XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

I have the 61Wh XPS 15.

With the hard disk swapped for a Samsung Evo SSD, it now weighs 1.97 KG.

 

Does the XPS fit perfect in without much space around it? How is material and design? I recently ordered 3 different sleeves and they were all either ugly, bad quality or too big (or the for the mac boook 15 too small). I just don't want to send back a fourth one.

On my machine it is always present but different loud.
On battery: very quiet, but I can still hear it when working without other noises around me
While charging: a bit louder then on battery, but not much
Plugged in and charged: loud
Under heavy load (gaming): as loud or louder then the fans. Not able to game without headphones.
While crolling and changig what I see on the screen: sometimes another type of coil whine which is in lower frequencies but still annoying

I'm 16 so I hear the whine easier then others I think.

 

Please, may you report which sleeves you have tried and for each one to report the reason to send back, this info could be useful for many owners.
I was thinking to this:
http://goincase.com/shop/incase-neoprene-pro-sleeve-for-macbook-pro-15
But I don't know if XPS15 might fit.

 

Sure. Here you go:
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B009T2NNZY Looks very good and has good quality. But the XPS just is a way to big to fit in. Only some millimeters less and it would work.
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001V5JAVS Red colour is not as nice as on the pictures. On one side there is around 2cm and on the other 1cm space left. Quality seems
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00ERUYBWM Quality is bad (feels as cheap as it is) and there is space around the XPS like above

If the product is available in your country you can always change the amazon.xyz domain to yours and leave the link as it is to get the description in your language.

Just asked Dell about the leather case promoted on the german XPS site... Not available atm.
Actually I don't know what to buy now.

 

You have also said that Macbook sleeves are too small, have you tried something or are you basing on declared dimensions?

 

Louder than the fans? I hope you've contacted Dell for a replacement right away. Some coil whine can be normal but louder than the fans under heavy load, that's horrifyingly abnormal.

 

Hi :hi2:,

I have been monitoring this thread ever since the day I pulled the trigger on one of these laptops way back in October. I have been using it as my main system ever since it arrived in November and I agree with a lot of the aforementioned pros and cons you have listed. Overall I find this laptop an excellent cross between power & portability, which I can use as a desktop replacement at home but also have the option to take with me on campus without breaking a sweat. The battery life is very reasonable providing, in the region of 5-8 hours of normal use.

The High-DPI display of the laptop, albeit being one of the best looking screens I've ever seen, does present its fair share of annoyances. This is more to do with the software side of things which as you have already mentioned, is something which should be fixed over time. Programs such as IE, Steam, WinRAR & Office all scale well however some elements in AutoCAD Inventor for example are left way too small (Command Prompt is another example). Also, it should be mentioned that applications which are scaled properly but not optimized, lack sharpness, most notably in text. I have seen this happen in quite a few programs such as Chrome and Spotify.

I have not experienced any throttling when playing games such as CS:GO or Guild Wars 2 which I left at default settings (apart from switching from 900p to 1080p in GW2). The underside of the laptop does get pretty warm on my lap, even when doing only minor tasks such as web browsing which is why I stick to a desk for when I intend on staying for extended periods. My mate has the new top spec Inspiron 7000 series 15inch which in contrast does not get as warm when browsing the web or using office (ofc his has a dual core though).

Performance is snappy and I have no complaints with that. There has been a couple of times where it became unresponsive from sleep for whatever reasons and the only way I found to fix this is by holding down the power button and restarting it (funny thing is that I could use the touchscreen to bring out the charms bar, but nothing much else). Also, I'm not too sure how to explain this but windows explorer seems to crash quite frequently. It is barely noticeable since it doesn't affect my work as such, but the taskbar just disappears and 'reloads' in a matter of seconds. (??)

The coil whine is present sometimes but I tend to ignore it and the slight discoloration of the track pad + palm areas is kind of a bummer.

Bear in mind that all of the above are far from deal breakers for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed using the laptop. This is a very capable machine with very little comparable competitors out there at the moment.

My two main gripes are the reason why I have decided to come to you guys.

The first problem I have is a pressure point towards the bottom right corner of the screen when being opened. I know that earlier in the thread a couple of you did in fact have this issue and was wondering if you decided to live with it or ask for it to be replaced. I would also like to know if this could cause problems in the future. (Note that I try not to be overly aggressive with the screen when opening it)

The second is a minor nitpick with the hinge of the display. To whomever owns one of these machines, could you check through observation that the spacing between the hinge and body is equal on both sides (mine aren't).

Feeling good to have finally posted in the thread!
Appreciate any feedback

 

I answered some of your other questions in your similar post in the M3800 thread, so I'll address the unique ones I can here:

- Throttling sadly seems to be a design feature of today's laptops, though the degree to which it affects people varies. For example, if my system has throttled at all, I haven't noticed it even after several non-stop hours of gaming. But the reason manufacturers include components that could require throttling is because for example if you're using ONLY the CPU for your tasks and not the GPU, the CPU could conceivably run at full speed without throttling, whereas a task that required both CPU and GPU resources might push temperatures too high for either of them to run maxed out. Or even if neither single component could run full speed non-stop, maybe they could at least do so for several minutes before temperatures rise too high. While that limitation is irritating for people who require non-stop full speed, the reality is that for the average usage pattern, people will experience all of the benefits of the higher speed CPU/GPU without ever encountering the drawbacks of throttling. But again, I haven't seen throttling on my personal system, and it's also come up in this thread that how you position the machine affects whether it throttles a great deal; for example, some people mentioning severe throttling turned out to be propping up the rear of the laptop (or maybe the front, can't remember) and that tilt affected its ventilation performance -- but when they rested it level on a hard surface (not a bed/blanket, etc), it performed perfectly fine. Just be grateful you're not considering a Retina MacBook Pro for your intended usage. That system has a too-weak AC adapter, so under heavy simultaneous CPU and GPU usage, it will actually drain the battery while plugged into the wall, using the battery as an auxiliary power source rather than charging it.

- No direct experience with the M3800, but I could see the Quadro perhaps still throttling despite its lower clock because it uses more areas of its silicon than the GeForce, which despite having the same chip has some of its gates sealed off to differentiate it from the Quadro. Or maybe Dell underclocked it so that it would never throttle. Either way, some people asked about whether Quadro owners could simply overclock their unit to run at the GeForce 750M speeds, which I wouldn't advise.

 

I have a Zeroshock III 15.4 and this fits spot on.

ZeroShock III Laptop Case 15.4" - Black

 

The only people I've seen report the pressure point have gotten replacement displays. Of course other people may be living with it and simply not bothering to report it, but replacements seem to be the norm among the reporters here.

If I'm seeing what you want me to see in that pic, I don't have that issue on mine. Sadly that's an issue that a Dell repair tech is more likely to CREATE than actually fix in my experience over the last few years, so if that were my only issue I'd probably consider following the instructions in the Owner's Manual for replacing the display assembly to take it apart myself and see whether putting it back together correctly resolves the issue -- but if you'll be requesting a display replacement anyway, that should be fixed that way.

 

Yes. This one is made for MB Pro 15 Retina:

Are you sure? Contacted them once and they sad the won't replace it because the whine is more a feature then a bug, because they can't influence it...

Is this one exactly the same 15.4" wide MacBook Pro case Black/Zeroshock III IB023BK | eBay ? Then I would buy if you are sure that it is good.

 

So I decided to keep my XPS 15 and finished my setup:




Dell XPS 15 - connected devices:
- Gigabit Ethernet Lan
- Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless MX-Brown Mini Otaku
- Lo(w)gitech G400 with Puretrak Talent mousepad
- Audio-gd NFB 12.1 DAC + AMP
- Sennheiser HD600
- 1TB WD MyPassport Ultra external HDD
- Benq XL2420T (144Hz)
- AC Adapter
- USB to MicroUSB cable
- USB to MiniUSB cable

Finally a simple (cable chaos free) setup with only three cables needed to connect !

 

cool looking set up bro! Is it your work office or just at home?

 

well I did a matchmaking and maybe its cause I play on my desktop at 200+fps at 120hz but it was just unplayable for me on my laptop. I got 130-160 fps(low on everything) on cache and that is a fps killer. other maps seemed okay it was hard in gunfights cus my ping would just shoot up maybe it was my latency. I tried bf3, it seemed playable.

 

Not using the USB Hub anymore?

Gesendet von meinem HTC One mit Tapatalk

 

home setup

I am using the Anker 9x USB 3.0 Port.. its hidden behind my Benq screen.. like the rest of the cables ;P

 

okay so I managed to take a pic ,, I can see it, hopefully you guys see what I see.. well here it is,,
let me know if this is normal or if u can see it! thanks love yall

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/46/32c2.jpg

don't mind my chubby fingers

 

Maybe I'm not seeing what you want me to see, but all I see is a bunch of dust on that panel. I can't tell from the photo whether that dust is on top of or underneath the panel itself (there have been reports of panels that have dust underneath them), but in any case that picture doesn't look anything like what you were describing. The phenomenon all of us were talking about when we said it was normal is a very precise and ordered grid of dots. All I see in your pic is a bunch of dust flecks.

 

i see what you are talking about and it seems normal to me. i will double check on my laptop also to check at an angle to see if i see the squares too.

 

there it is

 

Hi, I have seen that pattern on mine too. It's only noticeable at an angle in direct sunlight when the computer is off. From what I gather it is the pattern of the digitizer which is placed really close to the front of the screen (for better touch response)

 

I am pretty sure this is the touchscreen lattice you see. If you have a smartphone try to move it around abit with the screen switched off and strong light on it. You will see the same pattern

 

Oh, those super tiny faint squares? Yeah, they're normal. I have them too. Now relax and enjoy your laptop, OP.

 

Another problem that recenty came up.
Has anyone a fan making some noise as a helicopter when on low frequency?
Here I recorded an example: https://db.tt/h38LLNgh

 

Hey,

for those who have been waiting for their laptops to ARRIVE and complaining how long it takes.

I have some NEWS.

Talked to my salesperson today and she told me that production has "begun" after a long production deplay due to the lack of display panels.

Tonight, I checked the status of the laptop on the website and it switched from "in production" to "production complete". So the only thing left is the delivery from China.

As someone mentioned before, Chinese Lunar New Year might be a problem for production but besides that those who are waiting for their units to arrive, can be pleased about the change of situation at the factory.

Hope you'll get good condition units.

Cheers.

 

sorry.. its the screen , its really reflective but anyways
its not under the screen, its just outside, altho I do see three dead pixel/dust under my screen but one is not noticeable at all so I will just manage.. do u guys have any? id imagine most of you should have a couple right?
hmm so everyone has this? (lets call it the touch screen grid)and its more circular than square but there basically lined up all across my screen. SO everyone has this and im in the norm? couple more would make me smile

WELL

I hear the coil sound too but its not loud enough to be distracting. this laptop is super fast! plays most games~ the 4k videos make me wet LOL its so clear. mmm I can only imagine how much faster the top tier fellers got are. anyways more insight makes me feel better, im beginning to feel muchhhh better now tho. im glad everyone is seein what I saw and im not crasy hah <3

 

I would have had the computer on January 30, but they moved the delivery to March 21. So I cancel the computer. Still, it said it was in production

 

if you have the opportunity to call them, do it and ask them to expedite it.. it took me 2 weeks or less to get mine I think from an exchange. expedite really matters! I got my machine before the rep called me to tell me my tracking number lol

 

That's funny, because just today a Dell rep has called me to warn that until 11 March my replacement will not be sent because there is a component shortage.

