The New XPS Review Thread

It they repeated the same defect on a new model, it would be a strange way of going about business .

 

This is Dell we are talking about

 

Thanks for that. In the review it states:

"For storage, the review unit had two 7200rpm, 500GB hard drives, but you can configure it with up to 1.2TB of storage if you wish. There is also an option for solid-state drives, but unfortunately, there is no option to configure the XPS 17 with one solid-state drive (as a boot drive) and one regular hard drive (as a secondary drive)."

By this, hopefully they mean that it is not configurable when ordering from Dell and not that I can't buy an SSD when I get my XPS 17 and install it as my boot drive. That is, there's no technical reason why I can't do this.

Is that how you folks read this?

Thanks.

 

I don't think the review is too reliable in that aspect. I can't believe that a notebook can get too hot to rest your hand on it. That would be ridiculous and Dell would have taken notice and change anything. They won't let the failure rate of the SXPS happen again...

 

I really hope you are right. But if they learnt from their mistakes then why when the sxps 1640 throttled and overheated did they then release a sxps 1645 with even hotter cpu and more throttling!

I am trying to be positive but I have had a lot of Dells and they are very hit or miss.
The good thing about dell is I can just send it back if I dont like it

 

Wouldn't they charge you restocking fee?

 

Yeah, its £20 (for shipping and admin) but rather that than put up with a laptop I hate

 

Does that include the cost of returning it?

Do you have to cancel within a certain period (eg 30 days)?

 

21 day return period, and there will be a 15% restocking fee IF you are returning it as a result of an error by Dell.

"Restocking Fees: Unless the product is defective or the return is a direct result of a Dell error, Dell may charge a restocking fee of up to 15% of the purchase price paid, plus any applicable sales tax."

If, in fact, that left palmrest is too hot to rest my hand on, I will argue this to the death rather than pay a restocking fee. Any time that kind of heat is generated under a palmrest, it is the result of design failure and cooling failure.

Graphics cards are put into a laptop to be used ... duh! They generate heat ... duh! To place one directly underneath the palmrest seems to be the height of lunacy, or arrogance, or both.

I will let you all know if this is the case with the XPS 17 when mine arrives in 2 weeks and I put it through its gaming paces.

 

15% is a lot more than the £20 that the previous poster mentioned and he didn't seem to imply that it would take much convincing or arguing over either. The rules could indeed vary from country to country though

 

"there will be a 15% restocking fee IF you are returning it as a result of an error by Dell" I hope you mean the opposite, as you also said "Unless the product is defective or the return is a direct result of a Dell error, Dell may charge a restocking fee".

 

Hey,

Anybody knows when the new XPS line will be released in Hong Kong ? ( a quick peak on Dell HK website but they don't even seem to sell the XPS Dell Laptops / Notebooks - Home & Home Office | Dell Hong Kong )

 

In the UK we have a 7 working day return period where we can send it back without a restocking fee (just a £20 charge to cover shipping and admin). You dont need to even argue with Dell, just tell tehm you are not happy with it.
I guess it varies from country to country due to that countries laws but it is worth checking out for your country as a lot of people dont realise.

 

If there is a serious flaw, then sometimes you are entitled to a refund, no charge of course (otherwise it isn't a refund! - the term "restocking fee" has its origins in the words corporate revenue), but this may be applicable only if they could not repair it (which seems to be the case for a lot of people's XPS and Studio XPS laptops).

In any case, it's best to know your country's laws, at least a little.

For those waiting on a proper XPS review, take a look at this:

Review Acer Aspire 5745DG 3D Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Which shows how poor the GT 425M is, so we can all lower our already low expectations of the GT 435M.

 

Did you even read the review?

????

 

I think he didn't

 

if the 435 is similar to the 5730 then I will be happy. The 435 is clocked about 20% higher than the 425 so this seems realistic

 

What do you mean I didn't?

I did read the review. Yes, the statement you quoted about "neither is better than the other" is flawed, because you cannot make that conclusion when GT 425M only surpassed HD 5650 in one example, while it was inferior in the rest.

The errors probably exist because this reviewer's English is not flawless.

 

They are not really comparing apples to apples (sorry for the worn cliche). For starters, the Acer has a 120 hz refresh, which is sure to impact performance vs the other tested system (which is not described).

 

Bummer, too hot when gaming, they recommend an external keyboard? I guess Dell still hasn't gotten it together on proper venting. Sigh.

 

Same. If it's too hot it's going back and I won't be paying a restocking fee.

 

Here is the review of PC Magazine giving the XPS 15 the Editor's Choice Award!
Dell XPS 15 Review & Rating | PCMag.com

 

Pretty impressive to get such a high rating from PC Magazine. The only notebooks that usually see those kinds of scores are the high-end Vaios and Macbooks.

