XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

Hmm nothing funky with mine

 

How big is the particle? Actually, how does it look like? I haven't noticed any dust particles so far, only dead pixels. Going to try for a third display because the replacement has a partial yellow tint.

Why doesn't Dell offer me a brand new laptop? Honestly, right now I'm sending this one for servicing, already after repairs, with 4 different issues/defects. That's a brand new laptop and I will have technicials prodding and poking at it, probably creating a host of new issues ; /

On another note: could you guys confirm if your wristpad also gets stains (white blotches) that can be rubbed off but re-appear when the laptop is cold/turned off for a while? I assume it's just the soft material, although it is kind of really irritating to have to rub away at my laptop every single morning...

 

All of this talk of replacements and issues are making me freak out. Must stay calm...
-knocking on wood-

 

Makes me nervous enough that I'm going to look up the return/cancel policies and mine hasn't even shipped yet... This is way to much money to throw away on something that seems to be a lemon right off the get go. I just don't have the patience to deal with DELL support anymore!

 

I have yet to find a company nowadays whose QC _isnt'_ horrendous. Apple, Dell...I've seen friends/family return and replace dozens of units before getting a satisfactory one. If you want a new laptop, or anything, you just have to put up with this proccess, sadly.

 

All of the ones I've found use the same chipset, so they should all perform basically identically, but I bought this one because it includes a passthrough USB 3.0 port, meaning you don't actually lose one to the NIC itself: StarTech.com USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter NIC with USB Port, Black (USB31000SPTB):Amazon:Computers & Accessories

And FYI, this is one of many topics covered on the XPS 15 Wiki.

 

I work with a company that buy laptops and computers in the hundreds and right now they have been buying HP's and Samsung's. I admit I did not like the Samsung's, and the HP's were good to go right out of the box and no issues since I unpacked them in January, but it's not in the same class as the "Haswell". So if this thing shows up with anything more than a minor inconvenience I am not going to deal with them and just return it and spend half the money of something off the shelf and do without all the bells and whistles. I am getting to old to waste my time on a Ferrari and I'll just poke along with a Caddy.

 

You have got to be kidding me. I just found two dead pixels on my unit. One towards the top left and one towards the bottom right. Tried wiping them off to make sure I wasn't going insane but it looks like I have been afflicted.
Not sure if this is something I should be making a big deal about since you literally cannot tell that it's there from a distance, but it is there and it's bothering me a LOT right now.

 

This is a very specific question--any of you using lightroom 4 (LR4) on this computer able to get the Nvidia GPU to participate? . . . I have LR4 picked to use the GPU in control panel but I never get any GPU activity with LR4 . . . Photoshop CS6 definitely uses the GPU but not LR4 . . .

EDIT: nevermind, just did a bit more research and realized that LR4 does not use any GPU per the way the program is coded . . .

Thanks,
N123

 

Gosh, this has officially stressed me out. Not sure if I should call Dell over two tiny dead pixels (since I have a year of warranty) that you can barely see because I'm afraid that they replace it with an even crappier screen based on everyone experiences with replacements. Wow, this is just terrible.

 

I have 3 dead pixels also My computers a complete lemon and has more issues after "repair"

 

See, that's the thing. I'm afraid to call and have them replace it with a worse unit. Should I just wait longer and see if the issue gets worse and then call them?

 

My screen looks good from afar, so I refuse to inspect it closely

 

I'll try to take a picture on Monday. Maybe I'm just being picky, but at the price I'm paying, *ANY* defects are hard to swallow.

Mine was purchased under a business account, so maybe that helps explain the ease with which I've gotten full replacements. I had expected them to service just the display, but I was actually directed to obtain a full replacement. I can't fault the customer service so far, just the QC. Of course, I've had to wait ~ 3 weeks for each replacement, never mind the initial 2 months for the original order.

That's probably not a bad idea. Once you see it, you can't unsee it

 

is there a UK number I can ring thats freephone or standard (none 08 number) as I do not fancy whacking up a mobile/landline bill to spend hours talking to Dell.

 

LR doesn't need it either, it's all 2D.

 

Sure? It's like a high-pitched whistling. Especially noticable around 2:10. At high (60-70) speaker volume. Can anybody else check this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Ta0qCG8No

Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygy721nzRc if you prefer classical music This is totally unlistenable on high volume for me.

Since they are making me send it in for servicing (they downright refused to replace the MB another time on-site), I intend to point out _every_ little flaw for them to have fun with.

 

Sorry, I didn't read through all the pages I've missed but has anyone figured out the issue with the coil whine? I had my original 9530 replaced and this one seems much better but has developed the coil whine issue now. Thanks in advance.

 

Hmm I relistened to Elton and the whine was very quiet but happened on both laptops I have so I think it is just part of the video.

 

See below:

 

Thanks! Could you also take a look at the other video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygy721nzRc

For me every time the piano hits a high note, the speaker seems to resonate or vibrate...

With Creative speakers I am unable to reproduce this on either of the videos.

 

I think it stands to reason that the audio reproduction capabilities of your external Creative speakers might be far superior to the built-in speakers of your laptop. Distortion when playing back music with a wide dynamic range and at a high volume is to be expected.
The speakers in any thin and light laptop aren't very likely to blow you away with their stunning audio reproduction.

 

Haha, yeah, I don't expect a superb quality, although being able to play Chopin without going mad sounds like a reasonable demand. Or is my laptop making a statement about my music taste?

 

I would agree with JPBJ. The speakers on the computer are good imo but they can't beat dedicated external speakers.

 

lol

Now that's funny.
Well, if your XPS has anything against Chopin, it very obviously DOES have a problem.

 

I thought about the couple of dead pixels on my screen and I think I'm going to live with it. It hurts to say that, but considering that the dead pixels are a relatively prominent issue on this machine, I may get an even worse one and begin to play this 'back and forth' game with Dell. I'd rather not go there and I still have a whole year of warranty too. Besides, I had the device for a whole month and I only realized the couple of pixels (way off from each other, by the way) yesterday after closely analyzing the screen with a bright white background. They do not interfere in any way from my visual experience but you definitely can't "unsee" it since I can't help but both to look for them every time I use my XPS. If the issue doesn't get any worse, I may just sell this model and get myself the next new one which should hopefully be okay in terms of the screen quality issues and whatnot. But gosh, it's such a shame I had to find those two pixels. They are unbelievably tiny and way far away from each other, but it is so irritating to think about considering the price of this system. Needless to say, however, I love this machine and it's power. It's gorgeous and I still think it's awesome.

If anyone has any kind of advice as to what they would have done in my situation, please say so!

 

Ok, I can be very cuckoo about the tiniest flaws, but dead pixels would be the least of concerns. I have one currently and if this were the only issue, I would keep it, no questions asked. I honestly have to look hard to find it. Stuck pixels would be a whole different issue, but fortunately they seem to be rare enough. So in short: if that's your only bother, my advise is to keep the unit and enjoy the laptop ; )

 

And this right here is exactly why I haven't gone out of my way to look for dead pixels on mine. As you say, you never would have noticed them under normal usage, but now that you had to go hunting for them using a white background, you can't unsee them -- so how was it a good idea to go looking for flaws here? This is the same reason people shouldn't look too closely at their car's paint, especially under direct light from multiple angles. You'll see every little chip from road debris, every little scratch and swirl in the clearcoat, etc, and you'll think your paint is terrible even though it looked fine before you had to scrutinize it.

As for what to do, I would leave it alone (chances are you'll stop obsessing after a while anyway) and get a replacement in the future ONLY if more start to appear and you notice them during normal usage, i.e. don't do routine white background checks! And if you do get a replacement later, hopefully the QC on these panels will be better by then anyway, reducing the chance of there being issues with the replacement. Until then, I've lost track of how many times I've said this to you specifically Waru, but seriously man, just start relaxing and enjoying your system rather than fretting over every little thing discussed here. It's bad for your health and happiness.

