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XPS 13 Developers Edition first impressions
Hi,
My brand new XPS13 (i7/8GB/256GB) arrived today and I'd like to share my initial thoughts with you all.
- Design: nice sturdy ultrabook design with (limited) ultrabook connectivity (only 2 USB ports)
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS runs very fast and stable (in comparison with my other Ubuntu 13.10 machine)
- Display quality is excellent, very wide viewing angles and the 1080p resolution using Ubuntu is very productive. But noticeable white 'pressure point' in the left corner when using a black background.
- Battery life: I'm getting around 6 hours (first charge) which isn't much in comparison to other Haswell based ultrabooks (the Macbook Pro retina 13 can easily get around 9-10 hours, while using a more power hungry CPU)
- Touch screen: personally I don't see the point of touchscreen when working in Ubuntu (even in Windows). When I want to swipe, I just use my tablet. Maybe a non-touch i7 would be an interesting option.
- Coil whine: I'm experiencing a high-pitched sound when my keyboard backlight is on. When turned off, it's still noticeable, but very low in intensity
- Speakers: Sound quality is decent but on regular base my left speaker makes a quite loud creaking sound.
In brief, I'm very glad a 100% Ubuntu machine is available for purchase with optimal driver support (Sputnik Team: thank you!) but I'm a little bit disappointed in the overall quality. The 'coil whine' issue and the speaker problem are well-known internet-forum topics for over a year, and still Dell isn't able to resolve those issues in the 3th iteration of the XPS 13 product. I'll wait to contact Customer Support for a repair since no clear solution for both stated problems has been found.
But, nevertheless, looking forward to the 14.04 LTS DE version!
DELL-Barton George
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August 11th, 2014 10:00
Elpas066,
will do!
DELL-Barton George
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538 Posts
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August 11th, 2014 11:00
@Sputnikspok, @Elpas066 et al,
Here is the official scoop from the team:
Any new XPS 13 system that is shipped from the factory will have the system noise (OR coil whine) issue resolved. However, please bear in mind there may be pre-built inventory in place of which I have no visibility.
Service stack motherboards for this concern will be available mid August
HTH
Barton
zenner17
1 Message
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August 14th, 2014 05:00
@Barton Great news! Does that mean if I buy my XPS 13 directly from dell.com I'll certainly get a system with a resolved coil whine? Or is there a chance that the system will be shipped from pre-built inventory?
jonanvc
1 Message
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August 14th, 2014 12:00
Hello!
I want to buy this ultrabook, but first i want to know if the coil whine issue is fixed for Europe too.
And how we know if theyre sending a prebuilded one or fixed one?
thanks!
NoakSten
7 Posts
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August 15th, 2014 03:00
I wonder the same. I'm in Sweden. It would be really annoying having to send it in to support for them to change the motherboard the very first thing I do.
svrana
15 Posts
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August 15th, 2014 10:00
George --
I contacted support about this issue yesterday and they were happy to order a new motherboard after pointing them at this thread. However it's not clear to me or to support if the replacement board will actually fix the problem. If you could provide a way to identify the fixed board so I may go ahead with the replacement, that would be appreciated.
Thanks
spjt
1 Message
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August 21st, 2014 08:00
For those wondering if it is resolved in currently shipped units, I ordered a XPS13 from dell.com on August 6 and received it August 20. It has the whine. I'll probably wait a few months to have it serviced in the hopes that the issue has been fully resolved by then.
svrana
15 Posts
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August 21st, 2014 20:00
After some convincing from support, I had the motherboard replaced even though they could not confirm that the issue had been fixed in the motherboard they were giving me. The replacement board that was installed did not fix the problem.
I spent hours on the phone with Dell being transferred from one person to the next. After finally getting to the right person, I find that they have no knowledge of the problem, other than my directing them to this conversation on the wiki.
I can't believe I spent $1500 on a laptop that whines. I cannot believe that a $1500 purchase does not entitle me to a more trouble free support experience.
I've often wondered why only Apple seems able to build incredible laptops and was only too happy to buy from Dell who seemed to have gotten their act together. Boy, was I wrong.
DELL-Barton George
7 Technologist
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538 Posts
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August 22nd, 2014 11:00
@svrana
Im very sorry about youre experience. I have escalated it within the team and someone should be contacting you shortly to help you resolve your issue.
We are also looking into the current stock to make sure that we only offer the fixed motherboards.
thanks for your patience.
Barton
ekiMera
2 Posts
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August 27th, 2014 15:00
Okay, so I just received my Dell XPS 13 and the problem with coil whine still exists. Can I get any Dell rep to message me as well?
DELL-Terry B
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August 27th, 2014 16:00
ekiMera,
Is this a new system, ordered in the last couple weeks or so, or did you just have a service on an older system?
I will be sending you a friend request shortly, please accept it so that I can get your information. I may be able to help.
TB
ekiMera
2 Posts
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August 27th, 2014 17:00
it was purchased on the 23rd of august 2014, and I accepted the invite. Thanks
kfnmpah
42 Posts
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August 28th, 2014 06:00
May I ask which kind of noise the new boards should fix?
My laptop makes two different noises. One that varies when I change the keyboard backlight level (an high pitched noise) and another one which is present only when plugged in (this one varies according to my actions, e.g. cursor movements, and I'd say it's a coil whine).
Thanks.
schwarznase
2 Posts
0
August 28th, 2014 16:00
I just got my XPS13 dev edition (ordered August 22) and I still experience the issue. It is a backlight-dependent whining, which seems to be worst at half-dimmed. I can actually modify the frequency depending on the dimming. It seems to stop at full-on and full-off.
It doesn't seem like I got a fixed one :-(
applejack1337
3 Posts
1
August 29th, 2014 15:00
Has anyone purchased a XPS13 directly from Dell, online, within August, that doesn't have the keyboard backlight-driven whine?
Dell "fixing" the issue isn't useful if they're still shipping bunk devices to customers ordering directly from Dell's website.