XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

Maybe this poll is similar to this other one:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...l-customers-gave-up-purchase.html#post8749401

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

I'm hoping we can connect two people in the same town (NYC, perhaps?)

If anybody's out in Las Vegas with a good "no-grid" display, I'm happy to meet you at a Starbucks.

Frankly, though, someone at Dell should be doing this for us.

 

At one point I thought they might fix the issues and I would re-purchase but I don't think that's realistic at this point. Dell has done a terrible job with this model, it should have been recalled. That makes me sad, I really liked the look and feel of this notebook.

 

Hi guys,

I haven't been in this thread for a couple of hundred pages since I got shafted when I ordered by XPS and it was cancelled.

Have any Wifi / screen / throttle issues been resolved yet? From reading this page, the wifi things still looks to be a problem.

I remember Bill saying things would get sorted eventually.

 

Sorry for question but I want to reformat my harddrive, what partitions did you delete? I assume just the recovery partition and reformatted the OS on the OS drive.

Thanks
Jim

 

Essentially if you have the cd, then yeah, delete recover and is. But if you do not, then you can use the dell centers recovery tool to restore windows its factory state with the option of only keeping your files.

 

A dell supervisor just called. Said they will not keep replacing the laptop for ever problem it comes with.. So he will send over a tech to replace display.. As for WiFi, he said they are working on it and if the solution is to replace case etc , then every xps is warranties on it with or without warranty.

 

Go away. This thread doesn't need you "checking in" on it to complain about a laptop you were never going to buy.

 

Maybe I don't remember well, he had bought this laptop, but because of the known issues he has already returned.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

I complain about the company and the way they acts with clients, including you, but reading with understanding is much above your basic skills. Seems your brain is throttling just like your new notebook.

If any point of my post was wrong then please correct me. I will be very happy to take part in constructive conversation. So tell me, I was wrong in 1), 2) or 3)?

 

Ok ,so I've working on the laptop and obviously staring at the screen for hours... Now I'm in my bed, in a dark room, and all I can see are grid lines everywhere O.O um ,what's going on?

 

i honestly don't see the gridlines in mine....

 

And you are not the first one saying that. But in every model I had in my hands the grid lines were surely there. I have rgbled screen in my studio xps thats why I will probably always recognize worse screen. But when studio xps 1640 was out it was twice cheaper then l521x. Honestly I am not considering grid lines as an issue but as low quality display, which should not be placed in a premium notebook for such high price.

 

Hi i am thinking to buy the xps 15 l521x is it a good idea are there still issues with the wifi ?
thank you

 

Read at least last 2 pages. It's very bad idea, don't buy it. Not a single issue was solved.

 

I had BSOD while listening on line radio using Screamer Radio, blue screen and vibrating very loud.
I had the same problem with XPS 1647, and the only way to stop it was removing the battery. The L521x is not easy to removing the battery, I left it blue screen/vibrating while having my lunch, after a few minutes restarted itself, lucky, otherwise I had to remove the battery.
I am really concern regarding the freezing/vibrating doing loudly noise. Also when I close the lid I can hear like catching something, it might need some grease job.
Wi-Fi would be the major problem, second optical drive unsolicited noise and third the LCD it is poor quality made. Throttling I do not care much….I throttle myself beyond 50 push ups
It is a crazy money for such problem laptop.

 

I would agree. If for some reason you really want it - go to the outlet, find a certified new - wait for a discount - and pay minimum price. As is the machine is certainly not worth money nor the headache working with customer cares or tech support.

At that point you can complain like the rest of us at a discount price.

 

The blue-screen / crash is likely a software fault, some combination of something app-wise / windows / driver-wise is my gut feeling. Particularly since you say it's not a unique situation to the l521x. I'd seriously look at anything that common between the two systems. It would have to trigger something fairly deep in the windows/driver stack to lock-up the machine completely.

The hinge issue must be a hardware build fault, that's warranty fix time. Expect a tech visit to address.

I feel strongly that people are wasting their time complaining to dell about the intermittent drive noise and the LCD quality - there's nothing to fix there - it's not of a spec that people want to accept for sure but it's "operating as spec'd" by Dell - so return w/in the window and walk away. If you didn't, hoping for a fix, then all I can say is sorry, you lose.

It's really fatiguing hearing people continually gripe about something that clearly isn't a defect but is just not acceptable to them. Buying online without viewing in-person probably magnifies the problem, but that's why there exist return policies.

 

What of those of us who do no not have a choice, due to warranty replacements.. O.O

 

It is unfortunate, but replacing a Ford Edge with an Explorer doesn't leave you with the same specifications either.

If dell replaced an earlier model machine with a new gen machine you can't expect the specifications to always match or exceed in all ways. I just don't think that is rational. The best you can do I fear is to push hard for the machine replacement that best matches from what is available ... With the severe lack of custom build specs these days from dell that becomes a narrow pool, eve if you include business- and consumer-focused hardware in the mix.


Sent from my brain using neurons fueled by glucose

 

had BSODs the first 2 days I got the laptop. Didn't install any software on it except word and it was just BSOD and making beeps while starting up. Serious flaws with this laptop out of the box. Luckily it stopped BSODing and hasn't done it since. But the wifi and battery life is still pretty bad.

 

OK - here is where things get REALLY INTERESTING. I knew this would happen. In my email, I just got a coupon for 25% off all XPS Dell Outlet Systems Outlet Laptops & Netbooks | Dell

The XPS 15 L521X was a recent addition, currently there are out of stock - but that will change soon enough I am sure. So let's kind of lay this out.

1) Up till now, we have all purchased a BRAND NEW XPS 15 L521X at the top price (maybe a slight discount or two, here and there).
2) Many of you have had Dell come out and replace something on your new machine, which if you sent it back would have become an outlet machine with the replaced part.
3) With the normal discount, plus now a 25% discount - other people are now able to buy basically the exact same machine at a HUGE DISCOUNT!
4) Now, I would guess they still have the wifi issue - but even I would have felt better dealing with that buying it at a 25% discount

For those of us that have purchased this system brand new, top price, expecting to get what we paid for - we were completly duped!!!!

Dell should be ashamed, not only for doing this to their customers, but if the wifi is not fixed - continued selling of this flawed system - now to the outlet!!!

I am sure I am wrong on this one, but it seems to me that this was record time for a new XPS system to go from introduction to outlet!


Thoughts from any of you?

 

I don't know the time-frame in which newly released system returns usually start arriving in the dell outlet. I am fairly sure that even models that are not as problematic as the new XPS 15 are returned due to buyer preferences and other defects that buyers would rather not have repaired on brand-new machines.

I have been Twitter messaging with the @dellcares people for over two weeks, and I am starting to think that name is a true misnomer. They first told me that A11 would fix the WiFi, and then they were telling me that the engineers have the BIOS fix almost ready. I'm sure that Dell and I have different definitions of almost, because now they are telling me nothing.

 

well, as a software dev geek myself I can say that nothing is done until it's done, and any hard schedule presented to anyone else is often a fantasy.

Scheduling software development of new work is almost tractable, but scheduling bug-hunt and fix-implementation is a fools game at best.

Triply so if it's hardware induced.

I just wish they'd be honest and say "we have no clue, really" instead of leading people on. For the people here that criticize that particular aspect of Dell's representation I can only heart-fully concur.

It's not unique to Dell by a long shot, pretty much any shop that makes software and has layers between "customers" and the actual developers usually ends up with complete fantasy in their scheduling of problem resolution with respect to the customer.

This whole mess is a great example of Caveat Emptor. Proving that Dell did anything nastly a-priori would essentially be impossible (legally), in my opinion.

 

Call them up and complain, ask that they substitute a Latitude, Alienware or Inspiron R (of similar value). With all the problems with the XPS line, they'll probably agree fairly easily to get you out of their support queue.

As for the gridlines, the two I had both had more-visible than normal gridlines (ALL LCD monitors have gridlines), but the first was worse than the second so some units are better than others. If this had been the only problem I would have kept the system, it's not unbearable, but the panel is no exactly "premium" quality. Apple would never use one of this quality.

 

The legal aspect is one way, and still a viable option in my opinion - but very - very time consuming. For most people it comes down to what can Dell do to make them forget the situation. For some, it is just providing a working machine, others - maybe a discount, some consumers will be unsatisfied no matter what and just want to send in their machine and get a total refund. I have always been intrigued how some people have been able to get replacements, others have not, some consumers have been able to deal with just one person, while others are still lost in the Support hamster wheel.

I'm still trying understand why it seems if you call their XPS premium support solutions everything takes forever, but if you twitter, facebook, chat or in some cases here on NBR been lucky enough to get a rep - you get pushed to the front of the line - so to speak.

Caveat Emptor is one way to sum it all up, but I am willing to guess that with the right amount of bad (but true) P R attention - Dell would pay very close attention to this.

A global company sells a high end premium product at a high end price, the product has a well reviewed defect and the company continues to sell the product to consumers? In addition, existing consumers of the product are stuck in limbo because Dell social media keeps saying "the next Bios will fix it", "when a fix is found, all consumers will be addressed". Here's what I guess is the reality - I would believe that the problems documented throughout these posts exist in almost all or the majority of systems sold. The average consumer would not know enough about CPU/GPU or LCD issues to believe it is a problem; and the wifi issue would be the same. I bet there are a TON of calls to the local cable company from people who bought this machine and are getting poor wifi!

I am very skeptical, either those of us with wifi problems don't know what we are talking about or those that say don't have wifi issues....well ....I am skeptical.

 

At least Dellcares even responds to you on twitter. Lorna and Dellcares ignored all my tweets. Only way I've been getting service is with an old purchase email support thread I've been replying to. Whenever I email that thread, I get service within 2 days. They actually call me up and do something. Unlike Chat,twitter, and regular cs and tech support.

 

I bought this laptop back at the very end of july and have been very busy every since then, so I havent had the time to keep up with this thread. I have upgraded to the latest BIOS, wireless driver, nvidia drivers, and intel drivers. From the past 3-5 pages I am getting the feeling that even with these updates there are still serious issues with this laptop.

Back when bill was here he kept saying that when a permanent wifi fix was found it would be available to everyone with this laptop. Where is this fix? At this point what is the best option? I am outside of my 21 day return policy but i do have a 2 year total care warrenty.

As for issues I have noticed I do feel that the laptop runs slow (cmon a quad core i7 with 8gb of ram? I mean im not expecting lightning speeds here but it still takes a few seconds for even chrome to boot up) the grid issue isnt always apparent but every so often i do notice it and the wifi issue is noticeable. Its hard for me to connect to wifi outside my dorm in the greenspace yet other people around me are getting speeds just fine with 3-5 year old laptops.

 

the 5400RPM hard drive is the bottleneck. Put an SSD in there and this thing screams.

 

Unfortunately, time is not my friend these days. I desperately need a laptop and there's nothing out there (yet) like the Dell XPS 15 (L521X). The Sony Vaio S and the Asus N56 were serious contenders, both have a Full HD screen which is a must for me, but I didn't like Sony's orange-ish screen, the trackpad and the flimsiness of the chassis, while the Asus N56 is bulky, heavy and has a below average battery life.

I'm aware of Dell XPS 15 (L521X)'s various problems, but the only one that does matter to me is the bad WiFi reception. Does an external WiFi dongle resolve the WiFi problem completely?

Any advice on a good dongle?

 

mine is •750GB 7200 HDD with 32GB mSATA

and my system seems to run slow, shouldnt take so long to start programs, ie etc ...

 

Dell Support sent me a free Netgear WNDA3100 as a temporary workaround until they figure out a more permanent fix & that USB-WiFi dongle works fine for me at long range. I just don't like it using up 1 of my USB ports & it's kind of unwieldy sticking out of the laptop like that - like most owners here, since I'm out of my return period, I'm hoping for the real silver bullet fix!

 

Hey everyone,

Dell is aware of customer feedback regarding wireless performance on the XPS 14 and 15. We are working diligently to eliminate root cause and will provide improvements which we will make available to all affected customers present and future. I profusely apologize if I misled anyone with my post, I was not aware of all the facts. I will continue to work with the product and development team and will make sure of all claims before I post them on this forum.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions and concerns.

Thank you,
Mourin@Dell

 

I think I've now joined you on the do not reply list for twitter support. I haven't heard anything from them for a while now.

 

I actually went the legal route regarding the Dell L502X which had a build quality issue where the AC adapter plug would constantly disconnent from the unit and subsequently not accept charge at all.

After it was serviced 3 TIMES by a tech - mobo replaced 3x, adapter 2x, case 2x - the issue still existed. At this point I wanted a refund and was about 1 year into my 2-year warranty.

Long story short, I did not accept having the L502x serviced for a 4th TIME as a viable solution to the problem. The Dell "executive" rep assigned to my case did not see it this way and insisted this was the only solution. He was extremely difficult and condescending, which made matters worse.

Went through Dell website conflict resolution page, then through Better Business Bureau and lastly through my state attorney generals office. Each time I requested a corporate response and each time I received a phone call from the same rude outsourced Dell rep saying that I "had no choice" but to accept tech service or refurbished machine. No corporate response - I sent a professional email to several of the Dell higher ups, including Mike Dell himself - no response at all.

I was basically forced to accept the refurbished option and hope the replacement L502x did not have the charging issue. To my surprise I was informed no L502x's with similar specs were available and I would be receiving a brand new L521X. Great! I thought, finally Dell is doing the right thing.

But after receiving the L521x with wifi, display, throttling and battery issues I'm at a loss of words. I've been through Dell Hell and back and have wasted many hours of precious time arguing with Dell. I'm not doing it anymore - I'm just going to sell this machine and switch to another brand. I'm done with Dell.

