XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

I just got my XPS 15 Top Configuration.

I am going to do a fresh install of 8.1 Pro.

I found most of the drivers from Dell's site, Intel and nVidia.

But I was wondering which Intel Management Engine Interface driver do I download from Intel? If someone could provide a link, for some reason the results from searching on their,page shows drivers for desktop boards.

The other driver in question is the synaptics trackpad driver. Will the current latest version work on this machine?

Last thing, is there a protector for the keyboard or trackpad and what would you veteran XPS owners recommending for cleaning the keys and pad after use from natural finger oil residue over the day?

 

Honestly, get the Management Engine driver from Dell's site. It's about as non-critical a driver as you can get, so there's no need to complicate things. If it doesn't crash your system (I haven't had any problems), then don't think about it.

No, the latest Synaptics driver won't install. But Dell has updated their touchpad drivers a few times since the original release. If you want Synaptics drivers, I'm running version 16.3.15.1 and it works fine. Googling that should turn up a few sites that still have it.

Water seems to work for the trackpad. I never bother with the keys; too much chance of water seeping between them onto the motherboard.

 

I'm using a dev version because I got fed up with the blurriness on the release, I'd now say it's as sharp as it should be.

 

Thanks for the help jphughan, by chance would you know which one or where the Management Engine driver is from Intel? I would like to look at the version numbers to get an idea of how far behind the Dell ones are. Just another real quick question.

What does Rapid Start, Rapid Storage, Smart Connect, Smart Response do? I saw there were Dell drivers for these things and reading Intel, it doesn't really mean much to me as it seems like they are fluffing their explanations to make it more fancy.

If any of these are needed can we download them from Intel?

 

Rapid start doesn't work properly on midtier and is pointless on top-spec machines, as what it does is cache the startup files on a partition on the SSD.

Rapid Storage is for the Mid Tier machines and controls the use the SSD as a cache drive to speed up general use and is, I think, the same as Smart Response.

 

Googling "Intel Smart Connect", "Intel Rapid Start", etc will tell you all about them, but here's a quick rundown:

Rapid Start: Used primarily to allow hibernation files to be written to an SSD cache rather than a spinning disk in the mid-spec system. If you have top tier, don't worry about it, and in fact avoid it because it's been shown to create problems for resuming. I've written Rapid Start up in the XPS 15 Wiki.

Rapid Storage: The Intel SATA/AHCI driver. Install it, or at least get the F6 Floppy driver version from Intel. The Rapid Storage app itself isn't as useful if you have neither a spinning disk (in which case the app will warn you about SMART failures) or a cache (in which case you can manage Smart Response).

Smart Connect: The ability for your system to periodically wake up while asleep (or in hibernation IF you're using Rapid Start) to refresh data in apps that support it, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, and a few other apps so that the data is already fresh when you return to yoru system. The supported apps list is tiny (again, Google to find Intel's page about this), so unless you use those apps and absolutely need to have that data refreshed before you wake up your system, forget about it. But if you keep it enabled in the BIOS, install the application to keep Device Manager happy and then just use the application to turn it off.

Smart Response: The ability to use an SSD as a read (and optionally read/write) cache unit for a spinning disk, just like the mid-spec does. On an SSD-only system, this would not be used.

For Management Engine, I think this is the right one, but I'm not sure: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...ng&OSVersion=Windows 8, 64-bit*&DownloadType=. Again, I don't see why you're worrying about this and considering actually installing a driver you're not sure is correct over a driver from Dell that you know will be correct even if it's not absolutely the latest version. And using this as a reference for how current Dell is doesn't work either, because If Dell is current or behind on this driver, it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be that current or that far behind on other drivers that you might actually care about. And fwiw, Dell seems to be keeping pretty current with Intel drivers on their XPS 15 page right now, judging by the Rapid Storage and WiFi drivers.

 

Yes, bloody sharp, about time. Facebook fonts are a little shot though. they don't quite line up. Small price to pay for the lack of fuzziness. I keep doing side by side with the current release and the 64 bit canary build.

 

I'm considering the top tier build-out of this laptop, as it sounds great! A few questions please:

1. I'm concerned about the coil whine I've read about there. Noises drive me nuts so it could be a show stopped. Then again I have pretty poor hearing and cannot hear high pitch frequencies that well. But at the same time I don't want to annoy others in the room. Anyway, is there a sense for whether the latest shipping models are still subject to these issues?

2. If I buy from dell.com do I understand correctly that I get 30 days for a full, unconditional refund for any reason? If I get a unit with the whine or pixel problems, I can send it back at no charge to swap with a new one? I read about someone is on their 3rd unit. How many times will they let you swap it? If its an issue after swapping still can you still get a refund?

3. Are there any other comparable laptops currently on the market that I should consider as well? I want something thin just like this unit but also with a high end processor and graphics for gaming etc. The new ASUS sounds great but I cannot really wait until later this year when it comes out.

4. Is there any word if Dell has started to ship to the US the new CPU (i7-4712HQ)? Is there any way to know in advance of ordering if it will come with this processor? Has Dell said they were doing this or are they just starting to show up in the wild?

Thanks!

 

Did anyone in the EU get the new XPS systems with the new CPU (i7-4712HQ) !? Is the Coil whine still there !?

 

Does anyone have any experience using the top-end build-out of this laptop for encoding and live streaming such as on Twitch? I know this is bets done on a desktop, but for other reasons I need a laptop with the power capable of this.

What are you experiences like using this laptop for encoding and streaming?

In particular I am looking to feed a PS4 via 1080p60 over HDMI to an AverMedia Extreme Cap U3 external USB 3.0 device, and feed that into the Dell via USB. Then use OBS to encode and stream the video over Twitch. I've tried this with a older laptop that has a far inferior processor and graphics card than found on the Dell, and not surprisingly, it can't handle the 1080p60 incoming. In fact my older laptop can only handle 720p60 and even then can only encode at 60 FPS if I downscale it by a factor of 1.5 and use a lowish bitrate. That's not too surprising given that laptop is about 3 years old and never meant for that.

With this in mind, I would love to know if anyone is using the high end (or a lower end) build-out of this Dell to handle 1080p60 coming in from a capture device over USB 3.0 and have the processing power to encode it at 1080p and 60 FPS at a good bitrate for streaming, without dropping any frames or struggling to keep up. Or if it can't handle that, is it safe to assume it can encode it at 720p while still easily maintaining 60 FPS with a good bitrate.

Thanks guys!!

 

1. Coil whine still isn't fixed. The latest official update is that revised boards are expected to be available to tech support (and thus presumably ready to be sent on parts dispatches to existing customers) in late June to early July. Watch this thread for updates from Terry B: XPS 15 9530 - Noise problem? - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community. I don't know when those revised boards will start being incorporated into new systems, but my guess is that at least for new systems, it will coincide with the new processor. Even though the new processor appears in some markets as available to order, to my knowledge, nobody has actually actually received a system with the new processor yet. Whether or not existing customers get a coil whine fix that also includes a CPU bump is anyone's guess.

2. Yes, you get a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. It's probably not "unconditional" in the sense that if you break the system, I doubt they'll give you a full refund, but if you have issues or are just unhappy with it, yes you can return it for a full refund. And yes, that's true even after you get service or an entire exchange on your system. I don't know if there's a limit on the number of swaps you can request. Frankly I kind of doubt there have been enough cases of customers willing to go through lots of swaps rather than just getting a refund for that to even be a defined policy.

3. Other than the MacBook Pro, the Razer Blade 14 is probably the only comparable system -- and although it includes a newer GPU, it costs a lot more, has half the system RAM (non-upgradeable), a smaller display (obviously), and I have no idea what Razer's warranty and service policy is. It also has no DisplayPort, so no 4K at 60 Hz on external panels if you might want that later, and in fact no dual external displays at all, which is a dealbreaker for me. Otherwise, there are no equivalent systems on the market right now. The HiDPI display alone rules out most of the market, but even among thusly equipped systems, there are those that have similar performance but don't have the size or looks of this system, and those that have the size (and maybe also the looks) but don't have the performance. An in-depth review of the Razer Blade 14 is here: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/06/razer-blade-14-review-2014/.

4. The way to know in advance whether you're getting the new processor is to look at the specs shown on the Dell Online store when you select it. If it shows 4702HQ, that's what you'll get. If it shows 4712HQ, likewise.

 

Thank you! That link just takes me to a registration page. Is there a corrected link or am I supposed to register to see it?

In scanning the recent pages of this thread yours is the first mention of what sounds like Dell acknowledging the issue and doing something about it. That's great to hear. Of course, it makes me a bit hesitant to move forward with a purchase now, knowing that in another month or two I may get a system with the fix and new processor from the start. Humm. How prevalent is the whine issue? I have a what % chance of having the issue? Do we know what component on the motherboard causes the whine?

Great to know. Its the only reason I'd consider buying it giving the known issue. How many exchanges do they allow? Is it a near certainty that the new motherboard will fix the whine issue, and that those who complain will get the new motherboard?

Would I need to purchase the in-home service in order for them to replace it without me sending it in? Or for this type of repair they'd offer that regardless of my warranty?

Thanks. That's what I thought.

It looks like the only difference between these two chips is that the 4712HQ runs at 0.1Ghz faster. Is that correct? Any practical difference worth worrying about getting the latest chip? I just double checked the specs and they only show the 4702HQ as of now.

Thanks!

 

That link works fine for me, and I can see the thread without being signed in. If it still doesn't work for you, just Google "XPS 15 9530 Noise problem Dell Communities" and it should be the top hit.

We don't know for certain what component causes the coil whine. Someone took an oscilloscope to his motherboard and seemed to find a (wait for it...) particular coil that caused the issue, but there's a history of some Intel CPUs causing this noise due to the configuration of their C-States. Someone else mentioned that other vendors using this CPU apparently have this issue and that it could be related to the voltage regulator having been moved onto the CPU for this processor generation; it wasn't in previous generations, and it has been moved BACK to the motherboard for the Haswell Refresh, it seems. So it could be a motherboard component, the CPU, or both. Dell hasn't shared any details as to the nature of the fix yet, and nobody has the refreshed boards to make any comparisons, so it's all speculation now.

As I said, I don't know if there's even a defined limit for maximum allowable returns because I doubt it's really come up for anybody. The most I've ever heard of is GoNz0 here, who will be getting his third system. If you somehow hit an exchange limit, though, you could also always just get a refund and then order a new one. The only difference would be that if you got some amazing deal on your first order, you might not get that again. But yes, affected customers with active warranties can get the fix when it becomes available.

You only get on-site service if you have an on-site service warranty -- otherwise you mail it away to a repair depot just like any other repair with those types of service contracts.

That's the only difference shown on Intel's site, but there may be some menial design changes that may fix coil whine like the removal of the voltage regulator, if the CPU turns out to be involved in the cause. But again, that processor to my knowledge hasn't reached the hands of any actual customers, so we're all guessing at this point.

 

I have ordered the new system (Dell France), with the new CPU (i7-4712HQ), on May 30.
It was first planed to arrive on the 4 june... then it was delayed to the 5 june... and today, delayed once more time to the 11 june...
I will come back to you as soon as I get it to tell you if I hear it.

 

Any way to make the keyboard backlight stay lit longer than the standard timeout? I'm used to my Mac staying lit until I had to tell it to turn down and it was pretty nice while sitting in a dark room.

 

Does someone know if the new XPS 15 with the 4712HQ also have the Coil Whine / High pitched noise?

 

I think that nobody has received it yet...

 

See #1 here http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...5-haswell-owner-s-lounge-572.html#post9680676

 

Relation question - is it possible to turn the backlight off entirely. If so, can it easily be toggled on and off?

 

I haven't found a way to adjust timeout, but there are three brightness levels (off, low, and high). You can toggle between them either using the appropriate Function key on the keyboard or (if you have Quickset installed) in Windows Mobility Center.

 

how much more did the new one cost compared to the old top tier...i mean whts the price difference between new and old?

 

With my previous XPS 15, it was possible to adjust it (I think there was an executable in Quickset installation folder).

 

In the Windows Mobility Center, click on the icon for keyboard brightness and it let's you adjust the time from there - from 5sec-15min and even 'never off'

 

Does anyone know if the case logic pas 215 can fit the xps 15? I'm interested in this one because of the extra pocket to carry around the charger or at least the wireless mouse.

15" MacBook Sleeve - PAS-215-BLACK | Caselogic

Case Logic Fits Devices: 14.4 x 1 x 9.9 in
XPS 15: 14.6 x 0.8 x 10 in

Seems like touch and go so I thought I'd ask if anyone uses this case. I don't mind snug fit. Thanks.

 

international or not, no love here for asus warranty!

 

figured i would update y'all on the 91whr battery upgrade
super fast shipping! less than a week...very easy to install..be sure to have a few screws ahead of time as the battery ships without them

 

Does the 91 WHr battery use more (or different) screws than the 61 WHr battery being replaced??

 

just a few more at a guess as it fills the hdd cage.

 

Did you get FasttAccess to work? I'm trying to find a download link but it doesn't show up on under Dell downloads. I found an older Windows 7 version but when I go to install it, it says "Previous installation not found."

Edit: I'm on Windows 8.1.

 

If anyone is interesting, MicrosoftStore.com currently runs a $300 discount for the top of the line XPS 15. You can get it for $1999.

 

no, just more of them

if one were short and impatient, you could just space them out (like just to hold the corners in)

battery life seems a little more normal now...the 61whr seemed to drain way fast

 

"Normal"

God knows what you've been used to, but I had an XPS L702x and it had 1hrs juice at the absolute maximum. My current mid-tier will last 4 hours if I'm web browsing or word processing, the least life I've had out of it has been 90mins either playing FM2014 or processing photographs in LR4.

 

Thanks for this information. It would be tempting except I am waiting for a fix for the coil whine, which I am guessing will be systems with the newer i7-4712HQ chip. Also my understanding is that there is a 10% restocking fee for returned laptops purchased from the Microsoft Store. So personally I'd rather buy from Dell and not have to worry about a restocking fee, especially given the unknown status of the coil whine. The $300 discount seems significant. Perhaps it is a good sign that they are clearing these out to make room for the i7-4712HQ machines.

 

did you get this resolved?

looks to me either a hinge is defective or perhaps the aluminum case isn't true (eyeball it along the length and see if there are any bends to it...the edge should be straight all the way to the hinge)

either way, should be a warranty issue

 

eye the side of the laptop (hold it up and look down lengthwise)..is the aluminum straight?

 

Yeah, the aluminium is pretty darn straight. Since I posted that last message, the bottom has come out even more, exposing one more hook on the inside.
On a side note, the coil whine has started after a week. Thankfully, I'm used to this high frequency noise occasionally coming from my home theatre speakers so I'm kinda immune to it. Though I wish quality control was better from Dell at-least on such high end systems.

 

The updated i7-4712HQ shouldn't matter because if it does solve the coil whine, then they should replace your motherboard with i7-4702HQ with this newer one. Otherwise they have to fix it some other way - if not, you can always return the laptop (even after the trial period -> at least when purchasing with Dell directly). So you might actually be getting a deal here.

I have looked at Razer at Windows store and they said they can give it to me for 30 days with no restocking fee. I think it even says something like that on their website. Plus, if the system has problems (coil whine) they can't charge you the 10% even if they wanted. On top of the $300 off you might be able to get 10% student discount if you are a student.

The biggest problem I have with MS store is the warranty - the MS 2 years is not bad, but its nowhere near the comfort of second business day with Dell + it is not international (important for me).

 

What's the verdict on these? Sorry I haven't gone through all the pages in this thread. A quick summary would be greatly appreciated by someone who has been regularly visiting this thread.


1. Issues/Dealbreakers

2. Paper specs vs Reality

3. Comparisons to an retina macbook pro 15.


Would greatly appreciate any answers!

Thanks

 

Hello all,

After 5 months since the purchase of top-of-the-line version (91Wh / 512GB SSD version) I finally started using it for some GPU-heavy development work.

What I found, is that my machine throttles the GPU within the first 20 seconds and the memory within the first 2 minutes (as it reaches 75 degrees C), leaving me with abysmal performance, even lower than what I would get with the integrated graphics.

I have updated every single driver in the machine and I have the latest version of Windows 8.1 Pro. I have read this forum, Anandtech review and the XPS15 Wiki, and I came to the conclusion that there is not solution to this problem apart from avoiding load on the GPU that would cause it to go above 50 degrees C.

Did anyone try to ask Dell for a refund after the trial period? Would we be entitled to it, since I couldn't find any mention that the GPU would severely throttle when used with little more than light stress?

Best regards,

Marco

 

I can benchmark this hard, 100% cpu and GPU and not throttle more than a couple of % cpu for a few seconds until the fan hits 100% and the GPU will drop to around 950mhz, this is because I stripped the heatsink and did a competent job of applying the thermal paste unlike the idiots who put the laptops together and played a game of "lets see how much thermal paste we can put between the cpu/gpu and heatsink".

You can get a full refund if this makes an electrical noise at any stage of your warranty as they are still unable to fix it.

 

Thanks GoNz0!

In the past I assembled a lot of computers and also did some modifications to my previous laptops. I have the Arctic Ceramique thermal paste, which does a wonderful job. However, I don't want to even open this laptop as I am frankly tired of having to fix their issues all while voiding my warranty. Since this time I spent 2200 EUR, I expect it to work as declared, which it doesn't, since the GPU doesn't even run with the stated performance.

The coil whine is definitively present and audible, and I have a full warranty with accidental damages included. I will start to dance with Dell's customer support and see what they are able to offer. If they me enough I'll ask for a refund and switch to a different brand/system.

Best regards,

 

Moved my old Win7x64 hdd into the new XPS 9530, after sleep wifi network card does not come back up, and reseting it through devmgmt.msc does NOT help; on my previous lappy this did help. So it's a Win7 issue but i'm not ready to move to Win8. Anyone have similar issue, solution?

 

All answered here: XPS 15 Wiki

 

I understand the sentiment, but fyi opening your system absolutely does not void your warranty. The Owner's Manuals that Dell publishes for their systems have step-by-step instructions for disassembling and reassembling the entire system. Of course if your opening the system or any work you did while inside it caused DAMAGE to the system, that wouldn't be covered by your warranty -- but if you know what you're doing, doing a better job with the thermal paste would likely solve your issues more quickly and easily than dealing with getting a refund and purchasing a different system, especially considering that the XPS 15 doesn't have an exact equivalent on the market at the moment.

 

It's up to you but what I saw parts wise and engineer wise I would not let a quote "dell" engineer near my laptop, he was a contractor that seemed to have little to no factory training whatsoever, at most I expect he may have had an afternoon in a room (along with a dozen others) with someone that once spent an afternoon with a dell engineer but thats as close as it got. Paid per job so time on site is as rushed as possible to get onto the next job.

pi$$ poor sums it up.

 

try doing an in situ repair with a legit dell x64 windows 7 disc (backup first)
the problem you will have is hunting down proper win 7 drivers ...i tried the win8 drivers and although they seemed to work, it was just funky
i ended up doing an in situ upgrade to 8.1 pro...works like a charm now

 

Wouldn't the M3800 driver page get you most of the way there? I know that NFC isn't supported at all on Win7 (which is why the M3800 lacks it), but otherwise you should be good from using that page and maybe a little work going to vendor sites.

 

I am unable to connect my dell xps 15 with the external 27 inch 1080p lcd i have thru hdmi cable..i tried to find an answer on the xps wiki but there is no mention abt this....when i connect my laptop to the lcd thru hdmi cable the centre of the desktop opens on the external lcd zoomed all the margins cropped....i tried alll setting but cant get it fixed.....any help?

 

Going to replace the thermal paste with arctic silver. This is my first time taking apart a laptop, so I want to do my research before I take it apart, was wondering where the heatsink is located?

http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-pro...s_laptop/xps-15-9530_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

Was looking through this to try to find it, could someone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

 

What resolution does Windows show is being sent to the display? You might just have to adjust that. Also check the Intel Graphics Properties > Display area to see if anything might be amiss in there.

That would be the Thermal Cooling Assembly. The heatsinks are on either side of the laptop, but the part you'll be replacing the thermal grease on is in the middle. Laptops typically don't have heatsinks directly over the heat-generating parts for thickness reasons.

And make sure you've got the appropriate Torx screwdriver to get the base cover off.