Dell XPS 15 review: A bigger version of the best PC laptop

Dell has taken the best 13-inch laptop on the market and made it bigger.

Read the whole story

 

[SimonW]

hausjam[/url]":1vov4sz9]

My main complaint is bluetooth. Just like the macbooks I have had, a bluetooth mouse is unusable if your wifi is over 2.4ghz. It's jumpy and stutters constantly. Which means I am stuck with a dongle in one of the usb ports. Which sucks if you are copying data from one external drive to another (and hate touchpads like I do). I tried replacing the DW card with the intel card. Bluetooth usually fails after a while requiring a driver reinstall. Then it fails again.

.

Maybe swap out the Dell proprietary wifi/BT card for the Intel 8260 - it solved the mouse lag I'd also been seeing

 

[knolf]

hausjam[/url]":3k7uplel]I bought the higher end option from the microsoftstore. I had all kinds of problems with bluescreens, driver crashes, hanging on the restart screen, hanging on the bios screen. I was this close to sending it back, it was utterly unusable. Then I decided to just wipe and reinstall windows with drivers from support.dell.com. Haven't had a single issue since. Completely stable. So much for "signature edition" (I had similar issues with the SP4 and wound up returning that one)

Those complaining about the keyboard must not be used to modern island style keys. I have one on my desktop, and I can type fast on the xps15 also.

My main complaint is bluetooth. Just like the macbooks I have had, a bluetooth mouse is unusable if your wifi is over 2.4ghz. It's jumpy and stutters constantly. Which means I am stuck with a dongle in one of the usb ports. Which sucks if you are copying data from one external drive to another (and hate touchpads like I do). I tried replacing the DW card with the intel card. Bluetooth usually fails after a while requiring a driver reinstall. Then it fails again.

The only other issue is battery life. I was going from 100% to ~50% in about an hour before I reinstalled windows. And that's just browsing/email/file explorer, nothing strenuous. After the reinstall, it's looking like it will get 4-6 hours on a charge. Not great. But acceptable.

Overall, it's a nice machine. But worth $2100? I kinda don't think so.

Yeah, the battery life is not great with the 4K screen. I also have the 18000 mah dell battery ( power companion ) . Gives me around 50% more battery time.

 

[DrPizza]

donrhummy[/url]":3aogmpy8]4.4 pounds (or even 3.9 for the lightest underpowered version) is *not* "light weight". Lenovo's X1 Carbon with the same i7 and 16GB RAM weighs 2.4 pounds, or half the weight of this laptop.

The new (4th generation) X1 Carbon starts at 2.6lbs and only has 15W dual core/four thread processors. Its screen is also an inch and a half smaller, and tops out at just 2560x1440.

 

[knolf]

Wickwick[/url]":2xbi0f7s]

DrPizza[/url]":2xbi0f7s]Interestingly, the XPS 15's basically identical corporate brother, the Precision 15 5000 series (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... =bsd&cs=04) offers even faster processor options, and has the 32GB RAM available now.

I see that option as 2x16 GB DIMMS. Is that all the motherboard offers? Are 32 GB DIMMS of that size a thing? My next computer needs > 32 GB RAM.

The new precision workstations with mobile xeon go up to 64 GB. Pretty much same form factor as the XPS 15 but with the quadro nvidia GPUs.

 

[zbmott]

I think McAfee software should be in the "Bad" category rather than the "Ugly" category.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Any reported issues with coil whine? I've got the previous XPS 15 and it's got slight whine while plugged in and charging.

 

[knolf]

dowloaded gfxbench 4 and ran some benchmarks on my XPS 15

1080p manhattan off screen 161 fps
1080p T-Rex offscreen 301 fps

manhattan onscreen 53fps
T-Rex onscreen 59fps

I did the onscreen tests connected to my external display ( 2560 x 1440 )

GFXbench reported that 960m was being used.

 

[IsbellDL]

Others, such as 3DMark and Cinebench, default to the discrete GPU.

