XPS 14 UltraBook Owners Lounge

I took a look at the laptop today at a small Dell shop in the mall. This is one nice machine. I thought the display was pretty good quality for a non-ips display. I don't know why you guys are saying it's grainy, but I thought it was very good, although it is reflective. The viewing angles were decent. This thing is heavy though, for a 14 inch laptop. I have a 5.5lb HP 15.6" Probook, and machine felt just about as heavy (I know it's actually about 4.6lb or so). This might be because the machine feels so dense, but that's a good thing in my opinion. It feels very well built. I'd say on par with Apple's build quality, but we won't know about the quality of the internals until a few more of us test them out. I also picked up the XPS 15 and that one is still a lot heavier. The keyboard is pretty much identical to the XPS 13's, so nothing new there. To be honest I don't prefer this keyboard, but I can get use to it. The sound quality was pretty good, but I wasn't able to test it on any other surface other than the table.

 

The screen is the only thing I dont like, other than no dedicated button to disable the trackpad. I speakers are top notch, very loud and full sounding

 

Actually, I'm surprised to hear the criticisms about the display. The XPS series was known for its display. XPS units were normally overbuilt, underpowered a bit but the displays were beautiful. I think the problem with the 14" displays is that there just aren't that many manufacturers making good 14" panels. The Thinkpad displays are horrible in the T and E series. The 14" envy Radiance is closer to a 15" display. The new LG in the Gigabyte U2442N looks decent for a TN panel. Now that the XPS line has been resurrected, it would be nice to see Dell simply improve on their current designs and pay attention to the displays in the XPS series and make them second to none. That is how they did it in the past and it seemed to be a successful formula. The XPS 14 needs more graphic power and a crisp 14" display, something along the lines of the old RGBLED display in the Studio XPS 16.

 

Cowboy, please, another question for you!
Do you think is it possible install two SSD drives with the same storage space (ex. Samsung 830 256GB on SATA + Samsung PM830 256GB on mSATA) and configure them in RAID 0 mode? In this way the performance can increase even further...don't you think so?
The only doubt is, is mSATA bootable?

Thanks in advance.

 

Everyone and anyone just wants to find ANYTHING wrong with it. Seems like you people can't be satisfied with anything.

 

Sorry talking rubbish

 

You saying right, I'm sorry! But I need to change my old notebook and, considering the money I've to spend for it, I want to be sure of what I'm going to buy! I hope you can understand me!

 

Thanks for the tip ejl1980! Just ordered the 128gb for $89.99, that code started working early this morning as rumored.

I wanted 256 but the cheapest price I could find was around $230. Currently running dual 128 Intel 320 drives in my E6510, so I'll just have to do something else for the time being until a deal shows up on a Samsung 256. Maybe I'll drop one of the Intels in an external enclosure or just pop a couple of SanDisk 32gb fit drives in for the time being.

 

They didn't have time to remove it. The final release will be different.

 

Or you can get a mydigitaldiscountssd bulletproof drive for the msata slot and boom, storage and speed!

 

Anyone have an idea if the integrated graphics will drive a 2560x1440 display through the mini displayport?

 

Should be possible as there are RAID options in the BIOS and the mSata is listed in the list of 'boot order' devices in BIOS. You'll probably find the mSata is SATA II and the main SSD is SATA III, so the main drive will most likely be faster than the mSata which may affect RAID.

 

Bill said they struggled to find suppliers for 14" panels that were (a) edge-to-edge and (b) supported Gorilla Glass. Although personally, I think the display is pretty good.

 

I didn't understand very well! ?_? Do you mean that mSATA interface on XPS 14 is a SATA II (3GB/s)? Or do you want to say that, is hard to find a mSATA drive SATA III compatible!

Thanks for explanation!

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

Why would they use PM830 instead of PM800 or PM810 if it was SATA II? Also on the top model the mSata is 128 GB boot drive if I'm not mistaken and the 1 TB drive is 5400 RPM, again, makes sense they are both SATA III and the optical drive is SATA II.

 

CPU 7.1
Ram 7.1
Graphics 4.8
Gaming Graphics 6.7
Harddrive 7.9

 

Actually, I can't confirm whether or not the mSATA is only SATA II. I thought I read it somewhere but that may not be accurate. Best confirm with Bill.

 

Finally got it in the mail today, beautiful machine! Perfectly timed with the 128GB Samsung 830 going on sale today. I have the 8gb RAM going in tonight and the new drive should be in later this week.

 

This may have already been discussed, but how would one reinstall Windows 7 on the XPS 14 after replacing the HDD with an SSD without an external optical drive?

 

Experience Index Time! For the i7+630m the results are as follows.
Processor - 7.1
Ram - 7.1
Aero Graphics - 4.3
Gaming Graphics - 6.7
Primary Hard Disk - 5.9

Now to test some light gaming on this.. Like crysis 2! Yeah? Yeah..? No... I'll take some requests if ya'll have them, and if i can. Also, if you want 3dmark stuff.. That's expensive benchmarking software.. yeeeaaahhh..

 

Can you test League of Legends? Wonder what the max playable graphics are

 

Make a bootable USB stick and copy the contents of a Windows DVD on to it then install from there.

Or some SSDs come with cloning software, although clean install is always best.


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Yeah! Samsung 830 SSD 2,5" is one such!

Jabbok, I read your signature...I'd like to know please...has your XPS14 system came to you with a single SSD (512GB Samsung 830 on SATA) or with two SSDs (256GB Samsung 830 on SATA + 256GB Samsung PM830 on mSATA) in RAID 0? Thanks!

 

The results are in! for a few things anyways.
Cold boot- From pressing the power button to being at the windows desktop took 34.6 seconds. Not bad.

Minecraft, no mods. Strange, i couldnt get a good fps on it. It would drop from ~90 to 12 and then back up to 60. I'm not sure why.

The elder scrolls: Skyrim. Using the game's auto detect(1600x900, high preset and 8x on both filters) it was extremely playable when walking through markarth and slaying some elves in the open world. the 630 is rather capable. I may download mass effect 3, but as of right now, i'm unsure. All the tests above were on battery power. So, this looks very promising.

Heatwise? The keyboard did vent a little heat, but the unit itself didn't get very hot at all. As for the fan? It's noticeable, definitely, however; the speakers are loud enough to down it out. If that's not an option, it eventually just becomes background noise.

General use. Fast, responsive. No fan noise(that i can hear) while watching youtube or just browsing the web. Sounds pretty nice, but becomes distorted at higher volumes.

Geez, i might as well write a full review at this rate.. Well. That's something to ponder, actually. Anything else, aside from league of legends, that someone wants tested?

 

Just a single drive.

 

I have the XPS 15, but hardware info identifies my msata drive as 6Gb/s and my 2.5 drive as 6Gb/s and my BD drive as 1.5 Gb/s

 

Can you test batman arkham city?

 

has dell done away with the 20-30% coupons and such?

I haven't bought a dell in a couple of years (work has only allowed us to buy HPs in the last couple of years so I have the elitebooks). But for my personal laptop, I'm looking at a Dell XPS 14 now (actually debating this vs. the hp envy 14 spectre). Is it likely that we'll see decent coupons with the back to school coming up in a few weeks?

PS. If one of you have made a decision between xps 14 and the hp envy 14 spectre, I'd love to hear how your decision was made. I'm kinda torn between the 2.

 

If you want to buy it for me.

When i bought my xps 14, i managed to get a 200$ dell giftcard(education special) and 5% back as another giftcard through the dell advantage program. So, it was effectively 280 off the laptop. As for between the hp and the xps? It all depends. the envy is cheaper, but has no gpu. The dell is more expensive, but has a gpu. Whatever's more in tune for your needs.

 

Since the Sonys came up as alternatives to the XPS, I wanted to comment on the subject...

I took a look at the Sony S13 and S15 recently. Here are some impressions:

S13: Overall, I was fairly underwhelmed with the display. I don't know what it is about a lot of panels lately, but the pixel matrix is visible such that a (particularly vertical) line pattern emerges. I've noticed it in a lot of recent laptops, and the S13's display was no exception. The contrast wasn't that great, either. In part because of some backlight bleed, but also it seemed to just not have a very deep black level. Vertical viewing angles were quite narrow. On the plus side, it felt pretty light and the trackpad and keyboard seemed to work fairly well. However, the lid was pretty flexible, which didn't feel so great. I did like that it had a standard-voltage CPU (so higher base clock speed), a 640M, and an optical drive, though. So, it's significantly more powerful than the 14. I think the main sacrifices vs the 14, based on the impressions people are giving me here, are inferior display and a significant step down in build quality.

S15: Incredibly awkward keyboard, in my opinion. I have to agree with Dell's decision to omit the tenkey on the XPS15. The leftward shift of the trackpad and main keyboard feels really odd to me on a 15 inch chassis. The display seemed pretty good; definitely better than the S13. Build quality was about the same as the S13.

