Will Dell refund me for my used XPS 15?

I ordered the l502x a week or so ago, been using it a few days and it was awesome until I tried surfing the web in silence. The i7 typically hovers in the low-50's but as soon as I open a tab in Firefox a core will hit 60C and here comes the fan. 5 seconds later the temp lowers and the fan stops. Open up a new tab and it's back. I've tried Speedfan 4.44 and the fan is not showing up so it seems my only option is to return the laptop. Will they take it? How much is restocking?

Update: Speedfan 4.44 beta 4 seems to have fixed the issue. I can now make the fan spin at half speed non-stop. Will see how this works out

 

you have 21 days form shipping date to return. restock fee is up to dell. depends on the situation. your temps and fan seem normal to me.

 

Try changing your power settings?

LINK

 

Try disabling (or enabling) gpu acceleration for Firefox through the nvidia control panel.

 

I did mess around with the power settings as recommended but results aren't consistent. Sometimes the fan stays on for a long while (which I don't mind) but sometimes it also works in 5 second bursts (extremely annoying).

Chrome is not an option since I can't live without my Firefox addons (the ones on Chrome are poor copies).

I've also tried messing with the GPU settings (forcing Intel or Nvidia), turning off turbo boost, etc etc.

It's a shame I have to return this otherwise awesome laptop. Will be calling Dell up as soon as I can set aside a couple hours for dealing with them lol

 

The 5-second cycle is something that I experienced at first too. After playing a game for a while or something else that heated things up, after exiting things would cool down enough that the fan would stop for a brief bit, then spool up for a few seconds, then stop, then spool up, etc. I no longer get that.

But I have heard that the XPS 15 has more trouble in this regards, likely due to the smaller chassis than the 17 and thus it needs a little more help exhausting the heat. A CPU/GPU repaste might help you out, but it requires tearing the thing down pretty far, which is not for everyone.

Good luck with Dell, I was able to get a return with no restocking fee even outside the 21-day window, but that took a week of fighting them and eventually getting VERY NASTY. You are within 21 days hopefully, the thing they don't tell you is that the 21-day starts when they invoice you, which in my case was a WEEK before they even shipped...rather shady business practice if you ask me, and that was part of what I threw in their face.

If you talk to them enough they will usually waive the restocking fee, and for something like your case if you decide to return it, they should. That said, the new XPS's are nice systems, I haven't seen anything better on the market that wasn't far more $$.

 

AFAIK defective units should not be subject to a restocking fee. And yes it is 21 days from invoice, so if you had a CTO order, it is 21 days from payment then they start building it. Usually you can fight that, but be forewarned that can require some pushing and shoving.