XPS 11 Owner's Lounge

I'll have mine in two days ... huzzah! Feeling a little glum based upon reviews, but I'll see how I go. I can touch type 100+ wpm ... if the keyboard really is a problem I'll return to Dell and swap for an XPS 13. I'll definitely post my impressions here to assist others.

 

I've had mine for a day now and this machine far exceeds my expectations. I'm upgrading from an Asus Eee Slate EP121. The XPS 11 is a tablet pc first, not an ultrabook with a touch screen so of course typing on the keyboard sucks, but it is way better and thinner than any other tablet pc with a keyboard on the market now. It should be used as a mobile tablet device w/ keyboard as needed and docked at a workstation at home/office for productivity. This machine is awesome, some people just chose the wrong tech for their needs, if this is to be your main typing source, (anything more than emails or blogs etc.) I would not recommend this device.

Fan has only came on for 10 minutes in 4 hours, quiet. My active Wacom stylus from previous tablet will not work with this, Dell needs to hurry up and get theirs fixed.

There is haptic feedback while pressing the windows button and it is strong enough to be felt while touching the keyboard, so lets hope a future update can fix that cause the keyboard sound/beeps are terrible, better turned off.

 

Your getting heptic feedback while typing?

I dont have any only the beeps.

 

No, only with Windows button. I meant it was strong enough to be felt across whole keyboard, so a future update could make it possible to have haptic feedback while typing.

 

The Yoga 11s I picked up has the Haswell. It's currently only available at Best Buy.

I discovered yesterday that I can upgrade the RAM to 8GB, so I've decided to keep it. I bought the sleeve that the Yoga can slip into when closed, or covers the keyboard in tablet mode, and I really like it.

I'll consider the XPS 11 again in the future if Dell at least gives the keyboard haptic feedback. I'd prefer just a smidge of play in the keys too.

 

I have today and tomorrow dedicated to my XPS 11 with focus on screen resolution and full-speed typing.

I finally got around to using the USB ports. I find it very difficult to remove a cable or device. I have to push down and then pull out. If I try to pull straight out I get a lot and I mean a lot of resistance, especially on the right side.

Can someone tell me if their XPS 11 exhibits the same? I have a 4+ year old M1330 and the devices or cables pull out easily without any effort. I'm afraid that repeated downward pressure might break or otherwise damage the port and pulling straight out looks like I'm standing over someone trying to pull their wisdom tooth out.

Appreciate any input.

 

I just got mine and the USB ports work fine with my USB memory sticks. I've been using for the last 5 minutes and I like it better than the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro I picked up on Thursday. The keyboard is fine with me and very much akin to the Surface Touch covers but is actually better. The screen resolution is not as good as the Yoga at UHD vs UHD+, but at 100% native scaling in desktop (1:1) the screen is much more useable to me over the Yoga at this scale. Also the WiFi is better on the Yoga... more thoughts later.

Also the build quality on the XPS 11 makes the Yoga 2 Pro seem like it's cheap materials.

 

Is anyone having trouble getting the xps 11 into tablet mode? Whenever I flip the screen all the way around, the screen shuts off like it is going to sleep. I can't get the screen to stay on if the laptop is in tablet mode. The screen works fine in tent mode, but not flush with keyboard. It is very frustrating and I've tried editing power settings so that nothing happens if screen is closed, etc.

Thank.

 

No problems here.

 

The only issue I have right now is with battery life. Currently i'm averaging about 5hrs mostly surfing! Could it be because of internet explorer? What are your averages?

Love tent mode and the speakers are a surprise. The screen switches easily. One has to get used to the keyboard.

 

No. Doesn't seem to matter what app or screen I'm in. It is weird. Almost like it thinks I'm closing the laptop instead of changing to tablet mode.

I even changed the power settings to not turn off the display when I closed the laptop lid and the screen still turns off if I go to tablet mode. Even weirder is the screen still shuts off when close the lid normally even with the settings changed to not turn off.

I would be grateful for any tips or ideas.

Thanks again

 

Just try to install Windows fresh (download from Microsoft and updating to the latest firmware) - if there would still be any problem, it most probably is a hardware issue and you'll have to send it back :/

 

Here is something strange. If I boot into Safe Mode, then the screen stays on no matter what orientation I put it in. (Like I expected with OOTB behavior).

