Major Issues & Problems with Dell XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook Tablet?

I have exactly the same problems on a refurbished XPS, I expect Dell to fix these issues asap.

I had the same problem with the screen brightness for a bit until I went into the advanced settings in the power options. There is an option called "Enable Adaptive Brightness" under "Display". If its on Yes it will set the brightness on depending on the environment. I of course turned it off and now I have it max brightness all the time.

1 & 2. Had problems like you describe. Downloaded and installed from Dell:
Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software
Version A02
Driver ID: X1R1D

This fixed the behaviour dramatically, but WIFI still occasionally drops out when the signal gets weak. So not completely fixed.
I'm assuming this is largely a Windows 8 compatibility problem, and future drivers will fix any remaining bugs. The reason I assume this is because I have Windows 7 running on my XPS 12 too on a separate partition, and have not once had problems with the WIFI when in Win7 (which makes up about 70% of my overall usage).

3. Got the latest drivers from Dell for the touchpad:
Cypress Touchpad
Version A04
Driver ID: 5F5M0

No problems at all with the touchpad since, although I don't recall ever having any major problems like you describe.

4. Settings > Change PC Settings > General > Screen > Adjust My Screen Brightness Automatically (set this to off)

5. Never had a problem with screen rotation

Overall I love my Dell XPS 12 - although I'm still unimpressed by the problems it initially had (and still has to a degree). A machine this expensive should work like a dream straight out of the box (which it clearly doesn't). To me the main problems lie in bad driver development for the components. I guess manufacturers aren't used to building drivers for Windows 8 yet.

#4, screen brightness, was fixed. All other issues, however,  still remained and by now I spent many days &  hours with Dell support.  The Support engineers were great & knowledgeable but still could not fix the issue. My XPS 12 is being returned to dell and I am waiting for refund.

I agree with Sannin, given how much they charge this machine should be perfect out of the box. In my case, even all of the latest drivers would not fix my wireless, trackpad, or screen rotation issues.  If the wireless was stable, I could live with the other issues while they fix them.I paid too much to deal with so many issue.

I think Dell should have offered to have this machine with Windows 7 while they are working out on the Windows 8 issues, but that was not an option. :(

I am back to researching which Ultrabook to get, once I get the refund.

i have had 3 Dell netbooks 2 of them all of them had some type of issue 2  was connectivity and one the screen has bad pixels that developed after a year or 2. non of them crash but they are buggy i would try the same unit from a newer batch or something else entirely. 

I had the MB, WiFi, and Screen replaced by Dell tech and it still has major problems staying connected and that's after another dell remote connection has numerous changes to the WiFi adapter settings.  It still disconnects when move the screen sometimes and always when you close the lid regardless of power and windows settings.  But more importantly is the frustrating screen brightness.  Why should plugging in my laptop; drop the screen brightness to 30% and make ibt basically unseable untll it's full charged?  When I unplug the Dell it goes back to 100% brightness but this is no way to run a laptop forcing screen brightness to the minimum while it's charging which is the normal state when using it and plugging it in at while sitting at a desk.  I can't wait 4 to 5 hour for it to fully charge and then return finally to full brightness this is crap they way it's designed.  When I unplug the charger the setting is identical to the minimum setting when you press the function key and F4 all the way down to minimal brightnesss.  That's nuts.  That's wrong and never had a laptop do this!!  Crazy.

Totally unacceptable that charging forces the minimal screen brightness.  IF thye had to put such a tiny adapter to charge battery that they require minimizing the screen brightness in order to charge it then shame on them that is bad bad bad bad bad engineering!!

Last Dell I will buy.  Ever.

That's a shame wowlife.

I love my Dell XPS 12 - easily the best machine I've ever used and I find the engineering to be top notch.

I experience none of the problems you've outlined so it seems like there is something seriously wrong with yours!
Pretty crazy to get all those components replaced instead of getting given an entirely new machine. Was that yours or Dell's decision?

The brightness problems can probably be fixed in your settings - though i'm sure you've Googled and tried all of this:

http://www.howtogeek.com/107173/disable-windows-8s-adaptive-brightness-to-fix-dark-screen-problems/

If none of that works then yes, there is a fault. But that is exclusive to your broken machine and not representative of all Dell XPS12 machines.

Cheers,

Peter

just for the WiFi problem:

had same issues when using Windows to manage WLANs. no more problems since using Intels WiFi Connection utility 

(you need to install WiFi driver customized to add this)

hope, this helps in your case, too

Hello,

I was experiencing the same issues as you describe in 3.

I could solve it like this:

In Cypress Trackpad properties, turn "palm rejection" off. I had exactly the same behavior as you describe. And since I disabled palm rejection, the trackpad is working as it should.

I'm interested to know if it works for you as well.

François Vermaut

Hello,

How to access to Cypress Trackpad Properties?

Please let me know how step by step.

Thanks

Papa

Worked perfectly...Thanks!

I have  an XPS12 (new) purchased in August of 2013. it worked fine until I upgraded to windows 8.1 from 8. it then started doing exactly what you described. Infuriating! Dell support had me do a factory reset- problems continued, last week the screen went blank, when I ran a diagnostic it said 'no harddrive installed" I wound up having to send it to Dell, and they replaced the hard drive free of charge since its still under warranty. I got it back yesterday.  It appears to be working fine so far- however, it came with windows 8 installed, and now I'm afraid to upgrade to windows 8.1.

Hello,

On the 11th of March I received my new Dell XPS 12. I looked forward working with this device, however, I encountered many problems with it...:

- BATTERY: It looks like the battery is 'leaking': when the battery is fully charged, and the system has shut down, the battery doesn't show a 100% charge the next time the system is launched.

- BLUE SCREEN: I've had 4 blue screens with KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR in one month and the system needs to reset.

- SLEEPMODE: When the system goes into sleepmode after a period of non-activity, the system doesn't wake up proparly when I want to use my device again. This mainly occurs when the charger is plugged in. I need to do a hard reset by holding the power button for 10 seconds and then the system restarts.

- TOUCHPAD: when i want to go to the desktop mode from the windows screen by moving my cursor towards the desktop app with the touchpad, other apps open spontaneously. I need to close them everytime, to have access to the desktop mode. This only happens when the system just has launched. Switching from desktop mode to the windows screen doesn't generate this problem.

- SCREENROTATION: When I flip the screen, it doesn't rotate proparly. The auto-rotate sometimes doesn't register that the screen is flipped. Can I solve this by installing a proper driver?

I was also looking forward to get my hands on this device and work with it. Considering it's price and interesting design, I shouldn't be dealing with so many problems with a brand new system.

I would appreciate any comment or help.