XPS 18: 18" <5lbs tablet

The i5 vs i7 pricing has always been like that at the Outlet, hence the reason most people who know so, don't buy the i5. It was brought up a month or so ago here. The i5 is just priced poorly at the Outlet.
There are no coupons for it right now as if there were, you'd bet there wouldn't be any i7's at the Outlet. $1149 is an OK deal for a refurb, but $800-$900 is even better when a 20-30% coupon is available.

You have to be quick on the coupons to snag an i7.

After "playing" with my i7 for a few weeks, I think it's time to sell it. I picked up an i7 XPS 13 with 1080p and it rocks.
Not looking to make any profit on the XPS 18, per se, so if anyone is interested in one with SSD upgrade, stand and case, shoot me a PM. I bought it with a coupon so the cost is relatively low.

 

Still anew news about a Haswell version of the XPS 18? That's what I'm waiting on before I take the plunge...

 

Last I read/heard was around the holidays.

 

And Outlet versions, if that's what you want, would likely trail that by a couple of months...

Glad I pulled the plug now then. Haswell would be nice, but I'm really enjoying my i7.

 

There's another i7 listed now for $1099 on the Outlet store. It says "scratch & dent" while the one that's $1149 says "certified refurbished". Personally, wouldn't go anywhere near the scratch & dent one just to save a few bucks...

 

Not for 50 bucks, I agree. I have recently bought some S&D XPS 2710's that were at TREMENDOUS savings and there wasn't a scratch or dent on any of them. So, it's definitely a gamble!

 

I'd love to buy a XPS 18 but I really want to wait until Haswell because the battery life will be much better. I want to be able to use it for a good 4-5 hours before it needs to be recharged. Isn't the 3rd generation models only yielding about 2 hours on battery?

I can't wait to buy one and I hope the Haswell models come out soon. Too bad they are taking so long to update.

 

I have XPS 18 Core I7 (12Gig memories, 32 Gig mSATA catch, 1TB/7200RPM HD. Playing DVD rip on it with screen brightness 60%, Bluetooth and WIFI on it last 3H45M with 12% battery remain.
I also buy HP ENVY Rove 20-k014us (Screen 1600x900, thick and heavy compare with XPS 18). Core™ i3-4010U. I do the same (play DVD rip and same setting as on XPS 18). It last only 3Hrs and 10% battery remain. I had to return it to HP. So the Haswell CPU does not give me any advantage in term of energy saving as I am expected.

 

new to this, when i took my 500 hdd out to clone it was not recognizable (using acronis) ..i am assuming the intel rapid start encrypts the drive? the msata had about 8gb on it, again, i assume there's a startup partition on that? I would love to clone my current hd as it is all set up..it looks as if there a raid type setup with the 32gb cache+500 (from the factory)

any further insight to this would be most appreciated!

 

Since the Dell original HD is UEFI system disk. You need Arconis 2013 (UEFI Disk supported) to clone it.
what I do :
- Remove Dell HD and put it to USB 2.5" external case.
- Put HGTS Travel Star 1TB 7200rpm in place of Dell HD.
- Plug in USB port on XPS 18 the 2.5 external drive as source (Dell HD in it).
- Plug in USB port on XPS 18 the external DVD drive (with Arconis disk in it)
- Turn power on XPS 18. Press F2 until enter BIOS.
- Go to boot then turn off Secure Boot. Save and reboot.
- Press F12 until go to boot menu then select boot from external DVD drive.
- Wait until Acronis menu appear then select 1.
- when Arcronic loaded. I can make clone disk from here.
I go back bios and turn on Secure Boot after I was success cloned and booted with new HD
Since the new disk is larger capacity than the original . So the Intel rapid application is no longer catch the HD with 32Gig mSata. But I can set it to catch again by deleting 32Gig mSATA disk volume then open Intel rapid application (an icon on task bar lower right corner) and set it catch again with new HD.
If you want to know more about Windows 8 UEFI here the link:
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with

 

Mighty kind of you! Thanks!!

 

My tried and true method also uses Acronis 2013, but made a bootable Acronis USB flash drive (Acronis 2013 has a function to make the USB drive), and using a spare desktop PC I connect HDD's and SSD's to the desktop SATA ports and plug in the bootable USB drive and boot right to Acronis.
I do a CLONE, and after a few minutes, it's done! The destination disk is bootable (just like the original) and works great. Very easy this way.

 

have had much experience with this method with other computers, especially laptops...but never cloned win 8 yet..(started with ghost when it was still israeli), the issue i have ...when i remove the drive (500gb)..it shows up as a "foreign" format...the only device available (even booting with the acronis 2013 recovery disk) seems to be an 8GB partition that shows as iswstripe raid partition...i have the 32 cache module and intel rapid setting on (i believe from the factory it was set up this way)

 

Wish I could help you out. When I moved to using my mSATA drive, I just installed a fresh copy of Windows 8 on there. The only thing you need to be conscious of there is to make sure that you have all of the drivers downloaded from the Dell site, and if not all of them, at least grab the SATA one (so Win 8 install can see your drives) and the network one (so that when you are back up and running, you can get the rest of your drivers).

