XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

BREAKING NEWS: the "My Dell" app is BACK! can anyone else say whether they ever lost it? and if so, give it a whirl now and see if it opens for you?
and, my poor poor phone...did a live chat with Samsung, they were useless in getting my phone to connect...but each time I plugged in the USB, the folder on the desktop would open and stay open for longer and longer...I was able to open my sd card folder...but then it would disappear...and then reappear....so things seem to be getting better, but I am troubled that this seems to be "self" resolving...could it really be this machine, and if so, do I not want to take advantage of the offer to replace?

anyway, hooray for my dell app at least :-/

 

Dell batteries direct from Dell are typically quite expensive. It will probably be around $150. A 512GB mSATA is currently $450. So now you are up to $600 to upgrade the mid tier to the top tier when you could have just done it from the start for $400. That is why people recommend just getting the top tier if you want battery life, because it doesn't make sense to upgrade the mid tier to a larger battery.

 

The My Dell app still does not work for me.

 

yep, me neither . . .

 

I see what you are saying, but what I am looking for is hands-on experience with the smaller battery to see what performance is like. Specs are one thing but component quality can make things less cut and dry than that. What I'd also interested is if anybody has weighed their machine and can post so that we know the weight difference between the 2 batteries.

.

I have a different opinion on this, likely because I have a different use. I am focused more on weight, because I carry this thing around a lot (and I don't also want to be dragging even a 2.5" external harddrive around with me). Right now the XPS comes in about 0.5kg below a standard 15" laptop. If the large battery brings the weight up any closer to that 2.5kg (5.5lb) mark, then there is a lot of competition for this laptop that provides similar processing power at much cheaper costs. Can people please post their system weights? The ones listed by Dell are kind of questionable (considering their marketing team has listed a considerable difference in weight between the near-identical M3800 and XPS).

So I am hoping that Haswell technology has made a 61Whr battery sufficient for my needs. But that's just a hope until I find out more.

True, but the XPS upgrade to 8.1 Pro is only $50 so I'm not really concerned.

As somebody else pointed out, only 512 mSata is available now, so I'd have to wait a little while for a 1TB to come out and swap.

 

I've had the mid-tier model since Monday, and I'm really disappointed with the battery life so far. I think today I got a total of about 3.5 hours from 100% to shut-itself-down dead, with just web browsing and some Google Docs.

Granted, I made no effort to set up power profiles, there was just a default "Dell" profile that I let it run on.

I just set up a custom profile with everything possible set to "Max power savings" when on battery, and I'll try to remember to come back and post what sort of life I get when I next run it down from 100%. I'm not overly hopeful though.

Perhaps my expectations were just a little high, but having to carry a power brick around with me really defeats the point of paying over twice as much for a light machine. (Aside from the thinness and the display, this computer really is 2x the cost for similar specs to many other machines)

Maybe I just have a dud. The one I have has dust under the display panel, and the LED on the charger never turns off, so I need to get both those things repaired right out of he box. Those two don't necessarily point to a bad battery, but the life really does suck.

Also, as far as I know, you CANNOT upgrade this machine to Win 8.1 Pro (out of the factory, once you have it you can install whatever). I noticed that the option was available on the Dell Business website and requested it from my sales rep. He managed to add it on, but then my order got cancelled with no warning a week later. I called in and another sales rep punched it in again... then their system cancelled it again 4 days after that. Their customer service dept gave me $150 in discounts and coupons (on an already reduced price from haggling), but I ended up getting the machine 2 weeks later that my original promised delivery date.

 

I thought the additional weight of the larger battery is offset by the lack of 2.5'' HDD ?

 

@lee_what2004 Thanks, I hadn't found that battery comparison chart before. Much appreciated.

 

Thanks for your feedback. This is *exactly* what I'm afraid of. My whole purpose for buying this machine is the weight to performance ratio - carrying a portable harddrive or a AC adapter around with me makes it less attractive and as you've mentioned, doing so would mean there is less separating it from the machines which cost half the price. I've been waiting over a year to find a lightweight quadcore 15", and I really hoped this was going to fit the bill.

Hmm ... maybe it's only on the Dell Australia site, but 8.1 Pro is the first customization option for an extra $50.

That all said - I have definitely ruled out ordering the M3800 from the US. With all of the issues reported here, I don't want to deal with overseas warranty.

 

Ahh, then you might be in luck.


I was just looking at the reviews of the XPS 15 on the Canadian Dell website, and someone else confirmed that they got 3.6 hours of battery life on the mid-tier model.

Looks like now it's a mater of deal with it or go with something else.

I wish Lenovo would hurry up and get the rest of the T540 line released.

 

Do you need more than 400GB of space when you are using your laptop on the go? The AC adapter is pretty small (relative to some of the older bricks). External HDDs aren't even that large and there are USB keys and SD cards that have plenty of space temporarily. What issues are you referring to with the M3800? Also, business laptops usually have international warranty with 3 years support. What this means is that if you have an issue, you can contact your local Dell and they'll cover and repairs and stuff.

 

Has anyone ordered the XPS 15 from Costco and had it shipped yet? I placed an order on Monday and it still just says Order Received.

Also, I currently have an older Latitude E5520 that also has a 9 cell battery along with two EPort Plus docking stations. Is there any way to get either of those AC adapters to work with the XPS 15? The specs look the same between the EPort's adapter and the XPS', but I don't know if the plug is a different size and, if so, an adapter would exist.

 

Anyone tried heading into a costco to see if they carry it in store?

 

Interesting update on my wireless connectivity problems. I've been posting in here about how my wireless intermittently drops and I have to run the Windows Troubleshooter to fix the problem. I called Dell when this happened the first time and they sent me a new machine. The new XPS15 ended up having the same problem so I called Dell again today and it turns out they are sending a tech over to my house to install a new wireless adapter because apparently, and I'm quoting from the Dell rep I spoke with today... " it is now a known issue that the XPS15 computers have faulty wireless adapters."

I'll post more when the tech comes out.

 

Strange, since many of us, myself included, are having no trouble with wifi.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

The Dell rep may have got confused with the previous XPS 15.

 

I looked at in the Costco store in my area (South of Seattle) and they did not have it in the store. I ended up ordering from Costco online on Tuesday. My order status is still "order received" (I think someone was asking about their order status not being updated).

 

Hello everyone, here is my first post on this forum

I ordered top spec Dell 15 and still waiting for delivery.
It supposed to be delivered on 03/12, but still not here. I was told that it left China on 28/11, so it's has been a week in transit.

How long have you guys waited for yours?

 

Costco is basically drop shipping from Dell. They don't have inventory sitting around waiting to be shipped out. I ordered mine on 11/12 and received it 11/23. Just be patient it will probably take about 2 weeks for you to get yours.

As for the adapter, the power port on the laptop is very small, much smaller than any previous Dell I have had. My guess is it won't work.

 

And if you had any lingering doubts, the average weight of a 2.5" drive is right around .2 - .3 lbs, or pretty much exactly the weight difference between the larger and the smaller battery. The weight of the two machines should be very close to each other.

If you need external storage to go with the top tier unit that is about .2kg for a portable 2TB drive that gets it's power from the usb port.

If you are looking for a slim and portable quad core, your options right now are pretty much limited to the Macbook Pro Retina 15" and the XSP15/M3800. I think for you the top tier with the mSATA fits your stated needs the best.

 

Three weeks in, and I love this laptop. No problems at all. The only thing that really really bugs me is there is not a dedicated home and end key (i use these a lot while coding).

Now I am trying to decide whether to upgrade my router to an AC router or not...

 

That is very GOOD to hear !
So many others are experiencing issues - it is nice that there are some trouble-free units out there.

Does anyone know if (in the past) Dell has a habit of discounting these high end XPS laptops for Christmas or Boxing day ?
I want to order one, but I keep thinking there's going to be a big sale coming on these if I wait just a bit longer.

 

The my Dell app was updated today and it works for me as well. Guys just reinstall

 

I would also like to give a status update from someone who uses it daily. I started using it around the 16th of nov. I am a remote software engineer and I am running a virtual machine, VPN and Remote Desktop 8-10 hours a day. I have a Bluetooth headset and run my virtual machine from a USB 3.0 flash drive. I did change out the hard drives when I got the machine and reloaded windows 8.1 pro. Running a 256gb msata and a 940gb SSD drive. I play online games on a regular basis.
I have had zero wifi issues, Bluetooth has worked great. The laptop fans do run on high when I'm gaming and the only game I have had any throttling in was Planetside 2. Other games have worked well. I do try and run from the battery at least 1 charge a day and I get between 3-4 house with all the above running. I have everything set on high performance so I think that is good.

Now for my complaints.
I also like some other have said would have liked to have dedicated home and end keys.
The high resolution of the screen is great but I run mine set to 1920x1080 all the time because of running Virtualbox and adobe. They both do not scale and I use them a lot. I also think I had issues with a couple games. This is not a problem with the laptop it is a software issue with other developers.
The touchpad buttons are. to great I do wish that was better.
All in all I really like it and will be using it for a few years to come.
By the way it is nearly silent unless I'm playing games.

Brandon

 

Received my top end XPS the other day and have noticed that when it goes in "sleep" mode, (set when I close the lid), all my programs close and my desktop icons are scrambled. Anyone else having this issue or know a fix? I will try using the power button to see if it causes the same issue.

UPDATE: Used power button and turned back on within 5 minutes...same issue

 

Thanks for sharing your experience - that helps me have a better idea of what to expect. I'm glad to hear you have only experienced throttling with one game. I have been concerned about screen resolution issues also. I've heard (generally) that using non-native resolution can cause the screen to look funky. Is it very noticeable with this screen?

 

If you have outstanding vision and look very carefully, you'll notice that running the QHD+ panel at 1080p isn't QUITE as sharp as if it were a native 1080p panel -- but even if you can tell, it's very, very close. The blurriness that's normally caused by running LCD panels in non-native resolution is because the pixel mapping between the image being drawn and the physical pixels on the display doesn't precisely line up, but with the incredible number of pixels on a QHD+ panel and the extremely high pixel density, that's just not really an issue.

 

Updated to v03 to fix memory leak

Turns out v02 has a memory leak since the executable is based on v15. I tried every iteration of v15's series, the scrolling is not regulated and that is whats causing the memory leak. I went to v16.3.4 which fixes the memory leak and regulates the scroll speed a bit, but not as bad as the newer v17. Also, two finger coasting needs a bit more effort to activate, but not nearly as difficult as v17; and it's not a hit and miss. It works every time.

Here is the link to v03 which fixes the memory leak. This version DOES have the 3 finger flick, and enables the Edge Swipe features. Make sure to do a clean install based on the instructions to ensure the features work properly:

LINK: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...th smooth coasting for XPS12 v03 12052013.zip

I'll continue experiment, but its too bad that the perfect setup resulted in a memory leak. Now we have to settle for a slightly lesser version in order to maintain stability.

edit: 3-finger flick does in fact work. I had to do a clean install.
edit #2: In my instructions, I mentioned that you need to install the DELL driver right after installing the Synaptics HID Touchpad driver. This only pertains to those who still do not have Synaptics functionality after the reboot. If you need to install the DELL driver, there are two versions. Use only the file: Touchpad_Synaptics_W8.14_X09_A01_Setup-09P23_ZPE.exe. If you use a different DELL version other than 09P23_ZPE, then it will overwrite the modded driver entirely.

 

US Results:
Contents: XPS 15 512GB mSATA version + power supply
FedEx tracking page said: 16x13x9 in. ... mine was actually 19.5x13.5x3.75 in

9, 9.5 or 10 lbs ... FedEx tracking page, shipping label and Dell packing slip all disagreed. Didn't weigh it myself.

 

Try arranging them and then logging off and back on before sleeping; that may commit the icon positions. I've noticed that my icons get rearranged if I change the resolution or scaling factor (which also happened on previous versions of Windows), and sometimes they go back to normal when I revert the resolution/scaling change, and sometimes they don't. I can't identify a pattern. I do know that UltraMon among other things allows you to save and restore desktop icon positions to handle this type of issue. It does a lot of other cool stuff too, though newer versions of Windows have increasingly incorporated more of its more compelling features.

 

I noticed that the specs listed on the Canadian Costco site list the wireless card as a Dell Wireless-N 1705. Anyone know if this true or is ita typo?

 

Thanks. Do you have any thoughts on why the programs would be shutting down, too? When I open the lid again, it starts as if it's resuming from a shutdown.

 

Are the programs actually killed (gone in Task Manager) or do they just no longer show up on the taskbar? Either way that shouldn't be happening, though. Can you replicate this any way other than closing the lid, such as choosing Sleep or Hibernate manually from the Charms > Settings area? What are your Power Options set to do when you close the lid? Do you have Intel Rapid Start enabled, and if so have you confirmed that your hibernation partition is at least as large as the RAM installed in your system?

 

All methods tried (lid, power button, charms) and result is same.
All power options set to sleep.

