XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

Yep, and it's been documented that 16GB systems only come with 8GB Rapid Start partitions, rendering Rapid Start ineffective or unreliable (not sure which) because Smart Response takes at least 18.6 GB, and since you only have a 32GB cache, you don't have the capacity for another 16GB partition. I don't know why Dell doesn't just disable Rapid Start on 16GB systems entirely, but there you have it. Even weirder, I think the top spec system that's 16GB and SSD-only also comes with an 8GB partition, so it's probably an issue with the factory image not taking memory into account when deciding how to set this up.

 

Finally worked it out. The broad steps you need to do on a Mid-Tier device to make the full SSD a cache disk are:

- Open Intel Rapid Start
- Disable it
- Reboot, pressing F2 at the Dell logo
- In BIOS disable Intel Rapid Start
- Save and exit
- Uninstall Intel Rapid Start (purely so you don't get warnings about it being inactive)
- Open Disk Management and confirm Disk 1 is 8.02 GB OEM Partition
- Open Intel Rapid Storage
- On the Performance Tab, disable acceleration
- Reboot
- Back in Intel Rapid Storage,
- Performance Tab, remove volume (will be set at 22 GB)
- Open diskpart
- select disk 1
- select partition 1
- delete partition override
- confirm in Disk Management that Disk 1 has 8.02 GB of unallocated rather than the OEM partition
- reboot (preparing for horrible performance)
- Open Intel Rapid Storage
- Performance tab, enable acceleration, use the full disk
- Reboot

Some of the reboots are probably unnecessary, but it can't hurt.

Quick question though, is the maximised mode as risky as it sounds? And is it worth the risk for performance?

Now I just need to figure this out...

EDIT: Google is my friend: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/786-menus-open-left-right-side.html

Does someone who knows what they're doing fancy putting that on the Wiki?

 

Put that up on the Wiki please under How To.

UPDATE: Changing my answer. Go ahead and enable maximized mode. The only risk would be if your SSD suddenly died or if you forgot to disable Smart Response prior to physically removing it from the system or changing the SATA mode to AHCI. In those cases you would lose changes to and potentially corrupt any data on your main hard drive for which changes had been queued up on the SSD. But if you trust your SSD not to fail (that would be less likely than your spinning drive failing) and feel you'd remember to disable acceleration before removing or reconfiguring that SSD, you're good and your writes will be significantly faster.

On the other hand, if you'd rather have Smart Response optimize your reads further (at the cost of write acceleration), keep it off.

For those who saw my original answer, I changed it because I forgot that SSDs are non-volatile, unlike hardware RAID controller memory where this feature is also used.

 

Which is exactly why Rapid Start doesn't function properly as it's configured, and why I suggested simply turning it off. It's really the only way you can hope to have reliable sleep/hibernation wake states. Otherwise, it's very hit and miss.

 

I tried putting it up on the wiki, but couldn't for the life of me find out how to change the text from Black on Grey background, to white so it was readable.

Hence me saying if anyone does know, feel free to put it up there.

 

As far as I understand the "Intel Rapid Start" feature is useless in the top tier model. So I disabled Intel Rapid Start in the bios. I deinstalled Intel Rapid Start in the control panel. But I'm not able to free up the 8 GB OEM partion. In the computer administration under disk management (I have a German Windows, so I'm not sure that the names are correct) there is a 8 GB OEM partition. Right clicking on it shows only a help menue. Is ist not possible to free up the memory?

 

I have 2 concerns

1. I have the top tier model, and sometimes my computer "lags" while waking up from sleep. I feel like its waking up 3-5 seconds slower. My usual wake up time from sleep is about 8-12 seconds... is this something to do with the Intel Rapid Start? And is it worth disabling it on the top tier model?

2. Has anyone gotten any Adobe apps to scale properly?

p.s. Has anyone tried the NFC? I wonder if I can send files from my pc to phone

 

I've tried it and all I can do is send small (contacts, webpages, etc.) files from the phone to the PC. When I try sending a picture or a video it says that it doesn't support large files...

 

See a few steps up, you have to use diskpart to delete that partition.

 

Not only is it worth disabling on the top spec, it's recommended. It delivers no real benefit unless you want hibernation and the ability to use Smart Connect, and meanwhile it creates weird resume issues. I had it on my top spec for a while and killed it.

2. Some Adobe apps like Lightroom and Acrobat have been updated to work properly, for Illustrator I think there's a hack (though it also scales your content in addition to the UI, which sort of defeats the point), and others don't have updates or known workarounds.

Use diskpart with the override switch. To figure out which disk and partition are correct, enter "list disk", then "select disk X" where X is the right number. Then do the same thing for the partition (enter "list partition" to identify the Rapid Start partition, then use "select partition X"), then "delete partition override". Note that if you have a partition between your OS partition and the Rapid Start partition (likely the image recovery partition), you won't be able to extend the OS partition to fill your newly freed disk space without either deleting the partition that's in the way or using third party partitioning tools to physically rearrange the partitions on the disk.

 

The way to solve the content scaling in Photoshop, after creating the .manifest file, is to maximize the application. This has the paradoxical result of shrinking Photoshop to fit the display, and in my experience the content then appears normal.

 

1. I just got the same model Saturday. Sometimes mine goes to sleep and then when I try and wake it the message comes on that says the computer had a problem and must restart. Not sure what that is all about, happened twice so far. I turned Rapid Start off but maybe I need to shut it off in BIOS?

2. I use Photoshop and Lightroom, have to say they look like a mess but lightroom is better than PS (use the CC versions). This is not a showstopper and not fond of the Manifest idea and messing with registry, not my cup of tea.

I only use the laptop sporadically for Photoshop when traveling or n the road for photography so like I said, not a showstopper. I would hope a fix is coming soon though.

Here's my website in case any other photogs around;

DeCamp.Net Photography

Thanks for the good info all!!

George

 

Any tips on setting up external display on a 24" (1920x1080)? I played around with many of the settings but everything is blurry on my 24" monitor. I even tried to disable my laptop display and only use the external, but it text and such still are fuzzy.

 

First of all, you have to log off and log back on in order to see the full effect of scaling changes if you weren't doing that already. After a scaling change but before logging off, elements are simply resized, not actually redrawn in a way optimized for your new settings.

But basically there's no perfect solution for using QHD+ and an external 1920x1080 panel at the same time. I have the same setup and I keep the built-in panel disabled when I'm using the external panel. Otherwise, your options are either to set your external panel as primary, which will optimize everything for that panel and drastically scale everything up on the QHD+ panel (not sharpen it, just magnify it), which makes things look terrible. Or you can set the QHD+ panel as primary, which will make everything look perfect there and make the external panel look pretty good (since things are shrunken down to fit rather than blown up), but still not as good as optimizing for that panel in the first place -- and you have to keep your QHD+ panel as primary, which doesn't make sense for me based on my desk layout.

But if you're ok disabling the QHD+ panel, do that, then drag the sizing slider all the way to the left, log off and back on, and everything should look normal.

 

Any decent guides on disabling the rapid start? IF I disable it, does that mean I wont be able to use Hibernate feature anymore?

 

Posted this earlier today, and I put this in the XPS 15 Wiki about a week ago:

 

I've started having some problems recently.

Everything was worked fine, I had installed Audacity, worked on it a bit, and then come back a couple hours later to work with it, but something weird happened.

First the program would not respond to my mouse clicks, so I restarted the program, but each time I would click, it would not respond. The things is, the button reacted when I clicked (aka the button turned a different shade of gray) but it wouldn't actually push the button!

I've already tried to reinstall the graphics driver, but that didn't do anything.

What else should I do?

 

Hello guys,

Can someone tell me what are his maximum CPU and GPU temperatures when the laptop is in full load? For example when playing a game, but before the throttle kicks in. Thank you.

EDIT: Oh.. and how long the GPU and CPU is running at full speed before throttling kicks in.

 

Has anyone had their display get stuck when the screen shuts off when the computer is idle? Normally, if you just move your mouse or press a key on the keyboard, the screen will turn back on, but just a moment ago my screen did not go back on. It was completely black - not even lit, but the computer was on. I had to do a hard shut down and now I'm paranoid. Don't know what happened. Does anyone have an idea?

 

Hi guys,

I am about to deliver my laptop today ( it is out for delivery ) at last after 1.5 months. I got the mid tier and I would like to ask if it is better to let the smart response on the mSATA or use it independently and install applications that I use often and I want them to have fast response.

E.G a game, illustrator, mozzilla etc.

I know 32 GB are not a lot but It could take a few staff I want

 

I think when this machine is asleep you have to wake it up with the power button, not just any key on a keyboard. If you tried that and it failed too, did you read about disabling Intel Rapid Start or making sure you've got the latest drivers direct from Intel and NVIDIA? This is also covered in the XPS 15 Wiki.

You can experiment, but personally I'd keep Smart Response. Once you give it time to learn what to cache, I think you'll find it faster overall. And if you set it to Maximized mode to enable write-back caching, as discussed in yesterday's posts here. And if you have Rapid Start enabled, you can improve things further by killing the Rapid Start partition and allocating the full mSATA SSD to Smart Response caching. Instructions for that are also just a few posts back in this thread. That will increase your resume from hibernation times on a system with a cache, but I think it's a worthwhile tradeoff.

