Dell G3 in house! What do you need to know?

Recon Blue 15” G3

i7 8750h
1060 maxQ
128 dB ssd
1tb platter
2 x 4 2666mhz memory

Complete playlist for your viewing pleasure.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU3n5VGqlV9V5ESXg5UTt--sO8obDnm1s

This laptop is complete and will be in the for sale section here on NBR later today.

 

Does that have a similar build and venting to the 17inch model ?.

I havent looked at the 15 inch version but if so i am mostly curios how temps are and how the venting is handled if there is only intake exhaust on the bottom and no rear exhaust.

Id imagine it will be similar to the 17 if so .

 

I do not know how it’ll compare to the 17” model. I don’t want to assume this early in its infancy.

I just reinstalled the OS to completely remove bloat and will begin testing this weekend.

Ultimately the review should be up in a week or so.

 

I like the port layout batter than the G7 but there isnt an exhaust?

 

Most likely, as with many modern laptops, it exhausts into the hinge area. Combined with a drop hinge, this allows the laptop to appear "exhaustless" while somewhat impeding the exhaust flow. Take a wild guess which of the major manufacturers made that design popular, lol.

That being said, drop hinges have their place, and Dell does have rear exhaust on many of their current laptops, even ones without drop hinges for the display (the current Latitude 5490 comes to mind). I think I am just a bit salty that my old Vaio S has an "unique" drop hinge and exhaust configuration that allows the system exhaust to be nearly completely obstructed by just opening the LCD panel all the way. This really works well with a 35W CPU and a ~30W GPU both sharing the same fan (with no TDP, clock, or power throttle limits). Suffice to say, the fan puts up a heroic fight to keep the laptop cool.



@B0B, congratulations on your new gaming laptop. A lab instructor had the previous "generation" of your G3, and I very much liked its appearance and design. I didn't like the tacky red accents, so I also prefer your Recon Blue color.

 

Just sounds like more parts that can fail no?

 

The lenovo 720s that i am currently playing with has the hinge style exhaust with a 1050ti in it and it does a pretty decent job dispelling the heat.

The only info i have seen about the G3 be it Youtube or whatever said it only has intake vents that's why i wanted to hear it from someone who actually has the machine in hand.

If it is a hinge exhaust and the heat is not blowing directly at the screen it will be fine.

Years ago i bought a Samsung laptop with a 650m in it and the heat was aimed directly onto the screen which after an hour would heat up the screen so badly it would distort the screen it self.

 

Intake at the bottom and exhaust at the hinge. Works remarkably well. Dell should be proud of this G3. 24 hours in and I can tell it was made with some love spite its low cost.

Excellent port selection and placement.
Very subtle muted design.
The Recon Blue is just silver/gray according to everyone who have seen it in person. I really like its color
Quiet too!

I have some more stock and undervolt testing to do before I tear this down tomorrow.

 

No throttling then? how are the temps?

 

Too early to state for either question.

Gaming temps hold well below their thermal throttle for Overwatch Ultra uncapped.

But hardware monitor would shows 100c on the occasional core.

What I’ve noticed it that the fan curve is a little slow to speed up and it’s quick to spool down.

Nothing crazy, just a few seconds till the fans cure temps.

Great for acoustics but it’ll give some temp spikes that need to be ignored.

 

How loud are the fans on overwatch? I purchased a G3 and have already sent it back for repairs. It was reaching nearly 90C just installing Windows programs. Also, it was very very loud when the fan spooled up. And like a jet during Overwatch. Not to mention the Dell techs solution to fix the temperature issue was disabling turbo boost... On a one day old laptop.... It's the 8300h processor too! Yikes...

 

I haven’t taken any decibel readings yet.

It’s similar to the G7 I covered.

I did a fresh iso install as Dells bloat drives me nuts. Not that doing so can make a difference here. Just thought someone might want to know.

I would recommend installing everything and using it a few hours before judging acoustics.