 

When did you place your order? Mine was placed on Dec 27th The top tier model.

Here's a screenshot of the site showing the status. Well, it's in Korean but the third stage is "production complete". Delivery will probably be on the 28th.

 

It has been like that for almost four weeks (Dec 27th-Jan23rd) until it suddenly chaged today.
I've had the thought of buying sth else but I didn't since I couldn't find anything similar to the XPS 15.

 

I already have my XPS15 but due to some issues (dead pixels and a stain on the cover) it will be replaced, so new order was placed by Dell, order date is January 17th and estimated delivery date is March 20th.

 

I think I'm done with this. I purchased the top tier model on 12-12-13 with an expected delivery date of 1-22-14. That was unsurprisingly pushed back to Feb 22. I canceled as I didn't believe they would deliver it that soon given all that I was reading. Someone pointed out that they sell the mid tier at a local store here in the states. Drove an hour to pick one up and an hour home. Turned it on it said the internal hard drive could not be found! Said it needed to be reseated or something like that. Drove an hour back to the store and got my cash back. I hope Dell gets things together or someone else comes up with an equivalent computer soon!

 

I've had that happen to me a couple of times right after dropping from high frequency to low frequency (for example, when closing a game and the fans slow down). To be honest I haven't looked into it further and usually after shut down the problem doesn't recur. That said I wouldn't mind knowing the source of the clunking sound if found, especially if it is doing any damage.

 

Damn, Gwonhong... I placed my order on Dec 19th, and my ETA is Jan 31. You had some good luck!

 

Haha well that's a difference of 2-3 days. A few more days and we can contribute actual user experience in this forum which I am looking forward to.

 

To those of you looking for the perfect carry bag for the XPS 9530, I just purchased this:

Amazon.com: Brenthaven Collins Sleeve Plus with Shoulder Strap for MacBooks Laptops or Ultrabooks Upto 15.4-Inch (1901101): Computers & Accessories

Fits the laptop like a glove! Like it was made specifically for the laptop. It's simple, and lightweight. Great build quality, and a lifetime warranty.

Just my two cents.

 

Couldn't find your post at first but I finally managed. I just wanted to thank you for your opinion. I think I might not have ordered the laptop because of the price but it definitely is a beauty and you're right the n550jv doesn't look and feel like the dell, there's too much to separate them and I would've ended up regretting now buying this.

I went ahead and ordered the "mid" tier laptop (in Sweden it's the low) which comes with 1tb HDD + 32gb ssd. Thinking about changing the drives out my self (I have a Samsung 840 pro series 256 ssd) but I don't know if it's possible. I think it means I need to buy the other battery, do they sell those? Or it might not work instead of mSata and I need to put it where the HDD is? I'm clueless here..
Thanks to the lending hands of this topic! Appreciate the posts, even though some scared me about the whine and about the DPI/Scaling (windows should release a patch in 8.2 of something)...



Skickat från min GT-I9505G via Tapatalk

 

So I have the top tier model of XPS 15 with 16GB of RAM and the 512MB SSD. Are my partitions properly setup to do Rapid Start?

 

If you have a model that includes both a 1TB HDD and a 32GB mSATA cache, you can definitely swap an SSD in. Just remember to remove the mSATA cache (it could end up hampering a fast SSD like the 840 Pro) and go into the BIOS and switch the SATA Operation mode to AHCI. That way if you ever install another mSATA SSD, it will treat the mSATA unit as an independent disk rather than assuming you want to use the mSATA unit as a cache for the 2.5" drive.

The battery issue you're thinking of is for people who buy the top-spec version (which includes a larger battery) and later may want to use a 2.5" hard drive in addition to the mSATA drive. They'd need to install the smaller battery that you'll be getting anyway in order to free up the required space to install said 2.5" drive.

