XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

Agreed, I'm a little upset - could have waited and gotten a better price AND earlier delivery...might have to talk to Dell about this.

 

It lists "512GB mSATA Solid State Drive" in the order confirmation..

 

As alfi said, it is an mSATA. If you look up the repair manual for the XPS 15 (9530) you can clearly see pictures of the internals and how the larger battery fills the space of the 2.5" drive. There is simply nowhere to put a 2.5" drive with the larger battery.

 

I ordered the Mid model. Does anyone know the batter life on that model? I'm thinking about cancelling. I need at least 8 hours of web browsing, emailing, system administration without having to be charged all the time. Any thoughts?

 

Mid model won't be able to do that, although if thats all you want to do the XPS 15 probably isn't the right choice, seeing as £1800 is quite a lot for that kind of use.

 

I'll be running a few virtual machines and doing some heavy gaming. I had the lenovo y500 which i recently sold due to it being heavy and bulky. I originally wanted the 15 Macbook pro retina but i'm not a OSX fan. So then the xps 15 touch was announced and is just as lighter than the retina - so i decided to pull the trigger. I really only need 5 hours of better life after being unplugged for emergencies to do basic tasks.

I hate when I unplug my laptop and i'm in a server room and only have 1 hour of batter life. It's pretty crazy. Its a big trade off between the mid and high model...i need to space for photos, music and files but need battery life.

Do you think the high model will give me 11 hours like they claim i'll be happy with 9-10 hours.

 

I didn't realise you were planning on doing that as well

I would say 5 hours is a best case scenario for the mid model, especially as the battery wears it won't do that. Not sure what the top model will do as it has fairly power hungry components but has a huge battery. The best estimate would be picking a laptop that has roughly the same specs and see the battery life on that, then find out what rating the battery in that has and then you should be able to have an educated guess. I don't have much experience with dell so I don't know how good their estimates usually are.

If your're struggling for space I was in a similar situation, but I managed to half my storage needs by using a program called SpaceSniffer.

 

Give it a try. Dell had screwed up the order I placed on 18th when it became available. They gave me a quote with no tax and I had to re-order on 21st. I made a big deal out of it and got the 2nd day ship for free and a rep to call me every day to give me status update. They still care about their customers...

 

Give it a chance, it'll likely ship real quick. I ordered on the 19th and just updated to shipping,

Think of it this way: You order very early and your system is one of the first down the assembly line, it is then one of the first to get loaded on a pallet, and one of the first pallets to go into the shipping container to go across the ocean.

When it gets to the destination country all those systems have to be unloaded in reverse order from how they got loaded. It makes sense that yours could be a little behind systems ordered a day or two after because it takes longer to dig through to get to yours.

By the fact that tons of people are getting updates all at once it stands to reason they are unloading tons of them from the shipments. Yours is just on the bottom of the stack because it was placed there first.

 

Called Dell today at lunch, explained the situation - the rep was helpful. Knocked a bit more off the price and expedited the shipment. Hopefully it arrives in the next week or so, I'm just excited for the laptop

 

I'm in the same boat. I contacted Dell chat, but they were useless
it ships out according to the order being placed and the estimated delivery date being offered to them. If someone has placed the order first he will get first."

My guess is ours has shipped, and is sitting at the bottom of pallet somewhere waiting for UPS to scan it in.

 

Hello all,
I just registered but i was reading your posts since day one. i am excited about this laptop. however, i did not order it yet, would like to hear your impressions first.
question, though: how much does it weight with the large battery? and does it mean with the large battery, i won't be able to insert another HD? so i am limited to 512 SSD and that's it, correct? unless i misunderstood earlier posts.

thanks for your input!

 

OK, so after deliberating (procrastinating?!) since the 25th on whether to get the Haswell rMBP or the XPS, I went with the XPS - ordered today.
Kinda hoping it'll arrive before the 19th as I have to head off to the US (I'm in NZ). Top spec model with all the mini-display port adapters and the leather sleeve. Current order delivery date is 20th November.

What sold me over the rMBP were:
1) issues reported on using rMBP with Win8.1 (due to drivers - e.g. poor battery life as system runs only on GeForce 750M and install issues)
2) XPS has an IGZO screen (uses less power and doesn't get as hot)
3) Found that if you have a MasterCard, Dell NZ/Australia give you 13% off the laptop and 15% accessories (go to dell.co.nz/mastercard or dell.com.au/mastercard). So was NZ$3272 for the top-spec model (~USD$2726 at today's exchange rate). Saved over $500 which made me happy! Apparently the same applies in other countries, just search on Dell MasterCard Privileges.

I have 2 Samsung 840 Pro SSDs in my Desktop so am familiar with their speed (the mSATA SSD in the top-end XPS is the exact same SSD in mSATA format) - I know they're working on a 1TB one, so if they release a mSATA version we'll be all good. Although read/write speeds as you increase capacity seem to decrease.

 

The mSATA has not been confirmed to be Samsung, it is most likely whichever vendor offered them the cheapest. Since it is just a standard mSATA drive it is likely a grab bag what model you get in your laptop. Also SSD's tend to get faster as the capacity increases, not slower, as they become more parallel. See this review of the 840 EVO on Anandtech AnandTech | Samsung SSD 840 EVO Review: 120GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB & 1TB Models Tested.

 

The 32GB mSATA SSD found in Precision m3800 is a LiteOn product

 

Cheers Erasmus.

I had assumed SSDs got slower as I'd seen a review on a 1TB SSD vs the 256/512 variants and the transfer rates were slower, but can't remember which make/model.
I had also assumed it was a Samsung, now where did that info come from? Ah well, can always upgrade if I want a faster mSATA... Makes sense what you say though.

Dell just pinged me to say the EDD has changed to 11th November. Even better.
Amazing how much can change in 10 minutes...

 

Procrastination is over I ordered a platinum one it should arrive nov 19th or before & I'll write about my experience with it.

I wanted to wait for the M3800 but it is late and it seems the only difference with the XPS15 will be a Quadro card vs GeForce & isv certifications.

Sure I would have preferred a Wifi AC card (shame on Intel to name a Wifi N card Wifi Wireless AC 7260) but I don't intend to replace my Wifi N routers until well into 2014.

 

The ac 7260 has ac wifi though?
http://ark.intel.com/products/75439/intel-dual-band-wireless-ac-7260#@product/specifications

 

Just got an email about delivery in a couple days! Must have been at the bottom of the Fedex pile like you guys said

 

Don't suppose your a fellow Canadian, eh?

 

Sydney - Just received my XPS 15 )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

 

You may just well be the first person to get an XPS. 15!
Any chance you're willing to take pictures, videos, explain what you think about it or any combination of the above?
Few questions to get you started:
Which spec did you order?
How does it feel? Build quality, etc.
how's the screen?
How the keyboard/mouse? Compared to a Mac?
How's the battery/heat
How's speakers
And just like initial impressions
Aaaa so exciting!
How's the keyboard

 

Ordered mine on the 25th with a quoted shipping date of Nov 14th. Now the date is Nov 25th... They also messed up my address (which I entered correctly when I ordered). It looks like they copy pasted my street into the city field. They insist they cannot change it and will ship it as is... I'm starting to hate Dell and thinking about cancelling and buying another brand. Good luck!

 

Ordered 18/10 Delivered 6/11 like that Syd dude above

 

who were they delivered by? I am in perth and expecting mine to be delivered tomorrow morning.

 

Don't know really, I didn't get to see them. Maybe we get it first because I'm closer to either Syd or Melb than you which might be their hub.

Edit: Schenker it says on the box.

 

Just chiming in to shed some light on your situation as I used to work there and know first hand. They're really not dicking you around when they insist they can't change the address at this point. There is an extremely short window between when the order is made and when it goes into production when they can change the address. After that, for whatever reason, it is literally impossible to do with the way Dell's ordering system is arranged. (Well technically customer care can update the address but that message will never make it to the people who stick on the shipping label, so it would do no good and cause more headaches).

Once it goes into production literally your only options are to either replace the order with the correct info, which will delay it by resetting everything. Or have Customer Care re-route it at Dell's cost through the shipping carrier as soon as it invoices. That will usually delay it a few days through the shipper. No good answer either way, unfortunately.

Is it a good system? Not really. But is is all they have.

 

Ugh... your making a huge deal out of a small mistake. The delivery date is different and your address is wrong (which YOU entered). Its not the end of the world dude. Call whoever is delivering your package with your tracking info and ask them to correct it. then go meditate or something

 

There's definitely bounce on the touchscreen.

Keyboard seems small/far away because of the massive palmrest. Keys seem small and need getting used to, typing feels very uneasy.

Base seems too soft/rubbery for me, very scratchable, same as the palmrest area.

Screen looks good, nothing "standout" coming from an RGBLED full HD.

Did I mention I don't know how to use Windows 8.1 yet which is not helping.

Bottom fan area is already warm (or hot, I could say) when starting up and initializing.

 

Im in melb and mine is commin from star track express courier

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

How do you know it is coming from star track? Were you able to get a tracking number?

Did the guys who have received their's delivery all fall within the delivery time outlined in the text message

 

Display within Windows was scaled by default and gives an option for "smaller" I don't see any slider or custom inputs.

