XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

In dell.it there is only A06 available, I'll check dell.com, thank you.
EDIT: Also in dell.com, only A06 is available

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Diligent checking. I thought you were considering an Inspiron 15R SE.

 

Here's a link a user posted few days ago, I bookmarked it even if I haven't my XPS 15 yet.

L521XA04W.rar

And this is Bill's Skydrive:
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=927b8b9aedde9a9a&id=927B8B9AEDDE9A9A!131

 

Does anyone else have trouble with quickset? It keeps kicking my computer to windows basic... and the computer says that quickset is the issue. I like quickset, so i updated the drivers, restarted and still had the same problem so i shut it off... help?

 

@L521X

That sounds like a horrifying experience and I for one am very sorry you had to go through that. But Dell does not control this thread or forum for that matter you're free to share your experiences and I thank you for sharing it as a very interesting read.

 

It is on the dell site. Here is the link:

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

Kevin

 

Yes, I'm consindering Xps, Inspiron SE and Asus N56VZ (this more than Inspiron maybe)...Can't decide

Thank you very much!

Lol, if I search it in BIOS category I can't find it, strange. Thank you anyway

 

You check BIOS revisions without owning the notebook? Cheap weekend entertainment, I suppose.

 

I have had the motherboard changed and came with A04 BIOS (before I had A06), I can say that it is more or less the same. New laptops, I do not know is come ready updated with A06.
A04 -> 5.15 hours
A06 -> 4.45 hours
Under power saver with 40% brightness. I do not know how the reviewers and some Dell rep. said something like 6 to 8 hours, no way.
I will stay with A04 for now.

 

I'm seriously considering to buy XPS after wifi fix, and I just want to be sure that, in the case A06 drains my battery, I will be able to rollback to A04 and manage throttle with throttlestop. I'm provident

 

^^^ Sounds like virtual owner virtually using a virtual machine. Better than having a real date!

 

Better than buying now and struggle with tech support...

 

What's a good Inspiron/Alienware for below 3000$s? Also would an inspirion be running much better than this xps? I bought the thing for around 2,300 with everything added to it, but then again I guess the xps 15 problem is more than spec wise.

 

At least do SOME research I gave you an idea, now use it.


I can tell you this, both systems have a far better cooling system. But for that price, you're most likely looking at an Alienware m17x and up.

 

I'm still happy with my purchase...and my upgrades. I'm one of the lucky ones without the WiFi or display issues though. A06 along with the SSD brought a marked improvement in overall performance. I'm still getting ~6 hours on a charge with A06, but the Win 7 battery meter will randomly report back a huge drop in remaining time and %. A few minutes later it's back to normal. It's kinda weird, but I would be more bothered if I was actually experiencing reduced battery life.

 

Aw man you're very lucky T.T

 

Yes indeed you are! Just took my loptop on into the field today to do some design changes to a site layout and batt went dead in under 4hrs with A06 (had it in power saving and all,40% screen). Sure not seeing the 6+ hr batt life that dell said I would get...

 

I'm keeping my display at 25% on battery -- that may be contributing to the longevity. In all fairness, the first L521x they sent me had dead pixels, the grid issue and the wifi issue. They sent me a replacement a week later and the replacement has been perfect. I also swapped out the HDD for a SSD and added a larger mSATA and 16 GB of RAM, so it's plausible that in my upgrading (basically completely disassembling the unit) I resolved the WiFi issue.

YMMV

 

Just to be clear - you're saying that your first L521X had the grid issue, but the replacement does not? I think you're the first person who's noticed a difference between two L521X's, which might mean that only some screens have the problem, instead of it just being inherent to that screen model. I think the previous theory was that some people just noticed it more than others.

I wonder if we could get input on this from Bill?

 

Also, I believe it's the only case of someone's WiFi problem being solved with a replacement or repair (as opposed to people who just say they don't have a problem at all with nothing to compare to)

 

One question regarding the USB-WIFI-Dongle:

Does the adapter work perfectly all the time? Or is the performance with the adapter still worse than a notebooks with a normal working connection?

