XPS 15 (l521X) Safe To Buy?

I tried reading through all 300+ pages of the owners thread, but can't seem to get a clear answer. Thinking of picking up one of these for my wife, but I've been reading about all the Wi-Fi issues with this system. Have they been resolved yet? Is this a clear answer as to what causes them, and does it affect everyone?

Thanks!

 

dell has not shared what the causes are or whether the wifi issue definitively affects all units or not.

there is no 100% guaranteed fix released yet.

 

Absolutely not, they have not fixed the wireless issues. I am pretty disappointed with how Dell have proceeded, the laptop should not be on sale in it's current state.

 

It's your money no one can tell you what to do with it. Not all systems are affected. Mine is not affect and my wifi is perfect.

Dell also has a 21 day return window. If you have the wifi issue, it should show up right away so you could even return it right away.

 

It really depends on whether or not you are willing to take the risk of buying a bad laptop for your wife. People who say they have no problems with the WiFi are probably using their systems under ideal circumstances, but who knows. In my one-story house, I have no problems. But at my university, I get horrible down speeds. Also remember that Dell returns can be a pain; when I sent my first one back for a system exchange they accused me of never sending it in. I had to call their contractor with my tracking number, etc so they would stop bugging me.

 

I've yet to have an issue with a Dell return, I buy most of my Dells from Outlet.

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It's debatable if Dell will ever fix it. I would avoid this model entirely, maybe the next revision will work reliably.

 

Thanks for the information, everyone! I'd like to avoid an unhappy wife, so I'll sit on the sidelines a little longer.

 

Avoiding an unhappy wife is a really important point, so don't buy it.

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I've been waiting. I'm not buying one until "fixed" units are out in the wild with a large number of users here and elsewhere with no wifi problems and it's not a "hope I get one that works" or "well, Dell says it's fixed" situation.

I'm also very interested in the XPS 13 refresh, but after this debacle I'm going to have to see that one out in the wild, too, even though the first version didn't have the wifi problems.

 

The Wifi issue is definitely NOT present in all the units. I got my XPS 15 a month ago and after reading here about the wifi problems during my 2 week wait, the first thing I did was test the wifi, and it worked perfectly. In fact, the XPS 15 has better reception than any of our cellphones or tablets, and is at least as good or better than any of our other laptops (we have 6 laptops for 4 people - family of geeks here).

For anyone wanting the details, my wireless setup consists of 2 access points, one in the front (office) part of the house, and one in the back (2500 sq ft. single story home). The front router is configured for dual mode, the back just for 5GHz. That's because the 2.4GHz network easily covers the whole house, back patio, and probably half the neighbors. The 5GHz range is obviously much less, but between the 2 access points I can cover the whole house. The weak spot of my 5GHz network is at my kitchen table, which sits right on the edge of both APs ranges. It confuses my Android phone and tablet to no end, for instance, when I walk from the patio to the kitchen and it's trying to pick between the two APs (usually I put it out of its misery and manually switch to the 2.4GHz network). Anyway, that's the first place I tested my XPS 15, on 5GHz, and it had by far the strongest and most consistent signal of any of our devices in that area.

Anyway, as to whether or not it's safe to buy yet, that's a tough one. Since it can be a crap shoot as to how well your wifi works, I guess it comes down to how important that is to you, vs. maybe buying a usb wifi dongle to use until they get it resolved. I can say this, though, that with the wifi working, this is unquestionably the best laptop I have ever owned. Just in the last 2 years, I've had an Alienware M15x, a Dell XPS 17 702x (fantastic laptop, just too bulky now that I'm traveling more) and now the XPS 15, and it is head and shoulders above the others. I was a little worried, because I loved my XPS 17, and I was afraid I would be sacrificing performance or usability to get something smaller, but the XPS 15 has exceeded my expectations in every way. Then again, I would expect it to, because it's the most expensive one I've bought (I got the decked out model, with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM), even more than the Alienware. I guess what I'm saying is that expectations were very high because of the price and coming from a laptop I liked very much, but this laptop has met those expectations fully (but I'm lucky and my Wifi works - I would be exceedingly pissed off if it didn't).

 

Same here. My XPS 15 L521 has stronger reception than my previous MB Pro 2011

 

My two cents says wait unless it's urgent or you catch a good discount. My original purchase had the wireless issue, and after multiple, multiple hours on the phone I was sent a replacement - which has the same problem. It's really a shame, I bought the system more from a want than need. Which explains why I am not really angry with the amount of time I have wasted to get the replacement. But I tend to think - what about the others? Who knows if this situation is within the normal laptop failure rate, but it seems abnormal. I have had multiple Dell XPS laptops, loved them - but still hated support when I called.

More than two cents, but my thoughts would be to hold off until you see some of these posts here and on Dell's site clear out. Seriously, what are the odds that the replacement machine they send has the same Wifi issue and this is NOT an abnormal failure rate.

 

Hi there, sorry to hijack your thread but the wifi issue is what is rightfully holding me back from investing in this laptop. However, I did read that Dell were giving free wifi dongles to "rectify" this particular issue but what wasn't made clear was if this offer was available to the UK (where I am based)?

Furthermore, being a student the free xbox offer is quite enticing too. But the wifi isn't the only issue, it became apparent that some seems to have a grid line issue on the screen? Although I believe that to be a personal issue rather than a dead cert fault as the wifi one.

Also, the throttling issue... I'll be using this laptop mainly to run 3d rendering programs such as autoCAD, solidworks, rhino, 3d studio max etc so will the cpu/gpu throttling effect me? (I'm not really a computer techie so I'm not sure what they all mean/relate). Or has it been fixed with all the bios updates I kept reading about.

If it has, I am happy to use a use a usb wifi dongle as I'm in need of a new laptop and there aren't many better ones out that match performance with aesthetics as this one.

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!

 

It's not a crap shoot. Over 90% of people polled had WiFi problems and many had other problems too. The odds are overwhelmingly against you.

And most people are not offered a WiFi dongle.

I recommend not getting this model. If you want to stick with Dell, get an Inspiron, Lattitude or Alienware.

 

I too purchased this laptop and received it 2 weeks ago and LOVE IT. Everything about is great!

Now... hypothetically... if 5,000 units were sold and only 1,000 were polled of 90% had issues, it doesn't make it against the odds.

I feel really bad for those beating their heads against the wall issue after issue BUT keep in mind the Upset peoples voice will be MUCH greater than those with no issues at all especially in subset groups belonging to forums, with any item.

If you want it, buy it...if its a lemon IMMEDIATELY return it, don't wait for miracles. Again mine is perfect and personally know a few others that bought it and works great and issue free for them also.

 

In my experience, the only people not having problems with the L521x are those who don't ever use the GPU and don't have great internet access so they don't notice the poor Wi-Fi performance. Everyone who has gone through the effort to test the throttling has found the same results.

 

i can say with confidence that mine doesn't have poor wifi. I pay for 20/5 internet and that is what I get whether I am 5 feet from router or 30-50 feet away.

 

on an unrelated noted my WEI graphics score went back to 7.1 with the lated nvidia drivers.

 

Hi all,

I am considering buying a refurbished l521x from the outlet service and am wondering whether anyone who did this experienced the Wifi issues talked about.

I realise it is a bit of a double edged sword. Returned laptops are more likely to be problematic (especially so if the wifi issue does not affect all products), while you could also think a refurbished laptop would have this problem fixed ...

Any anecdotal evidence would be great. Here is the link: http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=7&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh

Many thanks!!

Edit: Here is what an understanding sales rep has told me,

 

I would not take anything a sales rep says on faith.


Sent from my brain using neurons fueled by glucose

 

I'd be quite interested in your test results. Can you post them up on the site?

 

I wonder if it's safe to pre-order one of the XPS 15s that they pre-loaded with W8. If you buy an XPS 15 right now, it shows that it comes with the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 w/ Bluetooth 4.0. However, if you go to pre-order one of the systems with W8 pre-loaded onto it, it instead shows it coming with a "Dell Wireless 1901 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v4.0+HS."

I wonder if that means the systems will no longer have wifi problems once they start shipping out with W8 and the different wireless card.

 

I'll let you know November 5th when mine arrives, just pre ordered tonight Was tired of sitting on the fence, and really like the look and specs of this refresh.

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good luck pusta!

 

Did you tested it for LAN transfers? This is a 802.11n wireless card so it must achieve results way better than 20/5.

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Yes, that is the max my ISP gives me. My lan and wifi are the same speed.

 

I'm glad you don't have WiFi issues, but you don't understand statistical mathematics. A 20% poll sample showing a 90% positive is quite overwhelming.

 

this is a highly concetrated forum. Bet you that number would be completely different if it were taken on Dell.com

 

I was actually talking about transferring files from one computer to another. No ISP related.
What happens if your ISP starts offering a 100M connection, like some of the users have?

If the laptop fails to achieve a 300M speed(approximately ) when transferring files to another wireless device, then it is a defective laptop. I know we don't need all that speed most of the time, but the computer must reach those speeds anyway. They are selling us that. The fact that we don't use it doesn't make the problem go away.

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