 

But you also have to remember, with the sony laptops, if you even open up the laptop? The entire warranty is voided. No user upgrades, no nothing. All you can do is go to your local sony store(if you have one) and pay however much they charge. Which for me, was $80 dollars for a single 4gb stick of ram. Yeeeeaaaaah. Plus, having messed with a s13 and now having my xps 14? I would take my 14 in a heartbeat. This is also because if something happens, i can have a dell tech come to my home(i live in texas, near dell headquarters to boot. So, thats a personal bonus). I just think the dell is the overall winner.

 

I think your impressions are spot on. I am very underwhelmed by MOST of what Sony puts out these days. I used to be a hardcore VAIO guy and helped run an old (now defunct) forum called VaioVillage. Back in the day, Sony, while proprietary, produced stellar hardware with incredible (for the day) LCD screens...at an incredibly high price compared to the competition. It's not that way now IMO. Most of what they produce is no better and in some cases worse than the run of the mill Dell, Lenovo, HP. That being said, the price of those VAIOs have now come in line w/ other brands. But only until you pay a premium for a VAIO do you get anything better these days. Some of the high end VAIOs are on par w/ XPS, MacBook Pros, etc. But that's a totally different ball-game and price point.

Anyway. I think if you want something well constructed these days, your best bet is XPS, Latitude, HP ProBook/EliteBook/Envy/Spectre. Not overly familiar w/ Lenovo stuff these days, but I'm sure they have an equivalent.

Just my agreement and 2 cents on Sony's stuff these days. Nothing to write home about.

 

Even if that's true, there's nothing stopping you from just taking the RAM and ssd or whatever that you put in back out of the computer, then shipping it to Sony if you need repairs or whatever.

 

another question: how many RAM slots are there on the new XPS 14?

 

Just a single slot if I correctly remember the review! Can someone confirm it?

 

sorry for the barrage of questions.. but where would I be able to see this machine in person? I live in southern california and it doesn't look like Dell has a dedicated store here..

 

From what we understand, Dell has no physical stores where you can try the devices! The rule with them, unfortunately, is: "you like - you buy".
They then offer a valuable support service, next day!

EDIT: I correct myself There're stores but I think not near to where you live.
(There's not one store in Italy! )

EDIT 2:

Is it a Samsung 830?

 

Meaning Dell selling it with single channel DDR3 1333MHz and no upgrade option . Can someone give a 3DMark11 bench, both on Intel HD4000 IGP and 630M?

 

Well i was having a bit of a play with mine on the weekend and battery life is great and the whole unit is nice and solid. I updated everything that was on their site and had a go at diablo. I was a little disappointed when the fan started to take off like a jet it was very noticeable. Maybe not as loud as my pc but not far off.

 

That is also my question - do you know if the 512gb SSD is a Samsung 830?

 

My XPS14 came with the 512gb Samsung 830.

 

That's cool!!!

Thanks!!

 

I am surprised about the Graphic 4.8. It probably shows my lack of knowledge but I was expecting a much higher number. My three year old Studio XPS 16 gets 6.7 and I expected the new Ultrabook to actually be higher than my three year old machine (guess it must be a compromise in hardware for compactness and size (and maybe cost) - got to be tradeoffs some somewhere).

I would appreciate any insight on the 4.8 graphic number.

Thanks

 

Integrated vs dedicated graphics I suspect.


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I am sure this is the reason as well, I am not using the notebook for gaming so this works for me, I like everything about the notebook except for the weight which I will get used to.

 

when do you guys think these will on DELL OUTLET? hopefully they will have them up there around labor day weekend and hopefully dell issues 20% coupon for that holiday

 

Can any current owners test something for me? Openup a game or note pad(or any thing that can accept a key input) and hold down any letter key. While holding down the key, try moving the mouse with the touchpad. Does holding down a key lock up the touchpad for anyone else? It will unlock if you press another key(while holding the original key), but will lock up again if you press and hold another key. Has anyone experienced this?

 

Never. It's such a great machine, no one will ever return it

 

Yes. You need to turn Palm Rejection off in the Dell touch pad utility.

 

For anyone interested, I have benchmarked my two SSDs.

On the left is the 128GB Samsung 830 that I fitted myself, to replace the 500GB HDD. On the right is the 32GB Samsung PM830 mSATA that was installed as standard as a cache drive.