 

Hi,

Just wanted to let you guys know some of the actions I've taken in an attempt to minimize the throttling (stabilizing the temps).
As always, I'm focusing my efforts on playing Civ5, which is a CPU & GPU intensive game.
I just stopped playing a 3 hour Civ5 session (late-game to finish) and experienced no throttling on GPU.

Actions I've taken:
Using A06 BIOS.
1) Repasted GPU and CPU using AS5 (full spread method), this seems to have helped GPU temps mostly, no real change in CPU temps...
2) Bought a laptop cooler Antec NotebookCooler To go (sucks air from the back and pushes it underneath the laptop), brought temps down a few degrees and temps on plastic hinge (where air is pushed out of the laptop) feels a lot less hot now.
3) Set power options - Maximum CPU processor state set to 90% = ~1800Mhz
Playing in room 23 degrees C (ambient)

HWINFO log: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9728611/Random/Civ5_A06_90Perc_23CAmbient.xlsx
Note that the GPU did throttle when I manually switched to check HWInfo (ALT+TAB), it was not triggered by the thermal system.

Over the three hour session, the max GPU was 79C (averaging 75C - 79) and CPU 88C (averaging 81C - 88C).


Hoping to hear from some of the other users that have tried to deal with this...

 

May I ask what software are you using to get temperatures on the L521x? I would like to check my temps on the A04 bios that came on my machine.
Thanks

 

Only using HWINFO64 (started after enabling NVIDIA graphics through control panel).
HWiNFO64 Download

 

Can you advise the GPU temp difference before and after repasting? If it's non-trivial I might give it a go.

If you are hitting 79 degrees, that's only one degree away from what I think the throttling point is for the GPU on A06, which could become a problem for you if your room temp goes up by a couple of degrees. Otherwise it sounds like you have things running pretty well.

 

Yes, 80 degrees is the throttle point.
I did 3DMARK with A04 both before and after the re-paste.

On average, it has improved about 4 degrees C which seems irrelevant, but all bits help right .
The max before the re-paste was 71C, after the re-paste it was 66C. On both situations, laptop was booted and immediately started the 3DMark benchmark.

Also both measurements were done within the hour, so no real change in room temperature between both measurements.

 

Did you try also playing with A04 with these actions after repaste?

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

The re-paste was done before I bought the cooler.
Back then, the re-paste measurements before and after were done using BIOS A04 and using 3DMark. So the temps I mentioned above were with A04.

The measurements right now (Civ5 + cooler + max CPU set to 90%) is done with A06 and obviously still using the same re-pasted laptop.

Done some further testing with FurMark in combination with the Antec notebook cooler.

I did the Burn-in test (15 min) at 1920x1080 (no AA).
The CPU remained at 1.2Ghz (did not want to play with too many variables at once)

Following sequence and results (room temp 23,5C):
- With cooler at High (result: GPU max: 77C, CPU max: 82C, NO GPU throttle: 820 points)
- With cooler + turned off (tilted) (result: GPU max: 80C, CPU max: 83C, GPU throttle to MIN 669.8 Mhz, 820 points)
- Without cooler (laptop flat on wooden desk) (result: GPU max: 80C, CPU max: 85C, GPU throttle to 669.8 Mhz, 818 points)
- With cooler + turned off (tilted) (result: GPU max: 80C, CPU max: 83C, GPU throttle to MIN 669.8 Mhz, 812 points)
- With cooler at High (result: GPU max: 77C, CPU max: 82C, NO GPU throttle: 820 points) = same as 1st test

With this particular cooler (Antec NotebookCooler to go) it seems to have atleast some impact: 3-4C) and in this case it means the difference between throttling an no throttling. Although the throttle was never severe (to 669.8, never lower). I'll try later with a minimum load on the CPU as well. It is obvious that the CPU is taking a lot of heat from the GPU without dealing with any load whatsoever.

