Dell XPS 17 9730: Premium laptop announced with Intel Raptor Lake H CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 graphics cards

The high-end Dell XPS 17 9730 has finally been announced with current-gen Raptor Lake CPUs and Ada Lovelace graphics cards. Like its predecessors, it features a CNC-milled aluminium chassis with a carbon fibre composite palm rest. Initially, only the specced-out variant with a Core i9 processor and GeForce RTX 4070 will be available for purchase, starting at US$3,749/CA$5,049. Other configurations will be available later in the year.

CPU choices for the Dell XPS 17 9730 include the Intel Core i9-13900H, Core i7-13700H and Core i5-13500H. While not as powerful as their HX-branded cousins, the Raptor Lake processors run much cooler, making them ideal for an XPS-class laptop. One can pair it with up to 64 GB of 4,800 MT/s memory and a 4 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD. Both components are user expandable; one can add 4 TB of additional storage if required.

Graphics card choices for the Dell XPS 17 9730 include the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB (60 W), RTX 4070 (60 W), RTX 4060 (60 W) and RTX 4050 (60 W). The abysmally low 60 Watt TGP might be enough for entry-level SKUs but will likely hamstring the performance of higher-end offerings. That said, Ada Lovelace GPUs perform well at lower wattages, and it'll be interesting to see how they hold up in a power-limited environment.

The Dell XPS 17 9730 has two screen configurations: a 4K+ (3,840 x 2,400) LCD panel with 500 nits peak brightness, DisplayHDR+ certification, 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage and 100% sRGB. The other one scales the resolution to FHD+ (1,920 x 1,200). As shown in the images, the bezels are razor-thin, with a 93.7% screen-to-body ratio. Users opting for a touch-enabled screen get a layer of Gorilla Glass 6 for additional protection.

Given the Dell XPS 17 9730's ultra-slim profile, it can offer only a few I/O options. Still, one gets four Thunderbolt 4.0 ports, a 3.5 mm audio jack and an SD card reader. The laptop's 97 Wh battery supports up to 130 W fast charging via USB-C. Interestingly, the Dell XPS 17 9730 supports only Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, which can be frustrating for many because far cheaper laptops now offer Wi-Fi 6E functionality. Additionally, Dell has stuck with a 720p (instead of 1080p) webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello.