New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

Here's a quick little
Review that I did. Let me know what anyone wants to see and I'll record it immediately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2MaRDnmgJU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

First, why Bill doesn't post here on this thread:
I see no point. A lot of the comments are repetitive. "Price too high." GotchaX547. I've tried to address this several times to no avail for some. I'm done.

Every PC buying choice presents the buyer with options- go high on build quality, go low on specs and upgrade aftermarket, go high on performance and lose thin-ness, go low on weight and lose battery life, blah blah blah. Go with one vendor and get support you like. Go with another vendor because you value price and don't care about the support level. You have the specs. You have tons of reviews. You have an owners' lounge to lurk. Just do what makes you happy, even if what makes you happy is Dell bashing. We can take it. In fact, that's how we get better, so keep the criticism coming.

If your personal choice is the XPS, wonderful. I'm here for you. If it's a Lenovo, Samsung, HP, great! They make great computers. Consider your trade offs and have fun with the purchase.

Having said all that, I personally have no problem with the negative comments. It's free speech, provided no one belittles someone for their personal decision. Only thing that personally bugs me is when someone tells someone else they made a bad decision with their money. If I'm not your father, I have no business (I said "business" and not "right." Free speech is everyone's right, IMO.) telling them they made a bad choice.

I just choose to avoid this thread due to the overall tone and repetitiveness being things I personally consider a waste of time. Don't mean to neglect customers or offend anyone considering a purchase.

We don't post reviews on XPS products until we have the first 10. Once we have 10, we post them all as long as they comply with our common terms of use. If you think the company that leads the tech industry in social media engagement is gaming customer reviews, you are mistaken. The day we do that is the day I blow the whistle all the way to the top...literally the very top. Then I pack my desk and wait for someone to come take my badge and walk me out. It'll never happen, though.

I guess I could have worded it differently if when I said that I wasn't supposed to be talking pricing to begin with, since it was pre-launch. Basically, my team qualifies a list of configurations, and it's up to the regions to decide which ones to offer- US region included. We have no say on what they offer. We did have an $1200 config, but the US passed on it and went a different direction.

Here's how my team (product marketing) and our sister team (product planning) work:
The planners conceive the product at around 24-36 months out. Then they begin working with the Industrial Design team, procurement, architectural engineering, and other teams here in the End User Computing organization to develop the platform. What they do is (over-simplifying here) create a list of the components they want to aggregate into the platform, and engineering qualifies the component configurations that work. Once the planners know what works, they put together a giant list of configuration options and turn over all they have to my team, the marketers.

We then go about developing the value proposition and core marketing messages and strategies to be used in various lines of business (customer groups). Leading up to launch, all the materials both teams have compiled get turned over to other go-to-market teams like the global product launch manager, regional product line managers, and global brand and marketing. The global launch manager works tightly with my team and the quality engineering group around launch time to bring the product to market readiness.

Once the product launches, everyone on my team and the planning team move on to the next products. I am the only one in my entire organization who sticks with the product post-launch, usually about 4 months or so. My role prior to launch is that of a social media product strategist. I coordinate things like blog posts, Google+ Hangouts with the planners and engineers, voice of the customer input into the quality engineering team, messaging support for front line social media reps like @DellCares and ratings and reviews responders, and one-to-many messaging to high authority blog sites and high value forums like NBR (pretty much exclusively NBR, TBH).

Hope that clears up some stuff and provides a little "behind the curtains" view of Dell product development.

There's a BIOS coming for the 14 as well. I have a test version of both if anyone's interested. Just PM me for the link.

 

If the thermal issues with this laptop weren't so bad, I'd say just OC the GPU. With the previous gen XPS 15 (L502X) people have overclocked their graphics cards 20% and higher, which ends up being way better than even the upgraded GPU available in that model. However, on a laptop with thermal problems like the new XPS 15...not really an option. Plus, the difference between the 630 and 640 is a lot more than the difference between the 525 and 540. Quite a shame since you got the laptop for insanely cheap.