I’ve had laptops spool up pretty loud in their initial updates more often than not.

I really can’t comment beyond that till I have this apart to get a better look at the cooling solution.

There could be potential for some issues there.

 

Once I get the laptop back. I'll do a fresh install. I'm assuming they'll just replace the heat sink unit. I did hear a weird clicking noise from the left fan.

 

Weird double post, sorry lol

 

What is the main difference between g7 and g3? And what is the screen comparing with g7? The same?

 

The G3 is very subtle looking and thinner.

Same LG panel as the G7.

 

When can we expect video review by you? btw thanks for your job.

 

Hopefully this week before the holiday hits. I have another review for a sponsored product that needs to come first.

In a perfect world I’ll have that sponsored video, the G3 review and its tear down all done by Friday.

 

My use case for this laptop would be 80% closed lid with a monitor and peripherals docked on. If the exhaust is on the hinge will it block the airflow when screen is closed?

 

It's blocked when closed about 50% Great question!

 

Are you planning on re pasting and undervolting? Seems easy enough when I took off the back cover to remove the heat sink.

 

I’m doing all of that right now. Just applied new paste and retesting. Going LM on this one later today.

 

Fantastic, can't wait to see your results!

 

That's a bummer. How far does the screen go opened? Can it to 180 degrees?

 

It cannot do 180. Pretty normal clamshell range of motion.

 

2 tear downs complete with the 2nd sporting Liquid Metal as I type. Spoiler alert......LM in the ONLY way to go on the G3.

Thankfully it's a breeze to tear down.

 

Hopefully this thing will be easier to tear down then the 7577

 

Hey Bob, watched your review on YouTube. Great video! Thorough as always. However I have a few more questions.

1. How many m.2 slots are there?
2. If I replace the panel with just a 60hz one but with better color accuracy, will I retain the brightness controls? If you have suggestions, please share them as well.
3. If with the same configuration and price, would you rather get the g7?

Thanks a ton and you're a gift to the laptop community.

 

Only 1 m.2 and 1 2.5. If there was more I would have included it in the review. You can also see this in the teardown should you need it.

Never count on retaining brightness controls when upgrading your display to a higher refresh rate but just a 60hz to 60hz has been fine most of the time.

My thoughts on the G3 over the G7 were included in the review...I think lol. I like the simple aesthetic of the G3 and prefer it for that reason as well as the layout for the I/O plus its internal setup is far superior. It's just a better design with some actual thought.

 

Hi BOB. Great youtube review! What are the differences between G3 and xps15, a part of the battery and the aesthetics? Is it worth spending $500 more for an xps 15 versus a G3 with similar characteristics? Thanks

PD: I do not need the laptop for playing but high-performance

 

Two completely different laptops. As of right now I cannot recommend the XPS 15 to anyone unless they perform a miracle with its chincy cooling solution.

 

Thanks for the review bob im interested to see how the 17inch version compares I will have it in the next week or so

 

Yes, the XPS 15 9570 temps reach 100C on Realbench and it sounds like a jet engine. However, despite that it is scoring about 25% better in that benchmark. Video rendering will finish on the XPS about 50 seconds before it's done on my EVGA SC15. As I run them side by side, the difference in time is huge.

I could only imagine that the G3 is as good if not better due to better cooling. Or, maybe it's the same.

Now I need to decide if it's worth losing the $200 (15% restocking fee and shipping each way) on the EVGA for keeping the XPS and getting 25% better performance.

I'm still testing it this weekend. Running multiple times brought the two laptops closer but the XPS was still faster. I'm going to compare it to a G7 also.

 

It looks like Dell is now only selling these without Thunderbolt(the spec sheet for the G3 lists TB as optional). Does this mean that there is no way to connect more than 1 monitor for those models?

 

Hey, any news about 17 inch G3? Maybe someone have it?