 

Yep. I actually really love the design. I hate overly fancy designs (Alienwares make me want to puke). I'm so anxious to get the laptop now after seeing such great reviews

And from what I can tell, it's more or less fingerprint-proof.

 

Any of you guys able to add the backlit keyboard option to the laptop? I just checked their website now and it seems Dell removed the option to add a backlit keyboard!

 

Eh, I actually like Alienwares except for the size and weight. If M11x were maybe a couple inches bigger with an i5, that would be great.

What makes me puke is the MSI G or flashy series and some of the Asus laptops...

 

Don't mean to be a negative nancy but seeing that the 15 still gets barely 3hrs of (light web-browsing, according to LTM) battery in 2010 is pretty sad. That is so 10 years ago, my crappy Dell laptop from 2000 had the same endurance! Especially when MBP's are running 8hrs no wonder PC's are going out of style faster than bellbottoms on dudes.

And the design, it's like it's trying to be classy but just ends up blending in and very dull. 6.1lbs and 1.5" thick? "Somewhat hefty" says LTM... try borderline obese.

The saving grace is the screen by all accounts (would like to see a proper test) but the rest looks like a wash.

 

Yeah but *if* it's well-designed from a thermal standpoint, it might be a justifiable trade off . Here's hoping.

 

The new review doesn't point out that it gets hot or not. I think this can be interpretated as the XPS 15 doesn't get extraordinary hot (hopefully)
But it was reviewd just with the 420gt and an i5.
Mine will have an i7 840 and the 435gt. Maybe that'll get hot

 

I think there has to be something wrong with optimus if it is only getting 3hrs battery.

I get 5hrs browsing with the Envy 14 on intel gfx and the battery size is similar.

 

Interesting, the 3Dmark06 score of 7404 is higher than the 5988 test realised by
Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Maybe it is due to new driver release or the i5.

 

I think it's because of the lower resolution of 1024x768

 

I'm not surprised at all. Dell's put out a string of laptops lately with crap battery life, this is just the latest. There is a lot of "secret sauce" involved to get good battery, you need the right mix of components + good bios/software. I don't think it's optimus, think it's partly down to the new core i3/5/7's which seem to suck more power. But the fact is some manufacturers (eg Apple, Asus) care and make an effort, others, like Dell, don't and their customers should demand better.

Also I think the Envy 14 has a 8-cell, as opposed to the 6-cell in the XPS.

 

Yeah, Envy 14 has a higher charge battery, it should last longer.

 

Love it

 

Don't see it on Dell.com. Weird. Still showing on Dell.ca though.

 

I've heard they are already running out of stock with the backlit keyboards. Even the B+RG Display are running low.

 

The Bluetooth menu also doesnt allow me to choose whether I want the bluetooth or not.. probably same issue then?

 

So looks like the following are no longer current options on Dell.com:

Backlit Keyboard
Bluetooth 3.0
Centrino 6300

For Canadian purchasers, still available on Dell.ca except for Centrino 6300.

 

well seems like Bluetooth is yet available. But cannot get this - if it's an internal device - why is it placed in "accessories"?

 

oops. Thanks for the correction.

 

Looks like they've made it hard to find for some reason. Shortage I guess..

Also when I've seen the news on XPS 15 on 21 Oct evening I ran through my list on dell site and was able to exclude Photoshop Elements from config. Next morning when I actually made my order - that exclusion was made impossible to achieve. So I paid $99 more for the soft I don't need at all <_< . Watch out, they make changes to available choices not less than on daily basis!

 

you can just call Dell and ask to remove it. I did that when I bought mine. I had some configurations that Dell made it impossible, but did it by calling

 

guys,

I am planning to order asap. few concerns which I am having a hard time to decide...

1. I haven't seen any reviews about the 420m graphic card. As a hardcore gamer, can I go with this option?
2. How big a difference in performance would I get if I choose Intel® Core™ i5-560M over Intel® Core™ i5-460M?

Thx!

 

I dont think a hardcore gamer would even consider a 420. But I guess it all depends on what you consider "hardcore" what kind of games will you be playing?

 

Dell XPS 14 review -- Engadget

 

i dont know if its the 14 but engadget doesnt seem to be that much happy with the new xps 14 system..

 

7/10 is a pretty decent review from Engadget. NOTHING gets a 10/10.

 

Cnet has a review up now.
Dell XPS 15 Review - Laptops - CNET Reviews

 

The 420M is pretty impressive it looks faster even than the old 335M model (found in eg the Alienware M11x.) If you're a "hardcore" gamer though nothing is fast enough so you'll probably want to step up to the higher models.

Games are usually GPU-limited, especially in notebooks, so you probably won't notice much framerate difference with the higher i5.