XPS 15 9500. Thunderbolt WD19 130W. 2 x monitors U2719DC but can't use both at 60Hz

@jphughan First of all, thank you for taking the time to respond .

It was Dell who told me i wasn't using the "recommended" dock for the Laptop. I had initially asked them to recommend me one when i bought everything and at that time they told me to get the 180W. so when the problem with the mouse came up they told me that the 180W wasn't recommended and i should switch to the 130W which i did but at no point was i told about the limitations with the monitors.  when i bought everything they knew i wanted to use 2 monitors so it's not like that came later. i kept asking if it would all work together.

i don't know what to believe anymore. it sounded like they were refusing to provide support unless i was using the recommended dock.   I specifically asked them to advise me and had my basket checked before buying to avoid all this kind of stuff in the first place and i feel i was just tricked in spending money.

you are now saying that perhaps i should have the TB version.  this is all very confusing and beyond my technical knowledge and i just keep getting different information.

@tutel1974  Well the wrinkle with "130W" is that in some places, Dell discusses the WD19 in terms of the wattage of the power supply, as I did above, and in other places they discuss the power passthrough capability.  There are two WD19 variants:

• WD19 w/ 130W power supply, which supplies 90W to systems
• WD19 w/ 180W power supply, which supplies 130W to systems

The problem is that if you just see "WD19 130", it's unclear whether that means WD19 130W power supply or WD19 130W power passthrough.  But the WD19TB is ONLY sold with a 180W power supply and therefore can always provide up to 130W of power passthrough.

But am I understanding you correctly that now having checked the underside labeling of both the dock and power supply, you have a WD19TB dock unit and a 180W power supply?  In that case, you have the correct hardware for your purposes, so you shouldn't need to return or exchange anything.  If the dock still isn't performing as expected, are you possibly connecting it to the right-side port on your XPS 15 9500?  If so, that is a non-Thunderbolt port.  The WD19TB supports regular USB-C backward compatibility when connected to a non-Thunderbolt device (or port), but in that mode it is functionally identical to a WD19, which isn't going to work for your purposes.  But if you connect the dock to one of the ports on the left, you will have a full Thunderbolt 3 connection and should therefore be able to run both of your displays at 2560x1440 60 Hz.  If that isn't the case, then make sure you update the following: System BIOS, System TB3 controller firmware, System TB3 drivers/software, WD19TB firmware.  If you have Dell Update or Dell SupportAssist installed on your system, running that while the dock is connected should surface any applicable updates.

@jphughan 

just looking at the dock power supply and that does say 180W. should i just get a different supply and stick with the TB dock?

sorry to be a bit simple about this!

@jphughan 

thanks again for spending time to help me. you have no idea how much I appreciate this.

having read your explanation I had another look at everything now and perhaps i should have done more of my own thinking from the start!

i've just doubled checked my original order and i had the WD19TB all along and that is the one on their pdf as the recommend one specifying the 130W...  i don't know why i just took it for granted assuming they can see what i ordered when they told me i had a 180W version and it was wrong. just looking at the actual docking station and it has WD19TB on the bottom so i had the right one all along (for a second i thought perhaps i ordered right but they sent me the wrong one)?? arrgh. Can't believe i let myself be fooled like this.  

is there anyway i can double check it has the 130W throughput?

Looks like I'll switch back to my original dock and ignore the support people from know on. I do still need to get them to send me a return label for one of the docks and a new mouse!

Thanks again for all your time, your 2 messages have made more sense than all the 60 messages from support put together. I have learnt i great deal.

Ingrid.

@tutel1974  I'm sorry to hear that you got such poor support from Dell Support.  There was absolutely no benefit to downgrading the power supply since literally the only difference is the maximum power available to the attached system -- unless you got a partial refund for doing so.

But sadly you aren't alone receiving bad info from Dell Support or Sales.  In just the last few weeks I've seen people here report that Dell Support told them that an XPS 13 could only use a 4K external display if the system was ordered with a 4K built-in display (false) and that since an XPS 13 was a "high-end system", it could only output to external displays through a dock, not through a USB-C to HDMI adapter (egregiously false).  With some Dell Support techs, if something isn't officially listed as recommended, they will probably tell you it won't work, even if that isn't always the case.  But with some others that try branch out and think for themselves, they can end up telling you something will work even if it won't.  Achieving that happy medium of being able to think for themselves rather than being tied down by documentation, where compatibility information isn't always comprehensive, but NOT taking it too far requires a lot of technical knowledge that just seems beyond the expertise those techs have.  And it doesn't help that the specs aren't always accurate either.  For example, the XPS 15 9500's specs indicate that its non-TB3 port on the right supports DP 1.4 rather than 1.2, which is wrong.  And Dell's own docking station compatibility documentation has some errors too, as I called out to Dell Support here.

All I can tell you is that I've worked in various IT roles for over 15 years, including in roles that have had me supporting hundreds or thousands of employee systems, so I know this technology well.  If you do some searching around this forum for docking station information, you are practically guaranteed to come across several posts of mine.  I also wrote this explainer post about the various operating modes of USB-C/TB3, with specific focus on their impact to possible display setups.  I actually do understand the underlying technology at play here, and I know the capabilities of your system and the various models of the WD19 dock family (WD19, WD19TB, and WD19DC), which allows me to know what will work and what won't.  If you require additional assurance, go to support.dell.com and search "WD19", then go to the Documentation section and open up the User Guide.  Look at the Display Resolution Table -- make sure to look at the one for DP 1.2/HBR2 systems rather than DP 1.4/HBR3 systems -- and you will see why you can't run dual QHD from your system.  Then check the WD19TB's documentation for DP 1.2/HBR2 systems that are Thunderbolt 3 capable and you will find that the WD19TB will allow you to run dual displays up to 4K 60 Hz each or triple displays up to QHD each.

Sorry again that you had such a bad experience with Dell Support, but all I can say is that the WD19TB will allow you to run two of your displays and deliver enough power to run your system optimally.

@tutel1974  Happy to help!  Best of luck getting the hardware you need, and please do report back to let me know how it all goes!

@jphughan 

WD19TB is back in action and all good with the monitors!

Have a great weekend!

Ingrid.

@jphughan 

At the moment my WD19TB is not in use as I took it out and replaced with 130W version as I was told to do by Dell but now realise my first set up was the right one all along. Luckily I have not sent the TB back yet!

I can now reinstate everything as it was and return the 130W version which I ended up getting on their advice.

So there should be no issue with the monitors once i've done all that and actually fir first person who checked my basket was right all along. 

My issue with the fingerprint mouse still remains but i'm told a new one is on its way and frankly if that never works, i can live with it!.

you have been absolutely brilliant. Thanks again!

@tutel1974  Fantastic, thanks for letting me know and I'm glad to hear you're all set!