New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

as far as speakers go i think they used larger JBL or comparable brand speakers in the front for good bass levels forget unless they mated those speakers with a compact mini sub woofer or 2 like the hp envy uses two mini sub woofers because of how slim it is instead of one large sub woofer with a large chamber like on the last gen XPS

 

I'd prefer it wasn't a click pad, but other than that, I'm happy with the design

 

Has it been conformed that this will be aluminum or some type of metal? or is it plastic painted to look metal, like the lcd strip on the studio xps 16?

 

640m reviewed in notebookcheck uses DDR3 so 640m in XPS15 with GDDR5 is much better

 

The Chinese site specifically states an anodized aluminum shell with resin on the bottom and the same soft/gummy material as on the palm rests of the existing XPS 13.

 

in that page they wrote anodized aluminum

 

Exactly. The GDDR5 640m is almost a match for the GDDR3 650m. No complaints here. And some happy person will mod the bios so we can O/C the 640m at some point, I'm sure

I'm more let down by the 630m. Some benchmarks have the 620m being faster/using less power. The 630m is one of nVidia's mystery parts. Some will be 28nm, some will be 40nm.

 

Even the 650M struggles to handle a 1920x1080 display. So what do you expect? I would just love to get the XPS 15 with a good 1600x900 display! The 630m in the XPS 14 makes it a nogo for me. Combined with the U CPU the 14" should still run longer and produce less heat than the 15" if a 640M was used. Slightly underclocking would have been also the better solution if really necessary.

 

it should follow the XPS 13 with aluminium .... magnesium and maybe a plastic or metal base ..... ........... the XPS is moving up in terms of price point and is supposed to be more premium ... so metals are given ...............and at that thin you would need metals for structural integrity
inspirons are still mostly plastic with some aluminium in the palm rest and back of the lid

 

Chinese site says that bottom is in insulating resin the chassis is aluminum and palm rest is similar black skin (like XPS13)

 

I am wondering if this is the whole reason why the launch is at the end of June. I think the XPS 14 will be using some of these processors.

Intel "Ivy Bridge" Core i3 Processors ship 24th June

 

I don't think so, putting an i3 in a top tier laptop is definitely a bad move. If they want a less powerful solution, they can use a i5/i7 ULV processor.

 

Would have grab this baby in an instant if it features a thunderbolt though. :/

Planning to do eGPU setup via thunderbolt connection.

 

I also disagree. Dell seems to be putting SB in all the low end machines to clear out stocks, and I'm guessing they'll move to IVB when they run out of SB and the new IVB i3's come out.

The two options we consistently see on the leaked materials for the XPS 14 are two ULV i7's.

 

Personally, I'm liking the single bottom panel -- no more individual panels to remove to get at this or change that. It's a cleaner look, one-stop shopping if you want to swap out the RAM or HD.

You can also make out the heat exhaust in the center of the rear grills, though I'm not sure if the left-third and right-third are open or just for aesthetic symmetry with the front. It would be nice if they were open so as to allow for maximum ventilation.

 

I wouldn't count on all of that. The new vostro 3360 needs you to take off the palm rest to replace the HDD. I'm hoping you are right however

 

The old XPS15 with FHD & GT540m play almost all game without problem.
GT640 GDDR5 has double performance respect GT540m.
Are you want an ultrabook for gaming? You have unrealizable wishes

 

True, but the Vostro isn't as thin. I think we're dealing with a different family of beasts in the 14/15. The design strategy inside and out would have to be different. At least it would appear that way. We'll find out as soon as they post the tear down guides. Gotta love Dell for that.

 

No, I don't :
First solution - lower res display (1600x900 = about 30% more fps)
Second - ulv cpu (which are easily powerful enough for games) + 650m = same tdp and more fps

 

The vostro 3360 is thinner. Its the V131 replacement. Its manual says its .75 inches thick. Thats XPS13 territory. These powerpoints leaked on the chinese site show .81 and .9 inches thick for the XPS14 and 15

 

This machine can run most games reasonably well. The 650m could come with gddr3 or gddr5. I'm happy with 640m with gddr5. The 640m is the same chip, same number of cores, just underclocked. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5697/...es-keplers-and-fermis-and-die-shrinks-oh-my/2

 

I think if you more fps you have completely wrong target, 650m haven't same TDP even if Nvidia declare it, or better they haven't same max TDP.
the TDP is measured in various ways, an example is Intel and AMD that measured it in different way.
I don't know how Nvidia measure it, but is enough clear that same chip, with same voltage with different max clock have different power dissipation @ max clock.

 

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook | SSD (Solid State Drive) Replacement | How-To-Tutorial - YouTube

Replace mSATA SSD in XPS13 looks easy, but i have seen RAM is soldered
i hope there isn't Ram soldered in XPS15, even if I believe that the lack of a door for the ram means that might be soldered.

