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Coincidentally, I just got my new XPS 13 today. Took it out of the box, booted it up, and was greeted by ... coil whine. Friggin coil whine. I knew this had pla

Coincidentally, I just got my new XPS 13 today. Took it out of the box, booted it up, and was greeted by ... coil whine. Friggin coil whine. I knew this had plagued previous models of the XPS 13, but I figured Dell would have gotten their act together by now. Nope. It sounds like a bowl of Rice Krispies. A high pitched squealing sound comes out of the laptop anytime you launch a program or do anything that even remotely uses the processor. I tried booting into a USB to reinstall windows to see if that would help, and it got worse. The whole laptop would start to buzz whenever I touched the trackpad, and I starting hearing the most wonderful chirps and squeaks coming from underneath keyboard. Wonderful. I paid $1600 for what I thought was a premium laptop. Based on the OP's experience with Dell tech support, I don't even want to mess with trying to have it fixed. Nope, this piece of crap is getting returned, and I'm getting a Thinkpad.

m-j-fox 9y ago
Hey buddy. I got one yesterday. Such an adventure. Coming from the MacBook experience, I will say it's glitchy AF. But I still haven't linuxed it. Doubt that will help. I will say it's fast. My complaint is the Thunderbolt 3. It is a lie. First you need an adapter because of course you do and the only one at the store is Apple's. I have a bunch of Macs and displays and peripherals and zero success talking to any of them. I don't know if I'll even complain. I have an Intel desktop mobo that after several years learned to drive a display over Thunderbolt iff it's connected on boot and that's all. So I'm not expecting much.
- MrBingley 9y ago
  Yeah, this laptop was supposed to replace my old MacBook Air. I had that thing for five years, and not once had a problem with it, even after dropping it and damaging the shell. I wanted to get a linux-compatible laptop and switch to it full time, but I'm having serious second thoughts. The build quality of Macs is top-notch, and to use the old cliche, it "just works". Honestly. They're ridiculously expensive, but hey, you get what you pay for.
  - WWLink 9y ago
    I agree. The Precision 5510 I have at work (basically an XPS 15) is definitely not a MacBook Pro. I adore how you can still upgrade the ram, replace the hard drive, and use standard m.2 SSDs, but the chassis is not that rigid, and the screen might be better on paper, but I find it very annoying to use. The trackpad is terrible!! You can't click it if you're holding the laptop because the chassis flexes too much! The keyboard is fantastic though! It's just like my MacBook Air's keyboard! Just the right amount of travel and give. I'll give them props for that.
rubenbe 9y ago
My approximately one-year experience with my XPS13 has been pretty uneventful (as it should be). Fedora 25 and 26 have been working flawlessly. Although I have to acknowledge that when I put my ear on the keyboard I hear some coil whine. I always take a next-business-day-on-site warranty and until now it was a pretty useless "investment" for the XPS13. With a previous XPS I had to call them once. After navigating an endless series of phone menus, the support I got was as good as it should be.
josephagoss 9y ago
The quality of the XPS 13 is very poor. The coil whine is so bad that I had to use noise cancelling headphones just to be not distracted by it. For a $2,100 AUD laptop it's a joke. Their quality control is non existent.
jsilence 9y ago
Four weeks ago my laptop died and my boss said I could order a new one. I was contemplating the Dell XPS 13 and Thinkpad Carbon X1. I chose the latter and so far I am very happy with it. Reading the bad experiences some of you had I am glad about my choice.

m-j-fox 9y ago

Hey buddy. I got one yesterday. Such an adventure. Coming from the MacBook experience, I will say it's glitchy AF. But I still haven't linuxed it. Doubt that will help. I will say it's fast. My complaint is the Thunderbolt 3. It is a lie. First you need an adapter because of course you do and the only one at the store is Apple's. I have a bunch of Macs and displays and peripherals and zero success talking to any of them. I don't know if I'll even complain. I have an Intel desktop mobo that after several years learned to drive a display over Thunderbolt iff it's connected on boot and that's all. So I'm not expecting much.

MrBingley 9y ago
Yeah, this laptop was supposed to replace my old MacBook Air. I had that thing for five years, and not once had a problem with it, even after dropping it and damaging the shell. I wanted to get a linux-compatible laptop and switch to it full time, but I'm having serious second thoughts. The build quality of Macs is top-notch, and to use the old cliche, it "just works". Honestly. They're ridiculously expensive, but hey, you get what you pay for.
- WWLink 9y ago
  I agree. The Precision 5510 I have at work (basically an XPS 15) is definitely not a MacBook Pro. I adore how you can still upgrade the ram, replace the hard drive, and use standard m.2 SSDs, but the chassis is not that rigid, and the screen might be better on paper, but I find it very annoying to use. The trackpad is terrible!! You can't click it if you're holding the laptop because the chassis flexes too much! The keyboard is fantastic though! It's just like my MacBook Air's keyboard! Just the right amount of travel and give. I'll give them props for that.

rubenbe 9y ago

My approximately one-year experience with my XPS13 has been pretty uneventful (as it should be). Fedora 25 and 26 have been working flawlessly. Although I have to acknowledge that when I put my ear on the keyboard I hear some coil whine. I always take a next-business-day-on-site warranty and until now it was a pretty useless "investment" for the XPS13. With a previous XPS I had to call them once. After navigating an endless series of phone menus, the support I got was as good as it should be.

josephagoss 9y ago

The quality of the XPS 13 is very poor. The coil whine is so bad that I had to use noise cancelling headphones just to be not distracted by it. For a $2,100 AUD laptop it's a joke. Their quality control is non existent.

jsilence 9y ago

Four weeks ago my laptop died and my boss said I could order a new one. I was contemplating the Dell XPS 13 and Thinkpad Carbon X1. I chose the latter and so far I am very happy with it. Reading the bad experiences some of you had I am glad about my choice.