XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

I received the replacement (brand new) and the coil whine is here and it is the worse situation with coil whine that I had. I'm still using the old and not the new one.

Now I have an old model that the tech guy didnt used the thermal paste when changed the motherboard (its booting up in 70s Celcius and fan always on) and I dont know how, my touchpad is not well attached. And I have a brand new with a very acute noisy because of coil whine. I'm waiting for a Dell's solution, I probably will ask for an Alienware 15 and quit this model...

 

I'm trying to get my XPS-15 to run with a Dell U2713HM (2560x1440). According to the FAQ, it should be able to output 2560x1600@60Hz. The U2713HM is limited to 1920x1080 over HDMI, but does full resolution on either DP or DVI-D. So I bought a HDMI to DVI-D 24+1 cable, but I'm still given 1920x1080 as max resolution.
Any ideas on this one?

 

Update: I managed to get this working, somewhat, by updating the drivers and running CustomModeApp. Even though it kept saying "The custom resolution exceeds the maximum bandwidth", it sometimes did add the resolution in the custom resolutions list. Not sure if that's a bug. But only @40hz max. I'm unable to get higher than that.

 

I'd never heard of anybody using HDMI to dual-link DVI, but I had a feeling that just having the correct number of pins on the DVI side wouldn't be enough. So I Googled around and came across this post in another thread here:

The reason you're stuck at 1080p on HDMI with the U2713HM is probably because it uses HDMI 1.3; its HDMI input would have to be 1.4 or better to accept 1440p at 60 Hz. That's also why 1440p over HDMI on this display is limited to 40 Hz when you force that resolution.

In any case, your options are:

1. Run it over DisplayPort. If you've already got a display there, what model is it? Can that one maybe be driven over HDMI?
2. If you have a DisplayPort display in use, does it happen to have a DisplayPort MST output? If so, you could daisy chain the U2713HM to it.
3. Buy a DisplayPort MST hub and attach both of your displays to it.
4. Buy a U2715H instead, which has an HDMI 1.4 input (maybe even 2.0?) -- and it also has DisplayPort MST out, which would allow you the alternative of putting it first in the DP chain, then attaching your current DisplayPort display to it. Then you'd still be able to run a third display simultaneously, either the built-in panel or another external display via HDMI.

 

No, the U2713HM has HDMI 1.4, but they appear to have artificially limited it. And after updating the drivers, I am able to get 2560x1440 on the HDMI-DVI-D cable, unfortunately only at 40hz.

I was planning to run this through a USB3 docking station, but that presents another limitation, so at this point, I've ordered a DisplayPort cable, since it's no big deal plugging in two cables instead of one. That should resolve any issue and allow me to run full resolution at 60hz.

 

Just wanted to give a quick update - I went ahead and replaced the default thermal paste on the CPU/GPU with Arctic MX-2 - the process was pretty painless.

So far, I've noticed roughly a 5-10C difference in average temps, and when the laptop is on my legs, it's noticeably less hot (although still somewhat hot). Definitely recommended!

 

Did you use some step-by-step guide to do this? Thanks

 

The owners manual has directions for taking out the heatsink assembly (pretty easy, just take off the cover, unplug battery, then unscrew the heatsink). Once you do that, use a cleaning solution (I used Articlean Arctic Silver Arcticlean Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) - OEM - Newegg.com) to clean off the old thermal paste, put a [dab/line/your preferred method] of better thermal grease on the CPU and GPU, and screw the heatsink back on.

If you have any more questions let me know!

 

As far as I know, there is no solution to the coil whine what so ever.

One of the Dell represents on the Dell forum tried to hold off customers in the first few months, saying a potential fix is on the way. After a year, anyone with some deduction knows what is happening.

That being said, some users who report not hearing coil whine might be due to their low sensitivity to high frequency noise. The significance of the noise is also subjective. Some uses might be used to work in quiet environment while others are fine with comparatively noisy environment.

I am not denying there is a 1% or 2% chance that the machine is noise free. But even if there is, you are not likely to win the lottery, even after multiple replacements. (Maybe after you make 100 changes, you will finally get one. But Dell would probably stop you after 2 or 3 times. For my case, they did not provide any chance for a swap.)

Regarding the mystery replacement motherboards, many users report that they make no changes at all. Since Dell did not bother to re-design the motherboard for a GPU upgrade, you can more or less guess how much effort they spend the so-called re-designed motherboard.

Actually, user jphughan is one of the few users I have seen that report an 'improvement' in terms of the coil whine after a motherboard replacement. But if you read the thread from 2013, you would know he works for Dell and claimed that the noise did not bother him much and that he had many other machines with the coil whine. blabla...He was also with Dell when Dell kept claiming 'a fix is on the way' for about half a year. Actually, on the Dell forum, users who require to see proof that Dell is actually working on a fix instead of bluffing are told to 'shut up' by jphughan. I was there and I remembered that his original words were 'stopping beating the dead horse'. Back at that time, there was so much heat on the coil whine that some users were planning to unite together to make this issue public.

Anyway, when the so-called fix was finally released. It didn't work for most users who believed and waited for Dell for almost a year, while jphughan reported that he experienced an improvement with the motherboard replacement. It's kind of weird to hear 'an improvement' from someone who claimed that the noise did not bother him in the first place. Not to mention the so-called improvement probably has nothing to do with the so-called fix, but rather a variation of the degree of noise on various machine.

I think this probably sums up the 'coil whine' mystery. If you feel that you are not sensitive to noise, you might try one. Maybe you won't notice the noise. But if you hear the noise and are bother by it, never give hope on a possible fix or a replacement might do it. Just go directly for a refund.

 

Wow, this is really dicouraging. Not just the lack of a fix for coil whine, but that Dell has been lying all this time. If proven, this could form the makings of a very substantial class action suit. Does anyone know if the new XPS-13 continues to have the whine? It is likely to have an entirely different motherboard than last year's, but then again last year's XPS-13 had a different mobo than the XPS-15's yet both had the coil whine.

I had many terriblr experiences with Dell support over the past 8 years but was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they had truly cleaned up their act. I have been about to pull the trigger on a current XPD refurb at a very attractive price, but frankly no bargain is worth risking a raft of problems - after the 30 day return date - and having to feal with a company that lies through their teeth - like the good old Dell I remember .

Can anyone talk me out of my negative view - that comes from many additional similar complaints Ive read here and in other forums?

 

Wow, ok, let's put these comments into a broader context rather than cherry-picking the facts to suggest an improper conclusion, shall we?

- Yes, I work for Dell. I've volunteered that information here, and I didn't deny it on the Dell Communities thread. The reason I didn't bring it up on the Dell Communities board and don't have it in my signature is because I am absolutely NOT authorized to speak on Dell's behalf, and specifically on the Dell Communities boards, I want to maintain a clear distinction between Dell employees who ARE authorized to speak on behalf of the company and those, such as myself, who happen to work for Dell in a completely unrelated capacity. I find that this also allows me to speak more freely about my opinions of Dell and its products, which if you've read my posts either here or in Dell Communities you'll find are not always positive. I've called them out for several things, including eventually dropping the ball on this coil whine issue. But I find it rather absurd to suggest that the mere fact that someone works for a company inherently biases them, as if it's inconceivable that an employee might still hold their particular opinion on an issue even if they weren't an employee.

- Yes, I did side with Dell after Terry_B said that a fix would be available in something like 6 weeks. Back then, I didn't have any reason to doubt that that would happen. And yes, when people continued to whine and vent after that announcement, I did indeed tell them to stop beating a dead horse and to shut up and wait for the fix, because I saw absolutely zero point in venting and clamoring for a fix for the next 6 weeks after someone who represents Dell had said that said fix was coming. The legitimate purpose of the venting -- to get Dell to respond -- had seemingly already been achieved. People were subscribed to that thread, and on Dell Communities, that means they got an email every time someone posted in the thread, so I didn't see the value in spamming everybody's Inboxes with whining for the next 6 weeks when (so it appeared) we just had to sit tight for the fix. And fwiw, some who don't work for Dell in that thread agreed with me -- maybe they didn't need more email spam in their lives or something crazy like that. Of course as we all saw later, Dell first missed their self-imposed mid-July deadline and didn't even provide any updated information at that time, and consequently, if you read that thread, you'll find that on July 16th, I called Dell out for that. And then when Terry_B finally announced that the fix was available and then it turned out to be [a partial fix/poorly communicated/difficult to obtain outside of the US/completely non-existent/I'm not even sure], I called them out again for (in my opinion) bungling this whole situation, especially on the communication side since Terry_B had gone silent for a while in the midst of all of this. That's hardly a position that a biased Dell employee fanboy would take, particularly on Dell's own boards. Instead, it's a position that I'm glad I was able to take thanks to the fact that once again, I don't officially represent Dell.

- I did indeed see an improvement when I got my motherboard replaced. I don't see why that's impossible to imagine even though I previously reported that the coil whine didn't bother me. I never said I couldn't hear it at all. As I must've written 50 times here and on Dell Communities, my opinion was that the coil whine on my system heard by my ears honestly didn't bother me -- much. It certainly wasn't a dealbreaker that ever had me thinking about returning the system, but upon hearing news that a fix for that issue was available and was free since I was under warranty, why wouldn't I have gotten it? Are you telling me that out of everything you own, you don't have any issues you consider too minor to cause you real frustration or make you think about returning the product but that you also wouldn't bother to have fixed even if said fix was free and required little to no effort on your part?

Anyway, on the particular replacement board that I received, the persistent "mosquito noise" that occured when the laptop is fully charged and on AC power disappeared, but the scratchy noise that was recorded in some YouTube videos that occurred when the built-in panel was on and the user was scrolling in a browser persisted. Since I hardly use the built-in panel and the pitch and non-persistent nature of that second noise made it far less annoying to me anyway, I didn't care about that one. But once again, if I had been a Dell fanboy, I would've simply written that the fix was complete and everything was sunshine and rainbows. But that's not what I wrote here or over on Dell Communities.

If you're going to accuse someone of something, at least make sure you've got your facts straight, and do your audience the courtesy of putting things into proper context.

 

You guys think there will be a dell xps 15 with infinity display? So with the very thin borders and have the footprint of a 13 inch? If so when can we expect it?

 

According to the leaked roadmap I've mentioned several times in the last few pages of this thread, the new XPS 15 will arrive in Q4 2015. On the roadmap it uses the same image as the new XPS 13 with its Infinity display, but the text description of the XPS 15 does not mention an Infinity display (even though the XPS 13's page does) and the listed target dimensions are identical to those of the current generation, so I don't know how an Infinity display would work in such a chassis. I can't vouch for the accuracy of said roadmap (and of course plans can always change), but it certainly looks legitimate, and it has correctly predicted the launch window, feature set, and design of several products that have been released since the roadmap was posted, including the new XPS 13.

 

After a few laptop/motherboard replacements (like 5 or 6) I did get one completely silent laptop (yay I am the 1%!), and another silent laptop for which the noise came back one month later

That said, I had a look at the manufacturer and motherboard revision numbers of the replacement motherboards whenever I could, and they are the same as my original motherboard. So, I didn't get any "revised motherboard" (I seriously doubt there was any, they were at most doing some further QA on some of them).

 

jphughan,

This just Sadly happens time and time again when someone, such as you, graciously and genuinely tries to Help others and it is Disgracefully just not appreciated.

Believe me when I say, This is One of the Main reasons I am So Leery and basically gave up on trying to Help others, and in all aspects of life, as it becomes Truly Disheartening when you sincerely try and help someone and they completely turn on you if the outcome is not what they anticipated, expected or wanted.

I learned in life to never recommend a Doctor or Auto mechanic to Anyone as they are Only as Good as they make "YOU" feel and Go (Run)

I for one Sincerely Thank you for All of your very Precious time and your Genuine Care and Concern to Try and Help others regardless of the Outcome, as at least you Tried and that to me in my BOOK just says A WHOLE LOT about you! :thumbsup:

Best Regards,
SD

 

jphughan, just wanted to say thanks for being on the forum and helping as many users as you have. People are frustrated, and unfortunately are unfairly taking it out on you - just try to remember that there are also many that are grateful that you're on these forums as well

 

I'm planning to get a XPS15 actually. Would you recommend that i should wait for this new XPS to come out during this Q4?