 

Firsties!
Very nice granite counter tops, btw. Jealous.

Thermal issues? Is it still a thermal issue if everyone who's tested the new BIOS says it's fixed, or would that be a BIOS issue? Think about it first. I know you can't resist the urge to bash, so you'll need to come up with some new FUD before you post.

 

Looks like everything is ok now, seen positive replies, the negative ones look to me based on assumptions (the mother of all...) Next 3 days I'll be following this thread, should no problem arise then I'm buying this weekend.

 

So, after much deliberation, I've opted for the VAIO S15 instead of the XPS15 (mainly due to the lack of Blu-Ray in the UK, but also because of the weight). Must admit I was initially massively put off by the price of this thing, but when you take into account the substantial discounts around it was a tough choice. Anyway, those who chose the XPS enjoy it and I will look forward to getting my hands on the new S15

 

It's strange, because from what Muffin Man has said, before of these 10 reviews there was one single review, so rule "until we have the first 10", maybe it's not a stiff rule...

We need that many XPS users (specially who has BIOS fix) test their machines with standard test like prime95+furmark, so we can compare to others machines.
Ok, you already said that this notebook can't perform this kind of work, so you don't need to repeat yourself, also because it might be considered crossposting
It would be good if Dell published it on its XPS official site, to avoid people to buy a notebook that they don't want.
A test like: I have launch once or twice 3dmark and all works fine does not seem to me a true test on the throttling.

 

The one review posted thing was a mistake. We corrected it almost immediately and posted all the reviews we were holding.
If you're suggesting we post the results of CPUPrime+Furmark testing, that won't happen. Anand is good for that sort of thing. They were kind enough to hold back on posting their review until we got them the new BIOS. You should see it soon.

Congratulations on your decision. I don't frequent the Sony threads, but if you want to take the time to drop in a link to your initial review on this thread, I'd love to read it.

 

This is a very good piece of news!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Would be happy to.

 

I haven't seen any posts about anyone actually using the BIOS yet, and if it has performed better during stress tests and on full load. If it's totally resolved, good job, the laptop works. (Regardless, the difference between the 630 and 640 is too big to bridge with overclocking and that guy should return his laptop.)

 

There you go. FIFY.

 

I meant he should return his laptop since he was worried about the 630M being a bottleneck...calm down...

 

I think you missed the point. He "stole" it (joking about the pricing error). Even you have to admit it would be kind of unwise to return the system for refund, considering the price, instead of either trying it out as-is to see if he can live with it, or selling it for whatever price the market will bear and get the config or competitor system he prefers.

 

Oops, that's right, pretend I said "sell on eBay and then buy a better XPS 15 or competitor".

 

Boom!
The Beatles - We Can Work It Out [Official Video] [HD] - YouTube

 

I have seen 2 users with fixed BIOS:

One user with fixed BIOS has lower score in 3Dmark06 than old A04 BIOS
(BIOS A04 10200, Fix BIOS 9200).

Another one say all works fine (with 3Dmark)

I think it's too soon to know if fixed bios has solved the throttling issue.

 

Couple of quick questions on the retail units:

1) Does the Best Buy or Amazon units come with ADP?
2) The Amazon one says the 640m on the web page, but the PDF says 630M? Which is correct?

Thanks,
N

 

Lol....

To be fair Bill, I am impressed with your contribution to this forum even with some of the posts you receive.

I know you said that criticism helps and stuff like that but some of the posts over this thread have been moronic at times and you keep your cool better than I could.

Even just having to repeat yourself a million times would do me in along with DEMANDS for you to personally deal with peoples issues that clearly are nothing to do with you.

Don't get me wrong, I also think there have been some warranted negative posts in this thread, but the point only needs to be made in a clear way and not as an attack.

On a different note, I was wondering if you had seen the slight pricing faux pas (which you obviously did).

I'm pretty much going to do exactly as you said a couple of posts ago.... The 630 probably won't be quite powerful enough for me but I'll give it a crack and if it's not, I'll either give it to my girlfriend or sell it and put it towards the i7 + 640..


