XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

Well as happy as I am that you're now squared away, this leaves me even more confused! For a few reasons:

1. My system is set in UEFI mode with Secure Boot enabled (same as it was when I clean installed Windows originally) and I have splendid mode, so I'm surprised switching to something else fixed it. I also just tried disabling Secure Boot, then keeping that disabled and also enabling Legacy Option ROMs. In both cases, splendid mode remained in Mobility Center and worked when I toggled it on and off. I then tried switching my BIOS to full-on Legacy Mode, but since my disk is laid out as GPT rather than MBR, it's not bootable in Legacy mode, so I couldn't test that. However, a disk laid out in MBR can be booted with a BIOS that has UEFI mode on as long as Legacy Option ROMs is also enabled, though I don't think booting from that disk would be a true UEFI-mode boot. But maybe in that case splendid mode only appears if certain current BIOS boot settings match the configuration when Windows was installed? I can't think of a single reason why that would have to be the case, but I guess it would explain why even a factory restore (since that image may have been taken with an alternate BIOS config) wouldn't have fixed it.

2. What do you mean you added a Legacy boot path by specifying some random folder? The folder options are all UEFI boot options; Legacy uses the traditional list of boot devices in a default priority order, not specific folder paths. The way you enable Legacy is by disabling Secure Boot (which un-grays the UEFI mode option) and then switching from UEFI to Legacy. I assume you figured your new motherboard only had UEFI mode because it was grayed out? Again though, if your disk layout is GPT rather than MBR, it wouldn't be possible to boot that disk in Legacy mode anyway.

Can you clarify your exact BIOS settings at this point and whether your disk is MBR or GPT? It would also be helpful if you could share what your F12 boot menu looks like at the moment. If you do in fact have two boot options for the same OS, can you see whether one boot option consistently shows splendid mode and the other consistently hides it? Or if some BIOS option toggling back and forth consistently hides and shows that option? I'd really like to get to the bottom of this once and for all, and perhaps update the Wiki.

 

That's probably the entry point in the US. Shipping from China to the US is covered under the "In Production" stage.

 

I personally use the set from ifixit, which is very similar to the amazon set (most likely the same manufacturer). I haven't experienced any issues with the quality of the tips, but I've certainly run into problems with the torx screws on the more recent Dell aluminum laptops. They strip *very* easily, so be very careful when it comes to the torque you apply to these bolts.

Typically, the philips bolts that are used to affix the hinges, motherboard, etc, are able to take a good bit of torque. The external case screws, however, are a different story.

 

I'll assume that pop up meant that the firmware was identical, it wasn't obvious, it didn't say "the same version is already installed", so I'm not sure if the information (XYZ above) was the version number.

I don't want to pay for anything really. I'll keep McAfee for a bit and see if it gets in the way, so far so good.

Thanks, it's just I do a lot of picture editing, I'd be tempted to put images I'm currently editting on the SSD (or the Lightroom Cache) for quicker access. I will be looking into a bigger SSD, but not for a while, I've got a wedding to pay for!

 

Just wanted to add to this thread:

I ordered my unit when the first Costco sale happened. I received it within 8-10 days. It's the premium model that was selling for $2k at the time.

I do not have dead pixels or dust/debris between the screen layers.

I do have a pretty loud coil whine. It will only happen when the laptop is 100% charged and on AC power. If the laptop is plugged in and charging or unplugged, coil whine will not be present, which makes me think it's definitely a voltage regulation or step-down issue. The noise will fluctuate with processor usage. As a part-time photographer, it's funny because it's like I have an audio representation for how hard the computer is working as I edit. I've largely gotten used to it, but it isn't exactly subtle.

A couple of weeks into ownership, I ended up losing some keyboard keys due to accidental damage. Called up Dell and explained to them that I was proficient in laptop repair (cut my teeth on VAIO's, everything else seems like a breeze in comparison) and asked them just to send the part. They comped it and it arrived in 48 hours.

Disassembly of the laptop is pretty straightforward, however the keyboard is literally the last thing you get to, as you have to basically go in "through the bottom" of the laptop and remove the cover, battery, cards, auxiliary boards, and the mainboard before you can actually replace the keyboard itself.

Before the replacement, I wasn't a fan of the keyboard in the least. It was sloppy, to be blunt. Irregular tactile feel and action, different action depending on where you were typing, etc. After the replacement, the keyboard feels perfect. The keyboard is held in with something like 16 small screws that affix it to be back end of the palmrest. It's almost like these screws weren't torqued properly, which means that some of them would be more loose than others, providing that weird feeling that some of the keys had better action than others. Anyway, that's all well and good post-replacement. The keys now feel like some of the better Dell keyboards I've used. Soft, but even and precise.

The touchpad was terrible out of the box. The new synaptics drivers cured that.

Splendid mode was on by default. Disabled and calibrated with spyder4pro and all is well. If anyone needs ICM profiles for the laptop, please let me know and I'd be happy to provide them for generic or splendid mode. The screen would be the IZGO variant, so while my profile won't fit yours exactly, it should be more true to color than the out of the box configuration.

Also, I have experienced throttling. During the keyboard replacement, I removed the bobo Dell paste and replaced it with some arctic silver. I'm pretty impressed with the heatsink assembly in this laptop- it's much more robust than my old L502x xps15. Average temps dropped by about 5 degrees at idle to ~upper 40s across processor cores and low 40s on the embedded intel card. The graphic card usually maxes out at mid 60s under load, but the throttling (from what I've seen) tends to happen due to the Intel integrated graphics getting too hot. Since all rendered video must route through this chip on the way to the display or external monitor, it seems to me that no amount of tweaking the geforce card is going to fix the throttling unless we get the thermal issues of the Intel display processor under control. Quick note- if you end up changing the paste, which isn't a big deal at all on this unit, be sure to follow the numbers emblazoned on the heatsink assembly. They represent the torquing order (think the star pattern when mounting a wheel to your car) to best seat the heatsink on the processor die. I didn't follow the order at first and experienced a pretty large difference in temperature both idle and under load.

Lastly- display scaling. I'll post a seperate thread about this, but I've run into the same issues everyone else has with certain apps not scaling properly on the high-dpi screen. There's a post someone made a while back about fixing photoshop's display scaling so that it doesn't have these super-tiny menus. Another poster mentioned a problem with lightroom 4 being very difficult to work with. Luckily, I've found that the same fix that applies to fixing Photoshop's display scaling will also work with nearly any other legacy program that displays properly in Windows 7. I've used the fix for Photoshop, Sonos Desktop, Mediamonkey, Protrait Professional Studio, and many other programs. I'll post a step-by-step in the forum- it's very straightforward.

Final impressions- this is an excellent laptop. Even knowing all the issues I've experienced to date, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase it again. Build quality on my unit, other than the issues listed, is top notch. Performance is excellent unless you run into throttling, which may not effect those who aren't pushing the IGP hard. Battery life is simply amazing as long as you aren't running with full screen brightness.

Thanks for reading.

 

Great post! Questions/comments about the parts I quoted:

1. Interesting note about the keyboard. I remember reading a review of a laptop (can't remember the model or even the make) where excessive keyboard flex was called out, but the reviewer found that one of the mounting screws was missing, and adding one there totally fixed it. I haven't noticed the issues you're describing on my own unit (and I'm glad because getting to those keyboard screws sounds like it would take a while), but good for others to know.

2. Multiple people have reported that the touchscreen firmware update also improves the touchpad if you still find that lacking and accept the risk that your touchscreen might brick as a result of the firmware update (requires a replacement display from Dell). There have been 3 reports of that thus far, though others have updated just fine.

3. Do you have pre-calibration results for your display when generic mode is enabled? I'm curious how large the difference between pre- and post-calibration performance is after disabling splendid mode.

Also, for your thermal paste notes, you might edit your post to clarify whether you did the pea-sized blob in the center method or spread it out yourself before reattaching the heat sink. I would also bold and underline your note about the thermal assembly torquing order. I bet a fair number of people who decided to change their thermal paste might never notice those numbers, especially since they don't seem to exist on desktops where people are more likely to have gotten their thermal paste experience, I guess because desktops have more temperature leeway than thin and light laptops. I wouldn't have even thought to look for torque sequence numbers.

 

Thanks for the feedback- I honestly feel the keyboard itself is a great unit. I think there's just been a rash of bad installs on the multitude of screws that are used to affix the keyboard to the palmrest. Assembly quality definitely seems to be an issue with this laptop... I mean, dust in between the screen assembly? Really??? Regardless, all is well after those mounting screws are all torqued down.

I did end up running the touchscreen firmware update- it helped quite a bit. Any firmware update is risky as there's a risk of bricking the display, so I'd suggest to only upgrade the firmware if the fixe addresses a particular issue you're experiencing.

let me see what I can do.

edit: recalbirated with both splendid and generic modes
Splendid mode would only calibrate to 99% of sRGB colorspace whereas Generic would calibrate to 100%. Both max out at 77% of Adobe RGB. Splendid mode was way oversaturated- generic color profile had more of neutral cast which was better suited for calibration.

 

Would be very interested in the Lightroom hack/edit/fix.

I have to say though, I've had no problems running the laptop in 1080p, occassionally some text will be a little blurry, but only in comparison with how sharp the rest of the display is!

 

I enjoy being able to use the full resolution when working with the photos- it gives me a better representation of the final product within the confines of the 15'' screen. I can understand that 1080p would work out for most people, but the high dpi screen was one of the main points for my personal purchase. I'm working on the instructions for fixing dpi scaling on a per-app basis now.

 

Are you saying that you have used the latest Synaptics drivers 17.0.19?

 

I'm using 17.0.15.8 . I haven't tried .19 . The ones I'm using were what was available at the time of install, which was maybe 6 to 8 weeks ago (est).

I won't say the trackpad is flawless, but it's back up to par with other similar Dell laptops with a "good trackpad".

 

Very Interesting, because others owners have reported that it's not possible to use Synaptics drivers after version 17 on XPS.
Surely something is changed

 

I believe I grabbed the link from this thread somewhere way back. It may have been a Dell packaged version of the driver. I wasn't under the impression that it was anything special. The driver date is 12/3/13.

 

Oh, then it's the standard version from Dell, not from Synaptics.

 

Oh yeah, I agree, I wasn't saying that, just that I'm surprised how well it deals with being at 1080p, I'm itching for your fix, put it that way!

 

I made a new thread with all the info

 

Anyone having trouble updating the GeForce driver to the latest 335. 23? Mine is taking a very long time...

 

This stand tilts/brings the laptop forward from what it looks like. I may just buy it and see what happens.

Thank you for your feedback!

Yeah, I agree that the MBP has phenomenal build quality, but it isn't the end of the world on Dell's part. I've never been so careful and excited about a notebook like I am with my XPS 15. It's a great powerhouse and is honestly gorgeous to look at. It can only get better from this point on -- or at least, that's how I think about it. In essence, that's what this thread is all about -- we are making sharing information and asking questions to accentuate our understanding of our systems and enhance them in whatever way we can. Hardware specifications are always going to be momentary praise with different manufacturers since technology gets better with time and sometimes, different companies steal the show every year.

Alright, sounds good then.
What do you mean, "Worry about it if it happens."? I didn't catch that.

When you guys refer to throttling, can that cause permanent damage to the system or is it within the moment it happens?

 

Pretty sure he meant "deal with throttling if you encounter it". And no, throttling itself does not damage the system; it's a mechanism that engages specifically to prevent damage.

 

Oh, I see. So basically, it would slow down right? I haven't dealt with any throttling thankfully since I usually use my system on my desk. I think that stand is going to be okay.

 

. . . never mind, it looked like the install had stalled out (no progress) about midway through the driver installation--however, I just rebooted my machine and on reboot the new driver was successfully installed . . . everything is good now.

 

Any Dota 2 players here?
I've read 1-2 posts about throttling on that game. Is it severe enough for it to become unplayable or just a minor dip in fps? What are the fps you're getting before and after throttling?

 

I tried enabling and disabling the secure boot option. It doesn't make any difference now, splendid mode tile is present all the time. I also tried to boot into legacy mode. That didn't work, it just said to insert proper boot media and press any key (something similar).

That was my mistake. I didn't realise that the legacy option appeared as a result of setting secure mode to disabled. I thought it showed because I selected some folder.
My disk is GPT. I checked this using the 'list disk' command in 'diskpart'. It showed an asterisk under the GPT column for my disk.

I have uploaded photos of my BIOS settings here. Forum's uploaded doesn't seem to work for me.

 

Hmm, so now after tweaking BIOS settings brought splendid mode back, reversing those tweaks isn't making it go away again?? Argh, I was really hoping we'd nail this one down. What is up with this splendid mode implementation!?!?

Thanks for trying though. Definitely update if you experiment some more and make any progress!

And FYI you may as well disable Legacy Option ROMs and re-enable Secure Boot at this point if splendid mode will still be there. That's the best setup if you're running Win8.x.

 

Does anyone know what is Dell's tolerance level for dead pixels on the QHD+ displays. My original had a huge cluster of dead pixel. About 4 to 6 pixels in size.

So I got an exchange and the replacement at first seemed to not have dead pixels. But when I double checked at night, I found 5 dead pixels within a 1 inch square. There are 2 pixels that are darker (black) than the other and I can see them once my eyes are 7-8 inches away from the screen.

While this is an improvement over my original machine, why does it seem like the quality control is so bad? Where I work, we ordered 5 of the Acer S7 Aspire and none of them had dead pixels.

Would it be worth it to try and get another replacement? Since I noticed my replacement has some coil like noise when booting, but not when it is plugged it like the other users on this forum.

I tried running the QHD+ firmware update, then it shows a Synaptics Touch Controller Firmware Update is this right? If it is, it said my replacement machine already has the latest firmware but I ran into this weird problem where I set it to Sleep every 2 minutes. I would wake it up using the power button. I did this maybe 4 times, then my screen blacked out and only display the desktop for a second each time I pressed a key or the mouse. I repeated this again a couple of more times too. The weirdiest one was when the display dimmed and I right-clicked the Wimdows Icon and it happened. Wasn't this suppose to be fixed by the firmware update?

 

If you find yourself unsatisfied with McAfee, another suggestion that's free is Bitdefender free edition. It's highly rated, very lightweight, and doesn't nag about buying the full version. It is one of the most unobtrusive free antivirus tools I've ever used.

Free Antivirus Software - Download Bitdefender Antivirus Free

 

I just ordered the following and will be getting it tomorrow, kinda excited. I'll be comparing it to my Macbook Pro Retina (2013) that is similarly spec'ed. I'll probably write a review and comparison if I have time. I got mine from the outlet and I suppose if I have the Coil Whine which is highly likely I'll probably just live with it due to the discount I got. :thumbsup:

03/07/2014 02:34:31PM Agent (LA_DHS_Lucy Nalvarte): "XPS 15 - 9530
Certified Refurbished - SA
System Price: $1,669.00 - 15% off = $1418.65 before taxes"
03/07/2014 02:34:35PM Agent (LA_DHS_Lucy Nalvarte): "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
03/07/2014 02:34:45PM Agent (LA_DHS_Lucy Nalvarte): "Processor: Intel Core 4th Generation i7-4702HQ processor (6M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz)
Operating System Windows 8.1
Hard Disk Drive 512 GB mSATA Solid State Drive
No Hard Drive
Memory 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx2) Memory
Laptop Screen 15.6 inch LED Backlit Touch Display with Truelife and QHD+ resolution (3200 x 1800) with Camera
Video NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2GB GDDR5
Base Dell Outlet XPS 15 - 9530
Laptop Battery 91 WHr, 6-Cell Battery (integrated)
Network Interface Card Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 + Bluetooth 4.0
Web Camera Integrated Webcam
Keyboard English Keyboard
Hardware Upgrade 130W AC Adapter
NFC (Near Field Communications)
Palmrest with Touchpad
Power Cord
XPS Badge
Software Upgrade Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Office Software Microsoft Office 365 - 1 Month Trial (Internet access required to install & activate)

 

I think the dead pixel tolerance is either 5 or 7 pixels.

The firmware update resolves the issue where the touchscreen spontaneously goes unresponsive; it has nothing to do with the system going to sleep. But am I reading this right that you have your system set to go to sleep after only 2 minutes? That's probably not the best for the electronic components, especially if yours has a spinning hard drive. In any case, I think I remember my system briefly showing the desktop before showing the lock screen when it resumed; it struck me as odd but certainly nothing to worry about. Not sure about that other incident though; sounds like a driver issue.

 

Hi,

there is a general policy for dead pixels. Have a look at LCD Display Pixel Guideline

and this community post

There is a difference between bright and dark dead pixels.

 

Just got a motherboard and screen replacement.

Now, it seems now I can't change the "Splendid" display setting - it does not seem to be present in the Mobility Centre where it should be. Any idea why is it gone? Should I install any new drivers/firmware?

On the coil whine note (that's why I had the motherboard replacement) - the buzzing is not gone, but it _does_ seem less audible and irritating; almost inaudible in my normal typing position.

Also when i start windows, I get an error "Intel Rapid Start - this application does not start" or sth like that. What can this mean?

EDIT: Ok, after some testing I conclude that the "coil whine" is the same or worse, *sigh*. I guess I will just have to put up with it.

 

Hi,

some posts earlier the user LibraXPS159530 described the same problem and solved it by disabling secure boot. May you have a look at your BIOS options - is UEFI enabled? Is secure boot enabled as well? If yes, disable secure boot

 

That did the trick, thanks a lot!!

 

BHPhoto has the Samsung 1TB 840 EVO mSATA for $559.00. So who's gonna pull the trigger??

 

So we have our second confirmed case that the splendid mode toggle is restored after a motherboard replacement by disabling Secure Boot, of all things??? I would LOVE to know what's going on that's causing a display color setting to be affected by a bootloader signature verification function. This is especially odd considering that the previous motherboard (presumably) had Secure Boot enabled since that's the factory default when shipping with Win8.1, and the system did in fact still boot after the motherboard replacement even with Secure Boot still enabled. The ONLY thing Secure Boot is supposed to do is stop you from booting Windows if it detects that the bootloader has been modified, so I can't imagine how it would have any impact on anything else at all, much less the availability of a display color setting. That's got to be one of the most random connections I've ever seen, and I've been in this industry for quite some time.

Loui100, can you try re-enabling Secure Boot at this point to see whether the splendid mode option persists? It stuck around on Libra's system after he re-enabled it, and I have that option even with Secure Boot enabled on my own system (still on the original motherboard).

UPDATE: It occurred to me that when you disable Secure Boot, the BIOS automatically switches Legacy Option ROMs to Enabled (it's forced to Disabled with Secure Boot enabled). That's done because that LORs is required for Win7 in UEFI mode. Windows 8 can boot without it enabled, but it can also boot with Secure Boot enabled, so I guess Dell figured that if you were disabling Secure Boot you'd be doing so in order to run a different OS and thus would want LORs enabled. THAT option makes a BIT more sense for affecting whether a hardware-level display color change is available, but I still can't fathom why you'd need to boot that way once to bring the option up and then it would stay after you turned it back off.

It would be great for someone who got a replacement motherboard to test this by disabling Secure Boot then manually re-disabling LORs to see whether splendid mode is still gone, and then checking again after enabling LORs. But (unfortunately for testing purposes) it seems that once splendid mode is brought back, it's back for good.

In any case, I've updated the Wiki with this information.

 

Guys I have a question... the top tier is supposed to throw out 3.2 GHz , but when I go to computer properties it only shows 2.2 GHz ... i know 2.2ghz is normal and it can go upto 3.2. but shouldnt it mention 3.2?

 

They need to get a handle on this, it's rather unacceptable for a unit of this cost.

 

2.2 is the "normal" operating mode. 3.2 is the "Turbo Boost" mode, where the processor overclocks for a limited about of time to provide more processing power.

This is one of Intel's ways to save battery life and reduce power consumption.

 

Yeah, I think I'm going to try for another MB replacement. TBH, it's so bad now, I can't lose much by trying.

As for the Splendid settings - I tried enabling/disabling the Security Boot and the other option mentioned, but the "Standard/Splendid" option seems to be there for good, regardless of the changes.

 

Thanks. That is truly bizarre that you only have to boot once (and only once) with that particular configuration to bring it back even though the new motherboard settings were the same as the old ones. In any case, I've added this to the Wiki, and I also made a bunch of other edits while I was over there.

 

For everyone interested in the coil whine problem this was posted on the dell forums regarding the problem on 28 of February


I haven't posted here for a while and wanted to leave an update. Dell is still investigating the reports of abnormal noise and has captured some systems from the field for testing. I am still waiting on the results from these tests and will report here as soon as I receive them. Although I don't have a lot of news at the moment I wanted all of you to know that we are still looking for the cause of the noise and a possible solution.

Doctor I will shoot you a friend request shortly so that I may investigate why you have not received your system back yet.



Please have a great weekend everyone.



TB

 

I'm getting to the point on mine where I'm considering hitting some coils with electrical sealant to try to isolate the noise.

 

Has anyone here actually seen an improvement after replacing the motherboard/laptop?

 

*laugh* I would highly appreciate that. Can understand and already considered seriously to do that with my xps15. Coil whine is so annoying!

My last hope before I really open the most interrior of this laptop (already changed hdd to sdd) is still that Dell opens up their bios a little bit more:
Thing's which I suggest which MIGHT could help/affect the noise:
a) use slightly discharged battery for buffering current peaks from the power-supply parts (including CPU own's) on the MB. Because: on charging no whine. I suggest that whilst charging: the internal logic powers the battery and at the same time discharges it on the consumer end. Charging: off: Voltage/current directly to the MB. - At the moment with A02 already the manual or automatic discharge/charge limits do not work!
b) Open the bios options for disabling different sleep states for the haswell cpu. It is well known from real desktop boards, that this can change noises.
others
d) altering the fsb frequencies: Since I had some experiences with downclocking (via inter software and throttlestop). Maybe some hardcoded (e.g. bios) range to change +/- 10 MHz of the FSB could be used for "tuning" the sound.
e) be able to switch of nvidia card completly via bios (can be software disabled, but also that consumes some power). Maybe this can also alter something to the noise.
@ Dell: All these bios option should not alter much the amount of bricked devices, but would help a lot of people to be happy with your company. It is a premium product. Fix it and open up the bios!

- Another thing for all who have coil whine: Please also mention your network voltage (e.g. 230/240V or 110V). Maybe we see also some interferences from power net --> power adapter --> notebook. But I have doubt's because i already change to another power-adapter

If dell will not manage that little bit. I will have to wait someone identifies the part in our notebook!!! *arggg*
...Some epoxy or superglew here and there already cured many graphiccards or power-supplies .... please Dell: If you can't fix it, please tell us (warranty void) which part is the cause.

 

About the power-adapter;
Also 230/240V 50 Hz here. I had the hope something would change. I have now to adapters:
a) one at home (original 130W)
b) one at the office: dell 180W --> adapter cable to the new slim power-plug on XPS 9530.
Absolute the same noise level and (heartbeat of the cpu).

About: Battery:
No! Completely(!!!) silent as soon I unplug the powercord.

Silent until charging jumped from 99% to 100%. I monitored also the Frequencies under windows settings (win7): CPU behaves normal. No downclokcing. At least with that intel-driver: the GPU downclocks whilst charging is incomplete (maybe windows settings). I also changed the GPU speed down and up in fully charged+power, discharging, charging process to different values. These frequencies do NOT affect the coil whine.


If I force the CPU to keep on the same frequency (throttlestop+intelextremetuning SW) on different levels (800 ill 2000 MHz) I hear a increasing loudness o coil whine with unceasing frequency. It could be also related that still internal the CPU enters sleep states. The switch of nowadays internal logic (nsecs) from full-speed and high-power consumption to the shut -off state could cause noises on the CPU directly or on nearby power-supply components like coils, transformators, transistors!? This could be altered, if intel gives us control to limit different sleep states (different switching times, and different power-consumptions) (nowadays in haswell's 7 states)

 

I wonder if coil while is correlated with the BIOS option Battery Charge Configuration that is not working at all.

 

Yeah, I was wondering about that. I tried setting it manually to stop charging at 90% charge level, but no dice.

 

I had complained to Dell customer care about the game throttling issue. They spent several hours over remote desktop installing/uninstalling/reinstalling drivers and Windows. They also changed the motherboard. Since none of that resolved the problem, they had said that they will escalate the issue and let me know 4 days later about the status. Today they called and said that the issue cannot be resolved. According to the representative, their engineering team tried both the games (GTA4 and BF4) in a similarly specd machine and got the same problem. They have concluded that this 'ultrabook' is not meant for heavy games like those. They recommended to get an Alienware if I want to play those games. While I had no plans for gaming in this (I am a PS4 guy), the way they dropped the case made me feel really bad.

 

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. The specs on this ultrabook are completely suited to these games (come on, GTA 4? It's a pretty old game!).

I don't have either of those installed, but haven't detected throttling issues on any other new games like Thief or Tomb Raider.

 

When I purchased I did not opt for the extra $99 for the Windows 8 Pro Option. I am finding though that the HyperVisor option which is only available in the Pro version would be of benefit to me as I run virtual machines. I have seen the Windows 8 Pro upgrade on sale here for $59 from a retailer...Can I use that to upgrade or do I have to go through Dell as I don't think there is any serial number viewable on my machine is there? or am I mistaken?