Dell G7 gaming laptop

Dell’s new G7 15 is thinner than the G5 range, but is Dell just splitting hairs with this new design?

Apart from being 4mm thinner, Dell’s new G7 15 is basically identical to the G5 15 that we reviewed back in APC 467. Dell has never been one to miss a niche and often have a number of products with overlapping component sets, but the entire G7 range almost perfectly matches that of the G5 so don’t be surprised if you get a little déjà vu reading this review.

Half of the available Dell G7 15 2019 range are running on 8th generation Intel Core i7-8750H CPUs (a trait we first encountered in the Aorus 15 from APC 470) while the other half are running 9th generation Core i7-9750H CPUs. We’ve only had the opportunity to test one device with the new i7-9750H CPU so the scores may be a little higher than average, but this new chip seems to offer real world boosts between 10 and 25%. Dell sent us a G7 15 with an

i7-8750H CPU and 16GB of RAM so while we can’t say exactly how much better it is, the CPU frequency range is 400MHz lower than the 9th generation unit which is 10 to 19% faster between base and boost clock speeds.

While the G5 includes a Nvidia GTX 1050Ti GPU option, the G7 only extends down to a GTX 1660Ti GPU. This makes sense since the latter GPU is newer, cheaper and more powerful than the 1050Ti. The model tested here is running an RTX 2060, but you can configure up to a 2070 for an extra $400. Across the games we benchmarked, the G7 15 is within 12% either way of the average we have for RTX 2060 GPUs. It did show 61fps on The Division 2 which was 22.5% higher than the RTX 2060 average, but we expect this to be due to driver updates and game optimisations rather than a genuine performance boost. This configuration is more than capable for 1080p gaming pushing 40+fps averages across modern games on ultra settings and even on Metro: Exodus using ray tracing.

Dell has configured the 8th generation CPU models to have 60Hz 15.6-inch IPS panels while the 9th gen models get faster 144Hz and even 240Hz IPS panels. While we’d say that a 240Hz panel is overkill for a mid-range gaming PC, you can get average framerates above 60fps on older and less demanding titles, or by using lower graphical settings, so the 144Hz screen is a solid perk.

Dell’s earlier G series laptops have had a distinctive and appealing aesthetic and although its a little subtle on the Black G7 15, there’s still the powder blue thermal vents and the Delorean louvre edge that we love. The super square keyboard has neat white highlights and responsive keys that make it both nice to type on and look at.

The G7 15 managed to last three hours and 18 minutes in PCMark 8’s difficult battery benchmark, which was 17.5% above the average GTX 2060 gaming laptop, but it’s significantly less than the five hours and 14 minutes of the G5 15.

We’ve seen identically specced G5 15s (with a 9th-gen CPU) on sale for as little as $2,209 and the new Aorus 15 with a GTX 1660Ti GPU that offers similar real world performance has an RRP of $2,399, so the G7 15 is definitely overpriced even if you consider it is 4mm slimmer.