XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

I use a separate LG IPS monitor at times with this system. The XPS does have a slightly cooler display when compared side by side to the IPS. However, it definitely does not come off as a blue tinge. I'm quite happy with the screen and use it for some of the photography work that I do with good results. I have yet to calibrate, but if I get around to it I will make a note.

 

I hope linking to other forums isn't a no-no here.... but Sean wrote (writes) very nice guides to do just about anything with SSD's.

Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs

This is a link to the post about optimization after you have installed correctly, if you need info for all of that as well scroll up on that page.

 

After having my XPS 15 for about 17 Days i have finally decided to return it. I talked to tech support and they of course advised against it and suggest exchanging the machine. I told them that if the problem lies in the software then the new machine will not help. I love the idea of this computer and its design, but spending 2300 on a machine whos future is unknown just is too much. If in the future the problem is fixed i would be more then happy to purchase it then, but that's a lot of money to gamble with on a laptop.

 

How does one do this. Sorry for disturbing you O Wise One.



+1

 

If you look at my post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ps-15-l521x-owners-lounge-42.html#post8744254

and then I answered your question in more detail when you asked about the software part here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ps-15-l521x-owners-lounge-42.html#post8744912

and then someone asked for the win7 optimizations, which I answered here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ps-15-l521x-owners-lounge-42.html#post8745538

If you need more explanations for the steps, I suggest looking at the guide Sean wrote for how to install and configure windows 7 for an ssd.... then amend it with how I did it for this laptop to get the most performance by splitting up the load sequences.

If you didn't know windows 7 loads like this in a general way:

Boot Files > Windows directory > Ram/Page file population....

So to split that up you make the boot files be on the mSata drive, the windows directory on the normal SSD (a Crucial M4 in my case), and the page file back on the mSata drive (which I made take up most of the rest of the space on it).

Some would argue that the page file isn't necessary with an ssd, but the issue I have with that is that some programs are written to use it regardless and just overall function better with one.... so why not make it big if i can and put it on an ssd.....

EDIT:---------------------------------------------------------------

To answer the question I see you typed in the quote box by accident. When you first get the laptop change the bios settings the AHCI mode. Then boot into the default windows install that came with the laptop. From there use 'DISKPART' to clean the mSATA HD (might have disable the intel cache features first, I forget if I did).
Leave the mSATA drive as RAW......

Then shutdown, replace the standard HD with an SSD of choice. plug in your windows 7 bootable USB, or bootable DVD... boot into the windows setup. During install format and partition the solid state as 1 partition. Windows should automatically use the mSATA device for its '100 MB Boot Files' Partition by doing it this way.

If it doesn't you can always use BCDedit to move around what drive is the boot drive with the bootloader.....

I apologize for being vague, I don't have a lot of time to write a step by step guide right now.

 

@Bill and All -- A few things I've noticed that others may have missed, can anyone out there confirm these as well?:

#1) NEW ISSUE: In the BIOS boot options menu (press F12 at boot), I am presented with my choices to boot from. Issue is if there is a CD already in the CD drive it CANNOT be ejected at this menu. So the CD is stuck in the system until you can boot to something else. Basically the CD eject key is non-functional at the Boot Options screen. Can others test this as well? Same results? This is an obvious omission, the L511Z had no problem ejecting CDs at the boot menu options. @BILL - Can we include this fix in the next BIOS release PLEASE!

#2) Just an FYI: With the laptop facing you, ready for use, tip the laptop up to look underneath and look next to the front left dot (the small black rubber piece that protrudes slightly). Next to this there is a small button, when pressed illuminates a battery capacity meter. I have read several reviews of this model and seen no mention of this (and even saw one review chastizing for the removal of this from the L511Z model). Even more interesting I haven't seen this documented anywhere, even in the quick start guide or User Manual, maybe another omission on Dell's part?

Also, Does anyone know if this laptop can boot GPT (GUID) partitions?

 

Thanks LiquidSilver and TheKGB for your answer on the display quality. Seems that the "cool color" thing mentioned in the Anandtech review is not something that has a lot of impact in real usage, good news.

 

I about to bite the bullet and buy the XPS15! wooo.... I was considering buying the 1999.99 one but I dont think I want that slow HD.
I know there is a forum with "what should I buy" but I only want to buy XPS 15 (L521x).

I was considering buying the following:

2K
Install the OS on the 128GB mSata and use the 1tb for Storage (pictures/movies/etc)
2.3K
512 SSD

My current laptop only has 128 GB 7400K drive and I max out of space because of pictures and movies not my programs.

