Price When Reviewed

$2,799

Best Prices Today: Dell XPS 17 (2022)

$2949.99

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$3099.00

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Are you on the lookout for a laptop computer that may do all of it? Whether you’re at your desk or touring throughout the nation? The Dell XPS 17 could be your subsequent laptop computer. This huge laptop computer is a flexible machine that’s satisfying to make use of day-to-day and packs sturdy general efficiency. The show can be lovely and battery life is spectacular. While the keyboard is nothing to jot down residence about, we really feel the professionals far outweigh the cons. Read on to be taught extra.

Dell XPS 17 9720 (2022) specs and options

The base Dell XPS 17 has an Intel Core i5-12500H processor with built-in graphics, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 1920×1200 show. My overview pattern packs a number of upgrades, nevertheless, together with an Intel Core i7-12700H processor, Nvidia RTX 3060 cellular graphics, and a 4K touchscreen.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H
• Memory: 32GB
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
• Display: 3,840 x 2,400 IPS Touchscreen
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Webcam: 720p with IR digicam, dual-array microphone
• Connectivity: 4x Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort Alt Mode and Power Delivery, 1x SDcard reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader, IR digicam
• Battery capability: 97 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.74 x 9.76 x .77 inches
• Weight: 5.34
• MSRP: $1,649 base, $2,799 as examined

Dell’s improve pricing is tame, as my overview pattern’s considerably faster {hardware} provides $1,000 to the worth. A $2,799 laptop computer is hardly inexpensive, in fact, however Dell’s general pricing feels aggressive within the section. A equally geared up MacBook Pro 16 begins at $3,099, whereas the same Razer Blade 17 retails for a similar $2,799 (however has half as a lot RAM). 

Design and construct high quality

IDG / Matthew Smith

This is a 17-inch laptop computer with a 16:10 show. It’s a really huge piece of glass that dominates your entire expertise. Dell makes use of slim bezels to maintain the laptop computer as small as attainable given the show provided, and this effort is profitable. The XPS 17 is extra compact than the LG Gram 17 (although LG’s laptop computer is lighter), Razer Blade 17, or HP Envy 17.

There’s an old-school really feel to the Dell XPS 17. Most of that is the laptop computer’s sheer dimension – at practically 15 inches vast and 10 inches deep, this beast is noticeably bigger than laptops I’d usually contemplate massive, such because the HP Spectre 16, Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 16, really feel considerably smaller than the XPS 17.

The XPS 17’s dimension is straightforward to miss when the laptop computer is closed on a desk. Dell’s XPS 13, 15, and 17 all share the identical basic parts and use comparable supplies, so they give the impression of being comparable at a distance. This helps the XPS 17 strike a slim, fashionable pose regardless of its dimension. 

Build high quality is superb, as effectively. There’s surprisingly little flex to be discovered within the show lid, chassis, and keyboard deck. This rigidity might make the XPS 17 a pleasant improvised weapon within the occasion of a zombie apocalypse. 

Keyboard and touchpad

IDG / Matthew Smith

There’s a extra useful profit to XPS 17’s dimension: it has gobs of inside house. The laptop computer’s large palmrest gives ample house in all instructions. Most homeowners can have no hassle discovering a cushty typing place.

Dell leans into this with a center-aligned keyboard that lacks a numpad. Choosing to ditch the numpad, which is frequent on many 17-inch laptops, retains the keyboard centered on the laptop computer’s floor and above the touchpad. It’s a particularly comfy structure. 

The keyboard itself is much less spectacular. Key really feel is shallow and ends with a obscure, spongy bottoming motion. This is countered by high quality keycap supplies and easy key journey. It averages out to a satisfactory expertise that falls behind alternate options just like the LG Gram 16 and MacBook Pro 16. Even the Acer Swift 3 16-inch, a a lot cheaper laptop computer, is a little more nice. 

Touchpad high quality, then again, is high notch. The touchpad floor is huge, measuring six inches vast and virtually 4 inches deep, by far the most important touchpad I’ve used on a Windows machine this 12 months. It feels responsive and provides loads of house for utilizing WIndows’ multi-touch gestures. My palms typically land on the sides of the touchpad, because of its dimension, however unintended inputs aren’t a problem. 

