XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

Small observation...I've noticed that the battery drains a bit when the laptop is off...have you guys seen something similar?

 

well, it seems I have new info regarding my msata adata xpg sx300.
Adata failed to mention they test their drives using compressed data, 0x00 (0 fill)
Here are my test results with compressed tests.

some tests are still significantly low, such as the 4K and 4k32
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 471.553 MB/s
Sequential Write : 472.615 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 398.525 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 448.542 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 17.831 MB/s [ 4353.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 52.795 MB/s [ 12889.5 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 101.820 MB/s [ 24858.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 322.487 MB/s [ 78732.2 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 26.5% (63.1/238.0 GB)] (x3) <0Fill>
Date : 2013/11/28 2:02:32
OS : Windows 8.1 [6.3 Build 9600] (x64)

 

Can't confirm that. I'm doing every morning the same. First I press power button and after that I switch on the power outlet. And it does only charge in very rare cases.

 

I think you meant "compressible" data.

A bunch of SSDs perform significantly differently on compressible vs non-compressible data, being that the controllers do on the fly compression/decompression to reduce the actual amount of flash memory utilized for any given storage.

I don't recall which controller the ADATA has (but a web search should turn it up) but if I recall the very popular Sandforce controllers perform very differently on the two types of data.

Lots of good info over here:

Our SSD Reviews | The SSD Review

FWIW, basically any "consumer" device is going to have this behavior to one degree or another. You have to pay real money to have something that runs more evenly on both types of data, but they are out there.

Do you have anything plugged into the USB? One of the ports provides power even if the machine is off, you know. That would drain the battery some.

 

Well batteries do lose charge even when they're off. How long did you store it off?

If it is a night to day powered off, you shouldn't lose more than 1%

 

My XPS15 generally loses 5 - 10% when sleeping mode. Seems a bit much.

 

hibernate...

 

Sleep uses a decent amount of power, actually.

More if you have the Intel Smart Connect stuff, as that means that apps are doing networking AND processing with intermittent sleep of the machine.

 

Had the computer for a bit longer. Gets all the stares anywhere I take it. I really like how quick and repsonsive it is. Boot up, shut down, into sleep, sleep wakeup you name it happen in seconds. Im particularly fond of quick shutdown and into sleep times because normally I need to put into sleep and toss into my bag but I don't put it in my bag if it hasn't shutt off(fans stop and blinknig led) because it could get really hot inside. I guess the two diabolical things for me are
1) the smudging/fingerprinting on the palmrest- i carry a cloth now to wipe away every now and then but you can only see it in certain types of light which I always seem to be in.
2) demonic dvd drive noise(otherwise computer makes no noise at all!)

I just figured out a little more how to use the Intel Rapid Start tech thats working when I put the computer to sleep. I just wish there was a little more integration between Dell and Intel. Because I am putting it to sleep and it is waking itself up again to go into Rapid Start Sleep mode? What If i want to go straight into Rapid Start Sleep(aka S4) as opposed to windows Sleep mode (aka S3). If I set rapid start timer to zero, it will sleep in S3 quickly then I hear demonic dvd drive sound while it wakes up a second later so it can sleep in S4. Seems like that needed more thinking if you ask me. Anyone know if I'm just not doing this corectly?

 

@audiracer
Replace the drive against LG Hitachi GS20N. Its noise is much shorter and much more quiet. I love it

I've tested the copper tape on several places, but it did not help. I tried to surround the cables, cover the cpu, cover the wifi module, the ssd, the left and bottom side, but no position helped to raise the signal strength.

I've installed the Intel AC 7260 module as well and installed the cable as you did. I think the module works very good. I've tested the signal strength with inSSDer and its gain is on 5m distance around 2-3 dB (non ac router). Its not much, but again a little bit better as the Killer N-1202. The overall signal strength is now as good as with my smartphone so finally I'm happy.

I'm having the same "problem", but I did not tested much as my ac router is not my main router at the moment (only access point). I will test that in the future. But 400 MBit/s was no problem and this was much faster than the usual standard.

As you can see the Intel module is a little bit smaller as well:

 

Inssider is not ac compatible yet..

here are my speeds with intel ac7260 and my asus ac68u

 

As I tested the signal strength only this was not important.

 

FWIW, I tend to get cx rates around 700 Mbps when at home, with the ac7260 to my asus ac66u. My wife's studio xps-1645 gets the same with the ac7260, and the two machines trade data around 400 Mbps (which is 800 Mbps wlan bandwidth overall).

 

My next tuning step is to replace the oem paste against Innovation Cooling Diamond:
Amazon.com: Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" Thermal Compound - 1.5 Grams: Computers & Accessories

This is the best thermal grease on the market (that is non-conductive):
http://www.tomshardware.de/Innovation-Cooling-Diamond-24-Review,testberichte-241361-2.html

I hope it will add some silence

 

This was one of the choices I had in mind before I decided on repasting with shin-etsu x23 7783d. I'd love to hear your results as the shin-etsu hasn't really decreased temps all that much, if at all.

 

Yes I do, a small wireless adapter for my mouse. Was plugged on the last USB port from back to front. Changed it to the first one to see if there is any change on that.

Man, I usually use the computer weekly, just to sync emails and stuff from work, I use mainly when I'm on a business trip, that could be every month and a half...I noticed a big battery drain on the first few days the system was on my spinner. Battery did not last a week which is was suspicious.

I'm less than that...

Sort off, battery drained in a week in my case. I'm doing tests now and the battery changed behavior for good...last longer when is off...when is on..I get at least 2 hours

Have not seen that before. I dont have that installed....unless the chipset drivers are carrying this technology disguised...

THanks for the answers guys!

 

Only to whom didn't know that: This feature can be switched off in the BIOS.

 

Also, the powered port has a little lightning bolt stencilled next to it. Hard to see, but it's there.

 

Completely Useless Effort and Trivia: I converted my system in-place from using MBR/legacy boot to GPT/UEFI boot, disabled the legacy-boot-rom support in the BIOS, and my cold boot time is down to 4.4 seconds according to task manager.

I used "parted magic" to manipulate the partitions in-place, and the included 'gdisk' command line tool for doing the MBR to GPT conversion.

Once the conversion to UEFI booting was complete I deleted the legacy boot support partition completely, so now the system only has the UEFI boot partition and the OS partition.

The basic instructions I used are here: Converting Win7 from MBR to GPT, Part 2 |

The biggest precursor step I did was to make a UEFI bootable USB memory stick with the Win8 install ISO, which I used to "repair" the installation. I used "option two" off this page: UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

I know there are some nerds on this thread that enjoy this kind of thing.

If anyone else does this and loses everything and has to cold install their system, it's not my fault.

 

Hey guys, I just ordered the XPS 15 L521X laptop this week with the factory 512 SSD. Anyone know what make the factory SSD is? Also, I was wondering if anyone owns the XPS 15 with the factory SSD. If so, how is the performance and boot time? And are there any problems you faced besides the wi-fi and throttling when gaming? I will be using it for graphic design and am concerned if there are any other issues I might face. Thanks in advance!

 

@ c0derbear
Nice. This is something for me

 

olivemang, I hope you have a good mouse to plug in. I doubt the trackpad is good for graphic design work. Make sure you turn off "vibrant" or whatever they call the color mode (via mobility settings) before you calibrate the display or you'll never get someplace good.

You may also want to max out the ram to 16 Gb. It's a complete PITA to do, since one of the memory sticks is on the BACK of the mainboard, but it's possible.

No clue on the SSD manu.

 

I also just got this a month ago recently with the 16Gb and it's pretty awesome. The SSD is a Samsung 840 Series(SM84) and its really nice ssd. Curious did you get you computer with Win7 or Win8 or Win 8.1? I got it with Win8 and boot time is about 5ish seconds. Probably the fastest boot up you'll ever experience. Make sure all your drivers are updated, expecially the touchpad. I can live with it's faults because it is such an upgrade over my last computer. I really enjoy the speediness the SSD provides to everything.

 

I just installed 8.1 and newest touchpad driver which surprised me that is has no mid button simulation like that in win7 with both left+right button pressed?

 

Maybe this one helps you:
http://mikemurko.com/general/3-finger-middle-click/
How To Enable Multi-Touch Right And Middle Clicking On A (Relatively New) Windows Laptop - YouTube

 

Actually I already configured 3 finger touch to lock the computer. In win 7 driver, I can set left+right button to simulate mid button, but in win 8.1drivet there is no such option.

 

Not sure if this is covered before but anyone has issue with the nvidia card being "unplugged"?

I'm running an x64 win 7. Occasionally the screen would blank for some seconds and come back with the 640m disappearing and a "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" appearing in the dev-man (with the yellow exclamation).
It happened several times in a week, Once I was running My Dell testing when it happened. The report on video card testing says the testing was interrupted because device is unplugged - which it does seem like: Aero would be disabled; Sleep function would be disabled; WinSAT score is greyed out. But after reboot, all seems well again.

