New Dell XPS L521X (Ivy Bridge)

I wish you were right on this one bud...I literally just loaded the Dell US website after reading your reply, but the highest configuration was the 1 TB + 128 GB SSD option. Am I missing something? If so, forgive me.

 

I know it's not available everywhere, so it's very possible we don't offer it in AUS.

 

Hey Bill, thanks for the prompt response. I may very well need to resort to this, but honestly, I really want to get the 512 GB SSD option. I look forward to seeing what your team can do for Canadian clients. Much appreciated.

 

So, the higher-than-hoped-for price is the result of upgraded and more expensive composition of the materials? But why did they do this, exactly? Were people complaining about the build quality or durability of the previous generation? Who asked for this? I thought people wanted IB and a better GPU in a sexier body while maintaining the competitive pricing, display, and subwoofer that helped to make the L502X famous and popular. So, if I'm right about that, we got some of what we wanted, some of what we didn't necessarily want, and lost some of what we used to like. Okay, it's a nice machine, but I can't help but be a little disappointed. Still interested in it but will wait for reviews and to see what has happened to the prices and screen and customization options by the time W8 is released.

 

Hey Bill, I have got another question re OS configuration:
It seems to me that Dell is only offering Win7 Home Premium but not more advanced versions of Windows in its latest laptops; I am not an advanced user but prefer the Win 7 Pro, and I think a good number of other users do too.
Will they ever come back?

 

Well, i didn't check for this particular config, i was merely stating something i observed a year ago. Things might have changed since then, but i remember going on a rant about that back then.

It's probably a management decision, maybe something about Canada being less profitable. Anyways, sometimes we get the same options as the US right away, sometimes we get them later.

If it ever pops up on the US site, and it's still not on the Canadian site, then give them a call.

 

Thanks. You'd might have been lucky and talked to someone who had a interest himself in the question. But I'll check up on it from a separate source.
Thanks for the tip about rachid. Will try contacting him.
Anyway, I think the xps 13 is fine as it is, juarez wanted to have HD4000 integrated graphic.

 

The Envy 4 and 5 are good options. It's very thin in person. Lenovo's U series are also cheaper right now. Toshiba's Portege are also good and affordable.

 

Getting angry and will continue to be until Best Buy has them available online

 

Hey Guys, yet another MBP w. Retina vs Dell XPS, so please bear with me
Dell XPS 15 features NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M + 2 GB VRAM.
MBP features slightly faster GeForce GT 650M + only 1 GB VRAM.

I know there has been a lot of comparisons/benchmarks for these two cards, but non is mentioning memory combination. Does it really make a difference? and if it deos, what tasks could expose the difference? gaming on ultra high resolution? 3d modelling and rendering?
And NO I'm not considering other factors into equation, like thermals and throttling. I just want to know how would these cards perform if they are in a similarly spec'd machines.

Thanks for your and answer and sorry if the question has been addressed before.

 

I just buy one xps15 (L521X) from Spain, and it has not iluminated keyboard...
the comercial says me that is not planned to be iluminated keyboard in the future, and says me that the XPS line never had that option... :S

For Bill: Why not iluminated keyboard in Spain??
For Bill: Thanks too much for all your posts, I'm here from the beggining of this thread, (some months ago) and finally you win my buy!
(the only thing its that, or you are wrong when you said that it's keyboard iluminated for ALL regions, or the comercial at phone don't know what he sell... :S)

PD: Sorry for my bad english level...

 

I agree with the sentiments several people posted in this thread. The new XPS 15 is really just a replacement for the XPS 15z. I wasn't aware what the letters XPS stood for, but a quick Wikipedia describes them as "Dell XPS (Xtreme Performance System) is a line of gaming and performance computers manufactured by Dell". I understand the acquisition of Alienware slowly removed the "gaming" part, but that's the domain of the GTX-6x0M series and the likes.
It all comes down to your interpretation of "extreme performance", but for some, including me, it doesn't match with what the L521x offers.

While the Inspiron 15R SE is often referred to as an alternative, i have some reservations about it:

• i doubt the 7730M with DDR3 can keep up with it's GDDR5 equivalents, especially at full HD
• it has no subwoofer
• it seems to have a very average screen (quote from another thread):

There no doubt is a market for the new XPS 15 and it looks really nice. But regardless of the price, just like i would easily take a L502x over an XPS 15z, i would rather have Inspiron 17R SE-like specs/performance at a 15" level.
I do prefer Dell and would like an Inspiron review to prove me wrong on the above points, but i'm afraid i'll have to look for other options once they finally become available in the Netherlands.

 

Getting annoyed at the UK vouchers, this one seemed to work yesterday, but not today!? SB6S4X5RF2XLSJ

Anyone have a currently valid voucher that'll work on the small business XPS15? I'm ready to pull the trigger, as I'm just gonna pick up an external BR drive for £70. Will be useful to have an external drive for work anyway, so screw it.

Edit: never mind, was using the wrong code! Was meant to be using this one: FPKBKKF5MQJ9C1

 

Delivery estimate for monday. Can't wait.

 

Did you receive your machine or is it just a sales rep that told you they were'nt backlit?
I live in France and ordered mine through Dell France and the rep told me that they had no way of knowing wether or not they were backlit but that there was no mention of it being so anywhere. This in no way confirms the absence of a backlight, just that it's not indicated. According to french reviews of the product they said that they ARE backlit but I'm not sure they tested the french versions of the XPS' or the US versions. I guess I'll have to see when it comes in! In any case I can send it back for free if I don't like it so I might as well try! I will keep you euro buyers informed when I get it (apparently around July 18th if all goes well...).

 

Quick question for Bill when he next gets the chance to pop in.

You said you were going to query why the most expensive model in the UK appears to drop the mSATA completely, leaving just the 5400RPM drive.

Just wondering if you ever received a reply.

This doesn't really make sense for the highest spec model available for the home user.

 

I don't recieved my machine, I just ordered now (sorry for my english). The rep told that to me, but i hope you are right! I will tell us when I recieve it

 

Can somebody explain to me if my warranty gets void if I manually upgrade the HDD to a SSD? I red that you have to open the whole backplate of the notebook, so that seems to me that the warranty gets void...

 

To quote Bill (and since that post it says the same in his signature):

 

Nope... have a look at Bill's signature

 

Sooooooo... back again to the screen topic...

Is this the best screen Dell could provide in a 1500+€ unit?

(img taken from the Verge Hands on, posted before)


Look in particular to the "black" area on the top left corner, near the Trash icon... And the photo isn't taken at a particularly angled position... I bet it's at about 30° or less to the perpendicular axis...

 

Can't wait to hear what you think about it as soon as you do have it in your hands. Would be nice if you could write a short report about temps, fan noise and screen quality

 

sorry but a camera will not give you the best accuracy of the laptop display. the only time i saw blackening of the top area is when i had the laptop about 70-75 degrees on above my had view and then it still was very manageable.

 

Will paste my pm to you here for everyone to see in case they were expecting a stellar write up

 

Here's some more photos if no one has posted them. Unboxed: Dell XPS 15 - PC & Tech Authority

 

That's the 14 not the 15. Different screens.

 

awesome find, i didnt even notice it was the 14, i thought it look off.

 

Yup... No ODD.

 

Bill, as I understand it, the XPS 13 runs 6Gbps on the mSATA controller which would take full advantage of the speed of the Samsung. However, on the HM77 chipset in the XPS 15, I'm not sure this is the case. 2 SATA 6Gbps ports are supported and those are usually used for the HDD/SDD and optical drive. You guys may have rigged it differently, though.

Could you check to see if the mSATA in the XPS 15 runs full 6Gbps? Even if not, the OS on the mSATA would certainly be snappy, but not AS snappy as the XPS 13 or a full on SSD option.

Thanks.

 

Why would a 6Gbps interface be used on an ODD? Why wouldn't they use the 3Gbps interface on those?

 

Using a 6Gbps on the ODD would make on sense at all as they don't come close to saturating SATA 3Gbps.

 

Or even 1.5Gbps interfaces.

 

We would normally agree, except "Precision" has not been refreshed with newer hardware, and Dell is rather secretive about its future. That goes without saying XPS offers great performance for our needs at a price considerably lower than a comparable Precision system. Precision systems can deliver a whallop of processing power unrivaled by most professional systems out there - I used to have the M1710 with the Precision's Quadro FX3500M, and it was a -beast- (at the time). I absolutely love that lineup, but we don't need that much power; moreover, we don't feel like spending so much. We have access to workstations/clusters for the really heavy image processing.

I spoke with the others, and we were looking to find a FHD screen with a 350+nit brightness with >82% aRBG gamut and 500:1 or better contrast. At the moment, we are waiting to hear more about quite a few other systems, so our dissatisfaction with Dell may change if the market saturates with sub-par displays.

 

Forgive me if this topic has already been covered somewhere in the 489 pages, but I'm confused about the hard drive for the new XPS-15. The spec says "750GB 7200 HDD with 32GB mSATA". Is this a Hybrid hard drive with 32GB of Flash memory that presents all 750GB as a single drive C:, or is this two separate drives, with Windows 7 loaded on a small 32GB SSD on drive C:, and the slower 750GB drive as drive D:? I'm concerned because if it is two drives, then only 32GB for the O.S. seems rather small, because over time all the patching consumes a lot of space, and I'll also have to configure my browser to store cached content on drive D: (thus making my browsing experience slower as well).

 

If you have SATA 6Gbps ports available on the controller after wiring the drives, why not use the 6Gbps. Of course with mSATA, a HDD and considering that the HM77 chipset only has two SATA 6Gbps, it makes no sense to wire 6Gbps to the ODD instead of mSATA and HDD bay. However, if you have let's say only a HDD bay and no mSATA, why not wire the remaining 6Gbps SATA port to the ODD. The ODD might not saturate it, but those who switch to a HDD caddy will be happy about it.

