Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

anandtech.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 215 posts

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#81

Post by neverminder »

rootbear wrote: post #18
clvx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the xps13 2016 dev edition too, and it's a solid laptop. Let me ask you which dongle do you use to connect to external hdmi monitors? I got this one[1] a while ago, but it doesn't output more than 800x600. I use the wd15 at home without issues, but it's not suitable for traveling. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Adapter-Type-Ethernet-470-ABQN/d...

I have the same laptop and I'm happy with it, but I'm not happy with the dongle madness that universal adoption of USB C is foisting on us. I also want a reliable travel dongle for external HDMI for this laptop but the reviews of the units I've looked at are not encouraging. The current obsession with thinness (looking at YOU, Apple) is forcing useful connectors off the main system board onto expensive, unreliable do…

I don't really understand this adversity towards USB Type-C as a single connector for everything. I was around when pretty much every single device had it's own dedicated port and it looked like a snake nest under a desk until USB came along. Yeah, LPT1 for printer, PS/2 for mouse and keyboard, VGA for monitor, etc. We're in a transitional period now to something better, so some people will need dongles for a while and I don't think it's a big deal.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#82

Post by cmrx64 »

wslh wrote: post #5

If you want to buy one you should extend your analysis beyond the hardware specs because the software and operating systems are not ready yet. I can give the example of the latest XPS 13 2-1 where Office applications like Outlook cannot recognize a monitor with a different resolution and the fonts are blurred. Look for example at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-apps-appear-... high DPI is a whole issu…

Yeah, external monitors in a mixed DPI setting is very weird. If you change your primary monitor, you get to pick which screen it looks OK on!

Mine actually bricked itself so hard it couldn't boot at all. I had to send it back to dell. This was after installing a firmware update _distributed with their tool_.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#83

Post by mcappleton »

jgalt212 wrote: post #36
wslh wrote: post #5

If you want to buy one you should extend your analysis beyond the hardware specs because the software and operating systems are not ready yet. I can give the example of the latest XPS 13 2-1 where Office applications like Outlook cannot recognize a monitor with a different resolution and the fonts are blurred. Look for example at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-apps-appear-... high DPI is a whole issu…

high DPI is an even more troublesome issue with Linux. As of right now, for me, high DPI is not worth it outside of the Apple walled garden.

I have a 4K laptop running Linux mint and it's great. Mint has a high dpi setting that makes it look good. There are a few programs that have trouble, but most work just fine. I think Ubuntu will be coming out with support soon as well.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#84

Post by JohnTHaller »

oulu2006 wrote: post #15
wslh wrote: post #5

If you want to buy one you should extend your analysis beyond the hardware specs because the software and operating systems are not ready yet. I can give the example of the latest XPS 13 2-1 where Office applications like Outlook cannot recognize a monitor with a different resolution and the fonts are blurred. Look for example at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-apps-appear-... high DPI is a whole issu…

Very true, the previous XPS 15 had huge problems with the Killer NIC card because the drivers for it took months to stabilise and its only recently been that a driver update has made the Wifi somewhat stable and the machine has stopped crashing every few days. What other people seem to have done is get Dell to swap the Killer NIC with an Intel one which has much better driver support.

There are a lot of reports of killer drivers causing issues. My friend needed help with his Alienware 15 because it started instantly blue screening as the login screen came up at every boot. Dell's only solution was a factory reset. I dug into it and a release of the official killer wifi drivers was bugged. They had to be disabled to actually boot. They couldn't be uninstalled or upgraded in safe mode because they use the Windows installed doesn't run in safe mode.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#85

Post by velobro »

masklinn wrote: post #31
trzeci wrote: post #22

Hi, I've had lots of problems with the previous version of XPS15 - 9550 (More info @ https://trzeci.eu/dell-xps-15-9550-was-the-most-problematic-... ) It was included: problem with CPU and random freezes, Coil Whine, Swollen Battery, SSD problem and problem with misaligned Jack port with a hole in case. In total, my device was repaired 3 times (within 10 months) and from the original device I have a case, touch-pad a…

/r/dell lists serious issues with the Killer NIC, coil whine, thermal limitations (when playing), speakers are bad ("average android 4.0 device sounds"), Win10 scaling make 4K display still not great (especially with external low-density displays), backlit keyboard disabling itself, some people get absolutely dreadful battery life.

I really don't know why anyone would order a laptop from Dell, or any other OEM for that matter.

Dell and their like, obviously, aren't at the for-front of laptop design. They are still using plastic and calling Carbon fiber a "premium" laptop material (it isn't). They are using second rate network adapters. They are using second rate SSDs which have terrible write speeds. Windows trackpads arent any better than they were 10 years ago.

To top it all off? You'll need to do a whole damn Windows reinstall to get rid of the tons of bloatware they pack in.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#86

Post by wslh »

cmrx64 wrote: post #82
wslh wrote: post #5

If you want to buy one you should extend your analysis beyond the hardware specs because the software and operating systems are not ready yet. I can give the example of the latest XPS 13 2-1 where Office applications like Outlook cannot recognize a monitor with a different resolution and the fonts are blurred. Look for example at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-apps-appear-... high DPI is a whole issu…

Yeah, external monitors in a mixed DPI setting is very weird. If you change your primary monitor, you get to pick which screen it looks OK on! Mine actually bricked itself so hard it couldn't boot at all. I had to send it back to dell. This was after installing a firmware update _distributed with their tool_.

No, it doesn't. I use two similar external monitors, same DPI, and Office fonts are blurred. Please check the link, it is a known issue. The monitors are not 4k or the exact resolution of the notebook display.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#87

Post by moosingin3space »

chimeracoder wrote: post #79
jgalt212 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

high DPI is an even more troublesome issue with Linux. As of right now, for me, high DPI is not worth it outside of the Apple walled garden.

> high DPI is an even more troublesome issue with Linux. As of right now, for me, high DPI is not worth it outside of the Apple walled garden. Actual 4K resolution works way better on Linux than it does on OS X. By default, OS X will use 2560x1440, even on a display that's capable of 3840x2160. If you try to set it to the latter on OS X in your display settings, it looks really terrible. The experience is less consis…

On Fedora 26 with Wayland, high-DPI works pretty well in my experience.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#88

Post by sevensor »

jgalt212 wrote: post #36
wslh wrote: post #5

If you want to buy one you should extend your analysis beyond the hardware specs because the software and operating systems are not ready yet. I can give the example of the latest XPS 13 2-1 where Office applications like Outlook cannot recognize a monitor with a different resolution and the fonts are blurred. Look for example at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-apps-appear-... high DPI is a whole issu…

high DPI is an even more troublesome issue with Linux. As of right now, for me, high DPI is not worth it outside of the Apple walled garden.

This does not accord with my experience. I have last year's 15" Dell Precision with a 4k panel, and Sway works brilliantly. I went with Intel graphics for compatibility, and because it saves money and battery life compared to NVidia. Text looks great, and I can make it really tiny if I want.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#89

Post by darreld »

masklinn wrote: post #31
trzeci wrote: post #22

Hi, I've had lots of problems with the previous version of XPS15 - 9550 (More info @ https://trzeci.eu/dell-xps-15-9550-was-the-most-problematic-... ) It was included: problem with CPU and random freezes, Coil Whine, Swollen Battery, SSD problem and problem with misaligned Jack port with a hole in case. In total, my device was repaired 3 times (within 10 months) and from the original device I have a case, touch-pad a…

/r/dell lists serious issues with the Killer NIC, coil whine, thermal limitations (when playing), speakers are bad ("average android 4.0 device sounds"), Win10 scaling make 4K display still not great (especially with external low-density displays), backlit keyboard disabling itself, some people get absolutely dreadful battery life.

Mine has had only had flaky wifi (killer) and a driver install from Killer's site remedied that. Other than that it's been a flawless machine. Windows 10 still doesn't have all of its' HiDpi issues worked out but I love this laptop.

Re: Dell XPS 15 9560 Review

#90

Post by Roritharr »

If anyone cares, I just got a Toshiba Portege X30, it's the lightest machine that can be equipped with 32GB Ram, has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and a matte fhd touchscreen. Sadly only a dual core U processor (they launch quad-core U processors in just a few months)
Post reply on HN