 

New member and my experience I call : XPS NIGHTMARE
I have been a Dell customer since they went in business and have owned over 100's of their systems.
Last year when they introduced the XPS 15z, I was one of the first owner and one of the first to discover the WiFi debacle which ended after 3 months and multiple in-home service calls and 3 in-depot services in a return and a refund.
Meanwhile, to continue to do my work, needing a Windows machine, I am using a MBR 17 with boot-camp. It is a wonderful well built machine worth every penny.
Wanting a Windows machine and thinking one year would be long enough for Dell to solve the problem, I purchased a new XPS 15z on 4/12.
Well no better luck! Fan noise, Heating, WIFI problem. After changing the fan 3 times, the heat-sink 2 times, the mother board 2 times, the WIFI card 3 times, they decided to have the machine sent to them to repair at the depot. After 18 days they returned it after they changed the hard drive and the WIFI card but the machine was still not working.
After one month of phone calls, they decided to send me a new machine, and it was the XPS 15. Not doing my home work of checking (and not knowing about your site) I accepted the offer and I feel a new nightmare is starting and it is called WIFI !
Well so far I have received the USB dongle, which by the way it does not solve the problem completely, and I am keeping faith in Bill's promise to have a solution.
The machine is nice looking but is the inside crap ?
How many heads rolled when the iPhone 4 had the antenna debacle?
Where are you Michael Dell and do you read these reports or do you get a notice of them?
SHAME.

 

The difference is that the iPhone is the bread and butter of Apple's empire. If one little thing goes wrong, everyone will know immediately, everyone will complain immediately, and a resolution will be forthcoming.

By its own admission, Dell is steering itself away from the consumer aspect of the business in favor of the enterprise side. The XPS systems are not their biggest sellers, and according to Bill "not every system has been affected." Although there will be some fix in the future, it is clearly a hardware issue which means all current owners are going to be asked to return their device or expect a visit by a tech. But no timetable has been given, and I highly doubt that any fix will provide consumers with the 100% satisfactory outcome they are looking for. In any event, will Dell even compensate for the downtime or the inconvenience? Again, unlikely.

And I can assure you Michael Dell is hardly concerned about this trivial matter. According to their latest quarterly report, his company is circling the toilet bowl right now. This is but one of many problems he has to deal with and nowhere near the top of the list of priorities.

 

Satisfied and Enthusiastic customers = Profits = rising stock price.
M. Dell knows this.

Blowing your slim profit margin on returns and on site service calls results in exactly where Dells stock price is now.

 

OK then, why would anyone blow $2000 on XPS 15 and not go with a MBP ?

 

A similarily configured Macbook is still going to cost more than that, and some things aren't available (eg. no mSata).

The Apple hardware is beautiful, but if you want to run Windows all of the time, the Macbook just isn't a great choice due to:
- Missing keys
- Old graphics drivers, not optimised for gaming
- Patchy support for font scaling in Windows (on Retina display)
- Support for new OS's when Apple feels like it (Will Windows 8 work on it?)

It just seems that Apple ever so slightly gimps the Windows experience on a Macbook - they see it as necessary but would rather you just ran OSX.

Now I'd gladly pay Macbook prices for hardware of a similar quality level designed expressly to run Windows. I think many people were hoping that's what the new XPS would be. But sadly it's not quite there.

 

I disagree with you.
I switched over from the late 2008 macbook pro to the current xps 15 laptop and I have to say, the xps matched the mbp in design, feels as solid if not more and I think the dell did a great job in emulating the Macintosh experience on a Windows platform laptop. The xps 15 really does make me feel like im running windows on a Macbook quality laptop. So far, I have no issues with this laptop whatsoever with my xps 15(Wifi and throttling), of course this is only my experience and people who have had problematic xps 15s will most likely disagree with me and I fully respect that.

 

Yep it's not far off, which is why I said not QUITE there. If they persist with this model and iron off the rough edges and improve the QC, it will be a great machine of Apple standards. It really needs to be quality in all areas though - they need to upgrade the screen.

