The Dell XPS line has been one of the biggest and most impressive notebook brands of the past decade and the Dell XPS 17 9700 is an extra-large laptop display, aiming to carry on that tradition.
In fact, this laptop tries to combine a large screen with a sleek, slimmer, and lighter design than most of its rivals, and it does so while still delivering enough power to tackle tough content creation tasks. .
Is this a system that you can definitely replace the desktop PC with? Let’s find out.
Design and qualities
The XPS 17 doesn’t break the Dell mold, retaining the typical carbon fiber coating on a shiny aluminum body that makes it a classic and modern laptop.
These are finishes that have served the XPS family very well, with diamond cut edges, an elegant tempered shape and no extravagance. Build quality remains excellent with tiny screen bezels that are just 248mm wide.
That’s quite a feat in a 17.3-inch laptop, as the XPS 17 is barely wider than the Apple MacBook Pro 16 and even narrower than the Gigabyte Aero 15 whose review you can also consult.
In some ways, Dell is more traditional. The final look is more modern than the Gigabyte computer and many other business laptops. It weighs 2.5 kg, which makes it heavier than the two competitors.
In fact, if you need a 17 inch lightweight laptop, the LG Gram 17 It stands out as one of the best options, because its weight remains at 1.35 kg.
The XPS 17 has four USB-C / Thunderbold ports, an SD card reader, Wifi 6, a webcam that activates the unlock function via Windows Hello and a power button that integrates the fingerprint reader.
On the other hand, it must be said that there are no full-size USB ports, nor HDMI video output. Dell includes an adapter, but you may need a more complete USB-C type (see our special).
The MacBook Pro is similar, with four Thunderbolt ports, fingerprint detection, and Wifi 6, but nothing else. In many ways, the Gigabyte Aero outperforms both thanks to a better selection of ports, including 2.5 Gbps Ethernet in addition to Wifi 6.
Keyboard and trackpad
Unsurprisingly, the XPS 17 uses the same keyboard you’ll find on the XPS 15, and it’s a double-edged sword. Dell strikes a brilliant balance, with comfortable, consistent keys with welcome smoothness, ensuring speed and precision in keystrokes.
It’s a great typing experience, and you just have to look elsewhere if you want firmer, sharper action or more travel than the Dell XPS 17 1.3mm.
The downside to the design is that there is no numeric keypad for a laptop of this size, and the cursor keys on the right side are smaller than the others. The area on each side of the keyboard is dedicated to the speakers.
The trackpad is large and precise, and its two built-in buttons are good enough that you can skip the day-to-day mouse and get used to gestures on the large trackpad.
Screen and speakers
If a laptop computer falls in love with something, it’s because of its screen. Here, the XPS 17 will win you over at first glance with a 17.3-inch touchscreen and 16:10 aspect ratio that trumps panoramic views.
Its maximum resolution reaches the value of 3840 x 2400, which is appreciated with CAD type design applications or even in video editing environments where every inch of the screen counts to show more detail.
The maximum brightness level is huge at 531 nits while the black point of 0.26 nits is low. The two combine to deliver a contrast ratio of 2042: 1, which is very good value for money for an IPS display.
In essence, the color depth is displayed in great shades, while the brightness which is managed automatically will allow you to work comfortably indoors and outdoors exposed to high light levels.
The panel represents over 99% of the sRGB and Adobe RGB color gamut with volumes easily exceeding 100%. It also boasts 89.7% of the DCI-P3 gamut and the color temperature at 6469K is top notch.
In short, it was better than the two screens of its rivals, since the panels of the Aero and MacBook cannot handle the Adobe RGB color gamut. The speakers are also decent, with a good amount of bass and crisp sound.
Specifications and performance
The configuration that runs inside is powerful, but not the best, as it is based on the 10th Gen Intel Core processors, when Intel recently introduced the 11th Gen.
The Core i7-10875H is an older six-core processor, but this is offset by the inclusion of the RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics, which is fast enough for 1080p photo editing and gaming, despite being built into an architecture a little older than the current ones. .
The specs are rounded out with 16GB of dual-channel RAM and a large-capacity 1TB SSD that offers decent read and write speeds of 3272MB / s and 2348MB / s respectively.
Despite the lack of the latest 11th gen Intel chips, the XPS 17 is fast – a PC Mark 10 score of 5672 and single and multi-core Geekbench results of 1293 and 7661 confirm this.
There’s enough power here to handle a wide variety of computing tasks – Dell will go through photo editing and content creation with ease, and handle a ton of browser tabs and desktop tools. It will only stand up to tough tasks like working with 4K video and 3D modeling.
The XPS also has good thermal performance, unlike the XPS 13 9300. The exterior stays cool at all times while remaining a quiet machine, even during CPU intensive tasks.
In the Cinebench R23 accelerator benchmark, Dell scored 8,554 which is a decent result and much better than the Gigabyte laptop, indicating that the processor did not suffer from acceleration issues.
The RTX 2060 will handle most graphics workloads and in terms of gaming, it will play most single player titles at 1080p and high quality levels. You will also have no problem with eSports games, albeit without reaching 4K.
However, compared to many other machines, the Dell is not particularly fast. Apple’s MacBook Pro with the older Core i7 and Core i9 chips offer comparable speeds to Dell, and with the arrival of the M1, it scores around 1,700 and 7,500 points on Geekbench.
There are also plenty of laptops with newer, faster AMD processors – for that money you could get a machine with a Ryzen 9 5900H, and this chip scores around 1,500 and 9,300 points on Geekbench. the Two ASUS ROG SW He’s one of them.
In our battery life test where we played HD video at 120 nits brightness, the XPS 17 lasted 11 and a half hours, which is decent, two hours longer than the two competing machines, for a 17.3 inch laptop.
With a light work test running, it lasted 9 hours and 44 minutes which is another top result. However, on a more difficult benchmark job, the XPS lasted just under three hours, and involving the GPU and processor in heavy work will reduce that amount of time.
That’s a good result: if you’re careful, you’ll get the XPS 17 for a whole day’s work without having to plug it into the mains. But you will have to connect it to the mains if you want to push this laptop to the limit for long periods of time.
Pricing and availability
The model we had the opportunity to review is the XPS 17 2020 and with the configuration that appears reflected in the technical sheet, its price is $ 3,199.
You’ll find four different configurations on the manufacturer’s website with a wide variety of customization options for RAM, storage, or even screen type.
The version cheaper with a similar processor, integrated Intel graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD, as well as a Full HD display, it has a starting price of $ 2,099.
It is expected that an update of these configurations to the new versions of the 11th Gen Intel Core processors is coming very soon and predictably the prices will not vary much resulting in lower prices of the current ones. .
You can consult our ranking of the best laptops of the year where the Dell XPS 15 is considered.
Verdict
In many ways, the Dell XPS 17 laptop is impressive – it looks fantastic, the screen is a big, bold, and bright option for creative work, and its battery outlasts its rivals.
However, in several key ways the XPS 17 can be improved upon. It’s pretty powerful, but there are plenty of machines that offer more power and the stellar design is undermined by considerable weight.
The keyboard combines excellent typing with an atypical layout in that it lacks a number area (some will prefer it that way), and it has great features as well as notable omissions. It is also expensive considering the components offered here.
It is clear that the XPS 17 is not a laptop for everyone and is intended for professional use. If you want more features or a lower price, you can satisfy those cravings in other alternatives.
There is also the argument that Dell is getting old and expensive. But if you’re willing to pay, this is a sturdy and attractive machine with a top-notch 4K display.
Characteristics
- Screen: 17.3 inch touchscreen IPS and 3840 x 2400 resolution
- Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7-10875H
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q 8 GB
- Memory: 16 GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB SSD
- Puertos: 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C / Thunderbolt 3, 1 x SD, 1 x audio
- Connectivity: Dual-band 802.11ax WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1
- Dimensions: 374 x 248 x 19.5 mm (WxDxH)
- Weight: 2.5 kg
- Warranty: 1 year RTB
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