Inside Dell XPS 15 9520 – disassembly and upgrade options

While the XPS 15 9520 disappoints with its external ports, the internal ones offer a good amount of upgradeability.

Check out all Dell XPS 15 9520 prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.


1. Remove the bottom plate

You need to undo 8 Torx-head screws to get inside of this notebook. After that, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool, starting from the front two edges. Be careful as the metal edges are really sharp.


2. Battery

This device is equipped with an 86Wh battery pack. By the way, if you want to take the battery out, you need to undo 8 Phillips-head screws and remove the tape holding the speaker cables to the package.


3. Memory and storage

As you can see, there are two SODIMM slots on this laptop. This allows it to take up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM. Storage-wise, there are two M.2 PCIe x4 slots, which support Gen 4 drives.


4. Cooling system

For better or for worse, you won’t see a vapor chamber on this notebook. Instead, Dell supplies a more conventional solution with two heat pipes, two heat sinks, and a couple of heat spreaders for the graphics memory, and the VRMs.

Check out all Dell XPS 15 9520 prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.

Dell XPS 15 9520 in-depth review

Dell has established the XPS brand as the main MacBook alternative. Chances are very high that you've heard about that if you are into powerful, portable machinery. However, there is a huge disadvantage to owning such a notebook. First - your bank account won't be really happy. Second - you won't get the maximum out of the hardware. This happened last year, and we strongly suggest that would happen today with the XPS 15 9520.It comes with an Alder Lake-H processor, which is very needy in terms of cooling. Regardless, we expect that the XPS 15 will be able to destroy every other device equ[...]

Pros

  • Strong body build of carbon fiber and aluminum
  • Virtually bezel-less screen
  • High maximum brightness and almost full sRGB coverage (LG 4DWVJ-156WU1 (LGD06B3))
  • Thin and light
  • Easy upgrade and maintenance
  • Great keyboard, touchpad, and speakers
  • Fingerprint reader embedded in the power button and an IR face recognition system
  • Two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, USB Type-C charging, and an SD card reader (+ tiny dongle inside the box)
  • No PWM (LG 4DWVJ-156WU1 (LGD06B3))
  • Accurate colors with our Gaming and Web design profile (LG 4DWVJ-156WU1 (LGD06B3))

Cons

  • Poor cooling
  • Pricey
  • Limited I/O (Sharp 90T02-LQ156R1 (SHP14D0))
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Clinton
Clinton
1 year ago

Do you know if there is a maximum amount of storage capacity for doing an upgrade? Would 4TB + 4TB work or is it a maximum of 4TB total between the two slots?