It may also not be possible to switch the mSATA disk to independent without reinstalling Windows. Switching to AHCI mode requires a different SATA controller driver (AHCI rather than RAID), so be aware of that possibility.

 

So now that I've had the computer for a few days, I figured that I post my experience thus far.

The first thing I noticed when I got the computer is the build quality. I'm quite happy with it. My only complaint about the physical hardware is that I really don't like the way the trackpad feels and the whole discoloration thing is a little annoying as well. This is just worth mentioning, nothing to really complain about.

Turned it on, booted up to W8.1 and was good to go. First thing I noticed using the computer... I hate W8.1 lol. I've decided to force myself to use it for a few days before ditching it and putting on W7. So with that said, I proceeded to do a clean install of W8.1. Unfortunately, my machine has an embedded key, so I couldn't download an ISO from microsoft (VERY annoying). Needless to say, I obtained an ISO from "other sources" but I managed to get the Pro version instead of the core version. Had to use one of the "activators" that I'm sure will stop working eventually, but at least I can evaluate it and decide if I'll stay with OS (I'll get an official key later).

This thing is FAST! Seriously, I was surprised at how quickly W8.1 installed on the machine. I expected the typical 30-120 minute OS install... nope, about 15 minutes and I was up and going. Then onto the drivers. This is when I truly noticed how fast it was. You know how to have to restart after some driver installs? Well I'm watching TV and doing the drivers, and of course, restarting whenever necessary. I finally noticed that when I hit restart and looked at the tv for what seemed like 20 seconds or so, the computer was already waiting for me to log in. Finally realizing this, I decided to pay attention to how long a restart actually took. I didn't time it, but definitely less than 10 seconds easy. I compared the boot up and login times with a 2013 MBP... was impressed to see the XPS 15 best it. And for those who are wondering, I have the PM version of the SSD (wasn't lucky enough for the SM, oh well, it's plenty fast for me).

Before I did the OS install though, I want to mention that I installed my RC flight simulator. It's a very low demanding "game" but I wanted to see how the system would perform. I maxed everything out and put it to full screen, it happily maintained an FPS over 100 and temps stayed in check. Was able to practice flying for a good 2-3 hours before I was ready to cut it off and still have a decent amount of battery left (15-20% I believe).

Anyway, I have a clean install of windows 8.1 pro, latest drivers, and a clean computer (I've put NOTHING on it so far besides Chrome). I don't have any of the quality control issues people have had. I've detected no defects on my screen (no specs of dust, no dead pixels (normal use, wouldn't be surprised if I had a couple, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it). I also don't have the dreaded coil whine, at least, it's not that serious. Let me explain. I did check this, and when I put my ear to the machine, there IS a whine but it is SUPER high pitched and very faint. And yes, I checked my hearing, I'm good up to 18.5Khz. The whine does go away when it's unplugged but I had to isolate myself to be able to pick up on it at all. For me, as far as I'm concerned, this particular unit does NOT have the coil whine.

The battery life is quite impressive for the performance. Oh and I do consider myself a "serious user" and I actually LIKE the touchscreen (for now anyway lol). I think it's kinda cool, but in my defense, I am a bit biased. I have been only using a tablet + keyboard for the past 3 months, so that's probably why. The only verdict that's out is W8.1 Pro.

So far, I am VERY HAPPY with the machine and excited to finally have a computer again.

 

Glad to hear you're enjoying your system. My impressions were basically the same as yours. Fyi though you could have just used one of the Microsoft-published generic Windows 8.1 keys, which would allow you to install it but not activate it. That would have given you an evaluation period without having to resort to activators. As for Windows 8.1 itself, here's all it took for me to basically become comfortable with it:

- Enable log on to Desktop rather than Start
- Realize that the Start screen is just a better version of Pinned Start Menu Items from Win7
- Realize that All Apps view is the same as the Start menu from Win7
- Read this so you don't get lost in Metro.

After that, I still discovered a couple things Microsoft had changed/removed that irritated me a bit, but nothing insurmountable -- and meanwhile I also discovered a lot of new stuff I really liked, like the drastically improved Task Manager (once you click More Details). Enjoy!

 

Yeah I will do that and also kill Rapid start as from what i have read it has quite a few issues

 

I just added two pages to the XPS 15 Wiki: One about how to allocate the full mSATA cache capacity to Smart Response (thanks to @darrenham) and the other explaining the difference between Smart Response's Enhanced and Maximized modes as well as the risks of the latter. Both can be found in the How To section.

 

Thanks jphughan.

Hopefully it helps some people.

One thing I have noticed with my machine, is that on a flat surface it has a slight wobble, I assume this is just the rubber "legs" being slightly varied in height, but it's starting to annoy me. Worth speaking to Dell about?

 

Probably not. On the other hand, if it does bug you it sounds like the fix would just require a new base, which is arguably the easiest part to replace since you have to take that part off anyway to replace anything else. You could even request a parts-only dispatch and do it yourself if you have a Torx T5 screwdriver. But I'd try just spending some time compressing the rubber pads on the base to see whether they even out with a little pressure.

 

Hello Regarding the coil wine issue, what is the best solution? It seems like more recent buyers of the laptop are not experiencing this issue. Should I return mine for another unit?

 

No confirmed fix from Dell yet. I haven't seen any evidence that newer systems don't have it; seems to be about the same mix of some people having it and some not. I don't think Dell is doing returns (except for refunds) or motherboard replacements for this issue anymore until they actually find and solve the problem, otherwise you'd just get a new system or new parts that are likely to have the same issue. There are two threads going in Dell's own forums about this, one for the XPS 15 and another longer one for the XPS 13. Both have Dell reps active in them who have committed to updating that thread when a fix is available, so I'd keep an eye on that if it bothers you. XPS 15 link: XPS 15 9530 - Noise problem? - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community.

 

It is possible to configure the machine so that it never enters sleep mode, but the display shuts off after a predetermined time. I have observed this behavior on my machine, which I have set to turn off the display after 15 minutes idle and not to enter sleep mode when plugged in.

I have disabled and removed the Rapid Start application and disabled Rapid Start in the BIOS, as well as adding the 8 GB thus liberated to my Windows partition.

The only thing I haven't done, to my frustration, is update the drivers for the Intel display adapter, which on the Intel Website is two releases ahead of the one on the Dell Website, but which refuses to install.

 

Good stuff! Really happy that you're enjoying the new machine. I also have had a very good experience so far, minus a couple of niggles with getting used to things on Win 8.1. You'll figure it all out soon enough, and as jphughan said, booting directly to the desktop is the way to go. You can almost forget it's Win 8, except when you make use of some of the cool features, like the touchscreen.

At any rate, enjoy your machine and thanks for the positive post!

 

So you're having trouble getting the system available again when the display is simply powered off, even though the system is otherwise fully awake? I haven't seen that issue before.

As far as the drivers, I remember the GPU drivers not installing (probably due to the Optimus setup in this system), but then someone in this thread mentioned that they were able to get the Intel drivers to install just fine. Maybe there's a newer version that's not compatible again? I also seem to remember essentially the opposite happening with the generic Synaptics touchpad drivers. An earlier version was compatible with this system, a newer version wouldn't work, and since then I think someone mentioned that an even newer version works again?

 

SD card lock flipped:
I'm having a strange issue - my XPS will not write on an unlocked SD card and will only write when it is locked! I've now tried with 3 different SD cards with the same results. All the cards are existing working cards. Drivers seem to be up to date; rebooted the PC too. Confounded!

Any ideas?

PS: Touch wood, but everything else on this PC has worked well for me. Have minor issues like high pitch whining (noticed that on my work laptop too!).

TIA!

 

dont know if i am breaking forum rules but i cant seem to find top tier version of XPS 15 with bigger battery and 512GB SSD in my city

i am visiting NYC soon and can buy it from there..anyone knows how much is the average selling price for it?

 

I would advise you do not purchase this laptop. It has unresolved 'coil wine' problems. What's worse is that DELL is leaving its consumers in the dark and hasn't offered any solution to this problem. Do not buy!

 

little bit sound is not a big deal for me...it doesnt seem to have light bleeding, warped keyboard, fan speed and other serious hardware failure issues i read on asus zenbooks...which is a competitor for macbook air

other than that...seems like there just cant be any windows laptop that comes close to macbook pro other than dell xps 15.

 

lol, I'm so jealous of you. I do have the coil whine. It seems to me that recent purchasers of the xps 15 don't really have the coil whine issue. I've stopped using my unit and put it back in the box pending my next action. Do i return this for another unit and hope the replacement doesn't have the coil whine. Frankly I love this laptop but the coil whine is unbearable

 

I wouldn't say I'm having trouble getting the system available again. I just wanted to confirm that I have experienced it as well. Only once in a while - and only after the laptop has been left in this state (awake, with monitor off) for some time.

As far as the Intel video drivers - the latest version is 15.33.18.64.3496, dated 03-11-2014. If anyone can get it to install, I would love to know, This was an ongoing issue with a Sony Vaio laptop I had a while ago, but I was surprised to see it affecting a Dell system.

