New XPS 15z

Can someone message or PM me if they see a 15z with a 1080p screen for less than $999? I would seriously appreciate. I have to keep my eyes open too. (NVM)

 

I've nothing bad to say about the 15Z - it's a beautiful laptop, my refurb is pretty much brand new looking - I jumped on it when I found a 1920x1080 screen version, $810 total with tax. Alas I've decided to add a MacBook Pro 13 instead to my household (and have, leveraging the 20% via Amazon Kindle).

Now I just need to get rid of this 15Z. I'll call Dell back again today and say I've "found some issues" - fans running too much/too loud, etc, to avoid the restocking fee BS. It's tempting to keep it now at $760 total, but do I really need $1800 worth of laptops in my house at present?!?!?!?! My son does do a little gaming - I just struggled through upgrading Parallels on my i7 iMac, so now he can play his Lotro...

 

1 1/2 hours on the phone with Dell, and I should have an RMA coming in my email soon! Those guys are as bad as the worst car salesmen. Not a pleasant experience. I will think twice before going through this kind of pain again. I may consider again when I need to add another laptop to my household. My son is already complaining about playing LOTRO - I just tell him to go play on his XBox that is only two weeks old...

 

I've had to call support 2 times.
1st time because i have ordered a 1080p screen and i hated how the text was too small (so i returned and bought one without)

Also for people here, for the xps with 1080p screen it comes with DPI at 125% the text doesn't look natural and if you scale down to 100% it's IMPOSSIBLE to read!! (at least for me, and trust me im not blind) I tried scaling res down and that makes the image blurry (you'll notice if you look close enough). The 1080 screen was a lot brighter though. That's the only difference i noticed. Maybe the colors are a bit more vivid but other than that 720p screen's perfect for me. =) Having pos experience with this laptop so far. Got it 1 month ago.

2nd time because question about hyper threading (you can't turn it off for this laptop btw)

Both times, my experience with the dell support was great. They sent me a replacement as soon as i asked it. Sure, it took some time but the problem got fixed. There's no tech support company in this world that can give you answers in 10 minutes. If you call them, expect to spend time.

 

Yes, that's where the hard drive is. The left side of touch pad. I was wondering why it felt hot there.
CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

My overall temps (mb sensors):
Web surfing: ~50-55 F
Gaming (100% usage): 86 MAX.

To control the heat problem, I edited the balanced performance power plan in windows power management. And under max processor state it set mine to 60% and that helps A LOT!!. If you're gonna be surfing the web or doing light gaming/ other stuff, that's enough power and you won't notice a difference in speed as this is still a fast processor.

When i'm gaming/rendering i change plan to high performance (which kills your battery (3.5 hours max) and heat comes back up to 80's. (which is still very low for laptops)

While using the laptop with 40% brightness and cpu at 60% wifi on, web browsing. I got 7 hours of battery with this laptop. IDK how cnet got 3 hours ;-; on their wifi test. Faulty unit?

If you know how to tweak some basic settings you should be getting about that time also. If you keep your processor up so high, you will notice a battery life drop to about 5 hours. On wifi tests .(same goes with brightness). 40% is not bad.

Also when you get your unit, re calibrate the battery. I had 5% wear on mine when i got it. When i calibrated it its down to 2%.

 

Nope, i'm not having this problem. (mostly because i put max processor state to 60%)
But when I'm gaming also, the fans aren't that loud.

One con about this laptop is it's audio is terrible. I wish they put sub woofer like for the normal xps 15.

 

Looks like the 1080p screens are back in stock! Looks like only the highest end config ($1499) has option for the 256gb SSD, has anyone successfully swapped out their HDD for an SSD and if so how difficult was it? Thanks!

 

I got a 15z from the Outlet and it arrived today. Unfortunately, for me, it was supposed to have the 1080p LCD but came with the lousy 1366x768 panel. After an hour of being bounced around Dell, the return resolution specialist said refund was the only option. Usually, they can put in a replacement order and sometimes you get something better. But, this time, they said refund only because of the 1080p LCD.

