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Laptops · Dell XPS

Dell XPS 9550

10owners with an opinion
44%of verdicts positive
1/2positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for display and performance; criticized for durability and reliability.

What owners wrote

Doesn’t like it
I had a Dell latitude E6400 for many years, and it was rock solid for me with zero complaints. After that I had an XPS 9550, and it had a lot of issues over just ~3-4 years: issues with power connector, audio stopping working, touchpad issues, etc. Since then I decided to go back to Thinkpad.
Doesn’t like it
Same issue with a xps 15 9550. I was able to source it in alegro.pl I am on my 3rd palmrest with the hinge part breaking in different ways. I am so tired of replacing it that I decided the next time I am scrapping the laptop.
Likes it
It's really unfortunate because other then that it's still a great laptop. 4k screen with touch, just enough CPU and RAM for browsing, some coding/ssh terminals and more. I bought a StarLite Mk 5 [1] to replace the Dell laptop, and regret it so far. Battery life isn't anywhere near promised and since I primarily use the laptop sitting on a couch it's useless because of the magnetic keyboard/being a tablet. It's my own fault for buying it, I should have cancelled the order, and I don't think I can return it even if it's basically brand new unused in the box it came in. [1] https://no.starlabs.systems/pages/starlite?shpxid=61ecd87f-f...
Doesn’t like it
Yup, this is why I've been holding off of upgrading to Big Sur along with this other external monitor deal breaker - https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/651131 . To be honest, as a new OSX user after a subpar experience with my XPS 15 9550, I was really looking forward to the "It just works" experience with my $3K+ MBP 16, but I have been sorely disappointed. I get regular kernel panic induced shutdowns that I can reproduce when plugging several different MBP compatible docks. Some days, Zoom plus web browser will bring the entire machine to its knees and make it behave like a netbook from years past. Multi monitor support is a giant crapshoot and there is a 50-50 chance all monitors get recognized properly or you keep unplugging and replugging till all your monitors get recognized correctly. Opening new apps feels excruciatingly slow due to OSX sandboxing and I feel like I'm using a subpar laptop from 8 years ago. Finder is still an abomination in comparison to any sane file browser. At this point, the experience definitely hasn't been smoother than with my last XPS15, and I am likely to move back to Windows with my next laptop upgrade at work. I just get the feeling that developers or users like me are an afterthought when it comes to Apple.
Doesn’t like it
I will never buy a dell again, had an XPS 9550 (£2.7k 32gb ram, top of the range) - they had a chip in to detect a valid dell power adapter and that went so they wanted over 600 to replace the motherboard. I bought a macbook and use the dell charger (udb-c) to charge my macbook.
Doesn’t like it
I have an XPS 15 9550 as well and primarily use ubuntu. I feel your pain on the failure to hibernate/heating up in a bag. Dell seems to have had plenty of issues with buggy BIOS and motherboards on this laptop. Last week mine became afflicted with the notorious XPS issue of powering itself on automatically immediately after shutdown (from windows or ubuntu) and will only respond to the power button being pushed if the charger is plugged in. I've replaced the battery and the CMOS battery in an unsuccessful attempt to solve the problem. Dell support said I could pay $70 to send in my laptop to get it diagnosed and then quote me an exorbitant price to replace the MOBO; all while being without a laptop for god knows how long... no thanks! I resurrected a MacBook Air from 2013 and have been running Ubuntu for a week now. It's very refreshing to be on stable hardware even if it's not a powerhouse.
Likes it
I have owned a MacBook Pro for many years (I think it was a late 2012 model as well) given by my employer in which I always run Linux in it. I was disgusted with the hardware support on Linux (especially on Wifi/Bluetooth) so I got a new XPS 15 inch (again from my employer), specifically the 9550 (from 2016), the non-touch screen (with FHD resolution). I can tell you that it runs Ubuntu very smoothly and has great battery life etc and I really like this laptop. But to be honest Dell comes nowhere close with Apple regarding quality of build. Although I truly believe the XPS is probably the best bet for a developer that wants Linux, it's probably like that because if I put everything in the basket (slimness, battery life, speed, hardware, linux support etc), there isn't any other better option outhere. I wish Dell was building better laptops but it isn't.
Likes it
you might - my xps 15 9550 (once tweaked with TLP, powertop, non-4K screen) gets 10-12 hours. There was a recall on batteries for the 9550 so this is with my new battery. However, this doesnt discount the other issues I had with the box. BUT, once sorted it runs well now even after several upgrades ( Ubuntu 16.10 thru 17.10)
Neutral
But that's part of the promise of USB-C / Thunderbolt 3... interchangeable, standards-based docks that work with a single connection. I'm currently using my Dell XPS 15 (9550) with the Plugable USB-C Docking Station which uses a single cable to power the laptop, drive two monitors (one DisplayPort alt mode, the other over USB), gig ethernet, and a few USB devices. Granted, it's not as seamless as it could be, but it's still new technology. There are issues with the USB-C connection cutting out when wifi is also on, so I've gotten in the habit of just turning off wifi when I'm docked. We're currently in the "first generation" of consumer USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 devices, so I expect those issues to get ironed out pretty quickly.