XPS 12 Owners Lounge

My WiFi started out that way when I 8.1'd, but over time it seems to have become the most stable WiFi that this laptop has ever seen.

 

Not necessarily your actual problem, but in the wireless device manager, try turning off "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." I find that my wifi drops occasionally for no reason if I have that enabled (and I had to re-disenable it after 8.1 because it created a "new" wireless device with default settings).

 

^Where is that setting?

 

Oh, sorry. Device Manager > Network adapters > Intel (R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 > Power Management (the last tab on the right).

While you're in there, you might as well check View (at the top of the window) > show hidden devices, and see if Windows 8.1 caused you to double up on any network devices. I'm now on "#2" of several of them because Windows 8.1 "created" ghost copies of a bunch of my devices.

 

Hi all, I've been looking at the XPS 12 for a while. I do want to do some light note taking, has anyone had any luck with a stylus on the screen? (I'm aware of the fact it does not have an active digitizer.)

I'm looking at the following options:

1) XPS 12 -- My hesitations are weight, thickness, lack of digitizer.
2) Surface Pro 2 -- My hesitations are i5, ability to type on it on my lap, like using the type cover as a traditional notebook
3) Macbook Air or Zenbook & Surface 2 or low end Surface Pro 2 -- II really don't want two devices.

I would have no other computers or tablet.

I want to do some programming (not heavy), casual games, web browsing, etc.

Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks.

 

http://puu.sh/4X0ll.png

^is there something in particular I'm supposed to be looking for?

 

Ah, it didn't happen to you, then. For me, since 8.1 I have Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 followed immediately by Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 #2, and Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter followed by Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2. The machine is now running those #2 devices, and sees the original ones as disconnected. However, of course, I don't actually have two of either.

I also don't have the Hyper-V stuff. You added that yourself?

As another random and somewhat-annoying upgrade quirk, my plugged-in and on-battery brightness levels now don't sync up. Everything is a little darker on battery, even when the brightness sliders think it's the same. I can only assume that 8.1 flipped an energy-saving toggle somewhere, but I can't figure out where.

 

One of my papers this semester requires that I have access to Ubuntu for some bizarre reason, so I set up a virtual machine on W8 Pro's "Hyper V". But I can't do anything useful without an internet connection so I set it up so that the VM shares the WiFi connection of my XPS 12, or something weird like that.

 

Thanks for your tip! And I think I have a tip to help with your problem
You need to click the battery icon in the taskbar area and click on 'More power options'
Click on the power plan you want to change and then click on 'Change plan settings'
Then click on 'Change advanced power settings'
Scroll down to 'Display' and you can change the 'Dimmed display brightness' from their.

I set everything to 0% so all brightnesses are the same

 

Your post exactly describes my current situation. I've been wanting to fill the light laptop/tablet role for a while now and looked around at some pretty strange solutions such as the Vaio Duo 13 before settling on the full screen/full keyboard convertible type device.

It depends on what you want from the device. A Surface Pro would be ok if you wanted something that was mostly a tablet and then could be a laptop when you need it to be. The XPS 12 is a laptop that can be a tablet when you flip the screen, if you mostly use it as a laptop then the weight is not an issue. Personally I would go for the XPS over the Surface due to the better practicality for work.

As for stylus. A stylus made for a capacitive touch screen should work but I've never liked them myself.

I don't think the i5 is too much of a problem. The Surface 2 Pro uses the same ULV series as the Dell XPS 12 so the performance difference isn't massive. However the smaller screen on the Surface is something that turned me away from it. If an active digitizer is a must then the new Sony Vaio Fit Flip 13 does have one that works with a Sony stylus, its also 1.25kg instead of 1.5kg (XPS 12) and has a similar design to the XPS 12 but has lower battery life due to its size.

At the moment, I am actually trying to get hold of an XPS 12 with the 4650u processor which according to pretty much every article I've read has noticeably higher GPU performance which should make it a little more capable when doing light gaming. However the 4650u is not on sale in the UK, anyone got any ideas how I can obtain one?

I am aware that the TDP of the CPU does limit the GPU performance but the larger number of execution units does increase performance by allowing lower clock speeds on silicon that is optimized for low clock speeds anyway.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks. Sadly, that's not the problem -- those settings are all where they should be.

Buy a 4500, and when you get the machine complain to tech support about any of the niggling problems that seem to be design flaws and not fixable problems. Dell's fallback repair option when nothing else works is always to replace the MB (which also never works). Odds are good you'll end up with a 4650.

Or you could just import it from one of the countries where the 4650 is a stock configuration. If you're patient, you can also probably expect a mid-year refresh to include it at some point, although that's probably not coming until spring.

 

Ok, so most of my issues are gone in the update to Windows 8.1 except two lingering issues.

On a reboot, or startup from completely off (Cold start)...after the login screen in Win 8 slides up, the monitor goes blank. My solution right now is to use the slider to put it to sleep, then after 10 seconds, wake back up and all is well. I have no idea what could possibly cause this bizaare issue, but it's easily worked around. On subsequent suspend/resume cycles, it works fine.

On a way more annoying issue, I can't keep my Bluetooth mouse connected. It likes to shutdown randomly - doesn't' stay connected, and when I go back to settings>devices>bluetooth, it reconnects automatically. I've re-installed the driver multiple times to no avail. The Bluetooth mouse is very new, so I don't know if it's a mouse/hardware issue or something in the laptop. Anybody else have Bluetooth issues in the update?

 

I haven't upgraded to 8.1 yet, but I've noticed the same issue with the Bluetooth. What I found out is it seems like the Bluetooth goes flaky towards the end of the battery life on the mouse long before I start getting the red, low battery warning. I put in a fresh set of batteries and haven't had one drop. Previous batteries had been in for over a month.

 

Yes it does, thank you. The only way I know to get an XPS 12 w/ IRIS graphics, is from the Dell Canada Business Site: New XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook and Tablet PC Details | Dell Canada

 

Question: sometimes I have to restart the computer to get it to read USB sticks. What do?

 

Try disabling "allow computer to turn off this device to save power" in the device manager (same as I suggest for wi-fi above). When something works at first and then doesn't, this often fixes it.

 

Thanks.

...hmm, perhaps the people having issues with Bluetooth should try the same thing.

 

Does anyone have any experience with Amazon.com: Adonit Jot Pro Dampening Stylus for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, & Other Touch Screens - Silver: Computers & Accessories
on the XPS 12? What about using it with OneNote?

 

So I've had my eye on the Haswell version of this ever since it came out, and today was finally my day to order as Dell's Outlet put up some Haswell XPS 12's for the first time and along with a 25% off coupon, I got the i7/8gb/256gb version for $1,160 shipped. Very excited to get it! I had the 3rd gen XPS 12 but that battery life just wasn't working for me, so I got rid of it. I enjoyed everything else but the battery just died too quick.

My question(s) are, is there anything I should be on the look out for when I finally get to mess around with this thing? Settings to adjust, tweaks, issues to watch out for, etc? When I have this version in the "tablet mode," does it work in the same way in the sense that I can just turn the screen off and still have it be there idle and if I get an email, alert, things like that, it will give me the notification sound? Thanks for any words of wisdom.

 

I'm also looking at getting this and would be interested in anyone's experience with it on the XPS12.

 

You're welcome. I am aware of that particular page on Dell however there is no way to order it internationally that I can see. Thanks for mentioning it either way.

Regarding the stylus quoted in the post above. I believe it will work since that stylus is designed for capacitive touchscreens rather than an active digitizer.

 

I think I might have seen the same problem today. I turned on the machine, got some files off a usb stick, took out the stick, and started working. 90 minutes later, I put the stick back in to transfer the files back, and the laptop didn't see the stick. The little light on the stick was on, so it was getting power, but there was no "something plugged in" noise, and file explorer didn't see the stick. I restarted (which, thankfully, is very quick), and then everything worked as it should. This is what was happening to you?

Looks like I'll try my own medicine and disable the "turn off to save power" option. I don't really use usb sticks often, though, so it'll be awhile before I notice anything.

 

Just an FYI for those in the US looking to buy an XPS 12 - starting Oct 30, Costco.com will be offering the Haswell i7,8G RAM, 256G SSD for 1199.99 + tax. Then you can add the squaretrade 3 yr accidental warranty for $99.99. Would have saved me over $100. Oh well, but good for those looking to buy! Even with the cost of membership (which you can get a refund on if you want), it's a better deal then waiting and waiting for a coupon to show up...

 

Was thinking of getting one of these, but a bit put off by the reports of ghosting on the display. Does anyone know if it's still affecting new units? Does it affect all XPS12 machines (eventually over time), or is this a minority of units?

Has someone noticed ghost images (screen burn-in) on Dell XPS 12 Duo? - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

 

^Judging from the date, the unit in the OP of that thread is an Ivy Bridge one. Not sure if that's important but meh.

Anyway, I have a Haswell unit and I don't notice any burn-in. I'm willing to bet that it's a minority of units that are affected.

 

I have experienced significant screen ghosting on my Haswell XPS12. Waiting on a replacement unit to arrive a week from today and see if it has the same issue.

 

Hi, I have a new XPS 12 (i7-4650) and i'm getting sometimes a wierd scratching like sound when i'm surfing the web or when I use the file explorer. Does anybody else have issues like that? Has anybody contactet dell for that problem?

 

^the sound happens in your earphones right?

Apparently it's bad audio drivers.

 

No it has noting to do with the audio. Its sounds like a physical scratching sound (from the Fan maybe?)

 

Actually, I think I've detected what you're talking about. But it isn't the fan, because the fan wasn't running at that time.

Now I'm slightly worried.

 

Has anyone tried swapping the ty Cypress pad with a Synaptics pad? Do they fit?

I've been trying to find a 2013 XPS 12 touchpad but I can't find it standalone or with the whole palmrest assembly. You can find the 2012 (9Q23) palmrest assembly for a decent price, but I can't find any 2013 (9Q33) parts at all.

 

Its called coil whine and was discussed aaages ago when the Ivy Bridges came out.
Basically people just had to keep getting motherboard replacements till the whine went.
Youtube it.

 

After updating to 8.1, im getting crazy phantom clicks on the touchscreen.
Anyone else experienced this?

 

Mr random battery drain issue persists. Sometimes after letting the machine put itself to sleep, it will be fine, others I go to use it and the battery is completely dead. I don't know what is going on, but something is not allowing the machine to sleep under Windows 8.1 or something.

Anyone else having this issue where you XPS12 won't properly put itself to sleep (suspend) or hibernate and drain the battery overnight? The battery life is fine it seems when in full operation, so I don't know why the machine appears to drain the battery sometimes, and other times not.

 

Does anyone know if WiDi 4.1 works with older adapters or if I would have to get the screen beam for the reduced latency? Screambeam says its the only 4.1 certified adapter but other models don't seem to actually indicate what version they are compatible with.

 

Hey, guys, new owner here. Just picked up a Haswell i5 in the Outlet for about $750 after coupon/shipping/general chat ing and complaining . Contemplating whether or not I want to keep it or return/exchange for an i7 w/8GB RAM if/when another coupon appears in the next couple of weeks (21 day return period), but for the time being I'm pretty happy with the speed. The delta was about $170 (before coupon), so thoughts about whether or not it's worth it are appreciated.

So far the only issue I've got (apart from needing to learn all the gestures of Windows 8.1) is the strangely washed-out look of the installation process of Rosetta Stone in the Desktop environment. Not sure why that is...

 

Why can't I delete posts?

 

I have no idea.

 

One question I've always been meaning to ask but keep forgetting: When I use Dell's three-finger up and down swipes in Chrome, they don't bring up the search/settings like they'd normally do outside of Chrome. Instead, they scroll through my open tabs.

Now this isn't a complaint, since I find myself using this as my preferred method of switching between tabs (three fingers up/down is more convenient to pull off than four fingers left/right), I'm just a little worried since this doesn't seem to be something Dell intended, and it could be removed in the future (which would make me very sadface). Is this intended, or a complete accident?

 

I got mine a few days ago and I'm enjoying it so far, I just need to see how the battery life holds up. It would be nice if Windows could ever get that "time remaining" estimate to be anything realistic, but it just doesn't seem like that's ever going to happen.

I turned it on this morning and I had 40% battery left, stating 52 minutes remaining. I closed the lid to put it to sleep, came back to it about 15 minutes later, and it said 40% battery, 190 hours remaining. Somehow I think it will be somewhere in between those 2 times.

I think I will most likely end up keeping my iPad as my "screwing around" device and the XPS for more of the heavy lifting.

 

Back on NBR after a few years of lurking and rejoining the Dell family. Haven't had one in a few years now! Just bought a i7-4500,8GB,512GB from the outlet.

190 hours!?!

Only mods could delete posts in the past. Not sure if that's still valid. Also, hi from SD! :thumbsup:

I was in a similar situation, but decided to jump on an outlet deal for the XPS 12. My current machine is the 2760p, a HP Elitebook tablet, and it's been pretty good for note taking. It just got a tad bulky as I had to bring my charger with me all the time since the 2-2.5 hour life was simply too short. I was waiting for the Surface Pro 2 to change my life, but at its current cost, I didn't think I'd use the tablet benefits of it as much and felt I was better off going with an ultra-book like machine with a touchscreen. The XPS 12 (ivy bridge and Haswell) got rave reviews and I decided to take the plunge. No regrets so far.

My i7-4500 may have produced a weird screeching noise the first time I kicked the fan up, but it disappeared after a minute or two. I haven't been able to reproduce it since, but I'm keeping an eye out on it.

 

Anyone know how to use a portable charger to charge one of these e.g. I've got a zaggsparq 6000 and would like to charge it up on long flights (and when I forget to bring the AC charger). Thanks.

 

Something important for all you new XPS 12 owners to know: there's a slow but persistent memory leak due to one of the Synaptics Drivers. If you restart your laptop at least once every two days then you should be fine.

 

Since it's a RealTek sound card, you guys should install the Dolby 4.0 drivers. PM if you need instructions.

 

What are the advantages of doing so?

 

I also received a replacement XPS12 and was told the return shipping label would be included. The packing slip included with this replacement was the type that had paper with information typed at the top, and 2 labels beneath it. The left side was the label that was removed and attached to the box to get the replacement to me. The right side was where Dell should have had the return label. However, it said "There is nothing to return". So I also thought for a second that they made a mistake. Eventually, I found a regular #10 envelope with a Dell logo mailed to me separately that I never opened, and presto ... the red return label to Lebanon, TN was in there, and I returned the defective unit. If you need the phone number for the division that handles the returns, I can get it Monday when I return to my office.

 

I'm happy to share with you the solution I figured out on my XPS12 that weeks on the phone with Dell Support could not. The cause of these seemingly random fuzzy and scaling issues that appear in most Windows dialog boxes (and especially the Google Chrome web browser) is the new DPI Scaling feature in Win 8.1. Some programs, such as MS Internet Explorer, are written with "DPI Aware" coding and they look great, but those programs lacking this coding appear fuzzy, scaled incorrectly, and out of sync.

SOLUTION: By default, Win 8.1 leaves a checkbox unticked so that you can set custom parameters for each display in a multi-monitor setup. All you have to do to get your display looking as beautiful and nicely scaled as it did before the upgrade, is to tick that checkbox at ...

"Control Panel | Display | Screen Resolution | Make text and other items larger or smaller | Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays"

Your welcome, Kezzz.

P.S. You will have to logoff and back on for the changes to take effect.

 

512GB SSD XPS 12 No Longer Available

For all of you who purchased a 512GB SSD XPS 12 consider yourself lucky. I checked the Dell USA site today with a view of purchasing a 512GB SSD XPS 12 and was surprised that model was no longer available and neither was a SSD size upgrade. I checked with the Dell online chat rep to see if I had missed something but she confirmed that 256GB SSD is not the maximum available. Does anyone know any thing different? It appears I will now have to purchased a third-party 480GB SSD and risk voiding my warranty by swapping out the standard 265GB SSD.

Dell can be really stupid at times.

 

Anyone having issues with the Metro desktop randomly re-organizing itself? I spent a few minutes getting everything how I like it, then sometimes when I turn on the computer, it's like the parameters changed and each category which was a perfect square before now has an empty space or two at the end. It's like the resolution is changing....but it's not. ?

 

I actually got the separate #10 envelope as well a couple weeks later. I have shipped my defective unit to TN and all is well!