Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am thoroughly enjoying this 2-for-1 laptop as a computer and also when in tablet mode. PROS, CONS, & FEATURES: It isn’t as light as a tablet but it’s okay at 3-1/2 lbs. Audio & volume is okay but not intended for audiophiles. Sometimes when streaming, the video has its own sound volume and the computer volume is additional so, at times, I adjust both to max the sound, if needed. If I need more, I use a wireless Bluetooth speaker for a better music sound. The resolution is superb! I had to take it down a few notches though, so the taskbar icons, etc. would be bigger (only because I have older eyesight); yet, it still is crisp in detail. It seems of good construction like other Dells, especially the lid hinges, which I’m glad about due to frequent changing over to tablet mode. The 3 USB ports are great, 1 is USB2, another is USB3, and the 3rd one is USB3-C (has the charging capability when the laptop is shutdown but plugged in). Haven’t used the SD Card port but, it’s nice to know it’s there. The full-sized HDMI port works perfectly on our hi-res TV. As some others have said, the touchpad is a bit insensitive and takes a firm tap or slide at times but Windows has settings for adjusting the sensitivity for tweaking further. It’s perfect for me as is, as I’ve found other devices too “touchy”. I think someone mentioned about an error in the user guide about an M.2 port. I checked around and apparently there is a mistake in the guide and, while there is an M.2 port, it’s not available as it’s already being used. So, there’s no chance to install an M.2 drive, in case anyone was wondering on that but, you might want to reconfirm that, if interested in M.2 storage for this model. The DDR4 RAM on mine was 8Gb and was fine. The CPU was an Intel i5, 7th generation, which has some great features available, some for the future. The camera worked okay for the facial recognition feature to logon. I added more facial photos to improve its recognition. With Windows 10, There is no Windows product key needed for this model, because some newer computers like this one are starting to have the product key built-in and it’s also activated automatically. It knows what level of Windows it’s licensed for (or upgraded to). ABOUT THE FAN & PREVENTING OVERHEATING: Due to it having a smaller width than a regular sized laptop, many of the fan’s vents can get blocked if on your lap or other non-table surface. Also, larger laptops may have added vents on the side, which this doesn’t. So, when I hear the dynamics of the fan kicking in (mildly at first), I’ll readjust it so more vents are exposed for incoming air cooling, which works every time, after about two minutes. I never have the fan/heat issue when on a hard flat surface. THE INITIAL STEPS TO TAKE TO AVOID A LOT OF REPORTED ISSUES, BEFORE STARTING TO USE IT: After booting it up the first time, I had to respond to the prompts for several steps to finalize the Windows setup, which is standard on new computers. Then, I spent about 1.5-2 hrs applying all the latest patches/updates for this model from the Dell Support site. I felt like the sequence would be important. So, I started with the latest BIOS update, followed by the “Chipset” category updates. After that, I did the remaining update “categories” that were left, such as “Drivers”, etc. One or two of the updates gave me an error so, I either already had the current update or it didn’t apply to the type of hardware I had. I eventually saved the Dell Support site link to my desktop because I found out I was prompted to do a restart quite often during this process. I was tempted to skip some of the reboots when prompted but, I didn’t (for avoiding near future behind-the-scenes issues). SOME SETTINGS TO CHANGE: At this point, startup time to the logon screen was about 35-40 seconds (too long for me but I made changes later I’ll cover). When folding over the screen for tablet mode, there was a prompt every time, so I set it change automatically to tablet mode to prevent future prompts. There are some things that don’t appear when in tablet mode but, there are some settings you can change to enhance the tablet mode to be similar to desktop mode, if desired. I noticed an issue with hanging and locking up and sometimes an issue starting the laptop or when using tablet mode. So, I then recalled that the Windows hibernation feature can cause inconsistent issues like these on computers so, I changed the power saving settings to never use “hibernate” mode. These modes were seen for “pressing the power button” and other areas. I changed everything to “shutdown” or “do nothing” modes. I didn’t test selecting “sleep” mode but I did select the hard drive to be able to turn off. It eliminated all the hanging and locking issues I was having. SETTINGS TO CHANGE TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE REPORTED SHORT BATTERY DURATION: I did see that the battery hours shown was about 4 to 4.5 hrs at this point. That wasn’t good and matches what others were saying. So, the top common battery hogs I felt to be Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the screen brightness levels. It was discovered that Bluetooth and a few other items were on by default so, they were turned off (by clicking the <Action Center> icon in lower, right corner). However, I always leave my Wi-Fi on. Then, I changed the keyboard backlight to be low (toggling thru the <F10> key). During critical times, you could turn it off but I never have. You can also set the CPU to use less power, when in battery mode; I set mine to 75% when on battery because I’m not doing anything intense when not plugged in. There are several CPU settings in the BIOS you can reduce, if desired but, I didn't change any. I later unplugged the power cord so I could easily adjust the screen display brightness level while on battery, and then made the “battery saver” mode to turn on after the battery level gets to 90% power. The displayed battery time remaining is kind of funny in that it doesn’t consistently refresh itself immediately when you turn something on or off. At this point, it’s displaying about 6-7 hrs. FINAL CHANGES: To improve startup speed & other performance, I later replaced the original Seagate mobile 1 Tb HDD (Hard Disk Drive) with a Crucial 1 Tb SATA SSD (Solid State Drive). I always seek an SSD with read & write speed specs of around 500 each. I then turned off the automated defrag (SSD drives are impacted differently on that). The SSD kind of drive is extremely low power and gives me about 7-8 hrs showing for the battery usage now. Plus, the boot up time is now about 15 seconds, after uninstalling some of the items that were pre-installed such as the trial software. I removed the antivirus software since Windows 10 has it natively already, including the firewall built-in. I did ultimately do a reformat and reinstalled everything 3 different times to test some of these discoveries in order to confirm an optimal environment and setup for my needs with adding Office 2016 and turning on Hypervisor. And finally, I did go back and turn off a lot of the initial Windows setup settings (from originally choosing “Express Setup/Settings”) to enhance performance a little more and to cut back on tracking and a lot of info sent to Microsoft, advertisers, etc. That’s in the Control Panel, under “Privacy”. Update note 3/22/17. I did purchase a Microsoft Bluetooth Arc Mouse. So, I now leave Bluetooth on all the time. I still get about 8-is hrs a day of usage; however, it's not constant usage and is not multimedia usage. There was a very important setting change to make for the mouse to prevent a commonly noted disconnection issue. You have to turn off the power-saving option for the mouse. That was located via Control Panel and inside the "Device Manager". From there you look at the list of items under "Bluetooth". One of those items will have an option (in a power related tab) that needs to be unchecked and that item starts with "Allow the computer to turn off this device...". I hope this helps.