Debating between replacing my Skylake XPS 15 with this or the Ice Lake XPS 13 or wait another year (had gone with a smaller Haswell ultrabook prior to the Skylake XPS 15, but four real cores in that form factor was nice at the time; now you can get that in a 13" laptop). Though I guess I should look at the competition a bit too.
wow what a crazy beast. I don't know if the cooling can keep up with 5GHZ 8 cores though, even desktop takes a pretty giant cooler. Also the 1650 is only half as fast as a 1060, so not really for gaming. Wonder if they have some new fancy antiburnin OLED tech.
Given the fact that the abysmal cooling seems to struggle even with my quad core i7-7700HQ, I highly doubt this is ever going to be able to clock above base clock for the i9 variant, let alone overclock
To add on to this, the i9-8950HK (6 core) XPS 15 only managed to barely run above base clock of 2.9GHz, at around 3.0-3.1GHz, as tested by Notebookcheck. So adding 2 extra cores is probably going to drop this by another 0.3-0.5 GHz or so?
Also the sleep and audio bugs that have plagued the platform since the 9550.... I wouldn't touch this with a twenty foot pole until others do the beta testing lol
Glad I'm not the only one. I haven't noticed any audio bugs, but I did have issues with it failing to properly resume from sleep. The sleep issue may have been resolved, because I don't recall it frustrating me lately. However, now occasionally Windows will just crash. Maybe it's now because I use the slow ring insider build, but before I installed the insider preview occasionally Windows would just completely hang, processes would start to crash, then the whole thing would crash. Maybe bad memory?
Love the hardware, just hasn't been as rock solid as my old XPS. I'll probably still end up getting one when I upgrade, but I'm more hesitant now...
I got a 9560 and I have no audio issue or coil whine issue that common in XPS 15.
I am though, more hesitant, on sticking with XPS moving forward. Largely because faster CPU doesn't mean anything if you can't run it full speed because it overheats.
My hope is that other manufacturers, like Lenovo, can come up with a similar setup and better build.
I have the older 6700K variant and I have to undervolt it to prevent it from throttling when I run the CPU and GPU at full blast at the same time so I imagine this model, that doesn't have significantly reworked cooling can only be worse.
My brother's had this. Also the provided driver that "fixed" it by throttling to 800Mhz now and then. Really not impressed by their inability to handle a sustained load.
Except that the i9 will consume far more power than 45W when above base clock. And given the XPS 15 history of terrible cooling and VRM throttling (unfixed across multiple gens), I am not optimistic about the performance of the i9 variant
Click on the image "Prime95+FurMark stress". Observe the value of 44.947W behind "CPU package power". In this test, the laptop did not thermal throttle.
It's a loud laptop, yes. But not one with terrible cooling.
Yes, I know you can lower the resolution, but it looks fuzzy. I have an XPS 13 with the (almost 4k) OLED display and it only has a 965m. I have to run in 1/4 the resolution to get decent FPS.
I agree. 1440p (as my current 13" OLED Hewlett Packard Limited Edition x360) would have been perfect. 4K is a waste at 15.6".
I'd would have liked an AMD option as well. Maybe next year with 4th gen APUs with Zen 2 and Navi. Until then I think my current laptop (two-in-one) will be fine.
Nearly every modern 3D game has the option to lower the 3D rendering resolution while the UI remains at the native resolution. This works very well and doesn't cause anywhere near the amount of fuzziness that lowering the display resolution.
New version of Windows 10 has fonts settings to make 4k better. But also application like Adobe Photoshop which ignore graphics setting, can be alter in manifest to allow better output for people that older and need larger fonts.
I have 4K on my XPS 15 2in1, I rarely use the laptop display and have it hook up to LG 38in Ultrawide display instead. I would believe CPU power this laptop would be significant to drive 4K on external monitor especially with NVidia 1650 on it. But one needs to keep in mind of designed of XPS series - I believe they are aim at more business side.
If you want to get a high performance gaming notebook, the Alienware series would be better choice they have basically same CPU, RTX 2080 on it.
One note GPU on XPS 15 2in1, I am sure it's GPU will be replace by Xe classed one day, the 8705g was a bad deal for Intel - even thought AMD market it has newer Vega, it turns out to be older class of GPU and how do I support DPMI 2.0 on it. Older applications have compatibility issues and compatibly with even new professional 3d programs like Vue 2016 with all updates have problems.
Overall the XPS 15 2in1 fits my needs and it lot faster than my older Lenovo Y50.
One thing to note I was willing to give AMD GPU a chance with XPS 15 2in1, it better than integrated and even the older NVidia in Y50 but I wish it had option to integrated NVidia based GPU in EMiB - that is why I purchase it - the idea of CPU / GPU / Graphics memory so closely connected got my interest.
Considering one clock cycle would be 17 thousand times longer than 12 femtoseconds, I’m going to go on a limb and say it will be able to sustain 5 GHz longer than that.
I REALLY hope they have improved the VRM design and cooling for them. At my startup we have a few XPS 15 9560's and if you try gaming on them the VRMs overheat and the CPU throttles to 800MHz until the VRMs cool down. There is zero cooling on the VRMs, no heatsink or anything. I hear the 9570 is even worse since the CPU and GPU use even more power and have the same exact VRM and cooling.
Rip, I assume that is a problem dells does not run into much. Since this is one of Dells most space constrained systems with such a range of high-end spec options. I assume this leads to a few engineering gaps... I hope they buffed up the VRMs in this version :)
Lots of laptops sound good or even awesome (specs-wise)on paper, then quickly throttle under moderately heavy gaming loads...; let's all hope this is not the case here....
Another year of XPS and: - it still thermally throttles hard - killer wireless must immediately be swapped for Intel (hope they haven't soldered it) jnless you like constantly dropping wifi - audio from 3.5mm is totally hissy low-quality crap not shielded enough against RF mobile signals - the keyboard is still crap if you are a touch typist / programmer and have ever used a proper Lenovo keyboard
XPS = never again (at least not until they redesign the whole innards , incl components and cooling and replace the keyboard)
I've a 2015 Dell Latitude 7350 and the keyboard is fantastic. I'd been led to believe that Dells have good keyboards. Any other opinions on this subject?
after getting burned by a bunch of xps 9570s with just weird problems that dell didnt feel like fixing im more inclined to switch brands to something that doesnt suck rather than buy their latest
Sounds lovely, but as a dev I'm more attracted to the 16:10 screen (which is why macs are so great) ultra-light i7 LG 17" 1600 100% sRGB screen beauty. Yes, even though it's only got an i7. I can render video on my desktop monster, but I need the screen real estate for on-the-go devving.
But what I really want is an ultralight 19" 4K screen. Oh my gosh. I would sell my....left toe pinky for that. Maybe.
Can't agree more. Those large top or bottom bezels are not even funny anymore. Why they insist on keeping this AR for working laptops is beyond me. I have seen Surface and Matebook 3:2 screens recently, and I cannot imagine gettting a laptop (for doing anything) with 16:9 panel anymore. Too bad there are only those two at the moment.
Unless they changed it from the previous three generations all you need to do is remove about 10 screws on the bottom and the whole bottom plate comes off, then there are maybe 8 screws holding the battery in place. Once those are removed it comes right out.
i9-9900k is almost twice faster than i7 7700K if turbo off (45W), its real score are in turbo & 90W (3 times speed of i7 7700K according to cinebench r 15). Stress mode only a bit faster than it at 200W)... This is fast..... Intel didn't lose in speed war, & I can claim if you saw such claims, it will be false... But in power consumption, it disappoints you IN REAL WORLD..... Not many need such speed, most people need less pricey less power hungry laptops.. I wish Qualcomm brings it.... I wait to hear more about SD 8cx..
Sketchy, scammy Killer networking AND insta-throttle overclocking?! That's like two pointless, on-paper features crammed into the same overpriced mobile chassis! Where do I sign up to get raked across the coals by Dell to own this gemstone of a system?
Wow I pleasantly surprised Dell was able to keep the base model at $1k. Also I have not seen many laptops with three display options which means these must be selling well. At least as well as the amount of comments on this article would indicate. Regardless if I did not need a Mac laptop the XPS 15 would be my goto system. As long as they get a few of the random kinks out that pop up every few year models.
I always found numpads somewhat awkward to use on a laptop, though I would have liked at least the del/ins/pos1 etc. to the right like for example Clevo does.
