Dell XPS 15-L502X user reviews (Intel Core i7-2630, 2011)

Pros Sandy Bridge
Optimus
Plenty of customization options, This laptop can be had for $800
JBL speakers
-This i would like to point out especially, These speakers, are amazing period. And for a laptop they are mind blowing. Compared to my old

Cons Bluky, no getting around this if your looking for thin laptop, extended battery is out of the question. Even without it it's still relatively thick

multitouch on mousepad isn't anything to talk about it's functional, but nothing compared to macbook

Summary I couldn't say enough about this computer, you can make it as good or as cheap as you want
Mine is configured with the baseline 2420m i5, upgraded 540gt 2gb video card 6 gigs ram, FHD LED screen extended battery, 640gb hard drive this configure was less $1040 after using some on site coupons, but after tax

Sandy bridge is really quite impressive even on the base CPU it delivers, great performance, good battery life, the higher end quad cores, offer performance that will beat anything that isn't an i7 desktop variant

The Nvidia graphics, are also quite powerful, they perform quite well for a laptop. Less demanding games like Mass Effect Steam Games and be played on high at native resolutions, more demanding games a medium. Optimus is a wonderful technology and was a primary reason why i didn't got with similar HP laptops with AMD solutions. Optimus works seemlessly, most people probably wouldn't know when it's on or off, and it's great on battery keeping the power hungry GPU off 95% of the time

I also decided get the FHD led screen. The color is noticible better, and the picture is super crisp. Make my desktop monitor look pretty bland now, and I would believe the LED screen improve battery life

I would also recommend the extended battery. As you can get 7ish hours for basics tasked, and 2 or 3 with the system heavily load. Be aware this won't be a very thin Laptop if you have the extended battery is about twice is thick were the battery is located. AT this price point this laptop has a great balance of raw performance and nice features (screen speakers, trackpad, solid build). Most other laptops i was looking for in the $1000 range either seemed to have nice performance but lacked in features and build quality, or very nice, but underpowered solutions, if you looking for a desktop replacement or looking for a powerful laptop you don't mind taking with you (my situation) I would highly recommend

Pros Features, price, dell reputation, design,

Cons Bulky when compared with today's range of laptops.

Summary I find it funny that you praise the battery life but only give it a rating of 7 (there's even a comment from someone who could even get 8 hours out of it). and as for service and support, i know NO other brand which offers the quality of service and support Dell does. I've been a Dell customer for 10 years now and i greatly recommend it to everyone who asks me (and many who don't too haha).
I'm waiting for my Sandybridge XPS 17 3D to come anytime soon :) i wish CNET would review it as well...
IF I had a negative comment, perhaps it would be on Dell's 9 cell batteries. I don't know why must they stick out... For instance the Precision M6500 and the Inspiron 9300 i once had, bot had 9 cell batteries and the battery wouldn't stick out... that and their bulkiness. The've already made sexier products, like the Adamo and the Studio XPS lines... Why drop that in the new designs?... anyway. Long Live Dell!

Pros Fast, good build, most everything seems to work well.

Cons Nvidia 540M card cannot duplicate output to the hdmi port. After an hour on support, dell came to the same conclusion. This replaced a l501x with a 420M card which could duplicate just fine, but had other issues.

Summary This is a replacement for a L501X which was shipped to me with a motherboard defect and had to be replaced. Unfortunately the replacement took over two months and many calls to arrive... but it did. However, the promised return authorization label for the first laptop was not in the box as the automated message I received assured me it would be. I'm sure this will be taken care of, it will just take more time on the phone.

Pros The CPU is FAST (i7 quad core at 3.4 GHZ)! The GPU is powerful(Nvidia 540m 2gb), and the RAM is great (8GBs). It does everything i want it too, and then some. I can play BF3 in ultra on this thing, and i still play MC in the background.

Cons The only con i can think of is the screen, it reflects things. But that is not a big deal. Specially since it plays video at 1080p.

Summary I love being able to go to a store and know right off the bat my laptop is better then almost any of the PCs there (Best Buy sometimes sells a gaming desktop). With all these computer companies using that horrible Intel GPU, I'm happy my laptop doesn't depend on that. People say its a bulky laptop, and unattractive, but the bulkiness is barely noticeable, and well worth it too. And, in my opinion, it looks great.

So all in all this laptop is well worth its price, it has a powerful CPU, and GPU, perfect amount of RAM, and if you don't want to use you high end GPU, just switch to the Intel GPU. Which still plays your Blu-Ray movies in 1080p.

I recently flew to California from Chicago, and i took my laptop. It was able to last me the whole trip (I was watching blade, and harts war), including my layover in LA. That is an 8 hour trip easy, so a great battery as well :D.

Its JBL speakers are amazing as well, its rare to find a laptop with audio able sound, but this one blows everything away. Along with its Subwhopher, its a great piece of machinery, built for everything. Entertainment, gaming, media. What ever you want, or need done, it can do it.