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook | Motherboard Replacement | How-To-Tutorial - YouTube

 

ulv + 650 could probably be better with games (not every game, some engines need a lot of cpu power... just give a look at the witcher 2) but most of the normal workload is cpu-based. I know this kind of power is not needed by everyone, but some people (like me) use their computer for more than just facebook and email. I do programming, database management and just about everything that you can do with a computer. I'd like the extra juice to run a smooth virtual machine, and a graphic card it's close to useless when I'm in linux because drivers are very bad. Not everyone needs a laptop to play, and for those there are the alienware, rog, qosmio and you-name-it gaming laptop series.

Not to mention the screen res, I want those extra pixels! They are mine by right! How else could I stand a decent chance at impressing those apple snobs? (for those without sense of humor, that last part was a joke)

 

I couldn't agree with you more! The use you descrive pretty much sums up what I'm gonna do with it too + Multimedia. And those extra pixels are useful in blu-ray movies!

 

I'd really like to see how well the 640M overclocks, along with thermal performance in the XPS 15. I really hope that it can clock to the perfomance of the 650M. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the release!

 

I have seen a video about xps 13...i have to admit i never had a look at xps 13..and....and i found that at the end of the story the new 14 and 15 are simply a bigger and powerful XPS13! Ok, i say to my self "hello mr obvious", but this surprised me.

 

multimedia goes without saying, that's why I'm choosing a 15'' over a 13''

 

Seems like I posted at the exact time that more speculation came out, what horrible timing. Bill, can you shed any light at all on the Inspiron 14R SE? My post with links is a bit back.

 

The 14 is APJ and China only, and I've wondered why for months since I saw that on the roadmap.

pfft. Skipped email and went straight to IM. Gears are grinding over here.

Remind me to revisit this comment in the future, just in case we ever do release a product similar to what's being speculated here.

 

Putting a low-end GPU (630M) in a top-tier laptop (XPS 14) also seems like a bad move, and yet...

I am really confused as to why Dell would choose to give the 14R SE the better GPU, too - New! Inspiron 14R Special Edition Laptop Details | Dell Vietnam - 640M/DDR3/2GB. Even though it's DDR3, it's a much better chip than the 630M, especially if it turns out Dell's using the 40nm part for the XPS. 630M isn't exactly competitive as it is, but 40nm would mean you're really buying last-year's model rather than a low-end die-shrink (which, at least, would save power).

 

Does that mean we might see some info soon?

 

Nope. Dell does not comment on unreleased or rumored products.

 

that's because a top-tier gpu is not needed, as opposed to a powerful cpu.
As for the 14r se, it's more powerful because it's ticker, and it can afford the extra heat.

 

Gosh, this is frustrating

 

...really? I think at least a mid-tier GPU is in order, and I have serious doubts about the 640M being inappropriate due to thermals (especially the DDR3 version). On Notebookcheck, the 630M is reportedly around the same speed or slower than the 620M ( NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M - Notebookcheck.net Tech) that Asus is putting in the much-thinner and lighter Zenbook Prime (which also has 1920x1080 IPS display).

Aside from that, directly-competing products (such as the Gigabyte U2442V - GIGABYTE - Notebook / Slate & Device - Notebook & Netbook - U series - U2442V) have the GT640M. The new Vizio line also reportedly has Kepler GPUs coming. So, I think it's pretty justified to expect better than last-years' tech in the new XPS. This is a high-end multimedia notebook; it is not unreasonable to expect serious graphics performance since that represents one of the major types of users of such devices. You may not need more than a high-end CPU, but if that's the case you may as well just get an i7 ultrabook.

 

maybe you're right, I'm clearly biased since I don't really need/want a powerful gpu in my laptop.
Nonetheless, it should be noted that both the asus and the gigabyte use U series cpu, with a TDU of 17W

 

Vizio line is up. Looks amazing for the price, and may sway me off the Dell.
VIZIO Performance Notebook Computer with Full HD Picture - Coming Soon | VIZIO

I wonder how well Dell will compete. An unannounced i3, a 1080p screen, 4GB of Ram, 500GB HDD, A GT 640M LE, and 6 hours of battery life for 900 dollars shipped. Hopefully they are close.

 

I highly doubt that it's actually slower. The GT630M is based off a rebranded 540 or 550M, the GT620M is based off a rebranded 525M (Which is an underclocked 540M) I don't think it's actually possible for the 620M to -actually- outperform it. But it might be that it depends on the clock of the 630M and the thermal constraints on the 620M, it seems like it can overclock higher, but in something like the zenbook, I highly doubt we'll see that.

@Bill The 14R being available not here is really dumb. You should tell dell that you've disgruntled one of your millions of customers >:O (granted ill probably buy the vostro in this case)

 

wow, viewing angles of XPS 15 is much better than the XPS 14!

