I'm not a huge fan of Dell, but their new XPS line is really great. It's important to get one with a backlit keyboard like this one has they are not standard, and most of them that are sold do not have it. It is something that you don't really know you need until you've already bought the computer. The 435M is a top notch graphics card and the newest generation from NVidia, and the Blu-Ray drive makes it future-proof (at least for now!). What's the point of buying a laptop nowadays that can't play Blu-Rays?? The 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB is also a nice addition.
In every way possible they replaced my computer with inferior components.
I immediately called Dell and proceeded to be put on hold and bounced around for over 6 hours trying to get the issue resolved.
As I write this I am on hold yet again with a Dell representative who is completely unable or unwilling to assist me.
I cannot speak to anyone in the United States for support without paying an additional $250 for some support packageSequence of events: After which you can decide if this item is for you:
Ordered new L701x laptop 12/06/2012. After 30 days, blue screen error appeared every 3 hours or so. Called help line: They sent tech out to my home 1 week later with new memory stick (only one). Did not help!! Tech said diagnosys was wrong. He returned 1 week later with hard drives and motherboard. Great works but now laptop over heats and cannot be used (fire hazzard). Called tech support. They wanted to send out another tech. I said.."no way"...I want a new laptop. Finally got new one approved (3 weeks later)..in the meantime..no laptop to use. New one arrived..and immediately..blue screen again. Called tech support..we will send out a tech...6 weeks into purchase and no help..asked for refund and was told NO..repair is the only option..they claim I am running bad software..that is odd..I have an old M1530 XPS running the same operating system and software.. no issues..Okay, first a little about the laptop hardware itself. I got mine with the 2nd Generation 1.73 gigahertz Intel Core i7 Q 740, 6GB of RAM, 750GB hard drive, Blue Ray combo drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M graphics, NVIDIA High Definition Audio (4x) and 9 cell battery. Windows 7 x64 was installed when purchased and didn't give me any significant issues for 2 years. Occasionally, I'd experience a slowdown here and there but eventually related that to pending Windows updates or updates being installed. No blue screens of death, no freezes, no incompatibility and no driver issues. I'm a PC technician and do a lot with my desktop, but needed something to bring to the job site that has performance comparable to a desktop.
I frequently do video rendering, Photoshop digital editing and video slide shows and find the performance of the XPS L701X is up to the task. I rarely hear the CPU fan pick up speed due to processor heat, usually only when I'm doing a heavy video or photo related task. The XPS is meant to be a gaming system, specification wise, but for me, it's more like a desktop stand-in and does everything I need a laptop or desktop to do.
Physically, I have a couple of complaints. First, The 17 inch size is a bit more than I anticipated. I use a couple of 24" monitors on my desktop and my rationale said I needed to go for the bigger laptop screen plus I liked the idea of having room for a number pad alongside of the standard qwerty keyboard. I've found that bigger isn't better in this case. It's hard to find laptop bags that are both compact and can fit a 17" laptop I actually modified my old one with a sharp razor blade to take out a couple of suspension pieces to allow it to fit. Another factor is the weight. It is quite heavy. My wife's Asus 17 is way lighter although it doesn't feel as solidly built. I realize one reason for the weight is that the 9 cell battery (6 is standard) is heavy all by itself. Necessary, if you care at all about using your laptop without a power cord. I wished I had gotten the backlit keyboard because it needs one, but I bought off the refurbished site at Dell and had to compromise to get all the other features I wanted. The power brick is also huge because of the 9 cell battery so that's another thing I have to deal with when I go remote. And, speaking of the power brick, the power plug is located on the back of the laptop and I find that I'm constantly hitting it against things to the point where the plug is now loose. I've remedied that by putting a piece of aluminum duct tape about 1/8th inch wide around the "prong" so it stays snug in the plug. My wife's power plug is on the side, a much better location based on my experience. Lastly, I like the aluminum top but have put a small ding in it and also found they must use a clear coat of some sort because I have what appears to be a small chip in a different spot as well. Overall though, the thing is built like a brick, nice and solid, and I have no other major complaints about the build of the laptop. It has even survived a couple short drops without damage (dog knocked it off the couch a couple of times). I plan on keeping this one until it dies or I get a windfall that allows me to upgrade to a touch screen model.
It comes with Windows 7, not a big fan. I've lived with it, learned it and support it, but I'm still not fond of it knowing that its' base platform is Microsoft Server 2000 and that it was a quick-fix to problematic Windows Vista. So, even though this laptop isn't sold as new anymore (there are newer XPS Dells out there), it's still a viable machine if you decide to get one used, or find a leftover new one. That said, I thought I'd add additional information for those who might consider this laptop plus an upgrade to Windows 8. Since I support PC's for a living, I had to get up to speed with it and decided to use my XPS laptop as my training tool, knowing I could go back to 7 easily enough if I had problems. So, Windows 8; Installed quickly, no functional driver issues and all my software works. I don't love it, but like it a lot. It's faster, runs smooth, doesn't bog down when there's an update and does everything I need, plus lots I don't need. The good news, I have no issues on Windows 8. The bad news, a few of the bells and whistles Dell puts on their laptops and uses their exclusive drivers for, don't work. This includes a couple of the shortcut keys above the keyboard. Dell won't bother providing updates for those to support Win 8 and I've not had enough time to try some of Dell's newer drivers from their recent XPS laptops that come with 8. No biggie since everything is accessible through Windows, but I don't like when things are there but don't function. This includes the hot-keys for turning off the touch pad, access to Dell support apps, the M-waves audio key and wireless on/off key. Minor issues aside, I've found that Windows 8 completes some of my CPU intensive tasks about 10% faster, boots faster, wakes from sleep faster and is overall just zippy. So in summary, if you wound up on Amazon looking at reviews for this XPS L701X laptop and wonder if it works with Windows 8, the answer is yes. I had no other driver issues. As for the reviewers giving 1 star for questionable reasons, I still rate this machine with 5 stars! Oh, and by the way, I have 4 Dells in my house and unless I build it myself, I will continue to buy Dells.Ok, so i bought this laptop directly from dell. i got it with the cheapest intel core i7 and 6 gb of ram. also upgraded the video card and got the back lit keys. i don't know much about computers, or what nots, but i do know that so far this computer hasn't shown any problems to me. when i first used it i notice that there were a few black dots on the screen (kinda looked like dead pixels) but they weren't they were too big to be that. it turned out to be trash inside the screen i guess because they eventually went away after a couple of months. it really didn't bother me much. If i can tell you one thing that i really like about this laptop though its that its loud! it really is loud, it can fill a room no problem and the sound is nice and crisp (whatever that means) but yes trust me on that one, the sound really does sound really really good. the only problem with this is that the keyboard is in a way placed that when you are typing, you are blocking the left speaker which is a bummer but just wear headphones or whatever and you are golden. Another negative is that where your left hand rest as you play a video game, not only does it block he speaker, but it also gets really hot! i was playing assassins creed and every other check point i had to lift my hand because it was really hot! not i am a guy and i know i have think skin around that area so i can deal with it, but for those who have sensitive hands, well good luck with that. i have heard some pretty bad reviews about this laptop out there, and well maybe they are true either ways my laptop is working fine to me. main reason why i got it with so many upgrades is because i found a 400 dollar coupon if i upgraded it to 17 inch so haha that's my story. it works for me (then again, my old desktop had less than 1/2 gb ram and 225 gb or memory with a really crappy video card so i might not know what i am saying) it works for me, but will it work for you?
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