Anyway, regardless of whatever ongoing issues there are with the laptop, thanks for still sticking around and trying to get it sorted in a very speedy way.

I was thinking about just how ridiculously difficult it would have been to get a BIOS update or any kind of feedback from another manufacturer had this happened to one of their new releases.

 

I'm taking a 15 home tonight to test the WiFi issues. I'll put the test BIOS on and run Furmark+CPUPrime+ThrottleStop logging mode for you. Not that we design the system to perform like a Precision or Alienware for that scenario, but just so you see the results to compare.

1) I don't believe so.
2) No clue. I think you'd have to ask BBY about that.

 

Thank you VERY MUCH!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Yup, which is all that matters. As long as you're happy.

Wish it had the 640 in it but I can't really complain can I.... That would be a bit of a take.

 

I don't want to compare to Precision or Alienware.
Comparison with Ispiron15R SE for me is enough honest.

 

No worries. I love my job, and this is just part of it. I'm trying not to repeat myself and "crowd source" the answers to the repetitive questions. People get passionate about tech, and sometimes decorum doesn't matter. Understandable. If I weren't wearing the company hat, I'd receive my fair share of warnings from the mods (I get warned sometimes anyway).

I never saw the faux pas. Is it still up? I just checked on the UK small biz and consumer sections, and the base config is £899 and £1,149 respectively. Isn't that the normal price in the UK? Never saw the £500-ish one mentioned earlier. I just assumed it was fixed already, and we decided to honor the orders we got at that price. Didn't even bother following up, but I will if you guys really want me to...

 

yes he is quite impressive thats y i dont wanna give up on dell excellent service in the past and now ........ i prefer a dell technician coming to change my parts than to have to ship back my system

 

Nope... nope, really not looking for a follow up... Until at least Friday anyway.

It was just over £600 with VAT and P&P but got taken down pretty early on Saturday morning so wasn't there for too long.

 

Bill, are you able to tell me if Australia will be getting bluray and/or 128gb masta ssd models?

I asked my dell rep and he had no idea.

 

Ok, I just ran Furmark and Prime at the same time for 15 minutes, here is my .csv file from hardware info. One thing I noticed, the cores idle clocks jump all over the place with the new beta bios. Lots of throttling on this, but it seemed to keep temperatures reasonable. I did in place FFTs, is that the correct setting?

Ran Passmark again,

still high 7900s for CPU
- This CPU averages 7700 on passmark's site, so that is good that it benches higher for me. For reference, the desktop core i5 3570K is in the 7700's. Not bad for a mobile CPU

968 for the graphic card
- This puts the card in the range of the GT 555M, Geforce 9800GX, Geforce 8800GTS plus or minus. Again, not a top end card, but good enough for most games.

Anyway, -Mac- there's the Furmark/Prime for you. I'll try gaming when I have more time to dedicate.

 

Looks like it takes it down to 1.2 when it hits 97-98 degs as otherwise the system would likely shut down much past 100.

That csv shows your GPU core low... Does Furmark actually clock the GPU up to max?

 

I was using Furmark and Prime at the same time, so I think it throttled the GPU... either that or HWINFO wasn't logging the GPU properly. Furmark said it was running the GPU very slowly at 100% utilization. I'm now running Furmark by itself.

 

Hi,
can you test something?

Try setting the max processor state to 99% on windows power manager and do the prime and furmark test again for a short while, monitoring the gpu and processor frequency to see if it downclocks again.

Most people game like this since it generates much less heat with the turbo boost turned off and you almost doesn´t lose any performance on games. See if you like

 

No problem, give me 15 minutes

I'm running Prime blend test, and Furmark 1920x1080 benchmark test.
GPU is throttling already. down to 135 mhz now.

When I ran furmark by itself, the furmark benchmark score went from 200 to mid/high 700's. Running the CPU full tilt really limits the processor.

This explains why Dell didn't go with something more powerful than the 640 M It doesn't sound like the fan is going full speed though. I've heard it louder before. weird.



EDIT. Ok I cut it off at 11 minutes, there was no point in continuing. The GPU wouldn't stop throttling, but it looked like the CPU cores stayed at a steady 2.0 GHz. Looks like the XPS 15 can do maxed out CPU, or Maxed out GPU, but obviously, not both. Hope these spreadsheets help everyone who is curious about the new Bios.

 

Thank you, I have really appreciate, unfortunately I see your file with all data not clearly (all data without spaces so they looks much confused).
I can't see temps clearly, but why CPU continuously jump between 2.8GHz and 1.2GHz, seems 2.1GHz is not an option.
2.1GHz should be the standard clock for 3612QM.

Ispiron15R SE performs stress test starting at 2.8GHz with max turbo boost for 5 minutes after it drops clock to standard clock 2.1GHz and continuously jump to 2.8GHz for 10 minutes, so CPU temp hit 94°.
Therefore after a 15 minutes in total, CPU stay at standard clock 2.1GHz and CPU temp goes to 80°

If someone want try this test maybe should be useful to take a several screen shot like Notebookcheck way, for example follow screen shot is about Ispiron15 R SE stress test :

 

Are you opening my files with excel? They open in a very clean easy to read spreadsheet.

If you see my latest test I did for nuno, I set the max CPU to 99% and it stayed pegged at standard clock. I'm also running furmark full screen at 1920x1080... so I can't have anything in front of it.

 

I had a look into XPS15 service parts regarding ssd's

mSATA all made by Samsung 830: 32, 64, 128, 256

7mm SATA: 512GB Samsung 830 or LiteOn

No other SSD sizes so smaller drives where never in Dell's plan.

 

Yes, I'm using Excel, I see in this way...

 

weird, sorry it shows up perfect on my screen. Not all jumbled like it does on yours. What resolution do they run furmark on notebookcheck?

 

Thank you.
Was expecting a little better

I have yet to see a recent notebook with a Nvidea graphic that doesn't throttle.
Even the old sony s15 wouldn't throttle with the Amd gpu.
Actually haven't seen any laptop with an Amd gpu to throttle.
Maybe it´s just coincidence
Hope that at least gaming wise the problem is some what resolved.

 

Are you use prime95 with blend setting?
Blend setting is not hard test for CPU, In-place large FFTs is the setting to use.

 

It's showing up blank for me.... But maybe it's just me?

EDIT: Yes... It's just me. Tried it on a laptop and it opened normally.

 

If I have time, I'll game some skyrim, mass effect, and L4D2 Thursday and post up the results.

 

have the same problem
Are you using windows dpi scaling?

 

Notebookcheck run furmwark always in window mode so i believe that 1280X720 is the right setting.

I'm using Windows XP so none dpi scaling.

 

Anxious for Bill to post regarding the wifi issue. Is everyone else being driven nuts with only getting 0.5mbps - 3mbps at times?

 

Open new Excel document, and search import data, next try the option to import the comma separate values. Sorry can't be more precise, i'm on Linux and Libre Office...

EDIT: try those...

 

Thanks

Your spreadsheets look just how my CSV's open in excel without all those steps. Sorry guys.

 

eji1980, you are continuing to log the values of the integrated GPU only.

As I said in my previous answer to you, start a program that turn-on the discrete GPU before Hwinfo64.

I think 350Mhz is the idle frequency of the intel HD4000

 

I think you are right, but i did start the benchmarks before starting the hwinfo.

 

The gpu data is there in the end to the right, you can clearly see the gpu temperature jump 8 degrees when he starts the furmark and clock itself to 708 Mhz and after a while start to throttling down.

edit:
sorry, only saw the 99% the other is missing indeed.

 

Thank infoMatt, I found the way to convert these CVS files into right format with Excel 2010:

Open Excel2010
select DATA
select from TEXT in GET EXTERNAL DATA group
Open file.CVS
Text Import Wizard is started
step 1: choose DELIMITED and select Windows (ANSI) for file origin.
step 2: select comma
step 3: not important

It's done