 

It's your choice...

By default, as shipped, the mSata is used as a cache... Meaning you'll only see one drive, the cache being used to optimize performance for frequently accessed files... You could call it an hybrid I suppose, although It's not an hybrid disk (those also exists), but 2 different parts.

But you can always change the configuration, and use it as two drives apparently.. Just don't know yet how this is done!

 

With 32GB, i'd leave it as a cache, a 128GB mSATA SSD, i'd use as an OS drive though. Technically, both are separate components and can be used independently. I assume the mSATA SSD will be user replaceable, but as to whether it's easily accessible or not...

 

Ahh, this reminds me of the old product called "Intel Turbo Memory". I don't think that idea worked out so well. Hopefully it works much better than that did....
AnandTech - Investigating Intel's Turbo Memory: Does it really work?

 

mSATA SSDs as cache have proven to work well enough as long as the caching algorithm used is good. Not as fast as a SSD with the programs and OS installed on it, but it still gives a nice speed boost. 32GB is also plenty to put the OS and most used programs there as well.

 

If you check downlinx's review he has the bottom opened up and the mSATA is right out in the open for replacement.

 

I might have actually gone for the 128GB mSATA SSD, but they paired it with a much slower 5400RPM drive instead of a 7200RPM drive.

 

Thanks, haven't taken the time to read all the thread and other related thread. I came here because of what happened in this thread and though i'd participate in the discussion after going throught a bit of the thread, it also allows me to keep an eye on things.

Well, as long as everything is user replaceable and if you have the budged, motivation to do it, you could replace the HDD. Heck, if it were an option, i could see myself order with the mSATA drive only and slap a 7200RPM HDD or another SSD in there.

 

Understandable for the way this thread was heading... But anyway are you saying you would not recommend putting the OS on a 32GB mSATA?

I ordered the one that has the 32GB mSATA and was planning on doing that but if it doesn't improve the performance enough it might not be worth it.

 

Myself, I know 32GB will not provide enough space for OS and programs I plan to install... If it's your case too, I'd suggest using it as cache. You will still see a performance gain, just no as big as if you had the choice to what will be on Flash and what get's on the HDD!

In any case, both parts (mSata and HDD) are user-replacable

 

I think you'll max out the 32 gb after Win7 and Office, then you need to use the HDD and there won't be any more cacheing into the faster SSD from the HDD, it will be from HDD directly to RAM.

On second thought... You can probably set up a Linux distro and keep the "/" under 32 gb...

 

32GB is pretty small to install and OS. It can be done, you can trim down windows 7 to ~10GB with a few tweaks, but it will still grow in size somewhat with updates in time and you won't have much room left for other programs. You'll have to keep a very close eye on things.

I personally swapped the 64GB SSD in my desktop to a 256GB for that reason, switched the 128GB in my G73 for a 160GB for similar reasons as well.

Having the OS on the SSD will surely improve performance, but to me it isn't worth the hassle of watching the SSD's used space like a hawk compared to using it as cache which will give a performance boost anyways. It's more a matter of convenience to me. I also like to keep my SSDs at a max of 80% full to leave some free space for the controller, overprovisioning or not.

 

The XPS 15 is indistinguishable from a Macbook while it's closed, so...

 

I'm pretty sure the mSATA port is SATA III (that's 6 Gbps, right?), but I'll put it on my list of questions.

Precision will refresh in the late summer-early fall time range. I only add "early fall" in case something slips, which could happen. They may have an official announcement soon (30-60 days or so), but that may also slip. Dell doesn't talk dates or about unreleased products in general, so I want to make sure I'm not leading you to believe any of the date ranges I'm providing are being taken as exact timing.

As for the panel, have at it, boys and girls. Fire up your Googles and see what you see.

Exactly my thoughts to a T.

Do you do a lot of heavy editing often? Just my opinion, but the battery life and heat advantages (though not major) for a 54k drive over a 72k drive are enough to make me feel ok with a 54k.

The mSATA looks to be pretty easy to get to. Honestly, I'd go with the cheapest HDD config option if the rest of the overall config fits my wants, and slap in an aftermarket mSATA. Again, just me talking.

 

I already did this on my XPS 14. You boot into the bios setup and disable 'Intel Smart Response Technology' and change the sata mode to 'AHCI'. After making those changes msata is listed as a bootable device.

I installed Fedora 17 Linux with /boot, / and swap on the 32GB msata and /home on the 500GB drive. 32GB is probably not enough space to boot Windows 7.

 

My first contribution to the neverending thread. Fantastic reading

I was about to pull the trigger on the xps15 today but it seem as Dell has raised the pricetag from (about) 1675Euro to 1837Euro. This since yesterday.
Ofcourse I was very confused and did not buy anything. The rep. on the phone did not know anything.
Whats the deal Dell?? Anyone else in Sweden noticed this?