Average CPU temperature is an insane 96 C when gaming on the Dell G16

Dell's first 16-inch gaming laptop is now shipping starting at $1140 USD for the base configuration with the Core i7-12700H CPU or more for the Core i9-12900H option. we recently tested a unit courtesy of the manufacturer and found both CPU and GPU performances to be higher than average. Its Core i7-12700H CPU and GeForce RTX 3060 GPU would be roughly 10 percent faster than other laptops with the same processor or graphics, respectively.

There is one notable catch, however, relating to the temperature of the CPU when running games. While the GPU would stabilize at a reasonable (but still very warm) 86 C, the CPU would stabilize at an extremely high 96 C or even slightly higher as shown by our screenshot below. It's not particularly dangerous, of course, but most other gaming laptops are able to keep CPU temperatures at 80 C or cooler when under similar circumstances such as the Asus Zephyrus M16 or or Lenovo Legion 5 Pro.

Core temperatures above 100 C can be considered a danger zone especially for prolonged periods. At an average of 96 C, the Core i7-12700H in the Dell G16 is running uncomfortably close and we can only imagine how the higher-end Core i9-12900H configuration might handle.

See our full review on the Dell G16 for more information on the model.