 

I've noticed that if I take out a HDD that is being cached with the 32GB Intel mSATA SSD, that the drive appears corrupted. That is because the Intel SSD does contain unflushed drive data. Before removing a cached HDD, I turn off the caching feature using the Intel RST app and then remove and clone the HDD.

 

will try...thanks!

 

i have a couple of licenses for pro...but really want to clone as is...spent a couple of weeks setting it all up..i wish i found this forum when the unit first came

 

Your XPS 18 does have the product key in the BIOS, so if you do wind up installing clean, it will just set you up with the standard version (non-pro). At that point, you could use one of those Pro keys to upgrade (go into Add Remove Windows Features in the Control Panel).

 

thank you


so has anyone taken a stock setup, cloned the 500 to a 256 msata and booted? it is a matter of just changing it from a uefi boot to achi?

 

After cloning the Dell original 500gig hard drive to 256Gig mSATA. You have to remove it (Dell HD) in order tablet boots from mSATA. After it boots successful then you can put back the Dell HD. (The UEFI bios has learn new boot scheme from HD:1 (mSata) first, so next time It will boot from mSATA). The reason for doing this, because when you remove boot scheme from original set up to AHCI. The 2.5" SATA is HD:0 and mSATA is HD:1. When tablet boot up first time it will check order HD:0 then HD:1. If you have Dell original in HD:0 it will boot it up . As you know that DELL original HD has WD8 system on it (WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER). By removing it the tablet will boot from HD:1 (mSATA).
In Bios:
-Set SATA OPERATION --> AHCI
-Set INTEL RAPID START TECHNOLOGY --> DISABLED
I hope it help.

 

Should I be seeing any type of data files on the 32gb ssd?
I see recycle bin and system volume info as hidden folders but nothing else. And the drive size never changes.
If this is supposed to be caching things you would never know it.
I need to install a drive monitor to check I/O activity to know if its being used but for now its just an empty drive.....????

And the cooling on this thing is terrible. Wow this thing gets hot. Doesn't take much at all to shoot it up to 60-70C

 

You didn't have bitlocker turned on did you?

 

didn't even think of that, but i don't think so, when i got it, i turned it on and followed the dell startup registration process

in fact the first thing i wanted to do was clone it as it came out of the box, but only could see the 8gb msata hd

after i used the recovery discs and got the new 256 msata booted, put the 500 back in via a usb-to-sata adapter cable and when i look at the partition, it reads "GPT protective partition"

 

Does anyone have any news about an Haswell upgrade for the XPS 18. If it comes out before the precision M3800 and get a more decent graphic card, I take it.

 

big difference to boot off ssd

using 512gb ocz4 as boot with 256 msata as a scratch/data disk

very snappy now

 

I too would like to know when the Dell XPS 18 will be upgraded to the haswell chipset. I am waiting on this update before buying... but am following this thread in order to see what issues people have been having with applying their own updates to the hardware platform.

Personally, I would like to see Dell offer the following additions to the platform
- dedicated graphics card with dedicated ram - *though this would probably cut into the time the battery lasts a good bit for the higher end cards*
- 256GB MSata option
- 256 GB SDD secondary drive option (to replace the 500 GB HDD)
- HDMI out
- at least two additional USB 3.0 ports (for a total of 4)

I hope that Dell is not going to wait until the end of the year for this update. If they can get this update done and advertised soon, they could capitalize on the 'back to school' market that is 'heating up' now that schools/colleges are starting up for the semester (at least in the us)

anyways, if anyone else has any info on when the expect to have the haswell refresh out, please post it .. ))

- also,I wanted to thank everyone in this thread that has been posting what they have to do to manually change out the drives and get the machine back up and running. I am sure that if dell doesnt make any changes (besides haswell update with the intell video card update that comes with the chipset) , then this info will be extremely useful to me when I try to swap the drives out -

Distalnak

 

Someone mentioned earlier that a tech told them October/November for Haswell. I just chatted with a Dell rep and it looks like it might come out with win 8.1. So that's not until mid October...

 

It is possible that they may wait until 8.1 is released, but I hope not.

After reading your chat-log, I got the impression that the Dell rep could have been saying that they will be releasing the XPS 18 with Windows 8.1 preinstalled on it when 8.1 is released. It also could just mean that they will be releasing the xps 18 with haswell before then and then updating their preinstalled OS load with 8.1 when it comes out.

I am hoping that Dell would update the hardware platform before October, but you never know. With all of the companies reporting a major slump in the PC sales area, Dell could just be biding their time.

(Of course, if they were smart, they would go ahead and update it and release it as soon as they could in order to capitalize on the unique platform that they have developed. I work in an IT shop and I have been told that when I do get one in, many of my coworkers want to see it because they might want to order one for themselves. Especially if it works as well as expected after the Haswell upgrade. If this is a 'trend' with people that see it & if there are as many waiting for the Haswell chipset update as I suspect, then it could be a big help to Dell's revenue stream.)

 

The Dell rep said in the chat the process is still under testing. Any ideas what "process" refers to here?

 

Dell rep might have meant that the "testing process" is still under way or that they are still establishing their process for selling the new platform - they may be working out what different hardware packages that they are doing (what cpu with what size drive, etc) .. dunno, but I am anxiously awaiting this update to hit the street )

 

256GB Msata as scratch disk is a bit much for a scratch disk, isnt it? lol

 

I guess there's been a bit of a run on XPS 18's in the outlet store. NONE are currently available, not even the lowly Pentium versions. Guess some people got some good back to school prices!

 

just checked and there were 7 in there today (about an hour ago).. one I7

 

Interesting... Dell is announcing some more haswell updates on Sept 12th... nothing about XPS 18 but they may slip it in there with the others... dunno, we can hope.

Dell's skinny Latitude Ultrabooks get Haswell boost | News | TechRadar

 

I have been watching this model for a while, was really waiting for haswell but couldn't pass up an i3 outlet deal. With coupon and all I got a i3, 500gb, 4gb model for about $650 out the door so can't complain too much. It arrived today and ive put it through its paces a bit. Still running stock so far, at least.

The screen is gorgeous. Its huge for a tablet, exactly what I wanted size wise. Its actually quite easy typing on the on screen keyboard.

I picked up the dell case, its a neoprene slip case with a handle, not terribly impressed. Thinking about getting the Poetic case, anyone have experience with it?

One thing I noticed that has me bugged.. I never noticed this on a store model, don't know if its common or just on this one being a refurb and all. When you first boot there is some light bleed along the lower left edge. If you push in on the screen there the bleed gets worse. Pushing in along the edges of the screen will show a little bleed. Once its booted there is no noticable bleed at all and the screen is fantastic... although if your in a dark app you can see slight bleed on the lower edge near the left side. I'm thinking this may be why it became a refurb. Anyone else see anything like this with theirs?

 

Congrats on your purchase! I have the i7 version and have modded it (you can see my earlier posts), but the stock setup is pretty good too. Regarding the light bleed, I notice it on the lower right on mine, similar to what you described, but it rarely becomes significantly noticeable to me.

 

Yea, light bleed is fairly common with IPS displays, its just something I always look for... for some odd reason. I had really planned on getting an i5 haswell but at effectively half the cost I couldn't pass it up. Thinking of putting an SSD in it, primarily to increase battery life. Curious about the internals... there is an slot for an mssd I believe, is that just for caching or can you install a mdd as a 2nd HD there, if you swap the primary HD for an ssd as well?

Have you tried the poetic case on amazon? really curious how useful / annoying it is. The dell slip case doesn't protect the screen enough for me.

Thanks,

 

I'm pretty satisfied with the case. My only complaint is there's not opening for the SD card slot.

Tony

 

A couple quick questions...

When I first booted my xps 18 it asked if I wanted to make restore media... I chose remind me later. Where is the program that generates these? I'd like to generate a restore disk in prep for swapping in an ssd.

Second, anyone noticed the battery life difference with an SSD instead of the HD? Looking to increase my performance and squeeze a bit more battery life out if possible.

Thanks,

 

Whats the likelihood they will increased the display resolution of the XPS 18? I want to buy a larger tablet but want at least a 2560X1600 resolution...

Are there any other tablets larger than 18" with a better than 1080P resolution? I need more vertical pixels...

 

There aren't a lot of choices for greater than 1080p resolution in the windows tablet world yet, although there will likely be more in October when Windows 8.1 comes out with better desktop scaling of high resolution displays.

Wanting a larger tablet also limits your options, most tablets on all platforms are in the 7-12" range. There are some 13" convertibles and 2-in-1s in the PC world, but if you want larger than 13" your really limited to the HP Rove, Sony Tap 20 and XPS 18 and of those three the XPS is in a class by itself (literally) as far as weight and portability. The tap 20 is also limited to 1600x900 resolution.

So if you want a tablet that's greater than 13" the only viable option IMO right now is the XPS 18. Hopefully they will refresh it with a haswell chip and a higher res display, although they may be slow to add the hires display to keep the price affordable on this niche model machine they are trying to grow a market for.

 

Is anyone using the pentium version? I can get a new one for around $550. I wouldn't be doing cpu intensive stuff on it. Just wondering if it lags at all. I have a Samsung ATIV 500T that runs pretty smooth for basic tasks and the Pentium processor on the XPS 18 has a passmark score of 1677 vs only 679 for the Z2760 in the ATIV. The ATIV also only has 2GB ram. I was planning to crack it open and put a 128GB SSD in there to boot from and perhaps a 1TB drive as well.