 

What a great analogy about the whole car paint thing -- yes, that definitely makes sense putting it into perspective. I guess it is what it is, and it's really not that bad in it's actuality. Again, I really do not notice it unless I take the time to really look at the area that I inspected.

My throbbing concerns are mainly a result of my nervousness due to how happy I am with the system to the point I'm just paranoid all around, but I'm just going to stop that. I honestly respect your advice a lot, thanks for that. My paranoia didn't stop the fact that my unit had those couple of pixels, so I guess I'm really just going to give it a rest. I'm annoyed with myself for freaking out too much. Haha...

+1 Rep

 

Just to update you with my current situation. I got my second replacement and been experimenting with it for 4 days and now I could confirm that there is nothing called QC at Dell!
Current unit suffers from
1- keyboard back-lit bleeding, again!
2- Unit doesn't seem to close properly as my previous unit does. Could anyone confirm if you can open your unit with one hand without holding the base?
3-keyboard is not properly attached. I could tell from the uneven distribution of the keyboard back-lit through out KB keys.

Replacement's screen has more vivid and warmers colors (a bit more yellowish) than my original (both in generic mode).
I also did not notice my original unit has sound issues until now! Current replacement has louder and much clearer sound.
Now, I am even more confused after getting this replacement .........

 

Can you describe this backlight bleed it or post a picture? If you mean light bleeding through around the edges of all of the keys, mine has that too and I don't think that's a defect; I actually like having the edges of the keys lit rather than just the letters. And if I lower my head closer to my desk surface and keep it about a foot from the front edge of the laptop so I'm looking at the keyboard from a shallow angle, I can definitely see bleed that way, but again I don't think that's an issue.

In any case, if you're even slightly technically inclined, you might want to try checking the keyboard yourself by following the steps in the Owner's Manual. Someone else mentioned that their keyboard had weird flex issues and upon investigation he found that the screws hadn't been tightened properly. When he fixed that, all was well. Just be very careful and patient working with all of the tiny and taped-down connectors if you attempt this.

I can slightly open my lid with one hand, but after I lift it 3-4 inches, the base will start coming up with it if I don't hold it down with my other hand. That's normal. But what do you mean that it doesn't close properly? How many ways are there for a lid to close?

As for the audio, check the Dell Audio app on the two systems. The MaxxAudio "enhancements" can make a dramatic difference in sound impressions. I've found that I like them when using the built-in speakers, but when external speakers are connected the bass becomes way too exaggerated, and since I have external speakers most of the time, I keep it disabled.

 

Here is my previous post with pictures on light bleeding issue. you can see keyboard light reflection on the aluminum hinge.

That's what exactly I have with my original unit. I can see keyboard light around the edges of every single key uniformly, but that's not the case in the replaced unit. Some of the keys has no light around the edges at all and some have, which gives me an indication of bad keyboard fixation.
I agree it would be more idealistic to just see the light throughout the letters and not the edges.

Yes, here is another healthy similarity "I guess" between yours and my original unit. I also need to hold it down by the other hand to open it. However, The hinges of the lid in my replacement feels softer and the lid opens by it self when holding the laptop horizontally.

 

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to follow up since I think the change from the Dell to Windows logo and the lack of splendid mode are related. First, it's been confirmed by two people that switching Secure Boot from On to Off (and enabling Legacy Option ROMs) and booting ONCE with it off will restore the splendid mode configuration option in Mobility Center -- and after you've done that once, you can switch it back on and the option will still be there in Mobility Center. And incidentally, I noticed that with Legacy Option ROMs on, I got the Windows logo, but with it off again (which is forced when you enable Secure Boot), I got the Dell logo back. I'm not sure why you'd be getting the Windows Logo (which would suggest Secure Boot is off) and still not have splendid mode though; maybe it's a case of just having to flip that mode to its opposite state? If you're still checked into this thread and still have these issues, I'd definitely be curious what you find.

 

Interesting! I did not know about this before. Thanks!
In original unit I have MaxxAudio 3 and replacement have MaxxAudio Pro! Is it possible to upgrade the 3 to pro and where can I find that?
Default sample rate format are different different too.
Original unit set: 16 Bits, 48,000 Hz
Replacement set: 24 Bits, 48,000 Hz
hmm, I wonder if this would make the difference!!?
I will try and see.

 

You're worried about that backlight bleed onto the HINGE? I just checked my system and it turns out I have it too, but I don't think I would ever have noticed that if you hadn't called it out. I'm sorry but I just don't consider that an issue worth making a fuss over.

I think you may have misunderstood my point about the backlight around the keys. I can see the light around all edges of all keys and I think that's a good thing; you said you agree with me that light should only show through the letters, which I do not think would be as good. It's helpful to see where the borders of the keys are, especially for people who can't type without looking at the keyboard. I can type without looking, but I think lighting the borders makes for a more attractive design if nothing else.

 

My system (running the latest audio drivers from Dell) has MaxxAudio 3. I briefly had an Inspiron 7437 while setting it up for my sister, and that system MaxxAudio Pro. The difference seemed to be there was another Preset option available called MaxxSense or something that supposedly detected the type of audio you were playing (music, movie, whatever) and adjusted its enhancements automatically. According to tech specs, the XPS 15 and Inspiron 7437 use different Realtek audio chipsets, so I'm betting that accounts for the MaxxAudio revision difference, and if so there wouldn't be a software method to upgrade from one to the other. I'm not too worried about it myself though since I find all of the MaxxAudio "enhancements" to be serious detriments when used with external speakers, which I've got connected almost all of the time.

But I guess if you want, you could try looking at the driver version in your new system and see whether installing that same version on your old system changes anything. I bet it won't, though. But in that case this suggests that Dell has changed the audio chip on the XPS motherboard. It could be just due to supply issues, but then again it could be because of the audio corruption issue that I and at least one other person have mentioned in this thread. Interesting.... If you want to confirm this, go to Device Manager > Sound, video, and game controllers > Realtek High Definition Audio. Click Properties, go to the Details tab, and change the Property dropdown to "Hardware IDs". Post the 4-character VEN and DEV strings you'll see shown there from both your original and replacement system.

I don't think the bitrate and sampling frequency settings would account for the difference you described, and unless you happened to be playing 24-bit, 48 kHz source audio, it absolutely wouldn't.

 

Original system:
Driver version: 6.0.1.7054
HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0668&SUBSYS_102805FE&REV_1000

Replacement system:
Driver version: 6.0.1.7035 (just noticed i was running previous version)
HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0668&SUBSYS_102805FE&REV_1000

Hardware IDs are identical, I suppose this means they both have the same audio chip. So could it be the driver then?

I was testing the sound from Dota 2 by simultaneously running the game on both systems. So I am not sure to what level I was pushing my speakers.
But sure I could notice a difference!

 

Double post

 

Hmm, ok. I admit I wasn't sure what to expect here. On the one hand, I'd have been surprised if Dell had already changed the audio chip, which it seems they haven't. On the other, I'm surprised that the MaxxAudio type is listed differently between the two systems. Do you actually have different Preset options as well?

I think the 7035 driver is the original release on Dell's site that's probably still there because the factory image hasn't been updated, but the obvious way to tell whether the driver makes any difference is to run the same driver versions on both systems. If MaxxAudio is still different at that point, I have no idea what could be going on.

 

Speaking of MaxxAudio, does anyone have a different main screen to the audio settings (See attached)?

I remember before I did a clean install when I received my machine, I had a look around at some of the applications and one of them was MaxxAudio. I noticed that after the wipe, some of the features there had gone, such as the equaliser. I installed the latest from the drivers page.
Can anyone please shine some light on this. I have MaxxAudio 3 installed. On the product page (edit: and on factory install) it has Pro version.

 

Yes, I was about to start testing those presets as well. My original system preset is set to voice and the replacement is set to MaxxSense.
As you mentioned earlier, there is no way to change the original system (MAXAUDIO 3) to MaxSense. But, I could try changing it to "Gaming" instead and test again.

 

Yep...I can confirm that installing the driver from Dell's driver page downgrades MaxxAudio from Pro to version 3. I stumbled on this when I first received my system. I ended up having to do a factory restore in order to get back to MaxxAudio Pro.
I meant to post about it, but I guess I forgot.

 

M3800 uses the pro version, why not try the M3800 drivers.

 

Interesting! This would be worth posting on the Wiki if we can figure out how to get MaxxAudio Pro back. I never noticed this because I did a clean install right off the bat. Fwiw, getting the reference drivers from Realtek also got me MaxxAudio 3, so either Dell has some proprietary driver package or they're using regular drivers plus some additional application in order to get Pro. Anybody good at looking into this stuff still using the factory install?

If anyone is willing to risk their MaxxAudio Pro, I'd be curious whether updating to the latest driver on Dell's site allows you to keep Pro (I'm betting it will) and then whether uninstalling the Realtek drivers entirely, restarting, and then reinstalling the package on Dell's site brings it back (no real prediction here). That would help identify whether there's something additional on the factory image and whether it's part of the originally installed driver package or somehow persistent in the system even after the drivers themselves are uninstalled.

Too bad Dell is making this so difficult though....

 

Is there anything I can do to stop getting this error on league of legends? I haven't got it on any other computer I have.

 

I tried playing civilization V last night but couldn't get it to fill the entire screen? I tried many different resolutions and the game only sized to the middle of my screen using around 50% of the space. The rest was just blacked out. :/

 

New issue I just started getting on my problem free XPS...


I press the power button and the lights flash and the Dell Logo shows...and then it turns off completely.

The next time I press the power button it comes on as if nothing happened.

I can reproduce it everytime.

 

This has come up a few times (and should probably be added to the Wiki by someone more experienced with this issue) but update to the latest NVIDIA and Intel GPU drivers. If that fails, try dropping your resolution in Windows (before launching the game) to 1600x900 and see whether the game scales properly at that point. If not, this is a known issue that's probably driver-related; the pre-launch resolution drop and driver updates seem to fix some games, but I think there are others still affected.

 

Do you have the QHD display? or the lower fullHD display?

Btw, did you get a replacement? Did it fix the problem?

I have a Dell XPS 12 with pretty serious image retention and wonder if the problem follows this model as well. Can someone with the XPS 15 3200x1800 display confirm if there is any serious image retention on this? Can anyone try out the image retention test at Retina MBP (rMBP) image-retention test
How does it seem after 5 min/10min? (my XPS 12 is actually worse at low light settings)

Thanks

 

Edit: sorry quoted the wrong post. Now correct:

I also had this problem approx 5 times. The bios is totally unstable!
thing's you should not do until dell fixes the fully buggy bios (also some interrupts, addresses problems):
- boot without any usb device connected. I had this hang's at dell logo with some card readers and my usb-to-ethernet dongle
- better shutdown and power up your dell than restarting. had this hang's at dell both with linux and win7 restarts.
- push to much times F2 ord F12 at the dell logo

To solve now your problem: I can not remember what did the trick, because I tired everything to get the xps running again (pppppaaaaaannnniiiccc (writing a thesis at the moment))
- first try to very long press your power botton on start
- try to push F2 whilst turning on. try to push F12 at turning on Try to push del key on turning on, try to push esc button on turning on.

one of these things did the trick, that my xps started to boot again. sorry that i don't remember, because so much panic in that moment.
good luck!

@ dell: besides stability, there are a lot of other device conflicts and battery and coild whine problems to fix!