Before I send it back, I wanted to play with it a bit and put in an SSD. I followed the service manual, but that darn base cover doesn't seem to want to budge and separate. I'm afraid to pull too much.

Anyone have hints on how to remove the darn thing? It shouldn't be so hard!

 

I would be very careful with that.

The tech that replaced my motherboard and "knew" how to remove the base ended up ruining the chrome trim.

Someone here has replaced with an SSD so you may want to PM him about it.

 

I'm surprised at all the issues, I have a 15z that i bought the day it came out. Other than a trim issue that dell replaced for me i havent had an issue since. I just ran speedtest on it to and get 11.79 mbps (i subscribe for 12) and 1 mbps up.

I did replace my hd with a ssd and it screams. I edit pictures and stream video on this machine daily. The times it has gotten loud were when i had it on the bed streaming stuff and it does take a bit for it to calm down.

 

my xps 15z should be arriving tmw! and i am wondering what 'extra' accessories i will need inorder to put my laptop screen onto my tv.

HDMI cable, WIDI adapter ectect. (and the approx cost)

 

My XPS 15z is arriving tomorrow too. Unfortunately, when I paid with my sister's cc (I'm paying her cash) I shipped it too her address....but she's not gonna be home tomorrow cus she's working =/ Then we're going on a family trip, Thursday-Friday...so it looks like she's gonna have to pick up it on Monday =/ even though I need it on Monday when school starts

 

I ordered from dell outlet.... i5, 6gb ram, 750gb hdd, 2gb optimus, 1080p screen for $799 ^.^ [850 w/tax ]

 

I had the XPS 15z for a month then the rim started coming out and the screen started to become unglued from the bottom side.. I noticed that it had issues with the wireless connection...I called Dell and asked them to send me a replacement so they did and booom! they sent me a new one with the same issues lol the screen border is coming out and the chrome rim is almost gonna break...

I decided to look it up online on Dell forums and I figured out that Dell has an issue with the wireless card on that 15z.. I would say around 80% of the people are noticing the wireless issue which is not a driver related since Dell released more than one update but it didn't fix the issue..

One of the guys tried to do something for the Antena and he got it to work and others changed the wireless card on it so it became more stable, it is more stable with G not N..

over all I wouldn't recommend this laptop to anyone as it won't last.. I didn't move mine from the Desk and i had these issues and alot of people are having the same issues that I mentioned and unfortunately some of them are in Europe so its harder for them to get a replacement

 

oh man u should have mentioned that it heats up lol they will send u a replacement right away or refund ur money.. never admit that u don't like anything but this is a good lesson.. now u know what to do when u want to return a laptop lol

 

Try to buy the PTV-2000 , becareful not to buy the PTV-1000! Dell are selling the old model as far as I know, I got it for 99$...

The only problem is the wireless card.. on the 15z there is a huge issue with the wireless card and it will have an effect on the WIDI and wireless streaming .. so I suggest u use an HDMI cable until this issue is resolved.. if it even get resolved since Dell knows about it but they cannot fix it.. they have to change the wireless card on the laptop to another model or fix the antena

 

Hi All,
I would like to find any XPS 15z owner who doesn't have any wireless network issues?. I am hearing most of people are having issues like connection dropouts or very poor in range. Looking for some positive news.

Thanks

 

Received my 15z a day ago, have been configuring it. I read about the wireless issue, but I have not experienced the problem yet. I connect wirelessly and switched on bluetooth to connect my Logitech v470 mouse, both worked just fine (so far). I updated all drivers I could find for this laptop on Dell's website using the Dell Stage. All updates went through without any problems.

The silver trim around the base of the laptop does suck. I expect that to be the first thing to fall apart in the future, but from what I can tell it is nothing Elmer's Super Glue can't put back together (maybe hold it even tighter!).

The keyboard... damn, this is something I'm going to have to get used to because it is different. I like the depth of the keys, which is short to press, but be warned... this is VERY short. I am good with it. What I will have to adjust to is the HOME and END key... seems like you have to press Fn to activate it. I do a lot of corrections selecting an entire line that way... so having to do it one way on my other systems vs this way (top vs bottom) is going to be interesting. No biggie, same with how we used cell flip/slider phones... always try to find shortcuts to use a device, but then they change and you have to learn a new way.