 

Hello.
I bought this laptop (G3 15.6" with LGD053F display) and I would like to upgrade the screen. It is my first laptop and I didn't expect 6-bit display in a device of this price range. Heck, didn't even know such bad panels exists. Dark gray looks exactly like black, it's not even funny at this point. Do you know any 1080p 60 Hz 8-bit lcd panel that would be compatible with G3?

 

How would you rate G3's cooling with LM?

 

-12 GPU
-15 CPU
Under load
17.3"

 

BTW i have another display compare to previous posts
this one
http://www.panelook.com/N173HCE-E31_Innolux_17.3_LCM_overview_25821.html

 

Shhhhhhh, don't talk about an xps device actually performing. Rumor has it, they are slower than 386s.

 

BoB's model has TB3, and I had an agent tell me one model includes it. I think its dncwgf426s (quick order code). Must have i7 and the 1060. Specs of the dncwgf426s match up with what BoB has here. Unfortunately it's not as great a deal compared to the G7 - but I do like port layout a LOT more than the G7. You would have to buy some new ram to get to 16GB which drives cost up significantly.

 

Noticing in OwnOrDisown's video unboxing his model has TB3 port as well - but he has the i5/1060 model. Interesting...

UPDATE: Dell Rep over chat said that any 1060 equipped G3 will have the TB3 port...

 

This is correct! It only needs the 1060 to get the TB3 port.

I think I updated my description to reflect this a few weeks back but if not I will get it done.

Always check my description and top pinned comment as I keep updating frequently.

 

Thanks Bob - decided to pick up the i5/1060 variant off Dell's website today. I ended up cancelling my order of the XPS15 as I'm too nervous about the performance for the price, and I already have a MBP that I love using for anything other than games.

Plan to put the 9260 WIFI in as well as a WD BLUE 3D NAND 2 TB SSD.

I've been a big eGPU user the last year, but I'm realizing nothing beats the traditional architecture for games - even though thermals and fan noise are a big win for using an external GPU. I might keep my 1070 around to use with the G3. It would be a very interesting gaming performance comparison.

I debated picking up your new favorite the HP OMEN, but the G3's understated design is more appealing. I like the left side ports as well. Power and TB3 are easy enough to hook up. I had an Alienware 13r3 last year, and loved it outside the small display, but ports in the rear can actually be less useful. They look cleaner "docked" bur are more annoying to use day to day.

I also noticed the G3 is significantly thinner than the HP Omen (that clocks in over 1"!).

 

I have bought my G3 3779 more than a week ago. It includes Core i7 8750H and GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q. It also includes one Thunderbolt 3 port.

Interesting facts: my laptop is equipped with keyboard with white characters and white backlit. The LCD panel is LP173WF4 LGD05B5. It is very decent panel, the colour accuracy is good.

The thermals are also good. Here are the results after the 30 minutes AIDA64 test (CPU+GPUs):

 

Hi,is it possible to overclock it _?

 

If I want to upgrade the wifi card should I be using a 9260 or the 9560 (since the 9462 in the G3 uses the CNVio interface)?

 

Take your pic. I ran a 9260 in mine after awhile. Much better! Easy to find too.

 

Thanks for info, didn't want to buy the wrong one and waste my money.

Also love the videos Bob, I live in Canada so I couldn't jump on the omen deal but I think so far I'm happy with the G3.

 

Hi guys - just wondering if my G3 17 with an i5 8300H's tempretures are too high. I only bought it last week so it's still eligible for a return/exchange if so, but in CPU intensive games like BF4 and in the Intel Diagnostic Tool (CPU stress test), my 8300H hits 100c maximum temps. Undervolting the core by -0.135mv doesn't help since it just turbo boosts during the stress test, so still hits 100c. If I turn off turbo boost in the BIOS, it maxes out at 70c, but I lose a lot of performance that way...That can't be good. I know I can probably repaste, but I could also just exchange/return instead and maybe get one with better stats OOTB?