New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

Unfortunately, in my country there aren't Envy 15 or Lenovo Y580...

 

So can we swap hdd or RAM withoutbreaking a warranty? and how about battery life when we use i7 processor?

 

Anyone wondering what the screen is, it is the same one as in the MSI 680GTR B156HW01 V5. Information thanks to Downlinx!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/8652169-post39.html


AnandTech - Gallery - MSI GT680R LCD Viewing Angles - 6 Photos

 

just bought the xps 15 on Australian website with 512 ssd (i couldn't find this option on US site). I will be pretty annoyed if a 16gb and bluray option comes out tomorrow but I guess I could cancel tomorrow.

I was able to find a 10% discount code for systems over $2k+ in Australia (don't have the code handy but quick google search will find it). Obviously doesn't help the US guys much as most systems not over $2k but there was also a 5% off for systems between $1-2k.

Will let you know what it is like once I receive it. Wonder what my msata port on this xps does as it doesn't look like they use it?

 

The price is misleading though, without VAT = +20%
which makes a pricey 1149 pounds starter a very very pricey 1378.8 pounds starter.

(1378.8 pounds is around 1800$)

 

White value isn't anywhere near Dell's spec. Either Dell's spec is way off, or that's not the same panel. I suspect it's not the same panel (maybe different revision).

 

No, you are wrong it does include VAT!

 

Data from downlinx don't match with data from Bill

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ell-xps-l521x-ivy-bridge-401.html#post8651539

XPS 15: FHD+ panel resolution with 350 Nit Brightness. The color gamut is 60%, made very realistic by Dell’s proprietary Color Engine Technology. Viewing angles are 60/60/50/50 (L/R/U/D)

 

I have some questions for Bill:
1) Customers especially here, have expressed their opinion that the laptop should be customizable(personally i preferred when you could downgrade also), and that was a huge advantage Dell offered. Now you cannot customize it(is there any good explanation for it).
2) L502x had a base price of 799/899(which oen?), and now the base price is 1299. That is almost 45% to 70% higher. A considerable rise don't you think?
3) What dell is gonna offer when the competitors are offering better specs at almost 200-300$ less than dell products?
4) Why Dell did not here the public request about a better screen? I understand that speakers were not possible but i would like to here a justification about the rest.
5) Why a customer should not move from dell? Yes i know the support thing? anything else besides that?

PS: Very disappointed from your prices and lack of customization. Is there any official mail to complain?

Bill now that's confirmed that the screen is far worse than L502x can you give us an insight for such a price gap? I remember your marketing words that we won't be disappointed but i do not see that

 

uhh dno what to do now! The envy aint out in UK yet, but lots of quality issues - tempted with the Dell.

 

No worries. Who can keep up?

It's like fashion. Everything that was in vogue before will come back.
Seriously, though, I think 5400 contributes to better thermals and battery life. We also have the mSATA cache drive paired with the 5400 drive, so it's not really going to be that slow.

Not at all sure where this "loud fan myth" is coming from. Did some reviewer say it was loud and not publish db numbers to back up the assertion? I'm suspecting so. I guess Notebookcheck will tell us all we need to know by way of testing and comparison soon enough. I pushed the 15 on Furmark for 20 minutes. The fan was in high RPM range for all but the first 10 seconds or so. I wouldn't call it loud at all. XPS 13 under load? Yes, loud. XPS 15 or 14? Not in my opinion, and I'm being objective here.

No idea. Sounds pretty marketing hype-ish, TBH. I'll ask for some more detail on it, though. If it's something I think is of tangible value, I'll say so. If not, I'll just stick to the company line.

See my sig. I die a little inside every time one our reps tells a customer they void their warranty by opening the case.

All our i7 configs get between 6:49 and 8:01. These are marketing battery claims, so don't expect that in real world scenarios. As you can see by the variance, it will depend very much on your configuration. Here's the legal birdseed regarding our battery claim numbers:

"Based on testing using the Mobile Mark 2007 battery life benchmark test. For more information about this benchmark test, visit BAPCo. Test results should be used only to compare one product with another and are not a guarantee you will experience the same battery life. Battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on your product’s configuration, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time and use."

 

I 4th that, alot of us are disappointed at the huge price these laptops are, a 15%-20% coupon would be nice hehe I know its a lot to ask.

 

A little disappointed today, but I'll wait for some more reviews on how it actually runs before making my decision. I would ideally stay with Dell, HP is out of the question since HP treats Canada like it doesn't exist pretty much. Don't want to have to go to Sony due to bad experiences with them in my family (I know the same happens with every company) and the Ideapads I'm not sold on their build quality. Maybe will go Thinkpad. Either way waiting for some more reviews before deciding.

 

I purchased today also and my confirmation was also different from the expected delievery date.

I purchased today also and my confirmation was also different from the expected delivery date.

 

Yeah, seems well off. I looked on the AUO site, and came to the conclusion it is the same panel as the XPS 15z. Especially considering the color accuracy is mentioned in the review, and Bill specifically pointing out their proprietary Colour Engine Technology which should make up for its deficiency in that review?

AnandTech - Dell XPS 15z: Sincerely Flattering

It could of course be a revised version.

 

Quick review

[REVIEW] Dell XPS L521X Review "Almost Perfect"

 

Lenovo ideapad y580 is in fact out in the UK for a much more budget friendly price. See link below
Notebook computers - IdeaPad Y580 - United Kingdom (UK) | Lenovo | (GB)

 

Bill any chance you can tell me which mSata drive this is 342-4471
750GB 7200 HDD with 32GB mSATA

or if this is a single stick of ram? What ram could I get to be a pair with it if it is a single stick? 319-0065
8GB, DDR3, 1600MHz

Thanks

Thats already posted on this site by our own DL

 

I saw it, but it's a friggin beast in terms of size, plus battery life is half as good. Also don't forget Lenevo whitelists a lot of hardware, which means you cannot buy off the shelf goods for everything.

 

For a long while, having a 7200 was a must in my mind... The reason being it became a "requirement" for some of Adobe products (like video capture and video editing for example)...

I don't really know, so I might be wrong, but is it REALLY required (hardware check in the software)?

Well, what I'm trying to figure out, is if a 5400 + mSATA would work ok whith Adobe products and Full HD Video editing! If so, I might want to go this route for some savings (heat and power mostly, but also money)

That's what I was thinking, but had to ask to be sure... I'll watch if you ever come up with a positive answer

 

1399 euro base price with no blu ray option and no option to change the GPU. Bad screen and no good sound.

Going to be the most disapointing XPS ever.

 

With the huge amount of money you save in the UK it's worth it. The top model is the same price as the xps 13 here. GTX 660M etc. NO BRAINER.

 

Is ram soldered or not?

Wysy

 

youre the only one with that strong of an opinion..

no, it is not.

 

no, but one of the two DIMM slot is really hard to access, apparently!

 

Engadget expressed concerns about excessive fan noise on the XPS 14 in their review.

- Dell XPS 14 review: a 14-inch Ultrabook with Ivy Bridge and graphics might -- Engadget

I am pretty concerned about noise issues, since I returned a notebook due to being loud enough (probably combination of loudness and pitch) that it disturbed people working near me (quiet area). I brushed off occasional comments I saw regarding fan noise in that notebook when purchasing, and ended up regretting it. So, I'm trying to be more careful this time around. My M1330 was never a problem, but its fan isn't particularly high pitched most of the time either.

 

I disagree, the ideapad quality isn't that great. When that one year is up, parts are expensive even for an ideapad. As someone else as already mentioned, lenovo whitelists parts, replacement or upgrade-ability is limited. Heating issues (not that serious considering the GPU imo) has already been complained about in Y580 threads. Also

No msata
5400 RPM hard drive
Weaker wireless card
No accidental cover as with Dell
Bigger and heavier
Weaker battery life

I think the Dell is a better option imo, considering we haven't seen the usual discounts or customisation from dell as of yet. Only thing lacking is the blu ray drive.

 

I guess, dell being under 1inch thick and the lenovo y580 1.4inch but the lenovo comes to £1k. Dell being much closer to MBPrD (with student discount). I asked a sales rep if it was possible to add a 500mb ssd to the top level dell xps 15 and he said that this is possible but would cost £540 !!! :O

 

Honestly, do not go by anything Engadget has to say. Until Notebookcheck and/or Tom's/Anandtech breaks the XPS down in long-hand, only then will you know the truth about the fan and thermals. Downlinx has stated it's neither loud nor hot, and he was playing Diablo III IIRC.

 

Hopefully Best Buy will stock the laptops next week. It's $100 cheaper and you get a free Xbox.

 

I'd be glad to do this, but as you've said we must find a slot-in unit that fits perfectly. I guess it would be difficult.
@Bill: do you think that it could be possible to buy the spare blu-ray unit from a near country (i.e. Germany) and put it in?

 

You just need to find out the make and model Dell uses. Once that is out in the wild third partys will source and supply.

 

If these are the prices I would be looking at hp envy, msi ge60 etc.

I am amazed how cheap msi samsung and acer are with gt 640m 650m and 660m and the macbook was expensive as it is unlike anything else and the ultimate as well as the retina display. The xps though, only people bought it because it was cheap as well as the jbl speakers but now its expensive and no good spoeakers. Now people are more better off getting an m17x r4 with 7970m instead of getting an xps or an m14x r2.

 

Honestly I doubt the RAM DIMM 2 will be that difficult to work on. Most smaller laptops/netbooks stuck the second DIMM under the keyboard and I remember one horrible Asus netbook that took a good hour+ to get to the slot (double sided tape, WHY!?). I'd bet it takes under 5 minutes to get to the XPS slot.

@Bill: I couldn't find disassembly guides yet for the XPS14/15. Any idea when they'll be up? I like to do a bit of a simulated disassembly before buying a laptop.

 

Bill any chance of getting a reply? thanks

 

I for one am really thinking it is a reversion of the v5, sorry everyone but, i can not correctly answer what will be in the laptop. all i know is that the display is very very good.

 

The sound sounds like it's fine and the screen very good from the reviews we read but so was the XPS 502 at 60-70% of the price.

The price on this isn't justified at all.

 

What a disappointment. The vizio 15 inch CN15-A1 is unibody, 1080 screen, 640m le kepler gpu for a cheaper price of $1049. Even better when the Microsoft store gets this model in stock for a free xbox.

 

To get to the second memory module you need to:

1. Remove the cover
2. Remove the battery
3. Remove the wireless card
4. Remove the hard drive (and cage)
5. Remove processor heat sink
6. Remove the system board
7. Remove memory module

Sounds fairly painful

 

oh 10% voucher for Dell UK seems to be working (2 days left!)

 

Wow these are some great looking laptops but the price point makes me balk a bit =(

 

In the XPS 14" (ultrabook/performance) range, would the Clevo W110ER be a good alternative for portability, gaming and encoding?

 

1) I covered this ad nauseum about a bazillion pages back. Basically it comes down to scale of the company, manageability of all the sku's, and the fact that our upgrade costs at point of sale are not competitive with the aftermarket.
2) Price at the end of a product life cycle and price on launch day is not really a valid comparison, no?
3) If you buy on specs alone, as do many, I guess nothing at this point. Market equilibrium will be reached at some point, and pricing may be a little closer. As noted previously, the warranty on the Dell is pretty compelling- standard 1 yr LoJack theft recovery, 1 yr accidental damage (that's HUGE), 1 yr premium phone support, and onsite parts replacement. Additional year options might be a bit pricey to some, but I think accidental damage coverage for 3 years total alone is worth the extra $299. I've seen many cracked screens on 2 year old laptops result in full system exchanges. Sometimes you even get lucky when they can't match your original config with what we have at the Outlet, and you get a brand new system after damage during the 2-3 year time frame.
4) I think there's a lot of FUD out, especially on this thread, about the screen. I have requested my team huddle up and help me out with telling this story along with some data to back it up. I'll post back about the screen. It's pretty much a stretch to assume that the screen in a pre-production beta unit is the same one that's shipping, and pretty hyperbolic to jump from that assumption to "the new screen is far worse than that of the L502x."

That's a mainstream laptop. Better compare would be the Inspiron R S/E.

That's a Sammy PM 830 mSATA drive. Looks like that's 2 sticks. Here's the master part description where DG8X9 is the Dell part number:
DG8X9 SODIMM,8GB,2X4G,1600MHZ,DDR3

Where are you getting "bad screen and sound no good?" I don't see any data that backs that up anywhere, so if we're going off anecdotal evidence, downlix says the speakers sound good and the screen is nice (even though the jury's still out on whether his beta unit screen is the same as the shipping version). I guess we all believe what we want to believe, right?

One man's observation at this point. Who knows? Maybe it will turn out that the consensus is "fans are loud," but at this point all I can say is I've heard Dell products with loud fans before, and this ain't one of them.

 

Build quality counts, not just performance / $. Looks count as well.

The Envy 15 isnt available across the pond so this is the only choice for us euros. If I have to pay $100 extra for what I consider a laptop without compromise, then I'll pay it gladly.

It won't embaress me in meetings á la Alienware. The touchpad won't suck, like the ASUS N56VZ. The screen won't be lackluster like the Chronos 7 15". It doesn't have an off-centre touchpad as a result of a useless numpad like all of the above.

Throw in backlit keyboard, TPM-chip and some halfway decent battery-life and I'm a happy camper - even if it costs me somewhat more.

 

The upside is you can repaste the heatsink while you're in there LOL

N

Bill, do you know if the 8GB configurations are 1x8 or 2x4?

N

 

It comes with one memory stick. 1x8.

 

You forgot you need to remove the fan before the heat sink! Anyway, even though it could be necessary to work a bit, I think nobody will spend his days disassembling the notebook just for fun You buy it, disassemble 1 or 2 times, just if you want do some upgrades, and then you just use it..

 

No, its 2x4

 

rather than spending the extra $100 or whatever it is for the 8gb RAM upgrade, do this my friends.... http://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-SODIMM-1333Mhz-10600-9-9-9-25/dp/B0031GK3OI/

Reviews said theres only one memory card slot underneath the hood.


EDIT: There seems to be another hidden memory module but I'm still confused because in the 4gb model xps 15 theres one 4gb stick in the first memory module so i suppose the second is just empty for future upgrades?

 

jako is right it is cheaper to do 2x4