XPS 15 9575 Windows 11 clarification

Fascinating thread. I also bought the 9575 last year as a replacement for a 2012 MacBook. My experience was just dreadful - a hardware failure on day one (that seemed to be a common fault) and after that was fixed, discovering how poor the tablet/pen experience was if your hand touches the screen which was my main reason for migrating back to the Dell/Microsoft camp that I'd been in from 1996-2012, at which time I was working with a client that needed me to have a Mac. I've tolerated its quirks ever since, as it was mechanically sound and I stuck with it until I'd basically worn it out as my 2008 Studio XPS had died around the same time.

I'm a pretty heavy resource user, for example I run 8 large local mailboxes in Mac Mail and my photo library has around 40k images which I primarily search via geotags. I need good fast local storage as I'm often working offline. After maybe half a dozen different ways to try and configure the XPS, (including various flavours of Linux) I took a VERY deep breath, gave up on a 3 week old computer, bought another MacBook and was up, running and dealing with my huge work backlog the same evening.

The XPS has been sat in its box until today when I thought I'd give it a go on Windows 11. Theoretically the XPS, with its high resolution touchscreen and overall spec seemed pretty much the ideal machine - I can still see why I chose it and it was always in my head that it might yet be it the right machine one day, which is why I've not sold it. Now I find that I may never get to use this near £3k bit of hardware, so it's very possibly time to finally move on

I would say my situation echoes yours to a very similar degree. I too replaced a 10,1 specced out 2012 rMBP with this Dell XPS and had problems from the outset including trackpad not working (three times), sound card failing, finger print sensor failing, WiFi card failing. All required repairs until ultimately I managed to get a whole brand new machine from Dell as replacement. Operation software wise has been troublesome also due to the chimera of a CPU / GPU combination which is not supported any more, making the drivers dreadfully out of date (2018).

I work and study primarily in development and design capacity and opted to use the touch screen. I purchase the 4k variant foolishly thinking it would be a problem free experience - I was wrong. Using the pen in tablet mode is not good with many problems in phantom touches etc. Pretty much useless, so I bought a graphics tablet instead. Try running After Effects or Premier on this laptop - it's a bit of a joke, unless of course you enjoy the sound of a 747 taking off constantly. Oh and Rider or Visual Studio 2019 - don't even bother.

I too tried various iterations of Linux but only ONE seems to play relatively nice (still has issues) - POP OS. The combination of strange CPU, GPU and 4k display make this a laptop with limited scope outside of Windows. This is a shame as once Windows support ends, it's very likely that this machine will be practically useless.

I've all but given up on Windows 11 being brought to this machine - it's just such a weird hardware combination that Microsoft probably won't do anything with it.

I utterly regret this purchase - especially given there's probably no future with it.

Interestingly, the last Windows 10 update - 21H1 - is not listed as supporting the 8705G CPU setup either. So, technically, even now, this laptop is a dead duck.

I think I'll have to purchase another laptop, probably a new MacBook Pro - something with decent support and something with which I don't have to be a system administrator to run.

Don't worry what's listed. I got Windows 10 21H1 on my machine (via MS Windows Update) and I am totally convinced that Windows 11 will finally run without issues.

OK, here's what I have found so far, which makes interesting reading.

The Microsoft support page for Windows 7 DOES NOT list the 8705G in its extensive list of CPU's. You can search yourself [here]

Now, for Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 you can also see the 8705G is not officially supported either [Windows 8 and 8.1], and [Windows 10]  (NONE of the Windows 10 editions are listed as supporting the 8705G right from the launch up to the latest 21H1)

All of this is not much of an issue as these are 'soft' requirements as, clearly, my XPS 9575 is fully functioning whilst running Windows 10 21H1. The real problem is that as far back as Windows 7, this CPU is not listed at all as being compatible. That means that technically for TWELVE YEARS, Microsoft has not acknowledged that this CPU even exists. Now that Windows 11 has come along and introduced 'hard' CPU requirements for operation, which means that Microsoft will suddenly have to 'know' about this CPU for the install to work. Considering they have had no idea of its existence for 12 years thus far, can you honestly see them doing it now? I know the CPU is not that old, however, none of the support documentation, in spite of revision, includes this 3 year old processor.

The frustrating thing is that this is a software switch in the Windows 11 installer that decides on eligibility based on Microsoft's 'allowed' CPU list. Getting Microsoft to change this would be an uphill struggle. Maybe Dell carries more weight in this regard rather than us paying customers. I don't know.

We need a link for the new PC Health App version. MS Website (at least in German) says: "Coming soon"...

Unfortunately I see no updated version of the Microsoft Health Check app. Please can you direct me to where this new information has come to light?

There is no updated Health Check application as yet and Microsoft’s own support documentation has not been updated to reflect any changes to the CPU compatibility so I suspect the 8705G remains incompatible.

Just in case there had been any hidden developments, I also checked the Windows Insider builds to see if I could at least install the Win11 Beta:

So, no, nothing has changed whatsoever.

Fellow XPS 9575 owner here, and have run both the Dev and Beta builds of Win 11. No problems at all running it, but I fear that MS and their hard CPU requirements may not allow me to get the release version of Win 11. I have contacted MS support, but they told me that CPU requirements were Intel's problem and to contact them. Intel seemed to believe that MS should deal with it. Next step is contacting Dell and seeing what they might do about it. I know Win 10 will be supported for years to come, but I'd hate to see a machine that runs Win 11 fine not be able to get it simply because of its abnormal CPU.

...and this is the only component that fails the test - the CPU. Microsoft has stated many times that 8th gen Intel was their cut-off. The 9575 uses 8th gen Intel but isn't supported. Dell say it is supported. Someone does not know what is going on here. Is it Dell or Microsoft? I suspect that it is both parties. I also suspect (as I have shown previously in research) that Microsoft simply has no idea that the 8705G processor even exists. They seem to have never known it exists as can be shown in their own support documentation right from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Looking at this objectively, if MS do not know this CPU even exists then there is no chance at all that it will ever be supported by Win11 as their installer relies on the CPU list available at MS to cross-check compatibility. I don't know how MS can be contacted to include this processor in their list either.

Right now, I'm looking at getting Linux running on my 9575 and maybe getting a MacBook Pro in the autumn when the new ones are released. 

If anyone is interested, I have raised the issue with Microsoft via their Feedback Hub. If you would like to support raising awareness of the 8705G CPU to Microsoft, please check out a link to my feedback here.https://aka.ms/AAdbpog 

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported Intel processors | Microsoft Docs

We are saved! Officially supported by Microsoft, looks like our laptops aren't junk!

Wow! Did not honestly think this would actually happen.

Has anyone with an 9575 been brave enough to dive in and test Win11? How does performance compare with Win10?