XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

So after two engineer visits, a WiFi card replacement and screen replacement i gave up on hoping for a lucky fix and sent the machine back. cannot fault dell support though, they tried to address it with me, although were in denial originally they admitted that there was something wrong, and when i asked to return the machine they didn't hesitate to fur-fill the request.

however i am less then pleased with the live chat sales people, i have spoken to 6 or so since i bought my machine, again tonight:
http://s16.postimage.org/mn88beymb/again.png

Each and every one either denies or says the issue has been fixed, so advice to anyone here - don't take their word, check about on here to see if it has been fixed, hopefully someone will replace bill in delivering that news.

 

that's the Bluetooth antenna near the ODD

the MBP and MBPwR wifi antennas are mounted in the display for the MBP and the hinge area like the DELL for the MBPwR even bill admitted their antenna placement is the same as the MBPwR .... i think it may be a case of the antenna leads in the display area touching each other like i saw in one Samsung series 9 with the same design the leads were coming into contact was a bad antenna as only one or a few systems suffered.... it could be the same thing but that the supplier dell is using is producing a large amount of faulty antennas which would result in some systems betting better results and others worse as the fault may be worse in some batches and less with others

 

Dell owes their customers an official statement.
1) What they believe the problem is.
2) How they are addressing the issue for both new production and existing machines in the field.
3) What the existing field machine owners options are.
This wifi situation has dragged on too long without a corporate statement. My wifi dongle order entered by Lorna last week shows as cancelled now on my account page.
There is someone calling me almost every night from Dell but somehow I am missing their calls. No messages or emails I can respond to or find out what they want.
The situation needs clarification from Corporate, period.

 

I had problems with my L502X (including wifi disconnects). Dell replaced it with a 521. The 521 is a far better machine, with similar wifi issues.

 

Did Bill make his final statement today????

 

Let us know your results. I'd be more than willing to do a little antenna work to keep the clean aluminum look over that pleather monstrosity.

 

Not in here. I haven't searched the other threads though.

 

Bill hasn't posted again since yesterday. You can see his posts here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=187769

 

Search comes up empty.

 

Right here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=188004

 

Oh sorry, I guess those searches expire.

Try here instead...

 

Link is empty.

 

Have a technician coming out tomorrow to try to fix the problem. They say they think they can fix it now. Will report back.

 

They all say that

 

Tales from Technomadia Dell Diamond - YouTube

just found that. Bill really does love his sport/bbq

Was trying to find the reason why he left

 

I am quite new here, but I have followed this thread from the very first page since I thought about replacing my xps1640 with the new xps15, but not without advice and experiences from actual owners.

The machine appeared like the perfect choice for my needs and wishes:
+ good display
+ powerful performance, including gaming-capability
+ unobtrusive, no-nonsense design that conveys a sense of value
+ fine overall quality
+ optical drive
Does not sound too exactly utopic, does it?
The high price, missing VGA and reduced keyboard seemed inconvenient, but no dealbreakers.

Now the xps15 turns out to have a range of minor and major issues, most notably screen grid, severe throttling, and WiFi. Leaves not much from the above list.

I apologise in advance for some fundamental thoughts which I feel I need to express in this place. I am sick and tired of businesses throwing immature products on the market. There were repeatedly voices here saying “well, they do it all, so stop complaining about a particular product and/or company”. Sad, but true, and nevertheless no reason to resign. They do it as long as they make more money this way than giving us thoroughly tested and fully developed products. Consequently, the only way to change this is to make a faulty product as expensive for the producer as possible. So do insist on a fix and, if there is none that is satisfactory, on a refund! It is not like you just don’t like the product, it is defective.

Last but not least something concerning Bill. He was the reason why I kept following this thread and still considered buying the xps15 after a WiFi fix. Within the limits set by loyalty to his employer, he was honest, played fair and really tried to help. And this is what I appreciate so much more as a customer than the last two millimetres reduction in thickness or something. With him gone, I kind of sympathise with you owners of this laptop. It is not an option for me any more.
Nearly forgot: I wanted to express my thanks to all the actual owners of the machine for sharing their experiences, testing this and trying that. It's a huge help!

