Dell XPS 15 vs Dell G5 15: Which Dell performance laptop is best for you?

If you're looking at laptops with plenty of power, our Dell XPS 15 vs Dell G5 15 face-off has two you can't miss in 2022. These aren’t just two of the best Dell laptops on offer today, we think they’re two of the best laptops all around. 

And the whole idea behind this feature is to help decide which one is best for you. Will you have a good laptop experience no matter which one you pick? Probably, but you should always shop for the perfect product for your needs.

So as we go through their designs, displays, specs and price we’ll try to give you the information you need to pick between one of our best gaming laptops or one of our best student laptops.

These are obviously some high performing machines, and if you’d like a more in depth look at either of them, you can check out our Dell XPS 15 review or our Dell G5 15 review.

Dell XPS 15 vs Dell G5 15: Design & screen

On first sight, both of these laptops have a premium air about them. The Dell XPS 15 with its machined aluminium in platinum silver and black carbon fibre palm rest looks like the high-end device it is.

Similarly, as Dell’s gaming laptops move closer in design to their subsidiary Alienware, there’s a hint of premium about the Dell G5 15. The Interstellar Dark chassis is made from plastic but it's infused with a sparkle reminiscent of the night sky.

They are different looks from each other. The G5 15 leaning into the fashions of gaming laptop chic, as the XPS 15 goes for a broader, looks-classy-anywhere aesthetic.

When it comes to ports, the XPS 15 features two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, one USB-C, a full-sized SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The G5 15 has two USB 2.0’s, one USB 3.2 and a USB-C alongside HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, an SD card reader and a headphone jack.

Now let's get to the screens, both of which are impressive. For the Dell XPS 15, there are two options of display – a Full HD non-touch at 1920x1080 pixels or a touchscreen 4K Ultra HD 3840x2160 display if you pay a little more. Either way, these 16:10 screens are rated at 500 nits for brightness, offer 100% sRGB colour support from their IPS panels, 94% DCI-P3 colour average and Dolby Vision HDR.

The Dell G5 15 comes with a Full HD 1920x1080 ‘WVA’ screen (wide viewing angle), that’s roughly equivalent to the base model XPS 15 – where it shines though, is in its 144Hz refresh rate. The XPS 15 by comparison, refreshes at 60 Hz.

Dell XPS 15 vs Dell G5 15: Specs & performance

So, how does a premium laptop stack up to a mid-range gaming laptop? There are multiple setups for both Dell laptops so let’s take it one at a time.

The Dell G5 15 comes with the 10th generation Intel Core i7-10750H (six-core, 2.6GHz), options for 8GB or 16GB of RAM, with storage option of 512GB or 1TB NVMe Solid State Drives. Where it shines is in the graphics card, offering choices of the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti 6GB, Nvidia RTX 2060 6GB or the Nvidia RTX 2070 8GB.

The XPS 15 offers more choice in Intel’s 10th generation line of processors, between the i5-10300H (quad-core, 2.5GHz) and i7-10750H (six-core, 2.6GHz). Its RAM options go from 8GB to 64GB, and for graphics it offers either integrated Intel UHD graphics or a 4GB Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti card. For storage, it's the same as the G5 15: 512GB or 1TB NVMe SSD.

The XPS 15 gives you more flexibility in terms of RAM for pro applications, whereas the G5 15 has a big lead when it comes to graphics power, because its lowest-level GPU is more powerful than the highest-level GPU the XPS 15 offers.

Dell XPS 15 vs Dell G5 15: Price & verdict

When it comes to price, you can end up spending more than double on a Dell XPS 15 than a Dell G5 15. Under those conditions, you’d expect the Dell XPS 15 to be the superior machine overall, and in some cases it is.

Really though, these laptops specialise. You can absolutely scale the XPS 15 into a machine with a 4K screen that will handle really intense tasks like video editing, and do a decent job on most games.

The G5 15, while obviously still powerful enough to do most things, really dials it up when it comes to those gaming attributes: its refresh rate and superior graphics cards particularly.

If you’re a dedicated gamer, who can’t afford to reach the highest end of that particular product pool, then the Dell G5 15 is an excellent mid-range gaming laptop. If you need a laptop that handles everything well, that you can also play games on, then the Dell XPS 15 is top notch.