XPS 15 Issues
The XPS 15 is not recommended for numerous reasons, despite reviewers seeming to love it. The thermals are absolute garbage, with both the CPU and GPU thermal throttling under realistic loads. Many users experience driver issues, coil whine, and the hinge is overtightened to the point that it breaks the chassis hinge mount.
These issues are what various XPS 15 models over the years have exhibited. Google for more info:
- XPS 15 Broken hinge
- XPS 15 Thermal throttle
- XPS 15 Wifi
- XPS 15 VRM
- XPS 15 Coil whine
- XPS 15 Swollen battery
- XPS 15 Screen flicker
- XPS 15 Fan bearings
- XPS 15 Catching fire
- XPS 15 Trackpad issue
- XPS 15 Exploding
The 9500 looks to be continuing the trend of poor engineering decisions with problems including:
- Trackpad wobble
- Hinge issue
- Bad temperatures
Reports
- reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/kze3w4/xps_15_9500_just_died/ (also see comments) 2021.1.18
- reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/grtpil/xps_15_9500_whats_up_with_the_trackpad/
- reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/gys85w/dell_xps_15_9500_trackpad_issues_advanced/
- dell.com/community/XPS/New-Dell-XPS-9500-Boosting-temps-and-trackpad/m-p/7618646
- dell.com/community/XPS/New-Dell-XPS-15-9500-Numerous-Issues-Just-wanted-to-hear-what/td-p/7669846
- dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9500-Issues/td-p/7697352
- notebookcheck.net/Some-Dell-XPS-15-9500-machines-may-have-a-display-hinge-issue.486365.0.html
- reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/hb333b/dell_has_serious_qc_issues_w_xps_15_9500/
- linustechtips.com/main/topic/1251991-many-problems-with-the-xps-15/
- reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/9esf7d/my_xps_15_9550_exploded_what_are_my_options/
- youtu.be/s2Ka0QEE_ew
Since nobody has mentioned it, the stock audio on the xps 13/15 is traaaaash and needs a custom driver and some reg tweaks to be actually usable. This issue exists due to the Waves Maxx Audio driver which adds heavy post-processing effects to the sound.
In my opinion, xps' should be considered unusable if you plan on listening to anything on them without this custom driver, be it music, podcasts, videos, etc.
https://github.com/kevinshroff/KSMRD-Modded-Realtek-Audio-Drivers
XPS 13
this laptop seems to be getting some of these issues as well