In Chrome I have had to zoom about 175% to 200% most pages to get what I used to have on 1080p (roughly 110% to 150%, depending) for Windows 8 mode. Desktop mode is fine, but then it becomes inconsistent (readable at 100% on Desktop mode but I need to physically zoom every page to 200% on Windows 8 mode).

 

Just realised Chrome on my old laptop didn't scale automatically, most pages were already big enough at 100%.

I didn't get any message, still got delivery (Schenker) 2 days before schedule.

 

Oh my. So that's what Desktop Mode is all about.

 

Just wanted to chime in and mention that I just got off the phone with Dell after changing my order. I originally ordered the mid-spec XPS 15 but later decided that I wanted the 512GB SSD and bigger battery. Well, after calling to make the change, Dell threw in a 7inch tablet for free! Weird since the rep literally said well here you get a tablet now... I'm assuming it's the new Venue 7 since he said it was worth $149.

 

I'd like to know the answers to these questions as well. right now, it looks like I'd get an rMBP...

 

Hi silverbluenote - yup, if you get the larger (91wH) battery, you are limited to the mSATA SSD, and at the mo that maxes out at 512GB - there will be a 1TB one released later (maybe this year) but until then, that's it - no manufacturer does more than 512GB in an mSATA form factor.

Weight wise, my Dell rep told me to expect 2.01kg with the larger battery - what you gain from the bigger battery is offset by the loss of the 2.5 HDD. But we'll have to wait until someone who has one weighs it

The main question is: do you ever run OSX? if you only ever run Windows, then on a rMBP you'll find the you'll get lesser battery life running windows via BootCamp (unless Apple get their act together and optimise the drivers) and hardware support that's not quite as good as on OSX (which Windows applications support multi-touch on the rMBP trackpad at this moment?).

If you run Windows via Parallels under OSX it will be better in some ways (e.g. still get all the hardware features supported, although you'll lose a bit of perf in Windows)

But if you only run Windows and want better battery life then at the mo the XPS 15 is a very good choice.
If you need > 512GB storage, then you'll need to look elsewhere.

Anyway, just my 5c worth...

 

USA, East coast, sorry!

 

I'm in Toronto, so east coast is better than nothing!

 

You guys were mostly too optimistic about battery life. Right off the boot it only had about 5 hours tops. Obviously I could optimize it, but even then I don't know if 9 hours is feasible. Would need instructions on specifics and how to optimize.

 

big battery right?
It's supposed to be 12ish with only wifi and light browsing at about 30% brightness, would be more like 8 real world usage, hopefully the 5 is just because it's doing all the updates

 

of course big battery. I had wifi on for a bit and then ethernet, and cut to 30% brightness, and I was really only installing/opening Chrome and looking at the other settings, not updating much (Windows Update disabled). Not actually browsing the web or using downloading over the internet either.

the M3800 thread had pretty good battery life for the small battery but then this thing is running (I think) a higher TDP Nvidia - although the Nvidia isn't running the display or most apps.

then again this is supposed to be 50% better than the small battery, if that gets 4 hours I don't expect too much on this. still, it's a steep upgrade from 1 hour battery.

 

The GPU's TDP doesn't matter, as per Optimus.
Weird, have you like calibrated the battery, etc?

 

Please tell me how

I didn't plug this in, just booted with battery.

 

Might be wrong, but you should do a full charge cycle. Like run it down to 0, then charge past 100, but I would double check somewhere first, like google it to make sure I am right.
Did the laptop come at 100?

 

sure the battery was 100% charged from factory? I would probably have plugged it in at start to make sure it was fully charged.

Mine is now with 'local carrier'. First thing I am going to do is install Start7 so windows 8 looks as much like windows 7 as possible.

 

It came at somewhere around 90, so I estimated 5 hours for 100.

You mean run down to like 5, which is the lowest it will let itself go?

The instructions it came with said to plug it in of course, I guess that's just to avoid running out during setup. But really all I did was do the setup, install Chrome, open a couple tabs in IE, tick a few settings boxes.

 

What difference would it make? It came at around 90, charging it to 100 from that point wouldn't have meant much to me, usage/calibration wise. It was showing 4+ hours at 90 which means 5 is reasonable for 100.

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/172271/how...-battery-for-accurate-battery-life-estimates/
Like it's possible that the 90% is not really 90%, same as when you get a new phone, and then it stays at 100% for an hour or at 1% for an hour.
Also, are you 'Killer of Beasts' on whirlpool?

 

It's been on for over 2 hours now, definitely didn't stay at any particular state for an hour. It ran down as expected, to 2 hours remaining.

But then we all know how battery indicator is on Windows. Had an Inspiron and it would jump from showing 2 hours left to 5 hours left, if you opened a new tab in the web browser. But the SXPS indicator was less volatile, just overoptimistic (it would show you 2 hours but actually last 1).

Yes, I'm KoB on Whirpool