XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

thanks for that.

 

guys i wanted to ask something the dealer i m buying my dell xps 15 from said that the one he ordered has an m2 sata ssd.....wht is its difference from the msata ssd?is it inferior or superior and why mine one has a different ssd?is it officially coming with a new ssd now?

 

As I've said earlier, the fact that the difference between the two CPUs is so trivial makes it very clear that the CPU change is not intended as some sort of mid-cycle refresh or upgrade. It's either part of the coil whine fix and/or because Intel is discontinuing the existing CPU and has the 4712HQ as its replacement.

Both the Asus and Lenovo models you mention are significantly thicker and heavier than the XPS 15, so it's not exactly a fair comparison, and frankly the differences I think make it clear that the XPS 15 is simply aimed at a different market from those other two. For reasons I've already given multiple times in this thread, I don't expect a GPU refresh on this particular system. If the existing GPU isn't good enough for you, then either buy one of those systems if you consider them legitimate competitors or wait for the next-gen XPS 15, whenever that's released. But of course by then there will be something else on the horizon that may be even better, or your GPU expectations might be higher. The bottom line is that this system is at a particular spot on the performance vs. thin/light continuum, and if you want something skewed more to the performance end, then happily there are such systems available, but this system probably isn't the one for you and may not ever be. But looking over the specs of both the Asus and Lenovo units, I can see several ways that each of them falls short of the XPS 15 in aspects that are more important to me than GPU performance. And then of course there's the fact that Dell is one of the only (THE only?) companies left that still has on-site service, which is extremely handy for people who don't have a secondary system to use if something goes wrong. If you use your system for critical work/school purposes and your system dies when you're working on a big presentation/paper, you don't want to be told to mail your system to a depot and expect it back in a few weeks.

The most likely explanation is that the dealer is wrong. Technically it would be possible to use an M.2 SSD in this system, but since you don't have a second M.2 slot or a mini-PCIe slot, you'd be giving up WiFi to do so. As for superiority vs. inferiority, that would depend much more on the particular SSD being used than the connector itself, but M.2 has higher potential performance. An M.2 slot contains interfaces to PCIe, SATA 3.0, and USB 3.0; the device gets to choose which to use. So if an M.2 SSD used SATA 3.0, it would be no different from mSATA. If it chose to use PCIe, then if the SSD itself could exceed SATA 3.0's bandwidth limits, it would be faster.

I would ask the dealer to tell you which model SSD is in the system. The only M.2 SSDs I'm aware of at the moment come from Intel.

 

Hey guys, I have the midtier version and I've been using this laptop for about 2-3 months. It's been great, but I seem to be having a serious issue with the battery. It's sitting at 95% with 3 hours left. ? Do I need to reformat this thing, or what's going on? Nothing is blasting away my CPU and my screen brightness is at medium. Even with some programs running, 3 hours is ridiculous. Is this normal, or is there something wrong with just mine?

 

Don't put a ton of faith into the battery life estimates; make a determination based on how much battery life you get in usage. That said, 3 hours would definitely be on the low end but not necessarily indicative of a problem on the mid-tier version with the smaller battery -- especially if you have some app open that's causing the NVIDIA GPU to remain active, WiFi to be constantly passing significant traffic (file server, media straming), and/or USB devices that draw significant current (e.g. smartphones recharging). If you haven't already, also turn off the Bluetooth and NFC radios if you don't need them.

 

Hmm I see. I don't have anything going on that you've mentioned, but I've turned off Bluetooth and NFC, and it seems to have gotten a bit better. But it's still at 3.5 hr at most on full battery. Thanks though!

 

lampmonster: I get 5 to 6 hours with the big battery, so 3.5 with the mid tier is not completely unreasonable.

* Have you tried lowering the screen brightness? That's one of the pieces that uses most battery.

* Also, if you use the touch screen, it will drain sensibly (once you don't use it it will go to sleep after a few minutes).

 

Dell have told me they are testing a new bios to fix the noise issue *sigh*

Can't see it working myself...

OTOH they have agreed to let me replace my own palmrest and screen as I am toshiba certified and not able to take a day off to meet a dell engineer so I am pleased about that.

Failing the BIOS not working I am allowed to have a full refund.