The speed is fast for this system. It's not super quiet of a laptop, but for casual browsing that I have been doing so far... the fan has not kicked up that loud if at all. I hear the DVD slot tray noise more often since I'm installing stuff and upgrading.

Screen is sharp, love the backlit keyboard. Dell Stage is OK, I don't mind trying it out... just fancy widgets. You can remove them once you get tired of playing with it.

Not too sure about battery life, haven't had it long enough to test it out, but I will definitely look into it soon as it was a selling point for me.

What I don't know if I like so far... which took me by surprise is the SIZE of this thing. 15.6", I suppose I was expecting something SMALLER in my mind, because of all the hype of it being THIN. Is it thin? Sure, it's thing I guess. But when I look at it I sometimes think about a 17" laptop. I know it's far from a 17" laptop, but compared to my m1530 15.4" or my Lat e6400 14" laptop... this 15z is huge! LOL. Okay, it's more WIDE than expected. I never owned a 15.6" but I have played around with the Macbook Pro... to me the Macbook Pro just "feels" smaller than this 15z.... yeah, could be just me.

Another thing about the keyboard design I don't like or may just have to adjust to is the arrow keys... OMG, they are tiny. On my other laptops that do not even have the arrow keys separated out on their own, I did not feel that uncomfortable using them. The arrow keys on this 15z, even with the backlit light... I still have to glance at the keys to see what I'm pressing down on.

The external LCD screen key toggle is no longer F8, now it's F1. Just a bit inconsistent.

What I dislike about this laptop is really the size so far. I guess my expectation was off on this since I sort of wanted a bit more mobility. I read a lot of reviews on this and when they mentioned how this laptop was still around 5.5 lbs, I should have taken that as a sign. I just read the THIN hype over the weight, thinking... well it's not that light but I can probably still lug it around easily. Don't get me wrong, it's not that heavy compared to my m1530, which is just a tad bit heavier. The size of it is just not as compact as I wanted. This feels more like a desktop replacement instead of a mobile laptop, lol.

If I do not find any hardware failures from this laptop I will keep it. I still have a bit of adjusting to do to feel comfortable using this laptop.

 

Just received my refurbished in the mail about 20 minutes ago, and I'm typing on it right now. Honestly, I am not impressed.

It might be just because I am a perfectionist, and look at every small detail.

When I got the box is was a thin, standard Dell box.
When I opened it, I just saw the laptop itself, with the charger and two CDs.

First thing, I noticed...there were a few marks on the bottom of the computer, but nothing too serious, and no dents. The top of the case was dirty, not scratched, but dirty. Hopefully, I can just clean it. It just looks like finger prints and dirt.

Put the laptop on my lap, and the plastic trim I kept hearing about is ALREADY coming off. I had to push it back in, but I can already tell this is going to be an annoying problem. Other than that, there weren't anymore cosmetic issues; or so I thought. I plug it in and turn it on. The screen appears fine, with no scratches or dead pixels, and the overall interior looks fine.

Also, when the laptop is closed, there is a LOT of flex on the cover, particularly on the Dell logo (Like ridiculous). Also, the screen is never completely shut. The hinge is not strong enough to keep it down. If they were smarter, they would have used a magnet, like Apple.

I start setup, and I look down and look the plastic trim in the front. There are a few minor dents in the front, and the plastic trim seems to be separating the palm rest with the base of the notebook. So basically, there's a gap that I can push down on, near the lower left area of the palm rest and it looks terrible.

Anyways, I start setup, and log into Windows. What's going in my mind right now? The keyboard is TERRIBLE. I guess I'm going to have to get used to it. There is barely ANY tactile response. I'm coming from an HP Envy 14, which had a fantastic keyboard. And what I don't understand is why they took out the home-end keys. My Envy 14 had it, and it's REALLY annoying because I always used it. As I'm typing this, I keep reaching over to the end key......but it's not there. Also, the backlighting is uneven. The R key is extremely dim, compared to the other bright ones. The up and down keeps are annoying too. The mousepad is way too sensitive when I'm typing.

