**The Official Studio XPS 1645 Intel Core i7 "Owners Lounge"

The 130W should be enough
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-1830

This one looks like a slim 210W:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-4128


My work computer is a D630 laptop that comes with a 90W Power brick (basic core 2 duo/Intel integrated graphics); I run a 130W power brick on my docking station, way more than enough to power this laptop.

Dell needs to send the Slim 130W Power Brick for the 1645.

 

Whats even more ridiculous is if you try to purchase a replacement adapter for this laptop at Dell's store, it points you to the 65 watt one.

 

Yea, that is stupid, I had to search all the accessories outside the laptops to find that slim 130.

The 65W on the XPS 16 is an Auto/Air adaptor though. Doubt it will even boot the machine.

 

Yeah, but what happens if they don't fix it?

Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but I just don't see dell being reasonable about this. I can see the conversation going something along the lines of
"you guys gave me the wrong power supply for my computer"
"what's the serial number"
"xxxxxxx"
"no, that's the right one"
"no it's not, it's not powerful enough to power the computer"
"yes it is"
"&%(#$*($#@!()!$#@$@#$"
"thank you for choosing dell. have a nice day"

 

lol.... so don’t approach it that way

Play stupid, which usually helps. Try this approach... Every time I try to play games with my monitor brightness maxed my computer goes to a crawl... it’s not an issue when I game off battery... I don’t think the 90W adaptor is supplying my computer with enough wattage, is this a known problem?

They may have you try a number of things, that’s expected, we already know though that this is an issue.
If they try to say it’s the 90W adaptor, and want to send a 90W replacement for it, say you have more than 1 and the other one does the exact same thing, and want them to send a 130W adaptor.

If they give you any issues after testing and not really fixing the issue, demand they replace it, even if they want you to return the 90W after they send you a 130W slim. It’s unacceptable that they are sending incompatible AC Adaptors for the 1645.

 

Playing stupid = best way to get a tech to actually do something.

If you go in head-first, they think you're just BS'ing (they've never seen such technologically-adept people before in their lives). I may try tomorrow if I'm feeling adventurous.

~Ibrahim~

BTW: Can someone ELSE please confirm this? Maybe my laptop is just messed up, LOL: that'll be embarrassing.

 

Yeah I've had the same issues, if I get a chance tomorrow I'll give them a call too.

 

Message Deleted

 

Will a bigger AC adapter (130W vs 90W) affects the battery longevity since it recharge it faster?

Thanks

 

I believe the charge time will depend on your laptops BIOS.

The higher the Wattage, the more power that will be available when the system needs it.

The battery will charge as fast as its been designed to charge, if your AC adaptor cannot provide enough power for the computer as a whole and your battery is discharged, it will take longer to charge it than just letting the computer charge the battery when the PC is off or idle.

 

I believe the charging circuit is on-board the laptop and/or the battery.(any input guys?) so it will use like Siphen says...what ever it needs or is currently available to it.
If there is more power it simply wont use it.

Q When docked or AC adapter is plugged into a wall outlet, am I using my battery charge?
A No.

Dells Laptop Battery FAQ

 

OK, according to this site the charger is on the battery:
Instead of me copying it, Read the short article here:

Laptop Batteries - Charging Lithium Ion Laptop Computer Batteries

 

Is there any owner not having this issue?

And did you try to cool the power brick down? From what I read it can get as hot as 7x C, which certainly won't make it more powerful... (again it doesn't solve anything, but can help to get idea what's going on...)

 

There's no point to this. I don't think we really care if the brick will function when stuck in the fridge, but if it does what we want under standard operating conditions. Even if it were revealed to be the heat that caused it and the 90W was sufficient if kept cool, we would still need the 130W adapters for everyday usage.

On a related note, option 1 or option 2? I'm inclined towards #2 myself, because it's half a pound lighter. Thoughts?

 

Here is my test results using 3dmark06

I7-720QM, 4GB Ram, 500GB HDD, WLED Full HD, Windows 7 Pro RTM, Intel N 5300, USB bluetooth adapter.
Avast free installed instead of MCaffee
ATI Moded to the recent driver.
Selected Triple buffering for the catalyst driver openGL settings.
On all cases High performance power plan is selected with selecting maximize performance for the power play in the advanced settings.
Directx installed.

on adapter, battery full, Maximum brightness
6987

on adapter, battery full, monitor off
7115

No adapter, on Battery, Maximum brightness
7163

No adapter, on Battery, Minimum brightness
7155

The result is consistent with the video card benchmarks here. I don't have any device to measure the actual power consumption, but, my findings suggest that there isn't a significance difference. Also if the claim that the power adapter is not providing enough power, it is of minor effect.

I also tried overclocking the GPU core from 675 to 700, i got a slim improve of 100 points but further trial is required.

 

Im thinking if the battery being at full charge (Shut off from charging) is giving you the needed power to get the high numbers..... What if the battery was pulling on the PS too? (charging).... Damm, i wish mine would friggin get here...
I'm leaning towards getting a 130w either way. cant hurt. Less of a strain on all the components, IMHO.

 

So it seems the problem may lie with Ibrahim's laptop. His laptop seems to be suffering more than yours.

 

About 460 points gain for overclocking the video card at 733/840 when the brightness is maximum, battery is plugged and full, and working on electricity.

Not quite sure but doesn't the overclocking increase the power requirement. If the ansswer is yes, then the power supply is enough.

If you are playing heavy games or doing extensive graphics work, then i recommend adjusting the powerpaly option inside the high performance power plan advance settings to maximize performance and use it if you find a performance drop in DELL recommended power plan, in this case you skip the system guessing what power requirement is suitable to your load and provide the maximum power (of course at the expense of battery life).

For maximum battery life, adjust it to maximize battery for the power saving power plan and enable Dell extended battery life from the Dell Battery meter (about 3:30 browsing the internet).

For anything in between use Dell Recommended.

Hope this is of a litlle help to anybody.

 

What wattage of power supply comes shipped with the 1645? I would imagine it would be a 90W unit ... no?

 

yes, the 90 W

 

Yes it's a 90W adapter.

 

I've bought my Dell XPS laptop 4 weeks ago.

My system details:
i7 Core CPU
128GB SSD
RGBLED Display.
Windows 7 64 BIT

I've also noticed strange behaviour while playing games.
When I’m starting everything is running fine for 1h (max details full HD resolution on Dragon Age - running without a problem) but when I will play longer games are just running slower.

I've thought that graphic card is overheating so I've bought Zalman 17” cooling pad.
That help to cool down the laptop temperatures (when I play games the fan is running on minimum speed) but I've still had problems with the games performance.

I've decided to update ATI drivers - installed latest beta drivers for windows 7 64 bit. No change. Well – there was a small change – I can’t display ATI Catalyst panel now – it’s just not working.

Yesterday I've installed new BIOS (apparently it fixes sound quality) and I've disabled battery charging in BIOS and THAT SOLVED THE PROBLEM.

I didn't run any benchmark but I will install them today and run 4 tests tonight.

1 battery in + full LCD brightness
2 battery in + minimum LCD brightness
3 battery out + full LCD brightness
4 battery out + minimum LCD brightness

Will post results later.

 

My laptop is suffering even worse. I just ran some tests myself, to compare with khaledseif's run. The only difference in hardware is I have the RGBLED display. I ran 3dmark06 and Crysis, but I got lazy and didn't do the full test matrix, only one battery test on Crysis. I think these results are blatant enough. Ran with every power policy on maximum performance.

3dmark06 (Using all defaults settings, just hit Run Test)
A/C adapter (laptop display @ full brightness)
5008 3dmarks

A/C adapter (laptop display off, external monitor)
6920 3dmarks

Then I ran the Crysis GPU benchmark (island flyover), which I think is a more realistic test. This is on all High settings, 720p, no vsync or AA. Again all power policies at maximum including ATI PowerPlay, etc.

A/C adapter (laptop display @ full brightness)
Play Time: 310.13s, Average FPS: 6.45
Min FPS: 0.36 at frame 85, Max FPS: 17.93 at frame 995

Battery (laptop display @ full brightness)
Play Time: 74.40s, Average FPS: 26.88
Min FPS: 6.30 at frame 145, Max FPS: 33.65 at frame 981

A/C adapter (laptop display off, external monitor)
Play Time: 77.43s, Average FPS: 25.83
Min FPS: 4.73 at frame 141, Max FPS: 33.08 at frame 874

Other notes: When running on the A/C adapter (with laptop display) the sound would make crackling noises in Crysis, also the display rate was much lower than the framerate (i.e. even though its 6 fps, it was showing 1 fps or less). Also despite the low performance the laptop was very cool (fan stayed on low at all times). Obviously there is some bottleneck when running the RGBLED at full brightness on A/C power.

 

Is it charging the battery while running the test, if yes, then try to disable charging in the battery meter under the battery life tab. If this results in improvement, then the power supply is the problem.

 

eblock are you running A02 Bios?

 

Yes. Also ATI drivers are the latest desktop drivers with the mobility modder. I got the same behavior with the Dell drivers though.

I forgot to mention this, I made sure the battery was fully charged before running the tests (A/C tests were ran first). I don't know if disabling charging will have any effect (if its already fully charged), I can try that later though.

 

Looks to be an issue with the RGBLED consuming more power than the WLED. Also, don’t forget, if you’re using an external mouse or keyboard, things like these will also drain more power.

In the end it doesn’t hurt regardless to have a 130W (Just in case). But in related to a RGBLED screen it looks like a requirement.

 

I think if its being pushed to the edge like it is. mileage may vary on how will it does. due to tolerances and different temperatures etc affecting the performance of the power supply. so far 1 doesnt seems to be affected very much and 3 seem to be majorily affected looks like? the more data we get from different laptops the better for sure.

 

How would a consumer go about getting a 130W adapter? Is this a support issue where they would send out a replacement or is this something I'd need to buy separately? If so, does Dell sell ones that are known to be compatible with the Studio XPS 16?

 

I have found most newer dell adaptors work with any newer dell laptop, assuming the prong fits, which if I’m not mistaken, all newer dell laptops currently have the same size adaptor prong.

If you’re going to buy one then I would verify with dell which one will work (just to be safe) before buying it. Otherwise id force dell to replace the one I have with a 130W.

 

One is just a newer form factor than the other. I would assume dell would send the newer form factor with this laptop. The one I’m going to use is the larger one (borrowing one from work) until I get dell to send me the newer one.

 

I dont think thats even an option to buy a 130W Power supply from Dell. Unless you are buying an aftermarket one which may have a negative impact on the battery itself.

 

There are already links posted to dell adapters (130w and 210w). Please search.

 

I saw them couple of posts back, but non of them are compatible with 1645. Mostly for inspirons and latitudes.

 

Are you guys saying a new SXPS delivered in the next few days will have a 130w adapter? It would be nice to be able to see the detail on the web site specifications tab so we would know what we are buying (but no detail there). My first order cancelled on 11/10/09 and second order is still in Pre Production from 11/10/09 w/EDD of 12/4/09.

 

I have the same Order date and the same EDD. What does your status say? Mine is still Pre-production

 

Please use this thread for order status related questions.

 

How's the screen? Especially the wled compared to the rgbled? I'm stuck in pre-production hell and am trying to decide if the RGB screen is worth waiting for, or if I should cancel and go asus or hp.

Thanks!

 

All right, guys, I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

Someone summarized very well a few posts back: there is a performance decrease with the RGBLED, full brightness, while using the AC adapter. AFAIK, only two people have had this problem, myself included. That, really, isn't a lot of people, at least to a company the size of Dell.

But, if it works, there might be an adapter "recall" and they'll ship everyone a new, more powerful adapter: so, I wouldn't buy one just yet unless you want to be the guinea pig and see which adapter will work.

About to make the phone call.

~Ibrahim~

 

i agree ikjadoon. it would be nice to get more information from more users to confirm a wide spread problem. And for those who dont see a big hit etc catalog those differences to confirm its a side affect of different configurations. Should give plenty of ammo with real world tests

Logic says the more components and stuff like rgb led screen should make things worse. Ive been doing a little research, theres some reviews out there on the similiar xps 1640 with the ati 4670 show 90watts at full load. I assume the i7 pulls more power, but theres also not a northbridge either. and the faster memory would probably pull a little more as well.

 

I'm bringing home a 130W adaptor in the hopes that my boxing stage order gets shipped to me by Friday at the latest so I can test the old style 130W adaptor on this laptop.

 

I will run another 3dMark test today without the power adapter plugged in and then with it plugged in but minimum brightness on the display. I can say for certain though that running off battery gives me better performance than plugged in. I was getting much higher FPS by running off battery with the screen brightness at max.

Oh and someone suggested trying it with battery charging disabled. Well I did that through the Fn+F3 menu, but performance was the same.

 

He suggested to disable something in the BIOS not through the Fn+F3 shortcut. Could you give it a try and tell us if this fixes anything ?

 

Does anyone know what the Studio 17 i7 ships with as that has the same processor, memory, screen res but also has provision for two hdd's although it doesn't have the rgb screen?

 

It also ships with the 90watt. I have just checked my order acknowledgement. It has the B+ R,G 1080p screen, I dont know if this is an RGB screen like the sxps 16 or Dell BS marketing! Have another couple of weeks until I find out when it arrives

 

Thanks for confirming that it still uses the 90 watt. I would imagine that if the power supply is the problem then the Studio 17 would have as much of a problem or more than the XPS 16.

From looking at the Dell UK site it looks like we an only get it with a wled screen although I'm not 100%. It should still be very nice though.

 

according to the power adapters topic:
i noticed a problem a while: when battery was near empty, and i put it to charge while gaming, after about 1.5 hrs the battery barely charged, it had about the same charge level when i started to play.
do u think it was because of the 90W adapter is not enough for it to both power the computer (while heavy cpu+gpu load) and charge the battery and a higher performance adapter would help to solve this?
i also thought about too much heat (while gaming) blocking charging..

 

i will test mine when (or if) i get my 1645 with a pa13 130 watt. adapter. nervous about problems with this machine. i haven't had good luck with dell in the past year or so. don't want to ever have to call dell again...

 

We should gather some test results from multiple users. Especially different users who have RBGLED or WLED. Try running Dell drivers, mobility modded ATI drivers and the latest A02 BIOS and gather the results. May it reveal there is a problem with any 1645 with anything more than the standard WLED config (I think an 820qm has this with WLED too) we have a point and all get a recall.

 

maybe im mistaken, but im PRETTY SURE that 130w adapter is not going to provide your laptop with any advantage. the power draw of the laptop is likely capped to a certain level to avoid over heating issues involved with components getting too much juice.

Also, There are people with RGB that have posted benchmarks with no slowdown issues. So there is likely a software issue with drivers perhaps that is being influenced by everyone installing modded drivers and non-dell drivers or something else.

Unless I've misunderstood all along though, that power brick is an adapter and NOT a powersupply.