Dell XPS 15 (9550) custom configuration

Hey guys,

I thought it's a good place to ask. I'm planning to buy the new XPS and I noticed Dell is not as open for a custom configurations as it was in the past. After spending some time on analysing possible hardware components I decided for such configuration:

Intel i7-6700HQ (Skylake)
256GB SSD PCIe SATA drive
512GB SSD SATA drive (Samsung 830 that I already own)
16GB PC4-17000 DDR4 2133MHz
InfinityEdge 15,6" UHD 4K (3840 x 2160)
Intel HD 530 + GeForce® GTX 960M (2GB GDDR5)
56Wh battery with empty slot for my Samsung drive

The above configuration is basically possible to get with the exception of battery and ssd drives. Dell offers a configuration with 512GB SSD PCIe SATA drive and 84Wh battery BUT such configuration gives no space for an extra SSD drive + I don't need 512GB SSD drive as I want to put OS on that drive only. The rest is suppose to be stored on the extra 512GB 2.5 Samsung SSD drive.

Alternatively, there is a configuration same as above but with 32GB PCIe SSD + 1TB 2.5 drive. That means the only missing element is a 256GB PCIe drive and I can replace the 1TB drive with my 512GB SSD drive.

Coming down to the questions:

1. What would you recommend? Buying above configuration and replacing the battery and PCIe SSD for a smaller versions (56Wh + 256GB) or is it possible to ask DELL for such configuration?

2. In case of manually replacing these components, do I need some extra mounting kit and wires to install 2.5 SSD next to the 56Wh battery?

3. I noticed the non-touch FHD screen has a tiny frames around. Is this a case in the UHD 4K display too or it's 100% frames less? Every review I watched on YouTube was based on the FHD model.

4. In the first XPS 15 revision (L521X) there used to be a lot of hardware problems (mainly with WiFi). Does this model also has some problems or we can finally call it a premium product worth the (very high) price?

Thanks for any help!

 

1) If you want to use a 2.5" SATA drive, be sure to specifically buy a configuration that comes with a 2.5" SATA drive. From what I hear, there is a special cable that needs to be included to use 2.5" SATA drives; it is not built onto the motherboard, and Dell does not ship / sell that part separately.

2) Yes. See answer above. Dell does not sell the 2.5" SATA adapter cable, so you need to buy a laptop that specifically comes with a 2.5" SATA drive in order to get that cable.

3) Both the 1080p and 4K versions have LCD panels that occupy the same space. The only difference is that the 4K model has an additional pane of glass, for its touch capabilities. That additional glass goes edge-to-edge; which is why it looks "frameless".

4) It will in all likelihood be fine. I say "in all likelihood" because most of Dell laptops are bougth and used without any problems by most people. But there is always the small chance that you're going to get a defective unit; or that you will do something to the laptop that causes it to misbehave (e.g. viruses, spyware, etc).

The people who DO complain about any laptop are usually a vocal minority, and not indicative of the overall average customer.



By the way, I specifically recommend that you get:

>> 1080p FHD (and not 4K). 4K doesn't give you any advantages. 4K is a glossy touch-screen; 4K requires extreme DPI scaling in Windows; you can't game at 4K; and 4K kills your battery life. There is absolutely no reason to get 4K on a 15" panel, unless you specifically want a glossy touchscreen for some reason.

>> M.2 SSD (256GB or 512GB) and 2.5" mechanical HDD. You put your OS / games / applications on the M.2 SSD (either 256GB or 512GB). And you put your bulk media on the 2.5" mechanical HDD, like movies, music, videos, photos, pr0n, etc. Putting that type of bulk media content on an SSD is both a waste of an SSD, and gives you a lot less space than a mechanical HDD would. In fact, you actually want a 5400rpm drive as your 2.5" HDD bulk media drive, because it runs quieter, cooler, and draws less power than a 7200rpm drive.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I guess it makes more sense to just replace the drive instead of battery + parts I'm not even able to buy.

Ok, good to know!

That sounds like a good arguments, but on the other hand the FHD display has 2 disadvantages for me: 1/ no edge-to-edge and 2/ no touch capabilities. FHD configuration with edge-to-edge screen and touch would be perfect. Otherwise I'm more into getting a UHD display, but I'm aware of the scaling issue and I'm indeed a little afraid of it and it results.

I have a very bad experience with HDD drives in my entire life. Almost each HDD I owned had a bad sectors problem after some time + each was damaged because of laptop moving. I'm sick already when I hear "clicking" from inside the notebook But thanks for the suggestion anyway, it makes sense, just not for people with hddphobia like me

 

If it matters, edge to edge panel only means the top clear glass goes edge to edge. The LCD panel underneath occupies the same space, and has the same very thin bezel space.

The term edge-to-edge is really just a marketing term.

As for touch... I don't know if you've ever used a touch laptop before, or if you specifically need touch for some reason. But in general, a typical laptop user will not find touch to ve "the same as non-touch, but better! Because I have the option not to use touch if I don't want."