Sound is terrible. Such a step down fro my HP Envy 14. Trebles are too sharp, and there's no bass.

Let's move on to the display. Ok, I ordered the 1080p resolution. And I got the resolution. I love the RESOLUTION. but THAT'S IT. The screen is completely overrated. I can see these faint vertical lines that are EXTREMELY annoying. And honestly, it's not that bright in my opinion. Another thing I hate is the fact that I have to press function to, say, dim the brightness or turn on the keyboard back light. Hopefully I can change this in the bios, like I could with my Envy.

I haven't tested for performance yet, but this seems to be the only thing making me keep this laptop. It didn't come with any bloatware except for McAfee which I promptly uninstalled. But, I cannot do finger gestures, such as scrolling. I guess they forgot to include drivers for those.

So.....this is a laptop I'm gonna really have to get used too. Unfortunately, I'm always gonna be unsatisfied with it. BUT, this might just be because it is refurbished. I would NOT recommend buying refurbished, especially if you are particular about things. The battery life is the only reason I bought this one, in place of my HP Envy 14. That and the screen; resolution is great, screen is below par. If the battery life does not give me around 6 hours...then I'm am gonna be one unhappy camper for the next four years...I bought this laptop for my senior year of high school and college. If I had the money, I would have bought a brand new one, and possibly been completely satisfied. I'm hoping it lasts me 4 years...but by the looks of it, I doubt it.

The ONLY reason I got this over the Envy is because of the battery life.

=/

 

Seems pretty sweet. I also got a Vertex 3, so that should make it scream.

I figured it would be easier to get the back off though. Can anyone give any tips on taking the back covery off? I have removed 8 screws, then the side bezel and the two screws on the side, so 10 in total. I just can't get the back off!

Also, the only thing wrong I noticed is that 1 of the 4 plastic feet is not there; guess I'll be calling them.

Nick

 

So, first things first.. it seems that the guy above me is like WOAH critical.

I pryed the back off a little bit more than I was comfortable with and it finally popped of. Did the 8 total screws to get the hard drive out and put it back together. The edges didn't match up quite right in some spots, but a little compressing in those areas snapped it together.

I thought the 1080P screen would be a bit small, even coming from a 1280x800 12" screen. I think it's perfect and AWESOME.

Loading Windows 7 now on the Vertex 3, time to see how much it screems.

One more thing, the DVD/CDROM is kind of noisy (normal hum), but also a slight buzz. Was I reading earlier that that is "normal". I'll probably mention it when I call for some plastic feet. (missing 1)
Ok, well, more than just buzzing, when inserting a CD or hitting the eject button it make a lot of noise and start clicking. The cd reads fine though and it's not like I do a lot with CD"s anyway. "Normal" ?

Nick

 

As for the Noise.. yea it is so noisy.. I bought one and got another replacement and they were so NOISY, I don't remember there was any clicking but maybe I didn't notice it since it was too loud lol , the folks who have it might confirm..

How about the wireless connection speed? do you find it too slow? alot of people were complaning about the wireless issue.. try to ping your router and see if you notice any timeouts and how much in ms..

 

Does anyone know how to completely turn off the bluetooth?

 

Couldn't find the usual "disable" from the blue bluetooth icon from the system tray. You can go to Device Manager and disable "Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed Adapter" located under the Bluetooth Radios. If you want it back, just Enable it back later.

 

I pinged the router with the 15z and it averaged 2ms to 3ms, faster than what my IPAD 2 returned, which averaged 5ms.

 

I have been having some issues with my wireless and tried all the software tweaks to no avail. Dell have offered to put in a atheros 1702, any experiences with this card?

 

In general, Atheros cards are good. But have you tried different driver versions? The latest version may not be the best. For instance, my Latitude D820's wireless card works well only if I use a driver that's like 10 versions older than the most recent version.

To try an older driver version, click on "Other Versions" on the 15z's network card driver page.