Sorry to have produced so much text, but it is something that has been on my mind for quite a while.

 

Nice find.

 

If speaking about design and build quality, then YES! Much better! If speaking about display, sound, then NOT. GPU/CPU in 521 are better, but theyr throttling, so almost no advantage there...

 

I like his "My mommy says I'm special." shirt. Haha

 

I wish that shirt still fit. #toomuchbbq

 

With great food comes great sacrifices

Good to hear from you BTW.

 

Hey Bill aka Hero of NBR how are you?

P.S. I miss your updates

 

Well, technician came, saw, but did not conquer. I really have to admit, the performance I just witnessed from both the tech and his phone support that he had to speak to was just dismal. They literally were completely uninformed, had no idea what to really do next either. They tried to first replace my wifi card... WITH THE SAME WIFI CARD?! After they saw that didn't work (which I told them from the beginning, I then reccomended the screen/lid fix/replacement) they said they'll have to come back another day and try the screen/lid idea. So far, no luck. Doesn't look like much hope, and I'm just very annoyed. What are the chances us owners of the l521x are gonna be upgraded to a newer model if that were to fix the problem?

 

As long as you keep on pestering them, in a professional manner, I'd expect something to shake out.

I've read at least once or twice of ppl with prev-gen xps being "upgraded" to the l521x.

I'm enough of a "tinker" myself that I may decide to try playing with adding different antenna, we'll see.

 

I went through the same as you, is a standard procedure, and nothing worked. Even the LCD\Wi-Fi card\motherboard were replaced and no signal of any improvements.
Dell decided to send me a new unit. It is working far better, even it runs cooler than previous unit (dell changed a few parts inside of it), but with the same Wi-Fi problem
Anyway, I will keep it.
I just ordered a micro Belkin Wireless N300 USB Adapter, Dell paid for it, till a fix will be issued, if ever will be...
I try to avoid any tech to touch the laptop, they never put back together the way were initially.

 

Hi, all. This is the post I've been dreading and procrastinating. Time to keep it real one last time. I have mixed emotions as it is time for Dell and I to part ways.

First and foremost, I must express my appreciation for the members of this community as well as Charles P Jefferies and his staff of unpaid moderators on NBR. It's been a joy to earn a living wage to come out here and talk with all you marvelous folks. You guys are a blast and a rich source of insight about our products and our customers here at Dell. Don't fret too much. I'll be fine, and so will you. Together we've all been part of a culture shift inside Dell, whether you realized it or not. Dell has some well documented tough times to work through, but fear not. They will get through it, and they will win again. It's happening right now, despite current appearances.

As far as this thread, and specifically the L521x WLAN situation, I have asked an esteemed colleague and close personal friend of mine to step into the breach here on NBR and see it through to the end. His name is Lionel Menchaca. Perhaps you've heard of him? He's a pretty big deal around Dell. I will never forget Mr Dell standing up in front of an auditorium filled with about 1200 people here in Round Rock, and introducing Lionel as a "true hero of our company" with respect to his work getting the Dell corporate blog off the ground. He's Dell's Chief Blogger, ya see. Please treat him with the same respect, candor and familiarity that you have all shown me over the years. He will not leave you hanging, no matter what the outcome, good or not so good. He's going to fit right in here.

As far as service related issues, please use the links in my signature as your primary resource no matter what your region. They can route you to second levels or higher levels of support in the majority of regions Dell serves.

I have not thought up my new screen name yet, but when I do, you will know. I have asked Charles to somehow deactivate my account while keeping up all my posts. What I have stated out here is official Dell communications at the time the comments were published, and that needs to stay on the public record.

With that, Dell_Bill-B bids you adieu, and I look forward to joining the community under my new screen name. Please stay in touch. My Twitter handle has been changed to @BillBivin, so feel free to join up and follow. I will definitely be in a social media role in the near future (more to come on that), so I will be probably as active or more so there than I have been in the past.

It's been real, and it's been real fun. Happy trails, cowboys and cowgirls. We will meet again.

EDIT:

Hook 'em Horns! \m/

 

Thanks Bill for all you have done, I wish you the best in the future. Knowing that Lionel will be here to help us has put my mind at ease thanks!!!!

 

Sorry to see you go Bill, but glad it's on good terms for you (or so it appears?). You literally we're the only shimmering, spark of hope we have/had here.

 

You rock, buddy! Take care, and God bless.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/660413-dell_bill-appreciation-5.html#post8830566

Welcome, Mr. Menchaca! +1

 

Thanks for the kind words Bill. It won't be the same without you at Dell.

To the rest of you on this thread and elsewhere, I look forward to sharing information with you guys on this issue and beyond. I won't pretend to do it to the same level that Bill has done, but I can tell you that he and I are both pretty passionate about bringing feedback from customers like yourselves to folks within Dell who can make a difference.

I'll strive to keep it real with you... if I can't share something, I'll tell you that. When I do have answers, I'll work to communicate them to all of you as simply and directly as possible.

Feel free to reach out to me via my NBR.com profile, via my Dell Community profile, or here via this e-mail address. Click this link to see all the posts I've written and published on Direct2Dell.

 

Thanks for all of your extensive help around here, Bill. It has truly been an awesome experience. Good luck to you wherever you may go.

See you around the forum!

PS: Hello, Lionel!

 

Take care, Bill. I and many others look forward to interacting with you in the future regardless of who is fortunate enough to utilize your social talents. If you ever make it over to San Diego, send me a PM or email and I will buy you a steak and beer.

Best regards,
Scott

 

Hello to you Mr. Optimistic Prime!

 

Good to have you Lionel! I'm sure we are all excited to have you as a part of our family and share the same professionalism as Bill has! :thumbsup:

 

Welcome to our little corner of the NBR tech community, Mr. Menchaca. Bill will be missed under is prior handle, but not forgotten an we (at least I) promise to play nice. :thumbsup:

It is an honor to have you heading the team that publically supports us and go that extra mile that other OEM's stay away from. This, in itself, says something very positive about the company culture and path Dell is trying to take with old and new products alike; regardless of the economy and technology changing on a weekly basis.

Have a great Friday and hope to see you around. Again, you too Bill!

Scott-

------
Everyone: We need to get Lionel's rep level UP so start giving it!!

 

Thanks to both of you as well for the welcome! I look forward to being here.

 

Any Updates for us Mr.Menchaca ...I am having update withdrawal lol

 

Wow, I've been on vacation for the last week and it looks like a lot has changed.

I'd like to thank Bill for all his work and it's a shame to see him go.

Secondly I'm just going to mention that I have returned my l521x (with help from Lorna) so I'm not going to be around this thread.

For anyone looking to buy an XPS 15 l521x

DON'T

Dell may fix the throttling, Wi-Fi and numerous screen-related issues with this model, but then again they might not. It's not worth the annoyance, especially at the high price they're asking. Yes, it's good looking. In fact it might be the best-looking computer available. But it really feels rushed to market, without proper testing and it's not a good buy.

 

That's the best bit about forums like these; it gives customers the opportunity to truly find out the details of the laptop and pass them onto other people. I know it's saved me (and hopefully a lot of other people) a lot of time, money and hassle!

 

I got a call today from Dell tech service suggesting I install the latest intel drivers 15.2.0 to resolve the 6235 card wireless issues.
Unfortunately timing was bad for me to do this. You must uninstall the previous drivers befor installing the new ones.
Here is the link if someone wants to try it:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...ows 7 *&DownloadType= Software Applications

 

No improvements as expected...

 

Installing them now! i'll let you know

 

ok I just installed the updated driver and restarted. I just started using this and im seeing 3 networks that I was not able to see on this pc before but could see on other pc's. Ill check in again to report whether it drops or not

 

Thanks gixer2000, hope it works,many of us are looking forward to your feedback!

