Dell XPS 17 (2023) review

The large-screen laptop computer pattern of latest has been shifting from a 17.3in show with a widescreen 16:9 facet ratio to a 16in 16:10 panel that leads to a extra compact and transportable package deal with almost the identical display screen actual property.

Regardless of quite a few refreshes over the previous few years, the Dell XPS 17 (9730) nonetheless resides between these two in style panel sizes, with a 17in 16:10 show that’s roomier than the 16in equal however not fairly as extensive as a 17.3in 16:9 panel. The result’s a completely huge show for media enhancing, multitasking, and maybe some mild gaming.

Inside, the XPS 17 serves up the most recent Intel and Nvidia silicon. Our check system pairs a Thirteenth-gen Core i7 CPU with RTX 4070 graphics, however Dell has opted for a low-wattage model of the latter. Meaning it will possibly’t match the body charges of gaming laptops with full-wattage RTX 40-series GPUs.

Whereas the show’s sheer dimension is actually spectacular, its 60Hz refresh fee is underwhelming. Additional, it’s merely an IPS panel and never an OLED, which graphics professionals and lovers can rightly anticipate at this worth. Consequently, content material creators could also be higher off elsewhere. Right here’s our full evaluation.

Design, construct & keyboard

• Premium, two-tone design
• Stable full-size keyboard
• Massive, responsive trackpad

The XPS 17 9730 shares the identical enclosure because the previous XPS 17 9720. It’s an infinite expanse of a laptop computer that stretches almost 15 inches extensive and nearly 10 inches deep. There’s little or no wasted house; with skinny bezels on all 4 sides, the 17in show dominates the scene.

You might need bother becoming the XPS 17 9730 into your backpack due to its width and depth, nevertheless it’s not a cumbersome laptop computer. It measures a trim 19.6mm thick and weighs an affordable 2.45kg.

The silver lid has the usual brushed aluminum look, however open the laptop computer and also you’re greeted with a black keyboard deck, full with a carbon fibre end working alongside the wrist relaxation and the slim strip above the keyboard.

This two-tone color scheme means the XPS 9730 stands out from the various all-silver or all-grey laptops on the market. And the carbon fibre keyboard deck has a rubberised end, making it efficient at repelling fingerprints and really snug to make use of.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Regardless of the aluminium and carbon fibre construct, the XPS 17 9730 feels agency and inflexible with little to no flex within the lid or keyboard deck. Given its immense dimensions, that’s a formidable feat.

Many giant laptops are inclined to sag or flex towards the center, whereas skinny laptops usually have flimsy lids with worrisome lack of safety for the show. However with the XPS 17 9730, Dell has managed to construct a skinny, large-screen laptop computer that also feels stable.

With no notch or lip on the entrance edge, opening the lid is a two-handed operation. I struggled to elevate the lid with my fingertip and needed to elevate with from the aspect with each arms.

As soon as opened, nevertheless, I discovered the keyboard to be fairly snug. The keys don’t have the plush feeling you get with Lenovo’s ThinkPad units, choosing mild, snappy suggestions and shallow journey as a substitute. This gained’t be for everybody, however I felt quick typing on it.

Regardless of having the room for it, Dell has opted to not embody a quantity pad on the XPS 17 9730. And I didn’t miss it. I like having the keyboard centred beneath the show and above the enormous touchpad. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The touchpad has a matte end that permits for easy, almost friction-free actions. It has a agency, quiet click on response and the right quantity of journey.

Show & webcam

• Non-compulsory 4K touchscreen
• No OLED or excessive refresh fee
• Underwhelming 720p webcam

Our check system options the show improve that bumps you from a 17in, 1,920 x 1,200 IPS non-touch show to a 3840×2400 IPS touchscreen. Brightness (500-nit ranking) and refresh fee (60Hz) stay fixed throughout the 2 show choices. I discovered the show at 550 nits to be even brighter than its official ranking, whereas textual content and pictures look razor sharp.

Regardless of this, I’m solely mildly impressed with the 4K contact panel. Why? As a result of at this worth level, it’s cheap to anticipate an OLED panel.

The XPS 17 9730’s distinction ratio is ok, however it will possibly’t match the brilliant white and true black ranges of an OLED. For a high-end, large-screen laptop computer geared towards artistic professionals (a gaggle that advantages greater than most from the added color constancy and distinction), it’s shocking and disappointing that an OLED panel isn’t supplied.

Likewise, the show’s pedestrian 60Hz refresh fee won’t be appreciated by many would-be consumers, particularly in the event that they wish to use the RTX graphics for some high-end gaming. Even video editors search a sooner 90Hz or 120Hz panel for smoother motion. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The webcam is one other disappointment. It’s a grainy 720p sensor, moderately than the excessive decision 1080p digital camera that almost all premium laptops supply nowadays. Frankly, it’s surprising {that a} laptop computer at this worth doesn’t have an upgraded webcam.

The XPS 17’s enclosure might not be in want of an overhaul, however its webcam actually is.

Audio system & ports

• Quad stereo audio system
• Spectacular sound high quality
• No USB-A or HDMI with out adapter

Dell packs 4 audio system into the XPS 17 9730, within the type of a pair of 1.5-watt tweeters and pair of two.5 woofers. The sound you get is louder, fuller and extra dynamic than you’ll discover on most laptops.

Dialogue sounds clear and crisp, whereas sound results in films and TV exhibits are realistically recreated. I even loved music playback, the place a pleasant hit of bass makes songs sound fuller and extra well-rounded.