Display, audio

IDG / Matthew Smith

The base Dell XPS 17 has a 17-inch 1,920 x 1,200 IPS non-touch show, however my overview pattern was upgraded to the 3,840 x 2,400 IPS touchscreen. It can’t fairly match Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR, or OLED, however actually has strengths. 

Maximum brightness is extraordinarily excessive at as much as 550 nits, larger than the 500 nits promised by Dell. This is so excessive that out of doors use turns into attainable regardless of the show’s extraordinarily shiny coat. High brightness comes with elevated black ranges, nevertheless, so motion pictures and streaming exhibits can look washed-out in darkish scenes.

Color efficiency is great. I measured 100 % protection of the sRGB and Adobe RGB coloration gamuts, in addition to 98 % of DCI-P3. Put merely, the XPS 17 can show a variety of coloration – as vast as you’ll discover on any laptop computer bought at present. Color accuracy is excellent, as effectively, so content material appears as its creator supposed. 

Sharpness is really top-tier. A decision of 3,840 x 2,400 on a 17-inch show interprets to 266 pixels per inch, which is nearly as good because it will get on a laptop computer of this dimension. The excessive pixel density gives readability in 3D video games, great readability in 4K streaming content material, and crisp edges round high quality textual content. 

Gamers ought to be aware the XPS 17 lacks Nvidia G-Sync and the show has a most refresh charge of 60Hz. These sacrifices are made to allow switchable graphics, a choice that improves battery life. 

While the XPS 17’s show is superb, its audio system fall brief. Maximum quantity is excessive however the audio has a harsh, glowing high quality that’s disagreeable when the amount is turned up. Dialogue comes via clearly, as do fast bass beats, however advanced tracks can sound muddled. Still, the audio system are acceptable for video calls and podcasts. 

Webcam, microphone, biometrics

Work-from-home professionals might be disillusioned by the Dell XPS 17’s webcam. It’s a fundamental 720p digicam that gives merely satisfactory video high quality and struggles with low-light conditions. It’s high quality for many video calls however gained’t go muster should you’re hoping to impress in a digital assembly or name in for an interview. 

The similar may be mentioned of the dual-microphone array. Most fashionable dual-mic arrays are satisfactory, and the XPS 17’s is not any exception, it doesn’t stand out. Audio high quality is usable however has a distant, hole high quality. 

There’s some excellent news in biometrics, at the very least. The XPS 17 has a fingerprint reader constructed into the keyboard and helps Windows Hello facial recognition login via the IR digicam. Both options are customary and work effectively, although I discover facial recognition faster and extra dependable than a fingerprint reader. 

Connectivity

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Dell XPS 17 embraces Thunderbolt 4 in an enormous, heat, fuzzy bear hug. We’re speaking 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, all of which help DisplayPort Alternate Mode and Power Delivery. All 4 Thunderbolt 4 are additionally appropriate with USB4. This spectacular choice means you possibly can cost the laptop computer utilizing any obtainable port and connect a number of DisplayPort displays.

A fast phrase of warning, nevertheless: the Dell XPS 17 configuration I reviewed can eat over 100 watts at load, which is greater than the utmost wattage of most chargers and peripherals that may present energy over Thunderbolt 4 or USB4. Owners will need to use the charger that comes with the laptop computer. 

While the XPS 17 is pleasant with Thunderbolt 4, it offers different ports the chilly shoulder. There’s no USB Type-A, no HDMI, no customary DisplayPort, and no Ethernet. You’ll must pack an adapter to make use of these connections. A 3.5mm combo audio jack is current, nevertheless. 

There is one unusual connectivity possibility obtainable: a full-sized SDcard reader. Photographers and videographers will respect its inclusion.

Wireless connectivity consists of Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. It’s a small disappointment to see Wi-Fi 6E, the newest wi-fi customary, is unsupported. A Dell consultant says that is because of the antenna design. Despite this, I measured wi-fi speeds equal to Gigabit Ethernet over brief distances – quick sufficient that I didn’t miss the bodily Ethernet port.

Performance

The Dell XPS 17 I examined had an Intel Core i7-12700H processor with a complete of fourteen cores: six efficiency cores and eight environment friendly cores. This was paired with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe NVMe stable state drive. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

I’ll lead with PCMark 10, a full system benchmark that leans closely on processor efficiency. It reaches a rating of 7,134 on the Dell XPS 17, which is behind the opposite laptops on this aggressive set. The distinction is slim, nevertheless, and maybe to be anticipated given the XPS 17 is a tad smaller than most 17-inch laptops. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

Cinebench R20 gives a stronger outcome for the Dell XPS 17. It eeks in a minor victory over the Gigabyte Aorus 17 and Razer Blade 17. The Ryzen-powered Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 falls noticeably behind on this check although, to be honest, that might be because of its small dimension (we’ve but to check Ryzen 6900HS in a 17-inch laptop computer). 

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Dell XPS 17 as soon as once more falls barely behind the pack within the Handbrake video encode check. This is a prolonged check, requiring greater than 13 minutes on even the quickest machine, so it highlights variations in thermal efficiency. It’s clear the XPS 17 struggles to keep up processor efficiency over time, at the very least when in comparison with different 17-inch powerhouses. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

We now swap to graphics, the place the Dell XPS 17 finds itself at a drawback in opposition to the aggressive set. Dell doesn’t supply a graphics possibility faster than the RTX 3060, whereas rivals go as much as the RTX 3080 Ti. Predictably, the XPS 17 can’t sustain within the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Shadow of the Tomb Raider as soon as once more exhibits the XPS 17 behind – though, in sensible phrases, this isn’t a foul outcome. The XPS 17 maintains a framerate effectively above 60 FPS on this recreation regardless of its much less highly effective GPU. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

The far more demanding Metro Exodus benchmark places the Dell XPS 17 simply shy of 30 frames per second. This as soon as once more exhibits the boundaries of an RTX 3060, however I feel it’s a high quality outcome for the XPS 17. The laptop computer is able to stable 30 FPS gameplay on the extra cheap Ultra efficiency setting.

Shoppers ought to keep in mind the XPS 17’s much less succesful graphics {hardware} comes with a lower cost tag. A Razer Blade 17 or Gigabyte Aorus 17 can beat the XPS 17 when configured with sooner {hardware}, however the Razer Blade 17 we reviewed had an as-tested worth of $3,999 whereas the Gigabyte Aorus 17 was examined at $3,299. You pay for what you get. 

Dell’s XPS 17 delivers respectable efficiency throughout the board. The query consumers ought to ask is that this: is the XPS 17 – and its graphics particularly – fast sufficient for me? The reply, for most individuals, might be “yes.” However, avid gamers and professionals who use apps with GPU compute help ought to look to alternate options that provide sooner graphics {hardware}. 

Battery life

The Dell XPS 17’s dimension makes it a tough journey companion. It will slot in most baggage designed to accommodate a 15-inch laptop computer, however not all, and the laptop computer’s five-pound weight is just not simple to disregard. 

A portion of that weight is because of the gigantic 97 watt-hour battery. This is near the 99 watt-hour dimension restrict imposed by FAA rules for gadgets passengers can deliver on flights (something bigger is prohibited). 

Dell makes use of switchable graphics to show off the Nvidia graphics {hardware} (if geared up) when it’s not required. The built-in Intel graphics {hardware} is used as an alternative. This gives surprisingly good battery life in fundamental day-to-day duties. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Dell XPS 17 lasts longer than some smaller laptops that configure extra power-hungry options, reminiscent of an OLED display, and simply blows previous any various that has discrete graphics however lacks switchable graphics. 

There is a catch. This benchmark didn’t interact the Nvidia discrete graphics {hardware} and is standardized to a brightness stage of 200 nits. Firing up a 3D rendering utility or 3D recreation will drastically slash battery life. 

Still, the XPS 17’s battery life is a best-case state of affairs for a big Windows laptop computer. The laptop computer can deal with a packed eight-hour day of writing, modifying, and video calls. 

Conclusion

There’s one phrase that finest describes the Dell XPS 17: balanced. 

Dell’s well-rounded workhorse doesn’t set information in any explicit space however delivers stable outcomes throughout the board. It provides forward-looking connectivity, an enormous display screen, sturdy CPU and GPU efficiency, and good battery life. And it does all this at an affordable worth. This makes the Dell XPS 17 a great match if you need a single do-it-all machine and don’t thoughts lugging round a big backpack once you journey. The XPS 17 can deal with any job you’ll throw at it, at residence or on the go.