XPS 12 Owners Lounge

I thought I would take some photos comparing my XPS 12 with my XPS 13, sorry about the crappy image quality:



I am having some problems with the fonts on certain programs with the 1080p resolution. I can increase the DPI which increases the sizes of icons and fonts, but in certain programs like Steam, Photoshop the fonts are really small and annoying:

 

The Dell ordering/tracking system appears to be pretty poor. I'm in the UK, ordered the full spec version on 9th November with an EDD of 5th December - its still in pre-production!

 

At least you still have an order.....I ordered on the 5th November (in the UK) with an EDD of 29th November, then it was erroneously cancelled by Dell on the 16th November! After sorting out the cancellation and getting Dell to re-order, I'm now left with an EDD of 13th December. I was informed by Dell on Friday that they have received a batch of LCDs, which was holding up production, so I'm hoping that things might start moving next week.

 

Can post some comparison pics with my M11X if anyone is interested. Even though the M11X has a smaller screen, it is much bigger (obviously).


Just started the XPS for the first time. Trying to figure Win8 out. Have never used it before. But laptop is beautiful. Loving it so far.

 

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on this, how's you guys take on the following:

*How's the fan activity/noise at 50-100% cpu load?
*Are the trackpad issues gone with driver updates?
*Are the fan issues gone with bios updates?
*Is the combination of 12,5" & 1080P too high res for using "legacy" programs?
*Is the I7 warmer/more noisy than the I5 version?

Would you rather wait for a lighter hybrid, or maybe a detachable one? Or is the hybrid thing just a gimmick, is a touch screen in itself enough?

 

Just got my XPS 12 and the Crucial 256GB SSD.
I couldn't find instructions on how to swap the drive.

Is the SSD under that panel in the middle of the back? Or do you have to remove the torx? I don't yet have a torx driver small enough if you have to remove them; are they a T5?

 

The SSD is probably under the W key on the keyboard. If you want to open up the XPS 12, be very careful as it is tricky to get the base cover off as it actually catches on the power slider. So you have to first take it off from the side that doesn't have the slider first. If you take the back cover off incorrectly and it catches on the slider, then the slider moves up slightly making it difficult to turn the laptop on or off which happened to me. I have to get Dell to replace the power slider now.

 

Yes it is a T5 Torx I would recommend a Multi Tool like this one: Amazon.com: Boxer 30 Pcs 4mm Precision Screwdriver Set: Home Improvement But be careful as some drivers are cheap aluminum and will break after 1 use but the Boxer so far has been great it is buit perperly and has a lot of hard to find bits.

And you have to remove the 10 torx and the phlips under the flap.

 

*How's the fan activity/noise at 50-100% cpu load? The fan is very quiet, even with some load applied. After installing Visual Studio, it was running backgound tasks to pre-compile code (post-installation tasks automatically scheduled to be performed during idle time), and I did hear the fan slightly change pitch (but not lout at all).

*Are the trackpad issues gone with driver updates? I never had any trackpad issues, but I've read that some people had the A04 BIOS update fix their trackpad issues.

*Are the fan issues gone with bios updates? I never had any fan issues, even with my original BIOS version.

*Is the combination of 12,5" & 1080P too high res for using "legacy" programs? Yes, it's a pain. I am forced to live with the "Medium (125%)" font size, but it is very usable with this setting.

*Is the I7 warmer/more noisy than the I5 version? I only have the i7 version, and it is not noisy, and it runs very cool (I can use it for long periods directly on my lap for web browsing & watching YouTube videos).

Would you rather wait for a lighter hybrid, or maybe a detachable one? Detachable keyboards scare me for two reasons. Not only do you have to be greatly concerned with the wear & tear on the connector, but this also forces the manufacturer to place ALL of the components into the back of the screen, which could result in heat buildup, unless they go for a much less powerful CPU and half as much RAM.

Or is the hybrid thing just a gimmick, is a touch screen in itself enough? Not sure what you meant here. All of the new "metro" apps are heavily dependent on the touch screen interface. Yes, you can use a mouse, but it is cumbersome and counter-intuitive.

 

Blimey, I hope mine doesn't get backlogged too ! I'm form the UK as well, ordered on the 22/11/12, have an EDD of 18/12/12 and still in pre production.
UJFB, hope you receive it by your EDD, keep us updated !

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I placed an order for one today

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps12/en/OM/om_en.pdf

There is the service manual that details how to strip your XPS 12 apart.

 

With the web site still showing the order as In-Production and the same EDD of 5th, I called Dell this morning. "blah, blah, unspecified component shortage, blah, blah, sorry but revised EDD is now 3rd January." I did inform them that according to the UK web site, if I placed an order today for the same model, it would be given an EDD of 1st January, 2 days earlier than mine which was ordered on 9th November. Not a happy bunny.

