Dell G7 15 - Review 2022

Dell has reinvented its gaming-laptop lineup this twelvemonth, separating its one-time Inspiron gaming machines from its non-gaming Inspirons past splitting the gamers off into their own "G" series, replete with fresh designs. The G7 15 family (starts at $849.99) is ane of these newcomers, straddling the line between entry-level and midrange pricing and power. You tin go one of these laptops configured for well under $ane,000, but our $1,209.99 test unit packs an Nvidia Max-Q GeForce GTX 1060 to provide plenty juice for lx-frame-per-second (fps) Hd gaming, in most cases. The build is basic, but it's relatively slim and well-made, and our unit has both a speedy solid-state bulldoze (SSD) and a big hard drive for storing lots of games. The Lenovo Legion Y530 remains our Editors' Choice for its blueprint and price, merely if yous have a fiddling more than money in your budget and are tempted past college frame rates, the Dell G7 xv in GTX 1060 trim is worth because.

Inspired by Inspiron

The G7 xv'south build, similar its price, is simply a step in a higher place its entry-level contemporaries. The G series is all-new, but the Inspiron heritage is clear in the G7 15's design, even with some changes.

The chassis is made entirely of plastic, just it is solidly built, with little to no flex. This test unit has Dell's tall white lid, which looks clean and abrupt. (The alternative is a blackness lid.) A metal, low-cal-blue Dell logo adorns the heart.

All the same, the build is a step beneath those of some more than-premium machines, which tend to use a nicer metallic material or an blend for all or part of the chassis. The G7 xv looks and feels slightly nicer than average, simply it doesn't buck the "affordable" vibe entirely. The white-and-light-blue colour scheme (besides present on the rear edge'south ventilation zone and on the keys) is a refreshing combination, taken as a whole.

The G7 15's thick screen bezels don't do the design any favors, though. Despite the xv.half-dozen-inch screen, the G7 15 looks more like a 17-incher at first blush, and there'due south just a lot of plastic everywhere. As such, information technology has a relatively wide footprint, at 0.98 by fifteen.32 by 10.82 inches (HWD), though it'southward pretty thin and not too heavy, at five.82 pounds.

Laptops that can house and cool an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics chip more often than not need to be a flake on the larger side, simply the relative slimness of the G7 15 is made possible by Nvidia's Max-Q design. The G7 xv includes a Max-Q version of the GeForce GTX 1060, which means its functioning ceiling is capped to limit heat output. That mandates less room for cooling hardware and allows Dell to fit this GeForce chip into a slimmer chassis.

Of form, even a Max-Q GeForce GTX 1060 requires a bit more room for thermals than a GTX 1050, then the Lenovo Legion Y530 looks compact in comparison, at 0.95 by 14.37 past 10.24 inches (HWD), and weighing in at 5.1 pounds. The Acer Nitro 5 is a closer match, at i.05 by fifteen.35 by ten.47 inches and 5.95 pounds, while the Acer Predator Helios 300 tops the pile, at one.one by xv.four by 10.4 inches and 5.95 pounds. The final is really an almost negligible difference, because that the Predator Helios 300 machine fits a full-power GTX 1060 inside.

The Keyboard and Display Are Okay

Outset up, I fingered the keyboard. The keys are very shallow, with little travel to speak of. It's not as extreme as the controversial Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, only information technology evokes the same typing-on-a-flat-surface feeling. Too, the keys' backlighting is dark bluish, a shade that looks just a fleck off from the rest of the laptop's color scheme. A matching lighter blue or white light would make more sense, merely it'due south a relatively pocket-size complaint, and the key caps practise take on the darker color when lit. The Legion Y530'due south keyboard, for one, only looks and feels better, though you do get a full number pad on the G7 15 if y'all demand ane.

The G7 15's touchpad is decent, somewhere between the cheaper, overly clicky type found on the most budget-minded systems and the ones on college-terminate samples. The pad lacks dedicated left and right click buttons—a pocket-sized light-blue line demarcates those click areas instead. The speakers, as usual for these types of systems, are serviceable. They tin can crank upwards pretty loud, but the quality drops off at maximum volume, and the bass response is by and large out to lunch.

To my eyes, the display appears larger than it is because of the big bezels surrounding information technology, just it definitely looks its full HD (i,920-past-one,080-pixel) resolution. The picture show quality is and then-and so despite the fact that it'southward an in-plane-switching (IPS) console; a matte finish dulls the proceedings somewhat. The maximum brightness is a bit underwhelming, and the image quality on the desktop lacks but a bit of sharpness, to my eyes.

The screen'south 1080p native resolution is a proficient fit for the components, though, as the G7 15's Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 isn't able to power resolutions higher than that very smoothly while gaming. Full Hard disk also matches the displays of pretty much every 1 of the G7 15'south contemporaries in this price range (not to mention, plenty of those at several hundred dollars more).

Ports are plentiful here and even include a dainty surprise. You get three USB three.one ports, an HDMI connectedness, an Ethernet jack, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack. The unexpected improver is a USB Type-C port with support for Thunderbolt iii, typically institute only on more than expensive machines. The Legion Y530 has a USB-C port of its own, but information technology does not offer Thunderbolt 3's breakneck transfer speeds.

Inside our configuration, there is both a 1TB five,400rpm hard drive for mass storage and a small-but-speedy 128GB SSD serving every bit the kick drive. This is a potent combination for gaming machines—the fast SSD is useful for quick bootups into Windows 10 and shorter load times on any application installed on the SSD. Games take up a lot of space, though, so having only a small-scale-capacity SSD (like on the Legion Y530 unit of measurement we reviewed) can experience cramped if you lot're a game pack-rat. In the instance of this G7 15 configuration, most games will cease up on the roomy hard drive, while the SSD gets reserved for your favorites or the titles that do good most from quicker load times.

Testing the Processing Prowess

For the price, the G7 xv has a lot to like in terms of functioning.

This unit includes a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of memory, and, every bit mentioned, a Max-Q version of the GeForce GTX 1060 (more on that beneath). The 8th-generation "Coffee Lake" CPU is very efficient—as we've seen on some other systems, these relatively new processors regularly achieve scores that, in the past, were seen but on pricey systems. This specific CPU is a six-core, 12-thread beastie, and that muscle is reflected in the CPU-grinding tests below.

For one matter, the new average for PCMark 8 results keeps rising, as evidenced by the solid issue posted by the G7 15. Its multimedia scores, in detail, demonstrate its processing capability. Compared to the Legion Y530 and Acer Nitro 5'south Core i5 CPUs, the G7 xv'southward Core i7 bumps upwardly the performance just a scrap farther. Though meant primarily every bit a gaming laptop, the G7 15 can pull off other jobs if you practise media work on the side. It may non be perfect as a primary professional workstation, just it's got chops for casual and semi-pro work.

A standard GeForce GTX 1060 is a solid graphics chip for less-expensive systems, capable of 60fps at 1080p in almost titles. With a Max-Q GeForce GTX 1060, the G7 15'due south 3D prowess is slightly below that of a standard GTX 1060-bearing laptop, but non dramatically so. You tin look at the performance of the Predator Helios 300 for that comparison, and notation that it's only $99 more the G7 15 for the total-power GTX 1060 (though in a slightly chunkier, and to my eyes, less attractive build).

Crucially, the Max-Q GTX 1060 is still much more powerful than a GTX 1050, and this is where the G7 15 showed the most daylight between it and the Legion Y530. On the Sky and Valley tests on Ultra quality settings, where the Lenovo laptop fought to stay above 30fps, the G7 xv cruised at more than 60fps.

The G7 15 fared slightly worse on retail game testing; I used the benchmarks built into the games Rising of the Tomb Raider and Far Weep five. It averaged 55fps and 63fps, respectively, on these tests on maximum settings, a notable dip from the synthetic benchmarks. Again, the Predator Helios 300'southward full-ability GTX 1060 did better hither, staying above 60fps on both tests, for but a fleck more cash.

Hovering near or below 60fps ways you might encounter some unsightly frame drops during gameplay if yous're attempting to play these games at top settings. If this arises, you lot'll want to bump some visual furnishings down a notch, but it's too a reasonable expectation for a Max-Q GeForce GTX 1060, which is hardly the meridian-tier card in Nvidia's hierarchy. I'd maintain that it'southward rather impressive of the card to smash or come up shut to 60fps with all the item settings cranked up on these modern, demanding titles, simply regardless, you'll accept to brand a couple of compromises for this more modestly priced organization.

Related Story See How We Test Laptops

The G7 xv's battery life is aught to write dwelling almost, enduring for 5 hours and 46 minutes (5:46) on our video rundown test. That's not the two- or iii-hour battery lives of some 17-inch behemoths, only it's far from all-twenty-four hours runtime. Still, information technology allows you to have the G7 15 off the charger for a while without worry, whether that'southward to your living room or to class for a couple of hours.

The Lenovo Legion Y530 fared ameliorate, at 7:59, while the Acer Nitro 5 lasted a tad longer than the Dell, at vi:22. The Predator Helios 300 flunked this particular test, coming in at merely 3:58, and so be aware that fifty-fifty a small-scale battery is not a given in this laptop class.

Gaming Power at a Fair Price

The G7 15 is a fine entry in Dell's revamped gaming line, fifty-fifty if information technology doesn't have whatever one bowl-you-over characteristic or pattern attribute. The performance is respectable for the toll, nailing or nearing 60fps in full HD at maximum settings in recent games, which is the nearly you can expect in a cost-conscious machine. The G7 15, as this test unit was configured, neither undercuts the market place nor overcharges y'all. The inclusion of Max-Q keeps the laptop relatively thin, though its overall footprint is a fleck bulky.

Nevertheless, the true slick designs are reserved for much pricier gamers similar the Razer Blade, so something has to give to keep the cost depression. The Lenovo Legion Y530 remains our Editors' Choice for budget gaming laptops, thanks to its spiffy build and low cost, all-time embodying the budget category. Consider the Dell G7 xv, notwithstanding, if yous have a bit more to spend and if getting into a GeForce GTX 1060 by any means, even in a Max-Q configuration, sounds more than appealing than the numbers you run across from a GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti model.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a broadly similar alternative, and to our eyes, the choice between it and the G7 xv comes mainly down to personal preference. That Acer model has a shorter battery life, but information technology does offer a part-metal chassis and a full-fat GTX 1060 for just shy of $100 more than, as we tested it.