 

The only possible area I think of that the BIOS could do to fix this is modify the CPU C-States? That's all I can think of logically.

Fundamentally its a hardware problem. Terry recently replied in the Dell Community Forums thread, no news on when the revised mobo's will be available, but sounds like there coming and providing the correct warranty/service is in place i.e. NBD (which all of should of got, minimum of 1 year), we should all be able to get replacement boards when they appear.

 

Agreed on the other advantages of XPS (battery - though probably not the margin, looks, light form factor and - for now - the screen until Y50 comes with UHD). The argument from weight standpoint - not really. You can definitely put 850m inside and the heat would not be much higher (if any). The Y50 has a bit inferior build in general and Asus has that and other things that holds it back - optical drive for instance. There are other laptops that are lighter - and more marginally more powerful (unfortunately not very good looking) and then there is Razer. Yes, yes, the Razer thing again - but if you can put 870m in that form factor than XPS can definitely hold 850m.

Whether it needs it is another point. I have been following multiple other forums here and everybody talks Y50, Asus and some mention Gigabyte. Asus is really not that great but the reason why its in those conversations is that it has 850m.

 

Does anyone have an idea what today's Synaptics touchpad and SM Bus driver release is meant to accomplish?

 

the dealer told me that its a crucial M500....here is the link he gave me and told that i have the 512 gb version of this ssd in my laptop... Crucial M500 240GB SATA 6Gbps M.2 Internal SSD [Crucial PN: CT240M500SSD4]:Amazon:Computers & Accessories my laptop has been ordered from UK so i dont get it why am i getting a different ssd?

 

Ok, yet more evidence that the dealer is mistaken about his own product. The Crucial M500 is not available in 512GB form. It has a 480GB size and a 960GB size, but no 512. The M5 50, on the other hand, does have a 512GB size. And additionally, both the M500 and M550 are also available in mSATA form factor, which I really think is what he's got. I would ask him how he's retained WiFi functionality if he's installed an SSD into the M.2 slot. If he says that he's got both, then there's just no way the SSD in question is an M.2. You could even refer him to the XPS 15's service manual on support.dell.com so he can see for himself. In the dealer's defense, mSATA and M.2 have somewhat similar-looking connectors, but then again dealers should be familiar with what they're selling.

In any case, there is no version of the XPS 15 thus far that has two M.2 slots, and to my knowledge there's no single M.2 card that has both an SSD and a WiFi chip built into it, so there's no way this system has both an M.2 SSD and built-in WiFi -- so I'm back to my theory that the dealer is mistaking mSATA for M.2.

Lastly, Dell has also never shipped the Crucial M500 or M550 in this system from the factory, so the system you're buying isn't entirely OEM components and thus the SSD wouldn't be covered under Dell's warranty.

 

yes u r absolutely right...he is mistaken coz he now told me that the form factor is m2 sata but its samsung m2 sata nor crucial...actually he was trying to convince me that this dell xps 15 ssd is superior to the pci based flash used in the macbook pro so he said its not a traditional ssd its an m2 sata which is superior to the pci based flash(even then hes wrong coz i think pci based flash is the fastest ssd available)...so i think hes confusing the m 2 sata with the msata for sure.....dealers are supposed to know more than that

 

i see the touchpad but not the smbus driver?

 

You have to keep in mind though that Dell is not targeting the XPS 15 to compete against the likes of the 550 or the Y50 at all, but they're going after Apple's MacBook Pro 15. Right now the Y50 is only available with an FHD screen but once they start shipping it with the 4K screens I would expect prices to jump a fair bit to be more comparable to that of the XPS 15. The trade-off is you get higher build quality but a lesser GPU. I believe for the XPS 15's target demograph the 750M is sufficient. The XPS 15 is certainly not a gaming laptop.

As for Razer, yes they showed that you can cramp a ridiculously powerful system in a compact, high quality laptop body but you also have to factor in the price, which is stratospheric even compared to the likes of Apple. Their top end system with 512 SSD runs well over $3,000, a full grand over the top tier XPS 15. I believe Dell can put in a 850M in the XPS 15 if they wanted but that would likely nudge the price of the system too close to the MacBook Pro 15 Retina, and Dell would like to have that price gap/separation to help better compete against it.

