Dell XPS 15 Teardown: Better Than a MacBook Pro? 

Wishes for this channel to grow. I recently realised how important repairability of devices, especially laptop is needed.

As a repair shop owner, Dell is my favorite brand to work on. They seem to get it right a large percentage of the time. I'd like to see iFixit do more videos on Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus laptops. Apple isn't the only company that makes electronics, contrary to popular belief. Thanks!

Wow. That's amazing. I never thought I'd see a thin laptop so modular ever again. Usually you only see that kind of modularity in thick gaming laptops. And labeling the screw holes? Dell deserves a lot of credit here. Also once again we see that there is absolutely no reason that batteries need to be superglued into the case.

Dell: makes thin *and* repairable laptop Apple: *thanos voice* "Impossible."

This is absolutely amazing! This clearly and unequivocally debunks Apple's argument that they needed to solder and glue everything in place to make the devices slim and sleek. We intuitively knew that was not true but someone had to come out and totally bust that BS. And Dell has just done that. I bought this laptop (the config with i7 and 1650TI) before knowing it was this easy to replace parts although the replaceable RAM and second M.2 slot had played a major part in my decision. I've fallen in love with the device again 😀

Just convinced me to buy one of these when I upgrade, thank you.

I remember when macbook keyboards required turning a screw and pulling two slider switches, revealing the RAM and wifi card, with the HD replaceable under the removable battery, lol. someday apple might wise up and do some modularity again, or not.

Can you please send this to Apple to show how it can be done. Written on a MBP.

This was an exceptional video. Unfortunately, my 9500 has been a huge source of struggle over the past 1.5 years, but I’m very thankful for your video to help me in replacing parts.

Such a good groove in background music

Waiting for them to go Ryzen with USB 4.

Excellent videos bro

amongst some very very good vids on different subjects by youtube this particular vid verges on being brilliant. clear, informative, concise and very listenable. so keep up your good work.

Dell actually has technicians who repair laptops, and so it ends up being more cost effective to just make repair easy than try and take Apple's approach.

this is great! i've been on the fence about purchasing this laptop because i want one that is upgradeable.. but i also heard getting the bottom panel off on this model was a huge pain .. you made it look easy! i also love the fact that Dell put a little spot n there to get your spudger tool in to get it started .. thanks again for the video . subbed

Great progress team ifixit

Beautifully done. Thank you.

Jesus. I learned so much about devices in just the first few minutes of this video. It rarely dawns on people to repair devices by themselves. They usually just let it be when a bit damaged or worn down, or they just buy a new one if totally broken. I guess my key takeaway is checking a device for repairability/upgradability. Subscribing!

I wish you can zoom more on the laptop. It's a little far. Overall great job thanks!

Insightful! Thanks! Definitely will factor in this new information when making a buying decision.

Very very interesting. I’m glad I found you

"Teardown engineer" lmao I love this job title.

Excellent topic and well done, thanks , this gives me en more reason to choose this lap top

Just bought one of these and received it this week - super happy with it so far! I know people have been having QC issues but mine seems to be completely issue free after having used it for 5 days now. Fantastic to see it has such a high repair-ability rating too! I knew the SSD and memory were replaceable but was not aware that the battery is so easy to remove, so thanks for that!

I would love to see ifixit review the XPS 17

Nice content man. It's nice to see dell makes things easier for customers. I'll check their devices from now on

Great Taylor! I happen to have XPS 15 9500, thank for your passion and great support to the Dell's community, got a new sub here 👍

I was looking into this laptop. The tearing down gives me a lot of confidence for purchase. Thanks for the great job !

Awesome - great teardown and to see a major manufacturer sell repairable and upgradable laptops like this

Now this, this is a helpful video, thanks for the video my friend.

Excellent video

Fantastic video! You just sold me on the Dell laptop.I was waiting for the new arm MacBooks but had to fight the feeling inside about the lack of repairability. I have two older Macs that are pretty repairable but are very old. I think the Dell XPS is going to be my next machine. Great sight, I visit all the time when I'm contemplating an electronic purchase Keep up the good work! I'm old school, I would rather fix something then just throw it away.

You made me appreciate this laptop in a whole new way

I love this video. Thanks a lot for this job. Please make a teardown video on Dell XPS 13 9380.

Learned a lot! Thank you guys, Love from India

Amazing video

That's a really remarkable video... Ensured the viewers of the inbuilt quality of dell xps 15...I personally think that you must also review laptops within a price range... That's really an on-demand video these days... 👍👍👌

Cool move at 5:56 with the screwdriver spin !

