New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

I don't know about the L502x, but the L501x had a base price of ~900€ at launch, thats 400€ less as the L521x at launch.
I'm very disappointed about the price and the customisation options... so no dell notebook for me this time.

 

No, there are two - one easy to get to and one very difficult to get to. I'd like to hope they are doing 1 8GB stick so upgrading doesn't involve removing the system board.

N

 

I think it would be interesting to know the color gamut of the screen in AdobeRGB space.

 

Yeah i'm for sure opening her up and i may just buy another 4gb stick and make it 6gb RAM since i cant get to the other one without the worry of something up -.-

 

stay tuned bud, working on getting to the bottom of this issue. bill may have an answer faster than I.

 

I think Bill talked about 60%

 

1) That's an excuse and not justification. I was expecting something better.
2) Dell XPS L501x launched at 899. is that not right? The base model. The screen was an 150$ extra. Confirmation AnandTech - Dell XPS L501x: An Excellent Mainstream Notebook
So indeed we have a 150% and that cannot be justified only by a 1080p screen. I am happy to pay the premium for the service i got at dell and the design but that's so much premium.
3) I know such a case with accidential and that's perfect, he had a completely brand new model. Although why Dell does not attack it's pricey laptops with a 2 year warranty?
4) Color gamut is a huge different 92% against 60%. Possibly not able to be recognised by many people. I will await an official review from anandtech though.
5) When customization will be available will I be able to downgrade like in the past(not L501x and L502x). for example i do not want a 32GB msata.

thanks for the reply and sorry for the "attacking" mode :/

 

Not sure when they'll be up. Any day now, I'm sure. As far as serviceability, it's a whole new ballgame. It's not easy to get to much of anything. I thought an LCD swap on my VP's XPS 15z was tough, but it looks like that was a cakewalk compared to this one. It's nothing I'm personally scared of, though. I see it as a challenge. On the bright side, it's not MBP difficult (impossible).

I'd say 100% chance.

Puhleeez!. Unibody? Are you sure? And big deal. 1080 we have as well. I haven't combed through their specs yet, but is that GDDR5 on that card? How does it benchmark compared to the 640 (also Kepler) with 2GB GDDR5 on the XPS 15? How about throttling? Does it? Ours does under Furmark loads, but seems not to in games. Any reviews on the Vizio yet, or is it still vaporware?

That's really funny. Had to + rep that one.

I think they're all 2x4 in the US save one config at 1x8.

One on the bottom of the mobo that's fairly easy to get to, and one on the top of the mobo that's hard to get to.

 

He said 60%, but not in what color space... AdobeRGB? CIE1976? CIE1931?

 

But why should we be forced into the highest level of coverage possible?

It should be up to the consumer what level of coverage(or risk) beyond NBD In home after remote diagnosis that they would like to select.

 

Hi Bill,

Quick query on this.... Do all 5400 drives come with the msata as a standard companion??

Reason I ask is that the most expensive UK model actually appears to drop the msata off the specs which seems a bit odd to me.

New! XPS 15 laptop details — Entertainment laptop | Dell UK

 

Lulz. I retract my statement. That sounds like at least a 45 minute job. I guess it should be expected with a thin computer though. Well, that gives me incentive to go 2x8GB (system max) and never have to do it again

 

1) Call it an excuse if you want to, but it's the answer, in a nutshell. Are we having a marketing and supply chain debate here, or are you asking me questions that I answer?
2) Don't recall. You tell me. Also, while you're there, can you check on component pricing for each part when the first XPS launched vs component pricing now? Also, can you compute the cost of materials differences? Mostly plastic vs aluminum, silicone, Corning Gorilla Glass and alloy. You are seeing a product that has stepped up a class over the previous gen. I'd say the current Inspiron R S/E is a much closer comparison to the previous gen XPS.
3) That is a very good question, and I agree with the sentiment 100%. Matter of fact, I'll take this as a reco for the marketing teams.
4) I think you got me there, but I'm waiting on engineering to fill in some blanks. I know this much: sourcing a panel that fits required specs for the Gorilla Glass is more challenging than sourcing a generic fit panel.
5) First, increased customization is not a given. However, if there's enough customer feedback throughout the webz and in contact centers, we will have to revisit the current configuration model. IdeaStorm is a pretty good place to get your message heard, and to get other customers on your side chiming in.

