill Okay I have a question/issue for everyone and you, now everything seems to working great with the laptop except I noticed something with the screen. It seems as you tilt it back at a certain point it starts spazzing out and I don't know how to describe it and I tried taking a picture of it but it is very difficult. It almost loses a little color or say if looking a the google homepage it almost puts a yellowish tint over it until I move it out of that position. It also shows some vertical lines only in that position. What the heck is wrong with it?

Edit: Problem solved with some opening and closing for a minute or two

 

What voucher, none of the ones I tried work

Ones that DONT WORK

1. FFM12HC2ZXSN3G

 

I'm getting the error message " XPS13/14/15 ... are excluded" when using what should be the correct code FFM12HC2ZXSN3G

Edit: But thanks for the find Robsel

 

Anyone fancy explaining in laymans terms what this bug that's been found is? Because when playing Civ V (I only like strategy games so there won't be anything mad graphically intensive for me to try replicate the problem) or when Bouncing audio stems, and producing music overall in Ableton, my laptop doesn't get overly hot nor is there any noticeable slow down in function, so how would a layman like myself notice if it was suffering from the same bug?

 

This sounds like symptoms of a poor cable connection from the lcd to the system board. The cable making this connection may be getting *tugged* when you open the lid far enough. If it gets pulled enough it can dislodge the connector on the system board ever so slightly to cause artifacting on screen. May want to open it up and check the cable and connection.

 

Thanks for the reply I actually opened and closed it several times and it seemed to have fixed the problem. I'm guessing you are right and maybe I finally connected it fully. Now it's working great!

 

Try downloading fraps. It displays an overlay over the game to tell you what your frames per second rate is. I am in the same boat as you, I mostly stick to strategy games. I cannot wait to try the new Sins of a Solar Empire game as well as the new Civ V expansion!

 

Get a copy of Coretemp then run Civ 5 in windowed mode ( Options > Video Options > Uncheck "Fullscreen" ) and watch what the processor does. Also download Fraps, and see if the FPS drops suddenly. If it gets stuck at 1.2ghz or even drops to that speed while running the game, then you have the bug.

 

There are no bugs. The only "bugs" we're factory issues and they were all sent back and fixed.

 

However you want to call it, it shouldn't work like this...

Sent from HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Using this method the frequency goes to 2.7-2.8 for about 15 minutes then drops to 1.2, concurrent with the other report. I did not feel any huge increases in heat or any dropped performance, and fan noise was high but not overly throughout. Nevertheless hope a fix can be found for this

 

Missing one or more primary color is a symptom of a poor ANALOG connection.

Laptop screens are connected with a digital interface. May be a misplaced wire from the power regulator placed at the bottom of the screen and the LED arrays.

 

i just got mine and i was wondering if the power button lights up at all because mine does not

 

It doesn't, at least not on mine. The light on the front is the power indicator

 

I'm not an expert on what type of signal is used to get output to the display.

However, from personal experience repairing laptops I have seen a variety of issues from primary color loss, horizontal/vertical lines, and artifacts due to poor display connections on the laptop system board caused by cable tugging or dust.

You may want to open your laptop up and wiggle the connector to see all the funky results you'll get on your display.

Glad that it went away, I'd be mighty upset to have issues like that on a premium laptop. Still on the fence for making the XPS 15 my purchase of choice. Allowing until October to finalize my decision; by that time I hope everything gets sorted with all these CPU throttling reports and that Dell will offer an SSD equipped version in the US.

 

Ahah no I trust you, mine was only a remark
Strange indeed that a digital connection will cause loss of primary color... I'll search...