XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

very doubtful, there's only so much heat the current cooler can dispense of, so the best the system can do is favor the cpu over the gpu, vice-versa, or bring both down to a managed point.

Running both at full Boost will never happen without outside cooling assistance (like some 3rd parting coming up with a freon cooling unit that turns it into a small flat desktop PC with a huge wart on the back).

If you got it primarily for gaming my advice is to return for refund, and then investigate alternatives that are more significantly field tested by the consuming public.

 

I spent ages testing one of these and came to the conclusion that the cooling just can't dissipate the heat that the GPU and CPU put out when running together. If you care at all about performance I recommend returning this computer because you're not going to be happy with it.

 

Help with my personal poll.

1). Should I send back the Xps15 for full refund, and either wait for a verified fix, or buy a refurb Xps15 at a greatly reduced price.

2). Keep it with the expectation that Dell will "handle" all Xps15 customers once a resolution is found - past and present?

Let the polling begin!

 

I say (1) bacause the price of dell.com will only go down and better newer tech will probably be out when they fix the problem, you will also get windows 8 after oct 26 so.... option 1 , return.

 

should i keep trying to fight and get the system replaced once they have hardware changes that fixed the issue?

 

Two weeks ago, I called tech support to make sure they had another record of the crappy wifi performance. After the guy tried installing drivers and running in safe mode and disabling bluetooth for about an hour and a half, he decided to "dispatch" a replacement display+antenna. The parts were on back order then, and I have been getting calls every other day to tell me that parts should be available in two days. I'm due for another one tomorrow...

I've also been struggling with the throttling. I can't help but think the GPU is solely there to pad the price. I haven't found a good use for it yet since everything I do that stresses it also stresses the CPU, causing throttling after about a minute. Anyone know if the throttled performance is better than an unthrottled i7 with the HD4000 graphics?

While I have been waiting for the ever-delayed display, I set up a little experiment with some external antennae. I ripped some antennae out of a dead off-warranty hp touchscreen all-in-one at work and taped them to a piece of cardboard. I set the laptop on its side and plugged my new ghetto antenna into the wireless NIC. With that setup I could get between 25 and 46Mbps (with iperf) depending on placement. I don't think drivers are ever going to get throughput close to where it should be...

 

So here I am watching a YouTube music video with MS Word in the background as well. My cpu fan starts running like crazy and then the laptop gets so hot it turns off!!! I couldn't turn it on for 15 mins, no exaggeration! Perhaps a class action lawsuit may make Dell realize that their "tiger" team consist of a few cats who could give 2 damns about providing a more immediate solution.

 

Canadian, sounds like the cpu/gpu cooler isn't thermally connected to the chips. I'd re-paste them with newer/better thermal paste to see if that helps. Could be a faulty cooler though.

 

my thoughts exactly. That is not normal behavior for any laptop.

 

Wow doesn't this remind you of the iPhone signal issue which also has aluminum around it.

 

just goes to show that the more fancy-pants things get, the more can go awry.

i'm sure it's different reasons, but I haven't missed the comments here on how whether the user is TOUCHING the machine or not can have an affect on the wifi performance.

Someone here (or in the wifi specific thread) mentioned how engineering this kind of stuff (EM signal management) is more than a bit of a black art. I believe it.

 

FYI: The new XPS 15 (ones with Windows 8) comes with newer processor 3632QM and Dell Wireless 1901 and BT4.0

 

Where did you read this information?

 

Really? I can't wait to require a replacement of the faulty one I have. So it seems that dell gave up of “all in one card” N-6235 and opted for two cards. Maybe better cooling design and screen and Wi-Fi issue fixed.

 

so there are two card slots? does that mean it wont have msata and will only be available in hdd or ssd? also, any news on if that i7 throtles? and if not, we can demand an exchange for ppl did not pay to be throtled and etc right?

If the remake is beter and fixes all these flaws, it becomes a legal issue and everyone who'se acquired,purchased the 521 in good faith that they were getting what they paid for , have been cheated.. and thus, that would be an acceptable case in court , no?

 

Windows 8 Laptops Sale

Use this page to look for the XPS 15 and check out the specs, my guess is they have a new motherboard

 

Actually you can test your XPS 15's performance vs a integrated graphics version of the same. Force the program to run on the integrated graphics with the right-click menu. I found that Starcraft 2 actually ran better on the integrated graphics. I think it's pretty clear that this system is not really for the performance minded, the dedicated graphics are there as a selling point that's not actually meant to be used.

 

Right now they only seem to be selling Windows 8 on an i7 and 750 gig config:

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

 

Why? They have changed only the wifi card that is not soldered to the motherboard.
I don't know if the Dell 1901 card has integrated bluetooth 4.0 function, otherwise Dell had to add a bluetooth chip on motherboard or another port for a bluetooth card.

New owners can say "Goodbye WiDi!"

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

Not *everybody* cares about WiDi ... you have to have the other parts of that system for it to work ... the 2nd thing I removed from mine was the WiDi drivers (the 1st was McAfee).

 

Why goodbye? the new card will be no capable of doing it?

 

they have that one and the grand daddy with 16gb RAM and 512 SSD also

 

Hello

Just spoke to Dell uk and they are happy for me to return my 15X and take one of the new ones in exchange. Only thing is from what the tech guy said as far as he knows its the same system but with a different wifi card in. Now people have tried this wifi card in their 15x with no change in the performance. Although on a different note he did say that there have been no tech calls regarding wifi with any of the new systems they have sent out.

 

If you get the new one let us know what changes are in it and if the known issues with our L521x are gone on the new one.

 

Well thats the dilemma I find myself in. I was advised to hang slack for 2 weeks or so to see if any complaints come in about the new laptop. Cant really be doing with sending mine back to be at square one again. But then on the other side its very tempting to just go for it.

 

Interesting that the L421X WiFi hardware has not changed in the Win 8 version, only the L521X. Yet both Win 7 laptops exhibit WiFi issues, so Dell decided to only address the L521X?

 

Only the Intel wifi cards have the WiDi support.

I'm not sure, but Dell has sent even their WiFi cards to replace the Intel N6235, without any improvement, I don't remember if this replace card is the Dell 1901 model.

 

So what about the issue with uefi not working? So far I only know 1 person on here that has got it working. It's apparently supposed to be straight forward but I can't get win7 to install via uefi boot without it freezing up.

 

I'm running UEFI just fine with Win8, never tried with Win7.

 

ok 2. You didn't have any issues? I tried Win8 and had the same freeze issues after files loaded.

 

You should fight for it. You did pay for the service (even if they refunded you) that was offered.

What I know is that, warranty service binds you and Dell to be in legal contract. I'm sure there's a section in the contract that Dell can terminate the contract at their will but this case seems to be an exception. It was offered to you and it is their fault, not yours.

 

Is anyone having issues with their USB ports? For one of my USB ports, I can't place the USB devices all the way into the port. It gets "stucks" 2/3 - 3/4 way through. Then I hear occasional USB connect/disconnect Windows sound with notifications saying that my USB device is unrecognizable by Windows. I don't know if I should contact the executive customer service team for this... (I got this L521x as a replacement for L502x and they are my 'primary' contact)

 

My last usb port, the charging one is very tight and it's super hard to push a usb in. But it does go in. So you should probably ask for a tech to come look at it if it doesnt go in and disconnects
My power port is very tight too.

 

What do you mean "the charging one"?

 

The last one near the bottom has a thunderbolt next to the SS. That means it can charge a device even when the computer is sleeping

 

It just doesn't go in. I would like to ask for technician but currently I am suspended from warranty services. I had 4 laptops at once due to mixups on replacement system (there's a long story behind it). I still have one with me, the original system that gave me trouble, but I just don't have time to send it back. A third party that represents Dell calls me at FOUR IN THE MORNING trying to reach me but of course I don't pick up my phone at that time. Then they leave a voice message that gets cut half way through. So I have no way to call them back (incoming calls from them are always "private" number)

 

Australian Dell just changed the XPS 15 price from AUD 1999 to AUD 2299. They added a Blu-Ray player and changed HDD from 1TB 5400rpm to 750GB 7200rpm.

 

I didn't have any problems. I just put in the Win8 rtm DVD and let it go. I do have my own 500GB ssd as my primary drive so my controller is in straight ahci mode, not the funky raid stuff.

 

So could i use wwan card for this laptop?
And CARD WWAN 3G Sierria MC8775 canbe use for it?

 

Did you delete the raid?

 

Can i raid msata 120Gb with main ssd 512Gb?:hi2:

 

Can I ask you guys about the screen grid issue?

I had an XPS15 but returned it because of the wireless issue (not suprised to find they have not fixed it). Didnt keep it long enough to notice the grid issue.

I also brought a U2713 WQHD monitor to run off it (the only reason I ended up with dell product, certainly wont bother again!!). I've noticed feint grid lines on this screen (as well as dead pixlels) running at 45 degree angles a bit like this: Subtle Patterns | Free textures for your next web project though obviously lighter....closer to: Subtle Patterns | Free textures for your next web project.

Is this the same issue you guys are experiencing?

 

Have it sitting right in front of me.

 

youll have to choose between mobile card or msata im in the same boat... spoke to dell about it, they said no new pc's have express card slots or seperate bt slots etc... i dont think they were talking about pc's... perhaps mac book pro's ...

 

Yes, you could. But before that check if your lap (msata version?) has antennas installed for mobile broadband. Special WWAN version of L521X looks differently (like L421X too):
New! XPS 14 Laptop with Integrated Mobile Broadband | Dell UK

 

Where did you seen WWAN version of L521X?
For What I know this version doesn't exist.
It's more simple to use an external USB WWAN modem.

 

So anyone aw me for this?
If i have 120G msata and 1 ssd 512Gb,can i raid them for best perf?:thumbsup:

 

don't know much about raid on a laptop but, I thought you need 2+ IDENTICAL SSDs/HDDs to run raid?
Since you're talking about performance you must be talking about Raid 0?
Assuming it is possible to raid 2 different models of SSDs, which I doubt, with a different volume...how is the data gonna be stripped after 240gb?

Personally I wouldn't wanna do raid 0 on a laptop anyway. Without a decent raid control card, you will be using your CPU to run the raid, which would possibly slow down the processing power. Also, stability would be your biggest concern, if one of the SSDs crash, you will lose everything on BOTH drives.

Of course, thats only what I know. If anyone knows more about it please share?

 

The Intel Rapid XXX tech uses a non-uniform RAID setup to use the mSATA SSD as a cache volume for the primary HDD.

The Intel tech has size limits, so far as I know, and I do NOT know whether it can use "part" of a drive - but it seems to me that it *should* be able to as the system definitely supports having a swap partion on the mSATA SSD with the remainder of the device used for caching.

In *theory*, with a large enough mSATA SSD, you could have

- boot volume / OS volume with Windows installed
- swap partition to support Intel Rapid Start
- and XXX Gb of space left over and configured as cache for a large HDD

Lots of "if" and "theory" there though.

 

No, not with this laptop display. These are horizontal/vertical -- almost like tiny gray graph paper.