XPS 15 (9560): 11 Problems You Should Know About!

[@marcelrick2332]

Stiff ports are better than loose ports

[@-Christoph]

Stiff ports are better than no ports.

[@sethlavaseth]

"I would recommend wearing pants while using this laptop" 10\10

[@jamioop]

Yep😂 when i open it while my legs skin is exposed it literally will sting

[@timgehrsitz3267]

"it's nothing compared to a mechanical keyboard" There is literally one laptop on the market with a mechanical keyboard in it, and it costs 4400. This is literally the lamest gripe ever.

[@Biggest_Superhuman]

Tim Gehrsitz Nah.. There are more than one now.. But yeah i know what you mean

[@wilmotown]

Not trying to say it's a problem the end user should have to deal with, but flexing your chassis is proooooobably the cause of the misaligned screen and body.

[@SaveThyPlanet]

William Mackay Right!. I was going to comment the same.

[@prototype8861]

It will eventually bend from the heat too. Processors like i7 i9 are just not suitable for laptops. If this had a i5 model then maybe I would think about it.

[@avgplayer]

Don't have any of the listed actual problems on my 9560.

[@firdythirst7624]

Nice! Not all XPS 15s are built the same and this video is more along the line of issues I encountered so it's good to hear that some people aren't having any problems.

[@ghoda-r3854]

is it 4k or fhd?

[@avgplayer]

Fhd

[@christiantakkebos6493]

Ghoda-R depends which model you buy

[@sebastiankesseler3233]

So i just need to say something now, i do not have any of those problems maybe i will experience some in the future but for now its one of the best notebooks so far. I use the 4k with 32gb ram version.

[@tVideoUTube]

Got the XPS 9560 with an Aug 15 2017 build date a few days ago; fit and finish is perfect, no screen issues, fans pretty quiet, no coil whine, all ports work well. Maxed out 4k UHD 32gb 1tb config through costco for $2K and no bloatware - signature edition and with fingerprint reader although not mentioned on costco site. Applied windows and dell driver updates, no crashes or glitches. Keyboard will take some getting used to, only complaint is lack of dedicated keys for home, end, page up and down which require the FN key to activate. Overall, very pleased with my copy.

[@robluce2111]

YES! Finally someone comments on the audio popping, and second of max vol when playing something after not listening to anything for a while! This problem alone almost makes me want to return the laptop, it’s infuriating when using headphones constantly.

[@blzs_perger]

I'm currently returning my ASUS laptop for the same issue and looking for a new one. I think this wouldn't be the best choice... Is the problem solvable?

[@kman889]

Wouldnt the flushness of screen issue be caused from bending your chasy lol

[@JunaidJDM]

kyle king *chassis

[@therealbrybryo]

Thanks for this! Kinda crazy how much work you gotta do on this laptop.... I've repasted and added thermal pads. Also that leg hair comment is legit

[@JustAdriana]

You must be a joy to be around.

[@alpyerdm]

Thanks, i will buy a xps :)

[@starmanx25]

Thanks for the heads up man.

[@tehdrek]

Thanks. Getting one soon. Already ordered everything for repasting and new thermal pads.

[@maasnicolas]

To be honest I think its way over exagerated. I have mine for almost 7 - 8 months. Of all the issues you had with yours, I haven't had any of them. It works like a charm. So people, if you want to buy this laptop, I think you should. It's a great laptop and also very good looking with nice battery life as well, and if you have a little bit more money to spend, go with the 4k screen because it's gorgous!

[@neoperol]

The problem with this laptop is quality control, you got a good one he got a messy one. Dell has that problem with the XPS and the Alienwares. Just check the Amazon reviews, so many people complaining about getting XPS with hardware problems. And for a 2k Laptop is just stupid. I got an Alienware and a MBP I was about to buy the XPS but I don't live in the USA I didn't want to be one of those who get one of the bad ones.

