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MagyarDell XPS 17 9710 11th Gen Intel Laptop Review: Small Changes That Matter
It's been exactly one year since we reviewed the original XPS 17 9700 with 10th gen Intel and GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics. Now, Dell is ready to ship its second generation XPS 17 9710 series updated with 11th gen Intel and GeForce RTX 3060 graphics. Our test unit today is an upper midrange configuration with the Core i7-11800H CPU, RTX 3060 GPU, and 2400p touchscreen for just under $2900 USD. Other SKUs include the Core i9-11900H or RTX 3050 with 1200p display for higher and lower starting prices, respectively.
The 2021 XPS 17 is physically identical to the 2020 version and so we recommend checking out our existing two reviews on last year's model to learn more about the chassis and its features. Nonetheless, there are a handful of under-the-hood updates that make the XPS 17 9710 worth considering over the 9700.
Alternatives to the XPS 17 include high performance 17.3-inch laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 17, LG Ultra 17, or the Razer Blade Pro 17 to some degree. However, the XPS 17 remains unique with its 17.0-inch 16:10 4K aspect ratio.
More Dell reviews:
potential competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 87.9 % | 07/2021 | Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 2.5 kg | 19.5 mm | 17.00" | 3840x2400 | |
| 87.9 % | 07/2020 | Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q i7-10875H, GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q | 2.5 kg | 19.5 mm | 17.00" | 3840x2400 | |
| 87.8 % | 02/2021 | Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) i7-10875H, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 3 kg | 19.9 mm | 17.30" | 3840x2160 | |
| 87.6 % | 01/2021 | Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC i9-10980HK, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 2.8 kg | 21.4 mm | 17.30" | 3840x2160 | |
| 82.8 % | 09/2020 | LG Ultra 17U70N i5-10210U, GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile | 2 kg | 20.4 mm | 17.00" | 2560x1600 | |
| 84.3 % | 08/2020 | Eluktronics RP-17 R7 4800H, GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile | 2.6 kg | 30 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 |
Case — Incredibly High Screen-to-Body Ratio
The chassis is only a year old and so Dell has made no changes to the exterior design of the XPS 17 9710. Even so, it would have been great to at least see an additional color option like the glass fiber XPS 13 or even a webcam shutter that continues to be conspicuously missing.
Connectivity — Too Many Thunderbolt 4 Ports?
As if the four Thunderbolt 3 ports on the XPS 17 9700 weren't enough, they have all been updated to Thunderbolt 4 on this latest model. Most accessories outside of eGPUs are unlikely to benefit from the upgrade since Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 share the same 40 Gbps ceiling.
SD Card Reader — It's Not Dead
The SD card reader is here to stay and we're glad to see it supported on consumer models like the XPS 17. Moving 1 GB of pictures from our UHS-II test card takes only 5 to 6 seconds.
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| LG Ultra 17U70N (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 64GB) | |
| Eluktronics RP-17 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| LG Ultra 17U70N (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 64GB) | |
| Eluktronics RP-17 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Communication
The Intel-Killer 1650s comes standard for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. The main difference between this and the more common Intel AX200/201 is its support for the Killer Networking software which offers additional features that enthusiasts might appreciate.
Webcam
The 720p webcam remains the same. It would have been great to see a 1080p upgrade much like on the latest Razer Blade 15.
Maintenance
The bottom panel is more difficult to remove than on the XPS 15 since its edges and corners are tighter and sharper.
Accessories and Warranty
Dell includes a handy USB-C to HDMI and USB-A adapter to make up for the fact that the chassis integrates neither of these ports. The standard one-year limited warranty applies with plenty of extension options if ordered directly from Dell.
