Dell XPS 17 evaluate: huge display dream

I’ve by no means actually understood the attraction of 17-inch laptops. They are sometimes too huge to hold round simply or use in your precise lap such as you may need to do with a laptop computer every so often. At the identical time, they’ve lots of the identical compromises of smaller laptops in the case of energy and efficiency, particularly in comparison with a desktop laptop.

But after utilizing the most recent model of Dell’s XPS 17 (the 9710 mannequin) for a bit, I’m beginning to see the attraction. The XPS 17’s spacious 16:10 17-inch display almost obviates the necessity to use an exterior monitor. It has highly effective parts that may make it very best for coding or engineering work on the go. If you’re working from dwelling and have restricted area or your typical workspace shares duties with different duties that make having an exterior monitor, mouse, and keyboard in the best way very annoying, the XPS 17’s all-in-one bundle that’s straightforward to stow away could be an interesting proposition.

The newest model of the XPS 17, which got here out within the fall of 2021, begins at $1,599.99 for an eleventh Gen Core i5-11400H processor, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and Intel’s built-in graphics. I’ve been utilizing a higher-specced model, which comes with an eleventh Gen Core i7-11800H chip, 32GB of RAM, 1TB storage, a higher-resolution display, and Nvidia’s RTX 3060 GPU working at 70 watts. It lists for $2,649.99 however is usually discounted for a few hundred {dollars} lower than that. You may also go for a Core i9 chip, extra RAM, and extra storage — for more cash, in fact. Either means, that is firmly in premium laptop computer territory.

This iteration of the XPS 17 is similar on the skin to the mannequin we reviewed again in the course of 2020. It has a 5.53-pound silver aluminum physique, soft-touch keyboard deck, extraordinarily minimal bezels, 4 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, and a full-size UHS-II SD card slot. It lacks any USB-A ports or different video connections like HDMI, so that you’re going to want adapters and dongles to plug in nearly something that isn’t USB-C prepared (a USB-A and HDMI dongle does conveniently come within the field).

The XPS 17’s footprint isn’t a lot bigger than some 15-inch laptops, due to these trim bezels across the show. But it’s noticeably extra dense when transferring it from place to position, and it’s not as transportable as smaller laptops. It’s additionally a bit unwieldy to make use of once I’m making an attempt to knock out some emails from the sofa.

The keyboard is quiet and comfy to sort on, although its journey is a bit low for my style. I’m certain a very good variety of folks would favor to have a full quantity pad on a laptop computer of this measurement, however I don’t ever use a numpad and didn’t miss it. I like how the keyboard is centered beneath the show and above the trackpad, and a numpad will surely mess up that alignment.

Speaking of the trackpad, it’s about as huge as you’ll discover on a Windows laptop computer and works fairly effectively. The click on is agency and reassuring, multi-finger monitoring works as anticipated, and its huge measurement didn’t current any points with palm rejection for me.

The star of the present right here continues to be the show, which might be had in both a 1920 x 1200 pixel non-touch model or the 3840 x 2400 contact mannequin I’ve been utilizing. Both screens are brilliant and colourful, however I’d in all probability swing in the direction of the upper decision mannequin myself since textual content could be very crisp on it. I wouldn’t improve only for the contact display — this can be a giant, conventional clamshell laptop computer that doesn’t lend itself effectively to poking the display together with your finger — however you’ll be able to’t get the decision improve with out contact, so it comes alongside for the experience.

These show specs are almost similar to what you will get on the smaller XPS 15, so the actual benefit to the XPS 17 is how far more room it affords for multitasking. As Monica Chin identified in her evaluate of the prior mannequin, the XPS 17’s display makes it very straightforward to place two home windows aspect by aspect for comparability. It’s so huge there’s no cause for me to zoom the textual content in Google Docs like I do with nearly each different laptop (and on my huge exterior monitor). It’s only a huge, roomy display to stretch out and do your work on, just like the Cadillac Eldorado of laptops. There’s nearly no cause to make use of an exterior monitor when your laptop computer has a display this huge.

You may need to use an exterior webcam, although. Just like each different XPS laptop of the previous few years, the XPS 17’s tiny 720p webcam is horrible, with gentle, grainy video and poor colour copy. It’s hidden within the prime bezel above the show (happily, Dell ditched the low-mounted “nose cam” a pair years in the past) and helps Windows Hello facial login, however that’s about all the great I can say about it. Even the Windows Hello function is surprisingly hit and miss, however happily, the keyboard deck has a dependable fingerprint scanner you should utilize as an alternative.

The deck-mounted, top-firing audio system are higher than the webcam, however I believe most individuals will use this laptop with headphones in any case. Should it is advisable use them, they get loads loud sufficient, however don’t count on great bass copy.

As Dell’s top-tier XPS laptop computer, the XPS 17’s inside parts are the perfect you will get within the lineup. Performance is unsurprisingly good for productiveness duties, and I by no means as soon as ran right into a slowdown or sluggishness. Flipping between dozens of tabs, a number of home windows, background music streaming, and a number of digital desktops is a breeze.

In extra demanding artistic duties, the XPS 17 did effectively however didn’t lead the pack in something. It completed our Premiere Pro 4K video export check in 3:35 — a very good end result, however not as quick as you will get from a MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro or Max chip or among the extra highly effective gaming laptops on the market. On the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark, it scored 940 — one other sturdy, however not greatest at school, end result. Fan noise is current, nevertheless it’s by no means obnoxious, and the big chassis does a very good job conserving temperatures manageable.

The XPS 17 just isn’t a gaming laptop computer (the place’s the RGB?), however due to the discrete graphics card in my evaluate unit, it may possibly play video games pretty effectively, as long as you’re keen to show down the decision and element settings. On Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1920 x 1200 decision, the XPS 17 pulled 75FPS on the highest element settings, full with ray tracing. Red Dead Redemption 2 scored 58FPS with the identical settings, whereas Horizon Zero Dawn managed an analogous 59FPS at 1920 x 1200 decision and Ultra particulars. Trying to play any of these video games on the full 4K decision of the show will end in a choppier expertise, although, as body charges shortly fell to the 20s and 30s, even with the assistance of Nvidia’s DLSS when obtainable.

The level is: I wouldn’t advocate the XPS 17 for severe players, however if you wish to use it for some informal gaming after work, it’s actually succesful.

Battery life averaged about six and a half hours with the brightness set to simply beneath 50 p.c (loads brilliant to be snug to make use of) with my typical workload of internet searching, e-mail, Slack, doc work, and scrolling by means of Twitter. I’d count on higher efficiency from a extra transportable laptop, however because the XPS 17 isn’t prone to be moved round a lot and is often going to be near an outlet, its battery life is greater than usable.

It’s laborious to match the XPS 17 to related computer systems just because there simply aren’t that many. Most different 17-inch laptops are colossal gaming rigs, with horrible battery life and much more heft. LG’s Gram 17 is exclusive in that it has a big display, nevertheless it doesn’t pack the efficiency chops of the XPS 17. Apple’s newest 16-inch MacBook Pro might be the closest choice, with a barely smaller display, higher efficiency (outdoors of gaming), and a lighter chassis at a barely increased worth. But in the event you don’t like MacOS or simply need a good larger display, the XPS 17 stands alone. It may simply be the perfect work-from-home laptop computer for these with out devoted desks to work on.