127
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #226,197 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
Excellent Laptop....Shame on Dell
This is a hard review to do. I ordered the XPS 13, loaded with all options, top of line. Received it in six days vice the next day delivery that I had requested. That is on Amazon. Now for the laptop review. The HD touch screen looks fantastic, build and materials are hands above other laptops this size I have looked at. The processor is responsive, I do not have the issues with keyboard depth that some others have complained about. All in all this is a wonderful ultra laptop. Probably the best on the market IF:
Here is the bad part. The present bios and drivers for this laptop do not play well with Windows 10 at all. The first XPS 13 I got from amazon had a screen that flickered and jumped around, the speakers had static in them, it had constant trouble trying to stay connected to WiFi and would not mate with my Logitech MX anywhere Bluetooth mouse (or any other BT mouse). I thought something was bad wrong with laptop and returned it for a replacement.
I receive the replacement, and the same issues were present. This time I did some significant research into the problems. Dell did not prepare a new bios or drivers for this laptop. Originally it was put out with Windows 8.1. They slapped a windows 10 install on the computers with no new drivers. After poring through some forums I did discover a work around for these issues until Dell puts out new Bios and drivers. You go into bios and disable the advanced C-states option. Fixes all the issues but may decrease your battery life some. The really knowledgeable guys on forums believe it is caused when the broadwell cpu tries to wake up from various c-states (where processor powers down). The work around will probably affect your battery performance a little bit until permanent fix.
So...I will keep the laptop. It is that good a machine. I give it three stars only because Dell jumped the gun to have a "Windows 10" ultrabook ready on 7/29/15 but did not adequately prepared a new bios and drivers. Shame on you Dell for giving this wonderful laptop a bad name in your rush to jump on Win10 bandwagon.
Updating my review. Nearly three months after release of windows 10 and Dell has still not fixed driver bios issues on this laptop. I have all the latest drivers and updates and still frequently dropping strong WiFi signals for no reason. Will not connect consistently to any of three Bluetooth mice I have tried. Having to use a usb mouse. Windows 10 boot takes FOREVER and I have applied every single fix that I can find on the internet. I still think this is a SSD/Chipset driver issue. Gorgeous laptop and excellent construction... poor driver support ruins it. I am probably going to wipe the SSD and go back to windows 7 or 8.1. I no longer recommend this Laptop if you are going to use Windows 10.
August 2015 · Electronics · verified purchase