Display — The First 17.0-inch 16:10 4K Touchscreen
Though the processors have changed, the display has not. The 2021 XPS 17 uses the same Sharp LQ170R1 3840 x 2400 touchscreen as found on the 2020 version for the same visual experience. We don't see this as a problem since the XPS 17 continues to have one of the highest screen-to-body ratios and highest quality displays in terms of color coverage (95 percent DCI-P3), contrast (~1500:1), and brightness (~500 nits) for its 16:10 category.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 85 %
Center on Battery: 536.5 cd/m²
Contrast: 1450:1 (Black: 0.37 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.46 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.1, calibrated: 1.85
ΔE Greyscale 2.9 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
100% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
100% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
94.8% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.12
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 Sharp LQ170R1, IPS, 17.00, 3840x2400 | Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q Sharp LQ170R1, IPS, 17.00, 3840x2400 | Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) AU Optronics B173ZAN03.3, IPS, 17.30, 3840x2160 | Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC AUO B173ZAN03.2 (AUO329B), IPS-Level, 17.30, 3840x2160 | LG Ultra 17U70N LG LP170WQ1-SPA1, IPS, 17.00, 2560x1600 | Eluktronics RP-17 BOE NV173FHM-N44, IPS, 17.30, 1920x1080 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | -2% | -2% | -3% | -24% | -25% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 94.8 | 90.5 -5% | 88.6 -7% | 87.3 -8% | 64.2 -32% | 64.7 -32% |
| sRGB Coverage | 100 | 100 0% | 100 0% | 100 0% | 94.5 -5% | 92 -8% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 100 | 99.8 0% | 99.9 0% | 99.9 0% | 65.2 -35% | 65.8 -34% |
| Response Times | -7% | 64% | 4% | 10% | 56% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 44.8 ? | 51.2 ? -14% | 15.2 ? 66% | 51.6 ? -15% | 41.2 ? 8% | 22.4 ? 50% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 32 ? | 32 ? -0% | 12 ? 62% | 24.8 ? 22% | 28.4 ? 11% | 12 ? 62% |
| PWM Frequency | 943 | |||||
| Screen | -11% | -68% | 19% | 6% | -25% | |
| Brightness middle | 536.5 | 539.4 1% | 407.2 -24% | 458 -15% | 415.4 -23% | 311.5 -42% |
| Brightness | 489 | 494 1% | 403 -18% | 446 -9% | 385 -21% | 301 -38% |
| Brightness Distribution | 85 | 84 -1% | 90 6% | 92 8% | 88 4% | 91 7% |
| Black Level * | 0.37 | 0.32 14% | 0.42 -14% | 0.37 -0% | 0.24 35% | 0.31 16% |
| Contrast | 1450 | 1686 16% | 970 -33% | 1238 -15% | 1731 19% | 1005 -31% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 2.46 | 4.12 -67% | 7.25 -195% | 1.52 38% | 2.42 2% | 4.13 -68% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.74 | 7.65 1% | 12.51 -62% | 2.51 68% | 5.55 28% | 7.32 5% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 1.85 | 3.91 -111% | 3.62 -96% | 0.66 64% | 1.68 9% | 2.93 -58% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2.9 | 1.5 48% | 8.1 -179% | 1.9 34% | 2.9 -0% | 3.3 -14% |
| Gamma | 2.12 104% | 2.15 102% | 2.24 98% | 2.145 103% | 2.21 100% | 2.17 101% |
| CCT | 6868 95% | 6438 101% | 5925 110% | 6534 99% | 6864 95% | 7157 91% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 90.4 | 88.1 | 100 | 60.2 | 59.5 | |
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 94.2 | 91.6 | |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -7% /
-8% | -2% /
-35% | 7% /
12% | -3% /
0% | 2% /
-13% |
* ... smaller is better
The display is well calibrated out of the box with average grayscale and color DeltaE values of just 2.9 and 2.46, respectively. Calibrating the panel even further ourselves would reduce the average color DeltaE to 1.85, but solid primary and secondary colors would remain more inaccurate than other colors.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 32 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 15.6 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 16.4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 83 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (22.3 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 44.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 20.8 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 24 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 71 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (35.1 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19035 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance — 45 W TDP CPU with 70 W TGP GPU
Core options include the 11th gen Core i5-11400H, i7-11800H, or i9-11900H CPU with UHD Graphics, GeForce RTX 3050, or RTX 3060. RAM speed (3200 MHz) remains the same as on the XPS 17 9700. Resizable BAR, Optimus, and Dynamic Book 2.0 come standard if configured with dedicated graphics but with no support for internal G-Sync (Advanced Optimus) or WhisperMode 2.0.
Our test unit was set to Ultra Performance mode via Dell Power Manager for the highest possible scores.
Processor
Single-thread and multi-thread performance are up 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively, from the Core i7-10875H in last year's model. Performance sustainability remains excellent as well as shown by our CineBench R15 xT loop results below.
