NotebookCHECK - Notebook Forum

Did not activate G mode (fn+F9)? It left behind performance and/or lower temperatures, in addition to higher noise...
Notebookcheck should follow a pattern for the tests. In some reviews certain models use balanced mode and in others they use "turbo" mode.
In my opinion all models should be tested in balanced mode, as they come out of the box, and in maximum performance mode for benchmarks and games and in economy mode for battery tests.

Availability:

In Germany, the G16 is still unavailable and keyboard layout is unknown. In the USA, it took a long time until some 3070TI model has become available. However, at least thus far, 3070TI can only be combined with the too hot, too expensive, insufficiently cooled 12900H instead of 12700H. 3060 cannot be combined with 32GB but the user can upgrade to 32GB on his own.

Overall product concept:

16:10 display ratio, no PWM, matte IPS, ordinarily sized arrow keys and not exaggerated thinness allowing at least some cooling are, or promise to be, all good and let me consider the product at all.

Keyboard:

Judging from the US keyboard and hoping something similar for a German keyboard, I like the good accessibility of the keys (unlike Lenovo Legion's shape edges around keys), dust protection, pleasant key shape, ordinarily sized and very well accessible arrow keys, dedicated Home / End keys and large left Shift key. I do not need the media keys; instead dedicated Page Up / Page Down keys would have been better and Home / End could have been ordinarily sized. At least, dedicated Home / End instead of dedicated Page Up / Page Down is better than vice versa according to frequency of my use. In summary, the keyboard is acceptable but could have been better. Num block keys in ordinary size would have required a significantly larger chassis, which I would prefer; however, given the current chassis, omitting the num block is reasonable to allow for the mostly reasonable keyboard layout. Marked WASD keys are for 3D gamers - not for me; at least the marking is decent so that it can be tolerated. All in all, the keyboard layout is a compomise between gaming, media and creativity and as such as good as possible for the chassis dimensions.

Display:

Not bright enough for pleasant outdoor use in indirect sunlight but considering the low battery life under load outdoor use without power cable is unrealistic anyway. The other key display parameters are reasonable: matte, no PWM and reasonable response times.

Speed:

The 100.6 ns RAM latency is improper. The CPU is fast enough and the SSD 4K times are good. The GPU speed is good enough for what it is - a 3060. I would prefer a 3070TI though.

Maintenance:

I cannot see or clearly identify screws that would enable fan maintenance. Either it is impossible or it is not obvious which they are.

TDP and Noise:

The CPU is 12700H with 87W PL1 and 124W PL2, the GPU is 3060 speficied with up to 130W. The resulting noise is 45.7 dB or 48.3 dB for Witcher 3 and apparently similar for stress test on Balanced or Performance modes. While not too bad compared to many other "gaming" notebooks, this is too loud for me. I want at most 43 dB or better less at least in Balanced mode under maximum load. An important cause must be the Intel CPU with its too high TDPs. Instead or alternatively, the G16 ought to use an AMD CPU, such as 6800U (8 cores!), with at most 45W. A larger and somewhat thicker chassis would enable better cooling. The notebook is too much of a compromise. Dell missed a chance to make this a "silent" notebook under maximum load.

@PHVM_BR:

NBC should test noise and GPU speed under every relevant fan mode!

Well, Dell finally ruined the G series - a defective keyboard without a numpad (which used to be lousy in terms of tactile response compared to competitors), an increased noise level in office mode and surfing, which is very bad (the weight is significantly reduced compared to the G5 5587) . There is plenty of room in the back, but no 2 additional USB-A Gen2 ports and a second usb-c with TB4.0, why? They could also bring miniDP directly to the rear, from a discrete card. Even autonomy has plummeted.

RIP G series as a versatile laptop for work and play.

However, their G series has already ceased to be in demand in my country for 3 years already due to the wrong pricing policy. Before that, it was very popular, especially in 2018.

Solid performer but looses since it do not bring any advantage and brings some inconvenience over the well established  solid performer Lenovo Legion series.

Quote from: RobertJasiek on October 19, 2022, 08:54:57I want at most 43 dB or better less at least in Balanced mode under maximum load.

The G5 5587 from 2018 actually have noise no more than 40dB with the i7+1060 (see NB review). That is why I am writing that the entire IT industry is rapidly degrading in terms of consumption and noise. Which simply leads to the complete destruction of the ergonomics of both the working and playing places.

Therefore, the "gaming" series will make me laugh, except for using them as office/working machines.

Who wants to play really in silence - assembles a system unit with water cooling of the video card and processor.

Therefore, the "gaming" series will make me laugh, except for using them as office-working machines.

Who wants to play really in silence - assembles a system unit with water cooling of the video card and processor. Or as an option - moving the system unit to the back room of the house, and this just requires long optical cables, which is why the transition to optical cables for eGPU cards or system unit and usb has long been extremely necessary, but the industry ignores all this ...

Watercooling with radiators on the PC results in about 39dB, aircooling with CPU 65W and GPU 320W results in 37dB. To become really silent except for coil whining, use custom built passive cooling but this is hard. External radiators are a hard compromise. Maybe one should build a server, put it in the basement and use a silent terminal.

The Dell G5 15 5587 had a reasonable cooling but a 4 core CPU (its TDP 45W is ok) and 1060 GPU (TDP up to 70W is good for relative silence) are too slow for me, the display is dark and the arrow keys tiny.

Quote from: RobertJasiek on October 21, 2022, 13:44:45Watercooling with radiators on the PC results in about 39dB, aircooling with CPU 65W and GPU 320W results in 37dB. To become really silent except for coil whining, use custom built passive cooling but this is hard.

