XPS 12 Owners Lounge

Just dropped in on the Dell download center--there are about 18 recommended updates!!! Are all the other new XPS 12 owners out there making all of these updates?

One thing I wonder about in particular is there is an updated driver for the Intel Rapid Start--think this would solve the waking from sleep issue? There are several others that look useful, including one for the touchpad.

Speaking of the touchpad, I am new to multi-fingered scrolling. I love the option of being able to use two fingers to scroll web pages up/down, but I am finding that sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. I've tried adjusting the settings, but this hasn't helped all that much, maybe b/c I'm not really sure HOW I should be adjusting the settings. Any advice?

 

I think you'll find that those are all the original drivers that the machine comes with. Most of them are dated 7/9, the day the computer came out. To check, try clicking on Previous Version and itwill probably tell you there are none.

 

Well, in the past 2 months I had 9 (!!) repares on my XPS 12.

Currently a new hasswell version is in production to swap my "old" XPS 12..... I don't trust the XPS 12 anymore, even the new one not...

 

Really? I was offered any other XPS line to chose from instead of the problematic XPS 15 L521x.
I was thinking about the NEW XPS 12, but it is a downgrade and your experience with the old, having so many problems...I thought that it is better than XPS L521x....

 

Question...how can I force the display to scale property (aspect ratio) when I run something at a lower resolution than native resolution?

For example, I was playing Heroes 3 today, which maxes out at 800x600. When first launching, it filled the whole screen and scaled quite nicely. I got a low battery warning at some point, and the game now runs at 1:1 scaling (or aspect ratio). Also, in the game Deus Ex, human revolution, it won't scale correctly either (any resolution below 1080P runs increasingly smaller with big black borders of empty screen real-estate). I see under the Display Properties for the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel something for Scaling, and there is a check next to "maintain display scaling" which I cannot uncheck.

Bottom line, it works for some games, and for others it doesn't. I'm not sure what is going on or how to adjust this so I can run 720P or lower rez games and use the whole screen.

Thanks for the help in advance...

 

Think I may have figured out my own issue but maybe not 100%

For Deus Ex, it looks like I have to change my desktop to 1366x768 in the desktop before launching and make sure I am scaling full screen. Not sure why Deus Ex does this while other games seem to auto scale just fine.

For Heroes, I cannot select 800x600 prior to launching, although the display did run at that resolution before.

Also, can't find 720P in the resolution options, only the above 1366x768. When I try to set any custom resolutions it says this panel does not support advanced features like that.

For those who didn't know Ctrl+Alt+F11 opens the scaling options popup (Intel).

Bottom line, I can hack it somewhat, but not sure what the 100% solution is.

 

There is a high res mod for heroes 3 that works well with the XPS 12:

https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/

 

Pretty happy with my 9Q33 XPS12 so far.

Dell are sending out a guy with a replacement display back cover to fix the blemish in mine.

My only current gripe is that in Chrome two finger scrolling twitches and flicks me to the top of the page about 1 drag in 5. Really frustrating.

The smooth scrolling extension for Chrome makes it scroll better, but doesnt stop the twitch.

Scrolling in IE and everything else is pretty much perfect.

Does anyone have a fix or work-around?

 

I am having some issues with two-fingered scrolling working consistently, not just in Chrome but any time. The two things I have found helpful (but not failproof) so far are 1) decreasing the palm rejection sensitivity of the touchpad (I'm now actually trying it turned off), and 2) scrolling with the very tips of my fingers rather than the finger pads. Again, it's still not 100%, so if people have other improvements, I'd be interested to hear!

 

Just joined the forum. I have an XPS 1645 and have been extremely happy with it, but have admired the xps 12 for quite a while but have been reluctant to make the change. I finally placed the order and it is expected to be delivered on 7 Aug. Just out of curiosity, will I see much improvement in performance between the two? Does Dell have a track record of shipping these before the estimated date? I've been following this forum for quite a while and love how everyone seems so helpful to each other.

 

Update -

My XPS is now seemingly running well with the odd wifi drop.

World of warcraft runs great low-medium settings around 55-60 FPS at 1920 x 1080... I am sure would slow down if i crank the settings up but I am comfortable at this reso.

Honestly perfect little wow porto machine that can be a tablet and laptop too

Just have some billing issues with Dell but otherwise sweet stuff

 

Funny, the only time that I've seen a possible wifi drop is when I've been in the app store--there have been a few times when I've been browsing for apps and have gotten the message "you are not connected to the internet right now--retry?" As soon as I hit retry or go back, I'm connected. Since this has only happened in the apps store, I'm wondering if maybe it's connected with the store rather than with the wifi, but I'm not sure.