I forgot to answer your previous question about where to email these concerns. I don't have a general marketing inbox for such things, but if you want to put a comment on the Direct2Dell blog post about the product launch, it will be seen. Sooner the better so you comment lives on top.

 

thanks bill for the update, looking on my own on the display itself, got a question email into corning as well, but you will be able to to get an answer before me.

 

@Bill: is there going to be an 256GB SSD option available on either the 14 or 15?

Snoopy

 

I'm stumped. That makes no sense to me, but I just put it on my list of questions for the launch manager.
I will say we qualify dozens of configs here in the planning organization at corp HQ. It's up to the regions to know their market and choose the 4 or 5 configs they think will fit their region. On the surface, I'd have to say this is a miss, but I haven't dived into the line by line comparison of the top UK config vs the second UK config.

In what region? I can find out pretty quickly in the US, but I'd have to chase down the regional merchandising teams to find out elsewhere.

 

Bill thats why I think its one stick of 8 GB on mine. Every other laptop I've gotten from Dell has said Qty 2 4GB Ram etc.

Also, I already posted up the tear down guides on my drop box a few dozen pages back. Here's a fresh link https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dh3tv2ckzkjw2wg/HxCmPlUgvc

 

Where is that voucher coming from and also what is the code? The one on Quidco seems to expire tonight or tomorrow.

 

ok guys, buddy(another friend, not the same one) sent me this information about the montior.
Monitor Type : 6985X€B156HTF - 15 inches
i am trying to decode it now.

 

Bill, is there a chance we can get a UK /Euro forum rep like you? While I very much appreciate all the work you do, there are some things like above that are not so easy to answer. I would wager our market is big enough to justify the cost involved?

 

Soo.. Core i5 or Core i7 heh
I know some of the other items are only available by picking the i7 (big SSD or larger RAM), but if I wanted to put my own RAM/SSD in, am I gimping it by going with the i5?

 

I bom'd 6985X and came up with this master part description, if this helps at all:

6985X LCD,15.6FHD,WLAN,,AG,ASSY,AUO

I'm global product group marketing, so the work we do covers all regions. Because the way Dell go-to-market marketing works, specific choices in the regions are left to regional product marketing teams. Hence, sometimes I am a bit challenged running down information. Most of it comes from the global launch manager anyway, so anyone from another region would just be asking the same guy the same questions.

Having said all that, believe it or not, forum engagement is not my primary duty. I do social media strategy and messaging support for social media reps all over Dell. My job description does not require me to engage at all, but my manager and I feel that if I can engage where I can- especially around high-band product launch time- we get a lot more benefit for both the customer and our product planners and marketers from talking to customers. Also, I really am not interested in a job at Dell where I don't talk to customers, because I rather enjoy it, and I do OK at it. Where things get really hairy for me is when the owners' club thread starts, and I escalate systemic issue to engineering. In my position, I'm able to get things fixed a lot faster, because I'm not burdened by process. I go straight to the global Advanced Quality Engineer who's on the hook to fix systemic issues.

 

Just one question: Why?
Is there any customer out there who requested gorilla glass? I don't even undestand what the benefit should be but we all know/expect that it is pretty expensive in this size. In 15 years I did not damage any of my notebook screens. Not a bit.
Why making a compromise in terms of huge cost and even "worse" displays than previous models or which would have been possible to use?

