New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

I rang them, NO backlit keyboard and NO MSATA with the 1TB i7 and of course no blu-ray. I can't believe Dell can release in such a state for outside the US. I was ready to pay, and they miss out vital components on a premium laptop.

 

I'm not seeing this 200 dollar student discount in the US people keep talking about. Anyone know about additional discounts in the US?

 

It's real. I think maybe the softcoat with the cheesey synthetic looking CF pattern embossed on it is throwing you off. We looked at it with no coating, and ironically, what we found was it didn't look like CF. lol. We had to emboss the softcoat to make it look more like what it really is. I assure you, that's real CF.

 

I spoke with a US sales rep online that gave my info to another rep named Matt who took care of the student discount. I had to do everything over the phone

 

Bill,
Do you have any US coupons you could post for the XPS 15?

 

Yea, that may have been it. too bad you guys didn't use a hard finish on it to make it really stand out, hehe

 

I wanted to check prices of my preferred configuration but ALL coupons which are available in Germany cannot be used for the XPS 15. I definitely will not get it for the full price...to be honest.

 

Yeah the BR is a little annoying but not a deal breaker for me as I'm sure it would bump up the price and it can be added at a later date.

It just makes no sense to me how the MSATA can be omitted from the most expensive model but is there on the model that is £100 cheaper.

 

Hey Muddy! PM me and we'll take a look at what's going on so we can get you taken care of.

Rev.

 

One more thing and a question aimed at Bill.

I can only imagine you are completely slammed at the minute but can you say whether the backlit keyboard is standard on all models or a specific add on.

 

Thanks a bunch. I'll do that.

 

Its cool. Already got my order taken care of by dell reps James and Matt. Already have an order placed and am very happy with Dell's service

 

downlinx, thanks for your review

 

Can anyone tell me what these parts are?

319-0065 1 8GB, DDR3, 1600MHz Is this one DIMM? Does anyone know make and model so I can order a matching DIMM?

342-4471 1 750GB 7200 HDD with 32GB mSATA Which HDD and SSD this is? Is it the 830 or 810?

Thanks

 

+1

I still cannot decide between this and the Lenovo Y580. How much better is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB, than the 640M? And the lenovo comes out to only $1199. But i really like the thinness of the dell. I dont mind playing in medium resolution for games, but I would just like to be a little future proofed for a few years - the graphics card/price (specifically $400 before tax is added) are the reason I cant decide.

 

Eventhough this is an acer and doesn't look nearly as good as the dell xps15
Acer V3-571G-53218G75-3rd i5-3210M

it has similar specs as the lowest version of the xps 15 and is around
600 euro's. And the xps is around 1500 euro's with taxes.

So 900 euro's for design, and customer support is a bit much..

 

Lets see if I get this correct:

the xps15 doesn't offer any SSD option
the xps14 only offers 512GB SSD (no 256GB SSD)?

The Vizio Thin+Lights look more and more tempting...

Snoopy

 

People who could use the $200 discount fror student purchases...

HOW???

The sales rep that I had talked said that the gift card will be for FUTURE purchases, that I cannot use either my dell advantage account or student discount... Is there a way or is there someone specific that I have to talk to?

Thanks all,

 

I used mine for an xbox 360 4 gig, it has to be either for an xbox or you wait 2 weeks for the gift card in the mail. You can not use the 200 dollar gift card toward your current purchase.

 

I did dell advantage by phone.

 

If you are asking for the reason of upgrades I decided to go for the Samsung 830 SSD to replace the 750GB/1TB HDD. The included 32GB drive may as well remain to install OS or as a backup drive.

I am not sure which memory module that is.

 

I have a SSD to replace the 750, but I was curious what the 32 gb drive is. If its a 830 I might as well leave it in there. If not, I'm going to look for alternatives for use in that slot

 

+1
---------- ;-)

 

From the review, I only saw 1 memory slot. Is the other underneath the keyboard? He stated 4gb stock and upgradeable to 16gb.

Also anyone notice Amazon the has the base 15" i7 for $100 less at $1599? Specs look the same. It just doesn't state GPU. I guess we will wait and see.

 

yes. if you look at the service manual, you basically have to tear the machine apart to get to the other DIMM

 

So @Bill or whomever else may be peeking in, can you tell me or at least hint (Like in "Patience, Grasshopper) whether the XPS 15 going is going on higher discount in the MPP program anytime soon? *bats eyelashes*

 

I am also happy that i went for hp envy. Only pay 1200 for it. Dell is good but way over priced

 

One of the 2 ("competitors") looks a bit chaotic inside, right? ;-)

 

The cable across the fan is just LAZY! I can't believe they did that...

 

The 32GB mSATA is a mini card SSD. Search Google images '32gb msata'. It can be upgraded also but they are not cheap.

 

What exactly can you upgrade in "non chaotic" MBP? Not a lot. Also factor in how harder it is to fix the MBP compared to the Dell.

And when did we start to judge laptops on how they look on the inside?

