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MagyarDell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 laptop review: 50 percent faster processor than before
The Dell XPS 17 9720 is the third iteration of the 17.0-inch XPS 17 series that started with the 2020 XPS 17 9700. While the XPS 17 9700 and 2021 9710 versions would ship with 10th gen and 11th gen Intel CPUs, respectively, the 2022 9720 has added 12th gen CPUs and DDR5 RAM options to the mix. Other core characteristics like the chassis and GPU options are otherwise identical to the XPS 17 9700 or 9710 and so we recommend checking out our existing reviews on the series to learn more about the physical features of the model.
Our unit in review is an upper-midrange configuration with the Core i7-12700H CPU, UHD+ (3840 x 2400) IPS touchscreen, and GeForce RTX 3060 GPU for approximately $3000 USD. Other SKUs are also available with the i5-12500H, i9-12900HK, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 1200p display, or integrated graphics only.
Competitors to the XPS 17 9720 include 17.3-inch multimedia or prosumer laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 17, Razer Blade 17, HP Envy 17, or Lenovo Legion 5 17.
More Dell reviews:
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88.8 % | 05/2022 | Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 i7-12700H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 2.5 kg | 19.5 mm | 17.00" | 3840x2400 | |
| 82.4 % | 08/2021 | HP Envy 17-cg i5-1135G7, GeForce MX450 | 2.7 kg | 19.3 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
| 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 | |
| 85.2 % | 02/2022 | Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE R5 5600H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 3.1 kg | 24.3 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
| 76.5 % | 05/2022 | Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU) | 2.2 kg | 21.4 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
| 90.1 % | 05/2022 | Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) i7-12800H, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU | 2.8 kg | 19.9 mm | 17.30" | 2560x1440 |
Case — Same But Still Great
The chassis has not changed from the XPS 17 9700 or 9710. Despite being a two-year old design, its unique 16:10 17.0-inch form factor allows the model to be noticeably smaller and thinner than other models in the same size category.
SD Card Reader
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 (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) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| HP Envy 17-cg (AV Pro microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 (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 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| HP Envy 17-cg (AV Pro microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Communication — No Wi-Fi 6E
Dell has upgraded the WLAN from the Intel AX1650 on the XPS 17 9710 to the Intel AX1675 (or AX211) on the XPS 17 9720. The newer chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, but the feature is disabled on the XPS 17 9720 much like what we discovered on the XPS 15 9520. Thus, users will only be able to connect to 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz networks and not 6 GHz networks.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| HP Envy 17-cg | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| HP Envy 17-cg | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
Webcam
The camera continues to be just 720p with no privacy shutter. The low native resolution pairs poorly with the high resolution display for an unavoidably muddy picture. Dell says the IR and RGB sensors are separate now for better performance, but pixel density is still very low. In comparison, the Razer Blade 17 ships with a higher resolution 1080p webcam instead.
Windows Hello is still supported.
Maintenance
Accessories and Warranty
The XPS 17 9720 ships with the same 130 W AC adapter and USB-C to HDMI and USB-A adapter as on the XPS 15 9520, XPS 17 9710, and XPS 17 9700. A base one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies if purchased in the US.
Display — 16:10 60 Hz IPS
There are two display options to choose from (1200p and 2400p) compared to three on the XPS 15 9520. The panel on our unit comes with the same Sharp LQ170R1 IPS panel as found on the XPS 17 9710 or 9700 meaning that the viewing experience hasn't changed since the original 2020 model. It was an excellent display then and it still is now especially in terms of contrast ratio relative to other IPS panels, but we would like to see 90 Hz refresh rate or faster options in the future similar to what is already available on the newest IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro or upcoming Zenbook Pro 14 Duo.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 85 %
Center on Battery: 512.7 cd/m²
Contrast: 1602:1 (Black: 0.32 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.98 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.1
ΔE Greyscale 7.2 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
85.3% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
100% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
92.9% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.54
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 Sharp LQ170R1, IPS, 3840x2400, 17.00 | Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q Sharp LQ170R1, IPS, 3840x2400, 17.00 | Dell XPS 17 9700 i5-10300H SHP14D7, IPS, 1920x1200, 17.30 | HP Envy 17-cg AU Optronics AUO439D, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE LEN173FHD, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W BOE NV173FHM-N49, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) BOE CQ NE173QHM-NZ1 (BOE09F9), IPS, 2560x1440, 17.30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 5% | -9% | -17% | -18% | -50% | 2% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 92.9 | 90.5 -3% | 77.4 -17% | 68 -27% | 64.8 -30% | 39.53 -57% | 97.9 5% |
| sRGB Coverage | 100 | 100 0% | 100 0% | 95 -5% | 97.2 -3% | 58.85 -41% | 99.9 0% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 85.3 | 99.8 17% | 76.6 -10% | 69 -19% | 66.7 -22% | 40.84 -52% | 85.5 0% |
| Response Times | 5% | -13% | 19% | 73% | 57% | 69% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 51.2 ? | 51.2 ? -0% | 60.4 ? -18% | 40 ? 22% | 15 ? 71% | 22 ? 57% | 15.2 ? 70% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 35.2 ? | 32 ? 9% | 37.6 ? -7% | 30 ? 15% | 9 ? 74% | 15 ? 57% | 11.2 ? 68% |
| PWM Frequency | 2500 ? | ||||||
| Screen | 20% | 33% | 6% | 16% | -16% | -9% | |
| Brightness middle | 512.7 | 539.4 5% | 636 24% | 347 -32% | 323 -37% | 269 -48% | 341 -33% |
| Brightness | 463 | 494 7% | 580 25% | 329 -29% | 305 -34% | 263 -43% | 308 -33% |
| Brightness Distribution | 85 | 84 -1% | 86 1% | 89 5% | 89 5% | 88 4% | 82 -4% |
| Black Level * | 0.32 | 0.32 -0% | 0.34 -6% | 0.27 16% | 0.25 22% | 0.3 6% | 0.45 -41% |