 

If you can wait that long, then sure. There's always going to be something better in the future depending on how long you can wait. But then again, if you're always willing to wait 9+ months for the next thing, you'll never buy anything because 9+ months is an eternity in the tech world, so there will always be rumors of new things that are expected to come to market in that timeframe. My strategy has been to either to set myself some criteria, i.e. "I will buy a laptop as soon as I can get one that has all of these features I care about" or set myself a drop-dead purchasing date, i.e. "I need a new laptop soon, so I will make myself order something by this date, no matter what rumors of future goodness are in the pipeline or what may be 'just around the corner.'" I find that it's helped quell the inevitable wish that I'd waited longer when whatever I buy is superseded. I used the purchasing criteria strategy when I bought my XPS 15 because it had quad-core, HiDPI, touch, 16GB RAM, mSATA, M.2, 802.11ac, USB 3.0, DP 1.2, HDMI 1.4, and a headset jack. If I were thinking about buying now and didn't need something urgently, I'd probably hold out for HDMI 2.0, DP 1.3, and M.2 SSD boot support, but that's just me. Unfortunately the first two aren't even available in Broadwell, and the last one is coming as part of Intel's 9 Series chipsets, so we'll have to see when those are introduced into laptops.

But again, if you don't actually NEED a new laptop any time soon, don't force yourself to buy something at an arbitrarily early date -- wait until you actually need something. You'll undoubtedly end up with a better product when the time comes that way. Just make sure you're not always saying, "Damn, I really need a new laptop, but if I can somehow hold out for another 9 months, I can get something even better."

 

I can confirm that I have received a replacement 2 weeks ago and the coil whine is very very very minimal. Sometimes I don't even hear it.

 

Thanks for the advise. I was thinking about changing my lappy this year but was wondering what model to get. Then, after numerous research i thought of getting the XPS15 since its a really premium feel which is almost on par to rMBP. But at the same time hearing alot of complains regarding its wireless/coil whine issue. I dont really NEED it urgently, more like a WANT feel. So, maybe if the XPS comes out with a new version i might get that.

I know they are better specs out there like the Alienware/Lenovo Y series etc but i want something light/powerful/powerful batteries that powers the laptop long enough/solid. Which only narrow down to the XPS series. Do correct me if i'm wrong. I'm open for advises.

 

The nearest PC equivalents I've ever heard about to the XPS 15 was a pair of ASUS laptops that were supposed to come out I think last September, though I never saw anything further about them, so I have no idea how they turned out -- or even if they were ultimately released. I also have no first-hand experience with ASUS laptops or their service. I know they make great motherboards and wireless routers, but that's about it.

But other than that, I still haven't seen anything quite like the XPS 15. Everything else is either faster but larger, smaller but not as powerful, etc.

 

I'm right in the same situation of Jeof: I'm using now a dell vostro 1700 with a t7500 cpu, that is still working but extremely slow. I was wondering to buy a new laptop, a great one: MBP would be wonderful but it is really to expensive. Next to MBP is the XPS 15 and I don't find anything else that I want....the problem is that right now I would spend quite a lot of money for a great piece of hw but with a rather old CPU, because of intel delay in producing quad core brodwell cpu.
so at present I ended up to clean my Vostro and add a ssd and possibly an extra 2gb of ram (for a total amount of 6gb, switching to wi 64 bit) and a new T9300/T9500 CPU (if I find a cheap used one) to it, hoping that it will last for almost a year!
I'm not sure that is the right choice, but who knows?

 

I'm using HP DV6-6145TX bought from Australia. It is a 5 years old laptop. Entry model i would say. Its about 800 USD, lasted this long i would say its a good deal. Bad experience with it as it is real hot. Serious heat issues even though i'm not using any apps but just video conferencing with clients (Skype)

Like what ISO said, if i would get the current XPS15, it will be a 2 years old technology. Which is not a really good kind of money to spend into for the next 5 years. Because summing it up it will be a 7 years old rig !

I think what jphughan ur mentioning about should be the ASUS zenbook. Just did some quick research/review, it has some flaws such as it is heavier than XPS15, shorter lifespan on running batteries and has heat issues. After service though, i'm not too sure. I wouldn want to spend so much on something which has bad after sales just in case something went wrong with my laptop. But putting it on another view, what are the chances of it breaking down?

 

I had an ASUS laptop until recently, and it was fantastic for its time. That said, the service is nothing compared to Dell's (i.e. if you have issues you can send the computer to the factory and have it back in one or two months).

Well, my graphics card failed after a few years and the computer required a reflow. That said, it was about 5 years after I bought it, so I doubt any warranty would have covered that.

That said, the XPS, being a year and couple of months old, is probably still unbeated at the combination of light weight, processing power and battery life. It is probably more of a supercharged ultrabook than a generic laptop.

TL;DR: what jphughan said. iso, Jeof, if you need it, buy it. If you don't, wait for it. The next revision of the CPUs should be around the corner (i.e. might be one year between release date and actual availability). Alternatively, these days there other laptops with similar or better screens and much faster dGPUs, but with far less battery life.

 

Fyi, the XPS 15 came out in October 2013, so it's 1.25 years old, not 2 years. And yes, it was the Zenbooks. I just looked them up and the ones I'm referring to were the NX500 and GX500. But again, I haven't followed reviews or customer impressions on those, so I have no idea how they stack up.

 

I still think you'll be hard pressed to find a better laptop for $1200...just wait for a Dell Outlet 30% off coupon - you'll also get a full warranty with the ability to extend if you want. Definitely wouldn't go for a new one though. I also can't imagine owning a non-touchscreen laptop at this point...

 

Oops my bad! Well hopefully in "2 years" assuming October 2015 the new XPS 15 will be out, hopefully issues like coil whine or even lighter version will be out.Yummmm ! Though my hands are pretty itchy to get em right now

 

Out of curiosity, why has a touchscreen become so important to you at this point? Is it just from a futureproofing standpoint, or have you found a good use for it? I can see the benefit on convertibles and tablets, particularly when Windows 10 is released, but I haven't found much use for the touchscreen on this system simply because it gets tiresome to hold my arm in the air for very long. The times I have used it have just been for the novelty factor, so I'm wondering what other people are doing with it.

 

Haha...I'm not actually holding my hand in the air the whole time - very rarely actually...usually propped on a desk/table/knee, then scroll with my thumb or pinch/pan (from the side/corner more than the middle)

Scrolling long docs, web pages and code is much smoother than w/the touchpad and a nice change from a scroll wheel (assuming I even have a mouse - ie, couch time)...also good when space is cramped - have you tried to use the touchpad on a airplane!?

Also use pinch-zoom and panning a good deal for collaboration - showing overviews of pages, large canvassed docs...etc - a little interactivity is nice in these situations too.

And, of course, Solitaire was made for a touchscreen.

I don't notice myself using it much until I sit down in front of a non-touchscreen device and start poking my finger at it....it's just become another automatic way for me to try and do something (akin to any touchpad gestures).

 

Jphughan, i've been searching around for the leak roadmaps for DEll 2015. Couldn find it anywhere. Any hints for me to check it out?

Also i've heard rumors that the new rMBP will be coming out this April with broad well processors. Wondering if the chipset will be the ULV version. or a full quad core

 

I doubt rMBPs would use ULV processors. That sounds like something better suited to the MBA or MAYBE the 13-inch rMBP, but the current 15-incher uses a quad-core version, so I don't think Apple would downgrade their system like that. Broadwell is certainly a safe bet, although a lot depends on when Intel can actually get quad-core Broadwell chips out the door; they had serious delays with Broadwell in general, and even now as you're seeing, only dual-core chips have been released thus far. If they take too long, it won't matter because Intel still plans to launch Skylake in 2015. Of course that may get delayed too, but I'm betting Apple and the various PC makers are pretty annoyed with Intel right now. First the Broadwell delays prevented them from getting their next-gen stuff out in time for the holidays at the end of last year, and now they're likely having to choose between getting a refresh out earlier with Broadwell, only to be obsoleted shortly thereafter with Skylake, or else waiting even longer to release a refresh built around Skylake -- particularly since the jump from Broadwell to Skylake is expected to be much more significant than the jump from Haswell to Broadwell. I don't see deploying a refresh now and then another one for the Skylake launch as a viable option.

 

Not sure if this has been explained earlier (or some place else) so I'll ask now.. I'm about to wipe my 512gb ssd and reinstall the OS through a recovery media disk I had created using Dell Backup and recovery because lately file explorer just keeps crashing and restarting continuously. Performance and 'snappiness' is not as good as it was fresh out of the box (obviously) either.. I've done formats on a windows 7 PC before but I'm not familiar with formatting on windows 8.1 which I've heard you can also do through the computer settings itself. Does anyone recommend which method is better(?).

P.S. The USB recovery key has 7/8Gb of data inside it from dell's recovery software. I've never used it for anything apart from that. I'm also not worried about losing installed programs/data as I've backed up pretty much everything elsewhere. I apologize in advance for the rather 'noob' post.

 

Your 512GB SSD should include a Recovery partition, in which case you wouldn't need any external media to perform a restore; that recovery partition would contain a factory image. Anyway, I've never used it because I much prefer clean builds to get rid of all crapware and recover the storage occupied by the Recovery partition, but a quick Google of "Dell Restore Recovery" turned this up: http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN147555/EN

Windows 8 also has some native functionality for achieving this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc. It's possible that the Dell factory build included creating a custom Win8 recovery image, in which case you'd get the same result with either method. If not, the Win8 method would probably just give you a vanilla Windows installation, so you'd have to go get drivers yourself.

 

Thanks for your time. To install a 'clean build' would I have to download a separate copy of windows to do that? Besides gaining the extra 20/30GB of the partition and losing the crapware (which I figure I can uninstall after) are there any other pros to going down that route?

 

Compared to restoring the factory image in this particular case, not really. I was admittedly surprised at how little junk was installed on the box, but I do clean installs mostly out of force of habit, despite the extra work it entails. Yes, you'd have to get your hands on a Windows 8.1 ISO (either one that does both Core and Pro or the appropriate single-version ISO for your system) and then use a utility like Rufus to create USB bootable media. I added a How-To article to the XPS 15 Wiki that goes into more detail about this.

 

I see this XPS 15 Wiki come up all the time here, so What and Where is it?

 

This should be it: http://xps-15.wikia.com/wiki/XPS_15_Wiki

 

Thanks A BUNCH as it is Greatly Appreciated!

 

One thing I learned from personal experience is that if you are reformatting an SSD then a factory "SSD Secure Erase" works wonders on getting the SSD back to its original performance. You'll need to do a Google search on your model. On my Samsung EVO 512, the Magician software allows you to create a bootup USB drive that will reset the drive to its original performance. It took some trial and error to finally get it to work, but afterwards my system performance was amazing after a 2nd attempt of reinstalling Windows (my first reinstall performance was unacceptable... it was noticeably slooooooow. And it was a clean install! After the Secure Erase and another reinstall everything was perfect).

 

Is someone aware that the XPS 15 (2015) update has resolved the coil whine problem?

They have upgraded the screen, but not the processor, which makes me sceptical.... don't know if the problem is still around.

 

I'll have a look though I doubt I'll try it right away. Went through a real nightmare last night trying to get everything up and running. After the pretty straightforward Dell Backup and Restore (through USB), I updated all the necessary drivers restarted the system to have the changes take effect. First time no problems; I then let all the windows updates download and install (quite a long list of 'important' & 'recommended'). Finally I rebooted the system and that's when the problems begun.. ''We couldn't complete the updates. Undoing changes. Don't turn off your computer'' - Hah, do not turn off. The only way I got some control was by switching off through the power button. I was stuck in a boot loop(!) and trying to get it to start in safe mode was a headache since F8 is practically impossible to use. Somehow I managed to get in and then resorted to refreshing the system natively through windows again. Seems alright now, though I'm wary of installing any new windows updates for the time being and I'm wondering whether I should format everything again without the dell recovery.

 

F8 doesn't work anymore: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/...or-pcs-that-boot-faster-than-ever-before.aspx.

Yes, the ridiculous number of Windows updates can occasionally mess a system up. It's even worse on fresh installs of Windows 7 SP1; I did one recently and it was something like 250 updates, with a few more each time I rebooted after that for a while. You can improve this somewhat if you can get your hands on an 8.1 ISO that has the November 2014 rollup integrated, but if you want to stick to Dell Backup and Restore, that's just how it is. One way to mitigate it would be to manually deselect some updates so you're only installing a portion of them at a time. But yeah, if you kill your PC while updates are installing or rolling back, don't expect it to boot back up properly.

 

And suddently, one of my XPS 15 (the one with no coil whine whatsoever) has died. When I press the power button it lights up for a few seconds and turns off immediately. There is no noise and the screen stays black.

I've just called Dell Support and after trying a couple of things, they'll replace "some components" (I guess the motherboard) on Tuesday. So long to my noise-free motherboard.

At least I'm really glad I decided to extend the warranty.

 

How long did you extend your warranty? Or total warrantied years?

 

Hi. Been a lurker on this thread for several months posting once or twice and after all the issues that have been raised recently I am back to worrying that it's a great design but suffers from less than good manufacturing and software (espec drivers) quality control and you can pretty much plan on having the unit in Dell repair at least every year if not several times a year. That's just not my ideas of a positive user experience. I can live without the quad core cpu and even the dgpu, but the whole idea behind this midden seemed to be too get all those power features along with an absolutely superb QHD+ IGZO display of 15.6" a no_compromise 8-hr battery life and a very reasonable 4.4 lbs for all those attributes. But is this more akin to buying an English or Italian car in the 1970s and 80s - wonderful when all things are humming but ti often has something mission critical not functioning properly and way too much time spent with your machine in repair and too few things that lend well to self repair?

I'm not a noob and I can do a fair amount of diy repair when either the mfr or some awwsome community member provides the basic how - tos. For the last time can I request whether this is an appropriate machine for someone who really needs to count on it as a daily driver without posing regular hdwe repairs or problems with driver updates. My alternative is my Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus required s one tweaking our of the box but since then it has been Honda turn the key and go for 9 mos. Sure, my Samsung is a 13" dual core w/integrated graphics, but that is mostly all I need for work on the road and I can always use my monster desktop home or even through remote access from the road.

Advice greatly appreciated. I'm thinking a 2013 loaded model refurbed for around $1,200.

 

WHy not look at the Lenovo X1 Carbon then? or the XPS13

 

I've been using mine as a "daily driver" since October 2013 and have never had an issue. I keep drivers updated as a habit, not because I was having any issues, and although I did get a motherboard replacement for the coil whine, even that wasn't strictly necessary; I just got it because it was available and free. But of course I'm a sample size of one, whereas adlerhn has apparently just had some major issue. But you'll find people on both sides of this spectrum with any laptop model.

However, I will say (and full disclosure here: I am a Dell employee) that if I did have an issue, I'd much prefer to have Dell's on-site service available to me than Samsung's "mail it in and wait a few weeks" service option, especially on a mission critical system that I couldn't have out of commission for weeks. I can't speak to whether the Samsung is actually more reliable since I haven't followed that model closely enough, but the risks associated with a potentially problematic unit or a generally unreliable model can be mitigated by having a long, solid warranty, but if you don't have the option of a good warranty, then it doesn't really matter how reliable the laptop model is in general because you could still end up with a problematic unit.

Also keep in mind that forums such as these by their very nature will attract more posts like, "I'm having this problem, does anybody have any ideas for how to fix it?" and fewer posts like, "I'm just posting here to let the world know that everything is a-ok over here." There were definitely driver and firmware issues early on, which seems to be par for the course these days in this industry where the mantra is "Get to market now and sort the bugs out later" -- just look at all the draft-N and draft-AC WiFi routers that have been sold over the years. The most commonly reported issues for this system seemed to be WiFi and severe GPU throttling, although the WiFi complaints however persisted across other systems equipped with the Intel 7260 and may be why Dell seems to be switching to another WiFi adapter now. But Intel has significantly improved their drivers since launch and Dell has had several BIOS releases, with the result that I haven't seen complaints about either of those issues in this thread recently.

And as Jeof said above, if you don't really need quad-core or a dGPU and are willing to give up some display size, the XPS 13 looks to be a great unit too. Obviously it's too early to know about any issues it may have since most people haven't even received one yet, but it's certainly getting pretty amazing reviews.

 

I bought the computers with one year warranty, and later extended them by 2 additional years. In 2 years' time I think I may extend it one additional year.

 

I have also been using mine as a daily driver since it was released, and have only had interruptions in my work due to myself trying to make things "perfect" (with the terrible dell technicians' help). I am a pretty heavy user (not much for 3d though), and my machine rarely is rebooted (by me) more than once a week. I haven't seen a bluescreen since installing the OS directly to the SSD almost a year ago, and can't remember the last time I had a "major" problem.

Accept the coil whine as a possibility, budget for a dedicated SSD boot drive (to avoid Intel Rapid Storage/Start), and use current drivers/firmware (but don't mess with tweaking things to perfection) and it will be a fine workhorse....if you're expecting a $2200 MBP replacement, then just buy the Mac.

 

First, thanks much, one and all, for your quick and thoughtful feedback. This is NBR at its best.

Good picks, but since I already own a Samsung Book9+ and it has been flawless for 6 months, and the others don't have any additional features, I'm a believer of sticking with the "devil you know," though comments below about Samsung's lack of on site (or extended) service contracts is a factor to consider.

Good points, all, but I have been an avid forum user for a long time, so I adjust for the ratio of bad to good comments, as well as the same for owner reviews on Amazon and Newegg. So my concerns about both the XPS 15 and even the XPS 13 (older) are considered in that light. It is absolutely better to have an extended on site wtty than the limited 1 yr depot mail in of Samsung. Their only advantage over the Dells is that their build quality and owner reliability is at a far higher class. I consider it a significant downside if even once a year a machine needs service. I believe I am quite easy on computers. I try to overbuy for my needs so that I am not likely to tax the hardware, operate it at high temps, etc. So I am most attracted to products that are known for high percentage of perfect quality out of the box and no known "characteristic" problems (like coil whine) or other "achilles heels" that even 20% of the devices shipped from a model are known to have or develop. I do own several fairly high end laptops so that if one does go down my work doesn't skip a beat, but we're talking about my main machine, daily driver. I agree that the new XPS 13 looks incredibly impressive, but honestly I am not looking for a smaller, lighter form factor for a 13" but rather to upgrade to a 15.6" with only a 1 lb penalty and no battery life penalty such as the XPS 15 represents. I guess you come to a point where you just have to go with the inputs you receive (these are so helpful!) and make a decision, take a risk. My greatest concern with the XPS-15 is that the strongest asset most of you are citing are its long warranties - not the kind of answer that warms my heart - as opposed to: reputation for high reliability and superb tech support.

Thanks. With all due respect to your colleagues, this is the most encouraging advice I have received. I do plan to get one with the 512GB SSD installed "at birth" as well as the 16GB RAM. I am blown away that there are many of these available lightly used, "open box" and refurbed for around $1,200 - $1,300. I mean, the new XPS13 is a marvel of design - provided it runs reliably - but how can one justify spending $1,699 for one with 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Broadwell U or Core M cpus, integrated gpu only when compared to all the XPS-15 provides? As far as I'm concerned, a carefully used or refurbed model is likely to have fewer problems than a new one out of the box as someone has worked on/out any of the initial problems. Again, I would take a very long look at the XPS 13 if I wanted a 13" and was looking to minimize size and weight and have the newest tech available (again, I generally do not like to have the first year model of anything - computer, component, car - because they almost always have issues that need to be worked out and a computer like the current XPS-15 will not be underpowered or in any way remotely near obsolete for a minimum of 3 years, unless you're a gamer, in which this is the wrong machine even today.

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I guess I may ponder this for a while and wait and watch and perhaps grab one I find for $900 in the next few months. Or maybe I'll buy one tomorrow. In any event, I owe you all and hope I can return the favor. At a minimum, be sure I will "pay it forward."