Those Cinebench R15 OpenGL scores look like they were using integrated graphics, not the discrete GPU. I have a laptop with a GTX 660M that scores 60 on that test. The GTX 960M should be higher.
Edit: Now I see that addressed later in the article.

 

[slaingod]

My experience with my 1080p Dell XPS 15:

* Wifi Drivers are terrible. They are some Dell specfic Broadcom chip mess that has all kinds of problems. They prevent the device from sleeping properly. Sometimes the WiFI device gets so borked it doesn't show up in UEFI(bios) as a device
* Keyboard is nice except that there is plenty of room for the PageUp/Down, Home/End keys, but aren't included and having to reproduce then with the Fn key is a bad experience.

 

[DrPizza]

knolf[/url]":2h4na0qj]dowloaded gfxbench 4 and ran some benchmarks on my XPS 15

1080p manhattan off screen 161 fps
1080p T-Rex offscreen 301 fps

manhattan onscreen 53fps
T-Rex onscreen 59fps

I did the onscreen tests connected to my external display ( 2560 x 1440 )

GFXbench reported that 960m was being used.

I wonder if having an external display helps out somehow. Which driver set did you use?

 

[genekellyjr]

If you watch GPU-z you should really be able to tell what's going on (which GPU is in use/if it is being fully utilized).

Additionally, I had a 750M laptop and on battery power the 750M would rocket down to minimal clocks (also visible in GPU-z) and never boost up.

In the Heaven benchmark from Ungine the scores went like this:
Ungine Heaven 4.0 - DX11 / High Quality / Moderate Tess / x4AA / 1366x768 / Full Screen
750M plugged in (1058 MHz core, 1250 MHz mem) - 758
750M on battery (135 MHz core, 203 MHz mem) - 113
Intel HD 4600 on battery - 247

I could definitely see Nvidia matching later Intel iGPU's by getting more "forced low power" performance in their later models so performance doesn't at least regress compared to the iGPU on battery.

Check GPU-z as you do those tests, you can definitely see if it is stuck in a low power mode for some reason. Or at least see if you only get like 15% utilization.

 

[snob dobbler]

You've sold me...Macbook Pro it is.

 

[knolf]

DrPizza[/url]":ljoew22i]

knolf[/url]":ljoew22i]dowloaded gfxbench 4 and ran some benchmarks on my XPS 15

1080p manhattan off screen 161 fps
1080p T-Rex offscreen 301 fps

manhattan onscreen 53fps
T-Rex onscreen 59fps

I did the onscreen tests connected to my external display ( 2560 x 1440 )

GFXbench reported that 960m was being used.

I wonder if having an external display helps out somehow. Which driver set did you use?

I use the latest Dell drivers

960m : driver version 10.18.13.5894 - 9/11/2015
intel HD 530 : driver version 20.19.15.4331 - 20/11/2015

I did the test again on the internal screen at 4K resolution

manhattan onscreen : 59fps
manhattan 1080p offscreen : 120 fps

trex onscreen : 59 fps
trex 1080p offscreen : 305 fps

I ran them all at once now, fan kicked in during first test , maybe some GPU throttling.

 

[knolf]

snob dobbler[/url]":3g65wf89]You've sold me...Macbook Pro it is.

The existing 15 inch or the to be relased 15 inch ?

 

[KissMyBigFatArs]

Peter,

It bears mentioning that the USB Type-C connector is indeed the connector of the future rather than the present. CES not withstanding it's quite difficult to find accessories that leverage this connector. Notably Dell released the PC before the accessories. And at least one user (my mother) has had plenty of pain with the graphics driver on the 2nd gen XPS 13 when trying to use an external display.

I'm still in love with this design (have the first-gen XPS 13 myself) but USB Type-C w/TB3 etc is still having teething pains.

 

[RainerD]

Alyeska[/url]":3sze9sij]Good looking laptop. Shit keyboard. I'm getting real sick and tired of compact keyboards when there is plenty of room. Laptop that size has room for a 10 key.