Touch adds about 0.4lb of weight to the laptop. Additionally, 4K resolution has its own problems with DPI scaling and significant battery drain. 1080p model gets 50% more battery life than a comparable 4k model.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

And if it helps, I can sympathize with HDD failure clicking. Anyone who has been in computers for a while knows that sound.

It's never a matter of IF a HDD will fail. They always will. It's just matter of WHEN they fail. Some drives fail in the first month of ownership. Some die after 3 years. Some have lasted for 10 years and are still going.

If you can find an SSD of the capacity you need for bulk media, it certainly wouldn't be any worse than a HDD... It will only be expensive for the storage space you buy, considering that bulk media is content that doesn't depend at all on speed. If you can get over that objection, then go all SSD, all the way.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

Very very true! Actually, only reading this got me gooseflesh lol

The thing is, I already own a 512GB Samsung 830 SSD drive in my current notebook. So it will be only a matter of replacing 1TB HDD with 512GB SSD. On my SSD I still have more then 100GB free space, so having additional 256GB PCIe drive + my 512GB will be more then enough for my needs.

 

In the past I owned the XPS Studio 1640 and it had Edge-to-Edge panel too, and I loved it! Actually, you made me to re-think the FHD vs UHD panel thing. I guess it would be best to go to the store and check both variants before making the final decision.

 

Speaking again about the FHD vs UHD resolution, isn't the Windows 10 already sort of "UHD friendly"? The UHD is becoming more and more popular (like the FHD few years ago) and I guess it's just a matter of time when it will be a standard. As a Windows 7 owner I have not much experience with Windows 10 but I believe that the W10 user interface is already prepared for the UHD screens. Probably it's just a problem of a 3rd part apps?

 

Windows is getting UHD friendly, yes. But it's the 3rd party applications that are (and always were) the problem.

I was never a huge fan of 4K, in general. Whether it be on desktops or laptops, 4K forces you to use DPI scaling in Windows. And because of that, it doesn't really give you any more usable screen real-estate. Instead, it just takes the screen real-estate you have, and makes it sharper. And that's a good thing; but I think that the current trade-offs aren't worth it at present (unreasonable gaming resolution; shorter battery life).

 

What I usually do is running Chrome with a lot of tabs + using Microsoft Word a lot. These should work well with the 4K I guess. Yes, I know such powerful machine is way too much for Word and Chrome, but I like to play some game from time to time too, and I'm sort of this geek who like to have some power under the hood "just in case" I was previously aiming at the ThinkPad Yoga 15 (which has FHD screen) but it's Broadwell based. For such money it's not logical to buy old platform...

Speaking about gaming... what's the problem with UDH if I can choose in settings to play in FHD resolution instead? Will the FHD resolution look worse on the UHD screen?

 

The thing is, with DPI scaling, you don't get any additional screen real-estate. For example: Let's say that you are comfortable using up to 20 Chrome tabs at once on a 15" screen. It won't matter if you are using 1080p or 4K screen, because at some point, the tabs are going to become so small that you can't reasonably use them anymore. The only difference that 4K brings is that the text in those 20 tabs will be sharper.

As for FHD gaming on a 4K screen... you're not the first person to think of that. Yes, it's possible. But it will still look blocky. In fact, it will probably look even MORE blocky than just straight 1080p gaming on a 1080p screen, because of the small size of the pixels.

And if you're ok with all of that, there's still the issue of battery life. 1080p literally lasts 50% longer than 4K in battery life.

 

Thanks for all the answers! Even if battery life is not that important for me (I'm AC connected all the time) I will do some serious re-thinking

 

Note that 4K screen is 100%adobeRGB while FHD is 100% sRGB only.

 

What's the difference? Colours?

 

Simple answer for a newbie... Adobe RGB can generally display more colors than sRGB.

But unless you need to do color-accurate work, like print design, then the difference between sRGB and AdobeRGB is irrelevant.



Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

Then I guess it's irrelevant in my case Honestly it's not the battery life or scaling or anything that is the biggest problem for me. I would love XPS to be convertible. The same machine with possibility to use as a table (yes, big tablet) like the Lenovo Yoga / ThinkPad Yoga series...

 

Has anyone with a FHD model tried to purchase the 86whr battery from Dell to swap it out of the FHD? I asked tech support and parts but they said I needed to purchase the laptop first and provide the laptop serial number to tech support.

 

That's what I've been told too when I asked about buying 56wh battery. Dell support quality is one of the reasons I'm holding back with the purchase for now.

 

The best thing to do here is get the i5 with the smaller battery. You get a 32Gb cache with a 1TB Hard drive. You can easily swap one or both of these storages. I did, and it is quieter and faster. I only put a 850 850 2.5" SSD. I am thinking of getting an additional M.2 PCIE Samsung Drive for the extra storage. If you get anything other than this model you won't get the 2.5 Cable.