I haven't tried to play any games yet but judging from the symptoms I doubt it would give me a pleasant experience. But before I take it to Dell, I would like to gather some ideas about what to expect. Any insight or reference is appreciated!

 

which is a drag, olivex, as I miss it too.

apparently Microsoft doesn't believe in middle buttons.

 

I'm thinking about buying this laptop now that I am just mainly looking for a quad core laptop that looks well and is decently built. It will come down between this, the Asus n550 and the Samsung ativ book 8/6.

My question is, are there ways to fix all of the problems with the XPS 15? Is the overheating still a big issue? Will installing that intel wifi card help a lot with the wifi? Is the "patio screen" thing really noticeable?

If you had to choose between the three, would you still go with the XPS 15?

 

I purchased the L521x about 2 weeks ago. Not had one of the problems mentioned here - yet. I use it daily.
Awesome machine to be honest. Really loving this notebook.

 

My opinion is "your roll your dice and move your mice" ... Dell hasn't done anything tangible to the L521X other than change the WLAN card spec since it was introduced in '12. People get units they don't have problems with, people get units with all the problems, there's no proven consistency.

The Intel7260 WLAN seems to be best-of-breed for the machine so far, and works well enough probably 80% of the time when roaming about - I rarely need my USB WLAN dongle ... but I do need it now and then.

I re-pasted the CPU/GPU and that certainly made a difference to my machine, but I don't game heavily so can't say it's enough for that. The more extreme measure of removing the optical disk drive seems to help air-flow dramatically, but you'd have to be okay with not having that device.

Everything else is up to your own evaluation.

If you've the latitude to do so and you buy directly from Dell (in the US at least) you do have a significantly good return policy, just don't dawdle in deciding.

FWIW, the "new hotness" - the '13 XPS15 9530 (right number?) has some good design changes internally, IMO, such as separate cooling solutions for CPU and GPU and a differently laid-out mainboard that seems to isolate the WLAN antenna leads better. If I was buying a new machine today I'd lean toward that one, even though I really don't want nor see the use of touch screen notebook ... the "4k" display I could use though.

 

Thank you for the information. I may take a swing at it. I'll actually have to call now though because Dell decided in the 3 hours I slept to take them off and put in "call for pricing"

I would buy the latest one, but I'm basically spending a lot of money for a higher resolution that I don't want nor need. It's a shame the lower end version of the new one doesn't come with any sort of dgpu, and $1500 without a dgpu would be insane to me. In the end, it's a bit overpriced for me for what you get, and what I don't need as well.

 

It's always good advice to only buy what you really need. :^)

FWIW I'm pretty happy with my L512X, the wlan doesn't get in the way much, and the gpu throttling less, and for my use otherwise it's been pretty great. I did move to a 120Gb mSATA SSD a while ago and moved to OS onto that and it made a huge operational difference - even though it's a cheap Mushkin Atlas SSD. I'm seriously considering getting a "good" SSD to replace it with RSN for more capacity, and thus more long term reliability and better performance. One day I'll replace the HDD with an SSD also, but that's harder as 750Gb SSDs are not, er, modest purchases.

 

I've had the L521X for a month now, little observations here and there, normal for a "new" laptop. Replaced the Wifi card with the 7260 AC, put a new SSD inside, Samsung 256GB Evo, took the msata out, display is kinda good, I see is a little contrasty for my taste but I think is calibration at the end. In general a really good purchase, in amazon they are getting cheaper by the day. Ohh and also changed the thermal paste for Noctua's one, temps came down 10°C right away. The ODD airflow trick is pending still...

 

mingocr83: about display contrast, have you gone to the Mobility Center and turned off the default VIVID display mode?

 

Didn't feel like waiting until january for the system, so I ended up ordering from Dell outlet. $814 total for the system with 16 GB RAM, 32 GB mSata, 750GB HDD, etc.

 

Wow
How did you do that ? I got one for 849$ with 8gb ram is your processor i7 3632qm ?

 

Yes, it's the i7-3632qm. Also note, it is not "new" but "certified refurbished." It still has the same warranty and everything though.

A series of specific steps:
1. Add the XPS system that you want to your cart from Dell Home Outlet
2. Coupon Code D?LK6DG1C0R?2B gets you 30% off. Apply that coupon
3. Go to this address: Signup
4. Subscribe to it. No one is getting the 10% off coupon in their email, just an FYI so you don't search for it.
5. Now, go to your cart, go through the checkout process. DO NOT checkout!
6. When you get to the payment area, click on the "Chat" link at the top of the page.
7. Explain to the rep that you signed up for the Dell Outlet newsletter/subscription service but you didn't receive the 10% off coupon and would like to apply it.
8. The customer service rep will walk you through the rest of the process.


Total of 40% off the initial price of the laptop in the Dell Outlet. The initial price for mine was $1269. I dropped it to $761 before taxes, $814 after.

 

It just arrived today. Is there anything specific I should know about updating it, testing it, etc.?

Also... you can't undervolt the processor on this?

 

Nice laptop... congrats on the purchase. See if the CPU voltage setting is unlocked with Intel XTU.

 

I've found around 8 stuck/dead pixels towards the middle-top of the screen (darkish grey). It doesn't seem like you can undervolt the cpu, just mess with the multiplier. The heat isn't terribly bad, but when playing DOTA 2, the CPU reaches into the high 90's and the GPU oddly enough goes up and stays around 88 C (it's odd because I thought the GPU was throttled at 80?). I'll have to call Dell regardless because 8 stuck/dead pixels doesn't seem right even if it's from the Dell outlet or not.

Idle I get around 50-60C which I'd love to lower, but it's fine IMO.

Honestly love the build quality of this laptop and how it feels. I thought from some reviews I'd get more than the 2 hrs 50-55 minutes I am getting using wifi on power save though.

 

Those temps are higher than they should be. You may need to repaste the heat sink and doing so may eliminate the need to undervolt the CPU. Lowering CPU voltage can degrade performance and may lead to instability (0x124 STOP errors, etc.).

The Owner's Manual has instructions for disassembly if you are comfortable working on the machine. If not, I would talk to XPS Support about dispatching a technician to do that repair as well as replacing the display. It is going to be torn down with removal of the heat sink being a required step if they replace the LCD so you will kill two birds with the same stone.

I would recommend using a very high performance and durable thermal paste such as IC Diamond. It is what I use for extreme overclocking in my Alienware systems and it is the only thermal paste I have tested that is both effective and durable. I have tried many of the most popular thermal pastes and none are as effective or durable under extreme conditions.

 

I'm comfortable working with the machine, but I wouldn't want to break warranty just days after getting the laptop, which I believe repasting would. If I request a technician to come and do it, can I provide my own paste for them to do it (like the IC Diamond), or would I be stuck with whatever they bring?

 

He won't like to add IC Diamond. Its like chewing gum

 

Even if he won't like it, will he do it?

 

I having a certain problem with my wifi as well. Maybe someone already has a solution (I searched this thread, but 50 pages of wifi related issues...)

I was trying to view an American Football stream and it kept stuttering, so I obviously went to check the problem. With a constant pinging to 8.8.8.8, there are multiple times where I get a "request timed out" and a VERY large time (4k+ ms under the time column, where it is normally around 100).

When the time is large, it correlates with the stuttering. When the request times out is when it correlates with the stream stopping altogether.

Now, the router runs at 2.4 and 5 Ghz and is about 5 feet away, so that is not the issue. My other laptop sitting right beside it has no problem whatsoever with the exact same stream either.

Is there anything I can do?

 

I would upgrade BIOS to A015 and install latest driver, which is version 1.1.38.1281. I download from Killer Gaming :: Support :: Driver Download Support

Dell latest driver sucks. My Bluetooth mouse and my wireless is lag with this driver especially when the laptop is on battery. Everything seems to fix with latest driver from killer. I hope it helps. Make sure you run killer cleaner after you uninstall old driver. I also disable bandwidth control as well.

 

I spent an hour yesterday trying to find the actual killer drivers and gave up and downloaded the latest ones from Dell yesterday. Thank you so much for that link

EDIT: It worked... at least for now. No stuttering and no jumps in the ping time that I'm noticing... I'm also doing matrix theory studying though and not paying too much attention, but I don't hear the sound cutting off. My 5Ghz connection doesn't seem that great though, keeps cutting in and out. I can live with the 2.4 signal though

 

Anyone willing to sell his laptop?

 

I am glad the it works out for you. About 5 GHz, you won't get a lot of good connection on 802.11N anyway because it doesn't penetrate object such as wall that well like 2.4 GHz anyway. It is just the nature of radio band. 2.4 GHz works better for me. One more trick that I found out is disable Dell Extended Battery Life. That function puts laptop in power saving mode while it is on battery and Wi-Fi slows down and fluctuate a lot. I just leave it on balanced mode.

802.11AC works only on 5GHz band. I wonder how far it can cover the area compare to 2.4 GHz, but it supposes to transfer data more efficient than 802.11N. I guess we will see.