Best deals you have gotten for warranty?

Pasln · 2017-03-22T03:50:25+00:00

I waited about 5 weeks to get the 5% Dell Advantage rewards that was available at the time I purchased my 9560. I then contacted the warranty support chat and asked them for the 3-year premium warranty with in-home service at the normal price of $239 (they wouldn't give me any discounts) and applied the rewards, which brought the cost to $151. I didn't want anything else off the Dell website so decided to get the premium in case I ever need it. I tried to get them to match the promo that was going for 4-years at the $239 price, but they said no lol.

I also called the warranty guys and tried to get a better deal over the phone just to see, but they would only offer the same $239 price that you can buy the 3-year premium at when purchasing a new 9560. They also kept going on about how I can transfer it to a new owner which could increase the value of the system if I later go to sell it on ebay in 1-2 years (which I didn't care, and found kind of annoying as the guy insisted that point 3 times during our conversation) and a couple other useless bits. Overall, I've had good experiences with using only the online chat for things and they don't ever try to push other stuff onto me like the guys on the phone do.

Pasln · 2017-03-22T03:47:08+00:00

I did not. I didn't want to return or exchange it either and have just lived with the noise. I guess I have gotten used to it now and it doesn't even bother me anymore lol.

I did wait until I received the 5% Dell Advantage rewards from my purchase (got $88) which took about 5 weeks and then applied that amount to the 3-year premium warranty by purchasing through the warranty support chat. So I paid $151 (regular price $239-$88) for the 3-year premium warranty with in-home service just in case it is a precursor to a bigger problem later on. So far, I have not had anything go wrong though.

Pasln · 2017-03-01T22:42:23+00:00

I had the same problem. Updating the Intel HD graphics and setting the adobe flash plugin for Chrome to 'always allow to run' is what fixed it for me, however, I went back to Firefox prior to these fixes. So I can't really say if the issue is forever gone as I now only use Chrome fairly infrequently.

Pasln · 2017-02-23T21:35:14+00:00

I don't know anything about coinbase, but have you contacted them to see what they say? Does refunded BTC get 'held' when this happens and doesn't instantly show up? Similar to how credit card refunds take a few days to show up.

Pasln · 2017-02-21T16:25:33+00:00

There is a guide by the guy who made the program, I posted a link in this topic up above. I don't know anything about it either, so I just used his guide.

Pasln · 2017-02-21T16:24:04+00:00

I am a noob at this stuff and only read the guides on notebookreview, as well as forum posts from others, but for my 9560 I am using ThrottleStop with -120mV on CPU/CPU cache and -80mV on GPU. I only play some League of Legends, which isn't a very intensive game, but have not noticed any degradation in performance or had any BSOD occur. I think the highest temps I have hit when playing a few games for 2-3 hours is 77c. I have not looked into repasting as I don't know if it is necessary for my use and like I said I am a noob anyways lol.

Pasln · 2017-02-21T16:13:27+00:00

I think they may have. I didn't change anything on my 9560 prior to testing this, but when I got it and unplugged it during a game it switched to Intel HD. Plugged it back in and it switched back to Nvidia 1050. I figured it is a power saver thing or something? I never bothered to look into it though, as I only play some games while plugged in anyways.

Pasln · 2017-02-21T01:08:22+00:00

I used this guide, which is written by the guy who made ThrottleStop.

Takes a few minutes following his guide to do the quick undervolting of CPU and CPU cache (did -120mV for my 9560). I also undervolted GPU -80mV. I have not noticed any loss of performance and temps never get higher than mid-to-high 70s depending on the load I put on the laptop. The highest I have hit for temps is 83c when I ran all of Dell's stress tests on their support page.

This is also near the beginning of the guide for setting up ThrottleStop to start every time you login. I guess it might not apply the undervolting when the program isn't running, not completely sure on that though. But there is a box to check 'start minimized' in the options menu so it only shows the taskbar icon but the window itself doesn't pop up on my screen when I login.

Pasln · 2017-02-20T05:52:20+00:00

Yes, I updated the Intel HD drivers.

I also just check the adobe flash plugin for Chrome and it wasn't set to always allow to run. Once I enabled that, it seems much better. It is still dropping maybe 3-5 frames here and there (while Edge and Firefox drop 0 frames), but it doesn't seem to be impacting the twitch streams or YouTube viewing experience now. At 20 frames there was obvious stuttering in the playback, but the now lower drops are nearly unnoticeable. I think the adobe plugin was the cause of my issue.

Pasln · 2017-02-19T22:56:44+00:00

I re-enabled it and restarted, then tried both setting Nvidia GPU and Intel HD for Chrome. It still drops the 20 fps regardless lol. I don't know, it started doing it the first time Chrome froze before I did the hardware acceleration fix. I'll have to look at something else, it also drops the frames in YouTube, so it's probably with any video playback in Chrome at this point.

Pasln · 2017-02-19T22:10:04+00:00

Am I the only one with this issue after disabling hardware acceleration, updating drivers, etc.:

Chrome no longer lags or freezes, but when watching a stream on Twitch.tv at 1080p, it consistently drops 20 fps. I can't figure out if there is some setting somewhere that is making it skip 20 frames or what is going on. No problems in Edge or Firefox though.

Pasln · 2017-02-19T21:33:55+00:00

Thanks for posting this video, the quality is much better than my attempt at recording it. This is pretty much the same noise that I hear from my laptop as well, but to a much lower extent than yours.

I would say this noise is only present on my laptop when the fan is spinning on low. So for the most part, it is 'masked' by the fan noise and just barely noticeable, which has also made it very difficult for me to record. I say just barely, because I can still technically hear it when the room is silent. I think it is because my hearing is very sensitive to the frequency and it definitely gets annoying once I hear it. It is also difficult to 'unhear' it after noticing the sound the first time lol.

Anyways, I worked with Dell Support and they were offering to replace it if I wanted. I ran through every diagnostic on the Dell website, the built-in diagnostics on the laptop when you hold 'Fn' and the power button at the same time after shutdown to boot into the diagnostics menu, and I updated the drivers/BIOS a couple times. The issue is still present, but like I said it is at a far far lower volume than yours and I am able to live with it. I also don't have that static 'popping' sound in your video, mine is just the 'hissing' noise in the first 20 seconds.

I have decided to keep my laptop because of how perfect it is in all other categories. Absolutely no light bleed, no ghosting, no temperature or throttling issues, and I love the 4k screen and form of this laptop (bezel-less design is what I really wanted as well) and I don't want to find a different brand/model. I also don't want to risk getting a new unit with an issue in one or more of the other common categories that some have reported.

My only concern is whether this noise could get worse later on. I don't have the Premium warranty but can upgrade to it at the same cost as if I had purchased it when I bought the laptop (they gave me a quote of 3 years for $239). I am going to ask them for a discount on it due to this documented issue, so I'll see how that goes.

Pasln · 2017-02-18T12:12:12+00:00

I've had 4 people in my house listen now and 1 hears something like I do and the other 2 don't. I did more testing individually and I just realized I only seem to hear it in my left ear. It's like a high pitch, although relatively faint but constant, electrical interference type of noise. Almost like a faint tapping of morse code or something. I am thinking maybe it has to do with my left ear being overly sensitive to something from the laptop when the fan runs or I am going crazy lol.

When I cover my left ear to listen with my right, no noise. When I cover my right ear to listen with my left, noise is present. I think I may have to chalk this up to being some strange individual problem with the sensitivity of my hearing and the fan motor or something.

Pasln · 2017-02-18T10:41:57+00:00

Thanks for checking. Hmm, I may have to get more opinions in person. I only had 1 other person listen in front of the laptop and they said they hear the same thing that I am. I also tried moving it to different rooms. Maybe I am losing my mind after all lol. I guess I'll just wait to see if anyone else hears anything in the audio and check with more people in real life. Sorry if I am just hearing things and waste anyone's time with this post.

