Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Which is Better?

Do you intend to buy one of Dell’s G-Series laptops? Then this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 comparison will definitely be of interest to you.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: At First Glance

With the rumors surrounding the potential removal of their entry-level Inspiron gaming laptop series, Dell has invested in another exciting series. The G-Series which includes the G5 and G7 laptops being compared is a brand that promises to fulfill a gamer’s major needs.

To a considerable level, one could say that Dell has been doing so with all iterations of their G-Series laptops. Though they’ve achieved their success in the most “Dell-styled way”, it is no doubt that Dell has come a long way towards expanding its reach in the gaming laptop market. 

It has achieved its success without adopting all the excessive and futuristic design traits that are commonly associated with gaming laptops. Unlike other gaming brands, Dell has focused more on specs and overall performance.

By so doing, they’ve been catering to gamers who seek excellent gaming experiences at a reasonable price. The G5 15 and G7 17 are two of the gaming laptops with which Dell offers their affordable gaming experience.

Since they are different models under the same brand line-up, they seem to share a fair bunch of similarities. They are quite identical in terms of their design, features, and components.

This makes choosing between both laptops somewhat confusing, especially for gamers.

What seems to be the major difference between both laptops is that the Dell G7 17 has more premium components – it is more expensive after all. 

Nonetheless, both the G5 15 and the G7 17 are reasonably priced laptops with generous configurations to cater to every gamer’s needs. From their specs sheet, we know for a fact that both laptops are gaming machines with good performance power.

However, there are some things you need to know before you jump the gun. I will go over these things as I share my results from reviewing and comparing both laptops.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Design, Dimension and Weight

As I suggested earlier, both the G5 15 and the G7 17 don’t have a lot going on in the aesthetics department. Not that these laptops don’t have decent styling, they just don’t entirely embody the typical gaming laptop design trend.

They do not follow the daring and conventional path that most gaming laptops tend to follow. The exterior of these laptops, in particular, is kind of plain. 

Apart from the shiny blue Dell logo on the center of their lids, their lids do not have any other design pattern. Dell’s design simplicity persisted throughout the exterior design layout of these laptops. 

Despite their avoidance of flashy design trends, you will still find hints of your typical gaming laptop’s luxurious aesthetic touch. The lustrous black paint that was applied generously on both laptops’ chassis, especially their lids, is one you will definitely fall in love with.

Dell refers to the finish on their lid as an ‘Interstellar Dark’ finish. In most lightings, this finish appears as a conventional black finish, but in some lights, you will discover that it has a reflective gleam that sparkles with a rainbow-like sheen.

Unfortunately, my major issue with both laptops is their chunky and plastic build. For their chassis, Dell used a mix of both metal and plastic which makes them feel extremely sturdy.

Though I appreciate how robust both laptops seem to be, their elaborate construction makes them a bit heavy. At one point or the other, their weight will cause you a headache if you love playing games on the go.

At 2680 g, the G5 15’s weight is a bit troubling. It doesn’t fit into the category of laptops you can travel around with easily using your bag pack.

Likewise, the G7 17 doesn’t also fit into that category. It weighs 3140 g.

The vents below the hinge and on the sides of both laptops do not make it easier for them to assume a seemingly more compact form factor.

With a measurement of 364.3 x 273.4 x 23.7 mm, I find the Dell G5 15 a bit too wide. Similarly, the G7 17 is also not the ideal definition of being ‘compact’ – it measures 404 x 295.8 x 25 mm.

However, to be fair, the vents would look really cool if they weren’t a constant reminder of how chunky and heavy both laptops are. 

Moving further from the vents, you will discover that not only the underside of these laptops have enjoyed an obvious amount of design attention. From their lid to their hinges, both laptops feature curved accents that are similar to those you will find on parts of a race car.

The Ferrari is a typical example.

Both laptops feature a robust central hinge with semicylindrical edges pointing in its direction. Open both laptop’s lids slightly, and they will take a form that makes them look as if they are preparing to zoom off down a race track.

The G5 15’s hinge features the G5 logo. Similarly, the G7 17’s hinge also features the G7 logo.

On the interior, Dell’s simplistic design choice was nearly completely implemented. With shades of a single color, the interior of the G5 15 and G7 17 look plain and simple.

What helps the interior of the G5 15 and G7 17 stand out as gaming-oriented laptops are their blue key fonts and LED keyboard backlighting. Since the keys on both laptops’ keyboards feature four-zone RGB lighting, you can adjust them to your preference.