 

To be completely honest with you, I have compared it to the new retina display mbp and I seriously don't think it outshines the screen I'm looking at right now. I have heard that some screens on some xps 15s are not as good as others though.

EDIT: Screen Discussion Here

 

So, Dell sent me a full replacement laptop, and the display grid problem I'm having is still clear. I think I'm going to have to insist on returning the system—even though it's been more than 21 days—because of the poor screen quality and wifi issues. It's too bad, though, cause I really really like the computer otherwise, and I'm not sure what else is comparable right now, other than a Macbook Pro.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if there are any superior screens available from other vendors that I could install, myself, on the L521X (not that I should have to pay for something like that). Probably not.

 

Can anyone post a picture of the so-called gridlines / display grid problem if possible?

 

To those who already use the WiFi-dongle:
Is Bluetooth still available?
And is the performance with the adapter really satisfying?

 

Hello everyone,
I also have this wireless and screen issue. Just come off the phone from Dell support and they re-installed the wireless driver and changed one setting which is when you go into Device manager and click on the wireless driver and go to the Advanced tab the guy set 802.11n Mode to disabled. He said that this should fix the problem. Whilst the wireless seems to better I'm going to wait awhile to make sure and do some speed tests to make sure. I've also got a engineer coming on Wednesday to fix my screen.

 

This thread ( xps15 l521x display thread ) has pictures.

I'd quote a specific message but I can't see the inline pics at the moment (at work, stupid filtering firewall).

 

Question for Bill: could you please have a look at this thread and comment about the dispay? Many people there and here ask for display replacement because of this grid effect (not only for antennas), but only one wrote that after replacement he had no more issues. Is this because there are some defective screens out there (they seem to be quite a lot) and a substitution can solve the problem? Or is it a known issue from Dell's point of view?

 

I can no longer wait for the wifi fix. What is the best return avenue given i am way past the 21 days.

Thanks!

 

That's not an fix, then you're stuck with 802.11g at 54Mbps (theoretical, actual throughput is lower).

 

Contact Lorna, I'm sure she can help you out in some way.

 

Absolutely. And sticking to 54 Mb/s doesn't prevent the rate to decrease too quickly with your distance from the router. That's probably a hardware issue.

 

Me. I have owned several MBPs and MBAs and now the XPS 15. Well worth it.


Sent from my New iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I submitted this issue this morning after reading enough posts to decide it's not a perception issue in all cases. Sorry it took me a while to get to that point. I will join the thread after I hear back in a day or two. Thanks for the heads up.

 

I think it is entirely plausible some displays are better than others -and- some scenarios make the grid more visible -and- some people are more sensitive than others.

I didn't notice the grid issue until reading about 20 posts of complaining -and- finding a cluster of dead pixels. When I started running software to repair the dead pixels, I noticed the gridlines. I would not have returned my PC over the gridlines alone.

On the original, it was most apparent on off-white backgrounds when putting my face right up to the display.

To clarify -- and I want to be clear --

I did not notice the WiFi issue in day to day usage with the original PC. I only noticed it when people started complaining and I started to do some comparison with my other PCs.

The replacement of the original was unrelated to the WiFi issue -- it was to address the dead pixels.

Also keep in mind that shortly after I received the replacement PC, I disassembled it to add more RAM, upgrade the mSATA and swap to an SSD. So it's not conclusively fair to say that Dell sent me a perfect PC or that I did or didn't do anything that resolved the WiFi issue.

I would have preferred a perfect XPS15 the first time, but this was a known risk in buying a new product on the intro date. I am happy with my PC and the way that Dell has handled my issues so far.

I think this thread and the previous 'anticipation' thread has set people's expectations and sensitivities higher than they would have had otherwise. That's not to say there aren't problems -- there are -- but the question that everyone should be asking is whether the problems justify the amount of noise being generated.

For me, the gridlines and wifi issue were imperceptible on the original until they were pointed out.

 

Thanks Bill... I was hoping to hear something official about the screen issues...