| Contrast | 1602 | 1686 5% | 1871 17% | 1285 -20% | 1292 -19% | 897 -44% | 758 -53% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.98 | 4.12 31% | 2.4 60% | 3.75 37% | 1.87 69% | 5.8 3% | 4.16 30% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 12.09 | 7.65 37% | 3.5 71% | 7.53 38% | 4.84 60% | 18.46 -53% | 8.14 33% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 7.2 | 1.5 79% | 2 72% | 4.88 32% | 2.57 64% | 3.64 49% | 5.09 29% |
| Gamma | 2.54 87% | 2.15 102% | 2.08 106% | 2.53 87% | 2.42 91% | 2.35 94% | 2.48 89% |
| CCT | 6914 94% | 6438 101% | 6704 97% | 6624 98% | 7012 93% | 6995 93% | 6884 94% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 3.91 | 1.5 | 0.92 | 3 | |||
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 90.4 | 67.5 | |||||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 100 | 100 | |||||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 10% /
14% | 4% /
16% | 3% /
3% | 24% /
17% | -3% /
-12% | 21% /
5% |
* ... smaller is better
Color temperature is warmer than expected when set to the DCI-P3 color standard via the Dell PremierColor software. Unlike many professional laptops like the Dell Precision, Gigabyte Aero, or HP ZBook series, the XPS series is not X-Rite calibrated at factory. An end-user calibration would be necessary to better exploit the wide color gamut of the panel.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 35.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 18.8 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. » 92 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.9 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 51.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 26 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 25.2 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. » 86 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (34.5 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 54 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18982 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance — Alder Lake-H Ups The Ante
Testing Conditions
Our unit was set to Ultra Performance mode via the My Dell software prior to running any benchmarks below for the highest possible scores. We recommend users become familiar with My Dell, Dell Update, and PremierColor software as key features of the system are toggled through these apps.
Optimus 1.0 comes standard for automatic graphics switching between the integrated GPU and discrete GeForce RTX 3060. Internal adaptive sync and MUX are not supported since the XPS 17 is not a gaming machine.
Processor
CineBench xT benchmarks and certain AIDA64 subtests can be up to 50 percent faster than on the XPS 15 9710 equipped with the last generation Core i7-11800H to represent a significant year-over-year improvement to processor performance. The gains are much smaller on other tests, however, including Blender and HWBOT x265, but average gains are still greater than what we observed between the XPS 17 9700 and XPS 17 9710.
Curiously, the Core i7-12700H falls behind the 10th gen Core i7-10875H at a number of AIDA64 benchmarks as shown below.
Some thicker laptops with the same Core i7-12800H CPU are able to run the processor at higher clock rates and up to 20 percent faster such as on the HP Omen 16.
Running CineBench R15 xT in a loop shows no major performance throttling issues when subjected to extreme processing loads for long periods.
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 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.2 - 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-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 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.2 - 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-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 10 results are consistently higher than what we recorded on the XPS 17 9710 if just barely. Our XPS 17 9720 scores are still some of the fastest in the multimedia category.
We experienced a bug on our unit where power consumption would strangely stabilize at 40 W when in Sleep mode instead of the usual <2 W leading to very warm surface temperatures and wasted energy. Toggling the power profiles through My Dell appears to be a temporary fix to the problem.
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
| PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (9289 - 12144, n=12) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (8448 - 12144, n=84, last 2 years) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| HP Envy 17-cg | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (6161 - 10362, n=12) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (5462 - 11186, n=84, last 2 years) | |
| HP Envy 17-cg | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (8950 - 12554, n=12) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Average of class Multimedia (3861 - 11777, n=84, last 2 years) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| HP Envy 17-cg | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| CrossMark / Overall | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (1649 - 2017, n=11) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (970 - 2146, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| CrossMark / Productivity | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (1536 - 1958, n=11) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (921 - 2064, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| CrossMark / Creativity | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (1816 - 2084, n=11) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (933 - 2865, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| CrossMark / Responsiveness | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (1210 - 2207, n=11) | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (926 - 2234, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| PCMark 10 Score | 7296 points | |
Help | ||
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
LatencyMon reveals minor DPC issues when opening multiple browser tabs on our homepage much like what we observed on the XPS 17 9710 and 9700. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is otherwise perfectly smooth with no dropped frames as to be expected from any Core H-powered multimedia laptop.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| HP Envy 17-cg | |
| Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H-82JY0003GE | |
| Asus VivoBook 17 F712JA-AU708W | |
| Razer Blade 17 (i7-12800H, RTX 3070 Ti) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9700 Core i7 RTX 2060 Max-Q | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9720 RTX 3060 | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
The XPS 17 9710 shipped at a time when PCIe4 x4 NVMe SSDs were not yet widely available and so SKUs would only come with PCIe3 x4 options instead. PCIe4 drives are thankfully more common nowadays and it's good to see that the XPS 17 9720 has adopted a fast Samsung PM9A1 solution. Our stress tests show that the drive in our unit would have no issues maintaining its maximum sequential read rate of over 7000 MB/s for extended periods without needing to throttle, though overall performance is still slower than what we recorded on the Razer Blade 17 equipped with the same 1 TB Samsung drive.