 

The XPS 14 also uses a U-series CPU. If you don't need/want a powerful GPU, but are looking at the 14 inch form factor, why not get the Lenovo X1 Carbon (or, if going a bit smaller, Zenbook Prime)? No point in buying into the extra bulk if you don't need graphics performance.

That Gigabyte is roughly the same dimensions, weight, and (otherwise) specs of the 14. Maybe another way of thinking about it - the new MBP is roughly the weight and a bit thinner, and yet has a 650M. I realize it's more expensive and thermals may be an issue but, given that the 14 is thicker and vents out the bottom, you'd have to figure a 640M DDR3 was well within reach. Even factoring in cost, relative to the MBP the chassis is almost certainly less costly, as is the display, overall engineering costs, and other components (plus the so-called 'Apple Tax' factors in).

It's because the 620M can clock higher. Perhaps the 630M dynamically throttles, too; I don't know. It doesn't appear to be appreciably faster than the 620M, if at all, in any comparison I've been able to see and there is at least the possibility of it being slower. In any case, the point is that this is a low-end GPU that has made it into a much thinner and lighter chassis. I don't understand what the justification is for hampering a premium 14" multimedia notebook, of much more generous dimensions, with such a GPU.

 

I can't buy Vizio in europe
I didn't even know the brand name before the laptop was announced, but from what I've read they are budget minded and not always reliable when it comes to build quality. I hope they've done a good job with this, it could drive prices down in the ultrabook sector as the kindle fire did with tablets. Prices sure looks tempting, especially for the hardware offered.

 

Here's my big problem with them not even letting you acknowledge it exists. ITS ON THE SUPPORT PAGE lol. None of the links on the support page work, but the L421X and L521X are on the listings under XPS laptops.
http://support.dell.com/support/top...s=04&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=anavml&SystemID=XPS_L521X
I'm sure they will vanish shortly after this post

 

Just because we found some leaks and slip-ups doesn't mean Dell is automagically going to move up the release date by a fortnight. Besides, don't we know everything already except for the pricing?

 

It has been posted here a week ago.

 

I think you totally missed the point of my post. Its not that I want it released today. I was saying its purely stupid for Bill's superiors to make him not acknowledge a product is coming. He shouldn't have to say it may or may not exist, he should be able to say, I can't comment on the XPS15 yet. I'm not a moron, and I'm aware of how product launches can not be moved magically over night, but thanks for thinking I am.

 

Screen?(except res,brightness)

 

I agree, at this point they should be able to say yes there is an XPS 15 and 14 coming but we cannot tell anymore. This way it gets some more hype out there for other people besides us. Obviously it won't change the release date but it might make the release a little more climatic. Especially to people who had no clue.

 

first, we don't know for sure that the 14 will use an U cpu. Like everything in this thread it's only a rumor, but an higly unlikely one in my opinion... or at least, it's very unlikely the xps 14 will use only a U cpu.
second, I don't need the graphic power, but I do want a FHD display and a decent cpu. I've come to the conclusion that ultrabooks are simply not worth the price, at least not for me, and that leaves a very small number of devices that fit my needs. The x1/x230 it's awfully expensive, and doesn't really fulfill my multimedia dreams.
the MBPwRD can (probably) accomodate the hardware because the chassis it's a big single piece of thermo-conductive metal, and can dissipate from anywhere. If it's true that the base in the new xps is insulated resin, and the palmrest is soft plastic, there is very little thermal headroom for expansion.
With that out of the way, I'm not saying you're wrong. They should've found a way to implement a kepler gpu in the design, and it's not impossible they will, in the future months.

 

OK...I looked at notebookcheck's benchmarks on the HD4000 (i.e. IVB integrated GPU), and the 630M is ~35-50% faster for the most part. Looking at the overall benchmarks on gaming, neither is really going to get the job done for most newer games. For older or unintensive games, it seems you could use either.

My Reaction >.<

Oh well. The XPS 15 looks nice but is too bulky for me. I guess if Asus gets their act in gear on support, I'll pick up the Zenbook. The 14 looks gorgeous but it's hard to justify lugging the extra weight if it's no more powerful (and the Asus has an FHD IPS screen).

The Adorama link someone put up earlier lists a U-series CPU, and everything we've seen so far lists a U-series CPU. It seems patently bizarre that this would occur if it were a 'highly unlikely rumor.' Secondly, the 14 does not have an 'FHD' (1920x1080) display; it has an 'HD+' (1600x900) display. The X1 Carbon may be marginally more expensive than the $1400 we've seen listed for the XPS 14, but either way you're paying premium-level pricing. If you aren't interested in gaming, you really gain nothing from the discrete GPU, and even then the 630M isn't very powerful so I'm not even sure who gains much except for those playing a handful of games where you can go from low to medium-quality settings between the HD4000 and 630M. If thermals were an issue, they should have used a Kepler 640M LE at a minimum.