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It's a Dell laptop, so you know the drill, you're going to have some bloatware to contend with on top of the Candy Crushes and Dropbox offers that Windows 10 typically throws at you. You'll probably spend a good half-hour after getting the Dell G5 15 SE out of the box just uninstalling what you don't want or need. On the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark, the Dell G5 15 SE got 56 fps, which didn't make it past the 62-fps category average (it once again flew by the 45-fps budget gaming average). The Omen 15 (60 fps) and Legion Y545 (62 fps) did slightly better, while the Zephyrus G14 (115 fps) excelled. Add an impressive battery life to the mix, and you’ve got a no-thrills gaming laptop that gets the job done to a satisfying standard. If you’re not fussed about RGB lights and skinny bezels, and just want a laptop that can play your entire Steam library in Full HD, then you’ll struggle to find a better value gaming laptop than the Dell G5. Verdict
The Dell G5 should be able to play almost any game in Full HD with settings cranked up to maximum. Unlike the G3, I never suffered a system crash with the G5, despite playing ultra-intensive titles such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Ghost Recon: Wildlands. That's not to say its all junk, though. The pre-installed Alienware Command Center software gives you the ability to customize the keyboard lighting, fine tune the system's performance for specific games, and look over various system statistics, which is genuinely useful. This also makes the Dell G5 a decent laptop for watching Netflix on the go – as long as you’re happy to lug around the 2.61kg lump, of course.
Energy management - Very long-lasting
The plastic on the chassis's base feels a lot more solid than the lid, which gives the impression that the lids plastic casing might pop clean off if you dropped it at just the right angle. But while the G5 feels “budget” in terms of design, I’ve no concerns about it becoming damaged or breaking. Slam your fist on the shell or hurl it onto the floor in a Call of Duty-inspired rage, and I’m betting the Dell G5 will come through unscathed. This puts it in the ballpark of the Gigabyte Aorus 5, though the Aorus still outperforms in two of our three 3DMark tests - and by quite a bit, too - and the best the G5 could do on Time Spy is fight the Aorus to a draw. Dell’s 512GB SSD copied 4.97GB of data in 12.4 seconds, translating to 410 megabytes per second, which is just under the 467-MBps mainstream gaming laptop average. The Legion Y545’s 128GB SSD hit a slow 189 MBps, whereas the 512GB SSD in the Omen 15 and the 1TB SSD in Zephyrus G14 nailed 728 MBps and 1,131 MBps, respectively.
I played Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for 15 minutes and the machine never felt hot thanks to the fans going full blast. Dell G5 15 SE (2020) software and warranty All other products will be delivered via the fastest available method (excluding bank holidays and weekends) and generally within 3-5 days, depending on customer location.
Connectivity - Thunderbolt 3 on board
On our casual heat test, the underside of the Dell G5 15 SE measured 106 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a little higher than our 95-degree comfort threshold, but thanks to the plastic, it only ever felt warm. The center of the keyboard and touchpad hit 100 and 82 degrees, respectively. The hottest the machine got was 110 degrees on the bottom left of the screen’s bezels. In terms of colour accuracy, the G5 was once again far from the required standard with a sRGB colour gamut of 54.8%. This isn’t a huge issue for gaming, but it does mean that the G5 is a poor option if you’re intending to use it for design work. Graphics wise, we’re talking Nvidia RTX 2060, which is the entry-level GPU in Nvidia’s latest ray-tracing capable Turing generation of graphics chips, but very powerful in outright terms. It’s paired with a 15.6-inch 1080p display based on IPS panel technology. Dell optionally offers 144Hz refresh support, but our review rig is limited to 60Hz.
This is also the first gaming laptop to feature AMD's SmartShift technology, which helps the laptop manage the power distribution between the CPU and the GPU to get more power to where the need is greater at any given moment. The RGB lighting consists of four zones, including the numpad. You can configure the lighting in the FX tab of the Alienware Command Center app with effects like Rainbow Wave, Breathing and Spectrum. While I wish the individual keys were RGB-lit, the lighting is pleasantly bright.
Input devices - Suitable for everyday use
The Dell G5 15 SE has some of the longest battery life we’ve seen in a gaming laptop. Surprise, surprise, it’s all thanks to AMD. After it continuously surfed the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the G5 15's battery lasted 7 hours and 14 minutes, which crushed the 4:50 mainstream gaming laptop average. The Omen 15 (3:05) and Legion Y545 (3:38) were basically dead on arrival, while the only competitor left standing was the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (11:32), which can also thank AMD. Dell G5 15 SE (2020) webcam
The G5 churned out even worse results for photography colour gamuts, proving that this isn’t a multi-talented machine – although I didn’t expect so given the G5’s (relatively) low price.So what does all of Dell’s corner-cutting get you? A powerful gaming laptop at a super-affordable price; you’ll struggle to find another laptop as fully specced without spending more. On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Highest, 1080p), the Dell G5 15 SE averaged 45 fps, falling short of the 47-fps mainstream gaming laptop average (beating the 42-fps budget gaming average). It matched the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti in the Omen 15 (45 fps), while the RTX 2060 GPU in Zephyrus G14 nailed 49 fps and the Legion Y545’s own GTX 1660 Ti got 50 fps. These flaws are forgivable, though, especially when you consider how cheap the Dell G5 is compared to rival machines that offer similar performance. I failed to find a AAA game that would bring this machine to its knees when played in Full HD with optimum graphics settings. The touchpad, meanwhile, is fine. There’s plenty of room here, no matter how low you’ve set the sensitivity for your favourite first-person shooter. However, the surface isn’t quite as smooth and responsive as you’d find on more premium devices. On the plus side, the Dell G5 15 SE's battery life is fantastic for a gaming laptop. While other gaming laptops are dying out before they even finish a movie on Netflix, this one will keep on keeping on for several hours of video or everyday, general use. You can even get a few hours of moderate gaming out of it if you keep your settings tuned for battery life or balance rather than going all-in on performance.
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