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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the tech chap and I have bought
00:03the wrong laptop
00:05This is the brand new Dell XPS 17
00:089720 and since I always get pretty excited about a new Dell XPS laptop
00:12I think perhaps I was just rushing to get an order in before the shipping times got crazy
00:17But unfortunately, I kind of specced this thing all wrong
00:21And actually I am ordering another one a flagship top spec model
00:24Which I plan to do a big comparison with against my top spec MacBook Pro 16
00:29But in the meantime, let me walk you through what I did wrong
00:32So you avoid the same mistake and also since I do have this now
00:35Let me show you around the new XPS and see what's new and from the outside
00:40You can't really tell any difference over last year's or even the year before's
00:45XPS 17s
00:46But it is still an absolutely gorgeous laptop with this big 17 inch
00:5116 by 10 screen front and center with its super thin bezels and it's all squeezed in a fairly slim and compact
00:58Aluminium shell with Dell's almost trademark carbon fiber palm rest and of course this gargantuan trackpad
01:05The chiclet keyboard is as nice as ever and while there is no numpad Dell uses the space either side for bigger speakers
01:12Which sound great. There is also a pretty average 720p webcam up top which also supports Windows
01:17Hello, plus we get a fingerprint reader built into the power button on the side
01:21We get four Thunderbolt 4 ports plus a full-size SD card reader
01:26Which is always good to see along with a headphone jack a Kensington lock port and overall
01:30It's just a lovely premium laptop, which you can actually open with just one finger. Well sort of
01:38So far so good then but the problem is I said most of that about last year's XPS 17 as well
01:43And there's still no fancy frost white version of the 17 like we see on the 13 and the 15
01:49Which I think looks a lot better or at least it's nice to have the option
01:52And also there's still no OLED screen option like we've been able to get on the 15 for the last couple of years
01:57It's also very expensive starting at about
02:012,200 pounds or
02:02$1,900 although the base US spec is a little bit lower which accounts for that price difference
02:07I was kind of hoping for maybe like a
02:09XPS 17 plus model to come out like we're seeing with a 13 plus with its refreshed design and MacBook Pro style haptic trackpad
02:17You still can't buy the 13 plus just yet
02:20But I reckon this maybe points to what we can expect from maybe the 2023 XPS 15 and 17
02:26now apart from the obvious benefits of having a bigger 17-inch screen the main reason you might consider the
02:3217 over the 15 is the fact that we have the option of a beefier graphics card up to the
02:373060 also all models on the 17 come with the bigger battery
02:41Cell size lower end versions of the 15 come with a smaller battery and also on the inside we get vapor chamber cooling
02:47Plus there are more options for upgrading it
02:50It is worth pointing out though that regardless of whether you go for the 3050 or the more powerful
02:553060 RTX GPU they are both 60 watt TGP variants
02:59Which are definitely on the low end for those graphics cards and so because of this slim profile and also the thermal headroom
03:06They have to work with in here
03:07This isn't gonna be as fast as other more workstation II or even more gaming
03:12Oriented laptops with higher TGP variants of the cards
03:15So we're looking at the same design the same GPU options the same screen has much really changed here
03:21Well, the headline really is the new 12th gen Intel core i7 and i9
03:26H-series Alder Lake CPUs which are faster and more efficient
03:30Thanks to a new architecture that mixes high-performance P cores with high-efficiency E cores and actually both CPUs also come with faster
03:38Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, which are obviously still not as fast as the dedicated GPUs
03:43But they are much improved over even last year's 11th gen Xe graphics one minor gripe though
03:49Is that we still don't get Wi-Fi 6 e support which is a bit of a shame
03:52Although not really a deal-breaker the new XPS models also get DDR 5 RAM
03:57Although this is kind of a stock speed DDR 5 rated at 4800 megabytes per second
04:02And while it should beat DDR 4 kits in some basic tasks like compression
04:07It's unlikely to really make that much difference to everyday use
04:10So it's an iterative spec bump upgrade this year, perhaps we'll see a bigger overhaul next year fingers crossed
04:16But let's go back to the mistake. I made at the start with how I actually specced this
04:22Here is what I ordered the base i7 CPU the base
04:26RTX 3050 4 gig GPU with the 1 terabyte SSD and the sharper 4k touchscreen as my only two extras
04:34Fairly sensible choices then so how the heck did I manage to spend almost 3 grand on this?
04:39Well, the 17 is expensive at the best of times and in my haste or perhaps just extreme tiredness
04:45I somehow specced 64 gigs of DDR 5 RAM adding a whopping
04:51$450 what I would recommend though, if you are thinking about buying this is to stick with the i7
04:56I don't think although I haven't had them side-by-side to test but I don't think
05:00400 pounds extra for the i9 is really worth it
05:03What I would do is stick with the i7 and put that money towards the more powerful
05:073060 most people are probably gonna be fine with 16 gigs of RAM, especially as you can upgrade it yourself later
05:13Same with the SSD
05:14Although that has got a bit more complicated and a bit more expensive because we are talking about DDR 5 and PCIe 4
05:21Components now, but realistically I think for a 17 if this is gonna be your sort of workstation replacement
05:2732 gigs of DDR 5 RAM is the best choice
05:30Definitely on the 17 inch model go with the 4k screen
05:33You can get away with 1080p on the 15 inch but not really this screen size
05:36So definitely go 4k and we are looking at
05:40Just shy of 3,000 pounds
05:43That is the spec that I would go for if you are buying this in the US and some other countries
05:47You do actually get the option of a lower spec i5 along with 8 gigs of RAM and no GPU
05:52Just the integrated Iris Xe which may be worth considering if you don't need all that extra performance and just want a big
05:5817-inch screen but at that point you may be better off with something like the LG gram 17, which is much lighter as well
06:05But if you want to go absolutely nuts and take every option you're looking at just shy of 4 grand
06:11That's top spec 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Macs money
06:15Although to be fair this can hold its own against Apple's machine in a lot of situations and it's of course much better for gaming
06:22Alternatively consider last year's
06:259710 XPS 17 instead you could get a fairly similar spec for a good 500 pounds less or so
06:30So definitely consider last year's model before you shell out on this
06:35Also quick side note, I get that Dell sells a lot of products, but their website is still pretty horrible to use
06:41I mean not everyone is going to understand the differences between new and old versions of the same laptop
06:45Especially when they're listed side-by-side or sold from the same page
06:50Now this isn't my full review video and I will be doing more tests when I have the higher-end spec
06:55I can compare the two and also compare it to the XPS 15 and also against my MacBook Pro 16
07:00But while I have this let's run a few quick tests to see what kind of performance we're looking at
07:04And in general use as you would expect everything from multitasking a bunch of Chrome tabs a bit of light room editing raw photos
07:10It is all nice and smooth
07:12Although I did find editing high bitrate 4k 60 video in Premiere Pro was a bit choppy
07:18So again, I'm having to resort to using proxy files and maybe dropping the render resolution down to help smooth things out in
07:24Premiere Pro. I still much prefer using my MacBook Pro 16
07:28Now as for games whichever GPU option you go for I would recommend dropping the resolution down to 1080p
07:34Well 1200p technically to get a much higher frame rate. Although with the 3050 I have in here
07:40I still got an impressive
07:42220 FPS in Rainbow Six Siege with ultra settings and actually even a 4k I got a smooth 73 not too bad
07:50Fan noise isn't too bad under load
07:52Although the keyboard deck and the trackpad can get quite toasty after a while and you do often hear the fan
07:57We're up even under fairly light use even just with a bit of Chrome open
08:02The problem is there is nothing wrong with the XPS 17. It's got a nice little upgrade
08:06It's a bit of a spec bump and it is still a beautiful laptop to use
08:10But it's very expensive and I just think the competition is not only catching up but really making strides ahead
08:15Not just from Apple with the MacBook Pro 16, which I am using as I say off-camera here
08:21That is my go-to work laptop right now. Also, I think other brands like Asus with their ZenBook pros and studio books
08:26There's just a lot more innovation there that really makes it stand out compared to this
08:31Which is just the exact same laptop as last year just with a new CPU and some slightly faster RAM just dropped in
08:37It feels a bit lazy, but still I will reserve some judgment
08:41Although I'm pretty judge you already on it for my full review and also comparison videos
08:45So make sure you stay tuned and you have hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on that
08:48But what do you reckon? Do you think this is a decent upgrade?
08:51Would you be tempted to buy one or not?
08:53Let me know in the comments below and I'll see you next time right here on the tech job. Thanks for watching