All 4 USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4 and help DisplayPort and Energy Supply for quick charging. You additionally get a 3.5mm audio jack and SD card slot, however an adapter or dongle is required for anything. Dell contains one within the field with USB-A and HDMI choices.

Specs & efficiency

• Intel Core i7-13970HX CPU
• Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU throughout all fashions
• Efficiency might be higher

Our XPS 17 9730 check system is predicated on the Intel’s Core i7-13970HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics. It additionally provides a beneficiant 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

The Core i7-13970HX makes use of Intel’s hybrid structure of each efficiency and effectivity cores; it has six efficiency cores, eight effectivity cores, and a complete of 20 processing threads. The RTX 4070 is a midrange GPU in Nvidia’s newest GeForce 40 collection behind the RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics processors.

In our check system, the latter set to run at solely 60 watts, largely to maintain thermals in verify contained in the XPS 17’s skinny enclosure. By comparability, some laptops can attain as much as 140 watts.

First up in labs testing is PCMark 10. It measures efficiency on on a regular basis computing work together with workplace productiveness duties, net searching, and video chats. The XPS 17 9730 scored above 7,000, which signifies elite utility efficiency, nevertheless it nonetheless trailed final 12 months’s XPS 17 9720.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Our HandBrake benchmark exams how a laptop computer is ready to deal with excessive CPU hundreds over a prolonged interval. On this case, transcoding a 30GB MKV file to a format appropriate for Android tablets utilizing HandBrake, the free video encoding utility.

The XPS 17 9730 once more completed behind final 12 months’s XPS 17 mannequin and truly completed final amongst a gaggle of equally configured and priced programs. This contains each mid-range gaming machines and different content material creation laptops.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Subsequent up is Cinebench, one other CPU-intensive check which renders a posh 2D scene over a brief time period. Once more, the XPS 17 9730 completed close to the top of the pack. The gadget is a succesful content material creation laptop computer, however actually not the quickest.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Though the XPS 17 9730 isn’t a gaming laptop computer, we nonetheless wished to place its RTX 4070 graphics to the check. On 3DMark’s Time Spy and Port Royal exams, it completed in the direction of the again of the pack. The highest-performing units right here all function higher-wattage GPUs than our check system’s 60-watt RTX 4070.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

In real-world recreation benchmarks, the XPS 17 9730 produced playable framerates on our Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at 1920×1080 decision, even on the highest high quality preset. Nevertheless it nonetheless trailed gaming laptops with GPUs working at or close to full throttle.

We noticed comparable outcomes on our Metro Exodus check, the place the XPS 17 9730 averaged 39 fps. You’ll must dial again the standard settings or decision to get near a easy framerate of 60 fps.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Wi-fi connectivity, can also be a step behind the instances. The XPS 17 9730 helps Wi-Fi 6 and never the newer Wi-Fi 6E commonplace.

Battery life

• 95Wh battery
• Spectacular battery life
• Nonetheless overwhelmed by final 12 months’s mannequin

To check a laptop computer’s battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Home windows 11’s Films & TV app, with the laptop computer set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. The display screen brightness is ready to between 250-260 nits, an excellent brightness for watching a film in an workplace with the lights on.

The XPS 17 excelled within the battery check, working rings round its higher-powered gaming competitors and lasting almost 11 hours. Nonetheless, it fell a couple of minutes wanting the runtime of final 12 months’s XPS 17 mannequin.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Worth & availability

The Dell XPS 17 9730 begins at $2,449/£2,698.99 for a configuration with a Core i7-13700H CPU, RTX 4050 graphics, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. This baseline mannequin includes a 17in, non-touch show with a 1920×1080-pixel decision.

Our check system upgrades the graphics to an RTX 4070 GPU whereas doubling the RAM to 32GB and the solid-state storage to 1TB. The show additionally will get an improve to a 3840×2400 decision and provides contact help, however this can value you $3,099/£3,579.

It was not included on our check system, however there’s a CPU improve that strikes you from the Core i7-13700H to a Core i9-13900H. Along with the baseline RTX 4050 graphics and the RTX 4070 GPU on our check system, you can also configure the XPS 17 9730 with RTX 4060 or RTX 4080 graphics.

There are additionally extra RAM (as much as 64GB) and SSD (as much as 8TB) choices. As you’ll quickly realise, the XPS 9730 can get very costly. Even cheaper fashions prices greater than nearly all entries in our greatest laptop computer and finest enterprise laptop computer charts.

Verdict

There’s heaps to love concerning the Dell XPS 9730, from its 16:10 show and skinny but sturdy chassis to snug keyboard, roomy touchpad and excellent battery life.

Nevertheless, the dearth of an OLED show choice, is a unfavourable that can outweigh these positives for a lot of content material creators. With absolute black ranges and gorgeous distinction ratio, an OLED show is much to IPS in most conditions, and excessive on the precedence listing for any artistic skilled out there for a laptop computer.

Regardless of loads of strengths, the omission of an OLED choice is the primary purpose to not suggest the XPS 17 9730 to extra individuals.

Specs

The specs for the mannequin reviewed are as follows:

• CPU: Quad-core Intel Core i7-13700H
• Reminiscence: 32GB
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
• Show: 17-inch UHD+ (3840 x 2400) 60Hz contact show
• Webcam: 720p
• Connectivity: 4 x Thunderbolt 4 USB Sort-C, combo audio jack, SD card slot
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: IR digital camera and fingerprint reader
• Battery capability: 95 Wh
• Dimensions: 14.7 x 9.8 x 0.77 inches
• Measured weight: 5.4 kilos (2.45kg)