Dell G7 15 review gaming laptop

Dell presents its G7 series laptops as a "complete sensory experience" for the low budget gamer. Launched earlier this year, the starting price of the $ 1,180 line is an attractive number for those seeking the powerful gaming experience that Dell promises. This price also places it in direct competition with Acer's Predator Helios 300, which landed on the best list of laptops. After spending a little time with the G7 15, I can say that it offers the best performance and the best value in the category of low budget laptops, while being compatible with the offer of Acer.

My first impression of the G7 unpacking was disappointing. The look is not exactly modern and reminded me that the design of the Dell chassis has not changed much in recent years. Compared to other contemporary gaming laptops, the G7 is thick and square. First impressions, however, are not everything and performance far exceeds aesthetics.

The G7 15 comes standard with an SSD, and each model above the simplest includes a 1TB hard drive. This is a welcome addition to a budget range that does not usually include a lot of storage. The SSD and the 16 GB of DDR4 constitute a fast machine with little waiting time.

The G7 benchmarking showed the scope and limitations of the GTX 1060, which had a respectable average of 73.3 FPS on three Total War: Warhammer II tests. In Rise of the Tomb Raider, however, the system struggled to break 60 FPS. The average SPF for the Mountain Peak benchmark was 57.1, 53.75 for Syria and 49 for geothermal energy.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands was the most penalizing reference for the 1060. At ultra settings, the benchmark was averaging just 36 FPS, which is not surprising given the requirement game graphics. Disable the settings a few notches, and you get perfectly repairable performance.

Comparing the score of 10 063 G7 to that of 3D Mark, Firestrike puts its system in line with similar systems of specifications. It has also achieved good results in Cinebench R15, CrystalDiskMark Q32 and PCMark 10, making the G7 an ideal laptop for those who do a lot of image processing and video editing.

The G7 15 product page has Nvidia's Max-Q design technology, but the model I've used was surprisingly strong. Running performance tests was a noisy process, and I often had to turn up the volume to hear games and videos. The tradeoff seems to be that the system has never been very hot, which is better for the health of the system in the long run. Yet, one of the benefits marketed The design of Max-Q is the minimum noise output, so it was disappointing to hear the roar of the G7 as a blower.

Another selling point of Max-Q is size. Weighing more than 6 pounds, the G7 is a heavy machine that does not meet the expectations of Nvidia. Compromise is a full keyboard including a numeric keypad and an intelligent key layout. I accidentally tapped the touch pad several times thanks to its proximity to the space bar, but once I got used to it, it was not a problem. Unfortunately, there is not much customization in terms of backlighting or keyboard brightness, but this can be expected in a budget version.

The G7 nails the Max-Q's final point of sale; it has incredible acoustics. The speakers have broadcast some of the best sounds I've ever heard from a laptop. The gunshots and explosions were crystal clear, and watching Avengers: Infinity War was almost as immersive as on the show's TV. During testing, the four-hour battery life was not a problem, but I hoped it would last a little longer.

As a budgetary system, there are tradeoffs to be made regarding certain quality of life characteristics. For example, the refresh rate on the screen is only 60 Hz and the battery is only 56 watt hours. These specifications are not revolutionary, but the refresh rate of more expensive laptops has not been met with the G7.

The market for low-budget gaming laptops is crowded, but the G7 15 manages to stand out thanks to its price / performance ratio. There is not much that Dell could have done better without raising the price by a significant margin. The volume and noise are unfortunate, but a working system with a GTX 1060 at a little more than a big one is a great value.