Dell gaming laptops are not something new to the market. The Alienware product line from dell provides high-end gaming machines for those looking for portability combined with extreme performance. However, this performance does come with a hefty price tag. Consequently, In the mid-range tier, there are not many options for gamers to adopt at a lower budget.
Now that good hardware is getting more mainstream, prices are dropping to a reasonable amount. This price drop, in turn, affects the product lineup from companies. In the past two years, there have been a lot of options in the budget range from companies like Asus and Dell.
The newer GPUs from Nvidia are also more efficient and produce lesser thermal output now. This, in turn, affects how much the company spends on thermal solution inside devices. A lot of Mid-tier devices provide excellent performance now because of the new architecture developed by the company.
Launched back in 2018, the Dell G7 has been one of the best gaming laptops for a budget. It offers excellent specifications aimed at running popular AAA titles while maintaining a good build quality as well as great aesthetics. The device got two-generation updates in the past year with no significant changes to the exterior design.
This year, however, dell made a lot of design updates to their laptop choices. We have new designs for the professional-grade XPS series and some new devices in the Alienware lineup as well. The G7 also got a design refresh, and it is a major one.
Overview:
The 10th generation of Intel mobile processors brings a lot of improvements to the table. The new mobile processors codenamed Comet Lake are now able to hit a 5.0 GHz boost clock. The higher clock speed means better frames in games and lower time in productivity tasks.
The newest entry in Dell’s gaming arsenal is the G7 series, in addition to the all-time ruler of gaming laptops Alienware series. The device mainly comes in two options a 15-inch screen model and a 17-inch screen one. Both of the devices are equipped with Intel’s 10th gen processors and feature Nvidia’s RTX GPUs.
The screens of these devices are also upgraded to high refresh rate ones; there are, however, not many color options; there is only a black color scheme. The included keyboard is RGB backlit with four zones. The laptops are currently available for purchase in the US with an international release sometime soon.
Specifications:
The newest 2020 Dell G7 features a sleek yet gamer looking design. The device offers a center hinge design and a relatively thin body. The high spec option of the laptop features a 144Hz 1080p panel with a peak brightness of 300nits, which is fairly bright. The new keyboard features 4-Zone backlighting with a configurable RGB option. The keyboard is also liquid spill-proof.
Also read: Microsoft Surface Book 3 Review – A Portable Powerhouse
Powering this high refresh rate display is an 8 GB Nvidia RTX 2070 MaxQ and the Intel core i7-10750H. This processor offers boost clock up to 5.0 GHz, and it is equipped with six cores. The included RAM is 32GB, which is enough to crush productivity tasks and more than adequate for gaming. Lastly, the added storage is a one terabyte NVMe drive.
There are enough connectivity features on the device as well like Wi-Fi 802.1ac with either Bluetooth v4.1 or Bluetooth v5.0, Gigabit Ethernet, an HDMI port, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB Type-C port, a 2-in-1 SD card slot, and an RJ45 port. For the sound, there are two speakers equipped with Nahimic 3D Audio.
The included webcam is the usual 720p, which won’t impress anyone. The included battery is also pretty standard, with a rating of 86 Wh. In our testing though, it managed to produce fairly average results for a machine of this stature. And lastly, the new Dell G7 measures 267.7×357.2×18.3mm and weighs 2.1kg.
Design:
The Dell G7 this year manages to stay in shape with the new design that cuts off 0.2 inches from last year. The notebook now measures 14.1 x 10.5 x 0.7 inches. This was done using an old yet impressive and good looking hinge redesign.
It has an aluminum chassis that looks bomb in the mineral black color and some silver accents. There is a little sprinkle of RGB lighting to make it look more beautiful. The RGB strip at the front of the device makes it an absolute treat to look at. This gives it a subtle yet gamely look and feel. Combined with the 4-zone RGB keyboard, the laptop is straight out of an RGB dream.
However, if you are someone that prefers a more subtle look, you can disable all the lighting effects, and it will fit right in a classroom or an office.
Performance:
Talking about performance, this laptop rips through modern AAA titles. The RTX Graphics Card performs pretty well for playing games at Full HD resolution at high or medium details. Here is a list of our observed FPS for some popular games, keep in mind that these are for our case and may vary for different driver versions and settings
- Apex Legends-Ultra- 141fps
- Doom Eternal – Ultra- 136fps
- Battlefield 5-Ultra 124fps
- Fortnite- Ultra- 108fps
- Dota 2 – Ultra 126fps
The 144 Hz display panel compliments these high frame rates in every way with a few tweaks in driver and game settings you can even achieve more frames than above mentioned. The machine is capable of 4k Display, and there is a variant available with a 60Hz OLED 4K panel, but we would not recommend buying that if you just plan on gaming with the device.
The OLED will offer better color accuracy and contrast, but any gamer would take a high refresh rate over that in a blink. The framerates on 4k resolution for newer games are also not too high either.
The multicore processor holds up pretty well in productivity tasks as well, and we did not observe any severe thermal throttling issues.
Verdict:
The Dell G7 offers excellent value for people looking for a portable gaming machine that does not empty their wallets. The laptop provides bang for your buck in every way from great design aesthetics, good internals, and an excellent display.
One thing we miss, though, is the white and blue color scheme of the previous generations. There are not many gaming laptops out there with a white color option. Let’s hope that Dell offers a white color again with the international release.