"I'm not as bad as Kay kay." What did Kay kay do to you?

Wow, that's pretty awesome and repairable! Thanks for this review.

I use XPS 15 9530, and (in spite of out-of-date specs) I love it, especially in repairability. Dell even provide the guide to repair your machine by yours on their website, as well. So, every time that I need to replace battery (which is once a year or two, I can order one on eBay and replace it by myself. It's good to hear that the sequels are still easy to work with.

As a long time Apple computer user, I do miss the days when I could open up my Apple laptop and easily install hard drive and RAM upgrades.

before: "wait, toolkit channel?" after: "holy, this is such great content"

It is amazing that they went back to replaceable ram. I never thought that would happen and two m.2 slots make this pretty good in terms of upgradability. Though it is still too expensive for my taste there are a ton of really good alternatives that cost a lot less. Also the thermal solution looks decent ar least not terrible, which is quite good for a dell laptop.

Great job iFixit and Dell

Like DELLs laptop. Own XPS for almost 3 years now. Own 9570 model, top spec. Have had an issue with the battery, which overheated in my bag because laptop did not go to sleep on the lid close. Bought an aftermarket replacement on amazon which did not work well (the laptop kept saying the battery is not original). Replaced with another aftermarket one, which also led the laptop to fail, returning both to amazon and got a genuine one, no problem with that. During battery replacement, I forgot to screw in one of the Philips screws, and the screen latch bracket, which is part of the back panel, failed a few months later. Could be related to the existing DELL XPS issue seen on the internet at the time, but bought a new bottom case on my own. The purchase was wrong - my original keyboard did not fit the housing because of a different Enter button. Decided to buy a new aftermarket keyboard which fitted. Along with the latch a screw bracket for the charging port also broke up, but I got an original replacement for a few bucks. At the end managed to screw everything on my own - battery, back housing, charging port, keyboard. Definitely repairable at a good rate.

Able to upgrade with ease is a huge plus

Great video

So glad I found this. I just bought one today and it comes in a couple of weeks. I plan on adding another SSD, but I know it doesn't come with a screw to hold it in place. What type and size is screw do I need for that specifically? Thank you!!

Hey man such an awsome video, like wow I did not even know what was also possible. Also one quick question where was the WiFi card? I never show it in the video.

That video was really awesome, thanks for that ! Since the battery is removable, is it also upgradable with the 86Wh (or something close) one that comes with the 4K models ? Or even another larger battery from previous models ? And if yes, anything special that needs to be done in BIOS or settings of anything ? Thanks for the kind answer in advance ❤️

Great design and easy to repair 👍

Definitely getting a Dell laptop as my next one.. they seem to have done an amazing job at Dell both in terms of end user experience (huge trackpad, great screen, great overall usage) and repairability.. good job @Dell !

Actually my xps 15 9550 (2015 model but same chassis as last year's model) survives a drop of 2 meters while opened on a tiling floor (even the touchscreen survived). I only need to replace a hinge and the palmrest (the keyboard and the palmrest were not a single unit). The palmrest had not visible damage from outside but the internal structure (screw holes) was damaged.

Would be great to have Links for repair parts as well. If there are no parts, then it does not matter how easy it is to disassemble. For example I would not know how to get the screen back together once I removed the bezel and backside adhesive.

I have a xps 15 9550. The parts iv replaced: wifi card, palm rest, screen, wifi antena. There is a very bad design flaw with these laptops. To understand the problem you must know that where the hinges of the screen mount to the palm rest is weak, it's basicly a strip of pot metal that is glued to the carbon fiber palm rest, this metal is brittle. What happend to me is this metal began to break over time, eventually the wires that cause the displays touch functionality to work got pinched due to the broken hinge mounting points as did the wires that led from the wifi card to the antenna. Later on after this was repaired by me I went to upgrade the wifi card however the connectors gripped each other so tightly that it broke where the connector was soldered onto the wifi card. This is my dell experience. You pay for a premium device they should use a beter method of mounting the screens hinges to the palm rest. Hopefully if newer versions this will be beter (it's possible it already is)

Can you please show us how to replace the 3.5 headphone socket and thanks for the amazing video

Have to admit, that is impressive. Might buy a dell next year, getting sick of the Apple Ecosystem.

I like this tear down format, its actually a tutorial as well.

It is refreshing to see the "no bullshit" approach to engineering and design these enterprise first companies have being brought to the consumer market. I don't know of any other brand specifically but HP has outstanding service manuals for every one of their laptops, complete with graphs and even flowcharts to help you debug issues. I love when companies do this.

That is a great design: thin and compact (which a lot of people want), whilst also repairable and upgradeable. I would definitely have 16GB+ RAM, two SSDs (preferably two 1TB SSDs) and also choose the configuration with a dedicated graphics card - though I reckon the one with no dGPU will have a longer battery life, assuming they use the same battery between models.

nice video bro

It should be against the law to not show us any footage or audio of adhesive pull tabs being pulled out. It's so satisfying of a noise and so satisfying to watch.

The 5520 (model with 7th gen i7)had even replaceable wifi card which was pretty neat. I've put in a AX210 card. Big thumbs up to Dell for keeping the quality "interior" design

I have an inspiron 7569 and it's excellent. It's 3 yrs old and I have added a new m.2 drive and a ram. Runs like new again.

Great Video! Got a brand new XPS 15 for work but the Trackpad rattles. For my Huawei Matebook XPro there was a trackpad-rattle-fix with a piece of paper. Do you have any ideas how to fix it on the XPS15?

This normal people: Unboxing and using laptop. IFixit: Unboxing and literally opening up the laptop.

Didn't see the WiFi chip - maybe I blinked for too long .... Good video though. Glad I got the Dell XPS now that I have seen this. Thanks for uploading this informative video.

Are you sure the keyboard an palm rest are the same piece? I recently replaced the palm rest on an older xps 15 and the screws are hidden under little flaps in the black plastic sheet. Still cool to see the design changes.

when do guys do a 2020 MacBook Pro 13inch teardown? I wonder how the new keyboard looks like from the inside

Great video as always! 👍🏾👍🏾 A few of us have been waiting for an iPad Pro magic keyboard teardown, are you guys planning to do one? Thanks!

After seeing this, I think I'm finally done with MacBooks.

Nice video! Question I read your description and you state that it won’t run MacOS Catalina why is that? I had the 9550 with Catalina trying to find out the difference. Thanks

Great video, thank you! :) Can you take a look at the 13 inch Dell XPS, please? :)

Thank you so much, i was wondering wether there is another m.2 slot or not

Good review. I'm a MacBook Pro guy, but I just bought one of these for my girlfriend. She got the 4k screen- which looks spectacular. Side by side my MacBook Pro Retina display looks circa 2005. The sound from the Dell speakers is too low, we couldn't (yet) figure out how to fix that or if it was even fixable. That might be ahuge minus. (My 2017 MB Pro, the speakers are (finally!) adequate. The only (chronic) issues I've had with my MBPro is the keyboard (replaced 3Xs): the first full year I had to keep a teflon sheet over the trackpad or it would randomly input and jump the cursor while typing. It was doing this at least once a minute making it impossible to type without the teflon sheet. It was only 100% using an external keyboard. A year or so ago Apple replaced the keyboard/trackpad/top (all one piece no problem under Apple Care, as a DIY fix later?...an expensive negative). I was told that the 2017 keyboard was basically replaced with a 2018 keyboard. Which fit with my experience in Apple Stores, I'd type on the 2017 and it would jump all over the place -every machine. When I took it in for the replacement I tried a 2018 machine and that keyboard worked well. The randomly jumping cursor never seems to have made it to the 'known issues' list. I tested it against a 2011 MBP and the 2011 never jumped once, the 2017 did it more than once per minute. Reasons for the keyboard replacement: first week was the jumping cursor nightmare. They just gave me a new machine. Same thing. The next time (2018) same problem - but this time it mostly solved the problem. The third time was I screwed something up trying to blow out the keyboard with compressed air. This, unlike the jumping cursor, is an admitted known problem. I intended to get a keyboard cover, but the ones available don't seem like they'll keep the dust from jamming it up. However, I do like this keyboard because I transpose fewer letters with it. Don't know about the newer keyboard. The older keyboards I liked just fine, my fingertips don't feel 'hammered' as they do with the 2018, however I think the distance traveled contributed to my transposing letters problem. (It seems like there'd be test results somewhere on keyboards, but then again it seems like the Caps Lock key would also be long gone, moved to become an F key or something. Videos on which keyboard is best are all subjective and pointless, of course the cherry red keys are everyone favorites, click click click - whoopee! they're like sports cars, except try driving a sports car 6 hours a day everyday, you'll quickly get sick of it --but only if you know about alternatives. Who have you ever met or heard of who notices that keyboards make a difference in transposing letters? And typing speed is not really about speed, it's about the time between errors you have to stop and correct. I think I've gone from 20 to 30+ wpm moving from typewriters to computers and the most significant factor is not speed it's mistakes and corrections.) All in all I'd agree that the Dell XPS 15 seems like a terrific machine and is better than the MacBook Pro....except (for me) it's running Windows. (Does everything Windows really have extra steps? And I loathe that menu that pops up if you don't click fast enough. I get flashbacks to that evil Word paperclip thing. To me it's incredibly stupid that none of the options on the menus that pop up is to do the actual action. But this is a mix of 'same old argument' and what I'm used to. It's also been about five years since I've seen anyone's eye brighten up saying either Windows or Macintosh; but they still do for Linux.) The Dell is a lot heavier than the MacBook Pro, (a negative) and thicker-- but that whole Apple-fetish of the thinnest portables? Even fanboys with Apple logo tattoos would rather have a thicker, but still light, machine that cools better. And that doesn't have that sharp corner that imprints the uncomfortable line in your wrists? Jon Ive wake up - that's bad design. (I use a wrist rest or make wood frames for all my MacBooks to raise them up a bit for cooling. At the base is either a rounded wooden wrist rest or one I've sewn myself, stuffed with flax seeds. I also figured out to make an outer sleeve that I can slide off and pop in the washing machine. Sorry to go on and on. Hope some of this is of interest.

