Company Updates

Dell Refines the Trackpad and Fan Cooling Profiles in Response to Customer Feedback

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The XPS 13 launched on Feb. 28 in the U.S. and Canada, and to-date response has been strongly positive. Customers have shared their initial impressions on Dell’s Rating and Reviews, and have repeatedly praised the size and weight, responsiveness and keyboard. It’s been gratifying for our team members to see this feedback, because they put a lot of time and effort into building this industry-leading Ultrabook. But the work doesn’t stop there – we’re committed to making the everyday experience of using the XPS 13 second to none.

Customers were also quick to share a couple of thoughts on where we could improve the XPS 13. Early reviews of Dell’s XPS 13 Ultrabook highlighted that trackpad setting preferences can be a pretty subjective thing. Some reviewers like those from The Next Web and Laptop Magazine really liked the trackpad. Other reviews on sites like Engadget and The Verge questioned the functionality or responsiveness of the trackpad. Beyond the reviews, we had conversations with XPS 13 customers in places like NotebookReview.com to learn where we could tune the experience. We’ve recently released updated drivers for the XPS 13 trackpad. So far, we’re hearing good feedback from customers.

Update from Lionel: Thanks to Scott V. for his @DellCares tweet the tipped me off that the A04 BIOS is now available for XPS 13 owners. It further adjusts the fan settings to improve on the fan noise even more, among a couple of other things. I've also updated the link and screenshot to go to the updated A04 revision.

We also saw a handful of customers complain about fan noise. As some of you may have already seen on The Verge, we recently introduced an updated version of the system BIOS (version A03) to address those concerns. While we’re pleased with the initial feedback from customers, we’ll continue listening to what our customers tell us.

Dell XPS 13 - Trackpad drivers 2.3.6.33

Sam Burd

About the Author: Sam Burd

As President of the Client Solutions Group at Dell Technologies, Sam Burd leads global design, development, engineering, marketing, sales, services, innovation and strategy efforts for desktops, notebooks, workstations, thin clients, displays, software and peripherals. Prior to his current role, Sam was president of the Dell Client Product Group where he was responsible for designing and developing the Dell PC product portfolio. Since joining Dell in 1999, he has led consumer and commercial sales and marketing teams in Asia, Europe and the United States, as well as global product teams in both the client and infrastructure segments. Sam is passionate about delivering innovative technology experiences people want and some they’ve never dreamed possible. He has been instrumental in reenergizing Dell’s client business, resulting in 10 consecutive years of commercial PC share gains, industry-leading customer satisfaction ratings and thousands of product awards. Before joining Dell, Sam advised Fortune 500 clients at Bain & Company. Sam holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dartmouth College. He enjoys hiking, skiing and spending time with his family outdoors.
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