Dell - G3 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti Max-Q - 512GB Solid State Drive - Black

PROS: * GTX 1660 Ti * 8GB (2x 4GB) RAM to utilize dual-channel out of the box * Sturdy build/construction * No HDD to slow you down * Easy to get into the laptop for future upgrades CONS: * No Windows Hello * 2 of the 3 USB Type-A ports are 2.0 * Speakers are located under the laptop --Build Quality-- The 2019 Dell G3 is "unapologetically plastic", but without feeling cheap or flimsy. The chassis is very sturdy and the screen has very little flex to it. My only real complaint about going with the plastic build is with the wrist rest: it collects fingerprints and skin oil like it's its job (so keep a microfiber cloth in you backpack). The keyboard isn't my favorite, but it's far from what I would consider to be a bad keyboard. It's comfortable and accurate for gaming and I can comfortably use the keyboard for prolonged typing. The display is a 60Hz IPS (1080p) display. It doesn't get super bright (so I would recommend avoiding working/playing near a window), but it still looks good. If you would prefer to use an external display, the G3 has a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port (supporting single 4k output) and an HDMI 2.0 port on the right side. The G3 does have three USB Type-A ports, but only one is USB 3.1 (on the left), the other two are 2.0 ports. This isn't a big deal to me, since I usually prefer to use the right ports for my mouse and USB headphones (so 2.0 is just fine). I'm rarely impressed with the speakers on laptops, and the G3 is no exception. The speakers are located on the bottom sides of the laptop, rather than facing you. The speaker quality isn't that great either, especially when listening to music (bass is almost nonexistent). --Performance-- Dell has brought some of their Alienware features over to the G-line with the "Alienware Command Center" (to optimize the game settings based on your system) and a dedicated "G-key" which will max out the fan speed. Speaking of the fans: they get loud, very loud. I would HIGHLY recommend using a pair of gaming headphones with decent noise-isolation. The fans do a good job though, after a couple hours of gaming, the CPU+GPU were averaging in the mid to high 70s °C. Here's how the G3 held up in the games I play: - Overwatch (ultra settings): high 60s FPS - Fortnite (high settings, with view distance on epic): high 50s FPS - Witcher 3 (mix of high and medium settings): high 50s FPS - World of Warcraft (ultra and high settings, in raids): high 40s to low 50s FPS - Guild Wars 2 (using auto-detect settings, in populated areas): mid 50s FPS --Overall-- The focus of the G3 is to allow gamers to get a decent 1080p gaming laptop without breaking the bank. Dell focused on game performance over everything else. It doesn't have a premium feel, still uses USB Type-A 2.0 ports, "only" has a 1080p IPS display, but none of those really take away from the gaming experience. All of my games run quite smooth and I have no issues with gaming on the G3 for multiple hours. A gaming laptop at this price point with a GTX 1660 Ti is a great value.

I was excited to get this laptop as it was my first gaming laptop. In my experience, Dell has been a very reliable brand and generally gives you good quality on a budget. Pros: -Backlit keyboard - love the blue color -Great processing speeds -HD graphics which looked amazing while streaming movies and shows -NO GLARE on the screen -Number pad was included in this layout -Overall great performance -Worked really well with games like Fallout 4 -Battery life is awesome. I was able to play for 3-4 hours without issue. -Looks cool. I really like the design of the laptop in general. Now for the cons: -The power button is hard to press for some reason, not a deal breaker, but certainly noticable -I had issues running some lower video quality games. Got a lot of stuttering while running games like What Remains of Edith Finch which doesn't really require much to run. I tested a few other lower video quality games and for some reason, it struggled. But to be honest, you buy a gaming laptop to run high quality games on it, so it's once again not a deal breaker. -If you aren't using headphones or a headset, the sound can get a little boxy and you can hear a slight rattling. -The fans are LOUD especially when you turn on the Alienware Performance Mode. Though it's a cool feature, I suggest headphones because it does get really loud. -It's heavy for a 15" laptop. I believe it weighed in at 6 pounds which is a bit hefty, but not impossible to carry around. Overall I really like this laptop. I think Dell produced a very powerful laptop for a very reasonable price.

I didn't think this would play my total war series, but it does. Even on ultra. The fans do get loud but nothing annoying. I put it on a cool pad. And have my head phones on and game. I would think this would be a $1k at lease. I got mine on black Friday for 700 awesome deal awesome gaming laptop

## Performance The Dell G3 15.6 Gaming Laptop (model I3590-5988BLK-PUS) isn't a top-of-the-line gaming rig, but it holds it own and provides great performance for many games.  For example, I'm able to run Fortnite with all of the setting set to "Epic" (highest) and the game is still very fluid and looks amazing. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, there is a bug that prevents the FPS from showing in Fortnite, but I would estimate it to be in the 45-55 range. The F7 key also functions as the "Game Shift" key which kicks up the fan speeds to prevent thermal throttling. The fans are somewhat noisy, so you'll likely find yourself reaching for headphones if you turn this feature on. A quick look at the specs: Intel Core i5 (Coffee Lake) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 8GB RAM (2 x 4GB for a dual channel boost) 512GB NVMe solid-state drive (with about 480GB available out-of-the-box) Design Although the exterior of the laptop is constructed of plastic, it still feels solid and should stand up against the occasional bumps and rigors of transporting it. The exterior has a nice matte finish that helps hide fingerprints. The keyboard is comfortable for both gaming and typing, with a full numeric keypad on the right. The keyboard also has a blue LED backlight that looks cool, especially at night. The WASD are clearly identified with a border. Speakers are located on the bottom and, unfortunately, sound a bit tinny and underwhelming. This is yet another reason to use headphones while gaming. The laptop is a little bulky, weighing about 5 pounds. However, this is expected since it is a gaming machine. ## Display I love the fact that the display has an anti-glare finish while still maintaining a sharp onscreen appearance. The display is IPS and looks great from an angle, with a 1080p 60Hz resolution. I also sometimes "dock" the laptop, using the side USB-C port with a hub that outputs to a 1080p monitor and it runs both displays without an issue.  The default resolution for the display is 1536x864 ## Battery Life I can typically get about 2-4 hours of battery life when gaming with this laptop. The charging brick is HUGE, which makes sense as it outputs 180 watts. The USB-C port shows a Power Delivery symbol, but as far as I know, Power Delivery specs max out at 100 watts, so you likely won't be able to charge and use this laptop at the same time if using a third-party Power Delivery charger. ## Setup Set aside about 2 hours to allow the system to perform all necessary updates, including the Windows updates. There are also several Dell driver updates that the included "Dell Update" program can perform for you. Additionally, there was a system BIOS update that required a manual installation by downloading the update directly from the Dell support website.

this it a great laptop for the school great performance and great design but my laptop has a light leak in the screen and you can see it in black backgrounds

