Your Dell XPS 13 and Dell XPS 15 can benefit greatly from BIOS and driver updates — experience greater battery life, better performance, and improved security. Here's what these key software bits do for your XPS laptop and how to update them.
What is BIOS?
The basic input/output system (BIOS) of your XPS is a small chip housed in your motherboard that gets your computer running when you first start it. As the name implies, it also controls information between Windows and the hardware attached to your motherboard (hard drive, mouse, keyboard). Keeping your BIOS updated helps improve things like battery life, security, and stability.
What are drivers?
A driver is software that controls a specific piece of hardware attached to your computer. All hardware needs a driver to work properly — think of it as a translator for the various and disparate hardware components that make up your computer. As your operating system updates, your drivers must also be updated. If drivers and operating systems are not fully compatible, communication can break down and performance will be compromised.
Update XPS BIOS and drivers
Dell has made the process of updating your XPS BIOS and drivers super easy:
- Open Dell's support webpage using your XPS 13 or XPS 15.
- Click Detect Product.
- Click Detect Drivers.
If your XPS does not have the most recent drivers and BIOS you will receive the option to update.
Because updating your BIOS is getting at the core of your computer, you'll want to be sure you plug your XPS into a power outlet and close all apps when updating the BIOS. The battery part is particularly important — remember, this is the first bit of software that gets your computer running when you turn it on, so the last thing you want to do is brick your computer by losing power in the middle of an update.