No. But before I explain how you could go about doing it, I'll preface this by saying that after using it myself for a while, I ultimately got rid of it. Rapid Start makes little to no difference on a full SSD system (it would make a huge speed difference on an HDD+cache system, though) and it caused my system to fail to resume properly sometimes; it would wake up but not power on the display, kind of a dealbreaker.

But if you're determined to set up Rapid Start, that 8GB partition is probably what should have been Rapid Start, but it's too small for a system that has 16GB of RAM. There isn't a good way to set up Rapid Start at this point given the sequence of your partitions unless you're ok deleting that 6.98 GB factory image restore partition. If so, delete that and the 8GB partition, shrink your OS partition by 1.02 GB, and use the newly allocated free space to set up Rapid Start per these instructions: http://download.intel.com/support/m...pid_start_technology_user_guide_for_uefi1.pdf. If you need to keep that factory restore partition, you'll need to shrink your OS partition by a full 16GB, but then you'll have that 8GB partition on the end taking up space and being completely unusable.

Just remember when setting up your partitions, 1GB = 1024MB, not 1000.

 

i completely forgot how to switch the FN keys, the first day while exploring the settings somewhere it allowed me to set what the FN keys will do, like whether the f1 f2 keys will defualt of the other ones. i cant find that setting again, can anyone guide me?

 

Take your pick:

1. Windows Mobility Center
2. The F-Lock key on the keyboard (Fn-Esc)
3. BIOS Setup

 

Spot on almost identical situation, overall this laptop has been a great buy, not perfect, but the pros heavily out-way the cons, and to be fair I have never seen a laptop that is perfect.

My hinges are also offset, but in the opposite bias to yours, perhaps there is some way to adjust them, but not tried anything yet. I also have the pressure point bottom right side, but I am going to live with this for now. I have 3 years cover and don't really want to start messing around with replacements just yet.

My biggest grip has nothing to do with the hardware, this screen is a double edged sword. It amazing to have this resolution and workspace, but with the lack of real support from so many apps, my eyes are feeling the strain.

 

bump.. check it out guys~ for the owners who haven't seen this . more assurance, less crasy skillit aha

also have you guys ever gotten this message when u plugged in ur ac adapter? something like "this adapter doesn't support your system, please put in right one or ur system will perform slower "

 

ah yes it was mobility center

 

my touchscreen works on and off, is there a fix to this?

 

Many thanks, once again; haven't seen you replied here too (see my PM re an aspect of your reply).

Indeed I'm one of those who doesn't accept throttling as normal. It would also be a complete deal breaker for me given my intended usage. The good thing is that during most of my simulations, even when pushing all 4 cores, the power consumption is below that of AIDA64 or Intel XTU stress tests (which are already much below Prime95). Also, I don't play games but will be using the GPGPU, yet more often alone than coupled with high CPU usage. So there is hope it won't throttle. The following worries me though ...

To everyone:

Some reported that the XPS15 gets hot when held on their lap even at idle. How many of you experience that? I've seen the NotebookCheck revie3w of the XPS15, and I must admit, the idle temps weren't impressive ... might the M3800 get lower idle temps (is the Quadro cooler at idle than the Geforce)?

I'm a little worried about the above (I like working with my laptop on my lap).

 

I might not yet have received my mid tier, but I can tell you this is perfectly normal.
Honestly, how many guys do you need telling you this is normal...?

Every touch device I own, has these patterns... on my aging Asus TF101 they're extremely visible, on my newer Note 10.1 2014 and SGS4A a lot less... The type of pattern also differs depending on the manufacturer

Once again, this is perfectly normal
Though it should never be visible under normal circumstances (sunlight hitting your screen directly is NOT a normal circumstance)

About the adapter, I have had this with other laptops. This means you're using an adapter that's not powerfull enough. You should not have this problem with the supplied adapter, or something's wrong with it.

 

the one from Dell is magnificent. Great leather material and fits it like a glove

 

Great. But where can I buy it? The representative in the chat of Dell Germany told me it isn't even in there system but only in description of the XPS 15.