Review: Dell G3 15 - A Gaming Laptop

After a union between Alienware and Dell in 2006, the gaming laptops coming from Dell's Alienware theme, an electrifying combination for people looking for affordable yet powerful laptops. This laptop is a product of the same league. The Dell G3 15 is built with the Alienware soul on Dell's platform. This gaming laptop comes in gimmicky red and baby-blue themes. It seems to be an attractive package. Let's have a look at it carefully:

Design and Display

The Dell G3 15 is a laptop fabricated to last. A compact, sturdy machine that is very lightweight, the laptop comes in a matte finish and has a simple design stamped with Dell's glossy blue logo in the middle. The laptop flaunts delicate baby-blue outlines and follows the new design trend of multipurpose laptops that channels the usual gimmicky look of gaming laptops. The bezels are still thick in spite of the ongoing trend of bezel-less displays. Anyways, this should not be a significant distraction. Whereas, the design, looks premium and can be carried from boardroom meetings to DJ turntables if you are willing to carry around a 3kg-plus bag (with laptop and charger). Though, the 15.6-inch FHD IPS display has below-par screen brightness levels so you may have to play in full brightness to see objects clearly in the dark.

Performance

When it comes to performance, the G3 15 2019 edition bids current-gen chipsets in the form of the Intel Core i7-9750H (9th Gen) and Nvidia GeForce 6GB GTX 1660 Ti graphics card for the top-spec iteration (the one we reviewed). Besides, it can be packed with as much as 32GB of RAM, and up to 512GB SSD and 2TB HDD for storage. Everything combined with a Full HD 144Hz panel, which enhances the overall experience of gaming on this laptop. Games like Control, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Shadow of War, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and FIFA 19 were played without any hassles.

Battery

The laptop claims an excellent battery life, which we will not commonly in gaming laptops. On a single charge, the battery lasts for 5-6 hours and 3-4 hours of an intense gaming session. This is something great considering others when we see other gaming laptops fade out after using 2-3 hours.

After a few hours of extensive use, the back houses the heat that starts blowing out hot air. The noisy fans had a tough time managing the hot air coming out of the laptop. Anyhow, the speakers were loud enough to overcome the blaring fan. If you are playing games or watching movies, external audio devices or headphones are recommended.

Keyboard

The G3 15 features a full-sized keyboard with the number pad squeezed on the right. With the help of Alienware command centre, the default blue back-lighting can be changed into six different presets. On the other hand, the chiclet keyboard has shallow key travel; due to which a few passes in FIFA 19 encounters were missed. The keyboard and touchpad look neat with baby-blue accents, but the left-right click buttons are a part of the touchpad; you may take a few days to get used to it. The keyboard is suitable for daily use. But for serious gaming or video editing an external keyboard and mouse setup is suggested.

Now the latest edition comes with a USB Type-C port, unlike the earlier model. There's the power jack on the left, the USB Type-C port, an HDMI port, a drop-jaw RJ-45 port, one USB 3.1 port and a headphone/microphone combo jack. The power button doubles up as a fingerprint scanner. There is a Noble lock slot, two USB 2.0 port and a 2-in-1 SD/MMC card reader on the right.

Verdict

The Dell G3 15 flaunts a robust design, compact form factor, with great battery life and RGB keyboard. The 144Hz screen makes it great for daily use, gaming and occasional multimedia production. Even with minor flaws, its admirable gaming performance and Dell's customer support make the device a good purchase, and it will not cost you a fortune.