XPS line 4th gen Intel Haswell 2013 Refresh?

I'm really looking forward to some WiFi test results once owners start getting their new XPS 15's. The new Inspiron 15 7000 appears to have similar wifi issues to the L521x. Hopefully the XPS 9530 will be different.

 

Los Angeles here, just got a Shipped notice. Ordered on 10/28/2013, due 11/6 (two days, yay!!)

 

That's great news. I ordered mine on 10/28 also. Here's hoping that the Canadian orders start shipping. On the Dell.ca site, nothing has changed, however, if I click on the order number, it says that I can't get more information because of system maintenance. It's been like this since at least last Saturday.

 

Ordered on the 22nd from Toronto, still hasn't shipped, yet I've been able to get more information, seems like a glitch with your order?

 

Hmmm. Thanks for the info. I just tried again, and, on the English side of the site (I was looking on the French side), and I see the order details.

 

Question for you all please.


Given the widely documented product design problems with the L521X and the contempt with which Dell treated the buyers, why are you queuing up to buy this refresh model unseen and unreviewed?


I’m not trolling here, I’m genuinely interested in the thought processes going on.

 

Florida, ordered 10/21 shipped 11/4 via 2nd business ETA 11/6. Yeaaaah!!

 

i ordered (NY) on October 18 early AM and still nothing. Hopefully ships soon

 

I bought and returned the 521 so I haven't really had a replacement in the meantime, I'm sure others are on the same boat


Also, Dell has a pretty good return policy so there isn't much to lose. Plus you don't know when reviews will even come out. For example these are already shipping but there are no reviews yet. You would think professional reviewers would have gotten them in before now

 

I've been without a personal laptop since my m1530 died 7months ago. That machine was a work horse. Had it for years doing video and photo editing. Hope this will be the same and not another L521x.

I purchased because I love dell xps line and hope that they learnt from their mistakes on the L521x. If not there may be a class action. I looked at the manual when it became available and like what I saw. The dual fan design seems to be a step in the right direction so I pulled the trigger and did not wait for a review.

I have been using my work devices t520 , x1 carbon and Ipad since m1530 died. Can't wait to get back to the XPS.

 

I ordered early AM on the 18th mid level and still no shipping. Wonder why later orders are shipping first?

 

The reviews will come out when XPS15 9530 will be really available, until now no one has had a unit except a user that has a test unit of the twin Precision M3800.
The launch was probably very early on the actual availability, maybe just to anticipate rMBP updating and this explain why there are no reviews.
I really don't understand why the owner's thread is already started without no one has in his hands his XPS...

 

Early days but are there any specs for the built in hd? I'd like to replace it ASAP with an SSD but need to know if it's one of the really small 5mm (like the new inspirons) or fairly normal 7mm ones

 

Valid question, the lack of reviews certainly isn't the best situation, but I guess its down to trust and the personal situation. Many of us here are likely Dell fans and possibly even have several years of loyalty to Dell regarding their products, so that goes in Dell's favour.

To help my decision, I reviewed the specification documentation and looking at the changes made, mentioned above. One being the dual fan system, (throttling being one of the major problems plaguing the previous design). The other being WiFi. Again your right, no one will know for sure until they actually use it in a production environment if this has been fixed. I would like to think the changes to the chassis material and such will help, and the fact there is no dedicated Ethernet port (Of course there is the RJ45 - USB Adapter), you have to have some confidence that its primary connectivity method is solid.

My main reason for me however buying before reading reviews, is because my XPS 15z is now starting to hold me back. Arguably, a XPS line model released in 2011 already being made obsolete in two years is certainly not ideal, and to be fair that would be a tad harsh statement, it is certainly a very nice laptop and will continue to serve me for a bit longer and probably someone in the future if I sell it on. It is however, two generations behind in terms of processor and GPU spec, I could upgrade the hard drive to a SSD for a speed improvement, but that would only be a stop gap, I'd be still stuck with a Dual Core Sandy Bridge processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 525M GPU, which I'm starting to hit the limit of with the increasing demand I put on my systems.

I could of easily bought a system other than Dell, however I was holding out for the new XPS 15 line to be announced, at that point I would make a decision as to what my upgrade path with me. After seeing the XPS 15 specs, there isn't much else on the market now that could rival it, aside from the Macbook Pro, but I have no intention of switching to OSX. So I guess the waiting I'd done so far for an upgrade, made me jump quicker than I might normally do.

The final point in our favour, is the return policy. I believe the customer has 30 days from receiving their order to send it back without question for a full refund, yes it would be an inconvenience to the customer, however, a pretty safe fallback if it doesn't work out I'd say.

I generally have trust in Dell, and that they have learnt and listened to consumer feedback over the years to improve their products. Time will tell when us "risk takers" receive their orders!

 

It's only a minor correction, but officially the clock on the return period actually starts ticking at the moment the computer is invoiced, in the US at least. That is when it is handed off from Dell to the shipping carrier. Sucks that you lose out on a few days of the return period from shipping, but c'est la vie. Usually not a big deal.

 

Please post some WiFi test results when you get your XPS 15 9530. I just picked up the Inspiron 7537 (15 7000) and it has the same WiFi issues as my old L521x. One room away from my Belikin N750 and I'm getting maximum of 25 Mbps down on 2.4 GHz. My L521x with a 7260-AC card does the same 20-25 Mbps max on 2.4 GHz. My old XPS m1530 with a draft-N 4965AGN does 60 Mbps down (capped internet max) consistently in the same spot on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Dell sure didn't learn from their mistakes on the L521x enough to not repeat them with the new Inspiron 7000 series. Let's hope for better from the XPS 9530. Especially given the price, lack of ethernet port, and marketing it as a Precision workstation!

 

Thanks for pointing that out. I guess its a similar point to the Warranty, I noticed its started counting down from ship date.

 

Exactly. It seems weird, but honestly makes sense when you really think about it.

When I worked there I remember a handful of nuts who had a 1 year warranty but demanded free warranty support almost 2 years after shipment because they claimed they had waited almost a year to open the box. Very similar situations with people wanting free returns way way past when it should be allowed. Dell has to protect itself somehow I suppose.

 

Maybe it's because the new Inspiron seems to use the old chassis of L521x

 

It's not the same chassis. It's a similar design, but has a lot of differences. Still it's definitely likely that all of the aluminum used in the design of the laptop is attenuating WiFi signals at the antenna, vs. speculation of unshielded USB 3.0 ports on the L521x raising the noise floor. The WiFi antenna for all three (L521x, 7537, and 9530) is under the plastic LCD barrel hinge. I'm really curious to see how the 9530 performs on WiFi since it's still a very similar design to both the L521x and 7537.

 

Just got shipping email. Ordered from Los Angeles, 10/28 and scheduled for delivery on 11/7. The estimated delivery date was 11/22 so that was a surprise.

Also got the late 2013 rMBP and can't wait to compare these 2 side by side and which one will end up getting returned.

 

anyone know when xps13 will be available for ordering?

 

I ordered on the 22nd and still no shipment, anyone have any guesses as to when it'll start for Canada?

 

According to Microsoft Store, the XPS 13 release date is 12/6.

Buy Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook, Core i5 - Microsoft Store

 

If the wireless is a problem, I have one of these lying around and since it had 4 usb ports it'll hardly make a difference.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-7...1276&sr=8-3&keywords=Wireless+adapter

Also, order shipped (just left manufacturing)! I ordered it in the 30th as well in the UK so it doesn't seem like order date matters much.

 

Shipped! Ordered the 1st day. Arrives in Ohio on Thurs..

 

For me Dell has used the same chassis, the image seems enough clear:

Review Dell Inspiron 15-7537 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Review Dell XPS 15 (L521X) Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Obviously they have changed something, but the result, despite they have used ULV CPU, specially for throttling seems the same of L521x, on high load the CPU remains on 1.5GHz.





I would like to ask if it's possible to replicate the function ALT + code typed on numpad on XPS15 keyboard, in some way because there is no numpad.

 

That might also be a placeholder date. Or the Microsoft Store could be getting it later than the release by Dell themselves. In any case, it seems strange that there would be a definitive date there with Dell saying nothing.

 

Mine is arriving on Friday (Melbourne, Australia) but thinking of returning it due to personal issue. Anyone know a Dell return policy? Do I have to pay for a restocking/shipping cost? If I do, might as well try to sell it or something

 

Would be disappointing if true since Dell has only mentioned a November release. I need a new laptop and have already waited over 6 months for this one to be released as I need to replace my M1330.

 

I've needed a new laptop for like 2 years, and been laptop-less for a year, 6 months is nothing

 

I'm in Canada and my XPS 15 with 512GB SSD (placed Oct 18) was confirmed as shipped Nov 6 but doesn't provide an ETA it just says 'order shipped'. My Dell XPS 1640 Studio croaked a couple months ago so pretty pumped for a new XPS even though worried about the wifi and throttling concerns

 

I own both an L521x and a 7537 and have disassembled both. I can assure you that they are not the same chassis. While both have a similar chassis design machined from a large piece of aluminum, with a separate bottom plate, none of the parts are compatible. It's like saying a Toyota Corola and a Honda Civic have the same chassis because both use a steel uni-body style construction. None of the screw holes are in the same places, the interior layout is different, the ports are all in new locations, the LCD bezel is different, the hinges are different, the keyboard is different, the 7537 lacks the silicone coating on the top, the 7537 uses a plastic base with a smaller plastic bottom cover while the L521x has a single base plate which is both plastic and metal covered in silicone, etc.

If you read the article on the 7537 you will see that the throttling they experienced was due to the max TDP of the CPU being set wrong in BIOS. They adjusted the value with an intel utility and the issue was resolved:

However, this changed after about 30 seconds of load. We observed a clock rate drop to 1.8 up to 1.9 GHz although the temperatures were not critical (single-thread test: 2.5 to 2.6 GHz). This naturally affects the score negatively. The Turbo was only maxed out partially in other benchmarks as well. The reason for this problem that occurs in both AC and battery mode will presumably be found in the BIOS. According to Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility, the CPU's TDP has apparently been incorrectly set to 10.5 watts, which would be a logical explanation for this behavior. The clock rate and performance climbed to roughly the expected level after we manually set the correct 15 watts (Cinebench R11.5: 1.32/2.71 points)

 

Boo! I was expecting my XPS today, but checked on the order today to see it has been delayed to 11/11 (Monday). No explanation.

 

A little birdy dropped this off today.

My first thoughts:

Looks nice, feels premium.
Trackpad is nice.
Speakers are pretty good!

Anyone have questions?

 

Battery?
Which spec?

 

Its the highest spec one, so the 512GB SSD and the large battery.

 

Congrats on your new machine!

When closed (clamshell), can the screen-lid be opened with one hand easily (similar to MacBooks)? Also, if you can report some battery life estimates that would be awesome too.

Thanks

 

If you try to open it completely with one hand the bottom will lift with it, but you can open it about an inch before that happens, so its not really a problem.

 

How big/heavy is the power brick? Can you show a pic of it with respect to something else to show the scale?

 

Here you are, I've included the XPS501X Power brick as well as a galaxy nexus for comparison

Sorry for the crappy pictures, im rushing...

 

Thanks for posting that pic, that's a slick power adapter for 130W.

The big question a lot of m3800 prospects have is did they remove the 2.5 HDD sata connector in the space where the larger battery, 91Whr, occupies?

If you could pop open the back and take zoomed in photos of the bottom right where the battery overlaps the 2.5 tray, I think a lot of people would appreciate it.

Thanks!

- sent via mobile -

 

I can't do that one tonight as i just realized it uses torx that I dont have! So I will post that request tomorrow morning.

Edit: Nevermind. I found the torx but they shipped it to me with one of the screws stripped. So im sure someone else who receives it tomorrow can provide that, sorry!

 

Thanks for the pics I'm glad to see they didn't cheap out and actually provided a slimmed down model like the Blade 14

How much bloatware did Dell install with this years model? Wondering how much time a guy would need to strip it down or if they kept things to a minimum

 

Yep, its pretty nice. It feels solid even when I pick it up with one hand. and its about as thin as my Sony Vaio Z.

As far as bloatware goes... it doesn't look like much, at a quick glance i see some mcafee crap, my dell, pocketcloud, office trial, amazon/kindle apps, so yeah I don't think it would take much.

Here is a bonus pic of it on top of a Dell l501X



And one compared to the Vaio Z

 

Yes!! What do you think about the fan noise?? (Especially under considerable load, if you've taxed your machine that much already).

Thanks, and enjoy your new XPS!

 

So far I can't really hear any fan noise, but i have yet to really put it under any load, I will first thing in the morning through.

 

Does a SD card stick out on the side while plugged in? If it does could you provide a picture?

 

Anyone test the Wifi properly?

 

Then I need to pay tax twice I think - doh! What kind of mail forwarder are you talking about?