 

Hey, you said they sent you a replacement. Did they send you one, then you shipped yours in the box the new one came in? Could I do this with the refurbished model I just got.....? The out rim is basically almost off, vertical lines on the 1080p model (idk if thats just normal, nbd), the left speaker is broken, the base cover is coming off, and it gets really hot.

 

Hi All,

I received my xps 15z and it looks good. I am still testing the unit. So far I found the lefthand side palm rest is getting hot and little bit uncomfortable. I am just doing web browsing only but still it gets hot. I believe it is because of hard disk.

Anybody else also have same issues?. How much warm it is on the left hand side when you are typing ?.

Thanks

 

Warm, but not hot for me. Although, I do have a ceiling fan blowing down on me. I guess it could be much warmer without any air circulation, I'll have to test that later.

 

I left the 15z running on fullscreen mode going through two approximately 100 minutes movies while bittorrent ran in the background downloading a Linux ISO file, then I allowed it to seed.

Total time the laptop lasted was approximately 4+ hours. Two movies, bittorrent internet download & seeding, I started the 3rd movie fullscreen, but did not see how far it went until the laptop battery died or just powered off at the trigger point. I did not use the speaker, I mimic how I would be using it on the road with a headset. I also did not start the movies back-to-back immediately, because I did not watch any of the movies (can't play while working!)... so probably within 5-10 minutes before I noticed the movie ended. The screen brightness was not 100%... very low actually, but it was at a brightness where I felt like it would not eat up unnecessary power but still be bright enough for me to watch the movie... I set it 3-4 bars... that's less than HALF of the total brightness bar.

Other apps I noticed running in the background:
INtel Turboboost Technology status gadget was running.
AccuWeather Windows gadget was running.

Battery isn't too bad, pretty impressive.

 

I just did so and got 19,18,3,5,9,12,2,3,14,but then it "stuck" at 2ms, so it seems fine. I loaded Win7 fresh, so I'm using the newest drivers at dell. I had some trouble with my bluetooth mouse until I turned off power management for bluetooth through the driver.

And ouch, I'm copying a 600MB file from a desktop I have on my network. (gigabit) over wireless and Windows 7 is saying I'm getting 1.5MB/sec, so not so great. Also, I have a G router.

 

Mine has the "vertical lines" as well, but I think that is just the way it is. I mostly see it on white backgrounds; In my opinion we're just looking into it too much. My base cover is ok, the only thing so far that is wrong with mine is that I'm missing one of four plastic feet.

How do you know that the left speaker is broken? Mine isn't getting hot, but I got a Vertex 3 SSD the day I got it, so I'm not going to be a very good test.

 

Anyone have a Vertex 3 or other SataIII hard drive in this?

See attached for my benchmark, I was expecting a higher sequential write, although, it's not like you do that often, most of the time it's probably small random read/writes and and larger reads.

BTW, I'm installing something off a DVD right now and it's pretty quiet. It still did its clicks, which I think are just some gears getting the CD into place..

 

The right speaker sounds fine for the most part, but the left speaker has this sharp hissing noise while things are playing. I had a driver problem where the sound would fade out, but I installed the latest drivers, but the left speaker still sounds really sharp. There's a noticeable difference.

 

Hmmmm, if I play some music I don't notice, but if I play say a video on youtube, the left speaker for me sounds great, but the right speaker has a hissing sound; kind of like feedback when you turn your speaker up too loud. But the left one sounds great at the same level.. Hmmm Now that I think about it, it's more like a buzzing sound. It's got to be bad.

Can anyone test to see if they get the same thing? I wonder if it's just because this speaker is right over the DVD/CDROM slot load?

So, just found out you can test this pretty easy. If you go into Sound in the control panel, you can right click the speakers and click properties. Then click the Levels tab, Balance for the Realtek HD Audio Output, then turn off a speaker and test, and visa versa. It seems that my right speaker has gotta be bad.

 

No, it's not because the speaker is over the DVD drive because I am having the same problem you are having; except my left speaker sounds terrible. If I do the speaker test in the control panel, there is a CLEAR difference. So I'm pretty sure my left speaker is broken.

