This is the best Dell gaming laptop you can buy

Dell’s G Series of gaming laptops represent a balance between performance and affordability. Although it sits at the bottom of Alienware’s gaming laptop range, it manages to incorporate some notable features from its more expensive counterpart. It takes inspiration from its more expensive cousin in terms of design and build quality, and also delivers commendable thermal and graphics performance.

The company officially unveiled the 2023 G series back in January at CES, and if you decide to buy a new gaming laptop from Dell, we recommend you go for the latest G16 7630.

The G16 looks compact for a 16-inch laptop, but it’s quite bulky. It’s built with a mix of aluminum and plastic, and weighs around 3kg, so it’s not the sleekest gaming laptop out there. But that’s to be expected from most gaming laptops of this size. Currently, it’s only available in the Metallic Nightshade color scheme, which includes shades of grey, with purple heatsinks visible through the rear air vents. The laptop also comes with an RGB backlit keyboard, and you can control the lighting and macros using the included Alienware Command Center software.

You get a healthy selection of ports including three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with DisplayPort functionality (Thunderbolt 4 on the RTX 4070 model), an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm audio jack and even Ethernet port.

The laptop is available with a 16-inch QHD 16:10 display adorned with thin bezels. Dell offers two options where you can choose between a 165Hz or 240Hz refresh rate. Personally, I think 165Hz is more than enough unless you’re a fan of first-person shooters and every frame counts. Like the overall design, the display here won’t be as premium as what you might see on Alienware gaming laptops. From what we know, the screen brightness is limited to 300 nits, which isn’t impressive, but it’s not terrible.

Dell certainly means business when it comes to performance. The G16 is available with a 13th generation Intel Core i7-13650HX or Core i9-13900HX, both of which are very powerful CPUs. There’s also the option to choose between Nvidia RTX 4050, 4060, or 4070 mobile GPUs. Unfortunately, Dell has fixed lineups where you can only pair a 14-core Core i7-13650HX with an RTX 4050 or move up to an i9-13900HX with an RTX 4060 or 4070.

If you can stretch your budget to $2000, we highly recommend going for the top configuration with an RTX 4070 GPU, which will ensure excellent gaming performance in demanding AAA game titles. This particular configuration also comes with 32GB of DDR5 memory and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. Do you have a limited budget of $1,500 or less? Then you should choose the tier below which offers the RTX 4060 paired with a 24-core Core i9 CPU.

No matter which configuration you choose, the laptop comes with an additional SSD storage slot and seamless memory, essentially providing good options for user upgradeability.

It’s also important to note that it’s more than just a portable gaming rig, as the Dell G16 serves as an excellent desktop replacement. It comes with solid build quality, a fast and sharp display, and a powerful chipset at its disposal. The only thing holding it back is its thick and bulky design, something that may or may not be a deal breaker for you. If you’re looking for something a little more premium, check out our recommendation for the best Alienware gaming laptop of 2023.

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