Dell G7 7590 15" impressions

So recent Dell sale encouraged me to try out this model. I was looking for a relatively thin laptop with a RTX GPU and the price and features made me decide to buy this model. Before continuing, I will just have to say that yes, Dell's quality control sucks ass. I had to return first notebook I received, this is the second one which I ordered, due to various quality control issues. This second unit also had defect straight out of the box but it was easy to fix (the touchpad was a little bit loose, I had to bend metal bracket that holds it).

Long story short, the good stuff:

- I like the physical design. It does not look like "I am 12-year-old kid who plays Fortnite and watches Ninja on Mixer", it looks like a professional device. No glowing logos or lightbars.
- The design of chassis is really great, the chassis feels very sturdy and unlike some junk brands such as MSI (I had first hand experience with it, so don't give me "I have MSI laptop and it works fine for me" stuff) Dell uses plenty of metal, including the screw posts. MSI uses cheap brittle plastic around screw posts, which can crack over time, I have seen it in my old MSI GE series, you can also Google for stuff like "MSI hinge broken". This also makes it feel a little bit heavy compared to similar portable models but I do not mind it.
- The 240hz IGZO display panel has no backlight bleeding. The previous G7 that I returned also had no backlight bleeding at all. The backlight bleeding is something that really annoys me and something that I have seen on every Sager laptop and my old MSI laptop. This panel also consumes less power, has faster response rate and better contrast than 144hz panels according to Dell's specifications.
- The keyboard feels great, plenty of resistance and good backlight quality. Better than on some Sager models I have tried.
- Very good repairability, all the stuff inside is easy to access with no "inverted motherboard" stuff or anything like that.
- Dell's own software is pretty good, you can control things like CPU power limit and automatic fan profiles using Dell Power Manager presets ("Optimized", "Quiet" and "Ultra Performance"). It does not allow custom fan speed (you need Alienware Command Center for that) but the auto works good enough. The software also allows you to charge battery up to certain limit (such as 80% or lower) to prolong the lifespan of battery. The Dell Update is also great - it can find and download every driver and BIOS updates that is available.
- The CPU performance is great since Dell allows CPU to use 60w in "Optimized" mode and 75w in "Ultra Performance" mode.

Now some negatives:

- Dell's QC sucks. Do not expect to receive perfect unit with no issues. The first one that I have returned had rattling speaker on one side and one of the fans had high pitched annoying sound. The replacement I got had a slightly loose touchpad which was easy to fix by myself.
- The cooling system is not very good, which is typical for every thin laptop. The CPU will throttle even if Dell has applied enough thermal paste. You can prevent that with undervolting and repaste, especially if you will go with liquid metal. The air intake is only on bottom area so you must provide enough room for intake, meaning you can't place the laptop on soft surfaces like your bed.
- The Nvidia GPUs are 80w models, unlike in similar laptops made by Razer or Gigabyte. There is no way to change that. They will still play games well enough, even with RTX effects enabled, you will just get less performance compared to other brands which allow 90w or higher GPU power limits.
- There is no space for second m.2 slot. You can only have one m.2 slot and either 2.5" drive if you go with 60w/h battery or no 2.5" drives if you go with 90w/h battery.
- There is no Gsync and you cannot disable Optimus.

Overall I like this unit - sure other alternative like Gigabyte Aero 15 is better since it allows for higher GPU power limit and has more air intakes and larger heatsinks but it is much more expensive, I would have to pay like $500 for new Gigabyte Aero 15 with same GPU and same display. Razer stuff is also more expensive and I don't like their design. Lenovo models are not expensive and have better cooling but they do not have good display choices, low battery capacity and have different keyboard with less key resistance (I am not sure if I would like it). Sager or Clevo units were not an option for me, I do not like the fact that I have to depend on resellers to get BIOS updates or tech support and I have seen annoying backlight bleeding on every Sager or Clevo units I had and my friends had (none of the resellers guarantee perfect panel quality with no backlight bleeding).

Edit: just wanted to add a few more things. Like I said, the stock paste sucks and you WILL have thermal throttling using it. I have repasted it using different thermal pastes. I tried MX-4, Coolermaster Mastergel Maker Nano and Gelid GC Extreme. The best one is Gelid GC Extreme. Using this paste there is NO THERMAL THROTTLING in any application or game when using default "Optimized" power mode in Dell Power Manager. No thermal throttling in Cinebench, no thermal throttling in any game (WoW classic, FFXIV, Metro Exodus) or benchmark. You will bump into power limit throttling, though, something which can be prevented by undervolting if you are interested. So no need for liquid metal for this model unless you live in a very hot environment.

 

That's some great info.. the only reason I haven't dumped by old G7 7588 is I don't like the feel of the newer one. Feels like rigid..

 

What makes Lenovos cooling design better than this Dell? I was gonna go for a G7 before reading this ...