****Official Dell XPS 14z Thread****

Not sure if somebody has already started a thread for the XPS 14z, so I guess I will be the first. I just purchased the 14z and got the system with the SSD. I currently have a Dell Studio XPS 13 packed to the gills with SSD that has been rather faithful to me, so I sure hope that the XPS 14z delivers.

I am looking forward to a slimmer laptop and a slightly bigger display. Along with better Wifi performance and an overall faster laptop.

So far, I have only been able to find professional reviews, but I have come up short on user reviews. I realize that the 14z has only been out for a month or so, but for people on this forum that have it; how do you like it?

Thanks,
Josh D.

 

if really need 14z. better buy ultrabook. 14z release is a wrong timer. for me.

 

Not if you want great sounding speakers. Ultrabooks don't deliver on sound.

 

Can someone who purchased a 14z please post a review here?

 

In this thread there were some first impressions from owner:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/622431-dell-xps-14z.html#post8070716

 

I don't believe that the 14z is trying to be competitive with ultrabooks... They have their sights set on Mac Book Pro.

 

Just got a 14z - two questions I've been unable to get a definitive answer on.

1. Does it have a numlock key anywhere?

2. If it does have a numlock key, do the normal keys switch over to emulate a separate key pad (ie J K L to 1 2 3 for example)

Cheers

Mark

 

Does nobody know the answer to this simple question, then? Is there or is there not a numlock key on the new XPS 14z?

I still can't find one, but I also am slightly shocked that if there isn't one, Dell would do such a thing.

Cheers

Mark

 

There's no Numlock key on XPS 14z

 

In that case I've solved the problem with the brute force fix of one of these:

Logitech UK - Wireless Number Pad N305

So that's two strikes against this otherwise excellent machine - missing numlock and only average quality screen compared to the quality of the rest of the machine.

You wonder what Dell think they're doing sometimes.

Mark

 

So after a couple of days - first impressions about XPS 14z.

I used it mostly for web browsing, typing, watching videos, installing programs, compiling programs (I'm not doing any gaming).

I have top specs model (i7, 256 SSD, 8 GB RAM, discreet NVidia GPU)

Dell did a ton of work to load it with any possible kind of bloatware so I decided to format my 14z and reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate from my own DVD and all programs that I use on it myself. Windows installed very smoothly in about 10 minutes, but then I spent a couple of hours to install all needed drivers. Installing all my other software (MS Office, Visual Studio 2010, SQL server etc. - I'm working as software engineer) took about another 5 hours.

In terms of build and design quality - very good. It's light, compact, never got hot, and hardly ever used fan. Very quiet.
I have a chance to compare it with my old M1330 (with NVidia) which is still working after 2 motherboard replacements.
14z is a little bit lighter, thinner and only about 1 inch longer than M1330.

Keyboard - very good. It took some time adjust to combined arrows/pgup/pgdown/home/end keys but it feels very good typing on it. It has two levels of brightness which are useful in dark room, but I had to turn it off in the light because letters become invisible.

Touchpad - very good. Large, responsive and accurate.

Sound - good, I don't use it for listening any music anyway, but it is good to listen youtube videos and such.

About the display - I've read it's horrible, but actually it is quite fine for me. Out of the box it looks like it is on the low side of contrast. I had to slightly adjust brightness/contrast in GPU settings and adjust ClearType settings for fonts in Windows control panel. After adjustments it looks almost exactly like my former M1330 screen. Didn't notice any artifacts on the screen as some other users on this forum (lines, pixels etc). HD videos and photos look very good. Vertical viewing anglles are not very good though.
Screen probably could have slightly more resolution but I don't like to look at very small letters so again it's OK for me.
At home I connect the laptop to external LCD monitor anyway so for occasional use on the go it's pretty good for me.

Performance - it's excellent. Very fast. Again - maybe gamer would be disappointed but this laptop is near to ideal for a power user who has to travel.

 

I finally got my computer in on Monday, and I also did the same and reformated the computer the minute I turned it on. So far so good! The screen is ok, but I think my 1340 takes the cake when it comes to the screen. The screen seems to have a narrow sweet spot, and if you get the angle just right the screen looks pretty good. However, move the slightest angle and the colors wash out quickly. I am not a gamer, so for the most part the screen is not that big of a deal. The build quality is excellent and overall feels pretty solid. The lid seems to flex just a tad when adjusting the angle of the screen, and if your 1 1/2 year old enjoys banging on the table you will notice the screen vibrate. My 1340 never did that, but then again the 1340 laptop has a more robust hinge.