 

I will say it is faster in my case. im about 20 feet from my router and up 1 floor. I couldn't even get a web page to load sitting here before now im watching music video's on youtube as a test. I also did 2 speed tests from here. 1 on speedtest.net and the other on speakeasy.com(dell recommends this one). here are my results

Also the thing I don't understand is this driver isn't even new! It's dated 7/30 but I don't remember ever seeing this download

 

This driver definitely improved my wifi! I posted the screen shots from my house and went to my parents who have an older router(linksys wrt54g). On their back deck I could never get a single page to load ever. Tonight I was out there and could surf all I wanted. It wasn't the fastest but a huge improvement over the 15.1.1 that I had installed

 

^ That relieved a bit for me. I was pooping bricks awaiting for my computer to get here.
Hopefully by the time it does there's a more proper fix.
I bought my L521X through Best buy so I don't know if Dell will help me out D:

 

just keep in mind it seems to be narrowed down to a hardware issue so im not really so why im seeing an improvement but Ive had this for almost 2 months so I would know if it was better or not and for me it is

 

1) News on wireless issues I got from a Dell CS agent today--looks promising
I just got an XPS 15 today after being upgraded from the XPS 15z, thanks Dell! Unfortunately, I have the wireless issue too, though as expected. I'm not sure how to test throttling but I do occasionally game on my laptop so if someone could point out how it would be great, if not, I'll use google.
Anyway, I got a followup call from the CSR who set up my replacement. I told him about the wireless issue, and after being on hold for a few minutes, he came back and told me all the "new" information on it. At any rate, Dell is aware of the issue and is currently working with Intel on a new driver that will be released in 2-3 weeks. Considering they've tried the "driver" route before without much avail, I can't say whether or not this one is the cure-all (though the last few posts claim that the newest driver helps, so I am hopeful for this upcoming driver). He did seem to be aware of the issue and know what he's talking about and offered me the wireless adapter before I even asked for it. I got him to throw in a USB hub as well because I need all 3 ports.
Again, primarily concerned about this being a hardware issue, I told him about the XPS 14 and the leather lid solution. He said he was aware, and that the 15 will not need a hardware update (thank God, that leather was hideous) because it is using a newer chipset than that found on the 14, and therefore it is a driver/hardware issue more-so than a hardware issue. All I can say is I hope this is true.

--- Lionel, can you speak upon this?

