New Dell XPS 13 owner and I have a few questions

Balbanes · Jan 15, 2018

It has been a long time since I have set up a computer fresh out of the box, so I had some questions about a variety of things.

First of all, I went with the 9360 with the i5 8250u processor, which appears to be last years model even though it has the same processor as far as I could tell as the new 13" 9370. I couldn't tell what the difference was between the two models besides the thinner/lighter body, camera placement and $300 price difference.

Anything I should know as far as setting up is concerned? Turning off specific pre-installed software? Anti virus?

Also, I'm mostly going to be using this for web browsing, youtube, grad school stuff, and a storage space for some photos. Is there any good software for storing and organizing photos that isn't google related?

Last question.. I loathe the iTunes and Spotify desktop apps. Is there a smooth, easy on the eyes app that will let me organize and play music I have saved on the laptop?

Anything else I should know? Thanks!

Iso · Jan 15, 2018

Hokuten said:
Last question.. I loathe the iTunes and Spotify desktop apps. Is there a smooth, easy on the eyes app that will let me organize and play music I have saved on the laptop?

Locally stored music? MusicBee. There are a ton of skins and you can customize the placement of basically every element to how you want it and add or remove things as well (On the right side of my player, I have a lyrics for whatever is currently playing, for example).

Layla · Jan 15, 2018

ninite.com is a great one stop shop for setup software

99nikniht · Jan 15, 2018

Hokuten said:
Last question.. I loathe the iTunes and Spotify desktop apps. Is there a smooth, easy on the eyes app that will let me organize and play music I have saved on the laptop?

I've been using mediamonkey for years now, it's a good mp3 organizer and it is also useful for making playlist for your portable devices.

Balbanes · Jan 15, 2018

Thanks guys

Any good free antivirus or other protection? I hear avast is alright.

99nikniht · Jan 15, 2018

Hokuten said:
Thanks guys

Any good free antivirus or other protection? I hear avast is alright.

I've also been using bitdefender for nearly 10 years, they've always been ranked #1 or #2 every year. That being said, Windows defender has also come a long way from 10 years back. Many people swear by just letting Windows Defender to be the main anti-virus and supplement it with malware protection, e.g., Malwarebytes.

Deleted member 6230 · Jan 15, 2018

99nikniht said:
I've also been using bitdefender for nearly 10 years, they've always been ranked #1 or #2 every year. That being said, Windows defender has also come a long way from 10 years back. Many people swear by just letting Windows Defender to be the main anti-virus and supplement it with malware protection, e.g., Malwarebytes.

Couldn't malwarebytes just be anti-virus on its own?

Stowaway Silfer · Jan 15, 2018

Layla said:
ninite.com is a great one stop shop for setup software

I found out about this site while lurking the old place and I've been thankful for it every time I've gotten a new PC or had to set up someone's PC ever since.

Hell, I get a new PC next week (New XPS 13, what a coincidence) and I'm heading there first.

thePopaShots · Jan 15, 2018

I'm also in the market for a new laptop and have been seriously considering an XPS. I would love to hear about your impressions Silfer and Hokuten when you have a chance!

Stowaway Silfer · Jan 15, 2018

thePopaShots said:
I'm also in the market for a new laptop and have been seriously considering an XPS. I would love to hear about your impressions Silfer and Hokuten when you have a chance!

You got it!

Donos · Jan 15, 2018

i5 8250u is the newest CPU gen (8th gen) which only got introduced late last year (august). It's an upgraded Kaby Lake. So you are up to date.

Overall, outstanding laptop with very nice keyboard and awesome battery life. Although it's small and light, the screen is still big enough because of the very small bezel/edges. Researched a long while and compared to ASUS Zenbooks, Lenovo Thinkpads, Yoga and other Ultrabooks but decided to go with this one after dell had a 150 € coupon.

If you don't want scratches, think about getting a "skin". Got mine from here (german site but there are probably similar one in the US: https://www.creatisto.com/notebooks?model=3608)

Balbanes · Jan 15, 2018

Man.. Iso MusicBee is really slick.

Anyone have any similar suggestions for photo organizing tools?

Layla said:
ninite.com is a great one stop shop for setup software

Really helpful, thanks!

Donos said:
i5 8250u is the newest CPU gen (8th gen) which only got introduced late last year (august). It's an upgraded Kaby Lake.So you are up to date.
I
Overall, outstanding laptop with very nice keyboard and awesome battery life. Although it's small and light, the screen is still big enough because of the very small bezel/edges. Researched a long while and compared to ASUS Zenbooks, Lenovo Thinkpads, Yoga and other Ultrabooks but decided to go with this one after dell had a 150 € coupon.

Yeah I'm really impressed.

Pogi · Jan 15, 2018

Hokuten said:
Anyone have any similar suggestions for photo organizing tools?

RIP Picasa. I want to know answers to this one too, let me piggyback OP!

captive · Jan 15, 2018

thePopaShots said:
I'm also in the market for a new laptop and have been seriously considering an XPS. I would love to hear about your impressions Silfer and Hokuten when you have a chance!

i have a dell XPS 15 and i couldnt be happier. I put in 32gb of RAM and got the i7

The only stupid thing is Dell wouldnt approve my no interest financing for some stupid ass reason, so just used paypals no interest financing.

iSnack 2.0 · Jan 15, 2018

The built in windows av is pretty good if you're smart about your browsing habits. Was using it for a couple of years with the occasional Malwarebytes scan thrown in and I never got anything nasty.

Also when I was getting mine services for a faulty battery, the tech said that because you get pro support with the XPS pc's that include free battery replacement if it shows a certain wear level, you should put in a claim to get it replaced a month or so before the pro support runs out. Can't remember the wear level it needs to be for that to happen but its something to keep in mind down the road.

I Don't Like · Jan 15, 2018

AV: Been using AVG Free for years now with no issues nor infections (that weren't quarantined/deleted).

I'm about to swap my Lenovo at work for a XPS15 and seemingly at the right time. With a current special through Dell Small Business, XPS10 code and other savings, it's $599.99 off the would-be total of $2209.99 for a final price is $1610.99. That's with a 7700HQ, 16GBs RAM, 512GB SSD and the 4k display. Amazing.

I'm excited. I have an older XPS at home and love it.

SpartyCrunch · Jan 15, 2018

Honestly? You should give Groove Music a shot. While the streaming service is retired it's really underrated as an MP3 player.

It also automatically integrates with OneDrive if you use it.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3245408/data-center-cloud/microsoft-groove-music-app-mp3-player.html

Heck most of the built in apps are pretty good these days. Try the photos app too.

Balbanes · Jan 15, 2018

Hmm I'll give it a shot

Riven · Jan 15, 2018

So I have a Dell XPS as well and I think Dell stores the Windows product key in the BIOS. If you have Windows 10 you can download it from Microsoft's site and reinstall a fresh installation of Windows 10 on your PC without all the Dell crap and you do not need to input a Windows product key.

Also I love my XPS if anyone else is thinking about getting one. The screen is incredible.

captive · Jan 15, 2018

Riven said:
So I have a Dell XPS as well and I think Dell stores the Windows product key in the BIOS. If you have Windows 10 you can download it from Microsoft's site and reinstall a fresh installation of Windows 10 on your PC without all the Dell crap and you do not need to input a Windows product key.

was there really that much "crap" on there? I didnt do much, maybe uninstalled one or two apps. I like it cause the dell software automatically keeps the drivers and firmware up to date without having me to do it or having to find the software on a reinstall.

anyway its realllllllly easy to get your key https://fossbytes.com/how-to-find-windows-product-key-lost-cmd-powershell-registry/

in addition if you use a microsoft account the key can be linked to your account for your computer as well.

Riven · Jan 15, 2018

captive said:
was there really that much "crap" on there? I didnt do much, maybe uninstalled one or two apps. I like it cause the dell software automatically keeps the drivers and firmware up to date without having me to do it or having to find the software on a reinstall.

To be honest I am not sure how much software Dell pre-installed in my XPS. I blew away the OS as soon as I turned it on.

Also you can go to the drivers/support section of Dell and download their support application if you input your service tag. That one piece of support software will keep the drivers of your laptop up to date automatically. That is the one application of Dell's that I have installed.

dots · Jan 15, 2018

Hokuten said:
Thanks guys

Any good free antivirus or other protection? I hear avast is alright.

Don't bother with antivirus. Windows Defender is fine. Be sure to put an adblocker on your browser and maybe run Malwarebytes once a month.

Shaneus · Jan 15, 2018

I have one! Exactly the same one, too... mostly because it's fucking impossible to get a laptop these days without a glossy/reflective screen.

Piece of advice, though: If the hinges break on them somehow (I stupidly left my XPS on the arm of the couch, then the cat got startled and knocked it over) it *can* be fixed/replaced by you, though it is fairly fiddly and time-consuming. Don't think that kind of repair falls under warranty, sadly.

