Dell Precision 5510 Owner's Lounge

Same specs as mine only I opted for the smaller battery and the extra 2.5 hard drive - order placed through small business rep (via email) and phone (direct line)

Since i won't receive these in December I'm going to cancel order and see what Lenovo or HP have to offer. I think Dells business reps work from their homes - I've emailed and talked on the phone with her at really odd hours (8 - 9 pm) and no, she is not 8,000 miles away - she's in the US on EST zone.

I find it hard to believe that a close to 5 figure order (ordered 3) is stuck in limbo and not even a single email to notify the customer.

 

One of the best laptops I've ever used.

Here are my impressions after 2 weeks of use:

The Good​

• The smaller form factor due to the screen bezel - My favorite feature of this computer; it's so portable but with no screen compromise.

• Display - Very crisp. Vivid colors. Great viewing angles. Touch is a fun gimmick, but that's about all it is for me at this point.

• Closing the laptop - Nice and satisfying closing mechanism. So nice that it deserves it's own bullet.

• Skylake - 32GB of RAM in a slim machine. Nuff' said

• Illumination - White lights for a nice clean look.

• Sturdiness - The keyboard doesn't flex at all. The whole thing feels put together really well.

• Thunderbolt 3 - Luxury to have a versatile next-gen header (Hoping to see a USB-C to FW800 converter soon)

• Noise - Lack thereof during normal operation.

The Questionable​

• Keyboard - It's comfortable to type on and aesthetically pleasing to look at (Nice fonts). Using it for hours, I don't really notice it. However, there's something about the sound the keypresses make that it makes that makes it feel flimsy. After using the 5510 for a while, I use my girlfriends 4 year old Macbook Air and instantly feel the heavier actuation and think "it feels more high quality". It gives the impression that the keyboard is more sturdy.

• Charger - It's discreet and travels easy. The white light on the plug is cool.
  • I'm unsure why they picked the 'mickey mouse' cable (that's more common outside the US) for the chargers socket. I have a few spare US-style cables I'd like to use for a longer cable run, however, I can't use them and have to order a special cable on Amazon.
  • The charger's combined cable run is shorter than a MagSafe one. I wish they had matched it.

• BIOS - Affords the user some good, desktop-like customization (Nice to see speedstep in there).
  • There seems to be an issue where UEFI options don't get removed from the boot list after they're removed. Sometimes, it inhibits new drives from getting added to the list. As a workaround, one can delete the old entries and then restart.
  • Not sure why they decided to go for no hotkeys, unlike 99.9% of the other BIOSes I've encountered. Applying features is kind of a pain with the wacky BIOS trackpad drivers.

• Omission of a [Mini] Displayport - HDMI has limitations (4k especially), the inclusion of a dedicated 'high-spec' video display would have rounded out the I/O nicely. I can't use my TB3 port, as I'm already using it to supplement the lack of USB3 ports on the machine

• Coating - Feels nice on the hands but it's an oil magnet. In some lighting, gives the impression that you've used the pad for 15000 hours or something, while it's simply oily. Slightly spoils the fun of having a pristine new machine

• Speakers - Not Sager-horrible but nothing to write home about here. The bottom mounting isn't ideal, as I'd prefer to hear my music -not- immediately reflected off a hard surface back at me.

• Software - When I first setup the laptop, I spent way too much time looking for the Intel wireless driver that isn't on the 5510 Driver page. It's also only listed for Windows 10, to be more confusing (It works on 7/8.1 in my testing)

The Irksome​

• One of the screws that secure the hard drive down shipped to me stripped - I need this computer for work, so I didn't want to bother RMAing it. I now have to solve for a stripped screw. Lame.

• POST - I wonder if it's my machine, but it takes roughly 5-10 sec. to begin the POSTs, and then a considerable time to complete. Booting in to the OS is smooth (Samsung 850 EVO). Getting in to the UFEI BIOS menu is cumbersome because of delay; since it freezes for 5-10 sec. after a restart, you have to sit there glued to the screen, ready to press the correct key (especially if it's critical you DON'T boot in to your sysprepped OS, for instance).

• Trackpad - The most annoying feature on the machine is unfortunately the one I interact with the most.
  • Physically - It's cumbersome to use. I feel like the click's travel distance is too much; such that it interferes with me using it. It gets the job done, but it's not too refined. I was faster on my previous really-utilitarian, tank-of-a-laptop Sager
  • Sound - Has a distinctive 'click' that sounds O.K. but not refined/premium.
  • In use (on Windows 10) - I get the sense that Microsoft Precision Driver isn't too great.
    • eg. When a click is executed, there seems to be a temporary interruption in the movement of the cursor, so as to detect if the user is going to drag. This creates a choppy experience, because if you 'miss' where you wanted to click, you have a penalty before you can move the mouse again. It's very annoying, but I've adapted how I use it. It's slower but it'll have to do until a trackpad driver appears that's better. I was much more dexterous on a rMBP 15" (In bootcamp. Even more so on OS X)

• Aluminum Edge - Because of the sharp angle on the edge of the bottom cover, it scratches easily.

• Opening the laptop - Due to the positioning of the rubber feet, when you attempt to open the laptop on a flat surface, it tips backwards. Now it's a 2-hand operation. It could have been easily avoided if they were spaced out slightly farther apart

• Making Home and End Fn-Layer Keys - Slows me down considerably. I think it would've been better to use the empty two spaces on either side of the 'Up' key.

• Intel Processor Sticker - It's placed crooked on my machine

Overall, it's the best laptop right now for what I need (Music production). Maybe someday we can get a unibody design outside of the uncustomizable world of Apple.

 

Mine has an updated delivery 12/23 originally 12/3.

On the site US shows 7-9 days delivery, February seems really far out.


My 2 cents

 

Just checked my Order Status...still showing original Dec 18th estimated date...order date Nov 23 (5510, Xeon, 16GB ram, 84wh, 512GB M.2, IGZO, Canada)

 

As I had noticed a very slight magenta shift upon startup at times I inquired from my personal Dell tech about it today. (Yes, I have my own tech as I had a heck of a time with any video playback that required 4 hours of troubleshooting). He suggested that it might be the Dell Premier Color program - you will find it in the right side of the taskbar. Hadn't messed with it but the default is "Vibrant" which gives the broadest color gamut. I switched mine to Cinema which has a narrower color gamut, but it seemed to give a cleaner look to the screen. The Vibrant gave everything a yellowish hue when compared to the Cinema.

 

can I ask which memory chips you put in yours? I could not configure at purchase with 32G but need to upgrade.

agree that the keyboard is disappointing. just tried an XPS15 at best buy and it almost made me want to cancel my order. very flat, not much response. hate the Fn-Home/End/PgUp/PgDn...
[QUOTE

• Skylake - 32GB of RAM in a slim machine. Nuff' said

• 
  

The Questionable​

• Keyboard - It's comfortable to type on and aesthetically pleasing to look at (Nice fonts). Using it for hours, I don't really notice it. However, there's something about the sound the keypresses make that it makes that makes it feel flimsy. After using the 5510 for a while, I use my girlfriends 4 year old Macbook Air and instantly feel the heavier actuation and think "it feels more high quality". It gives the impression that the keyboard is more sturdy.

• Making Home and End Fn-Layer Keys - Slows me down considerably. I think it would've been better to use the empty two spaces on either side of the 'Up' key.

.[/QUOTE]

 

16GB DDR4 SODIMM Modules: http://www.gskill.com/en/finder?cat=33&series=2678

Crucial has them, too.

I think anyone should hold off judging it until they've used it for a considerable amount of time, as you have to unlearn the other touchpad/keyboards you're used to.

I was a little disappointed when I got my machine, too. Especially after using a rented rMBP for a week before, the Dell felt cheap. After a week or so of using, it grew on me; the keyboard and the touchpad began to feel more intuitive as I got the muscle memory locked.

It's feels kind of cheap but it gets the job done. I was really hoping for a solid feel, though It seems PC laptop manufacturers (Outside of Lenovo?) can't deliver a good typing experience on a slim machine.

I've gotten used to the "chord" for home and end. 2 weeks after using the keyboard extensively, it finally feels natural.

 

Lack of home / end keys can be super annoying. Is there a revision / drop in replacement keywoboard in the works ?

Anyone with a xeon tried to overclocked via xtu ?

 

Hi, I am a Linux developer who needs the most powerful CPU/RAM in a light machine because I work remotely and move a lot. This laptop is a perfect fit for me, except that I am worried about the Nvidia card. My worry is both because it will suck more power, and because I may have problems with the Linux drivers. Being a developer, I don't need a discrete graphics card, but there is no other laptop currently with the same weight/performance ratio.

Does some know if it is possible to:

1. Disable the Nvidia card in BIOS?
2. Remove the NVidia card from the laptop altogether?
3. Remap the Home/End keys via BIOS to some other keys?

 

You can configure the XPS 15 with no discrete graphics.