Caporegime
My Clevo arrived today, very nice!
Might do a full review
Might do a full review
Spec Me: The thinnest, smallest, lightest and cheapest gaming laptop you can
- Thread starter Skeeter
- Start date
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I've heard that the XPS13/15 are great once windows is removed and LINUX (Ubuntu/Mint?) are installed, all of the bugs disappear and runs well, then install maybe Win 7 as a second for gaming and your done.
Caporegime
WTF?
Soldato
Hahaha. I just got my XPS15 yesterday. Hopefully it doesn't go the same way. Everything's fine so far 'touch wood'
Bitlocker has crapped out. Enabled it, entered my desired PIN, confirmed it by entering it again, saved Ok.
Rebooted, prompted for PIN, "PIN is Invalid".
You can get back in using the Recovery Key but then trying to remove Bitlocker errors, and trying to reset it errors too. My work won't let me have it until Bitlocker is working.
Rebooted, prompted for PIN, "PIN is Invalid".
You can get back in using the Recovery Key but then trying to remove Bitlocker errors, and trying to reset it errors too. My work won't let me have it until Bitlocker is working.
Finally I have it!
No matter what we tried Windows refused to communicate with the TPM chip. Our theory is either the chip is broke, or that it doesn't actually have one and the BIOS is incorrectly reporting that there is one.
So we went with the non TPM BitLocker encryption and all is working fine. So far, its great. The larger screen over the 13 it replaces is much better for working on. I do think I prefer the keyboard on the older XPS13 though, the 15's is a bit shallow in its key presses.
Tonight, games testing
No matter what we tried Windows refused to communicate with the TPM chip. Our theory is either the chip is broke, or that it doesn't actually have one and the BIOS is incorrectly reporting that there is one.
So we went with the non TPM BitLocker encryption and all is working fine. So far, its great. The larger screen over the 13 it replaces is much better for working on. I do think I prefer the keyboard on the older XPS13 though, the 15's is a bit shallow in its key presses.
Tonight, games testing
Associate
please report back, considering one of these too
Had it for 2 days. 1 lockup, 4 blue screens, and using a USB-C to VGA adapter results in very flaky external monitor use.
Not impressed so far. I've not had the chance to test any games on it yet, I've spend too much time just trying to work on it!
Not impressed so far. I've not had the chance to test any games on it yet, I've spend too much time just trying to work on it!
Have you updated to the latest Intel video drivers? The ones that shipped with mine were the known 'bad' first wave of Win 10 intel drivers that bluescreened often.
I've had mine since the beginning of December and haven't had a single problem with it, though I've read of quite a few people who have had various build quality issues.
Its fully up to date with drivers and BIOS.
Over the last couple of years we (as a company) have bought a lot of 1st generation XPS12s and XPS13s, and now 2nd generation XPS13s and XPS15s, and the amount of random, sporadic, inconsistent issues we have had it as long as my arm. There are probably only a handful of people who have not had issues. I've ordered this as a replacement to my perpetually fubar'ed 1st gen XPS13.
I tried very hard to avoid Dell, but nobody else makes a laptop in the form factor of the XPS15.
Over the last couple of years we (as a company) have bought a lot of 1st generation XPS12s and XPS13s, and now 2nd generation XPS13s and XPS15s, and the amount of random, sporadic, inconsistent issues we have had it as long as my arm. There are probably only a handful of people who have not had issues. I've ordered this as a replacement to my perpetually fubar'ed 1st gen XPS13.
I tried very hard to avoid Dell, but nobody else makes a laptop in the form factor of the XPS15.
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All the checks I do show nothing wrong yet its still constantly blue screening. Its losing work and I am now going to miss a deadline on a project because of it.
It will be sent back to Dell for a refund on Monday, so for the moment I'm back to my slightly less broken XPS13 while I see what options I have for replacements.
It will be sent back to Dell for a refund on Monday, so for the moment I'm back to my slightly less broken XPS13 while I see what options I have for replacements.
So, we (I) think we have found the issue.
Firstly the TPM chip. Turns out there is a BIOS setting to enable it that nobody thought to check...
But that's the minor issue.
The major issue is the constant blue screening. It dies with the error CRITICAL_PROCESS_FAILED. It doesn't store any memory dumps or anything so no blue screen analyser tools help.
With some digging we have found a few other people with this same issue and it turns out they all have something in common, they have reinstalled Windows.
