Dell G15 (2023) review: A budget gaming laptop with top-tier hardware

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The Dell G15 is a popular budget gaming laptop that boasts top-tier hardware and a great design, all for a surprisingly affordable price. If you’re looking for a powerhouse gaming laptop, but can’t afford Dell’s more expensive Alienware brand, then the G15 is a fantastic choice.

I’ve spent weeks with the G15, and I love its fast processor, advanced GPU, and vibrant screen. And although it shares some of the same flaws as other budget laptops — a bulky frame and mediocre battery life, for example — I’m convinced that it’s one of the best budget gaming laptops you can buy.

The Dell G15 is an affordable powerhouse

Depending on your configuration, most Dell G15 options range in price from $900 to about $1,300, putting them firmly into the budget laptop range. The most powerful configurations can go up to around $1,500, but you can often find them on sale for less. Despite the low price, all G15 configurations feature shockingly great hardware. 

Top billing has to go to the Dell G15’s CPU. Every version of the G15 features either a 13th-generation Intel Core (i5-13450HX or i7-13650HX) or 7000-series AMD Ryzen (Ryzen 5-7640HS or Ryzen 7-7840HS) processor. Those are among the newest and most powerful mobile processors on the market, and are rare finds in a budget model. Whichever model you pick, multitasking is a breeze, and you won’t have to worry about bottlenecking the rest of your hardware.

Dell combines these processors with some great graphics cards. The cheapest configuration only has an Nvidia RTX 3050, which is relatively old at this point — although still strong enough to run nearly any game — but for a few hundred dollars more, you can upgrade to an RTX 4050 or RTX 4060.

The specific configuration I reviewed came with an Intel Core i7 13650HX and an RTX 4060. These specs are as good or better than those in other budget gaming laptops. They also mean that no matter what you’re playing — whether it’s an indie game with simple graphics like Pizza Tower, or a big-budget bestseller like Elden Ring — you’re going to have a good time. 

It’s true that the most intensive games might not maintain stable frame rates on the absolute highest settings. At max settings, Cyberpunk 2077 jumped erratically between 40 and 60 FPS, and Starfield suffered from random lag spikes. But these are problems that are easy enough to fix by turning down settings like ray tracing, shadows, and texture quality. And if you’re using an RTX 4050 or 4060 model, you may be able to switch on Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS mode, which can boost frame rates significantly by artificially generating new frames.

And luckily, the Dell G15 manages to stay pretty cool even when gaming. Temperatures rarely got too hot for comfort, and although the fans did rev up at times to keep things smooth, they weren’t obnoxiously loud. Most heat gets pushed out of the G15’s base, so try to keep it off soft surfaces while gaming.

The excellent graphical performance is complemented by an equally excellent 15.6-inch screen. The Dell G15’s display is vibrant and responsive — fast-paced games like Valorant look and feel beautiful on it. My review model only has a 165Hz display with a 1080p resolution, but you can upgrade that to a 240Hz or even 360Hz option.

That 240Hz model also supports a higher 1440p resolution and up to 400 nits of brightness with P3 wide color capabilities, which outpaces nearly every other budget gaming laptop. It’s a sharp contrast (no pun intended) to duller budget models, like the otherwise amazing Acer Nitro 5.

If you buy the G15 through the official Dell website, you can find loads of customization options that’ll help you build the perfect laptop for your budget. You can change the specs, the screen quality, and even the color — my review model came in a beautiful “Pop Purple with Neo Mint” design.

Unfortunately, not all of the Dell G15’s features are as high quality as the internal hardware.

The Dell G15’s weight, port, and trackpad show its budget status

While the Dell G15 might be a great budget gaming laptop, it’s still a budget laptop. That means it still suffers from many of the same issues as other budget models.

Let’s start with the G15’s physical build. It weighs in at slightly more than six pounds, which is heavy even for a gaming laptop. And its overall weight gets even heavier when you account for the bizarrely massive 330W charging brick, which adds another three pounds. It’s the heaviest charger I’ve ever seen, and even heavier than the charger for the stronger Alienware x16.

Speaking of the battery, it has its pros and cons. With the brightness turned down and power efficiency modes turned on, it can last a while — over five hours, in my testing. But as soon as a game launches, the battery life tanks. I got a little more than an hour playing Overwatch 2, and about two hours playing Mini Motorways. If you keep the brightness up but don’t play games, expect about 3.5 hours. Again, this is average for a budget laptop.

The G15 has three USB-A ports, which is great, but only carries a single USB-C port. I’d be able to deal with that if it weren’t for the port placement — the USB-C port, along with the charging, HDMI, and one USB-A port, are stuck on the back of the laptop, behind the screen. It’s an unwelcome holdover from Alienware models that makes adjusting devices difficult. 

The G15’s other flaws are minor, but still worth noting. The keyboard is fine, but the trackpad is uncomfortably small. And the speakers are relatively loud, but tinny — you won’t hear much detail in the music you’re listening to.

Dell G15: Specifications

The Dell G15 is highly customizable. In the table below, I’ve listed all the possible specifications for the G15 — but note that not all combinations are available together. Bold text represents the specs that my review model had.

Should you buy the Dell G15?

Yes! The Dell G15 is a fantastic gaming laptop in general, and its low price is just icing on the cake. There are very few, if any, gaming laptops better than it at the $1,000 to $1,400 price point.

Certainly, it’s not for everyone — its weight and middling battery life make it a poor choice for buyers who want a gaming laptop they can carry with them everywhere, and use all day long. If that’s the situation you’re in, I’d recommend something slimmer, like the HP Victus.

But compared to the Dell G15’s strengths, like its top-tier gaming and multitasking performance, or its bright, vibrant screen, none of those flaws are deal breakers for me. The Dell G15 is excellent, and I’m excited to see how Dell improves it in the future.

I’d recommend buying the G15 from Dell’s official website, since it’s the easiest way to customize your model. Just keep track of the price, which can jump randomly — for example, the Pop Purple and Quantum White models look great, but probably aren’t worth hundreds of dollars more than the standard gray.