I agree 100%. I have an XPS13 and am willing to put up with the keyboard because it is small.

Dell should have put in a better keyboard instead of just re-using the XPS13 one. Take a look at Lenovo, they to great keyboards, and their arrow keys are full sized along with PgUp PgDn.

Why when arrow keys are some of the most commonly used keys are they so small on most laptops?

 

[MrHasselblad]

iOSecure[/url]":3mu4j7pm]No SSD at $1,000 is ridiculous in 2016, even if it was a lower end one. Hard drives are always a major point of failure in laptops...

Hard drive failure; in most Dell (and Alienware) yes - happens with those two more than most other laptops.

I have platter hard drives on three separate laptops that have never lost one single item, have yet to go bad. Two of those laptops are the first editions after Pentium 4 chips, the remaining one is a server which has been run continually for over two thousand hours.

If one actually takes care of a laptop one can easily expect it to last over five years

 

[MrHasselblad]

icwhatudidthere[/url]":3bwkuamk]Any reported issues with coil whine? I've got the previous XPS 15 and it's got slight whine while plugged in and charging.

Still does it on the model series pictured in this article

 

[Boskone]

phuul[/url]":2d4i3rev]

Boskone[/url]":2d4i3rev]The main thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on one is the lack of a 1080p model with SSD and the larger battery. I'd much prefer the additional runtime over extra pixels which IMO aren't terribly useful on a15in screen anyway. Nice, yes, but not as advantageous add they'd be on a 17in laptop or 24in external display.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-9550-la ... ?ref=PD_OC

Maybe I'm confused but don't all the base models start with the 1080p screen? The only one with the larger battery is the one starting at $1780 but it has the 1080p screen and a SSD.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-9550-la ... 550-laptop

I probably overlooked it because of my own unwillingness to pay that much for a laptop; assumed it was QHD and didn't check.

So I guess I should amend to add "and not nearly $2,000".

 

[OrangeCream]

Quality isn't cheap.

 

[reitwagen]

DrPizza[/url]":1vo44nkk]

dave_pn[/url]":1vo44nkk]

Alyeska[/url]":1vo44nkk]Good looking laptop. Shit keyboard. I'm getting real sick and tired of compact keyboards when there is plenty of room. Laptop that size has room for a 10 key.

Yeah, one of the first things I thought of looking at the KB/trackpad layout was, why not include the numpad? Plenty of room on the sides, wasted right now. Great job shrinking the bezel for the display; please work on the input next, Dell.

Number pads on laptops are garbage, because they push the keyboard off-centre. I don't care how wide the laptop is; keep the keyboard in the middle.

The keyboard is still crap. I'll give you the 10 key for a centered layout, but it really could use dedicated Home/End/Pg up/Pg dn keys. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 13" did this well with a column of dedicated keys on the right side of the keyboard. I don't know about everyone else, but it drives me bananas having to press Ctrl+Fn+<Left Arrow/Home> just to get to the top of my document. Selecting text with Ctrl+Shift+Fn+<Some Other Button> is downright maddening!

 

[some guy in San Diego]

KissMyBigFatArs[/url]":1e9yeoiv]
I'm still in love with this design (have the first-gen XPS 13 myself) but USB Type-C w/TB3 etc is still having teething pains.

Yeah, I plan on getting the Thunderbolt 3 dock as soon as it's available (because I'd rather plug in one thing when I put it on my desk, not 3), but for now I've grabbed a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter from Monoprice because Dell's 4K monitors don't seem to wake up from sleep (or being disconnected/reconnected) properly when connected via anything other than DisplayPort.

 

[GoneTomorrow]

Rold Gold[/url]":1naokv6l]FWIW, my config is:
- i7, 16GB memory, 512 ssd, 1080p non-touch screen, 84 Kwh battery

You must be getting weeks on a single charge with that config!

