Dell XPS 17 (2023) Review: A Do-It-All Device That’s Worth the Splurge

The 2023 Dell XPS 17 (9730) laptop continues the legacy of Dell’s premium XPS line and does it with pizazz. From its 17-inch 4K InfinityEdge display to its robust speakers and CPU, you can do almost anything with this device.

Like the Dell XPS 15 (2023) I reviewed recently, the Dell XPS 17 (9730) isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s not quite a run-of-the-mill computer. Instead, it’s a premium laptop that’s almost desktop replacement level, barring a few weaknesses (such as fast battery drain). Dell’s way of defining this powerful device is to call it a “prosumer” machine.

Prosumer or not, the high cost of Dell’s 2023 XPS 17 laptop (my configuration runs for $3,000+), means you’ll need to ponder if it’s worth it to fork over all that dough. But if you’re looking for a 4K laptop with fantastic speakers, a powerful Intel i7 CPU, and an NVIDIA GPU for all your casual gaming needs, the XPS 17 is worth every penny.

Design: A Premium Feel

There’s nothing unexpected about the Dell XPS 17’s design (looking at you, XPS 13 Plus). Instead, it embodies the maxim that less is more.

The chassis is an eye-catching combo of aluminum and carbon fiber. The top lid features a Dell logo and a pleasing silver sheen. When you lift the lid, you’re met with a 17-inch display, which houses an integrated camera and a dual microphone system. The full-size 10-keyless keyboard measures about 11 inches, and two up-firing speakers are nestled on either side. The carbon fiber material on the keyboard area looks professional and is somewhat fingerprint resistant.

Centered below the keyboard is a large touchpad (it’s nearly 6 inches in length). The two down-firing speakers are located on either side of the XPS 17, below the beveled edge of the laptop sides. A sizable XPS logo and a large vapor chamber cooling system are on the bottom of the laptop.

Ports: Minimalist Inputs

Anyone hoping for numerous ports will feel disappointed by the Dell XPS 17’s minimalism in this department. Even in 2023, it’s unusual for a laptop to come without USB-A ports, but this one has zero. Thankfully the manufacturer includes a USB-C adapter in the box that houses one USB-A and an HDMI port to compensate for the noticeable lack—(Yep, no built-in HDMI port either).

What you do get with the Dell XPS 17 is plenty of USB-C ports. On the left side are two USB-C ports and a wedge-shaped lock slot. The right side of the device contains another two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader.

To counteract the lack of USB-C ports, you’ll want to consider picking up a USB-C hub or a laptop dock, either of which is a simple solution if you don’t mind the extra cost.

Still, it’s disappointing for a laptop of this price range to have no integrated USB-A ports.

Inputs: Keyboard, Touchscreen, and Trackpad

If you type a lot, you’ll be pleased with the breezy type feel of the Dell XPS 17’s keyboard. From writing articles and drafting emails, my fingers flew across the XPS 17’s keyboard with speed and accuracy, thanks to the balance of the keys. They’ve got a lovely spring and aren’t too loose. I didn’t have to frequently stop to correct typos, as I often do with some keyboards.

This device also has you covered with a sensitive trackpad and touchscreen. Between the two, I could easily click, tap, two-finger scroll, type, doodle, and navigate between my growing number of internet tabs, Spotify, Photoshop, and whatever else was on my task list.

The touchpad is one of the best precision touchpads you’ll find, with a large surface measuring 5.87 inches in length.

The Sights: Winning Display and Graphics

The XPS 17’s display is the epitome of a stunning 4K laptop, with a vibrancy and sharpness that captures the essence of 4K TVs on a smaller scale. The only bummer is Dell doesn’t offer an OLED screen upgrade, so you might notice a drop-off in darker colors at certain viewing angles.

The display features a 0.65% anti-reflective coating, which is handy in sunny California. It also includes EyeSafe Technology (which reduces harmful blue light), wide viewing, and a max brightness of 500 nits.

From streaming “A Man Called Otto” and “Supernatural” on Netflix (sadly, my Netflix subscription isn’t 4K) to 4K content on YouTube, the display popped with brilliant color.

The monitor’s saturation appears slightly high in some cases, but not enough to be a bother, and it does well with the murky shadows and coloration of “Supernatural” and games like “Amnesia: The Bunker” while also capturing the depth of 4K videos.