That's good to hear about the Windows setup key, too. I never touched mine and left the original image on there, but I might just do a clean one for the fuck of it. Maybe upgrade the storage and comms (BT/wifi card) too, because the latter is supposedly quite shitty.

iSnack 2.0 · Jan 15, 2018

Shaneus said:
I have one! Exactly the same one, too... mostly because it's fucking impossible to get a laptop these days without a glossy/reflective screen.

Piece of advice, though: If the hinges break on them somehow (I stupidly left my XPS on the arm of the couch, then the cat got startled and knocked it over) it *can* be fixed/replaced by you, though it is fairly fiddly and time-consuming. Don't think that kind of repair falls under warranty, sadly.

That's good to hear about the Windows setup key, too. I never touched mine and left the original image on there, but I might just do a clean one for the fuck of it. Maybe upgrade the storage and comms (BT/wifi card) too, because the latter is supposedly quite shitty.

If you're going to do a reinstall, make sure you get the image from the dell site. Its the same as the one that comes pre-installed and includes drivers but without any of the extra apps like McAfee.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/in/en/indhs1/drivers/osiso/recoverytool/WT64A

Another issue you can have with replacing the hard disk is you'll need to mess about in the bios with the security settings as the laptop won't detect the SSD unless you disable secure boot first. There are some other steps to it but a google search or call to pro support will give you the answers.

The first thing I did with mine was take it apart, replace the thermal paste on the cpu/gpu and pull the shit they call a network card out and replace it with an intel one. The stock killer one is total trash. It would loose internet connection after waking up from sleep and need a reboot to get it back. Total shit. Such a good laptop but they cheap out on the network card. grrr.
One of the good things that dell does with these laptops is they don't have any warranty void stickers and they have the service manual available to anyone so it makes doing things like replacing hdd's and NIC's easier.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/au/en/audhs1/product-support/product/xps-13-9360-laptop/manuals

Balbanes · Jan 15, 2018

I probably won't do a reinstall. I looked through the pre installed apps and there wasn't much there.

ann3nova. · Jan 15, 2018

iSnack 2.0 said:
The first thing I did with mine was take it apart, replace the thermal paste on the cpu/gpu and pull the shit they call a network card out and replace it with an intel one. The stock killer one is total trash. It would loose internet connection after waking up from sleep and need a reboot to get it back. Total shit. Such a good laptop but they cheap out on the network card. grrr.

Driver updates have fixed the disconnect issues with the Killer card. I'm not sure how it compares speedwise v. the Intel card, but the hiccups with connecting have been cleared up.

Kaswa101 · Jan 15, 2018

Lmao I got this exact same laptop on Sunday. Loving it so far. Battery life and the screen are awesome, and it's super portable too.

Any must-have apps I should check out? Never heard of MusicBee before this, but it sounds terrific.

Kimura · Jan 15, 2018

At CES Dell announced a new XPS 15 2-in-1 with Kaby Lake G (with Radeon Vega graphics):

It's really cool as it has the small bezels. It's going to stack up against the Lenovo Yoga 720 and HP Spectre x360 15 later this year. Two other laptops who has similar Intel-AMD chip. That's a CPU-GPU chip. It has allowed them to shrink the surface area and made cooling easier and extended battery life. Ram, GPU and CPU are all on the same block. Very cool.

If you're an artist or a writer, the pen is amazing. It's great we are seeing 2-in-1s that are strong enough for gaming as well. These models come with AMD Vega graphics that hover around a Nvidia 1050 in performance. So entry level gaming- Which is quite impressive.

iSnack 2.0 · Jan 15, 2018

OneEightZero said:
Driver updates have fixed the disconnect issues with the Killer card. I'm not sure how it compares speedwise v. the Intel card, but the hiccups with connecting have been cleared up.

Huh well they must have got that fixed up fairly recently then. Was having that issue as late as december last year. At least I have a spare now. Never been a fan of killer nics anyway. Always had some issue with them.

Balbanes · Jan 16, 2018

Kaswa101 said:
Lmao I got this exact same laptop on Sunday. Loving it so far. Battery life and the screen are awesome, and it's super portable too.

Yes I'm very happy with the purchase so far.

Deleted member 4034 · Jan 16, 2018

thePopaShots said:
I'm also in the market for a new laptop and have been seriously considering an XPS. I would love to hear about your impressions Silfer and Hokuten when you have a chance!

I got the 9350 in late 2015. Works fine for the most part.

Pros
It's super light
It's fast
I like the backlit keys and the screen
It has most of the ports I'd want
Battery was great when I first got it

Cons
Two years later, the battery only lasts 2.5 hours.
Coil whine was an issue after a year. It's inconsistent.
Sometimes I would shut it down and it would just turn on again.

Outside of that, it's been pretty solid, but I don't think I would buy it again once it's time to upgrade (macbook pro or surface book) . I'll replace the battery and use this another two years unless it craps out on me completely.

4/5

Balbanes · Jan 16, 2018

Oh god..

So I thought I did a lot of research, but apparently randomly shutting down is a problem some people are having with the XPS 13 this past year. I was just watching a youtube video and the system just went black. It feels like a ticking time bomb where it could happen again at any second.

Such a bummer ending to a great night with my new toy. I have read about a couple possible potential fixes, but I may just have to exchange it at the Microsoft store this week.

edit: Here is some more info on this https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/7ceiga/xps_13_9360_shuts_off_randomly_for_non_apparent/

I'll see if installing BIOS 2.1.0 fixes it

thePopaShots · Jan 16, 2018

Bobo Dakes said:
I got the 9350 in late 2015. Works fine for the most part.

Pros
It's super light
It's fast
I like the backlit keys and the screen
It has most of the ports I'd want
Battery was great when I first got it

Cons
Two years later, the battery only lasts 2.5 hours.
Coil whine was an issue after a year. It's inconsistent.
Sometimes I would shut it down and it would just turn on again.

Outside of that, it's been pretty solid, but I don't think I would buy it again once it's time to upgrade (macbook pro or surface book) . I'll replace the battery and use this another two years unless it craps out on me completely.

4/5

Yeah. I'm coming off being a Mac user for the last decade, so I'm hesitant to buy a Windows laptop unless it's really excellent when it comes to build quality, especially when it comes to the keyboard and battery life. It feels like right now there just isn't a laptop out there that is as easy as a recommend as the MacBook Air was for all those years. I just had a conversation with a friend who said he had a lot of reliability problems with his XPS, and would never buy another one. If the keyboards weren't utter garbage on the new MacBook Pros I would probably buy the 13 inch model. I don't know, maybe I'll wait and see what Apple has in store with their next laptop refresh.

I realize I'm probably being too picky here, but this is a major purchase for me.

Balbanes · Jan 16, 2018

Yeah, the lack of reliability is definitely troublesome. I'm hopeful that the firmware I installed will fix my issue, because the laptop is pretty much exactly what I want.

Faddy · Jan 16, 2018

infinite said:
Couldn't malwarebytes just be anti-virus on its own?

Malwarebytes doesn't give real-time protection, it is helpful for finding virus's that escape AV detection.

I just stick with the stock Windows Defender and Windows does a monthly scan with their Malicious Software Removal Tool. Out of the box Windows 10 doesn't need any additional AV software.

Deleted member 6230 · Jan 16, 2018

Faddy said:
Malwarebytes doesn't give real-time protection, it is helpful for finding virus's that escape AV detection.

I just stick with the stock Windows Defender and Windows does a monthly scan with their Malicious Software Removal Tool. Out of the box Windows 10 doesn't need any additional AV software.

The paid malwarebytes gives you real time protection tho.

Acquila · Jan 16, 2018

Yeah, paid MBAM provides real-time protection, but it is not an AV alternative. Not too cheap too, but personally worth it. There are things that get through even when you're browsing with common sense. Treat it as insurance.

Can't really recommend anything for AVs. Rankings tend to fluctuate a lot between the popular ones.

I'd also recommend uBlock Origin (not the non-Origin one) for adblocking. There are malicious ads out there that can pop up on even completely legitimate sites, but it's up to you to turn it off for certain sites you support.

Faddy · Jan 16, 2018

infinite said:
The paid malwarebytes gives you real time protection tho.

I don't see the point of paying for AV when the built in Windows tools seem to work just fine.

Defender, Smartscreen, UAC set to Full, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Deleted member 6230 · Jan 16, 2018

Faddy said:
I don't see the point of paying for AV when the built in Windows tools seem to work just fine.

Defender, Smartscreen, UAC set to Full, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Yeah I agree I just have a desktop computer that still runs windows 7 so I don't have defender.

Balbanes · Jan 17, 2018

Small update: no crashes last night, so it appears at least for now that downgrading the BIOS has helped.

I'm still looking for an inexpensive, slick piece of software that will help me organize and manage photos. I'm getting married soon and would like to get more organized with that sort of thing, especially if we have kids. Looking for something that isn't online based (no google photos) and more like Picasa was.

Acquila · Jan 17, 2018

Don't have any recommendation for offline photo managers, but I will always recommend keeping backups both local and on the cloud.

I've met too many people who only kept local copies and regretted it for a variety of reasons (broke, burgled, fire, etc). Likewise, you can't rely on just one cloud service for important stuff.

Hawkijustin · Jan 17, 2018

My 9360 is shipping from Dell as I type this but I got the 128gb M.2 drive version. I plan on replacing it with a bigger drive but I have a question on how to transfer windows and everything else over to the new drive once it gets here? If it was the old style 2.5" SSD that im use to it would be no issue.

Balbanes · Jan 17, 2018

Acquila said:
Don't have any recommendation for offline photo managers, but I will always recommend keeping backups both local and on the cloud.

I've met too many people who only kept local copies and regretted it for a variety of reasons (broke, burgled, fire, etc). Likewise, you can't rely on just one cloud service for important stuff.

Yeah, definitely. I'm backing everything up on dropbox, and but I'm planning on building a PC this summer and want to get a external hard drive setup where both my PC and this laptop can backup important things on it.

captive · Jan 17, 2018

Hawkijustin said:
My 9360 is shipping from Dell as I type this but I got the 128gb M.2 drive version. I plan on replacing it with a bigger drive but I have a question on how to transfer windows and everything else over to the new drive once it gets here? If it was the old style 2.5" SSD that im use to it would be no issue.

Mount the SSD in windows and then use DISM to capture a .Wim file then apply the Wim to the new drive. You may have to sys prep windows before you capture the image. But you can try it without sysprep first capturing the image will do nothing to your SSD.

ty_hot · Feb 24, 2019

I wonder if I am the only one with a XPS 13 (last year, 9370) that has shitty Wifi? Mine keeps disconnecting and reconnecting every 10-30 minutes for no reason. It used to be fine when I got it, then after some Windows updates it was shit, then they updated the driver and it was fine, then bad, then fine, then bad, then fine and now it is shit again... what the fuck is this, almost 2000 euros for this fucking device and any 100 euro smartphone has better wifi than this.

Chrono · Feb 24, 2019

I just got a new Dell PC too (desktop), and if it's similar to mine you might want to see if "Rivet Networks" is installed. It was dropping my Internet connection speed a lot, as I instantly knew something was wrong with my connection. The moment I disabled it, everything was back to normal. Just check to see if it's in your installed programs, or hold the Windows Key + R and type:

services.msc

and scroll down and disable "SmartByte".

Honestly I probably would have used the "Windows Media Creation Tool" to do a fresh installation without all of the Dell stuff, but I'm thinking of upgrading my HDD to a SSD one in the next few months, so I'll hold off and do the re-install then. It's not that the PC is cluttered with that many programs, it's just I don't need the majority of what's there and would rather install as a need-to-use basis.

TFGB · Feb 24, 2019

I bought the XPS 15 9570 i9 last August with the 4K touchscreen for some photo editing and the first thing I noticed was how oversaturated the colours were, which was a bit of a worry.

I had to calibrate the screen with my X-Rite which produced a much better colour profile.

ty_hot · May 20, 2019

ty_hot said:
I wonder if I am the only one with a XPS 13 (last year, 9370) that has shitty Wifi? Mine keeps disconnecting and reconnecting every 10-30 minutes for no reason. It used to be fine when I got it, then after some Windows updates it was shit, then they updated the driver and it was fine, then bad, then fine, then bad, then fine and now it is shit again... what the fuck is this, almost 2000 euros for this fucking device and any 100 euro smartphone has better wifi than this.

As always, some Windows update fucked up my wifi, then there was no update from Dell, today I am finally installing new drivers. I am tired of doing this every 1-2 months. What a waste of money this device is, pay close to 2000 euros for such terrible support, whenever I most need my computer the wifi fails.

Deleted member 4034 · May 20, 2019

So to get my battery replaced, I have to pay $40 for shipping, give them my laptop for a set amount of time and then the actual replacement is $170. An extra $20 expedite shipping.

Could not say "fuck that" any louder.

I've enjoyed my Dell, but no, in 2019 that is horrendous service and I don't want to risk buying third party. So Surfacebook 3 it is next year and I'll just adapt to my 2 hour battery for now.

Breqesk · May 20, 2019

Hawkijustin said:
My 9360 is shipping from Dell as I type this but I got the 128gb M.2 drive version. I plan on replacing it with a bigger drive but I have a question on how to transfer windows and everything else over to the new drive once it gets here? If it was the old style 2.5" SSD that im use to it would be no issue.

If you have a spare USB stick, you could just make a Windows installer and install it fresh on the new drive--the product key's embedded in the bios. I normally do that with new laptops anyways to get rid of any bloat.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't realise how old this was!

New Dell XPS 13 owner and I have a few questions

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