The Dell G15 is one of the company’s latest attempt in catering to the mass gaming community. With a more subdued design approach, the laptop doesn’t exactly scream gaming at first glance, but when you look into the hardware, that’s where it shines through. Before we get into the review, let’s see what the Dell G15 offers in terms of hardware.
Design
When the G15 first came out from the box, the design of the cover did not shout gaming to us. Made out of plastic, it looked like a typical heavy duty work book instead. I would have preferred it if they gave it a black finish instead of a grey tone. That would at least make it look a little more gaming than the grey, which to be honest, looks more industrial to me.
On the rear corner of the laptop, you will find the orange Dell G logo, which obviously stands for “gaming” from the name Dell G15. Opening up the lid, the orange-lit keyboard gives the first hint of gaming vibe. Looking slightly to the top, that’s where the speaker grille is with the criss-cross pattern design.
There are connectivity ports placed all over the laptop. On the left, there’s the Ethernet port, and the 3.5mm audio jack along with a battery indicator light. On the right, there are two USB Type-A ports. Meanwhile, looking at the back of the laptop, there are the rest of the ports which include a DisplayPort USB-C (no Thunderbolt), USB-A, full-sized HDMI port, and the power port.
Overall, the chassis design felt bulky and I wished they picked went with an all-out gaming design or something that’s minimalist and elegant. This kind of feels like something in between, and we’re confused. Apart from that, the weight of the laptop is a little heavy to carry around. With more gaming laptops in the market that aim to be lightweight now, it is a fair bit disappointing to see.
Display
The display on the Dell G15 has a 15.6-inch panel that has a FHD resolution and refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz. That alone makes it a great for those who are coming from 60Hz screen laptops. It’s not OLED or anything, but gets the job done nicely when it comes to movies and gaming.
Colours are decent, and the blacks are black with minimal light bleeding on the edges of the monitor. It’s certainly bright enough for the laptop to be used in the harshest of sunlight without any issue or squinting of eyes. Great detail is displayed, but the display does lean towards a cooler tone than standard displays.
User Experience
Using the Dell G15 as my daily driver for two weeks, I was accepting of the laptop for its performance, but not for its aesthetics nor ergonomics. It worked fine for everything I was doing from working, to gaming, or downright chilling. But the laptop’s design just really jive well with me, and I can’t say I like the design much.
It is also really heavy to lug around at 2.44KG, the same goes for the charging brick and adapter (the heft, not the actual weight). Those of you who travel alot and wish to bring the laptop around with you, you might want to think twice. The Dell G15 seems to be made more of a stay home gaming machine, rather than a going out game everywhere type of laptop.
In regards to the connectivity ports, I like that Dell had a wide range of ports for it. But I wished all the ports were just stashed into the back of the laptop so they wouldn’t take up space flanking the left and right sides of the laptop. Having an SD card reader would be nice too.
Keyboard + Trackpad
The keyboard does not come with RGB lighting, which somewhat bummed me out since it’s supposed to be a gaming laptop. I usually just associate RGB with Gaming nowadays. It only has an orange backlit system, and the keys are actually pretty well isolated, making it comfortable to type and game on. You get the full layout including the numpad, and the keys aren’t minified much to fit into the rectangular layout. Arrow keys are squeezed together, but they still feel fine to me.
The trackpad is large enough, but the matte finish does tend to attract oil from your fingers after using them for a while.
Webcam
The webcam did a decent job of getting us through our online video calls and meetings, so no complaints there. It had decent auto white balance as well, which is good.
Performance
Performance is the core pro of the Dell G15, I am quite surprised with the cooling system. It is noise free, and you can barely feel the heat from the laptop after hours of use. Running on the 10th generation Intel Core i7-10870H chip, paired with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, the laptop has more than enough firepower to handle your everyday games. There’s also 8GB of RAM (upgradable) and 480GB of SSD storage too.
Testing the laptop out with Dota 2 and Genshin Impact, both games run perfectly without any hiccups. Running Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Metro Exodus, sacrifices had to be made for the games to be playable. Both games had to be toggled to low quality settings, but at least they were still playable. In terms of heat, the laptop did warm up a bit, but it’s mostly right under the display and the wrist rest area remains cool to the touch.
Audio
The Dell G15’s speakers are loud enough to fill the room, and they don’t distort at loud volumes too. The highs are actually quite sharp, with decent mids, but the bass seem to be lacking. It’s great for watching movies, nonetheless, but I’d still go with wearing earphones/headphones than listening to the speakers. The speakers are upward firing which is good, and it does have a little surround sound effect.
Battery Life
In terms of battery life, the Dell G15 doesn’t do that well in this department. Despite having such a beefy body, the battery should be bigger which in theory should give you more usage hours. But during our testing, it could only last about 3 and a half hours of watching a 1080p video with sound at 50% on loop. If you were “mobile gaming”, it barely lasted an hour and a half, not to mention with slower performance.
For productivity work, it could last about 2/3 of the entire day, needing a recharge around evening time. Recharging takes about 2 hours to get the battery back to 100%. Don’t forget the charging brick which you’ll need to bring around with you.
Conclusion
The Dell G15 does have its shortcomings, but it’s still a strong contender for an entry level gaming laptop. It’s got a 10th gen Intel chip paired with a GeForce RTX3000 series GPU for graphics prowess, and a decent RAM and Storage combo to go along with it. The design may not be for me, but surely some out there would find it appealing. It can definitely handle your everyday gaming and work needs.