The keyboard is cool and has a light sensor that either keeps the backlit keyboard either off or on depending on ambient light. It was cool turning all the lights off and the keyboard comes to life! Turn the lights on and the sensor turns the backlights off. The speakers sound better than my 1340 did, and the 14z speakers aren't half bad. Also, in the BIOS you can change the use of the function key so that the multimedia keys are a one button press instead of holding down function and then the media key. What I love the most is this laptop is fingerprint free! The 1340 has a very nice piano black finish, but it is a huge fingerprint . Almost impossible to keep it clean. I am slightly bummed that there isn't any hard drive status lights, or bluetooth lights, but I can live with it. Overall, fan speeds have been rather quiet and the laptop doesnt get hot at all. Processing speed is great and everything opens in a snap. Some people have complained about the 6230 wireless card, but so far I have yet to experience a problem. Some HD videos I have do tend to stutter at times when watching them, but SD videos run fine. So far, no connectvity issues. Overall, I would say the laptop is worth the money, for the user that wants performance for a great buy or even a PC version of the Mac Book Pro.

As I use the laptop I will keep everyone updated on how she runs. I will be traveling with it Monday, and will be breaking her in with TSA and the demands of traveling.

Josh D.

 

Mine arrived today. I will let yall know what I think of it =]

 

So please give us an update.

 

We're waiting for your report. Please.

 

Here are my Spec, Review & Questions (for Questions, I hope others who have 14z can help me):
Spec: i7, 750Gb HDD, 4 GB RAM, NVidia GForce GPU. Use it for casual MS Office, Internet only (no gaming)
Review:
Pros:
1) Beautiful, clean-look, except the hinge’s retro-look
2) Nice keyboard,
3) Lightweight
4) Quiet
Cons:
1) Poor Battery performance at discharge rate of 30% perhour, ie 3.5hours usage only. I used BatteryCare program to gauge. I compare this with my office laptop (DELL Latitude E6220, i5, 4Gb) which discharges at 20% rate perhour, ie 5 hours usage (you can view my tracking attached)
2) High battery wear–rate. Using BatteryCare program, after about two weeks of usage (bought on 22/12/2011), the wear-rate is at 5.5% now. Designed capacity is 58,000mWh, now, the Total capacity has dropped to 54,810mWh. I used laptop cooler, so, I don’t think the heat is damaging the battery
3) Unremovable battery since it’s unibody design. Guess need to send to DELL if want to replace it. And if want to use for long period of time, cannot remove battery and use power cord only
4) No dedicated Pg Up & Down buttons for single-handed page scrolling. Need to use Fn+Up/Down buttons, so, two hands are required. Semi-Solution: found that pressing space bar can do Pg Down. Haven’t found one-handed Pg Up yet
5) No dedicated End & Home buttons. Need to use Fn+Right/Left buttons. No single-hand shortcut found yet
6) No VGA out. My office laptop broke down last week, so, I had to use 14z for a work presentation. Surprised that it didn’t have a VGA out. Had to borrow colleague’s laptop. Still looking for HDMI/ mini display to VGA converter. Haven’t found at shop yet. Probably will order it online here. The first one is the correct adapter isn’t it?
7) Different power charger, 90W instead of the normal 65W. So, can’t use my office charger to charge it. If used, it will power it up, but it won’t charge
8) I didn’t notice the poor display until I read the review here, & then realized that the fonts don’t look great
9) 2 USB ports only
10 Too clean-look is also not that good: no wifi, Bluetooth, hdd indicators on the keyboard at all, just power and battery indicator
11) After removing MS Office 2010 Starter, I installed my own MS Office 2010 full version, but MS files won’t associate files automatically with it. Had to use, ‘Open with’.
12) My online stocks software doesn’t fully work with IE9. Now, I’m using Chrome with 'IE tab' add-on to resolve this
13) I think I have an unbolted screw or loose part in the body. If I move the laptop around/ turn upside down, I can hear the loose part moving. Will send to shop to check later

Questions:
1) Appreciate if you can comment on your own 14z battery life (Cons 1 & 2 above). Just want to know whether the discharge rate and wear-rate is normal
2) Appreciate if anybody can help with dedicated Pg Up/Down & End/Home (Cons 4 & 5). Tried looking whether if can configure the Fn buttons (which most of the time I never used), but so far, haven’t found any softwares/ hacks that can configure them yet
3) Con 6: it’s the correct adapter, isn’t it?
4) Con 8: will changing font to ClearType resolve this?
5) If anybody can help with Cons 11 & 12, would be helpful too
6) Con 13: Any of you have loose screw/ part in your 14z?

This is my first purchased laptop (office laptop doesn’t count). My first PC was DELL Desktop, which was very reliable which is the reason I bought DELL Laptop. My second PC was a home-made desktop. XPS14z is my third PC. So far, I really enjoy using it, except some complaints here and there as per the Cons above. Hope to hear from you guys

 

Thanks for holding my feet to the fire summerthyme.

Ok, while traveling I had no issues with security, and the durability seems very good. It's very nice that it's thin and rather lightweight. I use a Taurus backpack and I didn't feel any difference in weight between my 1340 and the XPS 14z. When I arrived at the hotel the computer booted fine, and noticed all WiFi networks within the area. I've heard many issues regarding the Wireless-N 6230, and I can tell you that I have not experienced any issues with my WiFi card. However, I had a minor hiccup with my Bluetooth, but it happened once where it became unresponsive, and a restart took care of the issue. There is an updated version of the 6230 driver which I just installed, and everything seems to be working fine. Overall, this laptop is super fast! I thought my 1340 was fast, but this laptop packs some punch for the money and size.

Some 15z users are complaining of the chrome trim ring coming off or loose. So far I haven't seen any edvidence of the chrome ring coming off or coming loose. Audio on the 14z sounds better than what I had on my 1340. Of course, they are laptop speakers, but they sound better than my cell phone style speakers in the 1340.

Battery life is rather respectable. I had a four hour flight from DFW to Salt Lake City, and the battery still had about 40% left once I was asked to power down prior to landing. I took advantage of the WiFi on AA, so I didn't watch a movie using the DVD drive. Casual surfing really makes this laptop shine as it uses next to nothing for power.

So far so good! I think out of all things listed I have been most impressed with the speed of this laptop. I would say that if you are in the market for a compact laptop that packs a punch the 14z is your best bang for the buck. However, if you are really picky about the quality of a laptop screen, this unit would be a deal breaker. The screen is by far this laptop's weakest link. My 1340 looks much better than the 14z. My pet peeve with computers is speed, so the screen is a rather small issue.

Now if anybody has tried a screen swap with the XPS 14z, I am all ears! I hope this helps for anybody sitting on the fence, but if anybody has any questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Josh D.

 

How hard is the 14z to disassemble and upgrade? I already own a few SSD's so I was planning to order the $1299 model and upgrade the drive myself.

Will the screen ever be upgradable to 1600x900?

Any deals or coupons to be had?

This seems to be the only owners discussion on all of the internets. Hasn't this puppy been out for a few months? Why doesn't anyone own one... It makes me nervous to buy one.

btw, thanks for posting some insight from an m1330 owner's perspective. That is what I would be upgrading from, though in some respects I wonder if it can be called an upgrade. I mean, c'mon... 200 nit screen vs 330 in the m1330, and the same res even though it's an inch bigger! Also, no dedicated home or end key even with plenty of room to have included them. No expresscard slot. No swappable battery. I need to stop before I totally talk myself out of this purchase.

Basically I do a lot of video and photo editing, and video DJing professionally. The m1330 does a pretty good job though I'd really appreciate having some more screen real estate. Forgetting the resolution, will the 14z feel snappy compared to a fully spec'd 1330?

 

Hi,

I am wanting to upgrade from a Dell XPS M1210 that I've had for years. It's been a great unit, giving very few problems but has had its day. I am wanting to replace it with something similar (ie. robust and portable but with good performance). The XPS 14z sounds pretty good, but a couple of comments in this thread worry me - namely the battery, screen quality and no VGA port to connect to a 2nd flatscreen monitor in the office.

If so, can anyone recommend a better option?

Would appreciate any feedback,

Thanks for that,

LL

 

I've just posted re' a replacement for my old XPS M1210 - any suggestions?? (I see you are listed as a "Notebook enthusiast"...)

Any advice would be much appreciated,

LL

 

1-2) I don't trust any battery tracking software, b/c it's impossible to create such a software fitting laptops from different manufacturers. My 14z can hold about 6-6.5 hours of my regular use (browsing, document editing etc.).
I think we should thank Apple for non-removable batteries in modern laptops. All manufacturers try to copycat even bad design desisions from this company. Although I think it's possible to replace battery using owners manual instructions ( Documentation) but you need to be extremly careful not to break anything.
4) Twicking ClearType settings and GPU's brightness/contrast settings helped me to create slightly better look than 14z default settings
5) Regarding office - maybe you need to run install/repair of MS Office again to correctly accociate file types. Regarding your stocks software - I think it's a question to software manufacturer support.
6) I don't have any build quality problems. Actually It's probably the first Dell laptop I have very impressed with build quality.

 

I ordered an XPS 14z from Dell on December 29. It has been delayed 3 times and is now scheduled to be delivered Jan 25. Supposedly the 256 GB Solid State hard drives have been on back order. They have promised me there will be no more delays, but I'm wondering. When I call to get an order update, I really get the run-around, getting passed to several different departments and having to hold for long periods each time.

I'm replacing an XPS 1330 which constantly ran hot.

 

Any news if there is a replacement (higher-res) display for the 14Z yet? I upgraded my old XPS 14 using the info from this thread Official "swapping the XPS 14 L401x screen" thread and was wondering if anyone came up with a new replacement for the 14Z.

Also, I found the benchmark info on the 14z graphics card (the GT520M) to be interesting. Apparently, the fact that the GT520M in the 14z has a "higher" model number and is overall faster spec-wise than the XPS 14 L401X GT425M, it is actually a lower performing video card.

GT 425M vs GT 520M

 

I found some 1600x900 14" but i am still wondering if they will fit. i am waiting for the dell lcd spec from dell support.

 

Let us know what you find out! Thanks for looking into it!!!

 

Just ordered an XPS 14Z from the Dell outlet.
I-7 2640M, 8GB, 750GB/7200, Nvidia 520M for $687 with the 20% off code.
Has anyone upgraded to SSD drive? If so which one did you install?
Any installation problems?

 

Just checking in to this thread. I found a Nice refurb on the dell outlet with a 25% off coupon (Base specs but has the 520m card).

I had been refreshing the dell site about every 30 minutes and finally found one that was a steal... Had to jump on it fast, 2 I clicked before sold before I could even add it to the cart.

Can anyone calm my nerves about this system... I am kinda thinking that I should have just saved my money and went with an untrabook but I have yet to see an ultrabook with discrete graphics. Can anyone throw out an argument that this is a better buy than an ultrabook?
------------------
*update
------------------

I have a copy of windows 7 ult that I currently don't have installed on any system... should do a fresh install on the xps14z? I hear they come with alot of bloatware.

 

Reading through reviews, I found out that swapping the hdd is not easy and putting it back together leads to chassis issues. I would assume it's a typical 2.5 drive, so just about any ssd should be able to fit.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

Received a XPS 14z from the outlet last week. It's an i7 loaded out. Here are the issues that I have with it, I changed out the harddisk with a Corsair Force GT 240gb SSD and I am only able to get SATA II speeds. I'm fairly sure that the ports are not 6Gbps. Also, the screen is a BIG letdown. I know the HM67 chipset is supposed to allow for SATA III speeds. Any thoughts?

 

What is your biggest gripe about the screen? The resolution? Colors? Most reviews say the screen is actually pretty nice when correctly calibrated.

 

I have a Dell XPS 15 L502X with the incredible 1080P screen that I have been using for 6 months . I need to travel more so I got a 14Z - at first I found the screen grainy and lacking "color" - after a few days and fooling around with the color settings - I am used to it - and I think I actually like it! I went to big box store to look at the 1366X768 screens on other laptops and I think the 14Z is the same or better. I decided its a keeper so I installed a 256GB SSD..
Pros
-perfect form factor for me
-great looks
-great keyboard
-great performance with 7200rpm HD..even faster with SSD
Cons
- Screen is just OK but by no means a show stopper

 

Anyone tried linux on this notebook? Could you please report what works and what not (please specify which linux distribution have you tried). I am VERY interested in this machine but I will use Linux as my only and unique OS, so I have to be sure everything works (especially the graphics card, with optimus not being supported by linux, it could be THE problem)

Thanks

 

not a review but some of my opinions: (I5, 8GB ram, Nvidia 520M, 750GB 7200rpm HDD, Internal CDRW)

The screen isnt the best (but I have seen worse)

I like that it has the built in CDrw drive

The 750 GB 7200rpm HDD I have is very ample and quiet

Only 2 usb ports? (1 USB3, 1 USB2) doesnt really bother me because I started using a bluetooth mouse.