I am trying to figure this all out....

I plan to run some VMs on this machine so it might be best to get the SSD.
Thanks!

 

Did we find a solution to the poor wireless performance? Last night I updated the the Intel wireless drivers from 15.1.1.1 to 15.2 from here but download speeds are still horrible. For what it's worth, I have 12MB/sec cable internet connected to a Netgear Dir-655 wireless router. I get 4 out of 5 bars for signal strength and can barely get 100kb/sec downloads. My work laptop is a Dell Latitude E5400 and it can get close to 10MB/sec download speed. I turned off the wireless encryption on my router but that didn't make any difference.

 

Nope, it is still broken. I am pretty sure some heads are rolling in the beta testing and quality control department right now. Nonetheless Bill is doing a stellar job of keeping us updated. I really want them to fix the issues, as I do like the laptop.

 

Does anyone know when we can expect a solution to the wireless problem? Does anyone know the cause (or possible causes) of the wireless problem yet? I am very interested in this computer but the lack of decent WiFi support is a dealbreaker for me.

I need a new computer very badly. My current Dell Latitude is so old (6+ years) that the screen doesn't stay upright on its own anymore (I have to prop it up with something; I'm using a cardboard box now). I've decided to go with this, the Inspiron 15 S/E, or an HP Envy 15.

 

There probably isn`t difference haveing internal ODD or external in office. Whats only matters is habit...
L421X is without ODD and therefore Dell offers in Online Store and there in section "Select my XPS 14 essentials" external optical. And online shops have dozens and dozens more.
So if Dell next time will decide to go with 15" lap without internal ODD, it`s not end of the world, only "matter of habit"...
________________________________________________________________________________

XPS_15 - Intel_HM67 - i5 - GT_540M - 6GB - Crucial_M4_128GB - 1920x1080 - Dell_5540_3G - Backlit - Win7

 

I just got mine a couple of days ago. Same issues as everyone else here; wi-fi being the dealbreaker. I totally agree with you. The computer itself is gorgeous but shotty wi-fi?...totally unacceptable for this amount of money. I hate to say it but if these issues got past the beta testing and quality control then perhaps there may be other issues down the road. I will be returning mine as well.

I thought I should add that I ordered the laptop knowing what the issues for many were but hoping that maybe just maybe the one they sent would be fine and maybe just have the throttling issue which could be fixed by the new BIOS. But like most others, no luck.

 

Double Post

 

So I can't find ANY reviews on Youtube about this laptop (correction: any GOOD ones), I was gonna get the 15" Macbook Pro but the 16:10 aspect ratio at full resolution doesn't sit well with my TV. So basically what are the goods/ bads? Also should I order the 8gb model and up it to 16gb and 512gb ssd or should I order the 16gb model instead?

And If I do get the 16gb model, is there a way I can use the 1tb hard-drive as an external hard-drive?

 

first off, I'm sorry everyone for the long post, but I figure my hunting might interest a number of people here, and should offer incentive for dell to work fast.

secondly addressing one of the previous posts, I really like the idea of dell adding a second fan (possibly in place of the dvd/blueray) to get the system tempurature down.

Same boat, I really like the XPS15 in theory, I purchased it and took it for a test drive, but the throttling and the wifi are definite deal breakers.

I've been hunting for alternatives too, and I know I would have loved for someone else to have posted some sort of list, so I'll go ahead and make one
DISCLAIMER: I own none of these, all information has been drawn from web reviews, and spec sheets (hopefully compared between enough places to avoid mistakes). Its also important to note that many of the benchmarks are skewed as a result of having/not having an SSD... something to look for...

ENVY15t-3200
pros: likely to have better performance, GPU has generally higher benchmarks (but is AMD), CPU is customizable higher than XPS
cons: Slightly thicker (by a couple of mm), sound probably marginally worse, you'll need to be careful of build quality (once over when you get it), battery life probably about 1-2 less than XPS (4-5hrs)
notes: had a couple color issues that seemed to have been mostly solved. (some people report mild offsets, but I attribute that to being picky ^^)

ENVY17
pros: much the same as 15, but significantly more oomph, also longer battery life (7h+)
cons: bigger (17inches) but still slim, meaning its not going to give the performance of a dedicated gaming laptop, but should still be able to play most modern games at high, more expensive
notes: seemed to get some of the best reviews (dell doesnt have many reviews yet though )

ASUS N56VZ
pros: slightly fast processor, better graphics card, good sound, full arrow keys!
cons: graphics card uses ddr3 memory... although this doesnt seem to effect the final benchmarks of the system very much. A little bit larger (still a very nice looking machine), Battery life is just under 4 hours.

Sony Vaio:
pros: can get sheet battery (much longer battery life), slightly more powerful CPU
cons: gpu is the 640MLE, which is underpowered for gaming or rendering needs

sigh.... obligartory I guess......
Macbook Retina:
pros: good battery life (while running mac), performance, and amazing screen, (believe it or not, SDD is also replaceable even though they say its not)
cons: non-upgradeable, very expensive to repair (everything is soldered to the motherboard), doesnt perform AS well running windows, expensive, no ethernet port, no cd drive(here for those who care)

Other possibilities discarded due to size or cost:
Samsung series 7 gamer (dedicated gamer, high reviews, huge)
razr (3.7k ha.haha.hahaha, no way in hell)

Incentive Dell folks us customers are taking preparatory measure, your machine has the most potential, lets see something come of it

(Sorry again for the long post, this ended up being a lot longer than I had planned)

 

You must have missed my review...

 

Yeah, Risco has the best (and only) video review on Youtube. We really appreciate that Risco. When are you going to upload part 2?

Dell XPS 15 L521X Review - Part 1 - YouTube

 

You had me at boot from windows 7 dvd...

Thanks for all your effort.

+1

 

Oooops, heh ^^"

 

Are most people who are reporting extremely poor wifi performance using a 2.4 Ghz band? Anyone getting extremely poor results on 5 Ghz? I ask because I'm using the 5 Ghz band, and both the AP side and L521X Task Manger side are reporting 150 to 250 Mbps (it fluctuates) connection with an 84% signal strength from 10 feet with a door in the way.

In terms of a practical test, Speedtest is reporting 20 to 30 Mbps down, which is close to the 30 Mbps maximum my connection supposedly allows (although I did get one result of 50 Mbps earlier which I'm still scratching my head over.) I'm using the Intel 15.2 drivers, but I obtained similar results with the out-of-the-box 15.1 drivers. Later I'm going to set up a file transfer test with the L521X on wifi and a NAS hooked directly into the AP (currently the NAS is sitting on the other end of a wireless bridge elsewhere in the house so I need to physically move it to connect it in to the AP.)

 

i had the same dilemma as you....i recommend upgrading to the 2300 model, it's like paying 300 for a 512GB, it comes with the Samsung 830 that retails for 679 or so so it is a steal..

not to mention that SSDs are volatile and this way DELL has you covered if it fails..

 

I tried what you suggested as well as other partition manipulation methods (Windows Install disc, Paragon Partition Editor, etc.),...but I needed to get rid of the MBR and essentially "uninitialize" the disk as rush advises below.

I suspected that IRST had left some residual bits on the drive. I looked up diskpart and used "clean all" just for good measure. You were correct. I needed to zero over the MBR of the drive. So my suspicions were correct the whole time--because I did not "gracefully" disabled and disassociate the mSATA cache using iRST GUI on the pre-installed setup, every time I installed RST on my new setup, RST was detecting some bits on the MBR that told it that the mSATA drive should be acting as a cache via SRT. All I had previously done was delete all of the previous cache partitions and just created a new primary active NTFS partition. That wasn't enough!

I feel foolish for having not tried diskpart sooner! THANK YOU, SIR!

What BIOS SATA MODE are you using? Have you installed any storage controller drivers (Intel RST)? Are you able to see the spinner in the Disk Management snap-in in Windows?

 

Here are some WiFi performance results that I just got.



Please do ask your questions away. It's late, and I need to get to bed, so I don't have time to go through the detailed test environment details, etc., right now.

Just noticed typo in the pic: T420S is 6300, not 6400.

 

I have a Netgear N600 dual band router - and I get poor performance nomatter what band I'm using for the connection. Sorry to those hoping for an "easy fix".

 

What is installed on 128GB mSATA by Dell?
64GB is for Smart Response and what is on the other half?

 

They told me the 128GB mSATA SSD is a cache (or, as they put it, "accelerator solution"). But it cannot be fully used as a cache, because Intel Smart Response Technology limits the cache size from 18.6GB min to 64GB max.

So, as you rightfully asked: What is on the other half? A plain storage drive? What for? Why sell a huge 1TB spinner with so big a cache that cannot be fully utilized?

The configuration only makes sense if the 128GB mSATA SSD is a boot/OS/apps drive and the 1TB HDD is a storage drive for user files. (In fact, a 64GB mSATA SSD would be more cost-effective in this case.)

Anyway...

 

i heard dell uses 32gb for Smart Response and the rest is usable space in the form of a second drive in My Computer

 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

This is an owner's lounge. What does that mean? Well, quite simply, it's primarily a place for owners of the laptop. Now, that's not meant to exclude non-owners who have questions related to their possible buying decision that only owners can answer.

But what is does mean is that you (non-owner) don't come into this thread to declare that you're NOT going to buy this notebook or whine about your disappointment if you didn't buy it or vent that you were hoping it would be the best thing since sliced bread.

It's REALLY annoying to owners to have to read about your disappointment and lowered expectations. They really don't care to have their conversations interrupted by your unnecessary commentary. Time to move on and research other notebooks. But if you absolutely, positively must vent, send one of the Dell reps a PM. Though I suspect many probably have already.

Owners: thank you for reporting and please continue to report any posts that violate the above. Going forward, those posters will simply receive an infraction and those with rap sheets will simply be banned. I'm letting the one noob whose post was deleted which necessitated this post, go without incident.

 

Thank you so much for this!

 

After my Asus g73sw broke down more than once and with poor customer support I thought I'd try a dell. After a bit I think that the XPS 15 might be my choice but a couple of things first.

I'm thinking that the i5 w/ gt630m model

Okay so I took some time and read through around 75 pages of the forum and I want to make sure I'm understanding right:

1)Wifi is faulty but a driver update for the card fixed it
2) throttling issue on cpu and gpu when gpu kicks in but this has a beta bios that fixes it a little and hopefully will be fixed ( I didn't see any posts about someone with an i5 having the issues at all does it ,but I think Bill said it wasn't a problem)
3)I the fan is noisy make sure some of the wires are taped down

I see tons of people with the i7 gt 640m but does anyone with the i5 model know how it does performance wise or have fps from games?

Is there any issues I missed? I bought a dud last time and I just don't want it to happen again. Also first post

 

Thank you so much for posting this chart! Are your results typical? If so, I don't understand why everyone is complaining so much. Your numbers don't look that bad to me.

EDIT: I should probably clarify......I realize the results aren't ideal, but at least the laptop is useable from your Dining Room (through 2 walls at 40ft). I had the impression that once you got 15 feet away (even if there were no walls), download speeds drop to 1-2mbps for most people.

 

This hasn't been my experience. I'm getting 6 Mbps on my 5 Ghz band 40 feet away and one floor removed from the AP. Not great for file transfers on the LAN or HD streaming, but functional for browsing.

When I look at all of the devices on my 2.4 and 5 GHz bands and where they are in the house, it is quite apparent signal strength through walls / floors drops off faster on the 5 band than the 2.4 band.

For the same signal strength, 11n on 5 Ghz is faster than 11n on 2.4 (by a factor of 2 to 4) but over longer distances, the 2.4 Ghz band retains signal strength better, which can result in better performance.

I also notice that 5 Ghz is much more sensitive than 2.4 to the *angle* the signal passes through a wall or floor. If the AP and the laptop are straight across from each other on either side of a wall or floor the signal strength is MUCH better than when they're offset from each other. When you consider the geometry of a wall or floor, this makes sense -- a wall or floor appear thicker to the signal when travelling at an angle to the obstruction (there's a cosine of the incident angle involved here.)

I'm not trying to imply there are no issues with the L521X wireless hardware / firmware / software, rather my experience has been the benefit of the 5 GHz band is best when the AP and device are close together and/or directly across from each other on either side of a wall or floor. None of my devices are getting blazing performance on 5 GHz at opposite ends of the house.

Nevertheless, any improvements Dell and/or Intel can make would be greatly welcome, of course.

 

You deleted the NON-OWNERS thread!
No you are censoring the owners thread?!
And you are not being paid by Dell or the manufacturers?

Divide by $


MOD EDIT: exactly how daft does one have to be to come to this conclusion? Seriously. Let's see, the owners were sick and tired of whiny cry-baby non-owners posting useless commentary in their thread. Mod team agreed and complied with owner request. Yet, the mod team does absolutely nothing to suppress the issues that this or any notebook has. Hmmm? Sort of lays waste to your infantile deduction that NBR is suppressing information on behalf of Dell in lieu of some mythical financial gain, doesn't it?

And closing down a useless thread of whining is not censorship. It's garbage collection. This ain't Twitter, old son.

Think before you post. You could have saved yourself an infraction which is only 1 point from a ban.

 

2.0

Thank you x100

 

The different behaviors your seeing are a result from the wave length of the band.
The 5Ghz band have a smaller wave length and as so is more prone to bounce back or change direction once it hits a wall. if there is no obstacle in the way the 5Ghz band has a much further reach then the 2.4Ghz band.

 

Has anyone with the 640M card updated their drivers to the 304.79 beta drivers? If so how/where do you edit the .ini files for the updater to recognize the card?

 

They should work without modifying. I had some issues with those drivers, kept crashing and the card disappeared from device manager...

 

When I run the updater it keeps saying hardware not detected. As for the issues you are having do you think it would be better to just keep the stable drivers and wait for a stable 304 release? The only reason I am interested in updating is because the one game I do play often is Civ V and there is supposed to be about a 23% increase in performance for that game.

 

Navy4422
........................you dont have to be afraid to buy a DELL xps 15............every laptops have more or less bugs/software issues. (they will be fixed...no problemos)

i reckon this new xps 15 is one of the best 15" right now.

.......only Macbook pro Retina who is nr.1. (if we looking to hardware/build quality, screen(Best IPS screen overall), etc, etc.............but thats the way its always has been.

and if there should be some hardware issues, DELL support come home to you and fix everything during 48 hours...thats the best of all thing .

 

That is True but for an expensive product that is meant for portability Dell has failed.
Wireless is a big drawcard for portability.
To release a product with a basic function as wireless not working properly was a bad move by dell.
What a let down for me I though by buying a product by dell was a nobrainer ..

 

My D-Link D-655 only supports 2.4GHz mode.

 

I am using those drivers just fine with my 640M (GK107) card.

To add some more data, I have not experienced these issues with my setup.

 

These results are typical.

 

Owner and would-be owners:

I have compiled what I believe are the MOST SOUND WiFi Performance results (that I have found on here). Please see this thread and discuss: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/680190-xps-15-l512x-wifi-test-results.html

I have included detailed data, graphs, and results. The test-setup is well-explained. Please take a look and do comment!

 

Okay thank you and I will never buy an apple for the sole fact of the expense but what oldbar said was my biggest worry, it seems to me like the laptop just wasn't put through its paces. But if dells tech support is this good unlike asus (I won't go into details but that alone made me very iffy of their products) that seems solid

Also anyone tried to upgrade the wireless card?

 

My 9400 is now retired from front-line service along side its predecessor, an even older Inspiron 8100. The 9400 served me well, but after 6 years of chugging along in XP with the maximum 2 Gb of RAM (half of which was gone by the time Windows loaded) and couldn't stream a video in HD without the CPU hitting 95C and both fans cranking, the sheer fluidity (and silence) of the L521X is like night and day. I'm sure this isn't as big a deal to someone replacing a 2 or 3 year old laptop, of course.

I'm also very happy I went for a 15" display rather than 17". Although the 9400 has a 17" LCD, it is squarer in aspect ratio than the L521X. The net result is my wife thought the L521X screen was the same size as the 9400.

I had a hard time opening the 9400 on my lap when flying on an airplane (I don't fly first class). I'm expecting to have a much easier time with the L521X.

To test the L521X's (and Windows 7) stability, played a Blu-ray disc in a window, and streamed a very high bit-rate video from Vimeo through Chrome. While both were playing, I switched between full-screens of each one, with hardly a hiccup. The total CPU load barely broke through 25%. Just the Vimeo stream alone on the 9400 would have shoved the loads of both its CPUs to the ceiling.

The 9400 is set up as an XP-Ubuntu dual boot. As soon as I image the XP partition to near-line storage, I'm going to convert it entirely to Ubuntu.

I have no plans to dual-boot the L521X.

 

After reading this, I looked into the 17in Envy, now I am torn between that and the XPS 15. Both have great build quality but one is more portable the other is more powerful. I was gonna get the 512gb ssd XPS model and buy a separate external 1tb for future data storage, however the Envy 17 (If i chose that) would have 2 hd bays. Sorry, just need help deciding.

 

Hi there,

as a proud owner of this new toy I'm wondering if there is a SpeedFan profile available? On my (old) MacBookPro (end 2009) I was able to lower the fan speed to about 8% and it never got hot neither loud with normal use. I think this could probably also possible with SpeedFan. Any ideas?

TIA

 

Do you find the fan loud also with an office usage ?