 

keep in mind that this is still the beta, things are bound to change.

 

In fairness, one of the two competitiors also happens to offer an ODD, user upgradable RAM, HDD + MSATA and potentially battery by the look of it.

 

Disappointing that it's using 1 fan and from the reviews - this laptop will suffer from overheating apparently.

Now to wait for Best Buy/Amazon to stock them. Maybe a repaste will fix their mistake...

 

I have put this laptop through some tests and i have never seen it overheat once or any temps that i was not comfortable with.

 

Guys, the picture comparison was no serious complain. It just looked really funny to put them side-by-side. But the cooling system in the XPS does still leave me wondering how efficient and silent it will work. More reviews please!

@ downlinx
How did you test that?

Does anybody know the performance specs of this 32GB mSATA?

 

@ Downlinx, nice one for the review...

Just noticed that your model had a Li-Ion battery... Will the Li-Po battery have much effect on battery life do we think?

 

glad they got you taken care of. for anyone else, feel free to pop in the alienware sales thread . I can help out with any dell order or sales questions, and happy to do so."

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux-18.html

Thanks guys,
Rev.

 

I tested using furmark, heaven 3.10, and a couple games. The fan did get a little loud during the stress tests but gaming it was fine, but i also play games on a sager laptop.

I am not sure, sorry


please direct review question to the review thread please

 

*facepalm* Congrats, the Mac has more room for their layout because they soldered the SSD/RAM into the board and removed the optical drive. You don't have to support a 2.5" SATA drive, 2xSODIMM slots, or a huge optical drive. Yes, you have more room to play with. Go look at a XPS 13, it's cleaner without the optical drive. Is it "Apple clean," no. I see no reason why a laptop should be immaculate on the inside. I give props to Apple for a clean design and layout, but no one really cares. Dell did pretty good in my opinion with the room they had.

As far as the cable on the fan, where is the touchpad cable on the new MBP? Oh right, glued under the batteries. Yes, that was amazingly insightful.

Seriously, enough with the Mac/PC crap in here. Unless you're helping someone decide between a MBA/MBP/XPS this isn't the thread. Go somewhere else.
/rant
---------
I'm a bit upset with the lack of 256GB options for the SSD. I really wanted a 14" or 15" with the 256GB SSD. It would've been nice to have a LITTLE bit more customization. I can understand the RAM, I'd probably get a 2x8GB set anyways, but the $300 jump from 4GB/i5 to 8GB/i7 is pretty steep when a 16GB set of RAM is only $100.

The only real reason I'm not going elsewhere is the Dell CompleteCare, which to me is the best in the business. I feel like Dell shot themselves in the foot with the prices on this one. I'm guessing most reviews are going to reflect that the price is a bit to high as well in all honesty. You needed a SSD in a mid-range model for reviewers as the Engadget review showed. It killed in 3DMark but got murdered in Vantage. A 128/256GB SSD would've been much better than the 32GB mSATA buffer.

@Bill: I'm waiting for Outlet given these prices and may just go with a Vizio if the Outlet prices aren't low enough (ie, at least $300 drop). Could you give us an ETA on possible Outlet stock and expected prices? Or maybe even if a 256GB option might be coming? The part numbers posted before hinted at a Samsung 830 256GB option.

 

Bill,

I have an easy question - on the i7 Quickship model with 8GB - is it 8GB in 1 DIMM, or 2x4GB? I want to upgrade to 16GB, but do not want to disassemble all the way to get to the second slot.

N

 

Let's see...

Cable attached to ODD vs cable underneath battery for Touchpad.

Which will you most likely remove?

Lazy is lazy. Not PC/Mac related. It's the build. Jeez..

Dell could have easily bent the cable or made a new cable to be slightly lower. Not only is it on the fan, it actually covers a tiny bit...

Smart buddy! Nice comeback!

 

Does the outlet offer the same complete warranty, and is the outlets warranty also extendable? If so I might wait and make a road trip to the US.

 

Did you monitor GPU/CPU clocks to check if there is any throttling? Furmark + Prime95 does a pretty good job simulating a worst case scenario.

 

Easily! Prices are ridiculous for a 15"! And it sounds like swapping memory and drives are a pain. Not worth it.

Wow I looked at the manual, and you have to disassemble the whole laptop to replace one of the DIMMs! I've never had to do anything past take off a panel before.

 

Why not just buy your own, it will be cheaper?

 

Scratch that, just noticed that they are selling with a Li-Ion battery (in the UK at least).

Am I imagining seeing spec of a Li-Po battery somewhere?

 

I set my settings to high performance during the test and did not see any throttling, the processor OC auto on me, which i dont mind, but i did not see throttling.

 

With dell and HP and windows 8 sucking so bad people almost no choice but to buy Mac osx.

Vizio please make my day with ur 15.6. Thin n light

 

Li-Po is in the official specs from the Dell Blog post:

http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-fi...aptop-Spec-Addendum-_2800_6_2D00_26_2900_.pdf