Rapid Start enabled, but if I'm reading the Disk Management right, the partitions aren't set correctly...one 8GB and one 7.27GB (16GB RAM), and partitions don't appear to be clearly identifiable.

Is it odd that on a 16GB machine that a partition isn't set by default to enable use of Rapid Start?

 

LaptopMag.com jut published a review of the XPS 15 and they generally liked it. They were impressed by the screen of the QHD and audio but thought the webcam was mediocre and the backlighting on the keyboard was uneven. I really hope the webcam isn't that bad since I do use my laptop for Skype quite a bit.They also got 7 hours for the battery on the top model.

 

This is how it works with Costco. You don't see anything other than order received until just as or just after it ships. Once it ships it was one day shipping for me. I ordered from costco in something like mid-Nov for delivery Dec 3. About a week or so after i ordered I got an email that it had shipped. then i got it the next day.

They do not have the XPS 15 in Costco stores up here in Alaska.

 

Yeah, Dell doesn't officially support Rapid Start on systems with more than 8GB of RAM, even though it works just fine. I think part of that is because they want to use 32GB mSATA SSDs for some systems, and a 16GB hibernation partition plus the 18.6GB required for Smart Response won't all fit onto a 32GB mSATA unit. Unfortunately even if you wanted to enable Rapid Start on your system there isn't a good, simple way to do it. You'd either have to delete that 7.27 GB Recovery partition (I assume that has a factory image, though I'm not sure whether there would be other consequences to deleting it), then shrink your OS partition a bit, then delete the 8GB partition and recreate it as a 16GB partition per Intel's instructions using that newly freed up space, or just wipe your whole system and build it correctly from the start, which incidentally would dramatically simplify your partition map a bit. I did that and I just have a 300 MB Recovery partition (Windows RE), a 99 MB EFI partition, the OS, and Rapid Start.

But unless you're going to do one of those, you may as well turn off Rapid Start. It may not allow itself to work anyway if it sees that the partition is too small, or maybe it will enter Rapid Start if the amount of RAM actually in use will fit into the partition. However, Intel's documentation gives no indication that that happens, in fact they specifically say that the partition needs to match your RAM size to use Rapid Start at all, so I'd turn it off if you don't meet the requirements just in case it doesn't disable itself automatically for some reason. That will then allow you to use standard Sleep mode, and I'm curious if that changes anything for you.

Of course even if that works, you'd then be leaving 8GB of your SSD unusable, and given its location on the drive relative to the OS partition, there isn't an easy way to extend the OS partition to use it. If you didn't care about Rapid Start or the factory image backup, you could delete both of those partitions and extend your OS partition to fill the freed up space. Or if you wanted to keep that image backup but were determined to use that 8GB, you could try converting your disk to a dynamic disk to enable volume spanning, but that's a bit messy.

 

This discussion started a couple of pages back,

But can anybody else comment on their battery life on the id and top-tier models?

Yesterday I got exactly 3.5 hours on the mid-tier, just web browsing, from 100% until Windows shut itself down. Someone who reviewed it on the Dell Canada website also said that they got 3.6 hours.

I definitely can't do 3.5 hours and am considering returning, but I'm wondering what others got, especially on the top tier because laptopmag claims they got 7 hours out of it.

 

That seems low. Have you turned off bluetooth and NFC (if you don't use them, anyway)? That seems to bring down the mW use a bit. What power profile are you using?

I have the top-tier. I am using it on power saver profile with BT and NFC off. Keyboard backlight is 50%. Brightness is adaptive but set to low, which is easily readable even in a lit room. Wifi is on. Right now batterybar is showing me burning between 8-12mW/hr. That's equating to between 9.5 to 10 hours of battery life (65% with 6:16 left). When I'm off the mains, these are generally the settings I use. Has worked really well and exactly the battery life I was hoping for.

 

I use a Bluetooth mouse, so that has to stay on. I've used the NFC a little, but mostly as a gimmicky thing, does just disabling it in the device manager turn off the
power to it?

I just remembered that people were discussing how the Dell touchpad driver keeps the CPU at ~5% all the time, so I'm going to try switching to Synaptics there, too.

At the time of the 3.5 hour run, I was using the totally stock "Dell" profile that they set up, and I didn't look at the settings but it didn't feel like it was trying very hard to conserve power.
When I got home I configured a new one that has all the possible power settings cranked down. I think tomorrow I'm going to try unplugging it just at my desk and see how it goes.

What are you using to get the mW/hr reading?

I'm also considering switching to the top-tier model, but I'll have to talk to my Dell CS rep about it because it doesn't ship for 14 days so I'd have to hang onto this one for a while or see if he can arrange some magic. (Since the fans are so quiet, the hard drive rattling is driving me nuts, and the longer battery life would be much better)

Thanks a lot for your feedback

 

I really do wonder if there is a significant difference between Rapid Start and regular hibernate on the same SSD-only system. After all, both methods will copy RAM contents to the same SSD, and both are supposed to result in zero (or near zero) power draw.

For Bitlocker users, an advantage to using regular hibernate is that RAM contents stored in hiberfil.sys will be encrypted, whereas with Rapid Start I suspect its dedicated partition will not, thereby exposing RAM contents to potential attackers.

 

Realtek driver mod and Creative X-FI with realtek chip

Once again, my journey to making my XPS 12 laptop the best it can be led me to the following (which applies to the XPS 15 as well):

I was not impressed with the default sound driver and the Dell's MaxxAudio. It made everything sound too harsh, so in my attempt to get Dolby Home Theater v4 onto this laptop given it's a realtek sound card, I managed to do one better. Someone has created a mod that has DTS, Dolby HT, and a slew of other effects including Creative X-FI. Follow the directions on the following page and you'll have great sound in no time:

LINK: Realtek driver mod and Creative X-FI with realtek chip

Our sound card chip model is: ALC668

Enjoy!

 

Guys, I finally got my XPS 15
Came in yesterday.

I noticed that I'm having problems installing stuff with this resolution.
Installing office main window wasn't fully visible and I couldn't make it wider.
Do you guys have similar problems?

 

Realtek driver mod and Creative X-FI with realtek chip

I was not impressed with the default sound driver and the Dell's MaxxAudio. It made everything sound too harsh, so in my attempt to get Dolby Home Theater v4 onto this laptop given it's a realtek sound card, I managed to do one better. Someone has created a mod that has DTS, Dolby HT, and a slew of other effects including Creative X-FI. Follow the directions on the following page and you'll have great sound in no time:

LINK: Realtek driver mod and Creative X-FI with realtek chip

Our sound card chip model is: ALC668

Enjoy!

Update:

After messing with all the settings, I found the cleanest sounding setup possible. Truthfully, most of the sound technology sounds terrible. Usually you want the cleanest sound possible, and with this driver, it employs SIX enhancements. This means that if you turn them all on, your sound goes through ALL SIX of these sound processing. By the time it gets to your ear, it sounds like crap. The six processors you get with these hacked drivers are:
In the Playback Devices property menu:
1. SRS
2. Sonic Focus
3. Dolby v2 (sucks compared to v4)
4. DTS
Other:
5. SRS (found in the Control Panel) - RealTek settings (yes, theres two SRS processors!)
6. Creative Labs X-FI (This is the best, I only use this for the cleanest sound)

I turned them all off except for X-FI. And in X-FI, don't select Headphone. Keep it at 2.1 channel so it wont try to modify your sound. The only thing I use in X-FI is the 3D sound and the Crystalizer. It's great because the effects are very subtle and clarity stays put.

Turn off Items 1 thru 5 as seen below:
View attachment 105817

View attachment 105816

Here's a video you can use to test your sound--play it in HD:

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3PDXmYoF5U


Enjoy!

 

thanks. I shall stop searching for solutions
wow 3 days away and took me half an hour to find the post!

 

can I ask another question:

suddenly my touchscreen froze and even on restarting. in fact on restarting the mouse would fly to the right upper corner!

I switched it off and was going to call dell but it's 11pm ... after a while it was ok again. it's fine now ... anyone had this problem?

 

I don't have cd-key label for my windows 8 on my laptop? Where can I find it?

 

You can't. You can use a program to extract the key from the windows install, but I don't think it is a valid key for normal Windows 8 installs, just the one that Dell uses.

 

I got about 8 hours of battery life last night watching Netflix streaming for most of that time. I have the top tier model and have disabled Bluetooth, NFC, and my Touchscreen. Brightness was on low/20%, wifi was set to max power saving. The laptop was on battery in sleep mode for about 12 hours before I started using it as well. Judging from my experience and kaborchers I think the most you can expect out of the mid-tier with some power optimization would be about 4.5-5 hours. So maybe that will help you decide whether to upgrade or not.