Well, I was just looking for a new laptop. Looks like it's going to be a Dell XPS!

the usb c ports not being replaceable I think is actually a huge bummer, and one place where most Macbooks actually have an advantage. Keep in mind that the usb c ports are the only way to charge the laptop... at least there's more than one of them I guess...

I wish the XPS 13 had swappable RAM because that's the form factor I prefer to work on and the 15 is just a little too bulky since I move around a lot on the job. The Framework is compelling because everything is as easily replaced as with the 15 but in a 13" chassis with a 3:2 display that is more conducive to productivity, plus the modular ports are an interesting feature.

Can you please do a teardown videos of Dell XPS 13 7390 and 2-in-1 and Dell XPS 13 9310 and 2-in-1?

0:40 That notch is not designed for that. There is an indicator LED for the battery.

Guys how come you didn't so the XPS17 ? Would love to see that vapour chamber come off !

Now in this day, I just know that we have the teardown engineer degree in our world, never heard of that.

Is the wifi+bluetooth card replaceable?

He really looks excited about the laptop. 😁

Can you mark the screws at every stage before removing them from laptop maybe using a red arrow or something.

Can you guys do a tear down of the xps 13?

the next step is to make components that are more resilient and less likely to need replacing over say a 6-10 year span. mainly the battery life span needs improving in most devices

Man seeing this pretty work one would expect a great QC ....

4K please

Excellent presentation. I just bought a fully loaded XPS 15. Now I'm even more confident about my purchase. Thanks for that. I do have a suggestion. For me, the volume of the background music was distracting. Some might appreciate less of the repetitive and non-essential noise. Some smooth jazz ambiance might be more appropriate to your relaxed style. I'm subscribing.

That is very impressive. 👍

I have one question, with some tech reviewers I watch, they did do a ram upgrade on older Dell laptops only to find out that they needed to keep one of the ram sticks in. To get the laptop to boot, will that affect repair ability.

My only issue moving from mac to non Mac is that the sound quality I get from GarageBand I have yet to achieve it with non Mac devices :/ and I really want to switch!

What model number is this laptop, 9550? Shopping it right now largely due to this teardown. Thanks

This is the reason why I chose Dell as my laptop. Their Inspiron 15 7000 models only has single screw for maintenance. In 3 years of ownership, I've already replaced the RAM, SSD, HDD for upgrades and the battery (mine got swollen because I tried to mine eth 24/7, my fault), all these I've done myself.

He should’ve wore Anti-Static wrist band while touching the RAMs & MB. Static can easily blow up your hardware components. He also keeping RAMs & rest of motherhood components on magnetic pad which is also can blow up because of magnetic rays.

Can the discrete graphics card be user installed after puchase?

I would like to buy this over the Macbook Pro M1, but the trackpad issue makes it hard

you put the ssd on the magnetic map, it could be a problem later on?