XPS 12 Owners Lounge

Cool thanks for the reply. How's your battery life?
Do you guys know how hard is it to replace the battery on the XPS 12? since I plan to keep it for a long time.

 

I haven't received mine yet (get it on Monday), but I've heard average is 6-8 hours... slightly better than the XPS 13. I'd be curious to hear more opinions though.

I've seen the inside of the XPS 13 and it looks fairly easy... and the 12 is similarly built, so with a Torx screwdriver, I'm sure you could replace it. Here's a PDF of the manual: ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...s_laptop/xps-12-9q33_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

 

Thanks, I asked in another forum and they said that it was pretty easy to remove the lower cover of the XPS 12 and to disconnect the battery. So a big plus there.

 

That's a great deal! Good for you. Good luck with this one. Let us know how it goes once you get it.

 

For battery life, I get about 5.5-8 hours on my i7s. The current one seems to drain a bit faster than the others.

@dan76 - All the XPS 12s come with the Pro support as far as I know. I was talking about my experiences with Pro Support.

 

I just checked, and you are correct. I didn't realize all XPS 12 models do come with Pro support.... I'm sorry you've had such a poor experience.

 

No worries. I'm currently in the midst of a 2 hour (and counting) phone call for a simple goddamed shipping label. I keep getting transferred or hung up on.

I really really frikking hate Dell's service, both before and after sales, but I've generally had positive experiences with their products.

Of course, there's also the time they allowed me to purchase and upgrade the warranty on a stolen laptop that was bought off NBR and while I managed to get a refund for my warranty upgrade, I lost out on the cost of the laptop. If they had informed me when I first bought the warranty upgrade I would have been able to dispute the purchase via Paypal.

So yes, Dell (the machines) have been good for me (for the most part), the company? A whole different ball game. It's not even played on the same planet.

 

dtwn, How strange I have had no issue here at all. I have had a full replacement AW18, 1 replaced keyboard and 2 new screens. All fixed next day. Warranty and Tech Support has been the saving grace

 

I was going to run a setup similar to yours, but with 770s or 765s coupled with the 12. I wound up going with the Precision as I got a great deal on it. My techs are probably off their rocker because I'm based in NYC and the techs are also crazy New Yorkers. That doesn't excuse the atrocious phone service though. I was incredibly displeased with Dell over the stolen laptop issue back in 08 or 09 and switched to Elitebooks/Asus/Clevo. It is pretty ironic that I'm back to Dell partly for the relative ease in transferring warranties across international borders, but I absolutely detest having to use their service. I would have liked to stick to HP's Elitebooks but they're way overpriced and don't seem as well-built as the previous generation.

For my XPS 12, I've had three returns, 3 motherboard/fan replacements (2 for the high pitched noise, 1 for the fried MB after a BIOS update failed). One tech failed to screw the back panel screws all the way in so one of them fell out, and since he was also the same guy who stole my tools, I had to go about with a missing screw for a while. I told a couple of service reps and they couldn't help laughing. I don't blame them, it was pretty damn ridiculous. I think that may have been one of the reasons they were willing to give me a refund despite it having been about 6 months later.

I finally go through to someone who seemed somewhat competent and brought my call to a close before it hit 3 hours. Hopefully, he'll come through.This call was one of the worst ones I've had with Dell since I got a number of rude/aggressive service reps right off the bat.

 

Despite all the reported issues with the XPS 12 I was like #yolo and bought it anyways. I've had it for about a day and I have some first impressions.

I've never liked Dell's new style with the very rounded corners. Even in this case it's a design choice I don't appreciate. However, the ID of this laptop is quite nice when it comes to the aluminum edges and matte finish. It makes up for it.
I really like how almost the entire laptop is this very nice soft touch material. It's very fingerprint resistant as opposed to horrible glossy plastic. It still attracts oil over time, but it comes off easy with a drop of water and a little rub.
I was surprised by the weight of it. Although it's quite small it seems to weigh more than it looks like it would. Unfortunately due to the weight and size I've found it's harder to use as a tablet than I first thought. I find it's only really comfortable to use for only a few minutes at a time if standing, which is alright if I'm using it as I'm walking around in my house. Otherwise it's pretty much only good for couch use, which I'm fine with. I absolutely love putting it in stand or tent mode while I'm in bed, makes for a comfortable experience with the touch screen. The keyboard is pretty good to type on for a laptop. The touchpad is large and feels nice, although it can be a little funny with scrolling and its sensitivity. Overall it's very usable.