 

I had tech support trying a few more tweaks and low and behold wireless is fixed and works perfect. I am going to cancel the replacement Atheros card which was supposed to happen Monday.

He disabled wireles '802.11n mode' in the device manager.

 

Hi All,

I am still feeling hot on left hand side palm rest area while typing. I used speedfan to see the temparatures. Here is what I found.

GPU: 49C
HD0: 41C
Temp1:60C
Temp2:60C
Core0: 63C
Core1: 60C

How other 15z owner are experiencing the hot on left handside. Some time I feel I can't type long time as it is hot on left hand side .

Thanks

 

Nope, not hot and I've been typing all morning with it placed on one leg sitting on the sofa. But it is warm and I can see how it CAN be hot without good air flow. I have a ceiling fan blowing down on me, but even when I take the laptop to my bed and surf the web/type, it doesn't get too hot to type. It IS WARM though, I admit. The problem I see is the BOTTOM of the laptop, I can't place it on both legs of my lap too long as it can heat up on the left side. When I use a laptop cooling pad, it is completely comfortable without any heat problems. I haven't played any games except to "install" them (Fallout New Vegas and soon, Street Fighter IV... and hopefully many more), so I'm sure if I have time to play the games, it will be a test for this machine to handle.... If it gets too hot while playing games, I may just have to hook up an external USB laptop (and of course external mouse).

 

Okay, update guys. I just got off the phone with Dell Tech Support after 2 hours, and I expressed my dissatisfaction with the system and all the problems with it (lines on 1080p screen, chrome trim, left speaker not working, and base panel is falling off). I ended up getting transferred to three different people. The last guy, who was very helpful actually, told me to send him pictures of the base and the chrome trim. I did, and he also agreed that it was very bad.

The first guy wanted me to return my laptop and order a new one because apparently there is a back-order on 1080p screens. I told him it was not possible because I need this computer for school in two days. The last guy, after a while, suddenly just asked me for my shipping address and told me he would send me a replacement system.

At first he offered one with smaller HDD and less graphics memory, and I told him that was a downgrade. The next model he proposed was the maxed out model, with the i7 (better than my i5), 1080p screen, and 8GB of ram (better than my 6gb). The best part is that I'm going to get the system into 2-4 business days, rather than 3 weeks. Unfortunately it IS refurbished but hopefully it was just a returned new model, and it's in good condition with no scratches.

Wish me luck! (Again, lol)

 

Hey the3dolla, do you have any issues with Vertex 3 in your XPS 15z? Experiencing any freezes or stuttering?

Just wondering, because I want to upgrade as well. But I'm not sure yet whether to buy a Vertex 3 or some other brand.

 

Is the chrome trim problem that widespread? Wow.

 

Yeah, ikr. It seems that way....just about everyone who has discussed this system on these forums has mentioned there problems with the chrome trim. It was just a terrible and unnecessary design flaw by Dell, along with others.

 

Seems to be working good, no freezes, BSOD's or anything. The one I got from newegg already had the newest firmware. I'm pretty sure might right speaker is broken, and I'm missing one of the four feet (negligible, but want it fixed!) I'll probably call them early this week.

 

Do you really think the lines are going to go away?? I think that is just how it is if you're looking to close.. (at least with the 1080P screen)

 

The screen's not a big deal.....your mostly like right about it just being that way.....but I was more concerned over the speaker being fixed and the bottom panel being fixed....he said that I would have to wait like 2 weeks to fix the bottom because he said they would need to replace the entire palmrest..which is also backordered, so it would just be faster to send me a another system

 

Yea, my chrome edging is fine, so hopefully they can send someone to take the back off, pop the slot load out and replace the speaker, or at least it seems like it would be that easy. We'll see on Monday

I like the laptop otherwise. I haven't used all the multi-touch gestures, but I like being about to zoom in and out of a webpage like I would a touch screen phone.

 

Yeah, we'll see...good luck, hopefully they fix it with no problems

 

Hi All,
Does anybody updated to Crucial Technology 128GB m4 SSD. How easy it is upgrade to SSD in XPS 15z laptop. Is cruicail m4 SSD compatible ?.

Thanks