I bought the i7/GTX 1650 version for my boss. She likes it but says it gets hot and she can hear the coil whine. I chose a G5 with i7/RTX 2060 and it also gets very hot and has coil whine. Personally, I'm not impressed with either. If my company went Lenovo I would have gotten her an X1 Carbon and myself a P-53 with a RTX Quadro. I think Lenovo makes a better product. Plus, the Dell Thunderbolt docks are problematic in my experience (TB16 and WD15).
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quiksilvr - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!drothgery - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Debating between replacing my Skylake XPS 15 with this or the Ice Lake XPS 13 or wait another year (had gone with a smaller Haswell ultrabook prior to the Skylake XPS 15, but four real cores in that form factor was nice at the time; now you can get that in a 13" laptop). Though I guess I should look at the competition a bit too.Byte - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
wow what a crazy beast. I don't know if the cooling can keep up with 5GHZ 8 cores though, even desktop takes a pretty giant cooler. Also the 1650 is only half as fast as a 1060, so not really for gaming. Wonder if they have some new fancy antiburnin OLED tech.Retycint - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Given the fact that the abysmal cooling seems to struggle even with my quad core i7-7700HQ, I highly doubt this is ever going to be able to clock above base clock for the i9 variant, let alone overclockRetycint - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
To add on to this, the i9-8950HK (6 core) XPS 15 only managed to barely run above base clock of 2.9GHz, at around 3.0-3.1GHz, as tested by Notebookcheck. So adding 2 extra cores is probably going to drop this by another 0.3-0.5 GHz or so?wintermute000 - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Also the sleep and audio bugs that have plagued the platform since the 9550.... I wouldn't touch this with a twenty foot pole until others do the beta testing lolJorsher - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Glad I'm not the only one. I haven't noticed any audio bugs, but I did have issues with it failing to properly resume from sleep. The sleep issue may have been resolved, because I don't recall it frustrating me lately. However, now occasionally Windows will just crash. Maybe it's now because I use the slow ring insider build, but before I installed the insider preview occasionally Windows would just completely hang, processes would start to crash, then the whole thing would crash. Maybe bad memory?Love the hardware, just hasn't been as rock solid as my old XPS. I'll probably still end up getting one when I upgrade, but I'm more hesitant now...
Cliff34 - Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - link
I got a 9560 and I have no audio issue or coil whine issue that common in XPS 15.I am though, more hesitant, on sticking with XPS moving forward. Largely because faster CPU doesn't mean anything if you can't run it full speed because it overheats.
My hope is that other manufacturers, like Lenovo, can come up with a similar setup and better build.
willis936 - Sunday, June 9, 2019 - link
I mean I did the standard thermal mods to my 9570 and can run 12 threads at 3.9 GHz forever at 70C.oRAirwolf - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link
What thermal mods did you perform? This is the first I'm hearing of this.Flunk - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
I have the older 6700K variant and I have to undervolt it to prevent it from throttling when I run the CPU and GPU at full blast at the same time so I imagine this model, that doesn't have significantly reworked cooling can only be worse.GreenReaper - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
My brother's had this. Also the provided driver that "fixed" it by throttling to 800Mhz now and then. Really not impressed by their inability to handle a sustained load.kpb321 - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
carbon figer palmrest? Is that some new material for laptops?Flunk - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
No, Dell has been using them for years.surt - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
b is next to g on qwerty keyboard.ikjadoon - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
An unlocked 8-core in THAT chassis? Once again, PC OEMs copy Apple's worst moves....svan1971 - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
I doubt the copper heatsink will be paper thin like Apples, laptops can cool 45 w chips easily if silence isn't their main concern.Retycint - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Except that the i9 will consume far more power than 45W when above base clock. And given the XPS 15 history of terrible cooling and VRM throttling (unfixed across multiple gens), I am not optimistic about the performance of the i9 variantDarkstone - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9560-i7-...Click on the image "Prime95+FurMark stress". Observe the value of 44.947W behind "CPU package power". In this test, the laptop did not thermal throttle.
It's a loud laptop, yes. But not one with terrible cooling.
Flunk - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
There isn't enough space in the chassis for a decent size cooler so I'd wager this throttles like a mofo.Jorsher - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
I haven't noticed throttling with my 9550, but wouldn't be surprised if it exists.I would expect that even if the cooler design stays the same, a lower TDP that's not unusual with each generation should result in less throttling?
twtech - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
I knew something was wrong about that model description - it should be 9570, not 7590.twtech - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
...Nevermind - I guess they really did swap the numbers around like that for the new model.danielfranklin - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
In line with Latitude models now.pbollwerk - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
OLED is gorgeous, but 4k OLED isn't good for gaming unless you have a 2080tiI would have loved to see a lower resolution OLED as an option.
pbollwerk - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Yes, I know you can lower the resolution, but it looks fuzzy.I have an XPS 13 with the (almost 4k) OLED display and it only has a 965m.
I have to run in 1/4 the resolution to get decent FPS.
SaturnusDK - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
I agree. 1440p (as my current 13" OLED Hewlett Packard Limited Edition x360) would have been perfect. 4K is a waste at 15.6".I'd would have liked an AMD option as well. Maybe next year with 4th gen APUs with Zen 2 and Navi. Until then I think my current laptop (two-in-one) will be fine.
peterfares - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Nearly every modern 3D game has the option to lower the 3D rendering resolution while the UI remains at the native resolution. This works very well and doesn't cause anywhere near the amount of fuzziness that lowering the display resolution.HStewart - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
New version of Windows 10 has fonts settings to make 4k better. But also application like Adobe Photoshop which ignore graphics setting, can be alter in manifest to allow better output for people that older and need larger fonts.HStewart - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
I have 4K on my XPS 15 2in1, I rarely use the laptop display and have it hook up to LG 38in Ultrawide display instead. I would believe CPU power this laptop would be significant to drive 4K on external monitor especially with NVidia 1650 on it. But one needs to keep in mind of designed of XPS series - I believe they are aim at more business side.If you want to get a high performance gaming notebook, the Alienware series would be better choice they have basically same CPU, RTX 2080 on it.
One note GPU on XPS 15 2in1, I am sure it's GPU will be replace by Xe classed one day, the 8705g was a bad deal for Intel - even thought AMD market it has newer Vega, it turns out to be older class of GPU and how do I support DPMI 2.0 on it. Older applications have compatibility issues and compatibly with even new professional 3d programs like Vue 2016 with all updates have problems.
Overall the XPS 15 2in1 fits my needs and it lot faster than my older Lenovo Y50.
HStewart - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
One thing to note I was willing to give AMD GPU a chance with XPS 15 2in1, it better than integrated and even the older NVidia in Y50 but I wish it had option to integrated NVidia based GPU in EMiB - that is why I purchase it - the idea of CPU / GPU / Graphics memory so closely connected got my interest.Jorsher - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
This is great for what I use it for... Movies, photo editing, and general use. It's still a superior quality screen, even if you game at 1080p.Fortunately, there are options.
AshlayW - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
You mean 5 GHz for 12 femtoseconds before it overheats and thermally throttles? Gotcha.willis936 - Sunday, June 9, 2019 - link
Considering one clock cycle would be 17 thousand times longer than 12 femtoseconds, I’m going to go on a limb and say it will be able to sustain 5 GHz longer than that.peterfares - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
I REALLY hope they have improved the VRM design and cooling for them. At my startup we have a few XPS 15 9560's and if you try gaming on them the VRMs overheat and the CPU throttles to 800MHz until the VRMs cool down. There is zero cooling on the VRMs, no heatsink or anything. I hear the 9570 is even worse since the CPU and GPU use even more power and have the same exact VRM and cooling.Skeptical123 - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link
Rip, I assume that is a problem dells does not run into much. Since this is one of Dells most space constrained systems with such a range of high-end spec options. I assume this leads to a few engineering gaps... I hope they buffed up the VRMs in this version :)MDD1963 - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Lots of laptops sound good or even awesome (specs-wise)on paper, then quickly throttle under moderately heavy gaming loads...; let's all hope this is not the case here....germ65 - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Sorry, too many problems with Dell XPS machines. Not a reliable choice, no matter how tempting the specs may be. Waiting for Lenovo P1 update.halcyon - Friday, June 7, 2019 - link
Another year of XPS and:- it still thermally throttles hard
- killer wireless must immediately be swapped for Intel (hope they haven't soldered it) jnless you like constantly dropping wifi
- audio from 3.5mm is totally hissy low-quality crap not shielded enough against RF mobile signals
- the keyboard is still crap if you are a touch typist / programmer and have ever used a proper Lenovo keyboard
XPS = never again (at least not until they redesign the whole innards , incl components and cooling and replace the keyboard)
itsastickup - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
I've a 2015 Dell Latitude 7350 and the keyboard is fantastic. I'd been led to believe that Dells have good keyboards. Any other opinions on this subject?AshlayW - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
I had a Dell Inspiron 5000 series and the keyboard was pretty good.osamabinrobot - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
after getting burned by a bunch of xps 9570s with just weird problems that dell didnt feel like fixing im more inclined to switch brands to something that doesnt suck rather than buy their latestZan Lynx - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Overclocking and laptops never ever ends well.DejayC - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Can someone PLEASE tell them to move the webcam to the top of the screen? For people that need to do video conference calls it’s a huge pain.Ikefu - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
They did =) It's at the top in the new oneitsastickup - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Sounds lovely, but as a dev I'm more attracted to the 16:10 screen (which is why macs are so great) ultra-light i7 LG 17" 1600 100% sRGB screen beauty. Yes, even though it's only got an i7. I can render video on my desktop monster, but I need the screen real estate for on-the-go devving.But what I really want is an ultralight 19" 4K screen. Oh my gosh. I would sell my....left toe pinky for that. Maybe.
MarcusMo - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Agreed, 16:10 or 3:2 ftw. Also you can’t really claim thin bezels with that huge bottom one right? Much rather have that used for pixels...risa2000 - Sunday, June 9, 2019 - link
Can't agree more. Those large top or bottom bezels are not even funny anymore. Why they insist on keeping this AR for working laptops is beyond me. I have seen Surface and Matebook 3:2 screens recently, and I cannot imagine gettting a laptop (for doing anything) with 16:9 panel anymore. Too bad there are only those two at the moment.danwat1234 - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Is the battery really non-replaceable? Or just kind of sort of not replaceable unless you follow the iFixit guide sort of not replaceable?peterfares - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Unless they changed it from the previous three generations all you need to do is remove about 10 screws on the bottom and the whole bottom plate comes off, then there are maybe 8 screws holding the battery in place. Once those are removed it comes right out.Ej24 - Saturday, June 8, 2019 - link
Still over an inch of wasted space below the screen. Please, Dell put a 16:10 screen in there!nobodyblog - Sunday, June 9, 2019 - link
i9-9900k is almost twice faster than i7 7700K if turbo off (45W), its real score are in turbo & 90W (3 times speed of i7 7700K according to cinebench r 15). Stress mode only a bit faster than it at 200W)...This is fast.....
Intel didn't lose in speed war, & I can claim if you saw such claims, it will be false...
But in power consumption, it disappoints you IN REAL WORLD..... Not many need such speed, most people need less pricey less power hungry laptops.. I wish Qualcomm brings it.... I wait to hear more about SD 8cx..
Thanks!
nobodyblog - Sunday, June 9, 2019 - link
i9 9980hq i meantPeachNCream - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link
Sketchy, scammy Killer networking AND insta-throttle overclocking?! That's like two pointless, on-paper features crammed into the same overpriced mobile chassis! Where do I sign up to get raked across the coals by Dell to own this gemstone of a system?Skeptical123 - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link
Wow I pleasantly surprised Dell was able to keep the base model at $1k. Also I have not seen many laptops with three display options which means these must be selling well. At least as well as the amount of comments on this article would indicate. Regardless if I did not need a Mac laptop the XPS 15 would be my goto system. As long as they get a few of the random kinks out that pop up every few year models.0ldman79 - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link
Why did they remove the numpad?Why remove the numpad on a premium product, especially with that much area on each side of the keyboard?
nils_ - Thursday, June 13, 2019 - link
I always found numpads somewhat awkward to use on a laptop, though I would have liked at least the del/ins/pos1 etc. to the right like for example Clevo does.remosito - Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - link
Is this the one with the soldered ssd that can not be upgraded by the user?umano - Thursday, June 13, 2019 - link
I won't buy any laptop with a 14nm cpujyavenard - Thursday, June 20, 2019 - link
Will the OLED screen supports HDR ?Donkey2008 - Wednesday, November 27, 2019 - link
I bought the i7/GTX 1650 version for my boss. She likes it but says it gets hot and she can hear the coil whine. I chose a G5 with i7/RTX 2060 and it also gets very hot and has coil whine. Personally, I'm not impressed with either. If my company went Lenovo I would have gotten her an X1 Carbon and myself a P-53 with a RTX Quadro. I think Lenovo makes a better product. Plus, the Dell Thunderbolt docks are problematic in my experience (TB16 and WD15).