I did encounter that high pitch sound when I first plugged the laptop in. It lasted a couple seconds and disappeared. The only way I've been able to recreate the sound is by quickly zooming in and out on google maps, oddly. Also it does not seem to happen at all when the screen is on its lowest brightness setting. Otherwise I have not heard it other than those two cases. Not a problem for me.

I have not had any problems at all with the screen ghosting. Maybe it's because it's brand new, but absolutely no trouble there. The screen is rather nice, and the touchscreen has been flawless. The screen has been very accurate. I have not once touched something I did not mean to, even with no scaling on.

It was an annoyance setting the laptop up initially. The one I purchased had to install over 50 updates and did not come with Windows 8.1. It was easy to install it all, but Microsoft's servers were being a bit slow so it took a few hours to download everything. Otherwise the installation process itself was very quick.

I was pleasantly surprised that this laptop came with basically no bloatware at all. The only thing I had to uninstall was McAfee and Intel's wireless tool. Otherwise the only other bloat on there was Dell's support software, which I left on considering it was pretty unobtrusive. The only driver update that I needed to install was for the audio driver. Out of the box there was a very loud hissing noise when using headphones. The driver update fixed that.

I find myself disappointed with Windows 8. I see what they were trying to do, and it works quite well, but the absolute lack of app support makes the modern UI absolutely useless for me. The touchscreen is so accurate that I find it very usable in regular desktop mode, so I replaced modern UI with start8 and I prefer it like this.

Something odd I noticed was the bending of the bottom of the laptop. If I hold the left side of the laptop in a certain way either in laptop mode or tablet mode, my fingers put pressure right on the fan, and the case bends inward and touches the fan causing it to grind. I'm not holding it hard, just the weight of the laptop on my fingers is enough to put enough pressure on the bottom to make it touch the fan. A lot of the time it isn't an issue because the fan isn't even on. It's still a strange problem though.

I absolutely love all the fine touches that they put into this laptop. I've noticed some pleasant similarities with my old XPS 1640 (which is falling apart because plastic). Things like the dark blue PCB motherboard, the very easy to access and clean internal components (besides the fact that it uses torx screws which strip super easily), the LED on the power cable, the small size of the power brick, the packaging, the power LED changing color with low battery, backlit keyboard, etc.

Overall I'm happy with it as of now. No issues to report.

 

Sadly enough after 4 days, the screen showed ghosting around the edges. Probably going to return it. Really is unfortunate.

 

Damn that sucks, I passed on this laptop because of that issue. Sorry to hear .

 

Sorry for the silence from me.... I received my i7 256 refubished from the Dell Outlet just over a week ago. I really wanted to put it to serious use before giving feedback on here.

I am way more pleased than I even thought! No ghosting or IR, so far. Really, no problems at all! Wireless is rock solid, the keyboard is really fantastic (really why I chose this model) the touch screen is perfect and the size really is excellent... I was worried it would feel small coming from a 13".

So, I have to believe that there are many XPS 12 models out there without the problems... those owners are just happy and not seeking out these forums to list their complaints.

Of the original Yoga, Asus Zenbook touch and this XPS 12, Dell literally blows the others away. It's such a better laptop, I wish I would have bought this one sooner.

 

25% off sale right now on the Dell outlet! Dell Outlet Home Grad Days of Deals | Dell

 

That's a lot of refurbs.

 

Just wanted to update everyone. After more than 10 screen replacements, I have gone in for a full refund. The "new" screens didn't fix IR. The notebook is beautiful, and I am surprised Dell is throwing money down the drain to provide service instead of just providing a decent screen

 

Here is an interesting conversation I had with Dell's twitter support people.

Me: "Are you guys aware of the XPS 12 image retention issues on their displays? They're very common. It happens on mine too."
Dell: "Hi, thanks for reaching out to us. Yes, we're aware of this. Please DM system service tag with owner's name to look for the available options to provide a solution. "
Some useless stuff in between
Dell: "Our experts are still testing this model to find a solution for this issue. As of now there is no ETA on this. I'll get back to you as soon as possible once I receive an update."
Me: "I don't want to have to deal with this problem. It's been a known issue for over a year and yet apparently it's too difficult to just replace LG's awful LCD panels with something that works. Really ruins such a nice laptop."
Dell: "I understand that this is time consuming. Please bear with us, as I'll get this sorted for you once the resolution is out."
Me: "Are you able to confirm that there is going to be a fixed display for this laptop?"

I probably won't get a response for that last question until tomorrow, but apparently they do acknowledge the problem and they admit to not having a fixed display at the moment, which conflicts with what other people have been told.

 

"Our product team is working on this. Once we get an update about the resolution, we will follow up with you."

Was the response to the last question.

 

If you guys are interested in the i7 256 model and have Ebay bucks, you can get one for about 630 after cashback on MS's manufacturer certified store. Ends tonight. $721.99 and 93.XX in cashback. Cheaper than anything I've seen on the Dell outlet and about $500 less than paid for my 512GB from the outlet since I don't have to pay taxes on the ebay purchase. Of the 3 sold, I've bought two. The first was at 799.99 on the first day of the sale before they cut it down to 769.99 then 721.99. My first unit has a warranty till 7/2/15 (July 2nd? I always get confused switching dating styles between countries).

It also came with an awful buzzing noise but I'm going to let it run for a few days to see if I can work out the kinks. BIOS update and messing around with processor settings seem to have helped. It tends to kick in when the CPU is under heavy load and plugged in and charging. One of the latches for the rotating screen is also remarkably stiff. It was stuck in laptop mode unless I applied unreasonable amounts of force. Waiting for the second to arrive to see how that one works out.

 

That is seriously a Great deal!! I'd jump on it if I hadn't just bought one last week for similar deal on the Dell Outlook with a 25% off coupon (see post above). Thanks for sharing, anyone on the fence should, make the plunge, it's an amazing machine!!

 

Continuing on:

Me: "So a solution is expected?"
Dell: "Yes, We will keep updated."
Dell: "Hi Jordan, as per the update replacing the new LCD panel for this model can fix the issue. Please confirm current residing address, tel#, email and best time to call, I'll setup the service for replacing the LCD."

So I'm going to let them replace the display and see what happens, but I assume it won't fix the issue because of the numerous times other people have had their displays replaced. I guess we will see.

 

Hi All. Just thought I'd pop back in and report that after about a month with my "new parts number" display panel, I still have zero IR. Since others have reported the same (or just a hint of negligible IR), it might be that Dell's finally got this one fixed. Hopefully, any new machine or machine refurbed because of IR will have this panel. I'm very happy with my own screen, at any rate. I honestly didn't expect it to matter much to me, since the IR didn't actually impact performance. But, it was a constant little reminder that something wasn't working right, and it really does feel better to use the machine without it there.

For those of you asking about battery life, I get 10 hours of negligible-load use (MS Word, reading comic books) with the wifi turned off, 6-7 of internet surfing and general mixed use, 4-5 watching movies, and like 2 hours playing games. Battery report says that my average is about 7.5 hours. That's all with brightness set at about 30%, which I find is perfectly fine for indoor use (this is a bright screen).

Anyone buying a refurb, or even a new machine (which can include cleaned up machines that someone returned after two weeks, frustratingly) should run a battery check. If you're not familiar, go to the command prompt and put in the following:

powercfg /batteryreport /output %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\battery_report.html

That'll put a battery report on your desktop, which you can then open to see the state of your battery. It'll tell you a bunch of useful stats, including the average amount of battery time you're getting. Most importantly, though, it'll tell you the health of your battery -- how much of its original charge it can still hold. It'll say what the factory max charge was (in mW/h) and how much you still get. For refurb machines especially, this is important, because Dell seems to leave the old battery in. I don't know what they consider an acceptable charge loss on a refurb, but if it's too low you might try to get a replacement (and "too low" to you will probably be influenced by how much you paid, since you could always just buy a new battery anyway at some point). At the very least, it'll tell you what battery life you can expect.

But, yeah, I'm really enjoying my xps 12 now. Gorgeous screen, impressive build quality, great battery life, fast boot time, probably the best keyboard on an ultrabook -- I'm pretty pleased. If only it had been like this from the very start...

 

Update from me also... Screen is still good after the most recent replacement.

 

After having screens replaced twice on 2 XPS 12 (Ivy bridge models) - that's 6 in total counting the original screen - I received a call from Dell technical support here in Germany who basically said the exact same thing. They know there is a problem and that they are working on a solution, yet they don't know how long it will take to find a fix. It was actually very refreshing to hear the guy admit all this and not just say "hey try another one" like I had been told the day before.

After a long chat with Dell UK, they agreed to give me a refund but would not offer me a XPS 13 (maybe because I bought the original XPS 12's from the outlet store). After a quick search around I found a 30% off code, and with the latest Haswell XPS 12 on offer for £850, I decided to take a punt and purchased 2 brand new XPS 12's, core I7, better trackpad yada yada for the same money as I originally purchased the IB laptops for this time last year.

Yes they still have IR issues. I know, not good, but I put faith in Dell to sort it out eventually. Plus I have to say, it's better the devil you know sometimes. I cannot fault the Dell service I have had in the last year (obviously some would question whether so many problems should have existed in the first place!), and I know for sure that trying to deal with Samsung or Lenovo would probably be much worse. Also the deal was amazing IMO

So anyways, new XPS12: finally bloody good battery life. Yey. Trackpad is infinitely better. Yey. Not had any issues with fans or any other noises. Very happy. Just not about the IR.

 

If you look at my most recent update post the support guy told me "replacing the new LCD panel for this model can fix the issue... I'll setup the service for replacing the LCD."

Keyword "can", so they aren't guaranteeing anything.

 

I've found an okay solution for the high pitched charging sound. For me, it only occurs past 98% charged. Therefore, going in to the BIOS and setting the battery to custom mode, and setting it to stop charging at 97% almost entirely eliminates the sound.

 

That's good to know. I've had units that had the high pitched noise at 98% as well as some that kicked in at lower levels. Will make the change to see how that goes. 2nd unit from the Microsoft refurbished store arrived pretty much D.O.A. Died after 10 minutes of use. Screen went nuts and had to shut it off holding the power button, but was unable to turn it back on. Waiting for a replacement. Despite having some terrible luck with the XPS 12, I really do like the hardware.

 

It really is a shame how Dell's Design Engineers did such a good job with the overall design of the XPS 12 but then failed at so many little things that almost ruin the laptop.

 

I think the reality is they have a production line or quality control problem. There are good ones out there; so many reviews that don't mention the problems we know of. And my new i7 93QQ has been rock solid in the three weeks I've had it. ...knock on wood.

 

okay....seems like quite a few problem with this model huh.....

Just ordered 4th gen intel i5 Dell XPS 12 from Amazon.com LOL

Am i going to expect alot of problem with this beautiful machine? :'(

 

Don't feel bad. My Yoga 2 Pro has a high pitch noise when charging also, which I had replaced, just to find out that the replacement ALSO has the noise.

 

Epic C,

So how do I initiate a likewise LCD replacement? Is it hit or miss that they will actually deliver a better panel? You mention your "new part number" LCD, how do I check my current part number and then compare to a replacement?

Is it as easy as contacting support and simply saying, I'd like my IR problems on my current XPS12 fixed with a replacement panel, and do most techs know this is an issue?

Just curious.

THanks,
Eric

 

Alright, just had my screen replaced.

Original: https://www.dropbox.com/s/m2oeofo980meefg/2014-06-17 16.06.13.jpg
New: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qnmk203878mzgrz/2014-06-17 15.57.06.jpg

I guess we shall see how it fares. No IR as of 10 minutes.

 

Good luck to you, I hope this one works out better. Thanks for posting the pics.

 

Anyone tried the Samsung Electronics 840 EVO mSATA 0.85-Inch Solid State Drive MZ-MTE250BW

Amazon.com: Samsung Electronics 840 EVO mSATA 0.85-Inch Solid State Drive MZ-MTE250BW: Computers & Accessories

 

Wow that is a great deal. I'd get on that.

 

It's been around a month since I had one of my XPS 12 9Q33 screens replaced with a truly fixed version. Still no IR.

 

Two days later, the new screen is certainly showing very light IR. With my old screen, it only showed around the edges, but in this case, it covers the entire screen. Looks like I wasn't so lucky.

Although I wonder if the people who say they've been a month without IR are just not noticing it with regular use, or if they're actually running a test like the checker board?

The IR is so light that the image has to be on screen for a long time, and even then it's very hard to see. If it doesn't get worse from here I could consider this a solution.

 

Just call tech support and tell them you have the IR problem and you hear there's a new panel to fix it. In theory, the tech should know about it, and should be able to specifically order the newer panel (different parts number) for you. I'm sure the quality of techs varies, of course, but it's now in their database so it shouldn't be an issue.

I'd argue that IR so minimal it's unnoticeable except through the checkerboard test counts as fixed IR. However, I've run the test repeatedly, as well as chronically looking for IR in all the usual places it showed up before, and still no hint of it after more than a month. If my bright white Firefox browser bar can be up for hours without retention, then there ain't no IR happening. (I actually wish I could just get over it and stop looking for it, but months of wallowing in its visibility trained me to be constantly trying to notice the retention.)

 

Thanks Epic - will try to contact support soon before my warranty goes out.

 

I do sort of agree, the IR is very minimal for me and it does not effect my usage at all. However, I'd much prefer a completely IR free screen, considering this laptop is supposed to be a premium product and I spent so much on it. I'm also worried it might get worse from here.

 

So are these things still plagued with screen burn in issues? (or other issues) its on my rader as a system to get but that screen burn in is just a deal killer for me.

Edit - I should say on newly bought units. Not repairs.

 

If you read back the last ten pages or so you'll get all the answers you need about the image retention. Note that it's NOT burn-in, though -- it's just temporary image ghosting. It's also fixed (or enormously reduced) on recent machines. There are other issues too, that pop up on some machines and not others.

You'll find the same problem on many other current ultrabooks, since it's a problem with the manufacturing technology as much as anything else. So, if it really bothers you, you'll want to be very careful which laptop you buy. Most of the problems with the XPS 12 seem to show up on other laptops from other manufacturers as well, including the wifi and buzzing issues.

 

Hmm do they have SD card readers? I thought I seen they did in my research but seen something that implies they dont.

 

Nope, no card reader...

 

Damn, ok thanks that removes it from eligibility then.

 

Hi there!
Is it possible to switch motherboard from 9Q23 to 9Q33's to upgrade my XPS i7 to Haswell i7 version? Or maybe, it's possible to change the processor only on the main board? Maybe anyone has such an experience
Thanks!

 

Hi all, issit 'safe' to upgrade to Windows 8.1 now? Thanks.

 

Yours is a 9Q33 model (the latest)? Then, Yes absolutely! 8.1 is so much better imho. You'll need to install several additional rounds of updates even after 8.1. Keep checking until there are no more. You then may need to go to support.dell.com and install updated drivers, but Dell has made that incredibly easy with their auto detect. Good luck!

 

Many thanks! I asked becuz I read previously someone mentioned the auto-rotate is buggy after upgrading to Windows 8.1 & Googling yielded no useful results