Initial thoughts point at reinstalling Windows using the AHCI mode for the SSD as the cause, with the suggestion being to swap to RAID mode. However, RAID mode still dies, and if you set it to RAID in the BIOS and then try a clean install the installer won't see the disk.
So what we have determined is that the stock Windows image that comes preinatalled on the latop from Dell has something in it (drivers maybe?) that aren't in a clean install. My laptop was formatted the moment it arrived and Windows 10 Enterprise installed.
So, simple then, revert to the Dell image from the recovery partition. Ah, no, that's gone, formatted off when the Enterprise version was installed!
Ok then, use the recovery media. What recovery media? Oh thats right Dell don't ship that any more and you have to pay extra.
Order it then? No, that wont work either as this laptop was bought with a Windows Home license as we knew it would be thrown away anyway!
So I've got an XPS 15 that doesn't work because we formatted it, that we can't return to the Dell image, and wouldn't work (domain access) even if we could as its Windows Home!
So it's going back, and a replacement has been ordered that comes with Windows Pro that we then wont touch other than attaching it to the domain. Annoyingly that's another 2 to 3 week wait for delivery.
Firstly the TPM chip. Turns out there is a BIOS setting to enable it that nobody thought to check...
But that's the minor issue.The major issue is the constant blue screening. It dies with the error CRITICAL_PROCESS_FAILED. It doesn't store any memory dumps or anything so no blue screen analyser tools help.
With some digging we have found a few other people with this same issue and it turns out they all have something in common, they have reinstalled Windows.
Initial thoughts point at reinstalling Windows using the AHCI mode for the SSD as the cause, with the suggestion being to swap to RAID mode. However, RAID mode still dies, and if you set it to RAID in the BIOS and then try a clean install the installer won't see the disk.
So what we have determined is that the stock Windows image that comes preinatalled on the latop from Dell has something in it (drivers maybe?) that aren't in a clean install. My laptop was formatted the moment it arrived and Windows 10 Enterprise installed.
So, simple then, revert to the Dell image from the recovery partition. Ah, no, that's gone, formatted off when the Enterprise version was installed!
Ok then, use the recovery media. What recovery media? Oh thats right Dell don't ship that any more and you have to pay extra.
Order it then? No, that wont work either as this laptop was bought with a Windows Home license as we knew it would be thrown away anyway!
So I've got an XPS 15 that doesn't work because we formatted it, that we can't return to the Dell image, and wouldn't work (domain access) even if we could as its Windows Home!
So it's going back, and a replacement has been ordered that comes with Windows Pro that we then wont touch other than attaching it to the domain. Annoyingly that's another 2 to 3 week wait for delivery.
I was thinking about the XPS 15 - fits the bill perfectly for a acceptable work machine that I can also game on while away from home.
Then I started reading their support forums for the XPS 15. Horrible, horrible errors, random crashes and highly questionable fixes being suggested by dell.
Some people have got lucky when returning them, but others must be in Hell.
It's really put me off, which I why I'm still on a very old and very heavy Latitude e6510! There are no other replacements in this sector that fit the bill
Then I started reading their support forums for the XPS 15. Horrible, horrible errors, random crashes and highly questionable fixes being suggested by dell.
Some people have got lucky when returning them, but others must be in Hell.
It's really put me off, which I why I'm still on a very old and very heavy Latitude e6510! There are no other replacements in this sector that fit the bill
So my replacement XPS 15 has arrived, and we haven't formatted it. I just cleared off all the bundled software, attached it to the domain and that was it. So far all is working fine. No crashes, no blue screens, all good. It is only 2 days in though .
I have started hearing stories at work of the latest XPS 13s we have (the ones with TB3) also having issues with blue screening and driver problems. Sounds like they have the same issue if you format them.
So, it seems like the advice is that if you get a Dell XPS laptop, leave the Windows installation on it that comes with it.
.I have started hearing stories at work of the latest XPS 13s we have (the ones with TB3) also having issues with blue screening and driver problems. Sounds like they have the same issue if you format them.
So, it seems like the advice is that if you get a Dell XPS laptop, leave the Windows installation on it that comes with it.
Will be interested to hear how you get on longer term. Still really put off by the stories from support forums about these. I want it to be good as my work machine needs to very reliable when out of the country, I worry it's not been developed enough to risk getting one.