Dell XPS 17 9700 listing on Userbenchmark rekindles hope for a true productivity workhorse

Around this time last year, a leaked roadmap of Dell's XPS lineup hinted at a 17-inch XPS 17 7700 version with a Comet Lake-H processor and a GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q GPU for a mid-2020 launch. We haven't heard much about the XPS 17 since, but a new Userbenchmark entry seems to indicate that Dell is indeed working on a 17-inch XPS and going by the listing, it may be called the XPS 17 9700.

Spotted first by @_rogame on Twitter, the Dell XPS 17 9700 (Dell 07DMNN) seems to be powered by an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, 32 GB (16x2) of DDR4-3200 RAM in dual-channel mode running at DDR4-2933 speeds, and a Micron 1 TB NVMe SSD, which seems to have rather slow sequential read and write speeds. The display resolution is indicated as 3840 x 2400 implying a 16:10 aspect ratio. If true, this will be the first design refresh for the XPS lineup we are seeing in many years. A similar display is likely to be seen in the XPS 15 9500 as well. 

A 17-inch chassis should allow more room for better thermals and improved sustained performance — something that was a pain-point in last year's Core i9 XPS 15 7590. The Userbenchmark listing does not indicate presence of a discrete GPU, but it is possible that Dell may offer at least a GTX 1660 Ti or even an RTX 2060 Mobile option given that the XPS 15 9500 is already expected to sport a GTX 1650 Ti. A Core i9 SKU is likely to be on the cards as well. 

Dell recently switched to a new numbering system to make better sense of the product stack across the Inspiron, Vostro, Precision, and Latitude lines. However, Dell acknowledged that move was a "mistake", so the XPS 17 "9700" may eventually stick to a 9-series number. It remains to be seen what other components and build materials the new XPS 17 would be endowed with. Hopefully, we will get to know more in the coming days.

Are you excited for a 17-inch XPS notebook? Let us know in the comments below.