Today's XPS machines VS XPS L502X - Speak and Sound Quality?

cormie

I've had my Dell XPS L502X for years now and it's been giving me awful hassle lately with random BSOD's which from what I've read on it so far, seem like it might be impossible to diagnose easily

I was hoping to get a few more years out of this and recently bought a 1TB SSD and upgraded to W10 to give it a fresh kick and it was going good until these BSOD's came started happening.

I was checking out the new models and they definitely look sleek and seem to be well specced, but pricey at almost 2K for the top end 4k/touch screen.

I'd almost be tempted, but I'm worried, that given how thin they are compared to the L502X, that the sound will be nothing compared to what I have already.

The sound on the L502X is probably the best I've ever heard on a laptop, not that I've heard loads blasting music or anything, but it's a huge difference from the tinny, crappy sound from many.

Does anyone know how the new models compare to the L502X?

Would appreciate any feedback

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Got an XPS 15 4k i7/16gb/512gb ssd in the past few weeks and its brilliant. Sound quality excellent and full.

Got it from Dell UK outlet for less than €1390 new. Just no original packaging.

Alanstrainor

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

Got an XPS 15 4k i7/16gb/512gb ssd in the past few weeks and its brilliant. Soumd quality excellent and full.

Got it from Dell UK outlet for less than €1390 new. Just no original packaging.

That's some deal!

cormie

Thanks a lot for the reply, I was reading elsewhere too and unfortunately somebody commented saying that the new ones aren't comparable to the L502x. They are still as good as a macbook pro (not that I know what they sound like), but aren't as good as the L502x ;(

ZENER

The L502x has a nice 2.5 Watt subwoofer and a decent size case to produce some bass giving it better sound than can be produced by the anorexic newer XPS range. The only current Dell machine with a Sub are the larger Alienware laptops.

With regards to the BSOD, does the machine pass the full PSA+ diagnostics including the full extended memory check ? The boards in that model are well made and compared to the modern XPS range gave less trouble. Have you noticed if the BSOD happens when using the Intel HD3000 graphics or the nVidia graphics ?

Can you post the event log of the BSOD ?

Ken

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

That's some deal!

I know! Pay in sterling and you get a great deal, much better than the Irish outlet site.

FGR

Have to say I'm quite happy with my own L502x. Have had it since 2011 and it's survived through thick and thin. The only upgrade was to the RAM - other than that it's remained stock. I've reformatted the drive on a yearly basis and performed clean installs as the backup drive was full of bloatware.

I'm surprised re bsods. Was this also the case with Win 7? I've tried Windows 10 but wasn't a big fan of the blurring problem on many screens.

cormie

Yep, to be honest, I don't like the idea of disposable tech that's replaced so often. It does me for what I need it to do, the BSOD's are taking a toll on my patience with it though and I just wish I had the time to suss out what it was, but after a thread on the computer forum, it sounds like it's going to be a big challenge.

I keep my computer very clean, will avoid installing software at all costs if I don't have to, just use it for basic things and as long as I can browse the internet, do email, listen to music and watch some videos an do word processing and the odd bit of extra resource stuff like maybe game or a bit of video editing every 6 months or a year :pac:

I don't need to upgrade from the tech, I'd love to get a laptop with similar sound quality but I think it might be tricky to find given how slim and compact they are these days

beauf

Could you not just get a decent bluetooth speaker.

Someone I know has a Inspiron 15 7559 nice machine. But while the 4K screen is terrific I think it adds too much weight and uses too much battery. I'd much prefer a 1920 screen myself. Maybe thats because I'm got tired of the weight and heft of my old XPS 17".

cormie

Hey again folks,
I'm back here after getting quite the run around from a long term user of this site who PM'd me directly after seeing my post to offer me a deal on an XPS 15 4k laptop he got recently and decided it was overkill for what he needed. I decided to go for it and we made an agreement for €1,300 + €20 postage and that I'd pay €670 in advance, he would send it and I'd check it out asap and pay the €650 balance if all was as described and it passed benchmark tests and didn't appear to have been dropped or damaged etc.

Well the €670 was in his account around midday on the 20th of December and after several stories and excuses, I still don't have the laptop (was meant to be with me before Christmas) and he still has my money.

Fortunately I have information that will allow for easy tracking if he tries anything, but really, I'd just rather the laptop and for him to carry through his part of the agreement.

He will most likely see this, as I believe he is probably following this thread already. I will keep the full details and communication between us off the thread while he still has time to amend his wrong doing as it's probably just a series of silly decisions and mistakes that has lead to the current situation.

In the mean time, I'd like to ask for any advice on how I might go about getting my hands on a similar deal as was mentioned above, should the seller not carry through his side of the deal, as I do still need a laptop and was all set on getting this as it's still a lot of money.

The deal was for:

Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ [6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Quad Core (6M Cache, up to 3.5 GHz)]
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64bit
Memory1
16GB DDR4-2133MHz
Hard Drive
512GB PCIe Solid State Drive
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5
Display
15.6" 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge touch
Warranty
1Yr Premium Support with Onsite

and they got it themselves off the UK Outlet for less than €1,400. Unfortunately they said it's very rare that these machines end up on the outlet store and this is why I went with buying their as new machine, rather than holding out for another to appear and buy direct from Dell. So I'm just looking for any advice on how I might increase my chances of finding a similar deal via Dell for the same XPS 15 9550 machine, for a similar price if possible? I'm more than happy to buy via the Outlet, either UK or Ireland.

The same laptop is €2,148.99 buying from the usual Dell sales channel here: http://www.dell.com/ie/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?oc=cnx5533&model_id=xps-15-9550-laptop so any advice on how to get it for closer to the €1,400 would be greatly appreciated

beauf wrote: »

Could you not just get a decent bluetooth speaker.

Someone I know has a Inspiron 15 7559 nice machine. But while the 4K screen is terrific I think it adds too much weight and uses too much battery. I'd much prefer a 1920 screen myself. Maybe thats because I'm got tired of the weight and heft of my old XPS 17".

I think I'd rather a 4K screen at the sacrifice of extra weight and battery drain. I'm used to the L502x, which is heavy enough and a battery life of only maybe 1 hour (and it's already on its second battery)

beauf

I think you are crazy buying this through a pm and sending any money in advance. Sounds like a complete scam.

I was watching the outlet for a few days and some did come up. Can't remember the price. In the end we bought the 7559 through the employee discount 10% for 999. I may still have the offers for the xps. I'll look and see.

They had deals on pre configured models.

beauf

The offer at the time was for this €1400 ish

XPS 15 (9550)
1 6th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ Quad Core (6M Cache, up to 3.5 GHz)
1 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge, Silver
1 81 Key Palmrest
1 8GB (2x4GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Memory
1 256GB PCIe Solid State Drive
1 UK Power Cord
1 130W AC Adapter
1 Dell 56 WHr 3-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
1 NVIDIA GTX960M 2GB DDR5
1 DW1830 3x3 802.11ac 2.4/5GHz + Bluetooth 4.1

The 7559 was 999 for the same spec plus 4k screen, 128SSD +1GB HD and 16GB

I think on the XPS 15 there are different configurations that have a larger battery if you leave something else off. Can't remember what. Maybe theres a different gfx option. The 7559 track pad isn't as good as the one on the 9550. Maybe that just me though and the machines I've tried.

The above spec seems a standard config, I see PC Word in Ireland have it for a similar price.

cormie

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'd never typically send money in advance like that for a private sale, but the poster has over 2,000 posts on boards, been registered for over 5 years on the site and I think he's even responded on some other threads I had with some helpful advice. I still don't fear I'll be scammed and I have his information that if he tries anything, he won't get away with it. He has also confirmed he's seen the above post I made.

I've looked into the Dell lines and I'd rather an XPS, but may consider a latitude too. Upgrading to a new laptop is a huge undertaking for me. I fine tweak my laptop so much that it takes weeks to have it fully set up and given that I use it for work, the less downtime I have, the better and because I use it so much, I want to be sure it's a good quality machine and I'd rather spend an extra few hundred Euro every 4/5 years to ensure I'll have a quality product that will last another 4/5 years, or as long as it remains trouble free and will still be nippy and capable. I want the spec to be future-proof and I want it to be a nice machine for business, leisure, music etc.

The 4K 9550 seems to fit the bill so I'd like to try get my hands on it for close to €1,400 if possible, even if I have to wait a little. I'd like the 4k and the touch screen too

I heard about the battery size of the XPS 15, I believe you can have it compatible with HDD's as opposed to just SSD's, but you sacrifice battery size if you ant this compatibility. I'd be happy to stick with SSD and have a larger battery.

Did you see the 4K 9550 on offer during your time checking at all?

I've previously heard of E-Value codes and the likes to get discounts, would anyone know how to ensure I'm getting the best price as there seems to be several ways to get discounts with Dell, but they all differ with the end price?

beauf

They just seemed to have fixed offers and configs.

Considering we don't have an Irish outlet anymore, and the lack of options or offers compared to Dell in other countries. You can't help but feel Dell didn't feel the need to compete.

cormie

What I like about Dell is they offer onsite support. Before I switched to Dell, I had an Acer laptop which I had to send off for weeks one time, I vowed never to put myself in that position again and Dell seem to be the best (only) ones who would actually send an engineer out to repair on site?

What happened the Irish outlet?

I assume if an XPS 15 9550 4k goes on the UK outlet, it won't last very long? I just followed a link to the outlet and click consumer laptops and there's NOTHING, it just says sold out?!

I remember there was an eBay shop for the outlet too, I followed a link on a forum to it and it said the shop no longer existed, so if this is the only place and they are sold out of everything, it's not looking good!