 

Thanks for the tip! I probably would have damaged my power button as well.
I grabbed a T5 from Home Depot and had the SSD changed very quickly.

Ubuntu 12.10 is up and running very nicely!

 

Got my xps 12 in the mail the other day..pretty awesome! Quick question..the metal XPS plate on the bottom of the laptop..does that come out at all and serve as a kickstand...say if I have it placed on a table? Lol, I can't find anything online and i'm too nervous to tug at it.

 

No it just hides the Windows 8 sticker.

 

Can someone test it with an active stylus ? (Wacom digitizer or n-trig)

Dell's forums are ambiguous about this subject

 

Hey folks, first post, been watching this thread with interest, ordered the i7 with 256GB SSD on 7th November to UK, was EDD of yesterday, but was still stuck in pre-production. Spoke to @DellCares on twitter and they said due to part shortages, they'd expect delivery to be around 27th December (but could be sooner), which is really frustrating.

There's no active digitiser (I wish it had one - I had a Lenovo X60T swivel tablet and it was fantastic), an active digitiser makes a big difference to the quality of the 'ink' especially for drawing and sketching. The surface pro has a 'active' digitiser, but works very differently to Wacom's technology, not sure it's pressure sensative. We should be able to use a passive stylus (same you could use with say the iPad), as that can be picked up in the same way a finger can, but obviously lacks some of the nicer features.

 

XPS Duo 12 - Wacom Digitizer Pens - New to the Community Forum - New to the Community - Dell Community

In this thread, a rep said that it should support the Wacom digitizer pens.

I'm very confused

 

I can definitely tell you the pen from my HP 2730p swivel tablet does NOT work on the XPS 12. However, a capacitive stylus does work.

 

As far as I'm aware, the Wacom digitiser stylus (certainly the one that came with the Lenovo X60T) uses a magnetic field emitted by the screen, and doesn't require any batteries. I'm fairly confident the XPS 12 doesn't come with this - it'd be awesome if it did!

It is possible there's a pen out there, that's active and hence able to work and feedback over say bluetooth, the only trouble is it'd need a method to identify whereabouts it is on the screen. Microsoft's surface uses some fancy invisible printed lines on the screen and a 'camera' in the pen, I'm fairly sure the XPS 12 doesn't support this either - so in most cases I suspect Dell are referring to passive stylus or a a third party active stylus (otherwise they'd surely be selling it as an accessory).

 

Maybe it's using N-trig DuoSense technology, like Asus taichi, Sony Duo 11 (and other Dell products like xps 15 -17 latitude xt) ? i read that somewhere before release on a website.

 

UPDATE : a moderator from the dell's community forum send me a PM, he asked dell about this topic :
I just got an email and I was told the only pen that works with it is the Latitude 10.

 

Hi Everyone -

Ordered an XPS 12 - i7, 128gb - with the Amex $150 statement credit promo. My EDD is 1/3/12.

I'm planning on replacing the msata with a 256gb crucial, but I haven't been able to find a clear walkthrough. I searched the thread, but may have missed it. Can anyone point me to a step-by-step?

Looks like the majority opinion is to create a disk image using the built in software - is an external dvd writer necessary?

Thanks in advance for any direction!

Keith

 

For those interested, I got 4hr 25mins from my first run down. This was with heavy internet use with the screen on 100% brightness at all times.

 

Can you please provide more details? Does the display port work?

At a link below a problem with nautilus was reported, do you have the same? Any other glitches?
12.10 nautilus on dell xps 12 does not work - Ask Ubuntu

How is the battery lifetime under ubuntu?

Thanks in advance. I think of buying XPS 12 exclusively under the condition that it runs ok under linux.

 

Well, I've had my XPS 12 around 2 weeks and I'm very very close to just sending it back. The touchpad is beyond useless and actually causes me to loose work and time as I attempt to navigate around websites. I'm looking at rightmove at the moment to try and find a place for my cousin. I double left click on the map and it zooms out and just keeps doing it. I double right click and it zooms out. If I pinch the screen it zooms in on the page but not the map so in come cases it takes me minutes just to get the view I want.

I click on a house and it displays a thumbnail, I click on another and it does nothing, another, nothing, another, oh...now its zooming out again, great.

Windows 8, which initially I liked is also a complete pain as the integrated IE app doesn't work properly with a lot of websites and seems to have flash restrictions because of it blocks plugins. I appreciate this will eventually be fixed but for the moment its quite annoying.

The track pad is now quite worn in the centre so clearly the coating they put on it is useless. I've had to disable all gesture controlling on the touchpad just to get the mouse to move with any sense of consistency. Overall I'm quite disappointed in this unit as its very expensive and lacks very basic functionality in that I cannot move the cursor across the screen without it pausing for no reason. I expect Dell will eventually get around to fixing these issues but I have two questions.

