Option for Dell XPS 15 (9560) fingerprint reader coming in early February

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

During CES Dell did a low-key announcement of their powerhouse XPS 15 (9560) refresh. The quad-core powered laptop is getting new 7th generation Intel 'Kaby Lake' CPU options along with the powerful NVidia GTX 1050 graphics card with 4GB of video memory and Killer Wireless.

One of the more interesting features, of which there was some confusion, is the fingerprint reader for Windows Hello. During the announcement, there was some seemingly conflicting information with some data sheets showing it and others not. Combined with no hands-on with the device and no mention of the feature for pre-orders and users are rightly confused if it is coming or not.

We now have some more details about the fingerprint reader for the XPS 15. According to Dell who reached out to us:

Folks should see configurations for XPS 15 on Dell.com get updated to include the fingerprint reader option during the first week of February.

To be clear, that means the fingerprint reader is 100% optional and not part of the base SKU. That means if you pre-ordered it already that option will not be included with your purchase. However, Dell's website should be updated in early February with the ability to add a fingerprint reader to your configuration.

Dell XPS 15 9550 vs XPS 15 9560: What's different and should you upgrade?

To our knowledge, no XPS 15 (9560)'s have shipped yet so if you did pre-order it's best to get on the phone with Dell to change your order until you can add the feature.

I'll be reviewing the XPS 15 – likely both the FHD and 4K versions – as soon as they become available, so stay tuned to Windows Central for that.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

6 Comments
  • Great news, but I've already ordered the Inspiron 7000 Gaming, the i7 with the 1050ti. Can't wait on it.
  • How secure is the fingerprint reader data?  Can the fingerprint image be recreated using the stored data?  Can the fingerprint data be used for authentication on other systems?  In other words, will hackers eventually end up with a database of our biological data and then use that data to impersonate and steal our identities?  I can recover from password theft.  I can not recover from fingerprint or iris theft.  I think that I will stick with passwords for now and let the bio security become a bit more secure with age.
  • Very secure. It's encrypted and stored locally. It's not your fingerprint data that is even stored, but a hash created from the FP. That means there is no way to re-create your fingerprint assuming someone could (a) remove it from your PC (b) decrypt it, both of which are highly unlikely. It's also part of the FIDO alliance and meets other gov't standards. It's a very good system.
  • Daniel any idea when the 2in1 XPS 15 with 4K will be coming out? Currently on dell.com they only have that option for the XPS 13 2in1
  • Someone can cut your finger off and use it to unlock the computer. Face it, FP is as secure as it can get right now, don't worry about it.
  • I'm mixed on this. I ordered a 9560 and part of me wants to add the fingerprint just to have it, part of me just wants my notebook. Ugh.