[@AlbaderBohamad]

I'm considering buying this, but also waiting for 2018 model to release (i know the 13" is released). Although i might not buy it if the performance is noticeably downgraded due to their new CPU/GPU chip that they're going to ship with. However i have a couple of questions that i hope you could answer, that would be appreciated. 1/Do you get longer battery life if you set on 1080p setting? if so, is it as long as if it was originally a FHD model? 2/Also, does it collect finger prints on the lid and especially the screen? 3/Last but not least, can i treat and handle it as an iPad pro (for example) in terms of toughness, or do i have to be gentle with it or else the screen is going to flex or something like that? thanks.

[@jdgregson]

Some of these issues still exist in some way in the XPS 15 9560 (2017), such as chassi warp and backlight bleed. Most of them are either fixed or simply never bothered me. After 3 months of 9-5 professional use of this device, NONE of them have come close to making me regret my purchase. Regarding thermal throttling, I addressed this today by applying Arctic Silver 5, thermal pads to all power-related chips, and undervolting the CPU. Now I can run the CPU at 100% for 15 minutes without throttling or the CPU passing 86*C. See Dave Lee's video for details. Some issues that you haven't mentioned are: - The side of the device gets scratched after a few days of plugging in external devices. You slide the connector back and forth trying to find the right hole, and boom, you have some nice permanent scratches. - The finger print reader has an issue after you've unlocked the device several times is close succession, like 5 minutes apart. After the third time of doing this, the reader doesn't work at all, and you have to log in with a pin or password. And last (but not least), stickers? Really? You actually counted the lack of stickers as one of the issues with the device? The things I rip off as soon as the package is opened? I know you're trying to be funny, but, it doesn't work.

[@DaniFojo]

That was a really good video! Thank you and I hope your channel does well!

[@stefanmodigh7897]

I had to replace my motherboard on my 9560 4k version, cuz of the coil whine, but doing so didnt fix anything. Now Iam waiting for my display to be replaced cuz of the right side of the screens glue has loosend from the screens chassi. I have no idea why it has. Now I feel like I just want the hole laptop to be replaced!

[@rickstockton6382]

I like that he has to go to these lengths to find things wrong with it. Makes me feel better about my 5510, which is just a souped-up XPS 15.

[@codingxllama]

The only great thing about this laptop is the 1) the “XPs” part from the name , 2) the thin bezel and display , which most companies are building towards , 3) the track pad , it’s the best that windows will ever get . 4) The touch sensor , it’s eh but it’s there .

[@mzlatkov]

"I'd recommend wearing pants while using this laptop" LMAO :D made my day!

[@Jigarius]

Nice video. I hope your device is in usable state. But I wonder why you got a third one if they aren't so good.

[@agilirving810]

you can turn off that mouse trail in mouse settings

[@OmeHenk993]

Agil Gaming how?

[@emanny1986]

LOL! I feel this is just such a good laptop that people go out of their way to find the silliest things to gripe about.

[@firdythirst7624]

lol yeah. I don't mean to sound whiny. These are just things I've noticed. Going by the fact that I still have this laptop and enjoy using it it's definitely one of the best windows laptops around.

[@watersnortmoment3734]

Yeah, battery swelling is such a small thing to gripe about, Amirite?

[@joshuabrazile]

The fact that you've had three of these things is insane. All of the issues you've described are red flags (you seriously had to re-apply thermal compound to the GPU and CPU?!). Battery swelling? The speakers might blow out if you turn them up all of the way for too long? Coil whine? Hard pass bro. Get your money back!

[@wds3222]

U clearly doesn't get it lol

[@aahpoiseeh]

I think it makes sense to find every problem (big or small) since it's not cheap at all ;)

[@ejemplo]

stickers... really?

[@fajarsyahruramdhan694]

I thought, when it comes to the flagship lines (the XPS 13 and 15), Dell would have had better quality control. I had so many issues with my Dell Vostro 14. I sold it for half the price for only 6 months usage. I then bought a used ThinkPad X240 and it's been reliable for me. No issues whatsoever.

[@fajarsyahruramdhan694]

Dell's bottom rubber design should be changed, too. When your laptop bends a little bit, your laptop will never have stable feet anymore. It happens with The Tech Chap, too.

[@khirosSS]

I disagree with previous posters. Actually, something like half of the videos about the 9560 on KZbin are from people who have faulty devices. When people research whether or not to buy the laptop they get the impression that almost all specimens have severe issues like in this video. What people forget is that just a small fraction of those of us who have perfect working 9560's will post stuff online while close to all who have problems will post in forums and upload videos. My 9560 worked perfectly out of the box, I've run all tests available to identify possible errors and there are none.

[@firdythirst7624]

That's awesome! It's nice to hear success stories. The XPS 15 is a great laptop if you can find a good one and I guess only a "pretty good" laptop if you can't.

[@khirosSS]

Probably depends quite a lot on what country you are in. It seems in Western Europe (Sweden at least) they'll change most anything for free the first year when their premium warranty is valid, either by sending a technician to your home or make you send the computer to them to be fixed. It does seem that in some places they do not provide all of these perks, though.

[@ghoda-r3854]

is it the 4k model ort he fhd?

[@vincentsherry9546]

I received my second unit yesterday, and so far the only problem is that it doesn't quite sit flush on a flat surface. I can forgive that. The previous laptop suddenly stopped working and could not be resuscitated -- it wouldn't boot into Windows -- after it was restored, Windows had been reinstalled, the BIOS had been updated and the SSD, motherboard and RAM had been replaced. I sent it in for repair, and, of course, they sent it back with a statement saying it had been rigorously tested. Funky screen glitches would take over my screen, rendering the laptop unusable and costing me my work. The screen would also go black. There were other blue-screen errors that showed up at times, too. Updating the video drivers did not fix that, so they sent me a new laptop. It works well so far. The XPS 15 is actually stellar when you get a good one, but there's too much smoke for us to discount other people's bad experiences when we consider quality control.

[@vincentsherry9546]

It took them a while to consider the laptop a failure. It followed all the previous repairs I mentioned. All that took place in chronological order. They did not offer a replacement for a long time.

[@therealbrybryo]

Thank you for the battery and fan air intake comment!

[@cuttingedgecool7235]

I appreciate your attention to details, after watching your video, now I'm considering the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon instead of the Dell XPS 15 4K.

[@ImRealizee]

for the second issue just download thermalstop an stop thermalthrottling should help

[@thechrissmartin]

Probably summarizes all the problems of my XPS 15 9550.

[@greggrshepherd]

Considering your many complaints about the XPS 15, I find it extremely odd that you have purchased three of these laptops!

[@stephenlozada7158]

I just noticed mine had a lot of stuttering issues at first and WiFi issues. a year later all is well

[@rossevans2814]

Just for the record, my 15 (&13) are amazing

[@ghoda-r3854]

is it the 4k one?

[@rossevans2814]

Ghoda-R 13" is 4k, but never used the touchscreen so went for hd on the 15. tbh, i think 4k is a bit pointless on such a small screen. 4k/ touchscreen also makes it heavier and use more battery.

[@ghoda-r3854]

Have you experienced the ghosting problem on the 15?Thanks

[@rossevans2814]

Ghoda-R not that i have noticed?

[@ghoda-r3854]

Ross Evans thanks, too many people complaining abt this but i guess im gonna buy it anyways . hope i dont encounter such probs tho

[@MiroslavJahelka]

its the best notebook on market :)

[@cardinalrule6810]

How loud is the fan on your model? My Dell XPS 15 has an extremely loud fan that almost never shuts off

[@vendra00]

mine is super quiet at normal load

[@cardinalrule6810]

Gabriel Vendramini where did you buy it from and when?

[@macyyyyyyyyyyy]

Contact dell and you can have it replaced with a new one if the fans arent working correctly

[@cardinalrule6810]

Thomas Macy I’ve already swapped it multiple times. All of the units I’ve received have had fans that nearly always run, regardless of what I’m doing (which hasn’t been anything CPU intensive yet).

[@zeveroarerules]

So I have this thing. Not one issue aside from backlight bleed in the post if I don't sit right in front of the laptop, outside of that, probably the best laptop I'll ever own.

[@ghoda-r3854]

is it 4k or fhd?

