XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

No. Go ahead and install it. I installed it but make no difference. I might revert back to previous driver.

 

Done.

But no observed wifi improvements here either. Other owner(s) noted an improvement in connection. But for me, it was always connecting but rather it was wifi performance that was the disappointment.

 

I'll try to install them and see if there are any improvements. Thanks for the link.

 

I've just seen Asus U500 and have to say WOW!

Lighter, thinner, better specs, no outdated optical drive, IPS display, two fans they even included external drive and subwoofer in the package, two SSD in RAID0.

Is the XPS outdated or the owners are happy and would recommend it?

 

the Asus N56 has the same video card and is bigger and has a pretty big Fan vent on the left side and it still heats up pretty bad on the left palmwrest and under the WASD keys....and only gets 3 hours of battery

I am not convinced Asus can pull off the U500 yet. Have to wait for reviews before passing judgement

 

Yet there is no word to when the U500 will come out, what the price will be, what the problems will be, at this point it's a speculated prototype.

So I'm not sure if you are trolling or actually asking for opinions but the only answer to your question would be if you need a laptop at a price point that you know you can use than buy the XPS or any model that suits your fancy. If you want to wait for U500 to come out than go for it than.

It's not possible to compare the two since one isn't released and doesn't have final specs.

 

No, I'm not trolling just after comparing them it looks like different concept for a laptop. Dell is more conservative, something you would buy two or three years ago with updated specs where Asus is more like a modern stuff.

I will just like to know if XPS is lacking something in day to day use and if as owners you are proud of it or more like it is as it is and carry on.

 

I think peole buy XPS15 because it has optical drive and don't like external. Otherwise go for XPS13 or 14.
Subwoofer, do you mean its internal or external? If external then no thanks. For laptop I prefer everything in one piece.

 

I have the xps 15 and apart from the wifi this laptop is brilliant. It is the closest thing to a mac pro (which seems to be the best laptop out there) but I need to run windows for work.

I think dell have done a really good job and if they fix the wifi I will be very happy. There will always be something new that comes out which is better but if you wait around like that you will never buy anything

 

I removed stickers, but the oily shiny traces are not that easy to clean. I don't know if I clean too much the silicon coating will be scratched eventually.

 

Where I live my internet may be hiding the problem that you all experience. I live in WV and the internet here is not to fast, so its more of a connection problem rather than a speed problem. So the connecting was a bigger issue for me, which is doing better

 

i don't even own this laptop and i feel bad for you guys that Bill is gone. Lionel has only been here once, and that was his first day and he didn't really do much. It's a shame bill had to go and that this problem is starting to seem to be ignored.

 

Using a digital camera to take a picture of a digital display usually creates a moire (interference) pattern caused by the offset between the grid pitch of the screen and the grid pitch of the camera's sensor. In fact, if you Google moire micro adjustment you'll get several sites that explain how to use a laptop display to fine focus your digital camera (if it supports microadjustment) by maximizing the moire pattern.

In other words, a perfectly focused digital photo of a laptop screen is expected to produce noticeable moire patterns. These patterns might swamp the grid pattern that folks are trying to capture in the photo. To get rid of the patterns, you need to take your camera out of focus, which may make the grid pattern disappear.

 

Hello,

My question is stupid, but...
Is it possible to add extra ram to L521x without completely disassemble it ?

I thinked that the place was under the mettalic "xps" cover ( where you can have your service tag, etc... ). I removed the 2 screws, but after... nothing "came" easily, didn't force because afraid to broke something.

If it isn't the right place, where can you get "mini-star" screwdriver to open the laptop ?

Thanx and sorry for my awfull english.

 

Pretty sure you have to remove the whole bottom. No idea on the screw driver. I lucked out and have one from working on my phone.

 

You need a T5 screwdriver. You can find one online for few dollars or in other shops. In order to have 16 GB RAM you must disassemble most of the laptop, because one slot is under the motherboard. I highly recommend you don't do this without a guide: download the owner's manual from Dell's site, which guide you step by step also with images. And don't hurry: do it carefully, do it well, do it once

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

I guess it's wiser to wait for the availability of the L521x service manual. I've just check, and it is not yet available.

Regarding the wifi issue, I've got an old Intel Wireless 3945 from a Precision M65 at my work, and I'll try to switch the 6235 by the old one and see if this improve the wifi.

 

I desperately need to order one of these laptops (for the third time!!) and want to know if the screen grid issue has been fixed. I've been freakin waiting since July I think for one with a correct screen. Can anyone please update?

 

the Owner's Manual has the detailed info on hardware disassembly and reassembly, upgrading ram, hdd, msata, etc. That's available now, nothing else is needed.

+1 on taking time and working diligently, but it's not a challenge so long as you have reasonable skills for dinking with the hardware.

important safety tips:

- if you upgrade ram, the 1st boot will give you the black-screen bios-beep sequence of 5 beeps and a pause. This is caused by disconnecting the cmos battery (a required step). No problem, just power off and power on once more and all is good. You may want to check the bios settings though.

- do not over-torque the t5 screws when you put them back in, very light torque is all it takes, the screws and your driver will likely be easy to strip/damage.

 

Not really ... I *think* you can update just one socket, but if the memory isn't matched in the two you lose the dual-channel performance (at least).

You need to d/l the Owners Manual from Dell, it has full instructions and pictures for disassembly. You have to remove the Torx T5 screws around the perimeter of the bottom before it will pull off, but you need to pull it off a particular way (from hinge side) to prevent damage.

I found a T5 sized Torx driver at a local hardware store, don't have an online suggestion. Sorry.

 

Thanks c0derbear, my answer was for french50. I didn't know the owner manual contained such information. I used to deal with the service manual of profesionnal gears (Latitude and Precision) for my work.

To find a Tork T5 screwdriver, a good online source is iFixit which provides a 52 screwdrivers set for 25 US$. Perfect for the XPS15.

 

Thanx a lot for your answers ! I already assembly/disassambly some laptop, but it's been a long time. Funny to see that all is lot more closed now (i'm ironic of course), even with dell.

Well, i need to update my hardware knowledge... I've bought this memory, is it ok ? 4GB, 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 upgrades for Dell XPS L521X Laptop/Notebook, CT3359942 from Crucial.com

EDIT : it's in addition to a 4GB

 

Bien sûr !

 

Of course (zut, grillé ) !

If you have to disassemble all the PC, I would consider to directly buy a 8 GB module for the less accessible slot. Just my opinion.

 

Well, it would have been an excellent option... but for ONE time i bought without looking about this :/ I never thinked it could be that difficult to access to a basic thing like RAM ( et coucou en français au passage )

 

As far as I've been following and reading the posts, no, Dell have not fixed the screen issue so far.

 

I'm going to assume that the existing 4 Gb is in one stick, with any luck Dell installed it in the hidden socket (under the main board). If so then your install will be almost trivial

- remove back
- disconnect battery
- discharge stored power
- install memory stick
- reconnect battery
- close unit

If the open socket is under the main board then you're in for the full disassembly.

I believe that is the correct memory, too. You could use a tool like HWINFO64 to check the current memory configuration though, and make sure what you ordered matches what you have.

 

Unfortunately the new driver update did not fix mine. The tech I talked to yesterday convinced me to at least see if he can fix it before I return it. I was with tech support for about three hours again last night and this guy did everything that he could (much more than the last two). We even restored windows to factory settings, still not working ;-(. He then gave me three options replace the network card (this afternoon a tech is coming out to replace the card as I mentioned in a previous post) have a new one sent to me (if the new one does not work I will be over the 21 day window and would NOT be eligible for a return), or refund my money. I agreed to swap the card reluctantly as I lose the WiDi function that Intel provides. If this does not work (others have had this replaced with no visible results) I will opt to return the laptop. I am still riding the fence about reordering the same laptop or going with a Sony Vaio…. Not all of the XPS’s can have this WiFi problem; the tech did not seem too confident about sending me a new one and kept stating that the new one would have the same card and that not all of the DELLs have this problem and that it could be my router (My wife laptop Insparon picks up about nine (9) devices in the neighborhood were mine picks up one (1) mine, with the Netgear N300 USB provided I pick up maybe three (3) in the neighborhood, so I doubt that it’s the router (D-Link) .

Steve

 

I don't know why I still see so many people having tech support change out their cards. If you read the forum here you will see that it has been tried many times with several different cards and never fixes the problem. I am also of the belief that almost all of the L521X do have the WIFI problem. I think the ones who have not reported it just have not noticed it or use the laptop only close to their router.

You pretty much have 2 options wait for a fix and use a WIFI adapter (dell will supply if asked) or return the laptop. I have opted on waiting for the fix for now but I am not sure much how longer I will wait. With Bill gone and not getting any updates on the issue from Dell I think I may be returning mine soon.

 

I'm having a customer rep stay with me till the end of my case now. After 2 tech visits, it still doesn't work (shocker, they replaced the wifi card and lid to no avail). It's curious though, because this guy is literally responding to my emails as slow as can be. I can't help but feel at this point it's purposeful... they have no fix, know that a new laptop won't fix it, and therefore will try to stall so as to not waste their new, defective units. The lack of feedback from our connection here is also a little troublesome but we'll see.

 

Hi, im looking to buy this laptop so I talked to dell live sales, was asking about any potential offers as they were offering a lot of discount last week, i also i asked about wifi issued as you guys have reported he said that was fixed. He asked for my number to contact me i said i prefer over email, 5 mins later i get phone call i didnt even give them my number must of had on record on previous purchase, he then said on phone wifi issues were taken care of a long time a go which i know is false. They do anything for a sale even ring when you tell them not to.

Also guys the laptop is £1279 ($2060 US) to be exact and it offers 8gb ram, i7-3612QM, 5400rpm 1tb, dvd drive not even blu ray for this price.
i find it expensive what about you guys hes offered like 10% discount which you can get online anyway is about £1150 ($1855 USD). Last week they were offering an xbox with this price now just free delivery only i was able to write in the 10% discount last week with the xbox discount kind of regret not buying wifi issues holding me back. Am i the only one who finds £1279 expensive without discount code?

 

In my country there are no discounts codes at all from DELL. Also the price is getting higher and higher. The same model with the same specification is now about £200 more expensive then 1 month ago. The model you're writing about here costs £1420. So it's 1420 vs 1279 + no coupons. My country is in damn 12th century still (Poland). So your situation is not that bad

I don't have this laptop yet but it's still my favorite one to buy. Like many others I'm waiting for a statement about Wi-Fi fix and screen grids issue. Also like many others I don't really expect to hear it. It's been almost 2 months since Bill wrote for the first time that he forwarded details about WiFi issue to the engineers.

There is nothing going to change in that matter. Even if that was a matter of honor for Dell to tell the owners the root of the WiFi issue this is not going to happen. The strategy is very simple - make people to keep their notebooks until next generation of XPS 15 is out. That would be probably May 2013. That's just 8 months. For 2 months Bill was saying "I will share the details as soon as possible" now the actor has changed and someone else will. It's not confident or top-secret company information to share about WiFi issue. They know the root of the issue, they know it's not fixable (probably would require re-design of some component) and they obviously can't officially admit it, because those who are not aware of the issue (some people don't use Wifi, some have week WiFi anyway, some just check e-mail so they don't need fast WiFi) wouldn't buy it then. Now there is a big chance that many people will still keep buying L521x. Most people don't read this forum. So it's just not worth for DELL to fix that issue.

Maybe some kind of customers organization or specific law department should take a look at the company that is aware of the problem with their product and they keep shipping it and telling people via online chat that everything is fine. But who have the time and enough motivation for that.

PS. If they can't fix Wi-Fi issue I surely wouldn't expect them to fix screen grids issue. That would require to change whole screen panel model or even manufacturer. This is just not going to happen. L521x is a great looking notebook with huge price and cheap components inside.

 

£1420 Wow, so much cheaper in America than Europe, yeah i also think they know the issue with the wifi its probably going to cost them a lot of money to fix it they maybe trying a cheaper solution or they will just keep flogging customers wifi dongles, kind of like apple with the whole atenna issue few years back. They should make some sort of announcement how can they keep selling a product that is not doing one of the basic things a laptop does today. Its ridiculous, their service needs to also improve telling people in sales chat that the issue is fixed, but when you go to dell.com and look at the reviews people complain about the wifi staff respond saying they are aware of the issues, how can you say that and the sales department say its fixed, their just mis selling people.
I wish i put a fake email in the sales, i told the sales person clearly not to phone email me, but he rings and says he gonna ring tomorrow and see if i want to push on with the order!

Think il wait until someone at dell tells us about a fix or when there is going to be one.

 

Solution Class Action Law Suit Anyone? ... Does anyone else notice that the wireless adapter only works well when the laptop is plugged in and works even worse than the network card when the laptop is unplugged...the only solution I found is to have the laptop at high performance when it is unplugged sigh...The Dell tech told me my adapter is defective and they are sending me a NEW ONE I have been waiting since Aug 30th for the new one and every few days a rep calls me and says 2-3 more days it should be here...Its funny because when I ask them has it been shipped or do you have stock info on the adapter they turn silent lol.. P.S. I guess we will no longer get updates now since Bill is gone...

 

The story is: they wanted to challenge Apple in their territory. They copied their attitude of screwing customers, but they do it even worse, because at least macs are gorgeous working machines. L521x is just a facebook machine, but only within 8 feet from the router, otherwise facebook page won't load. My advice: choose something else, and maybe, if you still trust Dell as a honest company (I lost this trust), buy next generation.
Blind faith will drive you crazy. Good luck!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

LOL it seems everything is defective at Dell these days.