 

NEVER said you were wrong about anything. Man, and you want to accuse me of poor reading comprehension?

If you like to spend your spare time b****ing about a company you have no intention of doing future business with, and a product you have no interest in purchasing, you are a loser.

The people in this thread are well aware of the issues and what Dell hasn't done to fix them. They don't need your help.

 

Has anyone tried exchanging their system for something else? I'm going to try to exchange for a insiron 15R because i'm getting really tired of waiting. Iv'e had this system for about 2 weeks and the original for 1.5 months. Iv'e spent countless hours on the phone and had way to many tech's visit my house. I'm done with this and ready to move on. I would switch to a different manufacturer but don't want to wait for the refund so i'd rather just do an exchange.

 

but wouldnt that be a downgrade? the 15r doesnt have the same config, so will you also ask for a partial refund?

let us know how it goes. I too would like this solved, for a replacement laptop without the ability to get a wrranty.. i will not accept such a broken device... the tech is coming tomorrow to replace display and i know from exp that something else will go wrong after he does so, ive warned the resolution center of this but meh, guess ill just have to keep fighting them.

 

New nvidia drivers are out. Wonder how that'll affect throttling

 

The 15R would be a downgrade from the XPS 15. The 15R SE, however, is a better product than the XPS 15. Oh, maybe not in looks, but it has the same CPU, a comparable GPU, a better screen without grid issues, no throttling complaints, no wifi issues, it doesn't attract greasy fingerprints, and it costs about $500-$1,000 less. Dell's warranty and service isn't so bad, but we can all agree the XPS 15 was not ready for public consumption. The 15R SE is the answer. You just have to ask yourself the question.

 

I am going to get the top inspiron to get as close as possible to the Xps price and take a refund on the rest. At the moment i'm not in the financial situation to buy a laptop without using my dell account so it makes more since to me to try and get an exchange. I will keep you posted but I need to look into some inspiron reviews first. Don't want to end up in the same situation

Yeah the 15R SE was the one I was looking into but again I need to check the reviews first. Thanks for the advice.

 

Touchpad was working fine, now when i close the lid, and open it after a bit, the mouse has messed with everything, moved things around, and some things have been deleted .... anyone else having this issue?, ive made the touchpad the least sensitive as possible but it still does not help :S

 

To go off the switch to a 15r SE, what is the status of the issues on the XPS 14? Last I checked it still had the wifi but what about throttling?

 

I think if you buy any of Dell's ultra thin notebooks you are asking for trouble. At least right now. If anyone is considering buying a notebook right now I would seriously reconsider buying one of these ultra thin models. Yes, you may want to convince yourself that it will be fixed soon and that you can live with it in the mean time, but there are no guarantees. It is a broken design and there is currently no fix. And the other complaints, like grid lines, will probably never be truly addressed until the next model.

 

Just wanted to bump the poll. Just to see if anyone missed it. So far about 90% of these laptops have problems.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/691748-dell-xps-15-l521x-poll.html

 

Tech was supposed to come today, i booked off work.. now appearently dell decided to change it on me without warning. I called the tech center dispatch and they said parts (display) are not available and i will be called when they are.

 

That's the answer I wanted to hear.

Thank you.

 

Hey everyone, I just received my L521x a week ago and I am severely disappointed with the CPU throttling issue since I intended to use the laptop to play. I am now seriously considering returning what would be otherwise an awesome laptop.

After reading this, I am concerned this issue may not be fixable by a BIOS update. If the problem is lack of cooling capacity due to bad design, how are they planning to solve it via software control?

My question is: does anybody really know if there can be a solution for this problem without a hardware fix? Am I ever going to be able to run my CPU/GPU at full (or at least nearly full) capacity, with no time constraints?

 

Just to let you know the heat sink on this model is cheap and done for cost cutting (inside info ) ... such a nice looking laptop but sooo many issues that's the story of life sigh...

 

need some advice here.

As ive mentioned before, my extended my warranty last year for another 4 years.. recently dell has told me , selling me the warranty was a mistake and they removed the 3 years that are left. Now i am without warranty on this replacement system and although they will keep trying to fix curent problems, i am being told that because i do not have a service contract, they can pretty much take their time reparing my system.. what are you takes on this?

"Dear Elvis,

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. I have sent a feedback to the service company. Just wanted to update you that this will be a 5 business day service call as the service contracts are not active anymore. We can check the display/touchpad issue post the onsite service. Also, there is no update available on the Wi-Fi issue as of now.

Thank you for your patience."