Dell G5 15 SE vs Dell G7 15: Which Dell gaming laptop is better?
Our favorite line of affordable gaming, Dell's G-series, is back, and it's sleeker than ever. ..
24/09/2021
Our favorite range
affordable games
, Dell's G-series, is back, and it's sleeker than ever.
Although we have examined the
Dell G5 15 SE
($1068) and the
Dell G7 15
($1778) at very different price points, they are apparently identical, especially when it comes to design and configurations. What divides them is that the G7 15 has more high-end components and the G5 15 SE is more of a budget build. And if you're looking to save a few bucks (who isn't?), check out our page
Best Dell Laptop Deals
.
Here's how these two Dell gaming laptops stack up
.
Dell G5 15 SE vs. Dell G7 15: Specs Comparison
Dell G5 15 SE
Dell G7 15
Starting price (as configured)
$1043
($1068)
< p>1049$(1649)$
Colors
Alpine White
Abyss Gray
Display
15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz (144Hz available)
15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz (3840 x 2160 available)
CPU
< p>Core i7-9750H (Core i5 available)Core i5-9300H (Core i7 available)
RAM
8 GB (16 GB available)
16 GB SSD
SSD
256 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD
256 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD
Graphics
< p>Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (GTX 1660 Ti or RTX 2060 available)Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 (GTX 1650/1660 Ti or RTX 2060/2070/2080 available)
Ports< /p>
One Thunderbolt 3, three USB 3.1, HDMI, Ethernet RJ45, Noble Lock slot, headphone jack, SD card slot
One Thunderbolt 3, three USB 3.1, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, RJ45 Ethernet, Noble Lock Slot, Headphone Jack, SD Card Slot
Size p>
14.3 x 10.8 x 0.95 inches
14.37 x 10.8 x 0.78 inches
Weight
5.6 pounds
5.51 pounds
Design
The Dell G5 15 SE and Dell G7 15 sport the same understated design, in addition to being painted in Alpine White and Abyss Gray respectively. Their lids house a glossy blue Dell logo and curved hinges bearing the G5 and G7 logos.
Meanwhile, the interior goes the same way, as the keyboard and deck essentially look the same. The main difference is that the keys on the G5 15 SE feature a blue font with blue key illumination, while the keys on the G7 15 feature a white font with four-zone RGB illumination. There's also an option to get RGB lighting on the G5 15 SE, which will cost you an extra $30. Just above the keyboard, on both systems, is a shiny part of the bridge that houses the power button and the G7 and G5 logo.
The bezels are also a bit different, as the top of the G5 15 SE bezel and the bottom bezel of the G7 15 are slightly larger than the other. However, what is unique with the G5 15 SE is that its underside sports a glass panel that peeks into the heater pipes and fans, which looks cool.
The sizes are slightly different, as the G7 15 weighs 5.5 pounds and measures 14.4 x 10.8 x 0.8 inches, while the G5 15 SE weighs 5.6 pounds and 14.3 x 10.8 x 1 inch. The G7 15 is slightly thinner and thinner which makes it more portable.
Both systems are almost identical in design and both colors look good. But the G7 15's slimmer, lighter chassis wins the day.
Winner:
Dell G7 15
Buy the Dell G7 15
Ports
The Dell G5 15 SE and Dell G7 15 share nearly identical ports. Each has a Thunderbolt 3 port, three USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI port, an RJ45 Ethernet port, a Noble lock slot, a headphone jack, and an SD card slot.
However, the G7 15 has an additional one. in the form of a Mini DisplayPort.
Winner:
Dell G7 15
display
The Dell G15 15 SE and G7 15 both have 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 panels, but the G7 15 is locked to a 144Hz refresh rate, while the G5 15 SE is capped at 60Hz.
I watched the Dark Phoenix trailer on both systems, and when the X-Men were in space, the orange sparks emanating from the cosmic entity erupted and revealed more shades on the G5 panel 15 SE, while the G7 15s looked a bit duller. When Jessica Chastain stood eerily on a rooftop, I spotted more background detail on the G5 15 SE's panel due to the warmer colors providing contrast.
However, the G7 15's brighter screen shines with its better white balance, especially when browsing the web. Of course, the desktop experience on the G7 15 is much smoother due to the higher refresh rate.
According to our colorimeter, the G5 15 SE's panel covers 154% of the sRGB color gamut, while the G7 15 covers 114% lower.
When it comes to brightness, the G7 15's panel hit a solid 303 nits, while the G5 15 SE's screen averaged a slightly darker 270 nits.
The G7 15 has better color accuracy, hitting a Delta-E of 0.18 (lower is better), compared to the G5 15 SE's 0.63. But both scores are below 1.00, which makes them both very good performers.
MORE:
Best gaming monitors: Top picks for 1080p and 4K gaming
Overall, the G5 15 SE wins this round due to its bolder color. And if you really care about the refresh rate, you can equip the G5 15 SE with a 144Hz panel.
Winner:
Dell G5 15 SE
Buy the Dell G5 15 SE
Keyboard and touchpad
You might expect the Dell G5 15 SE and the Dell G7 15 to have identical keyboards, but surprisingly the keys on the G5 15 SE felt more clicky as I typed on them. This is particularly interesting given that the G5 15 has a shorter key travel.
Dell Launches G7 15 Gaming Laptop In India, Starting At Rs. 1,61,990 https://t.co/Zphb6PSyuY The Dell G7 15 is a… https://t.co/v99watavmh
— Digital Terminal Fri Sep 25 06:20:24 +0000 2020
I clocked 78 wpm with the G5 15 SE's keyboard on 10fastfingers.com, which is only one word ahead of the 77 wpm I scored on the G7 15's keyboard. of the G5 15 SE falls out of our favorite 1.5-2.0mm range, measuring in at 1.2 millimeters. The G7 15's keys travel a bit farther, at 1.4 millimeters. Both keyboards exceeded our minimum actuation force of 60 grams, as the keys on the G5 15 SE require 66g while the G7 15 requires 76g.
Another surprising difference is that the G5 15 SE's touchpad (4.1 x 3.1 inches) is much larger than the G7 15 (4.1 x 2.5 inches). Size aside, they felt the same. Of course, the more real estate, the better.
Winner:
Dell G5 15 SE
Games, graphics and VR
The big price difference between the Dell G5 15 SE and the Dell G7 15 comes down to performance. The G5 15 SE packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU with 4GB of VRAM, while the G7 15 packs a more powerful RTX 2060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM.
On the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Very High, 1080p), the G7 15 managed 61 fps, which smashes the G5 15 SE's 37 fps.
The G7 15 did incredibly well on the Hitman benchmark (Ultra, 1080p), hitting 117 fps and soaring past the G5 15 SE's 85 fps.
On the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark (Very High, 1080p), the G7 15 averaged 66 fps, once again beating the G5 15 SE (40 fps). p>
The G7 15 scored a perfect 11 in the StreamVR benchmark, double the performance of the G5 15 SE, as it scored 5.6.
Winner:
Dell G7 15
Performance
Both systems have
9th generation processors
, but the G7 15 is armed with a more powerful Core i7-9750H processor and 16 GB of RAM, while the G5 15 SE is equipped with a Core i5-9300H processor and 8 GB of RAM.
On the Geekbench 4.3 overall performance benchmark, the G7 15 scored a whopping 23,863, a significant increase from the G5 15 SE's 16,722.
The G7 15 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake benchmark in just 8 minutes and 5 seconds, which is nearly half the G5 15 SE's time, at 2:31 p.m.
Dell's two 256GB SSDs are quite slow. The G7 15 copied 4.97 GB of data in a slow 40 seconds, translating to just 127 megabytes per second. Meanwhile, the G5 15 SE's SSD had a transfer rate of 130 MBps, which isn't much better.
Winner:
Dell G7 15
Battery life
Although the G7 15 has more power, so it has a much shorter battery life. After the G7 15 continuously surfed the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, it only lasted 3 hours and 12 minutes, while the G5 15 SE survived for 6 hours and 53 minutes.
Winner:
Dell G5 15 SE
Value and configurations
Since the G5 15 SE and G7 15 are both from Dell and part of the G-Series line, they are similarly priced, but there are more configurations of the G7 15.
The base G7 15 model starts at $1,049 and comes with a Core i5-9300H CPU, GTX 1650 GPU with 4GB VRAM, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD and a 1080p 60Hz panel. Meanwhile, the base model of the G5 15 SE is offered similarly but costs $1044.
MORE:
Best Dell and Alienware Laptops
The G5 15 SE we tested costs $1,068 and upgrades to a 256GB SSD from the base model. But the G7 15 we tested costs $1,649 and comes with an Intel Core i7-9750H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU with 6GB VRAM, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a 1TB hard drive and a 1920 x 1080 144Hz display.
The $1,369 version of the G5 15 SE upgrades to a Core i7-9750H CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB SATA HDD, GTX 1660 GPU and 1920 x 1080 144Hz display .p>
However, the closest thing to our G7 15 is the top-end G5 15 SE, which costs $1,519. It ditches the 144Hz display, but comes with a Core i7-9750H processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and RTX 2060 graphics.
The bloated version of the G7 15 costs $2,799 and is configured with a Core i7-9750H processor, an RTX 2080 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 4K OLED panel.
The G5 15 SE and G7 15 aren't too much The G7 15's price is far from high on most specs, but the G7 15 is entirely more configurable, and its slimmer chassis and additional accessories justify the price difference between them.
Winner:
Dell G7 15
Lower line
The Dell G7 15 triumphs thanks to its slimmer design with an extra port as well as its better performance. It's also more configurable, for those who want to give it their all.
Dell G5 15 SE
Dell G7 15
Designer (10)
7
8
Ports (10)
7
8
Display (15 )
13
12
Keyboard/Touchpad (15)
13
12
Graphics, games and virtual reality (15)
11
13
Performance (15)
11
13
Battery life (10)
8
4
Value and configurations (10)
7
8
Total (100)
77
78
However, the G5 15 SE is one of the best
budget gaming laptops
. If you want to spend less, you'll get a more colorful screen, a more clicky keyboard, and significantly longer battery life than most budget gaming laptops.
But, since the G7 15 packs more high-end components, it's the better choice overall.
Credit: Laptop Mag
Rami Tabari
As soon as Rami Tabari got out of Staten Island College, he hit the ground running as an editor for Laptop Mag. It reviews all shapes and forms of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by the dream of a laptop hoarder, and when he heads towards civilization, you can catch him watching some really bad anime or playing some kind of game. painfully difficult. He's the best in every game and he just doesn't lose. That's why you'll occasionally see his signature in Tom's Guide, completing the latest Souls-like challenge.