XPS 15's everlasting coil whine

Dear Dell and community members,

With this post, I would like to express my displeasure about Dell's handling of the XPS 15's coil whine issue. I would like to start a conversation about this persisting problem and I truly hope that Dell will engage in the discussion as well. My goal is to really urge Dell to find a real solution for its customers.

I have bought the new XPS 15 9560 (512GB SSD, 16GB memory, 4K) and I have been using it for some weeks now. I like the machine as the screen is great, the touchpad is really good for a Windows laptop, it is quiet on idle, and most importantly it handles all tasks well. However, I have noticed the common problem that when the AC adapter is plugged in and the battery is fully charged, there is an annoying high pitched noise (coil whine) coming from the upper left area of the keyboard. I found out on the internet that many other people have the same problem and that it even exists for a few years meaning that the issue hasn't been tackled with the introduction of new models.

It also became clear to me that none of the threads I read contained solutions that worked for a majority of the XPS owners who also had the coil whine issue. Therefore, I decided to contact Dell Netherlands (as I bought my laptop there) in the hope that there would still be a solution to the problem. A really nice and friendly guy tried to help me but also he admitted that it is a common problem and that no true solution exists. Some customers decide to replace the motherboards or power plug, however, many times the problem persists. He explained that it is normal in the case of the XPS 15 to hear the coil whine as an "electric signal" is traveling through the motherboard. I would say that the design of the motherboard is therefore deficient as it allows the coil whine to be, in some cases, loud enough for the users to be heard. Replacing the motherboard wouldn't therefore guarantee that the issue would be solved.

I find it hard to accept this conclusion. Of course I realize that this product is mass produced and that therefore some machines might be faulty and that they can be replaced or fixed through warranty. And I also know that complaints on the internet don't necessarily represent the experiences of most users. However, this issue really seems to be caused by a lack of dedication from Dell's side to listen to its customers and actively search for a solution.

As you perhaps know VP General Manager of the XPS Frank Azor frequently replies to tweets from users who have questions or complaints which I really appreciate. Recently, a guy called Mike asked him on Twitter: "Hi Frank, could you please tell me if your guys are really working on the widespread xps coil whine issue as I have been told?" Frank then answered: "Yes, we recognize some systems suffer from this, we will fix and/or replace and new designs are addressing to prevent” (see here: https://twitter.com/AzorFrank/status/832235472067948546). Apparently, the issue is so serious that new designs address the issue which is of course a good thing. While Frank might be really speaking the truth, to me it sounded very familiar. The same issue people experience today was already reported in 2013 by the Dell Community concerning the XPS 9530 (see here: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19536279/20581724). In 2014, Patrick Leimbert kept asking Dell on Twitter whether they already fixed the issue as Dell responded every time by saying that the engineering team is looking into it (see here: https://twitter.com/pleimb/status/446253568627326976). Now it is 2017 and it seems that the engineering team hasn’t been very successful as the latest model of the XPS 15 still has the issue.

Therefore, I very much doubt whether there is any truth to the story that there will be new designs that will address the coil whine issue. In fact, it sometimes seems that Dell says things to its customers to try and keep them happy without really searching for a solution. For example, someone said on Reddit: “They're sending an engineer to my house to replace it with "a new design of motherboard that will solve the problem"” (see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/5styjq/xps_15_9560_high_pitch_noise_coil_whine/), which would be strange as the laptop has only be launched one/ two months ago meaning the engineering team has been working on a new design in the past weeks while it didn’t succeed in finding a solution in 2013, 2014, 2015, or 2016 when the issue was also known.

I merely would like to hear a sincere response from Dell, are you really going to address the issue by making new motherboards or are you still replacing motherboards with the same ones in the hope that it will solve the coil whine issue? What can I expect as a customer? If there are really new motherboards being designed, when can I expect them?