The speakers are pretty damn good!

Even though some report the 15z has case bezel problems my 14z does seem sturdy and the bezel seems fine

I have the the 520M Oced (basically to 520MX clocks with no issues) when I play games to 900 1800 900. (temps run about 75c, I got a cool pad for the laptop and it runs about 70c)
I am able to play BF3 on medium/low and skyrim on medium (pretty damn good for this thing)

Backlighted keyboard I like, the touch pad is roomy too, wifi card has good range and no issues. battery like is over 3 hours in general applications.

Coming from a alienware M11x R1, I love this fairly thin, fairly light laptop.

 

I read from a review that do not open the laptop to replace the hd and battery because you cant never put it back.

YET on the manual, it tells you how to remove the back of the laptop to replace the hd, memory or battery.

Is is easy to do?

 

Yes it is very easy to replace, in fact i got myself a hdd caddy and swap out the DVD drive (well people still use DVD these days). and put back my 750 into it.

Regarding the screen, i manage to find the same replacement LCD part number from dell but dont know where to find the alternative. I had my screen calibrated using Spider 3 and it is much more better now.

I still waiting for HP envy 14 spectra screen, maybe it had chance to fit into out 14z. that screen is way better.

 

So it is easy to replace thing and put it back with no problem?

So you have two hard drive on your 14z? Where can I get this hdd caddy?

 

Has anyone tried this hard drive caddy to allow two hard drives instead of having a slot load dvd?

2nd HDD SSD hard drive caddy For Dell XPS 14z 15z + External USB enclosure | eBay


It would be nice to have an ssd for os and my 750gb free for storage.

 

one question- 14z have SATA 2 or SATA3???

 

Anyone found video on youtube on opening up the backcover of the 14z to replace a SSD on it?

Is it easy to open?

I have done it on the 15z. Is it the same?

 

I replaced my hard drive with a crucial M4 512 GB drive. It functions in SATA 3 mode (6gb/s). install was easy. Screan calibrates fine with spider 3,but the optimal view is very positional. Battery life is so so . about 4-5 hours so far. Very quick, everything works so far. This was one of multiple exchanges for non-functional dells. This one works!

 

I am getting a SATAIII SSD. Do I have to do anything to get this speed? Install any special drivers?

 

The 14z base cover is extremely hard to remove!

My two thumbs are a bit sore and bloody from opening it cause I use it along with a bunch of credit cards to hold it in place while I keep on popping slowly!

The hard drive caddy u need to remove one of the end tab. No need to remove the battery on the side which I did.

Luckly no damage done and I love the SSD speed!

Opening the 15z was semi easy compare to this!

 

For the 14z:

What are these software and are they necessary? I have google some of this and no help:

* App - Quickset and Physc System Software
* Chipset - Management Engine Interface and Mobile Intel Series 6 Chipset
* Input - Dell BT Travel Mouse Application Release??? What is this ?
* Network - Install all 5 files?
* System Utilities - ST Microeelectronics Driver Motion Sensor? I have a SSD now
* Video - Intel Wireless Display connection Manager

Anyone knows?

 

Looking through this thread, there has been some discussion of replacing the screen.

Has anyone done this yet? I'd probably be interested in this laptop if it had a better resolution.

 

I went to check just now and I have the OCZ Agility 3 and I now it can do 6 GB/s, but on the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" Properties info it says I am running at 3 GB/s.

Is this a bug on Dell?

Because another user just inform me about this and he install the same Dell SSD and he too is getting at 3 GB/s and his is in the Dell shop now.

 

I just check and my 15z is connect at 6 GB/s! But not the 14z with a SSD drive that can do 6 GB/s.

This is a hardware or BIOS bug by Dell!

Does anyone care?

 

does anyone else have issues with the mouse buttons feeling really loose? also does anyone else have the fan being really loud? im just watching a video on that i downloaded and web browsing.

 

My mouse button is OK. I use a BT mouse.

Nobody have interest in 6 GB/s bug that Dell is not doing anything about it huh? I see.

 

The new Dell XPS 14 Ultrabook has a higher res screen and a black keyboard, I hope someone has the time and money to try these parts out in the xps 14z.