Gaming laptops are becoming more and more popular, but not every gamer needs the power and performance of a $2,000 machine. For teenagers or casual gamers, this Dell G3 gaming laptop is an excellent entry-level option that foregoes some flashy features in exchange for an affordable yet still powerful machine. There are a couple of notable drawbacks, but this is still one of the best laptops you'll find at this price point. === DESIGN & CONNECTIVITY=== - The G3 is entirely a plastic matte black with some neon blue highlights throughout. The Dell logo on the top is reflective and switches between a green and blue shine. There is a bit of a curve to the top of the laptop, and the back of it has some distinct angles. The neon blue accent strip runs around the edge of the laptop and gives it a pretty sleek look. - The matte plastic has a tendency to pick up fingerprints and smudges and they don't wipe away very easily -- they just sort of smear. - The inside of the laptop does seem a bit cheap -- the text on the keyboard keys is neon blue and there is a rather thick bezel around the display. - The laptop feels quite sturdy and substantial -- I think it will easily survive countless trips in backpacks and everyday wear-and-tear. However, there is definitely a bit of flex if you press down too hard on the keyboard or wrist-rest area. But I don't think that's going to be a problem for most people. - The torque on the hinge is pretty tight - you can't open this laptop with one hand. It might loosen over time. - There are no flashy RBG features on this laptop, which is totally fine as an entry-level machine. Luckily, the keyboard is backlit, but you cannot change the color of the blue lights. - There are plenty of ports available on the G3. On the right: Two USB 3.1 Type-A ports. On the left: power connector, one USB Type-C (DisplayPort), one HDMI port, one USB Type-A 3.1 port, an Ethernet port, and a headphone jack. On the right: lock slot, two USB Type-A 2.0 ports, and an SD card slot. - The power brick pretty bulky must weigh half as much as the laptop itself, but that's to be expected in any gaming laptop. - Overall: There's nothing fancy to see here: this is a utilitarian-looking laptop with some nice splashes of color. But that's fine with me -- this will fit in at a company boardroom or at a gaming desk. === DISPLAY, KEYBOARD, & TRACKPAD === - The G3 is equipped with a 15.6-inch 1080p display running at 60Hz. The display is fine, but not great. Colors seem a bit muted or washed out, and there is a bit of backlight bleed around the edges. In bright rooms, it's hard to notice these faults. But in darker rooms, it's very hard to see detail in darker areas of on-screen images. It's passable for portable gaming, but I would recommend using an external monitor if you have a desk at home. - The keyboard very comfortable to type on, but it feels a little cramped. The inclusion of the numeric keypad on the right side feels a bit unnecessary in a 15-inch laptop. I would have rather gone without the number pad to give the rest of the keys more room to breath. Also, the blue keyboard backlight seems to time out very quickly and I don't see any settings to adjust this. - The trackpad uses Windows Precision drivers and works very well. But I don't like it's position on the laptop - it's not centered under the display or keyboard and feels too far to the left. - Overall: For an entry level machine, there's not much to complain about with regards to the display, keyboard, or trackpad. They will be perfectly fine on their own, and I suspect many gamers will be using separate monitors, keyboards, and mice when they are at home. === PERFORMANCE, COOLING, & UPGRADES === - Out of the box, this machine is nicely equipped: i5-9300H, 1660 Ti, 512 GB SSD, and 8 GB of RAM. These are perfectly good specs for casual gaming, though I wish 16 GB of RAM came standard. Luckily, the SSD and RAM can be easily upgraded by simply popping off the back cover. There is even a slot to add a 2.5-inch drive. - Gaming performance is much better than I was expecting. Here are some sample benchmark results (high settings): Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 74 fps; Battlefield V - 74 fps; The Division 2 - 76 fps; Fortnite - 137 fps. As you can see, there is plenty of power here to drive almost any game at 60 fps with decent quality settings. - The speakers are acceptable, but nothing more. They work fine, but there is noticeable distortion at higher volumes and they sound tinny and hollow to me. - The laptop gets warm, but never too hot during gaming. However, the fans get pretty loud, so you'll want to crank up the speaker volume or wear a headset. - Battery life is very impressive for a gaming laptop. For basic tasks like surfing the web and checking email, I've clocked over 6 hours of battery life on one charge. Gaming is obviously going to drastically reduce that number, but it's nice to know that this laptop can also get me through a full day of productivity tasks if needed. - Unfortunately, Dell has loaded this machine with tons of bloatware: trials for McAfee, games, proprietary Dell update software, and a ton of other bloat that shows up in the start menu. I was prompted 5 times in 10 minutes to sign up for a $100 McAfee subscription -- no thanks! The first thing you should do when you start up this laptop is head to the Settings menu and uninstall all of this. - Overall: Despite the included bloatware, this G3 is nicely specced out of the box and is luckily easy to upgrade in the future. My first upgrade will be an extra stick of RAM to bring it up to 16 GB. Regardless, performance is excellent for this price point and should satisfy all but the most hardcore of gamers. === OVERALL === Dell has struck a great balance of price and performance with the G3 and it represents an excellent value to budget-conscious gamers or those who simply don't need the absolute best-of-the-best. No, the G3 does not have any flashy features like RGB or a futuristic alien design. But I think most users will appreciate its understated look, and they will certainly appreciate its excellent gaming performance. It might not have the best display, keyboard, or speakers -- and I wish Dell had included 16 GB of RAM as standard -- but these drawbacks pale in comparison to the overall performance you'll get from this machine. If you can pick this machine up on sale (cheaper than it's normal $999.99 selling price), then you will make an already great value even better. Recommended!

DO NOT PURCHASE. Great gaming performance, could play everything I normally play on high settings without issue, size is fine, was cooled just fine with my cooling pad, wasn't terribly difficult to take apart. BUT: The hinge that connects the monitor to the base is a design defect. There are dozens of complaints logged on Dell's website complaining about this. The hinge will snap and break with completely normal closing motion, no drops/accidents required and will then tear the bezel from the screen. If you are within warranty they will fix this via sending it out for repair (if they have parts in stock, they often don't for months at a time & if their support queue is working, as it wasn't for me for months and they couldn't process my order). If you are past warranty you will have to pay hundreds to get issue fixed. One hinge is repaired it can and will still break again because it's a design flaw.

The G3 is a mid-tier gaming platform. They primarily focused on providing performance to pricing limbo!! And I think they succeeded The laptop at the time of release was just over the 1K price point. Leading with an i5 CPU//8GB RAM/512SSD drive paired to a 15.3" 1080 screen. It has all your expected connection ports and a full keyboard(includes numeric pad). The shell although is plastic but is very sturdy and has limited flex. I was able to put this through its paces as both a gaming platform and for work running Wireshark traces and other networking tools. It handled all tasks well with no issues. I really like the black and blue styling and the rubber feet on the bottom to keep everything in place during use. Especially in those critical gaming moments when you exert more force than normal!! I only knocked down the score to a 4 for the following reasons: 1. The audio was lacking volume (speakers on bottom)- will definitely want a set of headphones with this rig - I paired with the Astro A50 4th Gen 2. The power brick is HUGE!! 3. Power plug in is the typical half inch circle plug that comes out the side and sticks out a solid 2" - not mobile friendly 4. for a Gaming machine a few programmable functions buttons on the keyboard would have been a nice touch for quick media controls - plenty of space for this 5. Fan noise can be a bit excessive and a little loud if in a quiet environment Overall I was happy with this build and performance for the pricing point offered. Functions were on point with no lag from the machine.