1. Why on Earth was it released in this state.
2. Can I actually put up with it until they do fix it?

 

well dam. I don't want to wait just under a month to receive it only for the trackpad to be as worse as some people are saying.

 

Ok, so I've had the xps 12 for a week now and have used it quite extensively. About the trackpad issue -- yes, it is a little buggy at times, but in my opinion not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. I DEFINITELY would not be returning it just because of that issue..the laptop is way too sweet! Most of the time, I noticed I have switched it to tablet mode anyways, so trackpad becomes a non-factor. But seriously folks, just be patient...drivers will come out to properly fix it. Too many people are over-reacting...we all know that new technology has its hiccups and things finally get worked out.

 

For those of you that are having issues with the touchpad try this driver. its the newest one for the XPS L322x and so for some if not all weirdness has been corrected.

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [US]


as for the stylus discussion I the touch screen per the dell diagnostic tool in del supportcenter is a Atmel maXTouch Digitizer and according to their site ot supports an active digitizer and that would be one that has a battery in it My cohort has some at my office and will try one and let you all Know what I find.

maXTouch S Series - Overview

 

Well Chris, if this pans out out, that would be the icing on the cake !

 

Not sure why some people are having issues with their trackpad. Mine has seemed to work perfectly from day one.
As far as the Windows 8 imbedded Internet Explorer, I never use it. I just installed Chrome and use it instead, and it works perfectly with flash and all the usual plugins.

 

My main issue with the trackpad is hesitation (ie. it doesn't react when I go to move the cursor) and I have to try 3 or 4 times before it responds. Additionally, it seems to randomly stop accepting a tap to activate links.

I think I may have fixed (fingers crossed) the issue by disabling the "Palm Rejection" option in the trackpad options menu. I've been using it for the last 2 days with the option turned off and my trackpad has worked flawlessly.

 

That's good to hear. I just checked my trackpad options, and the Palm Rejection was already checked for me when the laptop was delivered to me by Dell. Seems like a good option to keep selected to me!

 

Bad News i have tried an active stylus from the Latitude XT3 the Precision M6700 the Latitude ST and none of those active styluses work with this system and same goes for the pasive styluses for the Latitude XT and Latitude XT2. so if an active stylus does work then it isnt one i can get my paws on.

 

Anyone from Dell reading this, I would like to know if I can get a windows 8 (not pro) installation disk for a clean install on my XPS12.

 

It is definitely not perfect overall, but Ubuntu 12.10 works very well for me. I got over 4 hours use last night, on wireless, two-thirds brightness, streaming music continuously, browsing the web, occasional flash video clip; and it said I still had over 120 minutes of battery left.

Things I find do work perfectly:
- display port (I use a mini display port -> hdmi cable to monitors and tvs and it just works)
- wifi
- bluetooth
- usb
- display
- audio
- keyboard shortcuts under F keys (except for the monitor switch under F1 doesn't seem to do anything)
- install via usb; use the usb creator tools to turn the ubuntu cd iso into usb boot images; you can even use it for a while this way since it will write your changes/data back to the usb and not mess with the ssd until you say "install"
- the virtual keyboard "onboard"; for desktop use, and for logging back in after the screenlock activates

Things to tweak:
- go into bios and disable the security and enable booting legacy devices so you can boot off usb
- touchpad is currently just the basic one; no multitouch, etc; but this works fine for me; I'm sure there will be a driver update "soon"
- change the suspend mode to pm-suspend-hybrid; it seems to work perfectly then when you close the lid, choose sleep, battery runs low, etc
- as you noticed, there is a bug in the touchscreen driver that it doesn't send TOUCH_END events (at least I think that is the problem) so some programs in unity, like nautilus, don't work completely until they update the driver, or nautilus, or you disable the touchscreen; I almost didn't notice it since I don't use nautilus much
- ***** you have to invert the brightness settings with a boot option or the internal display backlight is off at boot; luckily I had the external monitor connected when I installed; I think it is "i915.invert_brightness=1" acpi_osi=linux acpi_backlight=vendor" in /etc/default/grub
- tie a shortcut to the side button so you can use it to rotate the display (optional)

Hopefully 13.04 will have all these fixes; and maybe 12.10 updates.

 

Could you please check the status of an order? Order Number: xxxxx Where is the unit in production?
3:14:55 PM Sandeep_Chakravarty Sure, I understand your concern and I will be glad to assist you.
3:15:00 PM Sandeep_Chakravarty Please allow me 1-2 minutes while I check for the information.
3:17:35 PM Sandeep_Chakravarty Thank you for staying connected. I appreciate your pateince.
3:17:40 PM Sandeep_Chakravarty Devin, I checked and confirmed that the order is in production. However, the factory does not share exactly what is going on in the production cycle.
3:18:00 PM Sandeep_Chakravarty However, the estimated date of delivery for the order is on or before December 13, 2012.
3:18:05 PM Sandeep_Chakravarty May I please know if you have an alternate phone number to share with us, as a Dell Case Specialist would keep a follow up and will contact you to keep you updated on the status?
3:18:32 PM

 

i received my dell xps 12,

works good

But i have a noise issue, it is near the power suply inut on the pc.
It is a very high noise, in the 10-15 khz.

wondering if i bring this back to dell...


i also have the touchpad issue

 

These steps help to solve most of the trackpad issues :
1- updating to the latest BIOS
2- Remove Cypress trackpad drivers, reboot, install the latest drivers from dell's website, reboot.
3- Increasing the sensbility by at least 50% (mine is almost @max) to compensate the the high resolution screen
4- Tweaking palm rejection, multi touch gestures as you as you like it

i'm a macbook user, after all this tweaks, the trackpad is better, not as good as the macbook trackpad, but it works well !

I think I'll add a layer of protective film screen (for tablets, to slide smoothly).

 

I would definitely return it. Mine is perfectly silent when operating normally.

 

As predicted Microsoft's decision first to forbid Flash in IE Metro then to allow it but only on a list of sites they worked on but not editable by the consumer will frustrate users and bring support teams to their knees.
My advice: use the "desktop IE", which is the same as in Windows 7, a little faster.

 

I'm on with a salesman right now deciding on if I should buy one for the online classes I just started. I take the train for an hour each way to work so will need something this small with a high res screen for studying.

Will probably be using it in tablet mode, but the wait time is almost a month... not the most patient person in the world... decisions decisions...

 

Welcome to the "waiting & pissed off" club. Call for support - the Beanos know nothing.

 

So much bad news and I can only add to it.

Ordered Nov 8th and my EDD was 6th of December. Because the unit was not gone into production until the 4th of December I knew that mine would be delayed too and called Dell. First I spoke to some woman overseas and she mentioned something like delayed and maybe to place a new order. I was so not happy about it and she suggested I talk to my salesman. So I called him instead. He then said he doesn't understand why it's delayed and that his information is that all parts for production are there already. He said he would get back to me.

It's such a shame now, no new information since Tuesday, no new EDD or any kind of information. I am so close to just threat to cancel my order. But then there is no real alternative (Yoga, cough*, no ) and Dell can let me wait as long as...grrr.
If I cannot reach my salesman tomorrow, I will call Dell again and then suggest some sort of online shop voucher for the long wait (more than a month already! Other people did not have to wait that long!!!).

Ah, by the way, I ordered in Germany.

 

What's everyones thoughts on the XPS 12 vs Microsoft Surface Pro?

I'm still waiting for my XPS 12 replacement as my original had a manufacture defect, but I'm considering cancelling and going for the Surface Pro. Decisions decisions...

 

Site compatibility problems:

Go use the Desktop IE. The Desktop IE is different from the Modern UI IE, reducing the reason to use possibly the most used application in Modern UI. Also, using compatibility mode helps. The Modern UI IE has no such thing, its featureless. The only thing good is the easy to click links to previously visited sites.

Touchpad issues:

IMO get used to using the touchscreen more. I barely use the touchpad because the touchscreen is far more intuitive in lot more cases, even in Desktop. If you want the touchpad better though, try uninstalling the Cypress driver from Control Panel's uninstall programs and reinstall the new driver. I can't tell you if it works well because most of the time I don't use it.

One thing that irks me about the Surface Pro is the battery size. The XPS 12 has a 47WHr one, and the Surface Pro has a 42WHr one. Considering that they are using identical platforms, the Surface Pro will have proportionally less battery life. Also, the keyboard is pretty good on the XPS 12. If there's one definite advantage I can see is that if I am sitting down watching a video I can adjust the angle to however I want. I flip the screen, then orient the screen as such so I'll see it not upside down. I'd have it partially open so I don't have to bend my neck 90 degrees as I'd do otherwise on a full Tablet mode.

You should try out the Surface RT at your local store. I assume general feel would be similar.

 

I FIND THE SCREEN VERY FRUSTRATING....

i explain:

you can almost remove the screen to use it like an ipad...but at the same time , you can't lol, So the pc is always teasing me...

I think i'll go to a shrink soon for that

 

Back on the 29th. of November, I posted a quick review mostly trashing my XPS 12's trackpad.
As of this post December 7th, my opinion hasn't changed.
I'm mistaken, opinion is the wrong word. The XPS 12's trackpad issues have nothing to do with opinion, it's a fact.
In-fact, it's so much of a fact, my machine is going back to Dell for a full refund.

 

Anyone been able to download the new trackpad drivers (2.5.1.27, A03) listed on Dell's XPS 12 site and dated today?