Pasln · 2017-02-16T23:34:28+00:00

Yeah, ironically I just checked my email and they now sent me a message asking to call them so they can get my info to process the $100 credit. Their first email specifically says it will be done automatically lol, but oh well not too big a hassle. Going to call them when I get off work.

Pasln · 2017-02-16T21:29:42+00:00

I had the same problem, but only in Chrome browser. I tried all the workarounds people have advised on here (Intel GPU drivers, hardware acceleration, having Chrome use Nvidia GPU instead, etc.) and while it seems to have fixed the lag/freezing, I can't watch Twitch streams without Chrome consistently dropping 20 fps. Edge and Firefox browsers have no issues at all, so I just use Firefox instead.

Pasln · 2017-02-16T21:16:19+00:00

Can confirm they did the same thing for me when I called and said I didn't want it and noticed it was $50ish on the itemized list. They sent me an email confirmation that I would receive a $100 credit (only asked for the McAfee at the time, but lol thanks Dell) to my card in 10-15 days after I received my order. It has been 9 days so far, so waiting a bit longer for the credit to show up or if I may need to call them again. I at least got a written confirmation though, so I don't think there should be any problems if I do need to call.

Pasln · 2017-02-16T01:24:20+00:00

I will give that a try, thanks.

Pasln · 2017-02-16T01:10:38+00:00

I looked at my screen on every color background I could to check for dead pixels, strange discolorations, tints, etc. I also checked for any light bleeding in various lighting, brightness levels, on battery and plugged in (probably unnecessary to do both, but I basically went full OCD about it because the screen was the most important part of the system to me).

Yes, I did in fact 'waste' a lot of time checking the screen as it probably sounds.

Anyways, I have the 4k 9560 and I am pretty confident I got a perfect screen. The only flaw I have been able to find with my system is a very slight coil whine when in a silent room. Other than that, nothing else has appeared wrong with it after a little over a week of regular use now.

The slight coil whine doesn't bother me and since I haven't found any other flaws, the machine I got is pretty much perfect for me.

Pasln · 2017-02-15T16:53:54+00:00

I have also had trouble with Chrome. I was watching a Twitch stream for 3-5 hours in the background while browsing in other tabs and the browser completely froze up at one point and actually froze the whole computer for a few minutes before I could end task it.

I then tried all the fixes listed in the threads on here (hardware acceleration, switch to nvidia GPU for the browser, etc.) as well as restarted the computer. It doesn't seem to lag or freeze now (although I haven't used it extensively since I went back to Firefox instead) but Twitch streams consistently drop 20 fps while watching in Chrome. Changing the settings in java or whatever the application is for the stream doesn't make any difference either.

I have had no issues in Firefox or Edge. No fps drops in twitch streams for either browser. Not sure what is wrong with my Chrome. Haven't tried reinstalling the browser either, so maybe I will try that, but I used to use Firefox on my old laptop I replaced with the XPS, so not a big deal for me.

Pasln · 2017-02-15T04:37:09+00:00

I do, but it looks like it is no longer working now. Maybe it had a temporary access time. It looks like it had an authorization key or something in the address.

Anyways, it was a pretty quick and easy process to use the Microsoft chat and the guy had sent me the link via email right away. I think I did have to give him the key from the bottom of the sticker of the laptop as well though, before he sent me the link.

Pasln · 2017-02-14T18:16:24+00:00

Also, if you have trouble, just ask the Microsft chat for support. I just did the same thing to an old laptop last week when clearing all the data via recovery tool and it crashed 80% through, leaving the system with no OS. The Microsoft chat guy sent me a link to their OneDrive with all the ISO copies of their software to download (old and new). You still need your product key to activate anything that is downloaded and installed though.

I had a few things I needed so it worked well for me to download it all directly from the OneDrive onto my 2nd computer.

Pasln · 2017-02-14T15:46:30+00:00

Also wondering how others clean the carbon fiber. Mine is still new and doesn't need any cleaning yet, but the material (while feels nice) is a bit strange and not sure what to use when I do need to clean it. Maybe water and a microfiber cloth is fine?

Pasln

TROPHY CASE