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Upgrading an XPS L702X to Windows 10, a report
I have installed Windows 10 and I don't like it. My feedback follows (a section about drivers is further below).
General impressions
With time going by and with the various versions since Windows 95, users have been having less and less freedom when it comes to customizing the system. Windows 10 is no exception to that: "customizing the system" has never felt so much of an oxymoron.
The light gray color of the title bar of windows stays the same whether a window is active or not. And you can't change the color. And this is one thing among a myriad: the small task bar icons (40% smaller, ballpark figure) that can't be made bigger or that will **also** change the size of the text, the white line pictographs, the varying sizes of "live thumbnails" in Alt+Tab, etc. I don't find my way through this system and I just don't get what Microsoft is up to changing everything for the sake of changing: Windows 10 restores the oh-so-logical left-aligned window titles whereas in 8, they claimed centered titles made more sense, Aero came with Vista and saw its last days with 7. The classic window frame is now gone and replaced with a one-pixel wide line surrounded with exterior shadow, like on a web page. Yuck. It's all trivial but it's very telling as to Microsoft' replicating the "we know better" attitude of other consumer companies. I know some will say "does it matter?" but if it were so anecdotal, why was it there in the first place? and isn't it still useful to some? It's like screensavers, you know. Unless we are all to have the same taste and needs, like identical robots.
What I hate the most is the slowness, ie the fact that yesterday, with the same laptop, peripherals and components, it took me 45 seconds to reboot the laptop to the login screen. Now, it takes almost 4 minutes (3:40)! (Yes, it felt so long that I clocked it.) That includes a one minute period during which the screen is just black and nothing happens: no disk drive noise, no activity on the screen, no fan turning faster, nothing. Just nothing.
Everything is slower, even opening the WiFi networks panel is. I feel like I'm back to Vista. I now have 33 seconds to hibernation and 35 for resuming. That's 50% more than with 8.1 when I had even more programs opened.
.NET apps that I've launched (Altaro BackupFS, Countdown timer) feel more sluggish.
It's too phone/tablet oriented; just see the notification center or the settings window. We were used to icons, which helped find one's way quickly, now it's all monochromatic pictographs with greyscale text.
And the fan is constantly turning even when the CPU usage is under 4% (like when writing this post with no other program than Firefox running).
And I'll probably restore the Windows 8.1 system since I took the precaution of saving it using CloneZilla (but I'll probably be nagged by GWX.exe, the Get Windows X executable). To those who are having cold feet trying Windows 10, I've read today that downgrading is allowed by Microsoft but I don't know whether it's handled by a tool of theirs.
The good thing with upgrading was that everything (except Classic Shell, which was removed in the process) was kept as-is whereas after upgrading from 7 to 8.1, I had to reinstall all programs in Program Files. I have not seen any problem in any program except Process Explorer, which had some columns simply vanishing from the set of columns while being reported in the settings as visible. Also, the mousewheel is now working in lists (such as that of the default application per filetype) of system windows and dialogs. No search box paradigm (ie search boxes to filter lists and windows) implemented though.
About drivers
With the exception of the touchpad, the drivers were all the same before and after the upgrade.
The touchpad still can't be disabled :-) even with the latest Synatics driver from August 2015. Pointer inertia has also not returned.
When resuming from hibernation, only the laptop's screen was reactivated: the external monitor hasn't been, which forced me to go to the screen mode (replicate, extend, etc. – of course, much slower too) and switch to replicating the laptop's screen to external monitors before switching back to extend again. Of course, the layout of windows is screwed.
The webcam works, at least in Skype.
On resume from hibernation, the external speakers are **sometimes** (I don't know exactly how often) not reactivated and sound comes from the laptop speakers, which is precisely the problem that the very driver which I installed from Realtek two months ago solved after the upgrade from 7 to 8.1. Worked flawlessly on 7, didn't work at all on 8.1 then started working flawlessly again two months ago with the new driver, then no longer works. Go figure. [UPDATE: when resuming from suspend or hibernation, with a speaker jack plugged in through the process, sound comes from both the laptop speakers AND the external speakers.]
Last Dell machine, for sure. I can't understand the lack of support for such expensive machines. 8.1 was out in October 2013 and there was already no continued support for a laptop I had bought in November 2011. The attitude is unacceptable, all the more when on many systems including the L702X, most current drivers are drivers built for Windows 7 (and timestamped 2006!) and the driver model is said to have not changed in the last 4 iterations of Windows.
Hope this helps someone :-)
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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August 22nd, 2015 15:00
There is an easy means of changing the colour and multiple personalisation options... in Windows 10. Go to Start...
Select personalisation:
Select the Background Tab and select the background picture you want:
Next go to the colours tab.
Disable Automatically Pick an Accent Colour and select the desired colour....
Enable show the colour on Start, Taskbar and Action Centre and enable make Start, taskbar and action centre transparent if desired.
Then you can change the Lock Screen settings aswell as the display of any Apps.
You can also select Start and opt whether to have a full Start Screen or not:
If you don't use the Full Start you have the option to enable the Full Start Screen you can choose which folders display on Start:
Driver wise, what hardware IDs do you have:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/checking-hardware-ids-in-the-device-manager/
Upgrade installs can have reduced performance which is why I recommend downloading and creating Windows 10 Installation Media and then Clean Reinstalling. See here, part 4 onwards:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows-10/
jessy.holiday
371 Posts
0
August 22nd, 2015 19:00
Dell 3542 laptop, running windows 10 upgrade..
my machine runs faster then ever. i did the upgrade before there were new drivers from dell for windows 10. and i did not have any problems. and by some stroke of luck my touch pad works better with the driver from the upgrade.
and again i apologize to dell, bcoz i thought my machine was gonna be one that they were not going to support, and i said some things i regret, bcoz they did come thru with new drivers for me. i installed all of them and did have a problem with the, one driver - Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver. causes big problems with the battery, sleep mode , and shut down. but after removing it and the other 2 programs it installed, all is good. and actually better then win 8.1..
my boot and restart times are close to awesome.
i do dislike (hate) the way they changed your Update options. im using the work around, setting my wifi on metered connection, so it doesnt update with out my permission. but the whole setup way of how they are doing it, is terrible to me. and i told Microsoft so. after the upgrade to 10 , they sent a pop up asking about my first impressions. and pretty sure i used the hate word about the Update options. and didnt have nothing nice to say about anything. but ive changed, and now like it..
going to try for a clean install of win 10 soon.. just have no reason to, tho it might help remove a lot of clutter from win 8 and 8.1
cycledoc22
9 Posts
1
August 22nd, 2015 21:00
XPS 15 L502X, upgraded to 10, but like it. Seems to run fairly well, dealing with intermittant runaway fan problem. Fully agree that this is my last Dell because of lack of support for both Windows 8 and 10 in a relatively recent higher end laptop. Too bad, because otherwise I like their hardware.
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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August 23rd, 2015 02:00
I also had shutdown issues with the Intel Rapid Storage Technology and Intel Management Engine Interface on my Inspiron 13 7347. I would advise skipping installation of these drivers on the Clean Reinstall. My system performs without a problem without these drivers.
TonyVov
13 Posts
0
August 23rd, 2015 08:00
Phillip nice reply, I upgraded to W10 through online upgrade system, My XPS13 seems to be running OK with it, would you recommend a clean install anyway ?? I would rather do it now than later when everything is embedded.
Philip_Yip
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16K Posts
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August 23rd, 2015 15:00
In all my systems the Clean Reinstall performs better so yes I recommend it.
VoodooPriest
10 Posts
0
August 24th, 2015 05:00
Thank you all for the replies, especially Natakuc4. I'll be using this advice when I upgrade my desktop/gaming machine.
For this XPS L702X laptop, I am going to take this opportunity to go back to a clean Windows 8.1, possibly even Windows 7 using a factory reset, because it's my work machine; I'm finicky about responsiveness and snappiness.
Even if I had had no driver problems with Windows 10, I would have downgraded anyway because my workflow is just too upset by the choices made in Win 10 and I don't have times to find ways to get around that. One more example is quick access to the power plans (you know, the battery icon with a cord and plug in the notification area?) is gone: what required one click is now windows and clicks away. I do change it several times a day and dozens a week.
I'm not saying that Windows 10 is a bad OS, it just happens to not fit my laptop, performance-wise, dare I say "normal operating conditions"-wise and driver-wise, and also not fit my work habits.
Thanks for the replies.
UPDATE: All user data saved, I'm trying the downgrade and it's a no-no from Windows 10. It says (roughly translated from French) "Sorry, you can't go back. The files we need have been deleted from this PC". I don't get how this can be when Windows.old stays there at 10.2GB and there is still plenty of space on all drives and I haven't deleted any files except on external drives. Smile, smile, life is beautiful! Peace.
jessy.holiday
371 Posts
0
August 24th, 2015 15:00
did a clean install today win 10 on my 3542.. thought so anyway, i picked the get rid of everything option, or keep nothing, whatever it was called. after all the bla blah blah stuff, installed the dell new drivers and all last, after doing the window updates.
but opened file manager, seen the main things were gone, pictures, documents, downloads, etc. but opened my C: drive i noticed a few directories / folders, still there, some i had made in the past, and the files were still there..
also looked and seen all those partitions were still on my drive, from Dell, windows 8 or who ever made them.
so, did i do something wrong?
everything working good..
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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August 25th, 2015 01:00
This is with a Recovery Drive? The get rid of everything option I think only affects the Windows, Program Files, Program Data Folder and User Folders....
The Clean My Drive option on the other hand would have got rid of everything.
jessy.holiday
371 Posts
0
August 25th, 2015 06:00
no, i didnt use the recovery drive.. after the upgrade to windows 10, i went back and used the media creation tool to make the "clean install" dvd .
i had the dvd in my drive and i opened it in file manager. and it started the install, and i clicked the option of - not keeping my stuff. i thought it would delete everything, but i like i said it didnt. i got a clean desktop, it removed all the old program, deleted all the files in the main folders, pictures, downloads, etc. but alot of the folders i had made were still there, and a directory that it had made for old windows.
i think i made the mistake of not booting the dvd for the install. so maybe thats why it didnt redo the partitions and remove everything like i had thought it was doing. i never got the option to do anything to the partition.
hope im clear trying to explain this. any help would be great. i read or at least look thru everything u put on here. very impressive the time u put in to help us all.
tasonecomp
1 Message
0
August 25th, 2015 06:00
I have cleanly installed windows 10 to my XPS 17 (702x) with only one issue.
Can advise about the webcam, as I cant get that to work anyhow (even in windows 7).
The issue I have is the inbuilt AverMedia H339 Hybrid Analog/DVN-T Telly device.
I have the drivers for it, and it shows as working in device manager.
but I need a application to view telly as you use to use media center, but with that gone. what do you use now?
can anyone help?
thanks
Andrew
jessy.holiday
371 Posts
0
August 25th, 2015 16:00
got it working and installed (cross my fingers) right, thx for ur help in ur posts.
VoodooPriest
10 Posts
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August 26th, 2015 08:00
I am back on Windows 8.1 after two days of reinstalling, copying over user data and testing. With the exception of deactivating the touchpad, which as know is not functional, the system works perfectly. I truly miss pointer inertia though.
@tasonecomp: if you've done the clean install and got only an issue with the webcam, and the drivers installed without an error *and* the Device manager tells you that everything is OK, then everything really is. You can test your webcam using Skype. The correct option should be easy to find if you go in the audio and video settings.
Cobra11Murderer
21 Posts
0
August 26th, 2015 21:00
ok I got the camera to work on mine, issue was webcam central tried to startup with whatever program i used that had camera access be it the app or skype it would lock up the image, simple right clicking the webcam central in the notifications area and disabling automatically launch when a video stream starts fixed the issue for me..
all of the software is working perfectly on mine, EXCEPT touch gestures its more of at 50%, cause all gestures still work in win32 programs but no go for the windows 10 apps or ui
I even got quickset to work great and I can disable the touchpad easy if yall need the drivers ill point it in your direction I might even upload them for everyone... ive taken the last 3 days to find them, and i just got this laptop last week as a steal on ebay lol love it..
and actually the audio driver i got doesnt work with the maxx audio but I dont need it as i got x-fi software on (personal preference but I love it alot better, even though my subwoofer doesnt work which is hard ware failure of the speaker i already got the part ordered and cant wait to install it)
VoodooPriest
10 Posts
0
August 27th, 2015 00:00
@Cobra11Murderer: yes, could you please give references to the drivers? The deactivation of the touchpad has been a long standing issue. It only worked in Windows 7.