2)Impressions of the XPS 15 having owned Dells for 7+ years and every 15" XPS model since the XPS m1530
GRID SCREEN:
Speaking on the GRID screen, it is definitely present here and those who've been primed by 720p screens or the excellent 1080p screen on the l501/2x will certainly notice. However, most people, especially the average consumer, wont. Coming from the l501x to the 15z was awful, unlike coming from the studio xps 16 which had a better screen than the l501x. I read somewhere that the 15z and the 15 have the same screen (though for some reason the colors seem to be brighter and more vibrant on the 15, possibly due to the gorilla glass, higher NIT, model update, driver, etc). What I can say for those who hate the screen is, you will get used to it. Don't get me wrong, it will never look as good or sharp compared to the l501x...I haven't used the l501x in over a year and I can still tell that this screen is not as good. That being said, I'm used to the grid now and am OK with it. Disregarding the fact that I was primed by the l501x, the screen is still sharp and colors vibrant compared to most other 1080p screens on laptops (though this is a premium laptop with a premium pricetag and we should have gotten the screen found in the l501/2x). That being said, its up to you whether or not you want to have to get "used" to it or not. I had no choice but to stick with the 15z so after a few weeks (or possibly months, I don't remember), I got used to it. What I'm trying to say is that if the Grid is the only thing you have against the computer (other than the wireless which will be fixed one way or another, I guarantee it- there's no way Dell won't address this, its just a matter of when not if) and you love the laptop then I'de say give it as much time as you possibly can to see if its something you are willing to get used to.
BUILD/DESIGN:
The 15, as you all know, is a beautiful laptop and built incredibly well as far as construction goes. The 15z, not so much. I've been using the 15 for a ~8 hours now and I can already say its way better, wireless issue or not. The 15z was poorly constructed (you could seriously press the middle of the lid or base and watch it dent in) and I only purchased it after my l501x because I bike to class and needed something slimmer. The keyboard was mushy and I never got used to it in the year I had it. I was concerned that it would be the same keyboard comparing the pictures, but luckily its not and the 15 keyboard is nice and springy. Speaking of pictures, they don't do the 15 justice. The 15z looks similar to it photographically but once you see it firsthand, you won't be disappointed in the upgrade in looks and overall feel. Even the bottom of the laptop is nice--Seriously?A flap that covers the service tag/ windows sticker? That's new. And all it does is speak upon the build and luxury of this laptop. This is the nicest XPS by far, and it wouldn't even be a question of best overall if it didn't have wireless/throttling issues- both of which I am certain will be fixed eventually. Wireless will affect everybody, throttling only if you play games. That being said, another negative I must say is the touchpad. Its nice and big, but I'm not used to it quite yet. Its a single piece (no separate left/right buttons) and I have never used them for any significant amount of time before. Also and more uniquely to this laptop, the touchpad is coated with the rubbery pad used on the palm rest and base of the lappy which makes sliding more resistant than it needs to be. It gets especially noticeable when you are trying to click a small icon and need accuracy to click it. I've only logged 7-8 hours with the laptop thus far so maybe its a matter of adjustment. I can say that the scrolling is excellent and the multi-touch gestures are nice and responsive after some tweaking to get it to my liking. Its the closest I've used to a MBP (but still not there yet) .
WARRANTY:
Lastly, Dell is getting a lot of flack for the issues on this laptop and other problems in the past, and there is no excuse for them. Their builds never seem to hold up as well as they should. However, with that being said, there is no way to fault their CS. It is excellent, and that is the reason why I have stuck with Dell, the XPS line no less, for nearly a decade. Any issues are usually resolved through replacement parts if they come up, and its not hard to get Dell to send them. The last failure before I got fed up with the 15z and asked for the upgrade was that the 15z would over-heat and shut off <30% of the time I played games and <10% of the time I watched video. I simply told them about the heating and without questioning or demanding to see the laptop first, they sent a new mobo, heatsink, and fan-- all with being on the phone for 30-45 minutes (most of the time was being on hold as the agent was get clearance to allow the replacement--meaning I didn't have to beg/convince them). They overnight the parts and a local tech comes in and fixes it in house, which is hit or miss depending who you get to come in to fix it, some are more careful than others. If the problems pile up and you tell them you're done with their replacement parts, they will send a replacement laptop- usually an upgrade. They were going to send me a replacement 15z but I told them I wasn't happy with the build quality of it and a replacement won't fix that, so they sent the 15. Thats some good CS if you ask me. They overnighted it no less, so I got the laptop 2 days after I requested the upgrade. I have never had a Mac, but being in college where everyone has one, I hear all the time when they have to send it in with >$100 to get a screen replaced or whatever. No in-home service meaning you will be without you laptop for at least a week. It may just be them being out of warranty or their warranty not covering certain things, but Dell for damn sure covers just about everything except for you throwing it down a flight of stairs or pouring water all over it-- even then if you are computer savvy enough you can find a way for them to replace what you need (morality plays in here too). Of the 5 XPSs I've owned, 2 have been replacements/upgrades. 2/5...not bad considering you get better components or a newer model all together. Trust me, if you have a choice, upgrade to the 3 or 4 year warranty, that extra money will buy you a newer model when things inevitably begin to break down over time.

 

I'd like to thank Bill for all his work and it's a shame to see him go. Good luck and God bless.
I have returned my l521x (was a replacement for 2 previous XPS 15z) with help from Lorna and I publicly thank her efforts.
I will await Mr.Menchaca telling me "THEY FIXED THE PROBLEMS" before I order my next XPS.
Dell costumer for 20 years.