Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

[nipun_jain]

Just checked. They said they are "just a few tweets away from" yours. Someone should be replying shortly.

They replied on twitter, asking for the Service Tag of the system. Let's see where this goes.

Btw, ever since I posted on twitter, the trackpad is working much more smoothly. Hope this remains as it is.

[stockman80]

@Dell-Bill_B

Bill, Thanks for your posts in this forum. One question: Does Dell see the trackpad issue on the XPS 13 as resolved, or was the most recent driver update just the most recent iteration of the driver with the expectation of future releases to continue to improve the issues?

I've found that the driver update did help, but has now made typing nearly impossible if any part of my palm is touching the touch pad. I've played around with all the palm rejection settings, and nothing seems to change. Thanks for your input!

[alphadog00]

I usually just use Windows key + X, but I'll ask about Quickset.

Thanks for a new shortcut. I never knew!

[OhioKraken]

Are there known issues with the wifi card/driver on the XPS 13 ultrabook?

My first ultrabook would occassionally lose internet access to my home network. My second one doesn't have that problem but the signal strength seems very weak. I have a signal booster in my house and my other laptop has all 5 bars anywhere in the house. The ultrabook gets down to 1 or 2 bars when you get far away from the router, even though I have a signal booster in the middle of the house. In fact, right by the booster, the ultrabook has 2 bars...any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Chris in Ohio

[Azureal]

Hey guys,

This may be common knowledge, but there is a great app out there called BatteryBar Pro which tracks battery usage in every way possible, stats over time improve its ability to provide really meaningful data on remaining time and charge rates, etc.

There is a free version which is really useful, but for 10 bucks you get the full blown Pro version with many more options. I use it on my two machines which I go portable with regularly, I find it to be an indispensable tool.

It works great on the XPS 13, ties right into Windows power management to allow a more intuitive control and monitoring interface.

Check it out if you get a chance, just Google BatteryBar Pro.

[Azureal]

Are there known issues with the wifi card/driver on the XPS 13 ultrabook?

My first ultrabook would occassionally lose internet access to my home network. My second one doesn't have that problem but the signal strength seems very weak. I have a signal booster in my house and my other laptop has all 5 bars anywhere in the house. The ultrabook gets down to 1 or 2 bars when you get far away from the router, even though I have a signal booster in the middle of the house. In fact, right by the booster, the ultrabook has 2 bars...any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Chris in Ohio

I wonder if you have one or more of your antennas improperly connected internally (as in cable not connected ...). I have had no issues at all with mine, I am currently sitting one floor below but 12 feet from my WiFi router and I have a full five bars. I can move one level lower and still have four bars, in a back room 80 feet from the router I get four bars there as well.

I have heard a few folks mention issues but it has not been wide spread as far as I can tell. I have been following this thread since it began and don't recall too many issues with WiFi connectivity.

I suggest a call to Dell support right away, something may not be right with your hardware configuration.

Another thing to note is that my WiFi router is a LinkSys 802.11n unit with dual frequency which can make a difference in signal strength, link speed, etc ...

[Dell-Bill_B]

@Dell-Bill_B

Bill, Thanks for your posts in this forum. One question: Does Dell see the trackpad issue on the XPS 13 as resolved, or was the most recent driver update just the most recent iteration of the driver with the expectation of future releases to continue to improve the issues?

I've found that the driver update did help, but has now made typing nearly impossible if any part of my palm is touching the touch pad. I've played around with all the palm rejection settings, and nothing seems to change. Thanks for your input!

We see it more as tuning in settings and features based on customer feedback. I'm sure we're looking at the palm rejection comments from customers for the next driver to see if there is any way to make the experience better. I can verify, though.

Are there known issues with the wifi card/driver on the XPS 13 ultrabook?

My first ultrabook would occassionally lose internet access to my home network. My second one doesn't have that problem but the signal strength seems very weak. I have a signal booster in my house and my other laptop has all 5 bars anywhere in the house. The ultrabook gets down to 1 or 2 bars when you get far away from the router, even though I have a signal booster in the middle of the house. In fact, right by the booster, the ultrabook has 2 bars...any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Chris in Ohio

I haven't seen the engineering notes, but I did get a high level update about Intel still working through a list of AP's with less than stellar connection issues that some driver tweaking may improve. The WLAN driver should be the next driver posted.

[pusta]

Question for those using the XPS 13 daily. Have you made it your main computer, or at least your main laptop? Has anyone run Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom on this PC? I'm an amateur photographer, so these are probably the applications I use the most. I'm OK using an external USB 3 drive for photo storage and hooking up a monitor and keyboard/mouse.

[calishane]

Question for those using the XPS 13 daily. Have you made it your main computer, or at least your main laptop? Has anyone run Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom on this PC? I'm an amateur photographer, so these are probably the applications I use the most. I'm OK using an external USB 3 drive for photo storage and hooking up a monitor and keyboard/mouse.

I've run Photoshop CS5 a few times and it runs without ease. Loads up in 2 seconds thanks to the superfast Samsung SSD. I have the i5 processor.

Sadly though if you want to do precision editing of photos, you need to connect an external mouse as the touch pad goes "wonky" a few times. The cursor has a hard time staying still even when you are not moving it and it jumps around like a few inches by itself sometimes. Hopefully Dell keep working on the trackpad drivers.

[pusta]

I've run Photoshop CS5 a few times and it runs without ease. Loads up in 2 seconds thanks to the superfast Samsung SSD. I have the i5 processor.

Sadly though if you want to do precision editing of photos, you need to connect an external mouse as the touch pad goes "wonky" a few times. The cursor has a hard time staying still even when you are not moving it and it jumps around like a few inches by itself sometimes. Hopefully Dell keep working on the trackpad drivers.

Good to know. I would use external monitor/keyboard/mouse and table for editing, I'm just thinking of making the full transition to the XPS 13