Dell XPS 15 L521X Owners Lounge

[Brian]

FYI Dell has a 20-25% off outlet sale going on all home laptops so I snapped up the following for my gf with the 640M + blu ray. There's also a $50 off coupon floating around that stacks with it so you can save even a little more. I realized this after I had already purchased it so it's a bit too late

XPS 15 Known Issues

• Newest bios causes GPU throttling in favor of CPU speed. Old bios does the opposite.
  
• Wireless signal is weak with these systems.
  

Hoping @svl7 and @Prema will be able to help with some bios modding to get rid of the throttling.

Service Manual

• ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_xps_laptop/xps-15-l521x_Owner%27s%20Manual_en-us.pdf
  

Videos

http://youtu.be/eaorXn27D_U

[svl7]

Is that a Phoenix bios?

[Brian]

Not sure but it probably shares the same bios as the Alienware minus the performance options. The interesting part is that the old bios throttled the CPU in favor of GPU performance and their newest one throttles the GPU in favor of CPU. So I'm sure you or Prema could probably look at both and figure out a way to remove the throttling completely. Hopefully @Mumak can get HWiNFO working with it so the fans can be cranked up to full when gaming. I'll likely open it up and repaste with ICD 7 when it gets here. To solve the wiring issue, I might take the display bezel apart and re-route the antenna for better signal gain.

[svl7]

Do you have a bit more details about 'old' bios? Which version behaved how? I found some information on the Dell site, but the more you can give me, the better.

It's an Insyde bios, should be possible to unlock the menus I guess, I'll look into it once you have the system. Let me know when you get it.

[Brian]

@svl7 it seems that bios A09 is the one with UEFI and also responsible for introducing GPU throttling at 80C. Prior versions like A04 did not have GPU throttling but did have CPU throttling (which people got around using ThrottleStop).

[svl7]

Well, ok... that post you linked isn't really informative Once you get it start a game, log the stuff and let me know what happens, then we'll see what can be done about it.

The GPU shouldn't get up to 80°C in the first place...

[Quix Omega]

I had several of these over a few months this summer while Dell tried to actually find one that would work properly. Any Bios newer than A04 throttles the GPU in favour of the CPU and A04 runs the GPU at full boost and throttles the CPU to 1.2Ghz (at least the quad core unit I had). I also had problems with the screens, lots of dead pixels and overall poor screen quality, the Wi-Fi performance ranged from bad to totally unusable (Apparently different units are worse than others). Additionally I had issues with build quality, all but one had at least one part of the system that was not assembled correctly, including one where the touchpad was unusable because it was installed too far to the left so it stuck down after every click.

That's the troubles I had with this thing, I'm sure there are some people who didn't have as many issues but I eventually just gave up and they gave me a full refund (after two months).

As for heat, I saw some ridiculous temperatures. The cooling system is just not powerful enough for the components in the system. It's all cooled by one tiny fan and it vents directly into the back of the screen cover. I've seen it get to 95C on the CPU and 85 on the GPU at the same time.

Who knows why I bought another Dell after this, there just wasn't anything else that interested me. Haven't had any issues with the Alienware, except that it shipped out missing a screw that I've since installed myself. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't disassembled it to repaste it.

[Brian]

Yeah I've read of some problems with the XPS 15 as well. Hopefully the one we purchased doesn't suffer from the same problems but if it does, I'll just return it and grab a Samsung Series 7 or maybe MBP.

[Michael]

Didn't you have a xps 15 and had to return it due to overheating issues?

[Brian]

That was the XPS 15z an older model. It was built completely different than this one. The biggest problem seems to be the WiFi with this new XPS 15 so once it gets here I'll test it out and see how bad it is. If it's unusable, I'll ask for a refund and get her something else. The problem is that apart from MBP Pro with Retina ($2500) there is no real viable alternative. I played with the Samsung Series 7 yesterday at BB and wasn't very impressed with it. All the Lenovo's feel cheap so the only other choice is Precision M4700, which is very nice, but it is a bit too heavy and bulky.

[Michael]

why not the m14x ? too heavy ?

[Brian]

Yeah M14x is around 6.5lbs vs 5.8 lbs for the XPS 15 and 0.6" thicker (which is a lot). Also has a smaller screen with lower resolution (900p vs 1080p) and the design is too flashy. GPU performance is about the same too as long as I revert the XPS 15 back to its A04 bios and use throttlestop. Like I said, the biggest failing of the XPS 15 seems to be its wireless capability since the aluminum shell is insulating it. I might take the display cover off and attempt to re-route the wires under the system near the vent to get a better signal. Most people that are whining about the system are noobs that run to Dell if a bsod happens.

[Michael]

@Brian, just so you know me and @svl7 are running bets on how fast it will take you to return it for a refund

[Brian]

Haha we'll see I guess. Alienware is out of the question so I've exhausted other possibilities besides biting the bullet and spending $2500 on a MBP Pro with retina or going for a bulkier M4700. GF is pretty stubborn too, I found her an MBP + retina here locally for $1700 and she didn't want it because of warranty (it had like 5-6 months left).

[Michael]

yeah but if you're going precision then the m14x isn't out of the question too...

[Brian]

M14x is out because its too small with a crap display and flashy. It's not a good fit for a female med student rounding at a hospital. My top pick was an Asus N56VZ but they discontinued it once they realized how much it was selling at such a low price--fuckers.

[Michael]

matter of taste i guess.. but it costs half of the precision and probably also weights less. Matter of priorities, i agree. Hope you sort out the XPS wireless issue and that would be it.

[Brian]

Ok so who won the bet? I cancelled the order before it even arrived

[Michael]

We both did haha. None wanted to bet you would stay with it

[Quix Omega]

Good, the last thing anyone needs is a notebook with horrible overheating problems.

I think it's not quite time for these thin, powerful computers. Maybe Haswell will run cooler.

[Brian]

Well I did get a thin notebook, just not the XPS 15. Grabbed a Sony VAIO S 15.5" with 1080P IPS + 640M LE. So far there are no real reported issues with it and the build quality is quite good. Some of the guys are matching 650M or higher performance with bios unlock.

[Quix Omega]

That should be a good machine, I took a look at one but since no one has figured out how to flash the ones that ship with secure boot with 3rd party bioses I decided against it.

I give svl7 a good chance of getting it to work. The Insyde recovery flash should work on that too, I'm pretty sure it's an Insyde bios.

[Farissi]

Hello, I am about buying the new dell xps l521x but I do not know if it's a good choice or not.

There are several problems that has been posted in forums regarding this laptop like the computer overheating and the touchpad issue

Does anyone know if those problems has been fixed yet, and do advise me to buy this computer or wait for something new?

Thanks in advance.

[Brian]

Hello, I am about buying the new dell xps l521x but I do not know if it's a good choice or not.

There are several problems that has been posted in forums regarding this laptop like the computer overheating and the touchpad issue

Does anyone know if those problems has been fixed yet, and do advise me to buy this computer or wait for something new?

Thanks in advance.

My advice is to avoid any Dell consumer notebook (except Alienware) for now. The Precision series is of course excellent but their Inspiron and XPS lines have too many problems with huge oversights in quality control and design. The XPS 15 L521x has unresolved wifi issues (that cannot be fixed without a re-design due to the lack of proper RF shielding), throttling and subpar display panel with gridlines in it. If you are searching for a new 15" notebook, the best one on the market IMO is the Sony VAIO S 15 with the 1080P IPS. I just got done playing with a bunch of them today and the Sony was by far the best.

Samsung also has their Series 7 Chronos with new AMD cards coming out soon which are a close competitor but I still think Sony is better than Samsung overall.

[Farissi]

My advice is to avoid any Dell consumer notebook (except Alienware) for now. The Precision series is of course excellent but their Inspiron and XPS lines have too many problems with huge oversights in quality control and design. The XPS 15 L521x has unresolved wifi issues (that cannot be fixed without a re-design due to the lack of proper RF shielding), throttling and subpar display panel with gridlines in it. If you are searching for a new 15" notebook, the best one on the market IMO is the Sony VAIO S 15 with the 1080P IPS. I just got done playing with a bunch of them today and the Sony was by far the best.

Samsung also has their Series 7 Chronos with new AMD cards coming out soon which are a close competitor but I still think Sony is better than Samsung overall.

Thanks Brian for your quick reply, it's so sad to hear that, the DELL XPS L521x design is one of the best designs i ever seen so far on a laptop, I don't want to invest a large budget on a computer that I do not really appreciate his design.

The Sony VAIO S 15 design is not really so attractive, can you tell me please how bad the DELL XPS wireless problem is? i can't understand why DELL continue producing this model of XPS if they have wireless issues, they was out of stock this last days and now they are available again for sale, maybe this issue was fixed ? what do you think?