But if I uninstall the intel graphics driver an reinstall, I still can't get it into tablet mode.

 

I can also just disable the intel graphics driver (latest provided from dell site) and the screen will not shut off when put into tablet mode.
However, the touchscreen won't work in that mode. I'm having some issues with the xps hardware or drivers it appears. I received mine on Friday night just to give you a timing reference.

 

Sounds like sth. Went wrong when it was first set up, so eventually the fault is still in the Backup data...just clean it completely and install not the Backup, but very clean with Win8.1 from MS-page and Firmware from dell...

 

I have just found that on another forum:

DIY fix for hardware problems in the stylus.

Dell venue 8 pro Active Stylus FIX! ( for me at least )

 

I Just got the shipping notice for the stylus.

I will have it tomorrow and I will give you guy my impression when I get it.

 

Spent the morning on the phone with dell.

They ran through reinstallation of all drivers but it still didn't fix it. No surprise there to me. They eventually said they would have to transfer to engineering and that they would call me back in 2 days or so.
Not happy about the wait time.

I'm going to try factory reset and such but would like to just install standard win8. I tried to find download on windows.com but to no avail.

Anyone have a direct link for OOTB windows 8?

 

Strangely I'm having the same problem however I got mine today and while seeing it up and using it the first hour I had no issue switching between modes. After I did the first round of automatic updates however my xps 11 turns off whenever but in tablet mode.

 

Just got my stylus from Fedex.

I havent had time to use it yet, but for anyone wondering these must be the new batch from Dell. Has a Mfg. Date of Oct 2013

I will update later when I have a chance to use it.

 

Been using mine for a day and I have to say I'm really liking it. The keyboard I'm giving a chance for the time being, but the hardware other than that is great. size and weight are perfect for my needs and if that digitizer gets worked out this is all I'd need to take with me for work. The issue with the screen shutting off in tablet mode is killing me though. Seems like my drivers were installed on 12/5. don't know if that helps, is anyone else having the same issue?

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

You should tell them(Dell) to replace the machine. It's not normal. Probably your machine was an unfortunate one in the production line.

Also, can anyone check something for me?

Download the following:
BattStat - Battery Status monitor and power management freeware for Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 x86/x64

Set the timer for 10 or more seconds and report how much power its using. Few scenarios I suggest:

All at 30% brightness
-Idle after 2-3 min(disable settings that turn off screen, or delay it for greater than 2-3 mins)
-Local video playback(say whether its SD or HD quality), after 15-30 mins of playing, since the measurements will be stable after that time period
-Web browsing, describe in short your regular routine
-Maybe Youtube playback? Full sceen it, play for 30 seconds or so and look back at the BattStat

 

My UK model has turned up today. So far I'm very pleased, looks like a lovely device - I particularly like the carbon fibre finish. First reaction to the keyboard is 'yuk!', but I'm prepared to give it a chance. It is not such a big problem for me as a lot of the time I'll be using it in tent mode with a Logitech K810 keyboard which has three separate bluetooth connections so I can quickly switch between machines.

I'll have a proper tinker later when I have more time.

 

One quick observation - I like that you can also use it in a sort of book mode - i.e. like tent mode, but portrait.

 

I'm having the same trouble with tablet mode. Dell is shipping a USB key to me today to try and get back to factory settings. If that doesn't work we are exchanging it.

I like the hardware a lot and have actually gotten used to the keyboard. I even had Civ 5 running for a couple hours.

 

Have you tried going back to the original system restore point? Go to the troubleshoot options (see here).

 

Well I have had about 30 minutes to use the Active Stylus,

Its Horrible. Either its the stylus or the XPS 11 is just not meant for pen, but its not good at all . False clicks, cursor jumping all over the screen. I have calibrated the pen about 5 times now and nothing.



On a side note.... I am NOT having any problems with the computer going in tablet mode and the screen stays on like normal

 

Got mine yesterday! Very impressed by design of the device, it's light, strongly built and performs to spec. I've spent hours on the keyboard, and was dropping letters for a while. I altered keyboard sensitivity to the most sensitive, and my typing is almost back to normal. I don't think I'll be quite as accurate as I am with a regular keyboard, but it's definitely OK for my uses. I can still punch out text quickly, and when in tablet mode, the device really feels like a tablet, I don't mind the compromise that Dell has made with the keyboard.

Haven't used Windows 8 before, so that is taking a little bit of getting used to, but I find the touch screen / tablet / ultrabook device a very nice convergence. Screen is beautiful, the OS isn't too bad and I'm setting it up as my mobile work/play device. I run a small business and it's great to have a very portable device like this for correspondence, website updates, invoicing and all round productivity. It'll also be a device to play on, and I'm installing a few games on it, as well as some of my favourite tv/movies for when I'm not at home.

I'll be keeping the XPS 11. It's not a perfect device, but it's very good, and an interesting evolution of the notebook pc/tablet/thingy!

 

Well I've found a way around the tablet mode issue for now while I test other aspects of the PC. I jumped into power settings and changed to not do anything when closing the lid. Oddly it still turns of screen when closed but won't enter sleep, and in tablet mode will blink for a moment after switch but then get up in running. Seems to be an issue with intel video drivers as I've seen a popup notifying of driver issue after going into tablet mode.

On another note I got my Dell Active Stylus I ordered. Says manufactured on OCT 2013, works reasonably well with Dell Venue 8 Pro still sloppy but doesn't seem to register at all with the XPS 11.

I love the hardware and the keyboard is really growing on me. But this has been a lesson in frustration from beginning to end dealing with Dell. Got a great deal on the price but have had numerous problems with their customer support and now I love the product but seemingly random yet glaring issues keeping me from enjoying it. Was hoping would see a simple driver update to fix my issues but looks like I will be contacting Del for an exchange unit and if any of these problems pop up I'm likely returning it.

 

For all of you who is trying to use Dell's active stylus:

Yoga 2 Pro vs Dell XPS 11 - Page 4 - Lenovo Community

From the link above it (post by Banner to be accurate) seems like XPS11 does not have an active digitizer. Can you confirm that by checking in device manager? I don't know how it is called there, maybe Synaptics...

 

The my dell app test shows that my unit is has a designed capacity of 40 wh but the full charged capacity is stuck at 34.83. Yesterday it was at 34.81 though.

Will it keep going up gradually? Is it running below designed capacity for everyone?

 

I do not suggest you go and do that. From my experience with trying to get fresh installation on Windows 8 with the XPS 12, there is manufacturer specific changes in the driver and possibly even the OS stack that makes certain hardware work properly. The delay might be annoying, but its better than wasting your time finding an installation that doesn't work at all and THEN going through the tech support all over again.

Weird, my XPS 12 showed actually slightly more than designed capacity in the beginning. If it doesn't dramatically increase in the next month or so, maybe you should ask for a replacement. 34.83WHr to 40WHr is a 15% difference.

 

Anyone else have any updates about Active Stylus use? I've been using the pen for a day now with my Dell tablet and looks like l lucked out and got a good one. Still not at all responding to the XPS sceen weird seeing is how I see drivers for pen in Device manager. I didn't have time to call support today, has anyone gotten through to them about either the tablet mode issues or reported stylus problems ?

 

So when your using your pen, the cursor doesnt randomly skip all over the place or do random clicks?

 

Not at all, at least on my Venue 8 Pro. it hovers where its supposed but no unintended clicks yet. some weird behavior in certain apps like fresh paint (really faint pressure) or one note (occassionally trails after writing) and with thin font size selected you can tell the digitizer makes handwriting look less than smooth but overall its been for me I can write small even with it and it keeps up when i go fast . Just doesn't work at all on my XPS.

 

I had to take the battery out of the pen and then reboot the XPS 11 and put the battery back in. It definitely works... The pen is recognized as a HID device...

 

So this got a non recognized stylus to be recognized? I noticed the drivers there before but I've tried your advise and it doesnt seem to work.

 

thanks for the tip I'll contact customer support regardless as it seems to me that battery performance should be much better.

 

If you have a battery check meter, check the pen battery to see if its at full power. I've read from the Venue 8 Pro threads that the pen doesn't really turn off when its not in use and drains the battery quick. Possibly your pen's battery is dead?

Still waiting for more user/professional reviews to see how the battery life and pen use is. It does say on the Dell site XPS 11 is one of the supported devices. Do we have to wait for like a XPS 11 specific firmware update or something? I don't get why BIG companies like Dell don't test their stuff before release.

 

Got mine a few days ago, the battery test reveals a maximum capacity of 37.90WHr; and design capacity of 40 ... it's pretty close. Not sure how the battery fluctuates in a new machine - I guess over time it will degrade slightly?

With web browsing and general mucking about I've managed around 7 hours which is acceptable. I think future iterations will be 10+ hours as the tech improves.

I am absolutely loving the device and have got used to the keyboard, still the odd error but I can type very quickly on it.

 

Looks like it may have higher than normal quality control issues. It seems to be more widespread with their recent products like with the Stylus as well. It's hard to imagine QC issues on machines that cost $1000+. I imagine vendors like Dell would benefit on the long run if they went for better quality.

You do have to take care of the battery, not having it charged for 100% for too long, not allowing it to reach too low of a level, etc. For the first 3 months when I took good care of it, it had 0% degradation.

7 hours is good enough, if it isn't achieved with too light of a load with very low brightness. My XPS 12 achieved 5-5.5 hours, adding increased battery life with the near 1lb less weight and significantly thinner chassis on the XPS 11 it could be a near perfect Tablet/Ultrabook Convertible for me. Oh, pen is very important part of the equation. Unfortunately I don't see alternatives to this Dell yet.

 

Well an hour and a half on the phone with Dell technicians and six transfers and two disconnected calls later I'm offered a return or exchange for the product after describing the tablet mode sleeping, unresponsive digitizer, and lower battery capacity (mine was reporting 36.61). To be fair the first tech did his best to help using remote session to download bios update and try a driver update but to no avail fixing the tablet mode sleep. The last tech I spoke with was also very helpful, he noted my case file and said he would simply capture the model for testing as they don't have much knowledge of the issues with this new model.

To anyone else having issues I would advise you be sure to contact the XPS department specifically or if contacting the general support line say XPS to get routed there I spent at least 20 mins. getting handed off from department to department by Dell techs who didn't know if the XPS 11 was a laptop, tablet, inspirion or finally XPS. (Yeah XPS is in the name). Also having the express code number (which is under the metal panel in back of the XPS) will help you out as the Dell techs won't know where to tell you to look for it on this model. Also apparently the replacement may take 15 (or more if delays in shipping) to get to me, then I pack this model in the box and ship it to them for their testing. That's fine, however, it will mean my return period will be over by the time I receive my replacement. So I will be making my decision of whether or not to keep this product based off a faulty machine and my hopes of a working replacement over the weekend. I got a good price compared to the suggested retail but that Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga is starting to look good now. I'm loving the form factor of the XPS and I don't think there's really anything else like it on the market right now. I really hope it works out for me but just a heads up for anyone else looking at calling the support number.

 

That's terrible. And people wonder why PC manufacturers are struggling. Failure to provide BASIC tech support knowledge! Ridiculous!

Yea, I noticed the same with the XPS 12. There's like nearly zero engineering knowledge and connection for the tech support. I mean, the two teams(engineering and tech support) should be consistently providing feedback.

 

I have been trying to get the stylus to work properly all day and its just not happening.


When I go into MY Dell and run the digitizer test it recognized the pen but its very hard to pass the pressure test. Still getting random clicks and jumping cursor all over the place.

I am thinking that pen input on this device was an after thought.


Oh and when I ran the battery test at fully charged mine was registering 37.86 wats

 

Hi. I've been following this thread for a while. I placed an order for the XPS 11 two days ago, but canceled it yesterday.

I thought I'd sign up so I could let you guys know that I spent hours on the phone with Dell trying to figure out whether this thing has an active digitizer or not. After a ton of confusion on their part and transfers, one person I spoke with finally was able to confirm that the machine does not have an active digitizer built in. When I asked him about why the Dell Active Stylus advertises that it supports the XPS 11, he replied by assuring me that he has confirmed that the machine does not have an active digitizer, period.

I'm not sure why there's conflicting information like what you guys have been finding within the system's drivers and device manager, but yeah. Just wanted to share that information so nobody else has to go through the trouble.

It saddens me too, but it is what it is. I'm a graduate student and need an ultramobile device like this to take notes on before the holidays are over. Not sure what I'll consider next...

 

Kuro,

The Dell Venue 8 Pro, Venue 11 Pro, and the XPS 11 all use the same technology for digitizer. If the XPS 11 "doesn't have" a digitizer, so does the Venue 8 and 11 Pros. If you search about that in google, you'll see a thread that shows about that. And it clearly shows in Control Panel that the XPS 11 has "Pen support".

The pen technology and the drivers are just horrible which is why it feels like it doesn't support it.

Think about it. If the XPS 11 was an entirely pen-less display, then you wouldn't have any response at all. But people are showing that it does, with jumping cursors and such.

I may just get a Surface 2 Pro, because of all the fuss. But I still would want Dell to get it all fixed.

 

Those are the words of Dell's representatives, not my own. The first representative I talked to told me that his manager says the XPS 11 has pen support and is still "active", but in all honesty, those two didn't really seem like they knew what they were talking about. The guy that finally went and got a hold of a specialist for me instead of guessing like the other representatives took a while to get back to me, but he said he was able to confirm the machine has no digitizer.

The XPS 11 was pretty much my only viable choice because I need accurate pen input for sketching/note taking. That means the Y2P, XPS 12, and many other ultrabooks are out.

The 2560x1440 resolution screen is perfect because it supports the full functionality of Windows 8.1 (snapping 4 apps, which can't be done on 1080) - which means the SP2 is out.

It's the thinnest and lightest out there, which is necessary because I would carry it to campus everyday (I commute). That means larger laptops are out.

I was willing to compromise, with the 4GB RAM and risky keyboard, but the accurate pen I can't live without.

I guess I'll stick around to see if things get sorted out with the XPS 11.

 

I've had mine a couple weeks now.

Some thoughts:

Battery time great for me. I use chrome rather than internet explorer, for many, many reasons, battery/energy consumption one of them.

The xps 11 does support active digital stylus. I have been working through some problems and think they are with the pen, not the notebook. I too was disappointed that the active stylus did not come with the xps 11, since it was mentioned in all the early marketing. I ordered a couple from dell and have been using them for a couple days now. The problems are temporarlily fixed by fiddling with the pen and battery--I believe it's a poor contact problem with the battery. Tightening the pen after putting the battery in fixes it for me (pretty shoddy on dell's part, I must say).
I can use the stylus with :
One Note
Sketchbook mobile and sketchbook pro
adobe illustrator
corel paint and corel draw and corel paint light
fresh paint,
etc.

keyboard does require a learning curve but is easy to get used to. I use it on the lightest sensitivity, and I keep the tapping sound on, but lower the volume to very low (on the desktop volume control in the task bar).

We're early adopters here. I have learned with many devices over the years that there are a lot of kinks and if every one were tested and ironed out before release, the machine would be released in 2015. I ordered mine the day dell made it available. I've learned that early adopting with a brand new product is essentially beta testing. Dell is learning from us. Admittedly, we paid for it, but so it goes. I think it's a great machine, great build. I think we'll find the keyboard (with some development and improvement) will set a new standard--it's what allows the amazing thinness and lightness. And every one of those keys on standard keyboards is several moving parts--all eliminated. Obviously some borrowing from tablets and smartphones, since we're all used to typing on them now. But better. Yes some getting used to. but worth it. I everything stayed the same as what we're used to, nothing would improve. Look at Blackberry, from number one in the universe to dead, because they lingered too long with their keyboard because everyone was used to it and liked it, while the world moved ahead with change and improvement.

 

No improvement on my 34.83wh. I did find out that it lasts a bit more than 5hrs with the dell power setup. The power saver lasts less than 4hrs.

 

Just wanted to chime in and let you guys know that I too am having issues with tablet mode. Same as a few here I tried to fix the issue with dell to no avail. Dell is sending me a new unit for replacement. I also ordered the dell active pen and cannot get it to recognize/work... my pen was manufactured in oct 2013. hoping the new unit will work with the pen. Did anyone actually get the active pen to function with xps11?