Review Dell XPS 15 (L521X) Notebook

[Clive M. Coote]

My mounse pad rattles. Every time I touch it it is a though it moves down fraction and produces a rattle. This  driving me mad and is really annoying when I am working.

It also means I tend to double click without meaning to or teh cursor oves without me wanting it to.

This problem combined with the learning Windows 8 is alomst too much in one go for a non techie!!!

[clmooring]

I have this laptop and now I love it.  I did not at first for one simple reason the trackpad was psychotic.  It made the computer almost unusable.  But a reacent update of the driver cured that and now the laptop is a pleasure to use in every aspect.  I read a lot about heat in the review, but I really have not noticed anything beyond my experience with other laptops.  I would say it runs cooler than most I have used. 

I dont really play games beyond microsoft flight simulator and it handles that very well even with some pretty significant add-ons to the game.

I very very happy with this laptop.  I have have windows 7 with the i5 processor.  I recommend it highly

[clmooring]

I guess that I am also fortunate not to have experienced problems with the WiFi.  I use WiFi at home exclusively and at work probably at least 30% of the time for meetings etc... no problems.  I use this laptop as my desk top computer for work.  I travel quite a bit and no problems there either.  If anyone can generally get get wireless access, then I can.   

[Lindsay]

So the BIOS is up to A12 now I think? Can anyone here tell me if they have fixed throttling yet? Because my L502X is having serious trouble they are sending me the L521X as a replacement, on paper it sounds like an overall upgrade, they are throwing in the best processor and graphics card as well as an increase to 8gb RAM all for free so I am pretty happy. Then I start reading up about all these issues! For the record can anyone tell me if I will likely have an overall increase or decrease in my gaming experience (minus the constant freezing I was getting that caused the replacement)

I mainly play: CS GO, CIV V, Skyrim, Fallout 3/New Vegas and Far Cry 3. Any help would be appreciated, this site has given it an 86% gaming performance but these throttling issues sound like a deal breaker.  :-\

[tristaan]

I have had this XPS15 for a few days. Firstly out of the box I found a dead pixel and the right speaker did not work. If that was the only problem with this nice looking laptop I would be happy. But all the complaints are true, the display looks grid-like you can see the shadows of the pixels... and it overheats idling hot at 65 - 70!

Whatever you do, dont buy this laptop. cancel your order!

[Sken]

Comparing the internet forums and this article, it seems to me NOTEBOOKCHECK published it just to be able to mention SCHENKER at the end of it :D.
Also guys black value of 0.65 cd/m2 in a computer for 1650EUR is mediocre, not impressive. But it is not a major fault, as apparently the computer has many bigger drawbacks...

[Kemar]

This laptop is amazing if it was only tested on the A04 Bios. If you want to do extreme gaming then stick to this bios but the drawback is that its not compatible with windows 8 UFEI bios concept. Downgrading the bios wasn't a problem for me since I used my old hdd to run win 7.  Anyways, I came here to make this comment quick but if u need to downgrade the bios follow this link http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/673630-xps-15-l521x-owners-lounge-503-print.html

go down to the very bottom of the page and read the instructions. Be careful of what your doing

[Ameh]

I love the Dell XPS 15 (L521X) Any recommendation for  Graphics or 3D softwares like Maya,3D Max

[wwwing]

Avoid this laptop at any cost, except it's free. Mine L521x's touch pad is "not" working, No WIFI if you are about 3m away from your router. Heat problem IF any 3D is on screen and I even didn't mention all the drivers and installation problems you will encounter if you want to use Windows7... Really these problems aren't worth to spend your time for. Don't waste your time for this crap of s***.