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Between the advanced/hidden windows-side power management options and the intel pro-set configuration available there's a bunch of controls for changing how the wifi works when on battery, did you go through them all to basically set it up as "never reduced performance / never reduced power" even on battery?

 

not necessarily true....i own the 521 and mine works fine from about 20 feet away. I never get less than 10mps and more times than not i reach my ISP max of 20mbps...

 

You're missing those updates?

Apart of convincing people to take USB adapter for free instead of returning the machine there was no updates. It's all the same written using different words or the same words but in different order.

 

^^^ Great summary. The sum of zeros is zero. If you've imagined more than zeros and hoped for something real, soon, you fool yourself. As the saying goes, "A fool and his money ...."

 

This is the sad truth

1. Dell has fixed CPU throttling with GPU throttling.

2. Dell is trying to fix Wi-Fi issue with USB adapter.

3. Display Grid issue, I guess Dell will send some kind of glasses to put out of focus the display grid...

 

Realistically, at this point, if you're not happy with your XPS 15 you need to call up Dell and complain about throttling, Wi-Fi and screen quality until they offer you a refund. I've found that you can get a lot out of large company's employees as long as you're reasonably polite and explain why you're annoyed. If you spend long enough on the line they'll often give in just so that they don't have to keep talking to you. I find that this strategy works even better in person but you can't really do that with Dell.

I feel lucky to have gotten rid of mine when I did. I'm still sad because there was a lot to like about the notebook, but also a lot to hate.

 

Yeah you should be able to get refund, just annoys me their sales support can actually say on record the issue has been fixed and on the phone the sales person said it was fixed quite some time ago. They dont actually care their still making money, i want this machine so bad but the way they are handling this wifi issue. only solution i can see will be them handing out wifi dongles they will probably adress it next year when the new xps is released. Im gonna wait another week if not may just end up buying inspirion 17r SE. ;/

 

Basically I just clicked on the battery icon and changed it to "High Performance". Is there a better way to do this if so can you please tell me how to configure it... I have the Netgear N900 adapter but I really wanted the Linksys AE3000 (out of stock horray)...

 

HAHAHAHAHHAHA I see what you did there...You win...I am getting worried we will not even have a fix by Christmas...

 

I don't have the machine in front of me so I can't be detailed (it's at home, I'm at work) but if you click on the battery in the popup there is a link to adjust the power plan.

Make sure you're on battery, and using the power-conserving plan you want to adjust, and do that and proceed to adjust the plan settings.

You will need to adjust advanced plan settings (another link I believe), and once there you will have a tree-view list of a bunch of things to adjust.

There is also a link on that dialog that says something to the effect of "show the options you're not showing me yet". Click that, and more things show up in the tree-view.

So now you just need to drill into everything in the tree and adjust the on-batter settings as desired.

Once that's done, check the ProSet Wireless app to see what settings allow you to control power-conservation vs performance, I *dimly* recall seeing something there.

Once THAT is all done, you'll want to review the driver properties for the intel wifi from the Device Manager.

Keep in mind that the default setup is to conserve power at the expense of performance in order to maximize battery endurance - as that is what the hardware vendors get slammed for these days in mobile devices.

Everything you're after will reduce battery endurance.

And yet, it may still yield no tangible improvement.

*shrug*

 

Okay so I have had this laptop for a little over a month now and I love it. I am a college student and take it with me all over campus and most of the time I can get onto the campus wifi. I have been really busy since ive started so is there any news on the throttling issues with either the CPU or GPU. The last thing I did was update to the A06 BIOS. Also are there any updates on the wifi issue besides getting a dongle?

@Bill I'm not sure if to PM you or Lorna about this issue by I have still not received my $200 dell gift card for buying the laptop. My dad has been on the phone and emailing them for a few weeks now and they are refusing to send one or claiming that one has been sent but we have never received it.

 

I think you could go some pages back to read that Bill is gone (only from Dell )

 

Not since A06.

wrt:Wifi - Dell has updated the driver for the wifi, helps some, not others, maybe worth your time (100Mb file d/l). I haven't seen any reports where it has introduced problems.

wrt:Bill - he no longer works for dell, search his most-recent posts for facebook/twitter based contacts to Dell CS for better response (maybe).

Good luck.

 

I updated the Wifi driver via the link to the Dell website. Things are even worst...
From the same place, I have 0,8 Mb/s with the 15.3 driver instead of 5 Mb/s with the 15.2 (with other devices I get 30 Mb/s).