Speaking of keyboards, my experience with the keyboard on the G5 15 and the G7 17 was constituted of mixed feelings. I did expect both laptops to feature the exact same keyboards, but they are different.

Despite having a shorter key travel of 1.2 mm compared to the G7 17’s 1.4 mm travel, the G5 15 was more comfortable to type on. Its keys gave nice tactile feedback and they were also well spaced.

I eased through 73 words per minute with the G5 15 keyboard on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. This score surpassed the 72 words per minute that I scored when I ran took the test on the G7 17.

As I mentioned earlier, both laptop’s keyboards feature RGB backlighting. The RGB lighting has four zones which include the Numpad. 

Dell has made it possible for you to configure the lighting in the Alienware Command Center app that comes with the laptops. You can configure them with effects like Breathing or Rainbow Wave.

Below both laptops’ keyboards, there is an equally sized touchpad. Both laptops feature touchpads that measure 4.1 x 3.1 inches.

Not only are there touchpad the same size, they also both felt amazing to use. They both have a soft and pleasing matte texture.

Being assisted by Windows 10 Precision drivers, they are also very responsive to multitouch gestures. Gestures like two-finger scrolling, pinch zooming, and three-finger taps all worked well when I tried them on both laptop’s touchpads.

I was also satisfied with the clicks at the bottom edges of these touchpads. 

Another one of the few design patterns that helps the G5 15 and G7 17 deviate a little from what would have been a simplistic overall design is their light strip. The dazzling RGB light strip that highlights the front edge of both laptops complements their aesthetics as gaming laptops. 

While this may be too flashy to some, I think it is a cool addition since you can even turn it off. Besides, the sight of the light bleeding from below the laptops makes them look cooler, but in the end, it all comes down to preference.

Beyond this luminous edge, the power button stands in isolation right above both laptop’s keyboard decks.

Shift your gaze beyond this power button and the first thing you will notice with both laptops displays are their chunky bezels. Going by today’s standards, Dell could have made these bezels thinner.

While I can manage the top and side bezels, the prominent bottom bezel is almost an eyesore. I only stopped complaining about it when I considered the laptop’s size itself.

All the same, the bezels looked annoying and cool to me at the same time. I know I sound like a weirdo, but that’s exactly how it seemed to me.

Styling is subjective anyway so don’t be surprised if someone tells you they felt the same way about these laptops’ bezels.

Moving on to ports, both the G5 15 and the G7 17 feature a healthy number of ports. Both of them come with an equal amount of solid port selection.

On the left side of the G5 15, there’s the power jack, a Noble lock slot, USB 3.1 port, an RJ45 port, and an SD card slot. Meanwhile, the right side houses an HDMI 2.0 port, 2 USB 3.1 ports, 1 Thunderbolt 3 port, and a headphone jack.

The G7 17, on the other hand, features 2 USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and a headset jack on its right side. In addition to those, you get an Ethernet port on the left along with a USB 3.1 port, a Noble lock slot, an SD card slot, and a power jack.

At the end of the day, picking a preferred design choice between both laptops is confusing since they both feature almost entirely the same design. The G5 15 and G7 17 are identical in almost every part of their design and build.

While they both look sleek, they have a simple aesthetic that makes them look like thick plain slabs. Both laptops’ chunky size could also be a major deal-breaker for some, but their sizes contribute to their rigidity.

Though the design of these laptops is not that bad, it seems as though the Alpine White model has a cooler and more attractive appearance better than the Interstellar Dark finished model. 

A first glance at the Alpine White model’s lid will keep your attention for more than a minute. Unlike the lack of variety on the Interstellar Dark finished model, the Alpine White model has a little bit of color variety going for it.

The light-gray hinge on this model is a nicely distinctive element. Also, the white paint adds a nice contrast to the outer appearance of the model.

Its lustrous pearl-like appearance helps highlight the glossy blue Dell logo in the center of its lid. I would recommend this model if you want to buy any of the two laptops.

In conclusion, both the G5 15 and the G7 17 score an eight in this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 design comparison.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Processor (CPU) Performance

I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who was surprised to find out that Dell offers exactly the same CPU configuration for both laptops. Dell offers two different 8th generation processor configurations for both the G5 15 and the G7 17.

You can buy any of the two laptops with either a quad-core Intel Core i5-8300HQ processor or a six-core Intel Core i7-8750HQ processor. The Intel Core i5 processor has a base frequency of 2.30 GHz and is capable of reaching a boost frequency of 4.00 GHz.

Meanwhile, the Intel Core i7 processor starts at 2.20 GHz and can reach a maximum boost frequency of 4.10 GHz.

While the Core i5 processor has a cache memory of 8 MB, the Core i7 processor has a cache memory of 9 MB. Our review units of the G5 15 and G7 17 came with the Intel Core i7-8750HQ processor.

To achieve the main purpose of this comparison, I carried out a series of tests on both the G5 15 and the G7 17. Like I mentioned in the introduction section, these tests include both real-world performance and synthetic benchmark tests.

I started the processor comparison with real-world CPU performance tests. Much to my delight, both laptops’ processors had no issues dealing with everything that came their way.

Both the G5 15 and the G7 17 handled all the regular computing operations I threw at it. Operations like Web surfing, emailing, and document editing didn’t give either of the two laptops any issue.

After I was satisfied with the results I got in the real-world performance test, I moved on to synthetic benchmark tests. The synthetic benchmark tests I conducted on both laptops were carried out across several benchmark platforms.

Both laptops delivered a series of mixed results in the tests. To start with, I placed both the G5 15 and G7 17 on the Cinebench R20 benchmark test. 

On this test, the G7 17 scored 430 points in the single-core aspect. It surpassed the G5 15 that scored 416 points.

Though the G5 15 was outperformed in this aspect, it wasn’t ready to back down without putting up a good fight. It surprisingly tipped in a better performance in the multi-core aspect.

With a score of 2666 points, it surpassed the G7 17’s 2510 score.

Still, on the Cinebench benchmark test, I tested both laptops with a lower version which was the Cinebench R15. In the single aspect of this test, the G5 15 was unable to outperform the G7 17.

It scored 171 points, while the G7 17 scored 177 points. However, the story changed when I moved to the multi-core aspect.

Like the result we got in the multi-core aspect of the previous test, the G5 15 outperformed its bigger sibling in this aspect again. While it was able to deliver a score of 1258 points, the G7 17’s scored 1182 points.

On the Geekbench 4 performance test, the performance gap between the two laptops became clearer. In the single-core aspect of the test, the G7 17 scored 5061 points, surpassing the G5 15’s 4754 points.

Still exercising its superiority, the G7 17 gave the G5 15 another wide performance gap to catch up to in the multi-core aspect. It scored 26,310 points, exceeding the G5 15’s 21,954 by a lot.

Moving further to the HandBrake benchmark test, the G5 15’s performance still wasn’t enough to unseat the G7 17 from its throne. It took the G5 15 12 minutes and 14 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p.

Meanwhile, the G7 17 converted the same 4k video to 1080p within a shorter period of time. It took the G7 17 9 minutes 45 seconds to do so.

Before I round off with this section, let me quickly go over some other performance-related observations. In the case of the G5 15, I discovered that the fans get very noisy when the workflow on the laptop becomes hectic.

However, I was relieved to see that the laptop could hold its performance for the most part as long as it is only the CPU that is under intense stress. Bigger issues arise when both the laptop’s CPU and GPU are stressed at the same time.

Under combined loads, the laptop will begin to throttle. So, you might want to avoid placing the laptop under combined stress.

In the case of the G7 17, I found its CPU performance to be splendid. It offered a sustainable performance over extended periods of stress. Though it suffers from throttling on some occasions, its performance is commendable.

Sadly, the fans in this laptop also get noisy when under stress. I will advise you not to use either of the two laptops on your lap.

Apart from the fan noise, the heat both laptops emit will make you feel uncomfortable if you set them on your lap while in use. 

In conclusion, I’m impressed by the performance power the G5 15 and G7 17 possess. They are both powerful enough to provide adequate performance for most demanding applications and computing operations.

The G7 17, in particular, showed that it has everything that is required to offer a top-level performance day-in-day-out. Through the real-world and benchmark tests, we can see that it is more powerful than the G5 15.

For these reasons, the G7 17 scores an eight in this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 processor performance comparison. The G5 15 is no weak performer either, so it scores a seven in this comparison for its strong processor performance.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Memory (RAM) Performance

Like their processor, the G5 15 and G7 17 offer the same RAM confurations. They are equipped with the same memory type, which is the DDR4 SoDIMMs.

In addition to that, both laptops have two RAM slots each and the maximum RAM size Dell supports for both laptops is 32 GB. You can equip the two laptops with either a 12 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, or 8 GB RAM size.

Our G5 15 and G7 17 test units came equipped with 16 GB RAM.

With this identical RAM configuration option, you can easily guess that their benchmark and overall test results will be close. Let’s find out.

Before we move on to synthetic benchmark tests, let’s first go over the real-world performance result these laptops displayed. As usual, my real-world RAM performance test accesses how well laptops can multitask and handle heavy workloads.

On this test, the G5 15 and G7 17 were strong enough to breeze through 35 Google Chrome tabs, three of which were streaming 1080p YouTube videos. Some of these tabs also ran Slack and Twitter.

While these operations were ongoing, I streamed an episode of Vagabond on Netflix. Until I added a few extra pages to the already opened Chrome tabs, both laptops held up well.

It was when I had about 40 pages opened that both laptops’ fans began running intensively. I also noticed that the G5 15 and G7 17 quickly got warm on the intensive workload.

Regardless, I was too impressed by their multitasking power to even raise a complaint about how loud and hot they got.

I took this excitement I had about the laptops into the benchmark tests and I wasn’t disappointed. Though the G7 17 was completely dominant over the G5 15, however the G5 15’s performance was not bad either.

I tested both laptops on the PCMark 10 synthetic benchmark. In the essentials aspect, the G7 17 continued its fine form of excellent performance by hitting a score of 8967 points.

Though the G5 15 also displayed a good performance, it couldn’t score enough to surpass the G7 17. It got a score of 8397 points.

Even in the productivity aspect, the G7 17 didn’t slow down for the G5 15 to catch up. It scored 7096 points in this aspect, surpassing the G5 15 that scored 6783.

After these tests, I also ran an overall PCMark 10 benchmark test. In this test, the G5 15 still came in behind the G7 17.

While the G7 17 scored 5317 points, the G5 15 scored 5099 points.

From these benchmark tests, we can conclude that the G7 17 has a better RAM performance than the G5 15. Although the G5 15 is no weak performer either, its RAM performance doesn’t exceed that of the G7 17.

Hence, the G7 17 scores a nine in this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 memory performance comparison. Meanwhile, the G5 15 scores an eight in this comparison for its good performance.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Storage Options and Performance

Like a match made in heaven, the G5 15 and the G7 17 just seem inseparable in terms of their hardware configurations. Even for their storage, both laptops offer the same storage configuration options.

Dell ships both laptops with a 2 TB PCIe SSD and 5400 RPM hard drive. In addition to the 2 TB storage drives, Dell also equips both laptops with a 2-in-1 SD/MicroMedia Card. 

You’ll have enough space to save your local files, documents, videos, and pictures in terms of their capacity. You will also be able to install games and several applications.

Performance-wise, both laptops are also excellent. I ran a few tests to determine how well both laptops perform and to discover the gap in their storage performances.

The first test I carried out was the CrystalDiskMark 5 benchmark test. In this test, the G5 15 recorded a sequential read speed of 1039 MBps and a sequential write speed of 748 MBps.

Meanwhile, the G7 17 achieved a sequential read speed of 1323.97 MBps and a sequential write speed of 218.26 MBps.

To clear up the uncertainty and discover which of the two laptops performs better in terms of storage, I ran another test. This time, it was a file transfer test. 

On this file transfer test, the G5 15 copied a 4.97GB multimedia file in 50 seconds at a rate of 102 megabytes per second. Meanwhile, the G7 15 copied the same 4.97GB file in 40 seconds, at a transfer rate of 127 megabytes per second.

Overall, the G5 15 and G7 17 are very close in terms of their storage performance. While the benchmark tests yielded mixed results that partially favored both laptops, the real-world test favored the G7 17 by a little.

As a result, the G7 17 steals this round from the G5 15. Hence, the G7 17 scores an eight in this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 storage performance comparison.

The G5 15 on the other hand, scores a seven.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Graphics Card Performance

As if we weren’t tired of seeing the two laptops offering the same hardware configurations, both laptops offer the same configurations in this aspect too. You have four options to choose from for the graphics cards of the G5 15 and G7 17.

Dell offers a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU, and a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 for both laptops’ GPU. You can also buy the laptops with either a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080.

Before we continue with our performance comparison, let’s quickly take a detailed look at these configuration options. Firstly, the GTX 1050 Ti GPU comes with a 4 GB dedicated VRAM.

It has a base frequency of 1290 MHz and a boost frequency of 1392 MHz.

Secondly, the GeForce RTX 2060 comes equipped with a 6 GB dedicated VRAM. It has a base frequency of 1365 MHz and it is capable of boosting up to 1680 MHz.