The Dell XPS 17’s Performance

There’s hardly a stutter from the 2023 Dell XPS 17 when you operate on a multitasking scale like me, thanks to the CPU’s 14 cores and 20 threads and 32GB RAM. At one point, while researching for a work project, I had close to 40 tabs open, and I’m not exaggerating. While conducting this research, I had a video running in the background as well as game downloads from Xbox, and still, it was a near-seamless performance.

I also used the XPS 17 as my primary streaming device. While it won’t replace a TV, it does a stand-out job with streaming and could easily serve as a portable TV. For all things media and work, the Dell XPS 17 won’t let you down. It’s a workhorse that’ll keep on going.

Latency occurred twice during gaming and once during a Netflix stream while plugged in—mostly negligible lags.

Gaming with NVIDIA RTX 4070

The NVIDIA RTX 4070 GPU in the XPS 17 makes it possible to enjoy many casual games with moderate resource requirements. The laptop is also capable of running resource-heavy games like “A Plague Tale: Requiem,” but you won’t be playing these at competitive speed levels, which is why I wouldn’t recommend this as a primary gaming laptop for competitive gamers. You’ll also get the standard refresh rate of 60Hz, making latency more noticeable with resource-heavy combat games than 120Hz.

If you’re a casual gamer, though, you won’t care. You’ll be too busy enjoying the 4K and NVIDIA’s DLSS3 and full ray-tracing.

Most of my gameplay was relatively smooth with games like “Disney Dreamlight Valley” and “The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales,” but there was some noticeable latency with panning in games like “Bramble: The Mountain King” and “A Plague Tale Requiem.

I must note, however, many laptops I’ve reviewed couldn’t even run “Plague Tale,” so that says something about the XPS 17’s power.

The Camera, Speakers, and Microphones

The weakest link of the XPS 17 is the webcam, which is only 720P. It’s an okay camera for casual Zoom calls, but if you work from home and video chat a lot, you may want to upgrade to an external webcam.

On the other hand, the speakers are some of the best laptop speakers I’ve heard. With the large up-firing and down-firing speakers, you get immersive sound suitable for music listening and streaming (especially when the laptop is on a hard surface that reflects sound).

The dual integrated microphones also do a decent job capturing the human voice, suitable for your calls and voice notes without extra equipment.

Microphone Test of the Dell XPS 17 Laptop in a Quiet Environment

Microphone Test of the Dell XPS 17 Laptop in a Noisy Environment

Battery Life and Charging: Quick to Come and Go

The XPS 17’s battery lasts for about four to six hours of straight work at 450 to 500 nits of brightness. But on average, I noticed my battery draining about 10 to 18% per hour, depending on the strain I put on the CPU.

While gaming, the drain is far more significant—an average of 1% per minute (60% per hour). While it stinks to have to plug in more than once per day (I often did), the laptop’s power is the trade-off.

Charging wasn’t as lengthy as expected, either, which made the whole ordeal more pleasant. On average, I measured 35 to 39% battery gain in an hour.

The Dells XPS 17 Compared to the Dell XPS 15

Having had the pleasure to review both the XPS 15 (9530) and the XPS 17 (9730), I can speak to a few of their differences. Internally, there’s some stuff going on that could skew your decision between buying either model.

The XPS 15, for example, only has a 40W GPU while the XPS 17 is a 60W. Wattage matters in a GPU because it determines how much power the GPU can use and thus affects image processing and how long a laptop can run heavy processes. Yes, 60W is better than 40W any day.

Another difference is the advantage of the XPS 17’s vapor cooling system, which is noticeably quieter than the XPS 15. The XPS 17 remains cooler than the XPS 15, even while charging.

Again, the XPS 17 doesn’t have an OLED upgrade option, but the XPS 15 does.

Aside from these main differences, the XPS 17 is more immersive for multimedia simply because its screen size and the bump from 3.5K to 4K.

Should You Buy the Dell XPS 17 (2023) Laptop?

If you need a laptop that can handle your everyday tasks and moderate gaming, the 2023 Dell XPS 17 (9730) is worth the cost. While my configuration runs for over $3K, you can size down on some options and get it at a cheaper price.

But if you need something cheaper and don’t emphasize GPUs, the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 offers some muscle for a lower cost.

You can buy the Dell XPS 17 (2023) laptop starting at $2,049 today.