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    XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Muddy, Jun 28, 2012.

  1. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Such a model customer: Spending about $2,000 on a high-end notebook and willing to fix it yourself. There are more cost-effective notebooks for you to tinker with (and some are built expressly for ease of upgrades and modifications).

    Hmm.
     
    Kaso, Jul 17, 2012
    #701
  2. Dell-Bill_B

    Dell-Bill_B Guest

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    I have a Belkin USB N adapter, but I don't have one with the same chipset. I think to compare it apples to apples with a USB adapter, you'd have to find one that's BT/WLAN combo.

    BIOS will not affect WiFi. You need to have your Dell AC adapter plugged in to flash the BIOS on any Dell laptop.
     
    Dell-Bill_B, Jul 17, 2012
    #702
  3. Skareem2

    Skareem2 Notebook Evangelist

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    well i dont tinker and its not my fault that what ever issue is causing the wireless not to perform @ its best and wont be spending 2000 closer to 1500 - 1200..... there is a reason the xps still about my other choices lenovo y580 & Inspiron 15 se .... but thanks for the advice
     
    Skareem2, Jul 17, 2012
    #703
  4. ratty_uk2011

    ratty_uk2011 Notebook Enthusiast

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    My XPS 15 is not due for delivery until 23/07 and is still showing as "pre-production", so I'll give it a couple of days for positive news on the wifi before cancelling.

    I feel bad about this, but I spend a lot of time away working and staying in hotels, coffee shops etc. with common low-quality wifi points so I need a 100% solution from Dell out of the box.

    And as for turning off BT? That's an unsatisfactory answer Dell; I don't expect to have to turn off the stereo in my car to use the sat nav.
     
    ratty_uk2011, Jul 17, 2012
    #704
  5. szmb12

    szmb12 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Installed the BIOS update

    Good news - throttling is gone, at least if not gaming (not tested). I've run Prime95 for 4 hours now and the CPU clock is between 2500 - 2800 MHz whereas before it jumped to 1200 after 10 mins and back to 2800 as soon as the CPU had cooled down - and then jumped between 1200 and 2800 every 5 mins.

    On WiFi - if I run prime95 and then test WLAN, the speed is very slow (still showing as connected with 270 MBit/sec in Windows 7). I can multitask with Prime95 running and do other stuff well. Also the speed via connected network cable is great.
    Could it be that WiFi is influenced by CPU load and throttling down under high load?
     
    szmb12, Jul 17, 2012
    #705
  6. Risco

    Risco Notebook Deity

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    I will PM Bill for the bios, my old man is dropping off the laptop in about an hour. I will try and get a video of some sort up.

    ROFL, see this is why I do not do unboxing lol! Thanks Bill, made me chuckle! Also thanks for checking on UK retail.

    Yeah, I still hold out hope for the drivers. They managed to do it with the power saving issues on my L502X.
     
    Risco, Jul 17, 2012
    #706
  7. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Possibly. Check the power settings:

    [​IMG]

    Good luck with the Atheros card. Make sure there is a compatible, up-to-date driver for it on your brand new L512X.
     
    Kaso, Jul 17, 2012
    #707
  8. jeremfg

    jeremfg Notebook Consultant

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    Now that's a behavior that was to be expected. Good news indeed!

    Nice to hear... You used to get the 1200 throttling with the exact same test (Prime95 alone) ? If so, that pretty much confirms an improvement...

    Hoping to hear back from someone about performance in-game!
     
    jeremfg, Jul 17, 2012
    #708
  9. szmb12

    szmb12 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I can also confirm that at least in 3D Mark Vantage I see no throttling anymore.
    CPU score around 19000 now constant even after 5 consecutive tests (was before around 6900, posted a few pages back)

    Score
    P7661 3DMarks
    Graphics Score 6374
    CPU Score 19439
     
    szmb12, Jul 17, 2012
    #709
  10. Xps13SAM

    Xps13SAM Notebook Consultant

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    Xps13SAM, Jul 17, 2012
    #710
  11. dorekk

    dorekk Notebook Consultant

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    I haven't had TERRIBLE problems with Dell Support, but I think their policy of "I can't transfer you to a specific technician" (unless you really beg, apparently) is borderline retarded. I was ready blow up at someone who told me that until they finally got the guy I was looking for. If I have a two-week ongoing problem, there's no expletive way I'm going to explain it to a different person every time I call.
     
    dorekk, Jul 17, 2012
    #711
  12. Nyceis

    Nyceis Notebook Deity

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    Can anyone else post their 3dmark06 scores? I'm concerned mine is too low...

    N
     
    Nyceis, Jul 17, 2012
    #712
  13. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Anyone with the new BIOS can try
    1) gaming for a couple of hours monitoring fps and CPU clock
    2) run prime95 and Furmark together so we can compare results with other notebooks reviewed by notebookcheck?
    Thank you in advance for any test

    Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk
     
    alfling, Jul 17, 2012
    #713
  14. szmb12

    szmb12 Notebook Enthusiast

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    it was much lower before I updated to Beta BIOS, do you run on A04?
     
    szmb12, Jul 17, 2012
    #714
  15. Nyceis

    Nyceis Notebook Deity

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    It actually dropped on the test bios. On A04 I got 10,220, on beta I get 9,287 - this is why I'm asking, if everybody else is higher, I'm probably going to return or exchange this. This is an i7, 640M model.

    What do you get?

    N
     
    Nyceis, Jul 17, 2012
    #715
  16. Drakknar

    Drakknar Newbie

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    Thanks for the heads up :) I'll drop you a PM as soon as they will be available, and in the meanwhile I'll get in touch with Dell to ask for a replacement for the screen and for my keyboard. I'll keep you updated on the results :)
     
    Drakknar, Jul 17, 2012
    #716
  17. krayziehustler

    krayziehustler Notebook Evangelist

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    does this "grid effect" show up in pics? I've never heard of that in regards to a screen and want to know I am exempt
     
    krayziehustler, Jul 17, 2012
    #717
  18. golfer78

    golfer78 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes, I have noticed it, it is just less pronounced as say surfing the web or typing a paper.
     
    golfer78, Jul 17, 2012
    #718
  19. dvergson

    dvergson Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, never run a Furmark before, what score are you looking for? I ran a 15 minute burn-in benchmark at 1920x1080 and avg:ed 1 fps, score 189 points, GPU core at 708 MHz.

    It never went beyond 77 degrees celsius but the fans were blaring quite loud.
     
    dvergson, Jul 17, 2012
    #719
  20. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    I'm not concerned about fan noise during such a heavy test, since fan must run at max rpm, but I was asking for this test because it is the one that notebookcheck runs in their reviews, so we can compare with other alternative laptops

    Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk
     
    alfling, Jul 17, 2012
    #720
  21. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Something like this...

    [​IMG]
     
    Kaso, Jul 17, 2012
    #721
  22. supahoops

    supahoops Newbie

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    Whats the best way to test for an issue with the wifi? My phone and laptop (i7 version) were tested at the same time and i was getting around 3.5 to 4MB on 10Meg broadband using speedtest.net

    I have noticed when watching 1080p you tube videos there is some delay / loading on wifi but on a wired connection i am getting the full 10Meg and the HD videos load very fast.

    My Wifi card is Intel Centrino Advanced -N 6235, power settings are set to maximum performance.

    On a side note i watched the Samsung HD Demo video Samsung Demo - Sports/Nature - 1080p - YouTube and the screen looked good, no grid or pixelation.
     
    supahoops, Jul 17, 2012
    #722
  23. Skareem2

    Skareem2 Notebook Evangelist

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    wow thats kind of bad i think you just got a bad panel ..... to be honest dell would swap it out for you if/when you called
     
    Skareem2, Jul 17, 2012
    #723
  24. azza80

    azza80 Notebook Enthusiast

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    re Wifi, has anyone tried my suggestion from a few pages ago to remove the ram adjacent the wifi adapter? My wifi is fine and the only diference i can see is that i only have 4 gb ram?
     
    azza80, Jul 17, 2012
    #724
  25. azza80

    azza80 Notebook Enthusiast

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    just making a fifth post to get the bios update from bill!
     
    azza80, Jul 17, 2012
    #725
  26. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    @azza80: Sorry, missed your earlier post. Do you mean removing the RAM stick right next to the WiFi-BT card will make WiFi perform as it should?
     
    Kaso, Jul 17, 2012
    #726
  27. Xps13SAM

    Xps13SAM Notebook Consultant

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    Not entirely sure what i should do about this wifi thing? One minute it's at 7mbps the next its at 11 the next its at 2. A dell rep told me that an update should be released 'eventually' that will fix the wifi issue but I'm a little nervous about this... Any suggestions on what to do?
     
    Xps13SAM, Jul 17, 2012
    #727
  28. azza80

    azza80 Notebook Enthusiast

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    who knows? i can transfer files between my NAS and laption at between 5-10MB a second in most places in my house... and ram being an issue is something someone else suggested and i can't see that anyone has tried it.
     
    azza80, Jul 17, 2012
    #728
  29. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    Here's some results from the beta BIOS. The CPU performs great, but the GPU is throttling in some situations. Take a look at the decreasing scores in the 3DMark Vantage tests. It's definitely much better, but not perfect. This may even be in the normal zone for notebooks. I'm not a big notebook guy.

    3DMark11
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0880F2 score: P1990 3DMarks
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0880F2 score: P1989 3DMarks

    3DMark Vantage
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0880F2 score: P8680 3DMarks
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0880F2 score: P8104 3DMarks
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0880F2 score: P7921 3DMarks
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,Dell Inc. 0880F2 score: P7762 3DMarks

    P.S. Did someone mention that some people have Realtek NICs? Mine is an Intel Advanced-N 6235 so I find that a bit odd. Maybe they're multi-sourcing that part.
     
    Quix Omega, Jul 17, 2012
    #729
  30. Nyceis

    Nyceis Notebook Deity

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    Wow, somethings definitely not right with my system then. My 3dmark Vantage right after a cold boot (ie at its coolest point) with the beta bios is 7625.
     
    Nyceis, Jul 17, 2012
    #730
  31. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    CPU is at 1,2 GHz!

    Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk
     
    alfling, Jul 17, 2012
    #731
  32. Nyceis

    Nyceis Notebook Deity

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    Quick question. I put 16GB in my system - will that generate more heat than 2x4GB? I'm trying to figure out why my scores are low, before I resort to repair or exchange.

    N
     
    Nyceis, Jul 17, 2012
    #732
  33. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    How did it get a 19514 CPU score in 3DMark Vantage then? I already explained why your line of logic doesn't make sense earlier.
     
    Quix Omega, Jul 17, 2012
    #733
  34. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Calm down man, I just wrote what you can see in the result of the test

    Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk
     
    alfling, Jul 17, 2012
    #734
  35. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    You're just doing that to whip up the people who are already upset. You don't even own one of these, stop trolling.
     
    Quix Omega, Jul 17, 2012
    #735
  36. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Well, the RealTek is for wired LAN and the Intel is for wireless LAN. Nothing odd.

    [​IMG]
     
    Kaso, Jul 17, 2012
    #736
  37. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    Ah, I must have just been confused by people switching in the middle of the thread.
     
    Quix Omega, Jul 17, 2012
    #737
  38. Risco

    Risco Notebook Deity

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    This laptop is awesome! It is also practically silent, even when doing heavy work. Sound is so so, I have the boring task of transferring all my music and pictures.
     
    Risco, Jul 17, 2012
    #738
  39. superpippo

    superpippo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all!
    I just did a clean install of Win7 Pro and did everything explained on Bill's guide to reactivate the Intel Rapid Storage + Smart response.

    The problem is: as suggested, during RST config I selected to use only a part of the SSD volume (the 18,6 Gb option). Then I created the hybernation partition (8912 Mb)... now I have both RST and SamrtResp enabled and functioning but I have 3Gb of unused space on the SSD! (30gb - 18,6 - 8 --> 3,22 free Gb approx.)

    My question: What can I do to increase RST cache to use all the available space?

    Some suggestion? :)
     
    superpippo, Jul 17, 2012
    #739
  40. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    I lol'd so hard when I read this post... Just in case you missed the primary task these days, we're trying to understand if the beta BIOS can solve the throttle thing, and since I don't have the laptop I need to look owners' test results and try to figure out if something changed. I can assure you that I have zero interest in bashing since I want this laptop too, and if you read my last posts about beta BIOS you can see I was quite optimistic. Is throttling solved if CPU still runs at 1,2GHz? Guess no, but other users experienced different results (4-hour Prime95 at 2,8 GHz) so I don't know what to think

    Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk
     
    alfling, Jul 17, 2012
    #740
  41. kgh00007

    kgh00007 Notebook Evangelist

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    I have a broken foot too :(
     
    kgh00007, Jul 17, 2012
    #741
  42. AdmiralPanda

    AdmiralPanda Notebook Enthusiast

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    from what I have seen the CPU throttles down automatically when not used. the frequency is therefore very dynamic compared to desktops.
    During gameplay the frequency fluctuates heavily between 1.2 and 2.7GHz
    then again I never had the throttling issue to begin with since my unit somehow never exceeds 85C, the beta BIOS didn't do anything for me, as far as I can tell. So now I'm back using A04
     
    AdmiralPanda, Jul 17, 2012
    #742
  43. jyan_osu

    jyan_osu Notebook Enthusiast

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    So I've got the beta BIOS.. I can't do too much testing since I have a project I have to finish but..

    Playing Skyrim, it starts out at around 35 FPS, then after about 10 minutes it drops down into the 15s.. This is just me walking around Marketh... Now I go back to the same spot where it was in the 35s and it stays at around 15-22.

    Running Prime95 for about 15 mins, it stays at 3.0GHz for all cores. As soon as I launch something that uses the GPU such as Furmark, even in the menus it drops down to 1.2GHz.. about 10 seconds after I close Furmark, it jumps back up to 3.0GHz and keeps running on there fine.

    Just my quick observations. Will have to do some more testing.
     
    jyan_osu, Jul 17, 2012
    #743
  44. Risco

    Risco Notebook Deity

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    How do I get the Adobe Elements that is supposed to come via digital delivery?
     
    Risco, Jul 17, 2012
    #744
  45. oldbar

    oldbar Notebook Enthusiast

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    oldbar, Jul 17, 2012
    #745
  46. oldbar

    oldbar Notebook Enthusiast

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    The ping is the same but the speeds for the XPS 15 are woeful.

    I am running another test using inssider for 10 mins on each machine to see what it tells me .
    As far as I can tell if you want a good quality wireless connection using your laptop forget about the XPS 15 .

    Inssider is telling me RSSI is -50 with the XPS 15
    While The Inspiron is -60

    Not sure what that means.
    I could be wrong but the signal seems to be better with the XPS 15 so why is it slower?

    I wonder what Bill the Dell rep has to say about this ?
     
    oldbar, Jul 17, 2012
    #746
  47. Otter992

    Otter992 Notebook Enthusiast

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    how do you go back to A04 from the beta bios
     
    Otter992, Jul 17, 2012
    #747
  48. Nyceis

    Nyceis Notebook Deity

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    Out of curiosity, are you guys with wifi issues on 2.4ghz or 5ghz band?

    N
     
    Nyceis, Jul 17, 2012
    #748
  49. oldbar

    oldbar Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have set mine on Auto and maximum performance..
    I paid $1900.00 Australian Dollars for this unit.
    For that amount of money i am not prepared to be used as a beta tester for a product
     
    oldbar, Jul 17, 2012
    #749
  50. Endless2232

    Endless2232 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I wanted to report that I have not noticed the wifi issues so many are having. I tested wifi speed using speedtest.net with my desktop with wireless usb adapter and xps 15 right next to each other in a room that doesn't get direct LOS to the router. On a side note, I have also not noticed the grid on the display that has also been a problem. I can barely make it out if I stick my nose on the screen and stare at a white background. I have the SMB $1399 config.

    XPS 15:
    [​IMG]


    Desktop:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    Endless2232, Jul 17, 2012
    #750
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