Upgrading to the costlier Core i9-11900H SKU will more than likely bring only marginal performance benefits of just a few percentage points. Core temperatures on our i7-11800H unit are already hovering around 90 C when under load and so a higher-clocked Core i9 part will have almost no additional headroom.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.4: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.4: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
PCMark scores are consistently higher than on last year's XPS 17 9700 and most other laptops with older 10th gen Comet Lake-H CPUs for that matter. The greatest boost is in Digital Content Creation where graphics performance matters most.
| PCMark 10 Score | 6706 points | |
Help | ||
DPC Latency
LatencyMon shows no DPC latency issues when browsing through multiple tabs on our homepage. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is also smooth and with no dropped frames.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC | |
| Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) | |
| Eluktronics RP-17 | |
| LG Ultra 17U70N | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Dell has upgraded both PCIe 3.0 M.2 2280 slots on the XPS 17 9700 to PCIe 4 x4 for the 9710. Nonetheless, our test unit comes with a 1 TB Micron 2300 PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD which can't fully utilize the wider PCIe 4 bandwidth. Performance is still much faster than the Micron 2200S that shipped on our older XPS 17 9700 unit.
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 Micron 2300 1TB MTFDHBA1T0TDV | Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q Micron 2200S 1TB MTFDHBA1T0TCK | Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) Samsung PM981a MZVLB1T0HBLR | Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC ESR01TBTLCG-EAC-4 | Eluktronics RP-17 Phison PS5013 PRO-X-1TB-G2R NVMe SSD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS SSD | -53% | 4% | 11% | -4% | |
| Seq Read | 2688 | 1141 -58% | 2068 -23% | 2674 -1% | 1689 -37% |
| Seq Write | 1566 | 994 -37% | 2047 31% | 2458 57% | 1695 8% |
| 4K Read | 55.2 | 31.98 -42% | 47.85 -13% | 52.1 -6% | 50 -9% |
| 4K Write | 125.8 | 61 -52% | 87.4 -31% | 113.4 -10% | 182.9 45% |
| 4K-64 Read | 1295 | 790 -39% | 1932 49% | 1881 45% | 1043 -19% |
| 4K-64 Write | 2076 | 845 -59% | 2017 -3% | 2849 37% | 1841 -11% |
| Access Time Read * | 0.034 | 0.063 -85% | 0.055 -62% | 0.102 -200% | 0.04 -18% |
| Access Time Write * | 0.246 | 0.679 -176% | 0.128 48% | 0.033 87% | 0.102 59% |
| Score Read | 1619 | 966 -40% | 2187 35% | 2201 36% | 1262 -22% |
| Score Write | 2358 | 1005 -57% | 2309 -2% | 3208 36% | 2194 -7% |
| Score Total | 4757 | 2448 -49% | 5612 18% | 6524 37% | 4112 -14% |
| Copy ISO MB/s | 1563 | 1732 11% | 2400 54% | 2124 36% | |
| Copy Program MB/s | 976 | 717 -27% | 684 -30% | 579 -41% | |
| Copy Game MB/s | 1786 | 1343 -25% | 1629 -9% | 1304 -27% | |
| CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | -29% | -2% | 10% | 4% | |
| Write 4K | 109.2 | 64.1 -41% | 123.5 13% | 141.2 29% | 226.1 107% |
| Read 4K | 56.6 | 39.93 -29% | 45.96 -19% | 46.48 -18% | 54.7 -3% |
| Write Seq | 2073 | 1191 -43% | 1861 -10% | 2433 17% | 1868 -10% |
| Read Seq | 1916 | 1418 -26% | 1584 -17% | 1742 -9% | 1648 -14% |
| Write 4K Q32T1 | 487 | 450.3 -8% | 466.4 -4% | 565 16% | 429.9 -12% |
| Read 4K Q32T1 | 463.2 | 365 -21% | 566 22% | 655 41% | 521 12% |
| Write Seq Q32T1 | 3155 | 1563 -50% | 2981 -6% | 3028 -4% | 2248 -29% |
| Read Seq Q32T1 | 3209 | 2683 -16% | 3260 2% | 3424 7% | 2484 -23% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -41% /
-44% | 1% /
2% | 11% /
10% | 0% /
-1% |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance — Max-Q at Heart
Raw graphics performance is about 30 percent faster than the RTX 2060 Max-Q in last year's XPS 17 9700 to be a respectable year-over-year upgrade. Perhaps more surprisingly, performance is only about 10 percent slower than a 130 W GeForce RTX 3060 despite the much lower 70 W TGP envelope on our Dell GPU.
Gaming performance is excellent with results that are very close to laptops equipped with GeForce RTX 2070 graphics. However, we recommend gaming on an external monitor when possible because of the slow black-white and gray-gray response times on the internal XPS 17 display for very noticeable ghosting. Gaming isn't the primary focus for XPS laptops, after all.
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 22537 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 32793 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 15826 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 7275 points | |
Help | ||
| Dota 2 Reborn | |
| 1280x720 min (0/3) fastest | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU (132.7 - 183, n=41) | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (112.5 - 204, n=49) | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU (35.2 - 211, n=57) | |