[@petersloan3934]

The "ghosting" can be fixed in settings by going to pointer options.

[@firdythirst7624]

There is a difference between the pointer options in windows and ghosting on a screen. Sorry if it didn't translate well in my video. The video I linked below may help explain it a bit better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/emfKaWispsl-aKM

[@dr_vegapunk13]

Its a great laptop, the only problem is that you have to return it 3-4 times to replace motherboard, battery is about to blown and the chassis plastic is worse than fisher price-toys. Apart from the re-appliance of thermal paste every now and then (and 3-4 other thermal related issues) definitely a solid solution !

[@j.franciscox3318]

Great video. I exchanged 5 times for my current XPS 15. The problems are: loud coil whine, vertical line on screen, key not working, uneven base. The one I'm having right now seems to be all good.

[@firdythirst7624]

UPDATE: After taking a second look, the ghosting seen in the video is actually pretty accurate to how it is in real life.

[@ShroomZz]

Firdy Thirst I've got the "barcode" issue on XPS15 9550, with latest intel drivers. Any help?

[@stephaniee.9384]

Nice to know, i'm actually comparing XPS15, AW13 & 15 and the MPB13 & 15, that help. I don't want to deal with this kind of issues on high end machine that cost 2000€ (+1000 for MBP15)

[@tomflorczakjr.5353]

I have this model. My battery became swollen so I removed it altogether. The fans are ridiculously loud even after I blew dust out with a powerful air blower I have. Using the Dell Power Manager and passive cooling setting only works temporarily. Definitely going back to HP for my next laptop.

[@N0STIC0]

Thank you, this was really helpful!

[@aaronfortin4659]

Just got one of these shipped. Put it on the charger one day, opened it up the next to do the setup. It would not turn on. No real documentation. I had to come online to reviews to figure out the tiny button on the side was a battery life indicator button. Hit it.... no lights on mine. Also, plugged in, the charger plug lights up, but the amber light in the very front never lights up. It isn't charging. This one is going back. It looks and feels great... I had high hopes, but can't even power up. :-( Way to go Dell.

[@heynow3802]

Aaron Fortin yep same shIt happened to mine, had it replaced and it happened again. I ended up buying the Asus Zenbook ux550 I've had absolutely no problems with it so far.

[@GabeGullion]

Thanks for an honest review. It’s sad that dell doesn’t really seem to care about quality control.

[@jungtarcph]

I'll stick with thinkpads....

[@Dmitryzakharov]

t410?

[@acsllinas]

@12:47 that was what I said when i took the decission to return it.

[@jlegresley]

Hey FT, was considering this laptop. Did you suggest the extended warranty?

[@kingblazeit7671]

Nice vid! Weird tho how theres been a lot of xps 15 vids recently

[@BevisFriend2010]

I just bought six of them after mine stole a shot of Tequila and instantly died with about £2K's worth of music production software on it. I bought one with a broken touch-screen for £100 & just swapped the tops over. Put my SSD in and Bingo! booted as fast as ever. I really like these machines. They're super easy to fix and the parts are very reasonable. They're great for music production. Touchscreens really speed up your workflow. They do have a few minor irritations but you can get a seriously powerful machine for next to nothing if you're canny. The i7 7700HQ is a great set-up. Almost 'too good' for it's time. They're STILL superb value.

[@shuaizhouzhang4706]

*INTENSE TASK, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?*

[@dhanvi.lt1]

The swollen battery only occurred on the 9550

[@occlusion6557]

The "warping" is not the chassie... it's the rubber pads on the bottem... put direct pressure down on it to flat in out thoes rubber pads

[@chrislauritzen]

When you started talking about the USB ports not matching up to the those on a MAC, I had to bail.

[@agbo]

Which model is it? Because it doesn't have as much glare as the 4K, while it doesn't have the plastic frame in the screen like the FHD. Did you make modifications on the screen?

[@twistedbandits1404]

2:42 how do I do that

[@firdythirst7624]

Follow the instructions here to create and use installation media: www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 Make that the USB you're booting from has the necessary Killer and Intel HD drivers too. There are also other tutorials on the internet if you need more assistance or clarification.

[@vinnybalet1987]

my Battery XPS 15 BQL74X1 is not being recognized by the system, did it happened to you as well?

[@kagewilliams4475]

Does the trackpad on the Dell show fingerprint grease really bad??

[@VishalSharma-gt1hy]

what about 9570. Does that have all the problems as well or how many of them are fixed?

[@navy9398]

Great information. Thanks

[@knightime14]

Your wrong about the performance of the thunderbolt port for GFX. Yes that are only two PCI lanes for data, but there are four dedicated for DisplayPort going through the controller. It's a pretty clever engineering workaround. External GPU's do not have a performance deficit as display data is carried over the DPort lanes. I certain applications, it may even out perform traditional four PCI lane thunderbolt. Thanks for the video, it was interesting to watch.

[@michaelwu5086]

Thank you for an honest review. 我解毒了！

[@livesimplyandhumbly]

The trackpad driver on the Dell web site is broken.

[@mujjuman]

thanks for helpful video. i love the keyboard btw

[@przemek4101]

I have Yoga 500 from Lenovo and my mouse cursor is breaking regularly especially when I'm closing the lid and then opening. My speakers are popping, touch screen sometimes badly react to my touch, Wi-Fi card sometimes slows down, etc. I think all of that (except touch screen) happens due to bad drivers.

[@dpuertas]

thanks. with all these build quality issues, I will avoid it like the plague

[@charlesmahono9440]

This video is very helpfull..!! It convinces me to keep up my Apple Macbook 😋

[@IlhamMaulana-mx6qn]

the only true review i have ever watch about dell xps

[@firstnamelastname4823]

Why are you talking when we are trying to listen to the coil whine

[@firdythirst7624]

My bad. My camera wouldn't pick up any of the coil whine as it is pretty quiet and I can't seem to figure out how to reliably reproduce it. If you really want to hear what it sounds like I can try my best to reproduce the sound and put a microphone right next to the laptop. But as I mentioned in the video, with the under volt, the current reduction, and the replaced motherboard the coil whine is virtually a non-issue on my current laptop.

[@HH-xf9il]

What do you use for in game temp monitoring ??

[@ananthnm3014]

hwinfo64

[@HH-xf9il]

@@ananthnm3014 thx

[@vitekprchal8608]

"If you wanna put laptop on your legs without any pants on"... :D :D

[@sdfghj6316]

Thank you ! from Japan!!

[@Jerry4050]

I only had IPS glow which can be noticeable since I'm in a dark room, I compare to my Macbook Pro 2015 that has zero IPS glow or light bleed

[@thechrissmartin]

9550 user here confirm to all the problems mentioned

[@brianknight7208]

Any other advice for performance or throttling issues? I got it really bad, and I'm not even gaming. Just running capture one.

[@vannotenc]

Now I am sure I want the XPS 15!

[@tejinderthakur9284]

4th problem with me ,, , please help

[@VadimTheDream]

what should i get ? a laptop around 2.000 dollars , any one can tell me ???

[@piggyooi]

1. Backlight bleed 2. Crackling speaker(most disturbing thing,costumer service wont fix) 3. Coil whine 4. Trackpad 4 corners doesnt respond sometime(its hard to show everytime so costumer service wont fix) 5. Random fan noise 6. Keyboard so mushy(doesnt like it) 7. Stiff ports (in and out no so satisfying experience) These are all i have experienced too, and end up selling it. i hated everytime dealing with these problems

[@333Anvar]

Can I stop going to my hairdresser if I buy this computer? Since you said in the video that DELL XPS 15 cuts hair?

[@bnj0828]

Thanks so much as the main reason I wanted one of these was so that I can use it while not wearing pants. LOL

[@thehistoricalidiots7442]

So many dislikes, even though everything said in this video was true, i went through 3 different xps 15 in the span of 10 days, first model i received had very loud coil whine and the cover of the hinge was loose, the second model i received had a loose touch pad, and the final model had a dead gpu, and scratches on the top cover. I loved the xps 15 but quality control is really bad. Now i am having a hard time finding alternatives. Also for the record, for those of you saying that flexing the chassis is the cause of the misaligned screen and body, its not. All the models i received had that issue. Im not saying that you should flex the chassis, i think just pressing the laptop down on whatever surface its on is better, so the rubber feet can adjust to it. We need more videos like this, and i wish i watched one before buying a dell xps.

[@Danny-eh2xn]

FINALLY! IT IS A SOFTARE PROBLEM FOR THAT WEIRD BARCODE THINGY!! bless your soul

[@ShroomZz]

daniel defeo did you fix it?

[@mike4490]

Im thinking about getting the dell xps 15, hp spectre x360, Razerblade Stealth, or POSSIBLY, POSSIBLY the new macbook any suggestions?

[@9to5techs]

What about 15 inch HP pavilion x360. Do u thank it is a good brand/laptop

[@RenaudDenis]

Looks a lot to me like a list of Software issues, not "Dell XPS 15" issues (though I didn't go to the end of the list)

[@Maaleejaandroo]

Can u game on this laptop or should I just go for the Lenovo y530 I'm not like a pro gamer, just a few hours and not everyday, mostly I wanted for 3d programs, AutoCAD, arquitect programs

[@Tom3294.]

All ips displays have screen bleeds..

[@ruckb]

did anybody got a pen working to on a 9560 with a 4k touch display ?

[@dylangardner7348]

"Tension" on usb ports is because of good build tolerances... no one wants loose ports

[@MorganMalfoy13]

I think mine does the battery swell thing. I'm going to run a bunch of programs, see if it swells again. If it does, I'm sending it back and getting a refund. This is ridiculous. I've already had 2 software problems that affected the touchpad and the battery life. If I have battery swell too, I give up.

[@Pietjjzeverzak]

Looking at this on my dell xps 15 (9560), the only real issues are, the screen ghosting,(iIhave a 1080p screen) and the speakers (or MaxxAudio) going full volume when they werent used for a while... this is aspecially annoying when wearing earphones.. Something that dell could easily fix ...

[@ghoda-r3854]

is the screen ghosting too much of an issue though?is it bothersome?im really hoping its not becasue i want to get this laptop. dealbreaker for me if its too much of an issue.

[@Icecodes]

I don't have none of these problems. Thank God. The webcam is the only issue with this laptop.

[@nathanbrown492]

My XPS 15 is just hot.... undervolt CPU core (-150mv), cache (-38.1), intel GPU (-32.2) and I'm still on 55C.

[@ChrisLau90]

Thanks for the video! I was thinking about getting one, but have decided against it now. I got one of the older XPS 15s back in the day and that also had so many issues I had to return it. Sad to see Dell haven't been able to sort out their game for these high end ultrabooks.

[@lenardgor]

Mine has minor coil whine like barely able to hear it, but only when i charge it, but my battery has 99% capacity and i dont have any other problems so i got that going for me XD

[@TDuiker]

you seriously gonna complain about no stickers......... ?!? I prefer my computers sticker free.. its like a kid wanting to show off whats inside.. i do not care for stickers on my computers at all..

[@pedroramonalmeida918]

the space bar turns less clicky with a sticky resistance. ... I think it don't worth. My personal experience with apple is great and you can buy a notebook with no issues. I just buy the dell xps 15 and before the shipping I started to learn how to fix all of the issues...

[@spehsdandy1507]

Audio jack also produces white noise whenever the soundcard is activated, granted its really really low volume noise, but its annoying as hell when listening to detailed audio. Every possible driver install and 2 technicians sent over to replace motherboard and soundcard later, the cancer is still real.

[@maurosyloslabini6532]

Hi, i would like to buy a XPS 9560, in my country the only 97wh battery configuration is 2k euros, i would like to get the 56wh one for 1300 but also i fear the battery life won't be good enough, do you think i could relatively easily swap the battery with the bigger one? or should i go for something like a yoga 720, which i like less, but has a decent built in battery for the same price?

[@borlach321]

I think I would go with the alienware 17