Secondly, Dell does have a gaming laptop line, the Alienware line. I bet they won't want to make the XPS 15 too gaming-capable and risk cannibalizing their own Alienware sales this way. Honestly, the reason that Dell won't put an 850M in the XPS 15 is likely not technical but probably more from a business standpoint.

 

Doesn't exactly sound groundbreaking - I'll let someone else be the guinea pig....

Code:

Touchpad_Synaptics_W8.14_X14_A02_Setup-DTR5R_ZPE.exe
9530_Input_Driver_DTR5R_WN_17.0.15.84_A02.EXE

Release Date:	 20/05/2014
Importance:	 Recommended
Version:	17.0.15.84, A02

Fixes & Enhancements
Fixes
- Added disable navigation in the button zone option to the GUI.

Enhancements
- Improved edge swipe performance.

 

Hi all,

I've recently bought a Dell XPS 15 9530 (the full spec. one, QHD+ and 512 GB SSD).
I've a weird problem with this machine; everytime I switch it on (from a complete shutdown), it suddenly shut off just after the POST screen (dell logo) comes up. At the second try it always start like a charm and loads the operating system normally. Windows does not show any error (uncorrect shutdown or so on). This does never happen when the machine is started from suspend mode.
Switching off Rapid Start Technology and then the machine a couple of times usually solve the problem for a while (don't know really how and if Rapid Start Technology is involved).
After a couple of days the XPS turns to the wild and begins to shut down again.
It's not clear to me if this is an hardware or software problem as software integration with BIOS these days makes troubleshooting much more difficult.

Does anyone of you have the same problem or has an idea on how to definitevely solve the problem?

Thank you,
Simone Meggiato

 

Yes, y50 is in a tiny bit different category - but asus definitely isn't. 850m is upper mid tier card, just like 750m was. The thing is that very other large computer manufacturer has refreshed GPUs - asus, acer, toshiba, Lenovo etc. this is not necessarily asking for an upgrade to gaming laptop but to keep up with the competition. The only one that lags behind everybody is Apple - which is to be expected. I'm fearing that dell wants to play that card as well.

Regarding the price - it wouldn't increase - it wouldn't have to at least. 850m is not 870m by a longshot. Would Dells margins get a bit smaller? Yes - probably. Would they sell a lot more computers? Yes probably. Also top tier razer is not 3k but 2.7k so there is $350 difference between the two not 1k. Naturally xps Has more affordable warranty.

To your point it is not a gaming laptop - yes. Than again, 850m is not a gaming card per say just like 750m wasn't. Also, the point about Alienware is a weak one mainly because there is a huge growing market for portable mid-tier gaming machines which xps 15 with 850m could be, but none of Alienware model currently is. They are all bulky and heavy and just plain impossible to use in professional settings. Either Alienware needs to loose weight/come up with a new slim model or xps 15 can take that post. I think xps 15 makes a lot more sense.

 

the new touchpad drivers broken the swipe from left gesture, no matter what all it does now is open up the menu instead of changing to the next page.

 

It's included in the same update, although not mentioned in the title.

 

well they messed up the driver, you can't swipe from the left to change full screen pages no matter what setting you have selected so i rolled back to the old driver

 

Sorry, I should've mentioned that I'm going with Canadian pricing for the Razer, which is $3030 CDN for the top 512 model, versus the top tier XPS 15 which retails for $2300 here, same as the US. Not quite $1K difference I agree but $730 is still a significant gap, for Canadians I guess anyway.

Anyway, I'm not really defending Dell on their decision not to include an 850m on the XPS 15, just that they're doing it for business reasons, not so much technical. Probably one of those situations where they don't want the consumers to have their cake and eat it too.

Would they sell more XPS15 with an 850m, likely, but would it be worth the slimmer profit margins? I have no idea, I'm guessing they've done the analysis and decided it wasn't worth it. Maybe they're saving the 850m for the next major XPS 15 release would be my other guess, instead of throwing it on a mid-cycle refresh they'll wait to make the replacement model more distinctive instead of it being a middling upgrade.

Or they could just be plain incompetent, that's equally likely and wouldn't really surprise me given how they've handled the entire coil whine fiasco.

 

I ordered a spare laptop charger to use. However, it seems I accidentally got one with the larger dell style plug. Does anyone know if there is somewhere I can purchase a plug adapter to make it work for my 9530?

 

Haha - well said! I think they are keeping it for the next one and they either have their reasons or they are incompetent I guess we will never know. It's more of a wish at this point 750m handles most games ok - gives me 25fps even with witcher 2 on 1080p on high. But 35-40 would be nicer . The thing with these graphic cards is that they are pretty comparable at lower details but once you crank it up - it does show and they fall off.

 

It's been mentioned quite a few times in this thread: Dell Cable - DC Power Dongle : Connected Classroom | Dell.

And here is the correct adapter that comes up in the Accessories store after you specify the system you have: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=332-1829. Still, I think having the dongle is a better solution since there are a lot more Dell AC adapters out there with the standard plug.

 

Yeah, I played Witcher 2 as well but at 1366x768 instead of 1080p, I tried both resolutions but didn't notice much difference. This thing runs Kerbal Space Program and Kingdoms of Amalur at 1080p just fine though. I'm okay with the "subpar" gaming performance since I'm primarily a console gamer anyway and I mainly got this thing to do photo processing.

However I just noticed that Lenovo Canada has added the Y50 in their line up and a Y50 with i7 4710, 16GB RAM, 512SSD and GTX 860M w/ 4GB only costs $1600. Damn, can't help but feel a bit of buyer's remorse now lol.

 

First Impressions: Love the laptop its definitely in my opinion the best looking XPS. Insanely quick. keyboard is very nice to use, many ports really happy with it all.

Cons:

Touchpad can be a bit flakey and getting used to it can take a while i do miss separate buttons for the clicks.

Bar that getting to the resolution takes time to. Just wish 8.1 is more refined, still not a polished OS like XP or windows 7

 

you guys have to see that the lenovo clearly doesnt have that good a build quality plus its more heavy,its battery life isnt that good either just a 4 cell battery.then yet there is no 4k display either...and most of all they are selling it for a lower price just coz it might be a TN panel anyway and its an antiglare screen which mostly just sucks....so in short not a good quality display either...dell xps has the most colour accurate display contrast is 1660:1 and dells price is definitely high due to its display.....so in short if gaming was ur primary target then yes u shud have a remorse but if build quality screen quality battery timing alll these matter to u more i have no question that dell beats lenovo all the way....

 

There are a ton of pages in this thread and so I am going to ask some questions regarding my new Dell XPS and hope someone can help 

1. Touch Pad Issue 1 – If I try to click the bottom edge of the left click button, it doesn’t work. I have to click more towards the middle of the left click button. Is anyone else having this issue? If so, how do I fix it? Is this a defect? Can I get Dell to fix it by replacing the touchpad?
2. Touch Pad Issue 2 – I had the touchpad on my old laptop where the buttons were separate from the touchpad. Now with the new touchpad, and I try to have my fingers on the buttons while using the touchpad, it doesn’t work properly. Is it not supposed to be multi touch? Shouldn’t I be able to have my fingers on the buttons slightly but also mousing around the top part of the touchpad? Is this a defect as well? Can I get dell to fix it?
3. Switching to a SSD – I have the 1TB/32GB ssd.. Would it be worth it to switch the 32gb for a 512gb ssd. Is this possible? Or Do I have to switch the 1tb for a 512gb ssd? I am a noob at computers, so how much faster will this be? I would rather not spend the money but if the performance is much better then I will.

Hope my questions make sense haha and thanks for your help in advance
Thanks!

 

Yes u can do both.you can get an msata 512 ssd and clone the OS on it from the HDD and then use it as a primary hard and the 1 tb HDD as storage....also u can get a Samsung evo SATA and clone the OS on it and replace it with a HDD..both situations work.but the msata ssd method is a bit complicated I have read many ppl here having difficulties....and trust me an SSd is totally worth it.go for it.

 

well some parts arrived today, new keyboard, new screen and a touchpad instead of a palmrest... waiting for a call back tomorrow to see if they will ship the palmrest to let me fit as I can't take time & don't fancy waiting for a workshop repair. well unless they are going to let me keep the original unit during that time, or 3rd options build me a 3rd laptop maybe.

new panels got a couple of dead pixels in the taskbar area so I am waiting to see what they want to do. QC is poor.

I have paid for 1 laptop, as of today I have 2 sat here, an additional trackpad and keyboard with do not return wrote on the box and a screen with we will collect tomorrow wrote on it (wont be in for that like i wasn't in yesterday to collect the original laptop)

 

1. Update your touchpad drivers and also install the touch screen firmware update, which apparently improves the touchpad. But yes, I've noticed that clicking in the absolute corner isn't as reliable as clicking just slightly inward but still along the bottom edge.

2. Multi-touch does not mean you can leave one finger on your touchpad doing nothing while mousing around with another finger. It means that you can perform gestures that involve more than one finger, such as two-finger scrolling or pinch to zoom. It sounds like you just need to adjust your previous mousing habits, because you'll frustrate yourself if you constantly keep a second finger on the touchpad just waiting to click. I just kind of suspend my thumb in the air in front of the machine. and rotate it inward when I need to reach the click area.

3. If you don't want to spend the money on an SSD, don't -- but an SSD is an absolute paradigm shift for computers, and you will never be able to stand using a regular hard drive again. If you've never experienced one, they will make your machine literally 3-4x faster -- I'm not exaggerating at all. For general usage (as opposed to specialized tasks), it is hands-down the single best performance bang for the buck upgrade, far more than adding a bunch more RAM or getting a faster CPU. For everyday computing, storage is almost always the bottleneck in system performance. To give you an idea, I got my first SSD back in early 2010. I originally had a 160GB 7200RPM drive that booted Windows 7 in 38 seconds. I cloned that disk to my new SSD (I purposely did not do a clean install because I wanted a fair comparison), and the SSD booted in 13 seconds. That was 4 years ago in the earlier days of SSDs. My XPS 15 with the 512GB SSD boots Windows in about 5 seconds. Applications don't really load anymore; they just sort of appear when you click on them.

Just to beat a dead horse a bit more, my first SSD was installed into an ancient Precision M6300 and easily gave it an extra 2 years of useful life. When my work gave me a brand new Latitude E6430 last year with more RAM and a much faster processor than my 6-year-old M6300, but a regular spinning drive, I couldn't stand using it. I actually ended up installing a personally owned SSD into my work system since they wouldn't pay for the upgrade and I got too frustrated using that system otherwise. SSDs really do spoil you. And since I work as an IT consultant in my spare time, I'll also tell you that every single family member/friend/client who I've convinced to get an SSD has come back to me basically saying, "I had no idea computers could be this fast and I can't believe I didn't do this sooner." Not a single one of them has felt that they weren't worth the price.

The 32GB cache unit helps narrow the performance gap somewhat, especially with routine tasks like booting Windows since those files will always be in the cache, but the cache is relatively slow by SSD standards and of course can't cache your entire hard drive.

As for upgrading, yes you can install an SSD into the mSATA slot to replace the cache. You'll need to go into your BIOS and switch the SATA mode to AHCI rather than Intel Smart Response. If you replace the 2.5" drive with an SSD, you should remove the mSATA cache entirely since otherwise you'd be using a slow SSD to perform caching for a fast SSD, which makes no sense. You should also then perform a clean install of Windows. If you don't know how or aren't willing to do so, there are a few extra hoops you need to go through to keep your existing Windows environment bootable after making that BIOS change. But either way, I would make sure you've got access to someone more tech-savvy if you really are a total noob before attempting this. It's totally worth the end result, but of course you have to be able to achieve that result.

And fyi, if you ultimately decide not to upgrade to an SSD for now, there are still some tweaks you can perform to get the most out of your cache. I put two pages on the XPS 15 Wiki on the subject, links below.

http://xps-15.wikia.com/wiki/Allocate_the_full_mSATA_cache_capacity_to_Smart_Response

http://xps-15.wikia.com/wiki/Increasing_caching_(aka_Intel_Smart_Response)_performance

 

Just curious - why 1366x768 instead of 1600x900? that should give you a fluid frame rate as well.

Yes - the only thing stopping me from Lenovo is that I'm waiting for the reviews of the screen and perhaps the weight. The one with touchscreen I like is 5.7lbs instead of 4.4lbs of XPS - thats a big difference. Still thinking about Razer - checked it out today, its a nice machine - the screen is not as nice as XPS (colours), the battery life not as great, and the screen is smaller - but its amazing piece of machinery. Oh and the warranty - you can't really beat Dell on that.

 

Yes - depends on primary use case. Gaming? Go for Lenovo/Razer (or others if you dont care about touch/looks). Work? XPS all the way. I think the build quality is nice - but not as great as XPS, the display is a big "if" - it's confirmed to be a TN panel which brings advantages (no ghosting, no glare) and disadvantages (colors, touch, viewing angles). The battery is going to be a lot worse and the weight is a big factor for me as well - 5.7lbs vs 4.4lbs is quite a difference.

I just wish Dell had 850m inside - there would be no discussion after that .

 

30% off the mid tier models via the VIP UK/IE club at the moment, a rather large saving to be had!

You have to click via the VIP link or the discount will not kick in & use the code listed that is 3MZ26CR?VCC5VX http://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdhs1/campaigns/dell-vip-home-page#campaignTabs-4

the 1tb model works out at £1000.30 without extra's

I am tempted to take dell up on the refund offer considering I already have a 1tb mSata drive sat here, pocket the £350 change toward another 1tb sata drive and take the battery hit after adding 3 years nbd and full theft and accidental damage warranty

 

Eh, I'm trying to minimize the load on the CPU/GPU to keep the heat down and therefore extend the hardware life. I intend to keep this thing for a good 4 to 5 years. I have only purchased two laptops in the past 10 years so I am averaging 5 years each and would like to keep it that way

As for the Razer, I am disappointed they decided to only include 8GB of memory on board, which I do feel is enough. Again, as I stated, I do a lot of photo editing/processing of very large sized files so 16GB was a minimum requirement for me. I'm not sure if the memory is expandable on the Razer or not but I didn't want the hassle to manually upgrade.

Agreed, my main concern with the Lenovos are the screens... they're mostly poor to crap for graphics purposes. With the exception of the QHD+ Samsung panel they used for the Yoga 2 Pro, all their panels have a reputation for having relatively low colour gamut. Also, for the no glare matt panel on the 2014 X1 Carbon, they're simply sticking a cheap matt screen protector on it to eliminate the glare, most people have complained about the low quality of the film in that it actually deteriorates image quality significantly and most have taken to removing it, I'm wondering if they're taking the same avenue for the matt Y50 screens.

 

from DELL-Terry B's Profile - Dell Community
DELL-Terry B in Laptop
ATSUKOP, If you are willing to wait until the re modeled system boards become available then your system should automatically have ship with the updated system board. If you do order one before they become available and the system has the "coil whine" you can contact tech support in your area and request a service to have the system board swapped out with the updated one, the type of service would depend on what service contract that you ordered with the notebook. TB
in reply to kuqiki in Laptop General Hardware Forum View original post
1 day ago
DELL-Terry B
DELL-Terry B in Laptop
Captain Colossus, thank you for asking. All, without having the remodeled system boards I can’t really suggest having a service now. If you do contact technical support please request the case number from your technician and keep it in your notes. As I have mentioned I am expecting further news when the remodeled boards will become available in the next week or so. I will post here as soon as I have any updates. I know that this must be frustrating, and I thank all of you for your patience...

 

I have just had it confirmed by dell that any swap out LCD panels are 2nd hand. They class them as refurbished. Considering that they are sealed units it is impossible for them to be refurbished. They are nothing more than cleaned and tested after a visual inspection, they can not physically do anything else to them!

Pissed me right off, my replacement panels back in the box dead pixels and all as its 4 months older than the one the laptop shipped with, the stickers on the labels are ripped off and it has marks on it.

nice one dell.

Has anyone gone down the refund path?
How long does the process take, as in how long does it take for dell to collect the laptop, then how long for the refund to go back on your credit card?

I may as well got for the mid tier model next and hope I get a better system followed by a mobo swap when the new boards come out as waiting may make me miss the 30% off code.

 

This is disgusting. Paying a premium price of $2500, to end up with a second hand, meaning used, materials.
Is not about the money, is about loosing the meaning and the main principles of paying premium basically to end up with used items.

 

Fair or not, using refurb (or otherwise used) parts for warranty service is standard practice in the industry, so I wouldn't go so far as to call it "disgusting". To your point of the principle of paying a large sum and ending up with used parts, that's why if you report a warranty issue very early in your ownership period (not sure what the exact cutoff is), you're offered the option of a system exchange instead. That way you get a completely new system rather than getting used parts.