 

I've got an update on this one.. I received my new replacement XPS 12, Haswell version today. Tomorrow is the first repair.... The screen just got stuck in the frame, I can only free it with a screwdriver.... That will be the 10th time Dell will visit me for a fix.... What the hell.. Check video:

Problemen Dell XPS 12 - YouTube

 

Wow, Boyd, you have really had some bad luck!

So far, I'm on about 4 days and doing very well; really starting to enjoy the new machine. I know we have talked about cases here, but what about rests for using the laptop on your lap? I always just used a couch pillow with my old netbook, so I've been doing the same with the new machine, but I thought it might be nice to have something specifically made for this purpose.

 

Mine was weird where I have both my XPS and my Asus ROG laptop connected each running wow and there will be delays from the XPS but not the asus. And then when I replaced the drivers before that it simply drop on large transfers for some reason. The connection would stay white / lit but would be "no internet" would require me to refresh or reconnect to make it work.

It has NOT done that since mind you I haven't tested except that one time once I reinstalled and it was fine.

 

I dunno mine is working fine now... I had some issues and concerns at first but the whining noise is gone and well now just need to get a good microhone already bought a mini dislplay to HDMI

 

I fixed the scrolling issue by reducing touch pressure to minimum.

 

I was a little confused by this setting--so going all the way down on the "-" part?

I found that turning the palm sensitivity "off" didn't work; I had typing issues in that my cursor kept jumping around (although my palms were not touching at all!). So I put that on the minimal setting, and the scrolling seems better.

 

Hey gang!

Finally got my XPS 12 and have set it up nicely. I'm loving it, and the battery life is insane. I'm not even holding back on the brightness, music or games, and I'm getting a full-day usage out of it. It's like my cell phone, I basically use it all day (not continual use...!) and then charge it while I'm sleeping at night.

A couple of comments regarding some problems I was having but was able to solve. Most of these have come up on here, but I'll rewrite em for the new members:
1) Trackpad skipping - Lower the trackpad sensitivity to the lowest or near the lowest. Once I did that it became problem-free to use. One minior niggle is that Explorer doesn't let you 2-finger scroll until all or most of the page you're viewing is done loading.
2) Wifi dropping - This pissed me off to no end. It would drop my connection and then I wouldn't even be able to see the network I was on, so I was having to jump back and forth between networks. I found a setting in the device manager under the wireless adapter - Allow device to be put to sleep after 15 minutes- or something like that. It was enabled by default, so after I disabled that I haven't had any problems.

Now my questions for you guys!
-What bloatware have you removed? My 128GB SSD came with only 68 GB free. I'm going to back up the restore files for 8 GB, but what other programs are taking up so much space? I removed McAfee and some of the other small "Welcome to your new computer" apps and stuff, but I can't find anything else that seems very massive to remove.
-Still having problems with the screen rotation here and there. After the initial updates and a full shutdown/restart cycle it improved a LOT, but it's still far from perfect. It sometimes even rotates longways when I just flp the screen, then doesn't come out of longways-mode until I go back into normal laptop mode.

Overall I'm loving this computer. The keyboard and trackpad are a dream, and having this luscious screen makes playing even simple games like Jetpack Joyride so much more fun. It's fun to pass around with friends to play simple games too! (Anyone know of any 2-player free app games?)

 

How fast is the ssd? I would like to know if the laptop is quiet meaning the fans dont go off. I am debating if I should buy the dell or the Acer aspire s7 392, thanks

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

From what I'm read on here, the fans only go on when you're doing some heavy-duty stuff. From my experience in browsing, emailing, light app-style gaming and listening to music, it's not loud.

Seems to me like the S7 and the Dell XPS 12 aren't really straight-on competitors IMHO.

 

Those are the best available machines with has well Imo, but when typing in word the fans are quiet? My Asus zenbook ux31a has fans that are always going and loud which drives me crazy. Another question is are the viewing angles 178 and is there is backlight bleeding on the display. Thanks

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

I find the fans annoying. Even on battery with passive cooling and 50% CPU max I can get the fans to come on watching a video. If there is almost any ambient noise, I don't notice the fan but in a quiet office it's kind of loud to me.

 

Wow, I'm surprised to hear all the complaints about fan noise--my fan has hardly been on at all! Granted, I don't do much video watching or any gaming, but still...

 

I am wary about getting the xps 12 from the fan noise. The price for the 8gb model comes with an i7 and great battery life, decisions.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

I play wow and at first there was not only the fan but a whining noise that is no longer happening.

The fans are evident however only when you are doing something that warrants it. As soon as I put world of warcraft in the background they almost shut off right away.

I don't personally find them to be a big deal but others might have a different opinion.

 

Mine is shipping and will arrive Thursday. After all the grief I had with an Ivy Bridge model back in January (eventually returned in disgust), I might be an idiot for trying this again. But, I just really like the design. If Dell could just get their quality control up to acceptable levels, they'd make such nice machines. I hate the feeling that I'm rolling the dice to see if I get a laptop that works as it should, but I figure it's worth one more try.

If nothing else, it's worth it to see people go "Oooooh" in a café when you flip the screen.

 

I wont be playing any games on my ultrabook really, the most important things for me if there will be fan noise typing in ms word, or browing the web, or watching movies. That is the important important factor, I understand that the fan has to be used when you are gaming and makes sense.

 

This is what I have, and virtually no issues with fan noise.

 

These are all of the things I do (with the exception of watching movies, although I do watch video clips and sometimes TV shows). So far, the fan has almost never been on--in fact, it surprises me when it does come on!

I just downloaded Word yesterday, so I haven't done too much with it yet, but I have to go work on a document now, so I'll pay attention to fan noise.

 

For me, in MS Word, you will not have any fan noise whatsoever. The XPS has a "quick fan". It tries to subdue heat quickly...which means you will get random fans kicking on to 3K rpms. Anytime the CPU spikes and drives their temps into the mid 40s C. I think Dell could have relaxed a bit and ramped the fan in the 50s to prevent the fan kicking on often when exercising the CPUs, but the payoff is a tablet that stays generally cool to the touch. Even right over the vents where the fans are, while warm is not unbearable. So even when the thing is kicking in full gear, you can still handle the laptop without risk of "burning" yourself.

The screen is the most fabulous screen I've ever used, albeit the text can get small and make you lean in, but boy is it sharp. There is ZERO blacklight bleed. This was actually the first thing I noticed when looking at the new Sony DUO 13, it had some light backlight bleed at extreme angles. Dell has a long history of making fantastic displays and this is TOPS.

So I have LONG list of LOVES with this unit. I'm actually nervous because I'm basically exchanging my current model for the one with a 512GB SSD because it actually costs less, but I'm hoping it won't have some other flaw to it that this one I currently have does not have.

My short list of sore spots:
Trackpad JUMP when two finger scrolling
Quick fan ramp (and mine has a particular higher pitched whine to it that is not COIL whine)
Occasional screen brightness bipolar disorder (where the automatic brightness adjustment can't pick the one brightness it needs to be at)
Intel RST actually hurting this thing from waking up (everyone needs to disable by default) - DELL needs to fix asap by either disabling this or getting a better driver


That's it after 1.5 weeks of heavy use. Also, I've had zero issues with "WIFI dropout". I really don't know what folks are talking about there.
The keyboard is fantastic - backlight is even and is a joy to type on. Screen is perfect with even lighting and no issues, read that, NONE whatsoever. Watching 1080P movies on this is a pleasure on the plane. Touchscreen is so fun to interact with and is perfectly accurate.

And the biggest surprise is how many games I can play on this little toy at adequate framerates!

And back to fan noise - as I typed this whole post it was silent as a mouse in a perfectly silent bedroom while sitting on the comforter (poor ventilation).

BUY this thing people, help tell Dell and the PC world that if they build solid devices, people will buy!

 

Okay, I got a little fan noise in Word, but then again, I'm sitting here with the machine on a pillow on my lap, so it's probably a little warm. (I need to get a real lap desk!)

Screen is great, I agree. I changed the text display to 140% (I think), so much easier to read now. And the trackpad 2-finger scrolling has been much better too; decreasing the sensitivity really helped on that. No problems with wifi drops here; I think the couple of issues I had were related to the apps store, since that's the only time I had them.

I also can't understand why people hate Windows 8 so much? I Googled "Windows 8 tips" and found a few different articles that helped a lot. Otherwise, I spend most of mine time in Desktop mode still, so it doesn't really seem to matter much at all...although it's nice to have "apps" for the first time.