In addition, the GeForce RTX 2070 also comes with a dedicated VRAM – 8GB. Its base frequency clocks at 1410 MHz and it is capable of turbo boost of up to 1620 MHz.

Like the GeForce RTX 2070, the GeForce RTX 2080 features an 8 GB dedicated VRAM. However, it has a different base and boost frequencies. 

It has a base frequency of 1515 MHz that can boost up to 1710 MHz. 

With the formalities aside, we can now move further to our performance comparison. For the performance comparison, we will conduct both synthetic and real-world gaming performance tests.

You must know that our review units of the G5 15 and the G7 17 are both equipped with the GeForce RTX 2070 GPU.

Before we consider their real-world gaming performance, let’s see how both laptops performed in the benchmark test. In the 3DMark 11 Fire Strike Graphics performance test, the G5 15 scored 16606 points, scoring below the G7 17 that scored 17466 points.

The G5 15 still scored below the G7 17 in the overall 3DMark 11 GPU performance test. While the G7 17 scored 22523 points, the G5 15 scored 21427 points.

In the real-world gaming test, both laptops proved to be capable of running every AAA title game in Full HD on ultra settings. In most cases, both laptops comfortably offered frame rates of 60 frames per second.

On the G7 17, you can play all titles at maximum settings. The reason for this is because of its “low” native resolution of 1080p. Since numbers don’t lie, I will report the result of these laptops in the gaming tests I ran.

I first played The Witcher 3 on both laptops, and I was impressed by how smooth the game ran. On high settings, the G5 15 played the game at 111 frames per second, while the G7 17 played the game at 113.5 frames per second.

When I played Apex Legends on both laptops at high settings, the G5 15 offered frame rates of 106 frames per second. Meanwhile, the G7 17 ran the game at 188.9 frames per second.

Furthermore, the G5 15 ran Dirt Rally 2 at 112 frames per second on high settings. Meanwhile, the G7 17 ran the game at 191.2 frames per second.

Both laptops possess beast-like graphics performance power. They are capable of playing intensive and less intensive games.

With their graphics power, they can also handle your video and picture editing tasks.

Though it is evident that the G7 17 has a better graphics performance than the G5 15, the G5 15 also performs excellently. In conclusion, the G7 17 scores a nine in this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 graphics performance review.

The G5 15, on the other hand, scores an eight.

Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790: Battery Life and Performance

Let me guess, you are probably thinking that the G5 15 and G7 17 come with the same battery configuration. Well, you are very correct.

Both laptops feature a 60Whr Lithium Polymer battery. However, their battery life varies.

This is the aspect where the G7 17’s power becomes telling on the laptop. The more advanced performance power this laptop has resulted in shorter battery life compared to the G5 15’s.

For a gaming laptop, the G5 15 offers a considerably fair battery runtime. Its relatively good battery life makes the G5 15 fit to be categorized as a useful all-around laptop.

On our battery test which involves continuous web surfing with medium screen brightness, the G5 15 lasted for 6 hours 20 minutes. It outlasted the G7 17 that lasted 5 hours 38 minutes.

The G7 17’s runtime is also not too bad for a gaming laptop. Regardless, it loses this round to the G5 15 because it has a shorter battery runtime.

Hence, the G5 15 scores a seven in this Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790 battery comparison. Meanwhile, the G7 17 scores a six.

Our Rating Summary

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Overall, there’s not much difference between the G5 15 and the G7 17. In terms of their design and build, both laptops are the same.

It is only when we direct the conversation to the performance aspect that you will begin to notice the slight difference between the two. Even at that, they both still share almost everything in terms of their hardware configurations.

Nevertheless, the G7 17 displayed better performances compared to the G5 15 even though their performance was closely tied in some areas. Thanks to the numerous tests, particularly, the benchmark tests, we can see the difference in their performances.

In conclusion, the Dell G7 15 triumphs over the G5 15 largely due to its better performance in most aspects. Aside from that, both laptops are closely tied in almost every area.

In its defense, the G5 15 is one of the most amazing budget gaming laptops you can get at its price tag. With the G5 15, you’ll get an excellent performer with a significantly longer battery life than the G7 17 and many other affordable gaming laptops.

Despite offering all of that, the G7 15 is the better option because of its better overall performance.

Hence, based on our comprehensive review and comparison of Dell G5 15 5590 vs Dell G7 17 7790, we recommend:

Although we recommend the Dell G7 17 7790, if you want to spend less, you should consider the Dell G5 15 5590.

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