XPS 15 9530 - Noise problem?

I really hope so. I live in an apartment that overlooks an interstate so there's plenty of ambient noise to drown out the high-pitched noise, but when I go to my parent's house in the suburbs, it's *dead* quiet and the sound is very noticeable and irritating. I don't want to have my keyboard backlight on all the time to make my computer stop "eeeeeeeeee"-ing, but that's what you have to do.

Also, I'm a 20 something, whereas someone older might not hear the noise, so that's something else to think about.

Lastly, I haven't had any dead pixels and I've had mine since this past Christmas.

Thanks for answering. So, if I don't let the XPS plugged in when the battery is fully charged (supposing that it stops charging at 100%), I won't have the coil whine ? It doesn't seem to be a big problem. I don't understand why so many people asked for a refund. Especially that the only computer which has the same specs and features is the MBP Retina. I also read that some users noticed dead pixels few days after buying the XPS 15. Is it a frequent problem ? Sorry for all these questions. You know, this computer is quite expensive so I don't want to regret my purchase.

Well as you can see, different units behave differently.  But having to disconnect your battery every time your battery reaches full charge is annoying for a few reasons.  First, the CPU and GPU may not run at their maximum clock speeds on battery power, and more than that, all of the extra charge cycles from constantly charging and discharging will decrease its lifespan.

I haven't seen dead pixel reports for quite a while over on NotebookReview.  However, most people who noticed them went off actually looking for them by making their entire display show white and such.  Very few people actually noticed under real-world conditions.  Of course ideally Dell would deliver perfect panels all the time, but my personal opinion is that if you look hard enough for defects in anything, you'll find them -- but what's the point of scrutinizing a product for defects that you never would notice under your actual usage pattern?  But for what it's worth, worst case you will of course have an on-site warranty for at least 1 year, and a display replacement is pretty straightforward, especially on this system where the entire display assembly gets replaced rather than removing the display from its the enclosure, which isn't feasible on a system like this.

I see the websites now updates to cnx9514 instead of cnx9512 for the top of the range. I have been shipped a cnx9512 so I expect the same issues going to happen again and I will be told a refunds the only option due to this being the 3rd swap.

What does cnx9514 and cnx9512 refer to???

It also appears you can't customize much on the XPS 15 anymore. I don't see the choice for bigger battery or SSD's, as an example. You can still fully customize the Precision M3800. Also, all shipping dates for Precision and XPS are now August 14th. Something is happening;hopefully something good! 

It also appears you can't customize much on the XPS 15 anymore. I don't see the choice for bigger battery or SSD's, as an example. You can still fully customize the Precision M3800. Also, all shipping dates for Precision and XPS are now August 14th. Something is happening;hopefully something good!

The XPS 15's individual SKUs haven't ever offered hardware customization; that's not new.  Most Dell models are unfortunately going this way, and in fact the initial launch of the M3800 didn't include a Fully Customizable option either.  That was added a few months into its lifecycle.

But now I only see 3 options, no SSD choices, no 90+Wh battery choice....nothing

But now I only see 3 options, no SSD choices, no 90+Wh battery choice....nothing

I'm in the US, and when I look at this page (http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-9530/pd?ref=PD_OC), I see four options, the rightmost of which includes the 512GB SSD and larger battery.  But this is getting off-topic....

Terry, I am also interested in your update.

While we are expecting a fix for the coil whine, what you actually mention is that 'remodeled system boards' are available. But remodeled boards means boards with the same coil whine, right? What would that do anything good for us?

If, in any possible means, what you are trying to say is that the coil whine has been fixed, please say it clearly so that we don't have to guess and doubt on our side. 

Several months ago, while 4712HQ was used to replace 4702HQ, people also guessed that coil whine is fixed with this update. However, Dell remained silent on their side and never confirmed that. The result is that people get their boards just to find coil whine is still there.

Yikes, I see same changes in Canada!

Now, if I want SSD (which is faster, lighter, more robust, and use less power) , I have to go for the most expensive model with upgraded graphics, etc.

So, realistically, if you want SSD and don't want a super expensive model, you are really stuck going with a different brand, such as the Samsung Book 9 (2014).

Yikes, I see same changes in Canada! Now, if I want SSD (which is faster, lighter, more robust, and use less power) , I have to go for the most expensive model with upgraded graphics, etc. So, realistically, if you want SSD and don't want a super expensive model, you are really stuck going with a different brand, such as the Samsung Book 9 (2014).

Well, you have a few options:

- Buy a lower-end spec and then install an aftermarket SSD, the downsides being that you would not have the larger battery that's included with the top-end model and of course the aftermarket SSD would not be covered the Dell's warranty.

- Buy a Precision M3800, which offers a Fully Customizable SKU, the downside being that it will likely be more expensive and you'll get a Quadro rather than GeForce GPU, which I believe some have found is clocked a bit lower than the GeForce.  And I'm not sure about Canada, but at least in the US, the M3800 also includes the Pro versions of Windows (and you can optionally get Win7) as well as some other included stuff like the AC adapter dongle, a USB to Ethernet dongle, and a Windows installation flash drive.

- Use a Dell Premier account if you have one available through an employer or educational institution.  They sometimes offer full customization on models that are only sold to the general public in preconfigured specs -- though some options on Premier accounts are locked down to specs/options chosen by the owner of the Premier account.

Otherwise, yes you're correct.  That's a product of the new "good/better/best" configuration options rather than offering full customization across the product line.  I personally wish that still existed, but in these days where so many people spend more time on their smartphones and tablets than on their PCs and therefore seem not to care about the exact specs of their PCs so long as they do the job (an attitude largely born from the smartphone/tablet era IMHO), then I guess I can see the business case for standardizing on a few configurations.

(The M3800 starts at $3K in Canada, so there isn't really any point in that option.)

Swapping the HD for a SSD sounds like a decent option.   Are you certain that this is do-able?  I am tek-savvy and used to doing this sort of thing, but don't want to get into doing anything that the system wasn't designed for.

Does the system come with a DVD or USB stick that would enable me to re-install Windows once I'd done this (I have access to an external DVD).

I was actually about to order the Samsung - this might make me stick with the XPS.  Thanks for the suggestions.

To answer one of my own questions.  It does seem that this - upgrading from HDD to SDD - is something that people do:

When I bought my m3800 i got the base model since I did not want the hirez screen and I saved $200 by putting my one ssd.  Dell offered an "upgrade" at the time for like $350 or something when I could buy the same size ssd - samsung evo - for for $150 and keep the hybrid drive that came with it as a spare.  You will need a T4 screw driver which is harder to find locally so order it online ahead of time.  You will not get any media to setup the new HD but just used the free version of Macrium which provides a WinPE boot image which you can put on a jump drive.  Takes about an hour.  Just do a little research before deciding...