 

1) In fact, I cannot comment on Dell economic growth so i will prefer to avoid this debate.
2) I will happily do it in my free time, although i cannot comment on aluminium or other design things although i said i am willing to pay a premium for this around 200$
3) Thank you.
4) Of course i'll wait and i'll try to be more patient before i read more about the screen.
5) Although marketing should consider why users preferred Dell. They do it for 2 things as they said: 1) Great/Exceptional service 2) Customization
If the marketing does not know these 2 things then they do not have a good contact with their clients. Can you link me to IdeaStorm?

Again thanks for your time

 

I'm in Canada... but we have exactly the same config as the US.

When are they going to offer upgrades for the mSATA? 120GB at the least!!

I would do it myself after the fact but they are very hard to find and the only one I found was a SATA2 version.... The port on it is SATA3, right?

 

I have a feeling its a move to prepare for touchscreen interfaces in the future. COuld also just be pulling out of my behind.

 

thank you it should, at least we know it is an AUO display.

 

Bill when will they be available on bestbuy.com?

 

Bill, thank you for all your interesting and generous posts. You've been very patient with everybody. I don't want my deep disappointment about the price to sound like I don't appreciate your contribution.

 

I think I've read this question 15 times so far, and I've read maybe 10 times that it should be available maybe at the end of the week

 

It's a gaming laptop, not fully mainstream to be honest. It's launching at the same price as your ultrabook and a few hundred below the "proper xps"

Dont get me wrong, I love dell. But I have been waiting months for these and am so disappointed at the price, dell is a great brand but seem to be getting a little bit ahead of themselves with the price. No matter what is said, these are on the verge of not even competition for other manufacturers (in a bad way). Hope these come down so I can snatch one up sharpish

 

Man. That's a really good question. I realize from context that it's not a big differentiator for you, but I'm starting to wonder if it really is for the buying public in general. I know the online sentiment for GG is positive, but I don't think everyone has the benefit of knowing it adds cost and complexity, as do you and everyone else on this thread now that I've put it out there. Let me mull this one over. That's a seriously tough question to ask, given what I know about product planning, which I cannot share. I'll have to take a measured approach when I bring this up.

I need a little time on this one. I have no confirmation yet, but I THINK the mSATA drive on XPS is a cache-only drive, so size shouldn't matter much. However, don't beat me up. I'm just now starting to dig into this one. I'll post back reliable information as soon as I get it.

That's as good a guess as any, but I doubt it's the sole motivator.

 

ok guys, from research it is some variant of the B156HW03 from AUO, i know i have been searching for 350nit but dell may have contracted them to build this for them, i do not know. but i am pretty certain it is the B156HW03(unknown version)
This is the base version page
http://auo.com/?sn=149&lang=en-US&c=34&n=145

 

I better be able to use that little guy as a real drive. I don't want to use that cache drive nonsense

Also, one of the spare parts lists listed much much bigger msata drive sizes

 

That's the same screen as the xps 15z and colors were not that good hope they improve it in that regard.

Review Dell XPS 15z Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

that is what i am hoping, i know the 01 tested better than the 03 version, home this will be v2 version updated and better!

 

And with mSata drive are we able install windows on it?

 

A 128 Gib mSATA drive sounds real sweet. If the XPS 15 can do that I don't mind replacing it myself. Looking forward to Dell Bill's information.

If the previous XPS 15 experiences are anything to go by, Linux should be possible as well with the Bumblebee software for dealing with Optimus. Here's hoping that will work out for this XPS 15 as well.

 

Bill has not answered when i will be ON THE BEST BUY WEBSITE. I am NOT asking when it'll BE IN STORES.

 

Will Canada have the 256gb ssd option? to replace the 750gb 7200rpm hard drive? i just talked to sales and they obviously said no.

 

You are most welcome. I have to apologize for not being able to put in the time to do more research to reply to your questions. I'm really busy today, and probably will be for the next 4 weeks. If you ever find yourself in or around Austin, hit me up. We can go grab tacos and talk Dell marketing all day.
Idea Storm <- I used to be the community manager, and now by good buddy, Cy, runs the site. I'm trying to cajole him into entering the fray here on NBR.

Yeah. That's exactly one of the reasons why I'm currently confused. Maybe downlix can fiddle around with BIOS and Disk Manager and let us know if the drive can be partitioned as normal volume.

And I almost forgot!! All your product planning questions (not the regional marketing ones) can be asked of the guy who runs the team that plans XPS laptops directly on a Google+ hangout tomorrow afternoon. If you get there soon enough, you can grab one of the seats in the hangout, which allows you to ask questions directly via chat or via mic and webcam. If you just want to lurk or get there after it fills up, there's a YouTube simulcast. Here's the announcement copy they'll be posting on the Dell G+ page tomorrow (that's why it says "today"):

Join us today for a Google+ Hangout hosted by our own Rev Davis (@AskRevatDell). Rev’s guest will be Donnie Oliphant, director of XPS notebook product planning. Rev and Donnie will be talking all things XPS notebook, with a customer Q&A session included.
YouTube live stream- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zElFIXXV9Ns
Rev’s Google+ page- https://plus.google.com/101183396474081593736/posts

oops. Sorry. I thought you were asking about the stores. Checking now. I'd have thought today was the answer.

I have not seen any concrete day for changes to the Canadian configs, but I will ask the regional merchandising team if they have any plans.

 

I believe the 32GB mSATA is a cache device only and does not contribute to the storage of the computer. I can't find where I saw that; it was in an asterisk I believe. That said, there may be some ability to set the functionality either in the BIOS or Dell management software. I would assume the mSATA drive is using Intel's caching feature, so I don't see why you couldn't use it as a secondary data drive instead of only cache.

Also, looking at the teardown guides (thanks ejl1980), replacing keyboards is gonna be ROUGH. You have to take out pretty much everything... This does not bode well for me as I usually have to replace the keyboard once or twice a year.

 

Εxcellent then we can catch in some time in the future
Already made a post on Direct2Dell waiting to be posted.
I will post on IdeaStorm too.

Thanks again for your valuable time answering all this.

 

Those wondering about the memory configuration it does clearly state on the order acknowledgement whether it is 2 x 4GB or 1 x 8GB DIMM.

 

I can somewhat understand the 32GB mSATA being used as a cache device only but the top config (at least in Canada) comes with a 128 GB mSATA. That's a lot of cache for that cash.

 

Code:

It is definitely Unibody. And speaking with the Vizio reps, they are shipping the DDR5 version, which should perform about 20% lower than the GT640M because of clock differences. Keep in mind though that your base config is a GT630M

No official reviews, but all hands on impressions (google Hands on Vizio) were very very positive. That said, throttling could be an issue, that's the one thing that I don't think they have proven to be safe. Just addressing your things ^^

With what you said a few pages back, the price seems a little bit more justified. Dell support IS definitely stellar, and I don't think many people/companies equal it. That said, it's still out of my budget I think it would have been an excellent excellent buy if the GT630M was a 640M LE.

Edit: http://store.vizio.com/cn15a1.html If you want to see all the specs.

I will say they skimped on connectivity, you have them there. I think the Vizio is a little better value for sure, (especially if you don't need all the connectivity options), subjectively better or worse looking depending on what you think, and you don't get Dell warranty. Who knows how good vizio's warranty support will be, we will see!

 

Awesome. Once it gets here I can figure out what DIMM it is to find a matching stick

 

I hope it can be used as a regular drive... my plan was to install Win 7 and my programs to the mSATA and my documents to the HDD.

I pretty sure the BIOS settings have that option for IDE, AHCI, or iRST (rapid start). It will probably be set to iRST by default and if you want to use the mSATA separately from the HDD you have to change it to AHCI. This is the way it works for most mobo's and laptops... It should be the same in this case.

EDIT:

Aren't the US and Canadian configs usually the same?

 

Bill, a few hundred pages ago you responded to a question about the XPS 15 coming in black instead of the silver and you said you would revisit this topic when its released. Care to revisit it now?

 

The black is leather for cellular equipped models i believe.