Gaming Laptop Analysis

Is the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 good as a gaming laptop? Good

Processor - This laptop processor can run modern AAA titles with little problem and is an excellent laptop CPU gaming choice for 2021. Games are beginning to lean on more CPU cores for extra processing. Fortunately this CPU has 6 cores, making it an excellent gamers processor choice.

Graphics Card - The graphics card we find in this laptop is a good option for modern AAA game releases in 2021. This GPU has 8GB of VRAM. This is excellent and plenty for modern AAA gaming.

System Memory - The 16GB of RAM found in this laptop is an excellent quantity to deal with the requirements of 2021 AAA gaming.

Screen Size - This laptop’s 17.3" screen can deliver a good viewable amount of real estate for modern games and in terms of screen size this is a step towards the laptop being an excellent gaming laptop choice. You can of course game on smaller screen laptops, but in game menus could become tricky to see on smaller screens.

Refresh Rate - The higher the screen panel refresh rate, the better for gaming laptops. The refresh rate is the number of times a second the screen is capable of refreshing the game’s image. If a laptop can deliver 100 frames per second (FPS) in a game and your laptop has a 60Hz refresh rate, then you will only get a max of 60 frames per second. The higher the refresh rate and the game’s FPS the smoother the sharpness is as the screen view moves around in game. If you were to get the 144Hz laptop screen option that we see this is available with then this would be an excellent refresh rate gaming laptop choice.

GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics card gaming performance in the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop

Gamers looking at laptops will be needing to carefully consider the performance of the machine in relation to modern, often demanding, games. So getting the mobile graphics selected correctly is key to identifying the best price-to-performance laptop for you. We will take a look at the hardware and graphics card in this laptop in relation to how well it can deliver frame rates when running modern demanding or popular games like, Far Cry 6 or New World. We will consider the laptop when it runs these games in ultra graphics settings while gaming at its native 1080p screen resolution. Lets compare the GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q found in this laptop to today’s top 500 most demanding games. Of those games, this laptops GPU can run 491 at their minimum system requirements and then 323 games when looking at their recommended system specs.

Comparing Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 to today’s best price to performance laptop ranges

We really want to see how the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 will compare across all permutations of the G7 17 (2020) model range. This will give us a good sense of how well it sits in terms of cost to performance within its own lineup, and will better help us decide if this laptop represents good value to us today.

With a P2P rating of 8.6 today the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2. Our value to performance rating score will auto adjust as new hardware capability improves and prices drop. This version of the G7 17 (2020) laptop is currently positioned at 3rd when ordered in the range lineup for Price to Performance value rating. The closer to 1st place the better gaming performance it deliver for its price.

Lets now see how our Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop compares to the best P2P laptop, which is currently the ASUS TUF A15 R7 4800H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2. Our review laptop has 80% worse rating in price to performance and the best laptop for P2P has a listed price of $999. How about we also look at the 2nd ranked laptop for excellent Price/Performance ratings, which is the MSI Bravo 15 R7 4800H RX 5500M 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 and has a recorded cost of $1049. We see our G7 17 (2020) laptop scores 57% worse against it for price to performance.

How does the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop compare to the best CPU performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

CPU performance is always going to be something we are interested in, when looking to buy a new laptop. So if we compare this G7 17 (2020) laptop to a CPU focused laptop, we will pick today’s top CPU performing laptop at the cheapest price point, then we can use this as a good measuring point for our laptop in question. Selecting todays ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 4900HS RTX 2060 Mobile 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 laptop, we will use its mighty Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-Core 3.0GHz to compare against our Core i7-10750H 6-Core 2.60GHz processor from our review laptop. We can see that the top end CPU currently delivers 35% better performance when benched against our own review laptop’s Core i7-10750H 6-Core 2.60GHz.

Interestingly we can see 451 games recommended system requirements are lower in performance than our laptop’s CPU performance capability. This is when we look at the top 500 most demanding games around today. For minimum system requirements in this same area the number is 499 games are worse than our cpu performance, again looking at the top 500 most demanding minimum system requirements.

Today’s games are getting more demanding so let's see how our gaming laptop performs against their recommended cpu system requirements. First off we have the New World which currently our Core i7-10750H 6-Core 2.60GHz is 41% better next let's see how well it runs against Battlefield 2042. We can see it is 28% better. Ok finally lets see it against Far Cry 6. Here our laptop is 9% better.

How does the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop compare to the best graphics card performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

We may well be looking for a GPU centric laptop, and if that’s the case then let's see how this G7 17 (2020) mobile pc competes with a top GPU performance laptop that is available today. A good laptop to compare against, that is GPU focused, would be the MSI GT76 Titan i9-10900K RTX 2080 Super 64GB RAM 2.0TB M.2 4K. This showcases one of the laptops for the current cheapest price, while still housing one of the most powerful laptop GPUs. It comes with a GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB graphics card slotted inside it, which can deliver 53% better performance when compared to our GPU, GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q from our review laptop.

Our laptop GPU beats 323 games recommended system requirements when looking at today’s top 500 most demanding games. This number changes to 491 games if we compare to the top 500 most demanding games for minimum system requirements.

When compared to the recommended graphics requirements of the most popular games today, like Far Cry 6 our laptop GPU is 16% worse in performance. Compared to New World our laptop graphics performance is 36% better.

The Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 has a 1080p screen resolution, should I get a 4K resolution gaming laptop instead?

With a 1080p native screen panel our Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 has a 17.3" physical screen size. This inch panel size is measured starting in one corner, say the top corner and then across the middle of the screen down to the bottom corner on the other side. And in our case it has a fixed number of pixels in that screen that are 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall, or 1080p resolution. 4K laptops would likely come with a 60 FPS cap on games, set by the laptop screen’s 60Hz refresh rate. So regardless of what the hardware is capable of in the 4K laptop they couldn't push their FPS beyond that screen refresh rate. Now AAA games today when played at Ultra graphics settings and a 4K resolution likely don't have hardware capable of 60 FPS anyway. Our review laptop, the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 has 144Hz monitor screen refresh rate of versions available.

So a quick lowering of a AAA game’s screen resolution, from a native 4K laptop panel down to either 1080p or perhaps 1440p would increase the frame rate. And thus improve the stability of your gameplay. But a laptop display panel has a fixed number of pixels. Moving away from that exact number of pixels in a game lowers the definition quality of the graphics in the game. Making the experience sub par and if you do this often, then this seriously puts into question your choice for a 4K gaming laptop. And if your laptop does have the power to run some of the modern games in 4K Ultra, you are likely to want to enjoy them on a larger than 17inch laptop panel. So at a later point perhaps buy a dedicated monitor for your desk that isnt 60Hz restricted, for those games, thus keeping your laptop for mobility.

If you are looking to view 4K streaming content, while keeping yourself mobile with your laptop, then maybe a 4K resolution panel would be a better experience than the normal 1080p. In general, we think it's probably not worth the extra money for any visual gains you might not spot, without a direct comparison, especially if you are thinking to game on your laptop as well.

We think don't spend your extra cash on getting a 4K laptop to game on, as it's likely to feel disappointing to buy a super shiny new 4K laptop, then have to lower the resolution while playing your games, delivering a blurry in-game experience, and only getting up to a maximum 60FPS due to the usual 60Hz 4K panel restriction.

Today’s best 1440p desktop monitor for a laptop is - ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS

Incidentally our research shows the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS as our best priced 1440p monitor today. This monitor has a 75Hz refresh rate and a price tag at the moment of $311.99. To help provide some further information into this desktop monitor price trends we saw it cost a recorded low of $229.99, which we tracked on 9th Mar 2021.

Today’s best 4K desktop monitor for a laptop is - Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz

A nice performing 4K desktop monitor, should you want one to accompany this laptop, is the Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz. Today it is priced at $618 and has a 144Hz refresh rate. It's interesting that even though this is a well priced 4K monitor today, our price tracking shows it has gone up in price by $618 during recent weeks. Interestingly we spotted this 4k monitor at its lowest recorded price on 13th Nov 2020, where it was priced up as $549.99.

[Note - check that monitor display connectors are compatible between a monitor and a laptop before purchase]

So why would you get a 4K capable laptop? If you enjoy movies or Netflix at 4K and have access to 4K content via those types of services then perhaps the quality of 4K resolution on a 17inch panel would be a great experience, but we still think you wouldn't miss that 4K.

Paying extra for 4K gaming in a laptop is not really a good investment of your cash at the moment. We would put our extra cash in to a 1080p with better graphics card or maybe a nice mouse or headset. Because with the 4K laptop you may be sad when having to drop your favourite modern games screen resolution to get an ok frame rate. Or perhaps lowering the graphics setting to increase 4K FPS up to a stable and playable amount, only to hit a 60FPS ceiling due to the 60Hz 4K panel limit.

Today's Best Priced Mouse and Headset for Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop

If you are looking for a good value mouse to go with your Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop, then the Kayinuo M738 Gaming Mouse 3200DPI wired 6 Buttons is our favourite today, of those we are price tracking. Currently it’s priced at $12.99. This mouse has also dropped its price by $32.26 during the past two weeks, which is a solid reason for us to select it with this laptop. Another point of interest was that we saw this mouse priced at $11.99, which we tracked on 15th Aug 2020.

A headset that is well priced at the moment and could accompany the Dell G7 17 (2020) i7-10750H RTX 2070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop is the Corsair HS45-7.1 Surround. Of the headsets we price track, it is one of the best valued headsets today and currently priced at $36.99. For reference, the lowest price recorded by us so far for the headset is $34.99 on 28th Nov 2019.