 

[y2k_se]

Finally, the XPS 15 comes with two different battery sizes. There's a 56Wh battery and a whopping 84Wh option. Both are the same size (this isn't one of those "fattery" options that makes the system bigger), though the higher capacity unit is a bit heavier.

This isn't true. While it doesn't change the external dimensions, the 84Wh battery is wider, thereby consuming the space reserved for internal 2.5" bay. This is one reason the NVMe-equipped models get the 84Wh battery.

 

[gagaga]

some guy in San Diego[/url]":1ydop03m]

KissMyBigFatArs[/url]":1ydop03m]
Dell's 4K monitors don't seem to wake up from sleep

FTFY.

Re the XPS 13/15: Dell, thank you.

 

[Rold Gold]

mike8675309[/url]":1xsgmjnd]

Rold Gold[/url]":1xsgmjnd]

- WiFi adapter occasionally is not functional when waking from Sleep or Hibernate. Sometimes when I power up the device, the wifi is not engaged, and toggling airplane mode or any other radio mode on/off doesn't seem to help. I'll reboot when this happens, and it might take a 2nd reboot to actually get the wifi adapter to reactivate. I didn't have this kind of issue with my older xps 15 - perhaps this model has flaky drivers?

I blame windows 10 for that. Started happening on a old Dell Latitude I upgraded to Windows 10 and I've seen it on others. How often it occurs is very random. Next time rather than a reboot try this:
Bring up the Network and Sharing Center
Choose the Change Adapter Settings
Right Click the Wifi connection and choose Diagnose

Whatever washing machine routine that goes on during Diagnose will usually resolve my problems on old and new laptops.

Good advice, but unfortunately that doesn't help in my experiences with this laptop. If this issue would occur on my older xps, yeah - that would fix it. But this machine, whenever the wifi adapter isn't working not even a Diagnose fixes it. It's like it can't even find the wifi adapter. Very odd behavior.

slaingod[/url]":1xsgmjnd]
* Wifi Drivers are terrible. They are some Dell specfic Broadcom chip mess that has all kinds of problems. They prevent the device from sleeping properly. Sometimes the WiFI device gets so borked it doesn't show up in UEFI(bios) as a device

Sounds like that might be what is happening with mine.

 

[some guy in San Diego]

gagaga[/url]":lfab5i67]

some guy in San Diego[/url]":lfab5i67]

KissMyBigFatArs[/url]":lfab5i67]
Dell's 4K monitors don't seem to wake up from sleep

FTFY.

Connecting via DisplayPort definitely fixed the wake-up issue on my P2715Q for me. Would have just lived with it until the Thunderbolt 3 dock got here, but spending less than $30 on a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter and a DisplayPort cable was pocket change compared to the cost of the XPS 15 and the P2715Q and eliminated a lot of hassle.

 

[DrPizza]

y2k_se[/url]":qvccqd5v]

Finally, the XPS 15 comes with two different battery sizes. There's a 56Wh battery and a whopping 84Wh option. Both are the same size (this isn't one of those "fattery" options that makes the system bigger), though the higher capacity unit is a bit heavier.

This isn't true. While it doesn't change the external dimensions, the 84Wh battery is wider, thereby consuming the space reserved for internal 2.5" bay. This is one reason the NVMe-equipped models get the 84Wh battery.

Sorry, I mean both systems are the same size.

 

[ampet]

knolf[/url]":12x0l6b7]

hausjam[/url]":12x0l6b7]I bought the higher end option from the microsoftstore. I had all kinds of problems with bluescreens, driver crashes, hanging on the restart screen, hanging on the bios screen. I was this close to sending it back, it was utterly unusable. Then I decided to just wipe and reinstall windows with drivers from support.dell.com. Haven't had a single issue since. Completely stable. So much for "signature edition" (I had similar issues with the SP4 and wound up returning that one)

Those complaining about the keyboard must not be used to modern island style keys. I have one on my desktop, and I can type fast on the xps15 also.

My main complaint is bluetooth. Just like the macbooks I have had, a bluetooth mouse is unusable if your wifi is over 2.4ghz. It's jumpy and stutters constantly. Which means I am stuck with a dongle in one of the usb ports. Which sucks if you are copying data from one external drive to another (and hate touchpads like I do). I tried replacing the DW card with the intel card. Bluetooth usually fails after a while requiring a driver reinstall. Then it fails again.

The only other issue is battery life. I was going from 100% to ~50% in about an hour before I reinstalled windows. And that's just browsing/email/file explorer, nothing strenuous. After the reinstall, it's looking like it will get 4-6 hours on a charge. Not great. But acceptable.

Overall, it's a nice machine. But worth $2100? I kinda don't think so.

Yeah, the battery life is not great with the 4K screen. I also have the 18000 mah dell battery ( power companion ) . Gives me around 50% more battery time.

I honestly don't get the obsession with HUUUUUGE battery life*. Most of the time, you don't need to be disconnected from the mains for more than a few hours (and when you do a "power companion" comes in handy), 480 minutes of battery life with light work (let's say 400 with regular work?) is still around 7 hours. But you get a 4K screen, which would mean probably less fatigue... at least *if the screen were matte*. To me, the real issue is that the high-resolution screen is glossy. The fact that a 4K screen can nearly halve the battery life is a decent compromise, and we're still talking about almost a full work day.

I guess it's one of those "peace of mind" things, knowing that you could be all day working on your computer without worrying about it dying on you, but...

* : to me it seems something more dictated by reviewers' usage of their laptops. Meaning, people "on the move" often having to track events away from the workplace and from a power socket for days at a time. How many of us have such requirements?

 

[boidsonly]

I purchased the reviewed model, though mine came with the 1Tb PCIe SSD. It had some issues with Windows 10 that subsequent updates fixed and several issues with drivers/BIOS but they have all been addressed/corrected. There is some red shift when viewed off angle. The obvious lack of ports hurts if you need more than provided but the EXPENSIVE dock can fix that.
Aside from some occasional QA issues like wonky space bar, touch pad inconsistencies and rough edges, it is a well done laptop. I suspect it all boils down to whether you win the defect free lottery or not.
In my case, I lucked out....

 

[BobsYourUncleBob]

Rold Gold[/url]"tt15u6t]

mike8675309[/url]"tt15u6t]

Rold Gold[/url]"tt15u6t]

- WiFi adapter occasionally is not functional when waking from Sleep or Hibernate. Sometimes when I power up the device, the wifi is not engaged, and toggling airplane mode or any other radio mode on/off doesn't seem to help. I'll reboot when this happens, and it might take a 2nd reboot to actually get the wifi adapter to reactivate. I didn't have this kind of issue with my older xps 15 - perhaps this model has flaky drivers?

I blame windows 10 for that. Started happening on a old Dell Latitude I upgraded to Windows 10 and I've seen it on others. How often it occurs is very random. Next time rather than a reboot try this:
Bring up the Network and Sharing Center
Choose the Change Adapter Settings
Right Click the Wifi connection and choose Diagnose

Whatever washing machine routine that goes on during Diagnose will usually resolve my problems on old and new laptops.

Good advice, but unfortunately that doesn't help in my experiences with this laptop. If this issue would occur on my older xps, yeah - that would fix it. But this machine, whenever the wifi adapter isn't working not even a Diagnose fixes it. It's like it can't even find the wifi adapter. Very odd behavior.

slaingod[/url]"tt15u6t]
* Wifi Drivers are terrible. They are some Dell specfic Broadcom chip mess that has all kinds of problems. They prevent the device from sleeping properly. Sometimes the WiFI device gets so borked it doesn't show up in UEFI(bios) as a device

Sounds like that might be what is happening with mine.

It certainly can't patch a broken driver, but If you enjoy a slightly deeper dive you might appreciate the level of detail available through Process Explorer which is available discretely or as one component of the far more comprehensive Sysinternals Suite (which I can't speak to comprehensively).

Process Explorer can often clear issues quickly & easily through restarting a specific errant process/service. While it's unlikely to offer a full-on fix for your circumstance, the detail available may help to isolate the cause more definitively.

It appears that Microsoft's most recent update of these utilities was Jan 6, 2016.

 

[eggie]

DanNeely[/url]":2gxp3gqd]

The RAM is socketed, and in principle, both the RAM and the storage (whether hard disk or solid state) can be replaced. You'll have to do an awful lot of disassembly to do so, but the option is there if you want it.

Am I missing something. I looked at the service manual; and it appears that if you unscrew the bottom cover the ram, ssd, hdd, etc are all there and readily accessible. A dozen screws on the bottom might be on the high side of normal; but it looks like a simple and strait forward job to open it up and replace stuff.

You're right on, Dan. Swapping just the 2.5" isn't as quick as with older Dells, which let you pull it out the side after removing 2 screws. However, everything you mention (and wifi card, IIRC) is available as soon as the lid's off.

 

[eggie]

ziegler[/url]":3ckpjiev]

DanNeely[/url]":3ckpjiev]

The RAM is socketed, and in principle, both the RAM and the storage (whether hard disk or solid state) can be replaced. You'll have to do an awful lot of disassembly to do so, but the option is there if you want it.

Am I missing something. I looked at the service manual; and it appears that if you unscrew the bottom cover the ram, ssd, hdd, etc are all there and readily accessible. A dozen screws on the bottom might be on the high side of normal; but it looks like a simple and strait forward job to open it up and replace stuff.

Does it use torque drivers? I wager it does, which most people dont have. Heck, I know lots of techs that still dont have a set.

It uses both Torx & Philips, and I can't recall where each applies.

Torx drivers aren't that hard to get. Home Depot sells a perfectly adequate driver for $6.

 

[eggie]

zbmott[/url]":xj6ykis1]I think McAfee software should be in the "Bad" category rather than the "Ugly" category.

Let's list it both places, just to be sure.

 

[drod_mex]

I just returned my XPS 15 back to Microsoft Store. I got the "loaded" version, i7, 16gb, 960M.

I just could not put with a few annoying issues, for a 2K laptop. it is possible it is due to my ignorance on how to fix them.

1. first, the keyboard. from the second day, the space bar became a bit flimsy on the right hand size. I type maybe above average amount and I don't think I am aggresive with the keyboard. I was not comfortable hitting at the keys, specially not confident this keyboard would last me beyond six months.
2. Nvidia driver kept crashing if you dare to update the out of the box version. specially for Photoshop and LIghtroom. if you rolled back and force Nvidia to take over those programs it was usable. but still having bad drivers in a 2k machine not something I am willing to cope with.
3. the CPU will be limited to non-turbo after being awaken from sleep. if you wanted the CPU to use Turbo, you had to power down fully and restart.
4. screen will randomly change intensities and color temperature. I am guessing there is an option somewhere, but I did not want to be distracted in the middle of "content creation".

It is a nice machine, and being 45 watts meant freedom from self-imposed power limits; but I think I will explore a similar specs somewhere. In fact, I Am puzzled how ASUS puts out the same specs-machine for 1499 instead of 2000. I never owned ASUS so maybe I Am mixing apples and oranges. And of course, I feel tempted to see what Apple rolls out with the MacBook Pro refresh.

 

[Hamilcar]

The entry-level machine actually looks surprisingly reasonable.
The $1200 version gives you an i5 and the discrete GPU, which isn't a terrible deal, either.

While I loathe standard hard drives, the fact that Dell gives you a "32GB SSD" + the hard drive in all configurations (without a large PCIe SSD) is a far better situation than not. Happily Win10 is a bit more svelte in the install size department.

I don't think I can handle a Dell laptop keyboard other than the Latitude style, however.

 

[steelgrass]

Boskone[/url]":2u8chl0t]The main thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on one is the lack of a 1080p model with SSD and the larger battery. I'd much prefer the additional runtime over extra pixels which IMO aren't terribly useful on a15in screen anyway. Nice, yes, but not as advantageous add they'd be on a 17in laptop or 24in external display.

If it's not there it will be soon enough. Dell sells the same chassis under at least 3 different names: XPS, Precision, and soon Latitude. In Australian dollars a UHD XPS with 16Gb is $3000, and a near identically configured Precision is $5000. The main difference is you get to customise the Precision, where the XPS sells only in fixed configurations (although I've found persistent begging can get you small changes). If past behaviour is anything to go by the Latitude version will come in near identical configurations to the XPS 15, but they will be customisable and higher than the XPS 15 in price.

At times it seems like they make it deliberately confusing.

 

[BobsYourUncleBob]

eggie[/url]":szxjopr7]

ziegler[/url]":szxjopr7]

DanNeely[/url]":szxjopr7]

The RAM is socketed, and in principle, both the RAM and the storage (whether hard disk or solid state) can be replaced. You'll have to do an awful lot of disassembly to do so, but the option is there if you want it.

Am I missing something. I looked at the service manual; and it appears that if you unscrew the bottom cover the ram, ssd, hdd, etc are all there and readily accessible. A dozen screws on the bottom might be on the high side of normal; but it looks like a simple and strait forward job to open it up and replace stuff.

Does it use torque drivers? I wager it does, which most people dont have. Heck, I know lots of techs that still dont have a set.

It uses both Torx & Philips, and I can't recall where each applies.

Torx drivers aren't that hard to get. Home Depot sells a perfectly adequate driver for $6.

This being Dell, the screw heads have been designed to employ 2 different bit sets; the 1st bit for setting screws & a 2nd counter-sunken bit set for screw removal. Each respective bit set incorporates security feathering to enable only 1 direction functionality for each bit set.

There is, of course, a Dell Licensed Proprietary Exchangeable-Bit Driver to handle the job but ... a couple extra steps are required as well:

- when setting screws, the technician must recite a passage from the Necronomicon in ancient Greek.
- when removing screws, this same passage must be recited in reverse, but it must be spoken in Arabic;
(the language of the origin text, The Al Azif, from which the Necronomicon was translated).

(Advice: if you're observing while someone else conducts the screw removal/re-setting, do not stick around to witness what happens should either recited passage contain even a modest mispronunciation!)

Spoiler

(Look, Dell takes this proprietary stuff almost as seriously as Apple!)

(While the tone of the above post is admittedly a tad snarky, I sincerely believe the directions & progress taken by Dell, at least in its consumer lines, to be really quite impressive, admirable & sets a worthy example for their competitors to follow. Now if they'd just stay clear of bloatware, DRM & pointless proprietary "pretty much anything".)

 

[BenC77]

hausjam[/url]":1oa41vch]
My main complaint is bluetooth. Just like the macbooks I have had, a bluetooth mouse is unusable if your wifi is over 2.4ghz. It's jumpy and stutters constantly.

I got my XPS 15 this week and had the same behaviour with my MX 2 Anywhere mouse.

But after reading some other sites, I turned off 'Bluetooth Collaboration' within the WiFi driver settings as it was reported this was the root of the problem. Since then I've not had any issues with my mouse.

 

[BenC77]

phuul[/url]":miybynk3]

Boskone[/url]":miybynk3]The main thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on one is the lack of a 1080p model with SSD and the larger battery. I'd much prefer the additional runtime over extra pixels which IMO aren't terribly useful on a15in screen anyway. Nice, yes, but not as advantageous add they'd be on a 17in laptop or 24in external display.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-9550-la ... ?ref=PD_OC

Maybe I'm confused but don't all the base models start with the 1080p screen? The only one with the larger battery is the one starting at $1780 but it has the 1080p screen and a SSD.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-9550-la ... 550-laptop

The same options for 1080p, SSD and larger battery now apply in the UK too - however these options were only added yesterday to the site yesterday I believe.

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd