XPS 13 Developers Edition first impressions

After two days of light frustration about both the speaker and whining I decided to contact support. Next week they will replace 'some components'. I'm curious and I'll hope it will resolve the issues. But reading most fora, Dell isn't quite sure what the exact cause of the coil whine really is. I don't like a brand new machine to be taken apart, but the noise is just to noticeable.

Secondly, I didn't get any Sputnik stickers with my machine, is it possible to order those afterwards?

Let us know if Dell customer service is able to get rid of the coil whine..  This is ridiculous.

maybe my surrounds are just louder, but i don't notice the noise too much at all.  if its very quiet, i might hear what others are complaining about.

i did load the i8k drivers and found the fans to quiet down quite a bit.

my biggest complaint is the dumb touch pad -- without real physical buttons.  it can not get the clicks perfect.  i had an old dell d430, tiny little touchpad, worked a million times better.  progress?  no.  fancy big touchpad, but much less usable in my mind.  

otherwise, screen is great, speed etc all that is good.  ( running mint 13 )

Last Monday a Dell technician went by to fix the issue. But unfortunately, he only received a speaker set (!) to solve the problem, since that was the part Dell's technical support ordered. Logically, no solution and he told me Dell would contact me to see what they could do. After three days, I contacted Dell myself since I hadn't heard from them and asked for a refund. But since the speakers were replaced, they couldn't accept the laptop anymore for a refund and now all the internals (main board, ssd, ...) will be replaced instead.

So now I will be stuck with a laptop that has been opened two times, with a new keyboard, main board, ssd, sound card and probably no solution for the whining.

It's difficult to understand Dell's customer service logic, since two repairs + a lot of replacement internal components must cost a lot more than just replacing the defective unit. Here in Belgium, they haven't dealt with the whine issue before (stating the customer support guy), and when I like to refer to this forum (and all the other related topics on the Dell support forum) he replies by saying that internet fora aren't a reference in terms of customer satisfaction. 

So now I have to wait till next week to get a second repair...

So after using it in some quieter environments, I can definitely hear the whine.  It gets much softer when I turn off the keyboard backlight, as others have mentioned.  I don't find it a deal breaker, but thought it was worth adding the experience-- Dell can't deny that the thing makes noise in an unreasonable way.  ( $1700 laptop should not have an annoying whine, even if its fairly soft )

@mabuntu, @slcpunk and @svrana

 I really apologize for your experience.  I know they are actively working on this. Since we havent been able to replicate the issue in house, support is setting up system exchanges with customers reporting the problem, to get these systems to the labs and test them and work on a solution.

I realize this isnt ideal but since we havent be able to recreate the whine this is how we have to proceed. I apologize for huge inconvenience and appreciate your patience!

thx!

Barton

@barton 

Thanks for your reply, that means as much as anything to me.  ( actually knowing that a dell representative reads these forums is nice )

I guess we'll see how the replacement thing works out - will you post instructions here, or what would the next steps be?  I'm not sure I would really consider it worth my time and effort ... 

anyway, thanks again.

@slcpunk

I read all the posts and I try to respond when I can.  I will look to post more info when we get it.

thanks again for your support! :)

I'm willing to buy an XPS 13 dev edition but I want to be sure that the coil whine problem is fixed.

Can you please give me an update?

Is this now fixed?

No, this is still not fixed

see: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19538215/20625757.aspx#20625757

Spent 1500 eur on this machine in february and haven't been able to use it since the coil whine drives me (and the people in my office) out of my mind. This is ridiculous and I'm never buying a Dell again because of it. Worst customer support and most passive response to an obvious manufacturer problem I have ever seen.

Hello,

Is someone from Dell going to answer these questions?

Regards,

CM.

Hi CM et al,

Today I got the official response from the crew that has been investigating this

Dell has been investigating reports of noticeable “coil whine” on both the XPS 13 and 15 notebooks.  Notebooks have been captured from the field and tested in the lab and the noise has been duplicated on some systems.  Remodeled system boards for the XPS 13 and 15 are being worked on to help reduce system noise.  ETA for the XPS 13 is in July, and June for the XPS 15.  Please know that help is on the way and hopefully we will only have a short time to wait.

Hope that helps,

Barton

@slcpunk,

let me check and get back to you.

Stay tuned!

Barton,

Thanks for the information.  Any idea what the process will be?  Send laptop to Dell?  Replace in field?  Depends on what warranty package we have?

thanks

Currently there is no specific ETA but the remodeled system boards are expected to be available sometime in July at the soonest.  Either Barton or I will post here with any further updates as soon as we have them.

TB