 

Got mine on Saturday, top tier model. Have to be honest, it is so quiet it seems to be off, not a peep except some noise from speakers when some websites that have embedded You tube videos running.
Works great so far anyway!

One annoying thing is sometimes when I start it, the screen stays black and I have to power of and start again.

 

I'll probably just go for a replacement PC. Do you know if they provide Brand new laptops or refurbished laptops as replacement units?

P.S. I'm jealous of you too. lol

Thanks jphughan. So how is Dell responding to users who have these issues. What do we do?

 

If you're still within the return period you can return the system for a refund, otherwise you have to wait until they have a fix. Until they know what causes the issue and have a fix, there isn't really much else they can do. Sending out replacement systems or motherboards now in the hopes that complaining customers will get lucky enough to receive hardware without coil whine isn't cost-effective for Dell or a great recipe for customer satisfaction, as shown by the level of frustration expressed by forum members here who have waited for replacement parts to become available or for new systems to arrive, only to discover that the new hardware still exhibits coil whine.

 

you can manually install the intel drivers after extracting the files and using the device manager.

 

but i read that lot of other manufacturers like HP also had coil whine problem in their ultra slim 15" laptops...

is this because of cramping all that hardware in a slim chassis? ..because that seems to be the only explanation as laptops as i know didnt have such problem before

 

Hey guys!

Just got my mid tier (excited ). Haven't dared to check for any dead pixels, etc. yet

Somewhat embarrassing question: There is a constant fan like hum that I think is coming from the HDD. It is clearly audible from typing distance. Is this what one should expect of an HDD (coming from an SSD only system)? Anyone with a mid tier having this noise as well?

Wanted to thank you guys for this thread also. Have been checking it far too often recently (made me really impatient, haha )

 

I got my laptop yesterday. First Impression

THE SCREEN THE SCREEN coming from a 7 year old 1520 inspiron ( gr8 laptop by the way one of the bes lines Dell ever made beforegoing a bit downhill my eyes) I cant stop looking at it, I think my girlfriend is envy by the way I stare a it....

Build Quality is great, no sorry superb you can feel it as soon as you open the box. Apple owners can whine and say w/e they like and it might be true that mac is better, still this level of build quality is more than enough and we should not forget that people go in the defensive about their stuff.

Regarding the coil whine I have some, but I cant hear while working in the office and even at home I need to put my ear down to the keyboard obviously a very uncomfortable position to work anyway.

I don't see the point in making a clean install since dell has really kept bloatware at minimum, as usual, they are not annoying pop ups or take space on screen and might be useful as I am too lazy to look for drivers sometimes.


I deactivated the intel rapid start and gave access to the full SSD for intel response. It recognizes 20 out of 32 GB I don't know if that is correct.

So far I am very pleased with it

Only problem that I have is that my kensigton lock doesn't work with it Can someone advice for it.

 

System exchanges units are always brand new, but as I said, Dell is unlikely to approve an exchange for this issue until they know they have a fix (at which point it will likely be fixable with just a motherboard swap), and even if they do, I don't understand why you'd want to get a new system now when the chances are that the new one will have the exact same behavior. You've said that newer recipients seem not to have this issue as much, and I see no evidence of that in this thread, which I've been following since Page 1. Others have already tried system exchanges for this, and many of them have seen no improvement, in fact some have gotten replacements that were LOUDER than their original.

20 out of 32 GB seems low considering that the minimum storage required for Smart Response is 18.6 GB, and Dell was able to create an 8 GB Rapid Start partition in addition, which obviously adds up to more than 20. Did you follow these steps exactly? Allocate the full mSATA cache capacity to Smart Response - XPS 15 Wiki.

As for the lock, it looks like the XPS 15's is called a Noble Lock slot. I'd never heard of that slot before this system, so I don't know what the interoperability is (i.e. are Noble slots supposed to accept Kensington locks, are Noble locks supposed to fit into Kensington slots, etc), but I'd start doing research if that's a concern. You may have to buy a new lock.

 

OK jphughan. Thanks. What do you advise we do now? Just sit and wait?

 

Unless you want to return it for a refund, yep, that's pretty much what I've been trying to communicate.

 

Don't ever trust Dell for a fix to hardware problems like this coil whine issue.

They "timed out" a lot of owners for return / refunds with the WiFi issue on the L521X build by promising a fix that never arrived.

If any problem bothers you enough, then I'd suggest you get a refund now and buy later when (if) it's solved.

 

I had the annoying screen stays black too but after a wipe and reinstall, the problem was no longer there and wakes really fast just like my other computers.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk