XPS 14 UltraBook Owners Lounge

May just be me, but I don't see anything in Color Management that allows me to switch to anything called Generic colour.

 

On the Color Management Window, if you don't have any entries listed in the box below the label "Profiles associated with this device:", then you don't have any customization of your color scheme. If you do have one listed, you can try to remove it to see if that changes the look of things.

 

Has anyone out there upgraded to an SSD after purchasing? I've realized you have to opt for the $2,000 version in order to get an SSD through Dell (you also get 8GB RAM/i7). I might as well wait for an X1 Carbon at that price.

 

I don't see any profiles there, but I can switch between "Generic color" and "Splendid color" from the mobility center (Win + X).

I was going to say the screen looked like a badly compressed JPEG image at the edges of things, but switching to Generic color seems to have fixed that. I no longer have little bright halos around dark objects, or if they're still there, they are much less noticeable now.

 

Could someone post a picture with the bottom off their laptop? I want to see how it compares to my XPS 15 and specifically the wireless set up.

Secondly could you download Inssider and tell me how many networks you can see in comparison to your old laptop in the same place?

 

Hello all,

I'm new to here and looking for support. Just got my shiny new Ultrabook 14, Core i7, HDD 500GB, but bought a Crucial 256GB SSD which I have physically installed. Before I installed it I took a backup using Dell Datasafe to USB stick to be able to restore factory image to the SSD after installation. But I have a few questions....

1) As for everyone else, I got the problem with the RAID configuration with the mSATA and I have removed the RAID partition on this disk.

2) Now, my problem is that no matter what I do and what RAID settings I change, I cannot get the machine to boot from the USB. Booting from USB is just not an option, so I cannot reconfigure the new drive.

3) In addition, i get the PXE-E61 and PXE-M0f errors from the Realtek PCIe Controller related to Media Test Failure and no bootable device.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks,

Euan

 

Yes it doesn't make sense on Dell's part, so plenty of people are upgrading to SSD (you need one that is 7mm high). I am even selling an SSD-upgraded XPS 14 on ebay.

 

You are pressing F12 and it doesn't give you an option to boot from USB?

I didn't try Dell datasafe.... my method was to create a Windows 7 system image on an USB drive, and create a Windows 7 recovery USB stick to boot and restore the image.

 

awesome, good to know

 

Nope, just Hard Disk, Network, mini SSD or Diagnostics

Ideas anyone?? The USB key is plugged in in the USB3 port, powered on but no option to use it.

 

Ok, I tried another USB device and I see the option to boot from it. Must be a bad USB key. But this brings me back to another problem.

I removed the HDD and installed the SSD. In the BIOS, when I turn it on it recognises the Crucial M4 SSD as the Fixed HDD. No problem there. But then, as soon as I try to boot, I get an error from the Realtek PCIe GBE Family controller

PXE-E61 : Media test failure, check cable

PXE-M0F : Exiting PXE ROM
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key.

Does that indicate a problem with the SSD? Do I need to install drivers, format it? How can I get to a CMD prompt to do this? Very frustrating..

I can connect the old HDD via USB enclosure that I have and boot from there, but it seems to have an issue recognising and configuring the SDD to be seen as a bootable drive. Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

PXE ROM - its trying to boot from a network. Change the boot order to USB, SSD then Network. Make sure the USB is plugged in at the time otherwise the BIOS doesn't list it as an option.


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So finally? Can msata be used as OS drive? How high would the difference between the msata and samsung 830 ssd be in terms of performance?

 

Excellent - that's the ticket

 

Wow good tip. Fixes the sometimes grainy/exaggerated artifacts in images and video (text always looked fine).

 

Yep, bingo - that's fixed the weird blue outline surrounding toolbars in Visual Studio / SQL which I mentioned earlier.

The downside is that the colours look slightly washed out and the text isn't quite as sharp but hitting Win key and typing 'clear' for the clear type font calibration sorts that.

 

For you guys who need a Windows 7 x64 Professional ISO download, you can get a legit one here - Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs

You will need to use the license key under the metal tag on the base of your laptops though.

 

I7 3517u
8 GB DDR3
Samsung 830 128 Gb SSD
Nvidia GT630M + 1 GB GDDR5

CPU 7.1
Memory 7.1
Graphics 4.5
Gaming Graphics 6.6
HDD 7.9

Struggling to explain that.

 

Post 342

 

Disregard, solved.

 

Maybe it's because it's a new card and the Windows ratings haven't been updated. Try running a free benchmarking tool such as PassMark on both machines and see how they compare.

However, if gaming is your priority then is an Ultrabook really an appropriate choice?


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It's not, just found it really strange. My 4 year old desktop card scores better than that. I know it's not the best of measurements but still...

W7->W8

CPU 7.1->7.1
Memory 7.1->7.1
Graphics 4.5->4.4
Gaming Graphics 6.6->6.1
HDD 7.9->8.1

Running off the mSATA, more measurements that make no sense. Love the xps though.

 

Wow, great tip! Display is SIGNIFICANTLY better now!

 

I can think of two possible explanations for the low graphics score:

1. The Nvidia driver might be slow. I believe it is a version 29x driver, while Nvidia is on 30x drivers now. Unfortunately, they don't appear to have 30x drivers with Optimus support, so we can't upgrade.

2. (and I think this is more likely) the desktop graphics test isn't enough to make the machine switch to the Nvidia card, so that score is based on the performance of the integrated HD4000.

 

Yep, that was the ticket on this display guys. Excellent find and thanks for sharing. I'd buy you lunch if you were around

Went back thru full calibration (colors, clear type, etc) and this display now looks pretty awesome. Still not a MBP, but so close to my Latitude E6510 1080p display that it's hard to tell the difference, probably b/c of the Gorilla Glass. Anyway, better than acceptable display now, vs marginal w/ this set back to Splendid Color.

This pretty much fixes 1 of 2 issues for me. The second being the terrible reception on the wireless card. I attribute it to the aluminum case and only 2 antennas. But I'm going to try another router (years on my current one and time for an upgrade) and see how it does.

Good stuff!!!

 

Thought I solved this but I guess not.

Replaced spinner with Samsung 830, vanilla install of Win7.
Put Win8 RP on the mSata.

BIOS see's both drives just fine.

Win7 doesn't see mSata at all. Diskpart, computer management, whatever, just not there.
Win 8 boots off mSata just fine, and sees both drives just fine.

Metro sucks more than I thought it would, but want to put it back in service as storage for now. Wondering what I could have done wrong?

 

Hmm sounds an odd one. Boot up from your Win 7 USB stick and select Install - then select the mSATA drive but instead of installing just use the install procedure to format the drive. Reboot and Win7 should be able to see it.

If not, see if it's listed in Device Manager - if so, right click and select uninstall. Then reboot and see what happens.

Agree re Metro. What a sack of ...


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Cheers, that's what I figured.

Weird that Windows 8 booting off mSata took over the bootloader, put in boot manager and added windows 7 sata to the list. Formatting the drive nukes MBR and of course USB based install's don't support recovery. Just ended up reinstalling all to save the hastle of trying to create recovery media.

I could probably get used to metro but they didn't even do a good job of it. IE: Installed "apps" is different from "programs and features?" Application can be present in one or both.... Lot's of duplicity is the most annoying part for me, that and the lack of windows key plus first three letters of application name, enter.

 

Not to mention the hidden shutdown button! At least Alt + F4 still works.

It horrible and one reason I bought a new laptop now rather than in the Autumn. Windows 8 is to 7, what Vista was to XP. Roll on Windows 9..!


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Just put my 256GB sammy in, installed windows in AHCI mode. Same problem: No msata drive.
Here's the fix: Your msata drive is still part of a raid volume so you need to press f2 during post, go to sata operation or whatever and set it to intel smart response tech.

Now you need to save and restart. You'll now get an option to press ctrl I to enter the RAID setup menu.
So press ctrl I, go to convert drives to non raid (or something like that) select your msata drive which should be the only one anyway. Highlight it by pressing space and then hit enter to remove it from any raid config.
Exit your raid config.
Restart machine and go back into the bios with f2.
Reset sata operation back to ahci, save and restart.
Now when you get back into windows your msata drive will be discovered and installed.

Job Done!

 

I know this is way OT, however...

I don't understand. You don't like W8 but you're holding out/looking forward to W9? What do you think that's going to look like? If W8 was a stepping stone with Metro, W9 will be a quantum leap and give you 100% of that UI. I think it's funny how many anti-W8 folk sound like that crotchety old man on his porch waving a fist at the world as it passes him by. If MS had changed nothing to W7, people would say there was no reason to buy W8; they made a change and people are saying they don't like the change and there's no reason to buy W8. So if MS was damned if they did and didn't, they might as well do, right?

Also, I never understood the "I'll stick with W7 until W9 comes out." So you're going to stick with MS until MS comes out with a new OS from MS? On behalf of MS, thank you very much. So long as you're using their product, you're not using a competitor's and MS wins. Food for thought.

 

If MS really wants widespread adoption of the Metro style UI, then they had better start forcing laptop and desktop manufacturers to integrate touch screens into those two hardware platforms. Banking on tablets only to move the Metro interface forward just isn't going to work. They could force the hand of the manufacturers by not allowing licensing of the OS for hardware that doesn't have the touch screen. Quantum leaps in software sometimes require quantum leaps in hardware to go along with it.

 

Metro is Gnome 3 relaunched. They're dictating to people what they want (When has that ever worked?) and doing a -poor job of executing it.

Have you tried the preview? It's awful, Win7 was great.

 

Cheers.

Problem was, I was reading IRST as Intel Rapid Start Technology rather than Intel Rapid Storage Technology. Soon as the driver installed the drive went into that RAID mode and disappeared.

Need a stronger wall to bang head against. Thanks.

 

I'm a Professional Windows developer. Windows 7 is superb and highly useable. Windows 8 is disjointed, awkward and barely anyone likes it. History will repeat itself. 8 will flop and MS will back track and my money is on Windows 9 being desktop/laptop only with a separate OS for tablets - which is how it should be.

As a business user, we consciously skipped Vista in favour of XP when migrating off Windows 2000 in the hope that Vista's successor would be more polished, more stable and more compatible. We were right. And I think I will be right with Windows 9.

Try 8 for a day, you'll want to throw your laptop under a bus within 30 minutes. Just read all the blog comments out there, I'd say the ratio is something like 9:1 who hate it. MS are being stubborn and it won't work.


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For those who did a fresh OS install on a new drive, does your USB3 sleep and charge still work?

 

Yes, mine does. There is a BIOS setting to enable/disable it, make sure that's turned on. It's intel smart connect if memory serves.

 

Two questions:
1. Can the XPS 14 run dual external displays in an extended desktop fashion (not just 2 copies of the same thing)?
2. Has anyone tried the Targus Superspeed USB 3.0 docking station (or anything similar)?

Thanks!

 

Guys, pls test the key beside the ENTER KEY - its a bug.........


Press once or press shift with this key once - nothing will happen.- no input.

We must press AT LEAST TWICE and can see the inputs.......
Somemore - Press shift with key TWICE ! - will input "" and Press key once will input ''.

Please note that other models are ok except XPS 14

 

Which key are you talking about? UK keyboards have a different layout around the Enter key to US keyboards. I presume you're in the US as the " key in the UK is Shift & 2.


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Just got my XPS-14 last night, and I am very relieved...
1. After changing the "Splendid" display to "Generic" in the Windows Mobility Center, the display is razor sharp. I even had to turn down the brightness, which is something I've never had to do on any other laptop.
2. WiFi works like a champ, giving me my full 10Mbps Internet speed no matter where I go in the house. I even went outside to the very end of the pool and still had full speed (my router is in an upstairs closet, so that's pretty impressive).
3. System seems very snappy and responsive. PhotoShop CS2, Visual Studio 2010, Dreamweaver, VMWare Workstation running Virutual Windows XP. Everything just works, and works FAST!

The viewing angles are lame, but that's about the only bad thing I can say about this laptop.

 

u try the following keys


"" or ''

- yes US version of keyboard

 

That key is working just fine for me, both the single quote, and the shifted double-quote. You may have a defective keyboard.

 

No issues with my " or ' keys here either.

 

I'm OK with Windows 8 and got a couple other people to upgrade.

It takes a while to get used to it but once you get it, its awesome.

I used it on my XPS14 which is my main work computer so I give it pretty heavy use.

I'm not a big fan of Metro but other than that I believe it kicks !

 

Hi All

Mine has finally arrived. I only say finally as it took me lots of deliberation, DELL were rather speedy delivering. Really pleased with it, so thank you everyone for sharing impressions and encouraging the purchase.

So now I need to get a sleeve. Has anyone tried one of the Joli Original or Pack and Smooch options? I know they are designed for macs but they look great, and don't add much bulk. Any other suggestions welcome...

 

Waterfield Designs makes great pouches for about the same price: Laptop Sleeve - Notebook Sleeve - Computer Sleeve - Laptop Case - Windows - Linux - Android - TSA Checkpoint Friendly | SFBags - WaterField Designs
I've got one for my XPS-13 and really like it, and am considering getting one for my XPS-14.

 

Just ordered one and wanted to know what power adapter does this unit use??

 

If you ordered an XPS-14 that comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GT-630M, then your power adapter will be like mine:
Model DA90PM111, [email protected] (90W)
If you ordered an XPS-14 that only comes with the Intel 4000 GPU, it comes with only a 65W power adapter, and I don't have the info on that adapter.
Note that I have been trying to purchase a second DA90PM111 power adapter from Dell for the past few weeks, with no success.

 

I have a two part question:
1. Has anyone figured out how to force the NVIDIA GT630 to come on so that we can get a real measurement of the graphics performance in the WEI?
2. In my search for some kind of on/off switch for the NVIDIA, I discovered that I do not have a Dell QuickSet tray icon on my machine, even though it is installed and apparently running. It usually shows up as a squiggly "Cs" tray icon, or a big capital "A" tray icon. I've already uninstalled the Dell QuickSet and re-installed it with no luck. Anyone know how to launch this app?