XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

For the most part, I agree with this.

No, it's not just semantics, haha. Having a small percentage of "lucky" people would indicate that there is some sort of design defect that plagues most of the in-channel units. A situation where there are manufacturing defects related to the wireless assembly that causes a small percentage of people to have horrible or even no performance is a completely different ordeal. No semantics here. I'm arguing that the latter is most likely the case plus the addition of a common issue that affects all units.

Again these tests are only useful for the person to decide whether or not the laptop will work for their situation. It also allows people to put together several reports of this to decide that "there is a general issue." That is it. I apologize for trying to move beyond that elementary analysis.

That's your opinion, which I believe is off-base. I actually have access to anechoic chambers and qualified RF engineers. Don't tempt me.

 

Bill -

When you say you're "desperately seeking information", which do you mean?

(a), You're still waiting for information from Dell's engineers in regards to a proposed solution to this issue. Or,
(b), You (or the engineers) still need a greater amount of hard data from owners regarding this issue before a resolution can be approved?

 

Wasn't WiFi problem solved with new Intel drivers 15.2.0?

 

Scientific rigor? Transfering files over network is a real usage scenario, that many users will be doing at one point in time... I agree not every user need good lan performance.... As they say, ignorance is a bliss...

But many users today have more than one computer at home, and in those cases, they might at some point connect their computers together to share some files!

Damn... I would have loved to see the RF patterns coming out of this antenna! Maybe it would have explained something!

 

this is getting a little bit crazy now. How long does it take a massive company like Dell to figure out what is wrong with wireless on a laptop? Surely they can get this 'tiger' team of engineers in a room together and sort it out in a few hours.

My wireless performance is amazingly poor in that if i am more than 10m away from the router (especially if no LOS) my wireless is essentially useless.

I love this laptop as apart from this it is near on perfect but I have had to resort to placing wireless repeaters around my house/office to make it useful.

Hopefully we will have a fix today from Bill

 

But what if it's a hardware fix that is required? Certainly can't expect that to be resolved quickly.

 

Since someone already mentioned that a tech is coming out to their house on Wednesday to replace their antenna, I think a hardware fix is a strong possibility.

 

i'd be more optimistic if he were installing a NEW stronger cable, not just the same one

 

1 A06 will post at "3 PM today." I put it in quotes because I'm not sure which time zone the speaker on the call was referring to.
2 I sure hope so.
3 Only the BIOS update will address throttling. Nvidia is not in play here. The jury's still out on whether an Intel driver is the issue. The same card is used in several platforms from various vendors. It looks to be a Dell issue and not an Intel issue at this stage.
4 I love my M17xR4, but I am not sure in any business environment outside a PC vendor that the Alienware is "business attire."
5 If you got this in writing, save that email. For everyone else, you might want to reach out to one of the links in my sig and see if the social media support team will put the same guarantee in writing for you (this is a strong hint to save you time and hassles).

Please let us know how the replacement goes.

This is the first report of heat besides throttling performance that I've heard. Are you saying the skin temps on the bottom are too high? Are you making sure both vents are unobstructed?

Both (a) and (b). I'm going to post in a little more detail and take the wireless discussion mainly to the wireless testing thread. I'll cross post major updates on this thread, though.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/680190-xps-15-l521x-wifi-test-results.html

 

That's nice to hear, I'm eagerly awaiting the BIOS update. If this gives me what I want when it comes to throttling (I'm in agreement with Anandtech on this one full GPU performance and 2.1ghz+ CPU when the GPU is on) and Dell replaces the screen on my notebook (dead pixel) I'll be happy with this notebook. Form factor is great, screen is good, keyboard is good (Thinkpad is still better, but I can understand why the key depth can't be better), touchpad is excellent, battery life is good and build quality is on par with Apple.

 

Cheers Bill, I told them over the phone I really want them to iron out the issues as I like the laptop. Regards Alienware, what would they class as an upgrade out of interest? A refund is a last resort, lets hope the engineers have found a solution to the throttling. With regards the Wifi, I will state is unforgivable that a laptop can ship in such a state that wireless is practically useless. Are there going to be changes in the beta testing and closed testing for future revisions? I got the email and the manager spoke to me as well as an email with the reference, but it does not specifically state full refund? Should I push for this then?

 

This XPS model has a gorgeous thickness, but I would quickly exchange some of it for more performance. The alienware suggestion doesnt hold water though.

1) They are a tad too thick. Ideally I think a width of around 1.2 to 1.4 inches at widest point would give the best performance to size ratio.

2) The real deal breaker here: the lack of 15 inch screen. I need to be able to carry this around, and 17 inches is just too big. (conversly I find 14 to be too small, and not have enough screen real-estate)

 

In Electrical Engineering, RF is black magic, and as such, I completely understand why it takes Dell longer to mobilize a well though out response to a WiFi issue than it does for them to push out new BIOS-based fan/thermal algorithms.


I'd rather them take their time and fix this the right way. Furthermore, if this is a hardware fix, then it's going to definitely take longer with a big company as this is a *big* deal.

 

Dell has a model that meets you needs, it's called the Inspiron 15R Special Edition. And if you need more power the Lenovo Y580 seems popular.

I agree about the Alienware though. Build quality is great but the M14x is way too thick and the M17x is absolutely enormous.

 

We are only asking to be able to use the components of the laptop at their rated specs.
a 640m ddr5 and a i7 3612 are good enough as long as we can use it to their potential.
hope they fixed the throttling too.

 

I'm having a hard time deciding between this and the HP Envy 15. Since I haven't heard of many problems with that laptop compared to the XPS with throttling and WiFi which I don't believe were confirmed fixed, however the one thing I don't know about is build quality and overall performance between the two. Hopefully someone can help me decide.

 

Wait for feedback from the new bios being released today.

 

I received my L521X a week ago tomorrow. I only have the i5/6gb/630m configuration but find it super fast; probably because I use it pretty minimally in the sense that I don't game or do anything with graphics so minor tasks execute immediately. It's definitely 100% overkill for what I need, and I'm sure the 15r would have been a more practical purchase for me but I didn't like the looks or build quality.

The irony in me spending that much extra cash on a "better build" is sickening. As I was unboxing it, explaining/justifying to my co-worker why I spent the extra $400+ on the XPS over a similarly specded 15r, he points out that my screen is bowed in the middle and laughs at my comment about build quality. I wouldn't even expect this out of a refurbished scratch/dent purchase, but yet, it came out of the box on my $1,300 XPS.

After I take it home around 10pm, I connect to my wifi and have no issues for 20-30 minutes. After that time, I'm pretty positive something happened on my internet service (which I provide, as I am a WISP). .1mbps download and 16mbps upload?? Of course I grab my tablet/phone/other wifi devices and run speed tests during which time I get 20mbps/20mbps minimum, consistently. It's now 11pm and I have to drive into my office to grab a USB wireless adapter.

When I called on Friday the 27th to request service, I was surprised that the technician played it as if she’s never seen/heard of this problem. I was more than disappointed when they tried to explain to me that my system was 8 days old. I placed the order mid-morning on the 19th, and the order was processed/shipped on the 20th. I received it on the 25th. Six days of my return policy are consumed by order processing and transit. Awesome. My concerns of this are "in escalation"

I was called this morning by the service technician to come and replace my panel/wireless card. He was able to come out a few hours later. My Intel N6235 card was swapped out for a Dell 1703 card. The display, well, he didn't quite think the 15z panel that was sent to him to swap it out with would fit just right, so he of course did not try. 15z panel? C'mon. To top it off, the 1703 card seems to work worse than the 6235 card, having more sporadic complete disconnects.

After reading post after post, (I know, I should have done more research), I’m disappointed that all of these machines are being shipped out with such major issues with the wireless.

I’m beyond frustrated. I have prior engagements this evening, and will be calling Dell tomorrow.

JGM

 

Wasn't A06 suppose to release today? I can't find it anywhere, any ideas?

 

Unbelievable...so A06 wasn't released as it was discussed on the conference call? I guess another day won't hurt, but why say it'll get released and then not only does it not get released, but there isn't another communication piece to say that it'll be delayed, etc etc...for communications sake if anything. To your question Bill as for heating, I mainly keep the laptop on my lap and do find that it gets quite hot. I mainly watch youtube vidoes and movies on the laptop. Hope this feedback helps with future BIOS versions. Also, will A06 address the issue with the CD rom drive making noises unnecessarily? Thanks again in advance!

 

The engineer is here at the moment and we did discover some weird things concerning the wifi. I will post it in the following hour.

 

Hammie's results are indicative of a flawed hardware design. It's not looking good. I'd say we should wait for these results to be corroborated by more field results from others, but this is pretty damning.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...15-l521x-wifi-test-results-2.html#post8755238

 

still no sign of the A06 BIOS... come on Dell!

 

Maybe Dell exists in some kind of time zone that's actually in the future, like two days ahead of us

...then again, they didn't see all these problems coming

 

Well, finally good news... My XPS is fully capable to run Ansys calculation.
I ran a Fluid mechanism calculation on 8 parallel threads during 40 minutes : the CPU clock never dropped, and the temperature never reached 80°C. The fan wasn't even always at full speed...


So no problem at all to run a CPU-only heavy softwares with the XPS 15.
In that case, I choose not to return my XPS and wait for fixes regarding throttling in games and Wifi.

 

Guys is there any way to disable BLUETOOTH, without disabling the wifi? I cannot figure this out

 

Thank you for your report, it means a lot for me

 

Bill,

I'm sorry if this has already been asked. Do you think there will be a 16 gb ram 256 gb ssd option around the $2k price point in the future? Thanks.

 

Couldn't find a 'normal' route for that either, so I ended up disabling the "Generic Bluetooth Adapter" in device manager. Guess that does the trick.

 

WinKey + X brings up the Mobility Center and you can disable it there.

 

Yesterday I was using my computer and hit the power button by mistake, in other laptops I would have been asked if I wanted to turn it off, but this one just shut down (very fast response I must add). Is there a way to change the configuration of the power button?

 

No, 256GB SSD is not included in parts catalog so not in the near future.

 

You can control what it does by clicking the battery icon in the system tray, than clicking on more power options. I think by default it is set to hibernate on press.

 

I don't see the option to disable it there on mine? Just the text "Bluetooth: On" and a big launch button beneath it.

 

yeah I did the same thing but it seems kind of stupid way that's why I asked!

did that and the bluetooth is constantly on! it doesn't give a "turn off" option in the mobility center.

 

Right click on the battery tray icon, something like "energy saving option" (I don't have english windows), then on the left there is a link to specify the behaviour of the power button (under that there is also the link to specify behaviour when you close the screen)

 

Go into device manager, find bluetooth and disable the first option. I forget what it says but it should be something like blue tooth 4.0 plus super speed wireless or something.

 

Just checked Bill's twitter, he is off today so do not expect an update. What I can tell you is he misheard the guy about the bios. It will be released on 03/08 rather than at 3pm.

 

That's not too bad, only 2 days.

 

"This is the first report of heat besides throttling performance that I've heard. Are you saying the skin temps on the bottom are too high? Are you making sure both vents are unobstructed?"

I had my first thermal shutdown last night. I was using the laptop to read various threads about the issues with the laptop, iTunes and Outlook open in the background, and I noticed the left side becoming very hot. It was hot on both the top and bottom (leg was sweating and the keyboard keys were hot to the touch). The system the shut down and wouldn't turn back on for about 5-6 minutes. Vents were unobstructed. I really liked this laptop and I can deal with a BIOS update to fix the throttling issue, but the thermal shutdown and WiFi problems are deal breakers for me. That and it's pretty irritating that this brand new XPS can't charge my iPad 3 but my 4 year old MacBook can. Maybe there's something I'm supposed to install to get my USB ports to charge it, I'm not sure of that, but it's frustrating nonetheless. The iPad thing isn't a dealbreaker, it's just irritating knowing I'd have to pack the wall adapter when traveling.

 

Horrible experience trying to get a return processed for this laptop. I was on the phone for 40 minutes, and was transferred 5 times before I finally had to hang up because I have to get back to work. Each time I was transferred (from customer service, to returns, to tech support, to some other department, to another apparently anonymous department, then again to returns) I was assured that the department I was being transferred to would take care of the return. I had to repeat everything every time even though before every transfer I was on hold for between 4-8 minutes while the person typed up notes relating to the return. At one point I was taken off hold and the person started dialing numbers and when I said "hello" I was put back on hold before being transferred again. I ended up just submitting the return request through their online system and hope it works better than the phone system.

*side note. The random optical drive access is occuring more prominently now. I didn't notice it in the first few days except when using iTunes or switching from IE to iTunes. It's now been access twiced while typing this post (no disc in the drive).

 

@xuoq You must have a defective unit because I've been playing Civ V pretty consistently for a few days now for 3-5 hours periods and its never had a heat shutdown and the CPU temps stay in the mid 80's Celsius.

As for the optical drive.... I don't use it that often I wonder if i could turn it off in the device manager and only turn it back on when i need to use it (which isn't that often) I wonder if that'll stop the constant disc checking. Also I have noticed it getting worse; sometimes it'll check for a disk while i'm doing nothing at all.

 

That's funny you say that, my optical drive used to do that and now it has stopped. Haven't heard it in weeks.

Some of you may know I received a defective screen that loses color and flashes at certain angles. Well they planned on replacing the panel but I have been busy and missed all of their (sometimes annoying) phone calls. Well I called them back and they seemed to have forgot completely about the parts they were shipping to a technician and just decided to send a brand new one to me to replace my defective one. I should be receiving it in about a week, I'll report back and see if there will be any change to the antenna, I highly doubt it but it's worth hoping for.

 

Bill, I'm unclear on what action one should take with respect to the WiFi issue? I just received my laptop about 2 weeks ago and I does seem to have bad wifi performance when I'm away from the AP. Should I contact Dell support to let them know while we wait on a solution? And what if no solution comes? I bought the laptop to support a trip I went on last week and except for the WiFi issue and quirkyness with the trackpad I've been happy with the computer but I'm concerned if you guys are unable to solve the wifi issue then I would prefer to return the laptop...

 

In my country DELL is rising the price of L521x every 2 days for about $40. Since 2 weeks it went up more then $100 for the same configuration. So DELL have wifi issues with that model, got many returns and rise up the price. Nice, perfect strategy DELL. Go, make it more expensive then McBook Pro. What a true disappointment.

 

Just requested a refund, the wireless keeps on disconnecting and I have to reset the adapter, plus the signal is rubbish. I really wanted to keep this, but it was just not possible.

 

So what are going to get? Not too many options out there. I've bought and returned 5 different laptops in the past 2 months myself.

 

Well, I think it can only be a MPB 15 non retina.

 

haha then I expect another $40 rise by next few days

 

Thank godness they wanted to steal Apple customers! :laugh: