Dell XPS 15 Real Users Debate Thermals vs Display

They need to solve the cooling problem before they lure unsuspecting customers in with false claims of faster speed and even gaming! Xps 9520 is so underclocked its fricken ridiculous it can't even cool last years chips, how the hell is it gonna cool the new laptop with higher specs?

I've just moved from an XPS 15 from 2017 to a 9520 (i7, 32Gb 3050Ti, 4k screen) and it is brilliant. Slightly smaller than the older laptop. But the screen.... Gorgeous. I was thinking about an MSI but the Dell 4K screen is just hard to go past. Very happy with my purchase.

If/when an XPS breaks, Dell has a very robust system in place for repairs. My XPS 13 needed a new touchpad earlier this year and they dispatched a service tech to my house for the repair. The wait for parts was a bit long, but I was able to get by using a mouse in the interim.

I'm happy with my 9520 (i7, 3050Ti, OLED, 16GB/1TB). It does seem like Dell has worse QA/QC than other brands, but the risk is low, and you can just return it if you don't like it.

The GPU on the 9530 is like double or triple the performance of the old 3050Ti, even with the TDP set by Dell. 13th Gen also doesn't get as hot doing basic stuff compared to 12th apparently from what I've heard.

If you have the money, get the new one in my opinion. Have had mine for 7 years and just now deciding to get a new one. Why? Because I got the top spec version at the time and still to this day it outperforms most other peoples laptops. The new 40 series RTX is also a monster compared to the old 3050Ti.

The gaming IS so insanely better on the 9530. It can play every modern AAA title on Ultra in 1080 at 60p+. How is that bad?

Time for higher refresh screens. The 3 display options annoy me to no end. They should have a QHD LCD 90Hz or higher as the base and an OLED option of the same resolution. No point of 4K or even 3.5K on such a small screen, just burns battery.

Don't buy any XPS, competition is just way better atm. They are just overexpensive sexy machines that can't use any of their components decently due to huge power limits and bad thermal design. In 2023 Dell XPS screen is just outdated, it's almost the same as 4K on 2016 XPS. They are just 60Hz honestly it's pretty bad for their MSRP.

4070 throttles to 20watts after 5-10 minutes right over here, even the memory clock speed drops down to 800mhz... Temps are completely fine. It's a low wattage GPU with non-cooled VRMs.

Don't make the same mistake I did opting for an XPS, thinking it will perform better over a gaming laptop. Get a gaming laptop, thank me later. I got the 2022, 9520, 3050 ti model. It is great fast machine for everything but gaming. When gaming, it starts to lag and stutter after 10 to 15 mins even on low settings.

Even my 2022 is underclocked for thermal issues! Unless they put gaming laptop type cooling in I think it's useless!

I solved all my throttling issues with the Dell XPS 15 with the use of a single free application. Some genius built an app where you can override the Dell UEFI/BIOS settings and run the fans at maximum speed all the time. I am now using the optional 'Ultimate Power Plan' in Windows and overclocking CPU cores by almost two Ghz and still running at a cool 55c to 65c.

Yes but not at full price. I got the 2021 model last year with a good discount and it's still working well. My only complaints are battery life (to be fair this is an Intel problem not Dell) and the touchpad has some sensitivity issues in the lower left area.

I had the 7590 (OLED) and 9500 (UHD+). They both came with issues out of the box. I vowed not to buy XPS again! I don't keep my vows. I picked up the 9530: FHD+, 13th Gen i9, RTX 4070, 16G DDR5, 512G SSD. I'm really happy I did. Would've liked a better webcam and OLED for the price, but if my unit is any indication, Dell seems to be doing better QC.

Just upgraded from an XPS 13 to the XPS 15 (9520) - absolutely love it. Advice for picking it up for cheap - Best Buy Open Box deals. The thing that nobody has mentioned is how cool the chassis is for having 32G of RAM. Can't recommend it enough!

The 4060 and 4070 should be able to handle casual gaming at moderate settings.

I have monitored the temps while I play and the card never goes above 67°C. I run the game with quite low settings that are well within the capabilities of the card and the rest of the components, yet I still experience frequent freezes and lag stutters while playing Apex Legends.

I got my 2022 model open box at Best Buy for 1100 bucks about 8 months ago, it was a great deal!

Just bought mine at Best Buy. OLED with great specs discounted to $2100. I think it is a good buy considering what they are offering in 2024.

I'm a fan of the XPS 15 9530. I just bought one in January to replace my XPS 15 9550 that was getting a bit long in the tooth. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

I have the 9530 with a 4070 and it plays whatever I throw at it. It's not a dedicated gaming device but it games.

It depends on how you use it. The XPS 15 line has garbage cooling, since it uses heat pipes instead of vapor cooling. If you're gonna really work the cpu/gpu it would honestly be better to get an XPS 17. The fact that the cooling system on the 2020 XPS 15 is the same as the 2023 version is crazy considering the leap in CPU/GPU technology over that time period.

Don't buy this (XPS 15 9530) for gaming - it's poorly cooled / vented.

The 4K screen is the reason I bought the XPS. I love it. Makes text awesome. Like reading a book.

Have had a 9520 for maybe a year or so. Never felt much faster than my old 9650, although the benchmarks say otherwise. Performance mode cranks up the fans and it gets very hot on your lap. Battery life is meh in Ubuntu. If I rest my left wrist on the lower left corner of the laptop, the pressure makes the touchpad stop working.

My company bought me a Dell XPS 9530, which I've had for a month or so. Honestly, the fan is making me miserable. It's loud and never seems to stop, even when the processor load is like 15%. I only use it on a hard, flat surface, and it's not in a dusty environment. It's been like this since I first got it. Not sure how people can recommend this thing.

I use an XPS 15 9520 and I don't like a few things on mine but I'm fine with it, it's fast, good screen, excellent colors, good battery life, good speakers but I would NOT pay full price for one, especially the new one which I'd avoid for just the thermal problems.

I have an XPS 9530. If it's for light gaming, which is also what I use it for, it works great. Even in heavy gaming it still runs great. It gets a little loud during heavy gaming but I don't notice any throttling (I have an i9 and a 4060). Battery life, I get around 6 hrs on idle which isn't the greatest.

I got a 9510 with an OLED display and I honestly love it BUT I really really hate the battery life. I think even with a FHD display the battery is kinda bad. Other than that it's great.

I have an XPS 15 9500, ~3 years old. At year 1, 2 weeks after warranty ended I had blue screens constantly at startup. At year 2 the USB-C charging port began having issues. This has slowly deteriorated and at year 3 now the laptop won't charge unless I turn it off.

My XPS 15 with a 4050 is running RDR2 like a charm at 60 FPS.

The XPS 15 can run a lot of AAA titles because it has the Intel 13xxxH processor instead of the 13xxP and has a dedicated GPU. The Intel Arc A370M is as powerful as something like the GTX 1050 which isn't that powerful if you want to play the latest AAA titles, meanwhile the Nvidia RTX 40 series is really good at both gaming and editing.

The XPS 15 sucks for gaming. It's a low wattage GPU with non-cooled VRMs. It'll run OK until they heat up then get throttled to sh*t.

Ok...have had 3 XPS before this one. Got a 9520 32gb 1tb OLED...front light blinked a code from day one about a cable being compromised, but in use it has been crashing in LR, Ps and Ru. Lots of BSOD. Contacted support, they're replacing with a 9530 of same or better spec. Mixed reviews — QC might be hit and miss but this is a big step up over previous gens and support is on spot.

I had a XPS 9500 and I had to remove everything and reapply thermal paste to the CPU and GPU. After that the laptop runs SOOOOO much cooler. I rarely hear the fans anymore unless I'm rendering or gaming. It's shit that they use low quality thermal compound, as well as poor application of said compound.

Yes it's worth buying the 2023 model. I do not like the 2024 model at all! I got the XPS 17 last month. I did a clean install and it's been great.

I don't understand why a 13th gen notebook would still have a 720p webcam and only Wifi6 rather than 6E. However, the XPS series was never intended to be for gaming, but according to reviews it does a decent job of it. And you can always connect a more powerful GPU through the Thunderbolt 4 port.

I need confirmation that they have fixed the audio issues. I have an XPS 9520. I can't use Zoom or Discord while running other applications or my inputs disconnect randomly and/or the audio quality degrades significantly. I worked with Dell support for 5 months and they finally admitted they can reproduce the issue on their test units. They are now saying this is the intended functionality of the computer.

Hard to give you a definitive answer because it will depend on your use cases and whether you can tolerate any issues with the 9530. Plenty of posts in this sub discussing the 9530 so do some reading and if you're OK with it then go ahead. Dell has discontinued the 9530 so remaining stocks are being sold off.

I hate my XPS 15 laptop so much I wanted to throw it against the wall yesterday. I feel cheated by Dell's marketing hype as the laptop battery life is poor and the machine fans whine constantly. Don't be fooled. It's nowhere near the quality of a MacBook Pro.

All Dell XPS 15 models from 2020 and up are defective from the factory. It's a question of when, not if. The VRMs and cooling system are both undersized and there are defects in the PCIe lane tracing on the system board.