Dell brought the updated version of its G15 notebook to Brazil in the second half of 2022, now with processors from the AMD Ryzen 6000 family. The new edition promises to correct errors in the predecessor and increase performance in games.
Is the Dell G15 capable of improving the experience of the last generation in this new set? TudoCelular tested a unit of this machine and tells you in detail now, in this complete review.
design and connectivity
For the 2022 generation, we can say that the manufacturer reused the last generation carcass in this new version. We have a design identical to the one we found in the 2021 edition. This means that you will have a body with a matte finish and graphite color, in addition to embossed lines on the triangle-shaped portion of the lid.
The machine follows with an entire plastic construction, which may even be above common types of material, but is still below expectations for a machine of this size.
The body is also not portable at all. We have a weight of approximately 2.5 kilos, in addition to a thickness that borders on 2.7 centimeters. Prepare your back or hand if you want to carry it around in a backpack.
The touchpad follows with good response and precision, with a medium size. Regarding the keyboard, we have a first important advance. The American standard was replaced by ABNT2, that is, now there are buttons adapted to the Brazilian language. Something we charged in our review of the predecessor.
RGB lighting is still going strong here, with up to three independent light zones and customization through the Alienware Command Center software. Not to mention the outline highlighted for the “W”, “A”, “S” and “D” keys, as a way to make life easier for gamers.
Dell has improved the cooling system of this version and now promises an 8% more efficient air circulation flow. We noticed that the notebook has improved in the thermal part and does not heat up as much as in the previous generation. But if necessary, you can boost the coolers using the brand’s proprietary software.
On the left are located the Ethernet connector and the audio jack for headphones and microphone. At the back are the HDMI port, one USB-A and one USB-C with DisplayPort. On the right, two more USB Type-A ports appear. At the top of the screen is the HD-only camera, which is not exciting and has a lot of noise in the image.
In the box, you’ll only find the 240 W power supply, the power cable and the user manual, without major accessories.
screen and sound
This Dell G15 comes equipped with a 15.6-inch screen in Full HD resolution. The type of panel is what the brand calls WVA, a technology that allows for a wider viewing angle. And we see here that the display does not disappoint. You can view the images without being in a straight line without any kind of distortion.
The brightness is able to reach 300 nits and is below the desired level. At least the colors please and provide a very satisfactory contrast.
For gamers, the highlight here is the 165 Hz refresh rate. It is enough to handle most of today’s games with excellent fluidity. But about games, we’ll talk later.
In the sound part, we find stereo speakers on each side of the lower portion of the base of the notebook. They have good power, in addition to having an above average quality, even if there is no highlight for any frequency itself.
If you prefer to make the sound fuller and with a manual equalizer, you can use Dolby Atmos to adjust the audio the way you prefer.
performance and specifications
The Dell G15 2022 unit we tested comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card. The same machine has different configuration options, so you can choose whether you want maximum power or prefer to save a little more .
The memory pool contains up to 16 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of internal storage. Dell kept the second memory expansion slot, but left out the connector for a second SSD.
This ended up leaving insufficient space for this year’s half Tera model. You will see that approximately six medium-sized games installed will already be able to complete its internal space, but it is impossible to expand this to have more to install the games.
Remembering that all component management, thermal system and optimizations for specific games can be in the Alienware control center software. The user can configure eventual overclocks or situations in which the cooler must work harder.
Speaking of overclocking, it is possible to configure to gain more power in the hardware by activating only the “G” key. The fan also gets a more accelerated setting, to help curb any overheating.
We tested some benchmarks to find out what the potential of this generation is. We haven’t seen major advances in 3DMark, within the Time Spy mode. We had a score that doesn’t reach 9,000 points, but it’s already enough to run most of the games you might want.
PCMark was around 6,700 points. A note whose main highlights are video editing, rendering and visualization, opening applications and productivity tasks in general.
Games
We arrived at the main point: the games. We tested a total of seven titles that could give an expression of the potential of this machine. Starting with DOOM Eternal, this is a game that manages to perform well on powerful cards, and here it was no different. We managed around 130 fps on average, good ray tracing performance on shadows and textures.
The same scenario can be said about this technology applied to the game God of War. Places with lights end up gaining more contrast with periods of shadow. In this case, it was not possible to raise the frame rate so much, which was between 60 and 70 fps here.
We can say that the game that manages to exploit the full potential of the combination of GPU and GPU is Spider-Man Remastered. It is possible to observe the Ray Tracing well in the reflections of the windows of the buildings or even in the general view of the city, when it is possible to check the technology working in its purest state. Here we also reach rates above 100 fps
In Sackboy: A Great Adventure, the special feature is only present in the textures. Still, you can see that the game is more beautiful after activating the feature than before.
In a competitive setting, we highlight what this notebook can do in CS:GO. The machine has the ability to exploit the maximum possible fps on the 165 Hz panel, even with activated extras, to improve image quality.
The animated Battle Royale Fall Guys is an example of a game that doesn’t show any kind of treatment when you’re playing with 59 other people. The fps rate will not be a problem here, since it will have limitations from the manufacturer itself.
Finally, we have in Rocket League another example that reaches the maximum fps rate supported by this display. And you can rest assured if you want to activate all the extras to make the look more beautiful.
Drums
The manufacturer kept the same six-cell battery and 86 Watts hour. Despite the hardware update, the newer components don’t seem to have influenced that much in autonomy.
We did a test using conventional work, switching directly between the Edge browser, the Telegram messenger and the Word program. Here we saw exactly the same duration of 6 and a half hours as its predecessor. Considering the presence of an RTX 3060, we can consider the result largely positive.
We also carried out an experiment with games only, running a title directly until the machine was unloaded. This time, the time was lower and stopped after 1 hour and 40 minutes of gameplay, almost 20 minutes less than what we found in the last generation.
Moving on to charging, the source is 240 W, but it is not a good option for the consumer. This is because, even with great power, the time connected to the socket is still high, with almost 2 and a half hours to complete the whole process.
dell
September 24
dell
29 Jun
Final considerations
The Dell G15 2022 is a machine that brings features very similar to the previous generation. We have a reused housing, a screen with Full HD resolution and a rate that reaches 165 Hz. Not to mention the battery that has performance very similar to the predecessor.
However, we can mention some discreet advances that make all the difference in the user’s life. One of them is the adoption of the ABNT2 standard on the keyboard. This allows the individual not to waste time trying to get used to the letters and still pick up accents in different spaces on the keyboard.
We added to the relevant improvements the new heat dissipation. Thus, you will be able to play in high quality without having components as heated as before. To complete, we have updated processors from AMD, which allowed a discreet gain in benchmarks, but important in the practical part.
Meanwhile, we understand that the manufacturer failed to remove the additional storage slot, as the maximum allowed at the time of purchase is a 512 GB SSD, which is insufficient for a larger amount of installed games.
In addition, another problem is in its construction. The material is still plastic, which leaves something to be desired if we consider the category of this notebook. In addition, it still has larger than expected dimensions and compromises the portability that a gamer might look for in this machine.
It is worth it?
Dell sells the updated G15 on its official website for the suggested price of R$ 9,399, in the configuration tried by TudoCelular. We understand that this is a good premium model available on the market, but it is far from perfect because of the negative points already mentioned. Therefore, the fairest price would be somewhere around R$6,500 to R$7,000.
If you want to look for cheaper rivals, you can find the Ideapad Gaming 3. It has the same GPU and amount of memory, but has the 5000 series of Ryzen 7, which already brings similar performance. Another option is the Predator Helios 300 from Acer, which has an identical graphics card, only comes with an Intel processor.
In your opinion, is this machine a good option in the gaming notebook market? Would you buy a unit from her, or do you prefer some other alternative? You can comment freely in the space below.