But let's keep a little perspective here. First, LCDs tend to take a very long time to wear out, so it's not as if a used LCD is grossly subpar to what you had. Second, any QHD+ panels that ARE used couldn't have been used for terribly long at this point since they haven't existed for very long. At the end of the day your system and its parts are only new until you take everything out of the box. From there it's just a question of degree of used. Personally I'd be much more annoyed at getting a replacement LCD that had the issues I complained about on the original unit than by getting a refurb display.

 

This is standard industry practice. Every company does this, including Apple.

 

Yea, I am speaking generally about the refurbish situation. Not specifically for Dell. And just because the A company is doing it does make it less disgusting.
It is actually double bad because you are not just ending up with used material, you ending up with used materials that were bad or broken in the first place and got fixed(!), when you pay "premium price" for new.

These are true generic facts about warranties. The benefit of course is faster service and cheaper support for the companies because they recycle their bad hardware. If I had to choose I would go with fixing my existing defecting peace of hardware, than getting another refurbish one. If I had to choose, as this is not always the case.

In a similar case, I had personally opened a case with my Bank against HP and won, when I was facing major problems with an premium top of the line HP Envy. I end up loosing so much time sending the laptop back and forth, they changed so many parts without solving the problem, what was the point of paying premium, to end up with a used computer?
I won the case they took the whole thing back and even got a newer model as a replacement.

 

The question is why are these parts considered refurbished, refurbished implies a fault has been found fixed, tested and put in the graded part stock ready to ship to customers such as the printers I take out to customers. Yes this could be as simple as a bricked panel after a failed firmware upgrade but I very much doubt dells got a huge stockpile of these sat on it's shelf. mines got dead pixels so no doubt someones rejected it due to that and it has been shipped back. the original panel I have on laptop#1 had a rough patch and dust under the screen. I thought it was dirt but the dust is under the glass and the rough patch felt like a fingerprint but it wouldn't clean off with and standard cleaner, when a wet cleaners used it showed as an etch in the panel so I rejected the laptop. now some poor s going to get that stuck onto his nearly new 9530 and be none the wiser unless he reads this post and has a grope on the right bezel about 4 inches from the top of the screen, then he can go back to dell and say, oi w***ers this was stuck on GoNz0's laptop and you class it as refurbished!

 

error, delete please

 

Hi, I'm really worried because the wear leveling count is increasing a lot on my ssd. Are you sure it is normal?

 

Unless you want to use your SSD as a read-only device, wear leveling is only ever going to go up. It is a normal process of an SSD and it EXTENDS the life of the unit compared to what would happen without it. It is not at all indicative of errors on your SSD; it's simply correlated to the amount of write activity it's experiencing. It is absolutely nothing to worry about. This is the danger of too much information sometimes. If you're still worried, take a look at this excerpt from an earlier post I wrote on the subject of MLC vs TLC flash chips. Note that the part I'm quoting refers to the life expectancy of TLC-based SSDs; MLC-based SSDs would likely last even longer:

 

many thanks..but I think that my wlc go up too fast (4 months of life)

 

What makes you think it's increasing too fast? What rate would you consider normal, and why do you consider that rate normal?

And actually, I just checked my own SM841 that I've had for 7 months and I also have a Wear Leveling Count of 97. In fact, every single value on my CrystalDiskInfo report except Power On Count is the same as yours. That tells me that these SSDs probably don't report numbers accurately (or CrystalDiskInfo doesn't retrieve data properly for these units). That in turns means we don't have a clear understanding of what (if anything) these numbers represent on the SM841, in which case there's no way to determine what's "normal" or "increasing too fast", so there's no basis for getting worried about seeing a particular number.

Again, I don't understand why you're worrying about this. It's almost as if you're hoping to find something to worry about. Just use your system, and of course back up your important data -- not because of the wear leveling count, but because it's a good idea. I don't really have any more I can add that I haven't already said here, so if you're still worried, I guess I can't help you.

 

So my GF threw me a pull & peel licorice and it fell and hit my keyboard and my computer shut down instantly and said there was a system failure... Any idea what happened? Anything I need to do now? lo