XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

Good to know. I guess given the amount of things in the drivers package these days (the Intel Graphics Properties application, the HDMI audio drivers, etc), I guess I'd just rather use the package that works without jumping through extra hoops, especially if the only benefit to having a newer driver is just that it's newer, as opposed to fixing some problem I'm experiencing. A few years ago I would have jumped all over finding workarounds to get the latest and greatest running just for the enjoyment of the challenge -- and don't get me wrong, that attitude taught me a lot about PCs and Windows in particular that remain relevant to this day in my job -- but lately I just like things to work, frankly, and thus sometimes I'll just go for the lowest-friction solution, even if it's not the sexiest and most cutting edge.

 

ha, yeh. This time I went dell for the intel as it was the same release as the intel site. otherwise I have always used Nvidia video drivers over the dell release for the games updates. I have stuck to Dell network drivers for stability as I got a lot of network connect issues resuming from standby on the XPS using intels latest offerings.

 

Looks like the XPS 15 finally has a Windows competitor, the ASUS NX500. 4K screen, PCIE SSD, 850m.

At the very least, with more competitors, it will hopefully force Dell to step up their game.

 

yeah i just saw it too today ASUS's Zenbook NX500 is a thin and light laptop with a 4K screen seems like a solid machine..a lil heavier than dell xps though but such graphics and 4 k display seems like 4k displays are gona be common in a few years on laptops now..not to mention the aluminium unibody look of the laptop

 

does anyone knows the reason for this results NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4702HQ,Dell Inc. XPS 15 9530
running the latest drivers

 

So far I haven't installed the synaptics driver as I rarely use the touchpad and besides that I feel like it works fine without any driver?

Is there any reason why I should install the synaptics driver? I feel like it is just another drivers + process running in the backround which doesn't give me any advantage anyway? The only thing I could "use" is mouse acceleration the touchpad. But ONLY on the touchpad as I don't want mouseaccel in games.

 

I just installed the touchpad driver, it's has gesture features that allow you to zoom in as if you are pinching your iphone. It has other gestures too, but I haven't really experimented.

Does anyone know if there is a program that turns of the touch-part of the screen?

 

I think there was a way to disable the touchscreen in bios? Or by disconnecting the cable.

I use all the gestures with the touchscreen so I guess there is one more reason why I don't need the touchpad driver? ;P

 

If you're happy with all of the default settings and don't need gestures, then I guess you don't need the touchpad driver. Looking at my Task Manager though, Synaptics apps seem to take a combined 1.3 MB of RAM, which on a system with 16 GB just doesn't feel like a lot.

I have the driver so that I can disable "tap to click" and also enable gestures I want (two-finger scroll) while disabling gestures I'll never use that result in a lot of misinterpreted input (edge swipe). I don't really scroll with the touchscreen because I scroll a lot, and using the touchscreen for uninterrupted, extended periods isn't feasible because it gets tiring having to hold your arm out in the air.

And no, there's no option to disable the touchscreen in the BIOS. There's Device Manager (which may or may not cut power to the touchscreen) or disconnecting the cable.

 

Nice! I wish I could see the I/O ports along the left edge and get a few more details, such as HDMI and DisplayPort revisions (if they have both ports), whether the 4K display is a touchscreen, the specific CPU and WiFi adapter, etc -- not to mention pricing and release date. I'm not crazy about the keyboard being silver and apparently not having high-contrast labels for the keys themselves, but since I'm not crazy about the font on the XPS 15, I guess I'll consider that one a wash.

 

just received my dell xps 15 today...first impressions are great...coil whine is barely there....lets see how it goes further...i m not impressed with the brightness of this laptop...i disabled the adaptive brightness still it doesnt look like 400 nits to me...plus the dark scenes in the movies are lil dark...i mean the when the dark scenes come u cant see anything that clearlyyy...it it due to the touch panel glass covering the lcd?

 

I doubt the touch panel has anything to do with it. But in a room with bright and/or direct lighting, the glossy coating would mean that perceived brightness of the display itself would be lower since you're also getting a lot of ambient light reflected back at you washing out the actual content. Still, assuming you have the QHD+ panel (do you?), I think you're the first person to complain about this panel's brightness after disabling adaptive brightness. On every other laptop I've ever used, I always set the display to 100%; on this one I keep it around 60% because if I used it at 100% I'd practically need sunglasses. Whether or not it's 400 nits I don't know or care. It can get a lot brighter than I would ever need.

Are you sure you disabled adaptive brightness in the power profile you're actually using? The easy test is to adjust your brightness controls and make sure that you have a full 11 steps of adjustment, all of which visibly change the brightness of the panel. When adaptive brightness is enabled, you'll still have 11 steps, but only 3 or 4 of those will actually trigger a brightness change on the actual panel.

 

Is it the new configuration with the i7-4712HQ ?

 

i have the top tier model and i previously had a laptop whose brightness was more than this...i m not saying its less....i m just saying its not that bright i can easily use it with 100 brightness for sometime too....or maybe i just got it and i m not feeling the 100 percent brightness that much...plus why are the scenes dark in movies?also mine didnt have any bloatware on it....even mac cafee is not installed...i dnt get it whyy......recommend some good antivirus which can handle the high resolution if this display properly plzzz...also on coil whine the whine is very less but if u go to the keyboard i=and put ur ear close it feels like some slight noise which is high pitched.....which wants to emit out of the keybOARD...the screeching scratching is very lesss though

 

no this iss the old one plus i got it shipped from AMERICA..its the US version which was supposed to have more nitsss...but mine doesnt seem that bright

 

You're asking why your system DIDN'T come with bloatware? Most people consider that a good thing.... As for anti-virus, on Windows XP and 7 I used Microsoft Security Essentials since it's lightweight, unintrusive, easy to manage, and FREE forever. Starting with Windows 8.0, that has now been integrated into the OS under the name Windows Defender, so I haven't installed anything extra. I'm pretty sure it handles scaling fine, but I can't check at the moment -- how often do you actually need to interact with your AV application anyway?

From what I've read, MSE/Defender isn't the absolute best in protection, but I'm pretty smart with what I do on my PC anyway, so all I need is a little extra peace of mind. If I were setting a system up for grandma, I might pick something more robust. If you feel the need, apparently Kaspersky and Symantec are both solid choices now, though neither is free. I loved Symantec in the early 2000s, then hated them in the mid and late 2000s, but apparently they've overhauled their engine since then and it's now solid -- though I haven't confirmed that myself. No idea how either of those handle scaling though.

 

i hVE BEEN READING THRU THESE FORUMS ALOT AND THE ONLY PERSON WHOSE POSTS CONVINCED ME TO BUY THIS LAPTOP WAS UUU jphughan...ppl were taling here like this coil whine dead pixels dust under sceen etc were hugeee issues....thankfullly i dnt have any of these issuesss and the coil whine light as it iss doesnt bother mee....i dont even get it why is it even a deal breaker......we dont work always with our ears next the powwer cable area of the laptop do we??i was soooo worried before that i cant even telll u guyss.....and now i have the latop and i dnt seee anything wrong with it...thank GOD...people out there if u really are sooo much worried out there to buy this laptop dnt be....99 percent of the chance is that u will not be bothered by it like me......i wanted to ask u jphughan please can u also tell me why my media player classic not scaling wellll.....where can i find the latest version...

 

I don't use Media Player Classic, but if it doesn't scale well that's probably because the developers haven't bothered to code it to scale well. It's certainly not the only application that fails to scale properly. As for the latest version, it looks like you'd get it here: Home – MPC-HC. I don't know if that one support scaling any better, though.

 

Using mine for a couple of days and I'm pretty happy with it so far. No coil whine so far but then again most people say it starts after some time so I'll reserve my verdict on that for now.

Anyways, I have a small problem with it. While playing watch dogs I get a message "low memory" after a few minutes. When I check the task manager only 4gb is used out of 16. I can just ignore the message and continue playing but after that when I close the game the desktop shown is blank. I have to sign out and sign in again to see all icons on desktop. Should not happen on a machine with so much memory. Anyone facing the same issue?

 

This question is probably better asked in Watch Dog support forums or emailed to their support team since I doubt this issue is specific to the XPS 15.

But to take a stab at an answer (hopefully this doesn't trigger a long off-topic discussion), I'd be surprised if this was the case in a game released in 2014, but check whether Watch Dogs is a 32-bit app. 32-bit processes running on a 64-bit OS can't use more than 4GB of memory regardless of how much is available in the system, in which case that particular process would run out of memory even if Task Manager shows plenty available. I'm also fairly certain that the 4GB memory limit is the combined total of system and GPU memory usage as well, in which case a 32-bit process like a game could easily max out its memory allocation without showing 4GB consumed in Task Manager because it would be using the remainder for GPU memory, which Task Manager doesn't show.

In any case, the Processes tab will show you how much memory Watch Dogs by itself is using as well as display "(32 bit)" next to Watch Dogs if it is in fact 32-bit. If it is, there isn't a fix other than an update for Watch Dogs that includes either better memory management or a 64-bit binary.

If the app is in fact 64-bit, then it's still probably something that requires a patch from them to fix.

UPDATE: Quickly Googling "Watch Dogs low memory" turns up a ton of results on this issue and general performance problems, including an article indicating that Ubisoft has acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix.

 

What is the preferred video player if MPC doesn't scale well? I'm new to windows after a 5 year stint with OS X.

 

Windows Media Player (the one included with Windows, not Classic) and VLC are probably the most frequently used. And I suppose iTunes, which does sort of scale well. It zooms its content rather than rescaling it, so things are a usable size but just not especially pretty.

 

Check if the splendid mode is enabled (search for Mobility Center - the settings is there) - it saturates colors a lot and therefore blacks looks a lot more black.

 

From the info I've gleaned its display port 1.2 And HDMI, 4k display is a touchscreen, wifi is broadcom 3 stream 802.11ac and it's supposed to ship in September with a starting price of 1700-1800 us dollars.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk

 

no i changed the color to generic still its lil dark compared to my old laptop...

 

no i changed the color to generic still its lil dark compared to my old laptop...

 

suddenly i had this problem when i click the windows button plus X button to open windows mobility centre or control panel and when i click on further the mobility centre or the control panel or any other option it doesnt work....instead a page or big bar opens saying.....CONTEXT MENU PLATINUM- UNREGISTERED VERSION and further written is (thank u for using windows explorer context menu component,th easiest way to add explorer context menu to your application...register now and get......)and a long details of the benefits of registering and says to register.....what is this??what shud i dooo....i cant open anything from the windows plus X button pressing?CANT EVEN OPEN THE CONTOL PANEL NOW

 

Under advanced power options, try disabling 'adaptive brightness'

 

Good to know, thanks! Although with a September release date, there will probably be at least rumors of the next-gen XPS 15 seeing as the current one was released last October.

Not to be rude, but that's not really an issue specific to the XPS 15. Context Menu Platinum doesn't ship with the XPS 15, and a quick Google search of that name turns up this thread: Solved: Context Menu Platinum Unregistered Version - Tech Support Guy. There are also other similar threads implicating other applications that install this app. So as for what you should do...be more careful with what you install, especially on the various installer dialog boxes, many of which try to trick you into installing crapware along the way by counting on you to click something while not paying attention.

And please try to keep this thread on-topic; it's already 568 pages long, after all.

 

1 DP , 1 HDMI, 3 USb , 1 SD card. i7 - 4712HQ ;-) with 96Whr 6 cell + Touchscreen , priced around 2K Euro. I am not to big a fan of the keyboard I feel the Dell one is quite nice. and also the palmrest.
The other demotivating thing would be that they would start shipping by end of this year which would mean for prices to be a bit realistic one would have to wait till next year at-least.
Asus claims battery life of 7-8 hrs but I doubt it with an i7 and the nvidia card.

 

September yes, but starting price $1899, source here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkpDuBG0LxY

 

Depends on your old laptop. Because it has a pretty good color accuracy, the blacks will actually be black (or more so) nstead of grayish like on some cheaper/TN displays out there.

 

Can anyone help me and grab me an image of the dell diagnostics partition please? I am trying to get the 9530 supported in aida64 but I have stuck a 1tb drive in.


(or the guy at aida64 said a picture of the diagnostics screen would be enough when you boot, press F12 and go to diagnostics))

 

Yeah that's the video I saw as well, just got the number wrong...

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk

 

anyone wanting to upgrade the platter drive to SSD on a budget may want to look at the new crucial offerings, £160 for a true 550mb/s read/write drive in the 500gb format AnandTech | Crucial MX100 (256GB & 512GB) Review

 

Okay guys I'm really starting to doubt the build quality of my machine. Only 3 days in and now the carbon fiber bottom is starting to come off from the aluminium ring/edging. I can even see the hooks on the inside from the opening. I have uploaded the image to show this. Also notice the gap between the lid and the base. Its far from macbook build quality. Its just so poor from Dell. Should I contact dell for this?

 

I have no troubles with MPC and scaling. I am using the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack with MPC.

Btw: Is there any news about an SSD firmware update? Since we can't use Samsung SSD Magician software I thought I would ask here

 

Looks like the bottom cover just needs to be reseated. Sometimes you can just snap it back together, but I'd remove it first to make sure the tabs look good and put it back correctly. If your not comfortable doing that, sure let Dell come out with an extra cover and take care of that. Usually pretty minor stuff.

They can also check the hinge screws to make sure everything is aligned as well as it can be.


Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

The diagnostics partition seems to reside inside UEFI now. I did a clean install of my system and I can still access it. That may not be true if I switch to Legacy mode, but I haven't tested it. But if you'll always run in UEFI mode, don't worry about losing it.

EDIT: Never mind, I see you wanted it for another purpose.

 

By the way, has anyone got multitouch gestures (i.e. pinch to zoom, drag to scroll) by using the touchscreen, in Linux?

 

whever i touch my screen of the dell xps 15 i see an after line or touch effect on screen like it used to be on old tft panels when u touched them....is it normal??because my phone and tab panel doesnt feel like it....they feel solid glass...but this xps seems like i can see my touch pressure of fingers on the screen...do all of u other guys screen is like this too??

 

Are you sure what you're seeing isn't the touch effect being drawn by the OS? Go to Control Panel > Pen and Touch and uncheck "Show visual feedback when touching the screen". If you still see what you're describing, I'm not sure what it is. My touchscreen feels completely solid, just like my iPhone.

 

Hey guys!

I wonder if anyone knows a good anti-virus program which is also scaling correctly on high-dpi. I've tried a few but just tiny graphics so far. I use avira at the moment even though it's not scaling just because it's free but I'm looking for something decent. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

i am using kaspersky internet security 2014...it scales perfectly

 

i got it....it works fine now....thanks... plus shud i use a screen protector for the display??i know its gorilla glass but still due to constant touching it might get scratches...anyone of u guys using a protector?

 

I'm not. I don't see why you'd need to use a screen protector just because it's a touchscreen, unless you like to scratch your display when you touch it.... Otherwise, if you'd buy a screen protector even if it were a regular display, then buy one for this. If not, don't worry about it.

 

Well gamers, it looks like in addition to the Asus NX500 announced, there's also a GX500. It appears to be identical to the NX except that it's black with red accents, and it includes the GeForce 860M rather than NX's GTX 850M (without affecting weight or thickness, apparently). I like the look of the GX quite a bit better, especially if the red can be toned down: ASUS crams 4K gaming into sleek and distinctive laptop.

 

Well if my 3rd laptop doesn't stay quiet I will get a refund and pre order that!

 

Yes it looks very appealing! Unfortunately for me though, the international warranty kills it. I will be studying abroad and having checked what asus offers - I just can't go with that. If anything breaks on this Dell machine, it will be fine - second day service - if something breaks on Asus, well good luck . The only other option with decent international warranty is Lenovo.

 

New 64bit Chrome browser out. It has better display scaling but it's still not close to being as good as IE. Anyone else feel the same?