Dell XPS 17 9720

The latest from the Dell family is none other than the Dell XPS 17 (9720). In terms of its design, there is not much to say about the case of the XPS 17, since the workmanship offers an extremely high quality, and the construction is very robust. In addition, with its very slim bezels (resulting in a screen-to-body ratio of 91%), the device continues to look very modern and not aged at all. However, it is worth noting that the black carbon design on the top of the base unit still gets dirty easily. When this device is being handled, it quickly becomes clear that it is definitely not a light laptop. As far as its connectivity is concerned, this model offers four modern Thunderbolt ports with USB-C connectors. While the ports are of course very versatile, in practice they also might require some adapters. Apparently Dell also knows this, as a USB-C adapter with USB-A and HDMI is included in the package. As for its keyboard, it is positioned in the centre and flanked by the speaker openings. In addition, its colour matches the case colour, so it is either black or white. While in terms of the mechanics itself, the user will still get a short key stroke of 1.3 mm (~0.05 in) and the overall typing experience is only mediocre. However, this is also due to the impression of its clattering. There is definitely some room for improvement here as Dell uses better keyboards in their business and workstation models. While the white background illumination works well, it cannot be activated automatically by the brightness sensor. In contrast, the large ClickPad gives no reason for complaint. It not only work very reliably, but also offers plenty of space for gestures with up to four fingers.

As for its display, the Dell XPS 17 is still one of the few laptops that offer panels with full AdobeRGB coverage. Well, at this point, it is worth mentioning that this represents an exception, since most OLED panels and even the current DreamColor displays from HP are adjusted toward the DCI-P3 standard. Apart from that, Dell has also included the Premier Colour software which allows the users to switch between various profiles and colour spaces. In terms of its performance, this device has been equipped with the Intel Core i7-12700H processor. It is also worth noting that, in everyday operation, mainly the integrated and efficient Iris Xe Graphics G7 of the processor is used, which is also able to handle the reproduction of high-resolution videos without any problems. The dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 with 4 GB of RAM and a maximum clock speed of 1875 MHz is automatically activated if the user needs more graphics. Overall, it is a great device to be explored, depending on the need and preference of the user.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam