Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsFrustrating intial experience and mixed assessment
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2014
Update: This laptop died after 8 months of light use. Blue screen. Change to 1 star
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I bought 3 Dell laptops before. Have being using Lenovo for the last several years, starting with a T60, then T500, T530, and most recently a T540p with a 3K LCD screen.
I would have just stayed with Lenovo. But sadly for T540p Lenovo chose to equip it with a full keyboard, which puts the main portion and mouse pad off-center to the left. I used this arrangement for a few months and feel this is a really bad design. The position of hands becomes very awkward. When one sits in front of a laptop naturally eyes and hands are aligned, preferably to the center of the screen. With the full keyboard my hands are forced to break the alignment. I wonder how many people use the numeric keypad on the right to justify this keyboard?
Anyway, I started searching for a laptop with 3K or better 15" screen, and a simplified keyboard centrally placed on the laptop. There are some ones with smaller screens, such as X1 Carbon. But for 15" the only choice I find is Dell XPS15.
However after receiving the laptop I found a couple of issues that are disappointing.
1) The fan noise. As many people have said before, the fan noise is quite loud and it turns on frequently. This is very annoying.
2) The touch pad is far from accurate. The mouse pointer frequently wander or click unexpectedly.
3) Screen is glossy and reflective, instead of the matte LCD that T540p has. Anti-glare film does not work because it's too big to put on without air bubbles. However MacBook Pro is glossy as well. After a while one mostly get used to it.
4) Keyboard is very, very stiff, not nearly as pleasant as Lenovo keyboard. If you are susceptible to finger and knuckle joint arthritis then you will suffer a lot.
5) The Dell True Color software is a big headache. What I initially noticed is that screen arbitrarily change color tones. Only after extensive search online had I found this True Color application is the culprit. For inexperienced users doubts about LCD quality will naturally arise, leading to returns. Why Dell bundles such a software is beyond me.
6) Face Recognition, Dell Backup and Digital Delivery are three more annoying pieces. You need to uninstall them.
7) Now this is not Dell's fault. But Windows 8.1 is by far the most confusing and least user-friendly operating system I have ever encountered. It takes considerable amount of time and tricks to make the system usable. XPS15 somehow is more difficult than T540p to re-configure.
Now the good parts:
1) The 4K LCD screen does not disappoint. I have been using the 3K T540p, which is already a high-end. But 4K is even far better. Crisp clear text. Stunning graphics.
2) Centered simplified keyboard, crucial to me for eye/hand coordination. It used to be that most 15" laptops have this type of keyboard. Somehow since early 2014, I believe, all of sudden vendors, acting like a herd, changed most of the 15" to full keyboard. Really bizarre. It's very commendable that XPS15 keeps this layout.
3) Slim profile, light-weight. Feels lighter than a 15" MacBook Pro. Not slippery. Easy to carry around.
At this point I think I will likely keep the laptop. The keyboard layout is must-have for me. I can't find another non-Mac alternative. In my opinion the full keyboard combined with the horrible experience of Windows 8.1 is the reason why so many people have switched to Mac laptops.
For future buyers here is the list of things I recommend you must do:
1) Update BIOS to the latest version. Uninstall Dell True Color, Face Recognition, Dell Backup and Dell Digital Delivery software.
2) Disable Windows Key.
3) Customize Start Screen (in task bar Properties) so that when you sign in Windows 8.1 will show "classic" desktop instead of the confusing tablet-like UI.
4) Switch your sign-in account from an online account (with outlook.com) to a local account.
5) Do not set up pin as sign-in method. Another stupid idea from Microsoft, because after a while you will forget your password, which is still required for configurations that need admin privileges. You will be totally hosed by then.