 

Y'all are making me nervous with your comments about the twitchy two-finger scrolling. This is a Synaptics pad -- it should be better than that. Well, nothing to do but see for myself.

Incidentally, does the touchpad driver have an option to change the zone size for the dedicated left and right "buttons"? I prefer to shrink them to nothing when the option is there.

 

No, it doesn't.

 

Bah. I want a tap to be a left tap anywhere, and not a right tap if I happen to have my finger in the wrong spot. Eh, I can probably mess with the registry if I really care -- I imagine those zones are soft-coded somewhere.

 

So the fan noise seems good, battery life is great, zero backlight bleeding, this may be the machine to buy. If your web browsing and typing in word, what is the battery like?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

For the battery specs what is the mah, I am trying to compare it to the Acer aspire s7 392 which has a 6250 mah and both batteries have the same voltage?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

Honestly, lowering the sensitivity down is the trick. Works great after this without issue, and I'm not sure I notice any change to actual sensitivity (go figure). YMMV

So two tweaks for new owners:
Turn off Intel RST
Turn down trackpad sensitivity

After my conclusive 1.5 week test -P) these two do not effectively impact battery life or using the trackpad, which is otherwise great.

 

How do we know battery voltage...my guess is 11.1sh

So 50 Wh/11.1 * 1000 = mAh

So around 4500-5000??

S7 wins there I guess...however as was earlier posted...Dell really has some low idle current draws. They've optimized in other areas.

 

Probably 10 hours...

I've not charged mine since mid-day yesterday, but I've had a light usage scenario and didn't use it all day while at work today. So a couple hours yesterday, and 2-3 hours today and battery is reporting at 48% with 5 hours left run time under "dell" power mode.

 

10 hours is amazing, I am going to start school and I will be typing a lot, and the 4-5 hours I'm getting was cutting it from my Asus zenbook ux31a. The 400 nits is the brightest screen from any competitor, and other question is how does the glared display work? My old lenovo yoga had an angle where it worked well but the Asus was always annoying to work with.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

Repare number 11 will be today on my XPS 12.. Yesterday they mechanic had the wrong parts. The screen from the haswell xps is different..

 

Do you have an ivy bridge xps 12? Are dells really that bad? Your unit must be a lemon I hope. But that many repairs is unreal.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

I had 9 repares on my Ive Bridge XPS 12,

today the second repair on my new (replacement) Haswell XPS 12. This Dell is really that bad...

 

Well there definitely something not perfect with the wifi but i am almost sure it is driver related. I wouldn't make it up

Having said that after reinstalling everything is good.

Being out and able to casually flip on wow to such a small device and play at about 60 FPS with the occasional spike to 30 is pretty darn cool

 

I haven't given the battery a real test, but I've been working on battery for maybe 3 hours or so, and when I've checked, it's usually said that I've had around 65% left, so well over half.

I have another question for everyone--at night, do you shut your computer down completely or just put it into sleep mode? I'm used to doing the former but am wondering if the latter is more recommended.

 

I just close my screen (sleep mode I guess). Sometimes (even though I've disabled that Intel rsa or whatever) when I wake it up the screen wont come on until I put it back to sleep and wake it again.

So tempted to send this back for a macbook.

 

I've had the same problem too where occasionally it doesn't wake up from sleep properly, even thought I've disabled that Intel thing.

Another question for ya'll:
Installed Starcraft 2 yesterday, and the trackpad doesn't work in-game. The on-screen mouse appears, but when I use the trackpad, it doesn't use the onscreen mouse in-game. It basically ignores the SC2 one and tries to be it's own mouse, which is conveniently invisible -_-
I haven't tried a wired mouse yet.
Any ideas?

 

If you're having trouble with the screen not starting up, trying turning off the screen's specific sleep option in the device menu. That resolved screen issues for some folks on the old Ivy Bridge model.

It seems like the recurring theme with problems in many current laptops is waking from sleep or components going idle -- that is, things that definitely work fine most of the time suddenly not working. I get the feeling that Intel got too pushy with its power-management goals and it caused some problems.

*edit* When you about waking from sleep, do you mean when you close the lid? If so, you might want to check that you've actually got it set to sleep and not to hibernate when the lid closes. Even with IRST disabled, there's still the regular hibernation mode, and on some power settings the default lid-closing behavior is to hibernate. Hibernation as a general rule has more issues with turning back on than sleep does.

 

Here are a few photos from last week's unboxing: