XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

I do agree with everything mentioned in your post, but I'd like to add one more piece of information.

The right mouse can also make a world of difference. Just like a trackpad can learn new tricks by using multiple gestures, a mouse with programmable buttons can become a lot more useful: side buttons that can minimize, close, or switch between windows can be extremely useful while working.

Sure the trackpad or touchscreen are very useful alternative input methods, but if you really want to be productive with your notebook, advanced keyboard & mouse usage is still the best way to go.

 

Totally agreed. I have a Logitech MX Revolution and use the side buttons constantly when web browsing if my hand is on the mouse anyway. I haven't played much with other functions because I hate installing mouse software. It's just added bloat for fairly little gain IMHO (especially if you don't use the mouse much in the first place), and especially on a system that has both trackpad and external mouse software installed, I've always ended up with weird issues.

But the thing I really love about an external mouse is the middle click because middle-clicking on a browser link opens that link in a new tab. In fact my current Precision M6300 has a middle-click button built into the chassis itself for when I have to use the touchpad. That's one of the coolest features ever, and sadly I can't find any laptops I like that have a physical middle click anymore. I know you can program it with gestures and such, but it's never been quite the same on laptops where I've tried that.

 

Do u have a clue about the bottom left click if it is hardware or software issue ?

 

So, can you tell me how the GPU has worked while XPS 15 was performing this test?
What's the clock and load on GPU?
I really don't understand the difficulty to perform the same test that Notebookcheck does.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

Well, the one thing this video answers is my question about glossy screens. I can see your rflection and that of the lighting behind you. Arggghhhhh! I just don't get how this is acceptable to folks? What good is such a great screen if it's just a mirror? Do you all work in the dark all day?

 

I tend to prefer matte displays myself, but having used some glossy panels, although you can see reflections when you're looking at them, they're in a different focal plane from the content on the display itself, so it's actually not difficult to tune that out and focus entirely on what's on the panel. Harsh lighting will be an issue purely because it will make it harder to see content, but reflections go completely ignored and unnoticed within a minute or two of usage. At least that's been my experience.

 

All the test at : GPU Core Clock [MHz] : 1058.2
All the test at : GPU Memory Clock [MHz] : 1249.7
GPU Temperature : vary from 65°C to 74°C

 

Your data are still incomplete, because you don't have info about the load on GPU.
The only software that supply all info it's HWinfo.
If you set it in logging mode it will supply a File with extension CVS with all parameters as temps, clocks, load.
So you can post the CVS file on forum easily.

The only warning is to launch something that run on GPU before to launch HWinfo otherwise the GPU will not be detected.

From your data it's hard to believe that with system on full load the temps on GPU are in the range 65°C 74°C, you have to consider that your CPU hits 90°C and its TDP is 35W while GPU has a TDP of 50W and they share the cooling system.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

I won't I am tired to run benchmark now, run 3dmark 11/ 13 / vantage and OCCT test
All stable and decent score.

Don't care about anything else

 

So I have the top spec for 2 weeks now and I starting to have graphical issues when playing any games. After continuously playing for 20-30 mins, the game suddenly stutters/go slow motion. I was thinking maybe it's the CPU throttling but when I did some stress test using AIDA64, CPU seems to be holding up between 2.1 to 2,8Ghz @ 81-85C Temps. So I'm guessing it might be GPU throttling? Has someone else seen this issue while continuously playing for at least 30 mins?

 

OK it's the second report with the same info, another user has reported the same issue in this thread: he was playing a game for 30 minutes when it's started shuttering.
If these 2 reports are true means that there is throttling on GPU!

You can check easily if you system has throttling on GPU using HWinfo

you don't need to install HWinfo there is portable version:
http://www.hwinfo.com/files/hw64_426.zip

so you can launch your game, back to desktop launch HWinfo, set logging mode, back to your game and play until you find the issue then you can send in this forum the CVS file that HWinfo has made.
I will analyze for you.

 

FYI, the top-spec XPS 15 I ordered on 11/11 just now shipped.

 

Yes, it's the first time I've posted this issue. I'll try to search on the other post see if we have similar issues. Will also post log later.

 

Nice! Congrats.

There truly doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to the ship dates. I ordered mine on 11/8, same spec, still 'in production'.

To the rest of you who are still waiting and wondering why, you are not alone!

 

Ok, I have found the first report:

It seems that throttling on GPU is highly probable.

 

I'm wondering if this will be fixed with a BIOS update that includes an updated thermal map. In fact there's already a BIOS update on Dell's site -- have you installed that? Some generation of MacBook Pro had cooling issues at launch (can't remember if it was overly aggressive fans that drained battery and made unnecessary noise or lazy fans that caused overheating) and that was fixed with an update released a few weeks after launch. I'm not questioning whether you're experiencing throttling, but I can't imagine that a machine in the XPS line intended for casual gaming (as opposed to Alienware) would be DESIGNED to only deliver its peak performance for 30 minutes. Lots of people game longer than that, after all, so I expect this will be fixed.

Also, check your Power Options and make sure your cooling policy is set to Active. That might only affect the CPU though, not sure.

 

Ordered 11/8 ETA 12/4

 

I understand this may have been asked before, but I can't find information on it searching - the results are mostly related to the previous XPS 15.

I will probably go for the intermediate spec model myself which will give me the 1TB HDD & 32GB mSATA coupled with the 61WHr battery. If I choose to buy an aftermarket 512GB mSATA SSD later down the line (when they get a bit cheaper), would I be able to buy and fit the larger 91WHr battery also?

It's a saving of roughly $400 at the moment (middle spec) which I'm happy with for the time being. Once again, apologies if this has been exhausted already.

 

Assuming Dell will sell you the 91WHr battery and you're comfortable removing the 2.5" drive sled and connector from the motherboard, I don't see why not. I would imagine going the other direction could actually be more difficult since Dell may not sell the drive sled you'd need as a spare part -- but the battery should definitely be available for purchase.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to point those things out. I am a heavy user of the keyboard as well, in fact I'm most at home on a command line. My use of the word "primary" was probably an overreach - but it's definitely very important - especially when using gestures and *especially* with this keyboard. If Dell is not going to provide a keyboard with dedicated page up and page down keys, the trackpad better be good at scrolling IMO.

Using the keyboard, or suggesting someone use the keyboard more doesn't change the fact that this touchpad (or its software) are inferior to previous Dell laptops I've owned. Given the state of the touchpads on other mature Dell systems that are being sold today, I don't see them figuring this out anytime soon. Sure, the Synaptics drivers solve some of the issues (after a lot of messing around) but they still have other problems - namely they don't support some of the new OS level gestures like three finger swipe down to bring up the settings menu and three finger swipe up to search.

 

These suggestions are not for everyone - these are for a specific use case where you are seated at a desk, with enough room to have a mouse. What about when traveling - or on the couch - or sitting up in bed - or in a cramped work space? A mouse is useless in all of these scenarios.

Plain and simple, the laptop is sold with a trackpad - it should work properly.

 

Heck, I would like laptops with a physical left and right click! At least then you can press left+right to get middle link.

But that feature is not only available on an external mouse. Good touchpad software should be programmable to allow a 3 or 4 finger tap to provide a middle click action. I hacked my registry entries to allow this with the Synaptics driver, but your average joe user would never figure that out.

 

I am getting jerked around by dell tech support...so I am bumping my own post from last night, in the hopes someone here can relate and advise:

 

I agree. I too noticed that the dedicated Page buttons were gone and that worried me, though a bigger pet peeve of mine in that area is that pretty much every external keyboard now puts that block of keys in a 3-down and 2-across arrangement rather than the traditional 3-across and 2-down. That's why I love my Precision M6300, which has dedicated keys for that entire block AND in the proper arrangement, something I almost never see on desktops anymore, let alone laptops. But if they weren't going to get dedicated keys on this model, I think Dell was smart to move them onto the arrow keys as opposed to the totally bizarre placements I've seen on other models. I think using the Fn key with an arrow to use the Page/Home/End keys will end up feeling natural and almost as efficient. Rather than having to move your hand to the upper-right corner of the keyboard to press those keys, you just move it to the lower-right corner while reaching for a modifier key in an area you're used to reaching for modifier keys anyway. In fact this could actually end up being MORE efficient now that I think about it, because very often after touching Page/Home/End, my next key press is an arrow key on the other edge of the keyboard, so having them in exactly the same spot could save some time. But dedicated keys or not, I think I'd still always use Page keys over scrolling; it's just more predictable and consistent -- and much lower effort if you need to scroll a long way. One of the cooler features on my MX Revolution mouse is the choice to have the scroll wheel move in notches or freely, and if you give it a good whirl it will go for quite some time -- useful if you're trying to get to Page 50 of a Word document that's too long to allow sufficiently precise targeting by grabbing the on-screen scroll bar.

As far as the touchpad goes, I don't get my system until tomorrow, but I agree that it shouldn't be difficult to provide a touchpad that works for people. Still, it sounds like some of this will get fixed in software, and if the very bottom edge just isn't sensitive to clicks and scrolling, that's indeed rather unfortunate, but I wouldn't consider it a dealbreaker myself given how much other great stuff is in this machine and not really available anywhere else in the same package.

 

Can anyone answer my question about the SD card slot? Is an SD card supposed to spring in and out (like, to get it out, you push it in and it pops out), or is it just a friction slot that you push into and pull out of? I'm trying to figure out if mine is physically broken or something else.

 

My best battery times comes with 0% brightness which is still pretty bright imo, wifi at lowest (im close to router), I also have Dell's extended battery settings on..i get over 8 with that. Might be able to do better if I fiddles with cpu

 

mine is also slide in/out, no spring action...i liked the spring action on my old inspiron too...oh well

 

Actually these suggestions are for everyone. Everyone gets to decide how to use their notebook and what input method to use the most. Whatever combination you choose - touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, pen etc - is totally up to you, but that doesn't change the overall potential of each input method. That's why we have more of them.

I do agree with you that the trackpad should work flawlessly on a notebook, and for an XPS device it should also be a top of the line model, complete with proper driver support. But then again, where in my original post did I suggest otherwise?

 

Mine is a friction slot as well. I was expecting a spring too but mine is just like yours.

 

I have the CSV file but can't seem to upload to this thread. Any help?

 

You'll have to zip it.

 

Exactly :thumbsup:
If you find others problems on uploading in this forum you can use services such as Mega, Dropbox or Multiupload.

 

I've had springs break sometimes.. so the friction one may actually be better.. its hell getting one out of a spring port when the spring is broken...

 

Doh! Here you go. My initial findings on this table starts at Row 28. Voltage and Clock speeds all went down.

 

has anybody noticed that chrome is slow? does this have to do with graphics? or scaling? for example pressing an image in images and the preview slide down and its very choppy. or the computer is choppy when trying to move your windows around..

 

Mine just showed up. Only notification I had was the fact that I got an email from FedEx because I had signed up for like the MyFedEx and turned on notifications a long time ago. Costco has no idea I even have it at the moment, mine shipped direct from Dell, showed up in the Black Dell laptop box, with a few tears in it. They just slapped a shipping label on it. Looks okay so far. Absolutely silent so far.

 

Interesting, good to know, I guess I will have to be on the lookout for a shipment.

 

Would love to hear some details!

 

Wow, it seems the throttling is very high, GPU clock goes to 135MHZ from 1058MHz, the load on GPU remains on 99%, it's seems that if GPU hits 74°C then starts to throttling, but 74°C it's very low trigger.

 

I experienced this throttling myself as well last night when I tried Battlefield 4. For me, about 5 min of gameplay caused a sudden drop in performance. Using Nvidia Inspector I could monitor GPU and see the drops as they happened.

In my case though, I had the laptop on my bed while I played. A scenario that works perfectly fine with late 2013 rMBP that I also have (testing both deciding which to keep). Once I put the laptop on a hard surface, fans could breathe and the performance was markedly better than the Macbook at the same settings.

I didn't play for long though so I don't know yet if it'll throttle with more use under load.

 

This confirms it then. Crap, I was starting to really like this laptop. You think it's possible I may have a bad GPU? Can we get others to do the test as well to confirm the GPU throttling?

 

When I get home tonight I'll play some more BF4 and see it throttles even when it's properly ventilated (sitting on a cold table as opposed to a bed or couch). Also I need to update the Macbook to the latest Geforce drivers to see if that's what gave the Dell the advantage, if not, then I know what it is.

 

You don't get to update video drivers on a Mac. Any driver updates for internal components and other Apple products would be included in the updates to Mac OS itself.

 

Ok and if you can indicate what temps it starts to throttle, that would be great.

 

I can confirm that the Dell trackpad driver's are absolute rubbish.

If I had to deal with them working like that, I would definitely return the machine. Was frustrated just trying to setup the laptop and download the other drivers.

Synaptic's are much more usable. But doesn't seem to pick up my palm all the time.. which is crazy frustrating too.. maybe it was just a freak occurrence. Nope just did it again, might need to go change some more settings. When I life my hand up from typing it senses a side swipe, and goes to the start menu. ARGHHH....3x now.

No CPU/electronic Whine here, was already 100% battery and I plugged it into charger.. I hear the fans kick on slightly while working it in my lap.

About to install Diablo 3.

update: changed the palm detection up some.. much better so far. Copying off a USB 3 thumb drive at 40MB/s, 33GBs will have some games on here soon to try out.

 

While I wait for my replacement laptop...

I'm considering replacing the mSATA with a 240 gig unit. Does anyone have exprience with mSATA drives from Mushkin or MyDigital? Here are the two I have my eye on:

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series MKNSSDAT240GB-DX mSATA 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Amazon.com: MyDigitalSSD 50mm Bullet Proof 4 BP4 50mm mSATA Solid State Drive SSD SATA III 6G (240GB)(256GB): Computers & Accessories

Also, I tried downloading the Windows 8.1 ISO direct from Microsoft, but it immediately told me my product number wouldn't work on a retail copy. Going to request a USB installer from Dell -- I guess that's the only one that will work, bloatware and all.

 

The guy earlier, who when he changed his scale, couldn't get a mouse pointer to show up in games..

Yeah I get that in Diablo 3 too. I can see the stuff highlight, but the pointer itself doesn't actually show up anywhere. So far this laptop for 2k is kinda annoying and finicky.. although every thing seems to be great hardware on it. Really contemplating the whole rMBP.

 

Synaptic touch pad drivers fix the bottom corner clicks. But they make it so that I swipe in from the right when typing and select the start screen.. very very annoying.. I have tried to maximize the palm detection.... no dice.. Either I would have to disable that whole gesture.. may try to get the Dell driver adjusted right. see if it picks up palm better.

 

I know that. I was referring to the Geforce drivers in Windows 8.1 under Bootcamp. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Anyone elses touchpad already show discoloration? I have had it for like 3 hours and looking at an angle you can see discoloration on it....