I have an overclocked processor with a consumption in the region of 130-135W and silent at 100% load, in fact, air-cooled. Heavy heatsink+big cooler at low revs. The temperature does not exceed 75C.

130-150W per processor is more than enough today, except for i9 maniacs. Those. making a silent processor is NOT a problem today. The problem is in the video card - and here everything depends on the quality of the water pump. It's just a certain amount of money. But this is solvable. In any case, "gaming" laptops cause me only Homeric laughter.

And that is why I will write 100500 times - there is no progress on the planet, but regression in IT, because hardware consumption is only growing, but should fall or, in the worst case, be the same as before.

The second thing that can cheaply solve the problem of noise from the system unit with cheap, but sufficient cooling in terms of temperature is the removal of the system unit to the utility room. And all the peripherals on your desktop communicate with it via optical links. And this already depends on the industry, which, for some reason, deliberately delays their introduction.

Quote from: RobertJasiek on October 21, 2022, 13:44:45The Dell G5 15 5587 had a reasonable cooling but a 4 core CPU (its TDP 45W is ok) and 1060

No. It has i7 with 6 cores.

Quote from: NikoB on October 21, 2022, 15:30:40I have an overclocked processor with a consumption in the region of 130-135W and silent at 100% load, in fact, air-cooled. Heavy heatsink+big cooler at low revs.

Desktop? What GPU at what TDP? What are your case fans, at which RPMs and how is their noise? It is the case fans / radiators that are the loudest if the other components are chosen well.

Incorrect, thats the 5590. and that even gets near to 50db.

Quote from: RobertJasiek on October 21, 2022, 16:32:58Desktop? What GPU at what TDP? What are your case fans, at which RPMs and how is their noise? It is the case fans / radiators that are the loudest if the other components are chosen well.

It was only about the processor. I prove with my own experience that a processor with a TDP of 130-150W can be made almost silent even under constant full load, even with air cooling, with a very massive heatsink and a large low-speed cooler.

With a video card, such a number will no longer work, especially with a modern one with a consumption above 200W. Here you need water cooling, very high quality in terms of efficiency and noise.

Therefore, many would be saved if the industry long ago introduced optical cables for eGPUs. There is no problem to pass even a stream for pci-e 5.0 x16 over an optical cable at a distance of 50-100m from the workplace. Well, or the entire system unit in the utility room, away from the living room, again with an optical hub for the entire periphery at the work / gaming place. But alas, while it is almost unrealistic in practice. In principle, there are usb expanders, but all this is still at the "get it and do it yourself" level, and not industrial mass solutions. Yes, and many simply do not have the opportunity to take out a noisy PC in the back room away - it simply does not exist. Therefore, I emphasize - the vile trend of deprogress in hardware consumption, its growth, should eventually be stopped, like bans and restrictions for damn miners in EU/China. Moreover, "green tasks" directly contradict this trend.

Quote from: NikoB on October 21, 2022, 18:38:09With a video card, such a number will no longer work, especially with a modern one with a consumption above 200W. Here you need water cooling, very high quality in terms of efficiency and noise.

I do not think so. Up to 320W for the right GPU models, air cooling at 37dB is possible, e.g. with P14 case fans. What radiators for water cooling reach lower noise?

QuoteTherefore, many would be saved if the industry long ago introduced optical cables

Ok.

Quote from: RobertJasiek on October 21, 2022, 20:04:17air cooling at 37dB is possible

37 is too loud for me. Not higher than 32 in the game.

Quote from: NikoB on October 21, 2022, 22:49:0237 is too loud for me. Not higher than 32 in the game.

But how?

Increasing the weight of "game" models to a minimum of 3-3.5kg. All the same, they are most often dragged from room to room, and the weight in this case is not important, even taking into account the 1 kg power supply. Is it possible to deceive the laws of nature without significant progress in fundamental sciences and technologies? Miracles don't happen. Or noise or speed, if fundamentally and technologically, the IT industry has long reached an energy and noise impasse.

The problem is that it is impossible on the market (by analogy with the "Flicker Free" nameplate on monitors, but rarely for laptop screens - usually only Lenovo writes this in some series, while in others it still keeps silent about it) models to find a laptop with case it is written - we guarantee the noise level no more than 32dBA in the game in the maximum performance profile (for example). Or something similar.

Have you noticed that only NVidia has required manufacturers to explicitly state the TDP of their chips when implemented in laptops and discrete cards? But AMD ignored this initiative, as a result, if a laptop with AMD - TDP from the same Lenovo (for example, as the best company in terms of detailed specifications in the world, HP / Dell lose here cleanly) is not indicated, unlike models with a chip from NVidia .

And AMD / Intel also do not force all manufacturers to EXPLICITLY indicate the level in the datasheets PL1 / PL2. And none of the manufacturers explicitly indicate these key levels. They calmly sell you a pig in a poke. Most Chinese (Taiwan, not to mention the real mainland Huawei) manufacturers (Acer / MSI / Asus / Gigabyte) do not even bother to specify the exact speed specifications of usb ports and the allowable output power for power supply for them for external devices and its receipt from the outside.

And if you remember the natural fraud with HDMI / DP ports? Where can you safely (from the stupid submission of the HDMI consortium) stick an HDMI 2.1 nameplate and at the same time really implement only 2.0b over the real bandwidth, even with incomplete support, for example, VRR.

Or how they proudly stuck up the DP2.0 nameplate on Zen4, but this is not a real DP2.0. only UHBR10 mode is implemented there (in total it turns out even worse than the full and older HDMI 2.1), and not UHBR20. But the majority of illiterate inhabitants will not even notice this, they will buy into the marketing slogan - "support for DP2.0".

Thus, a vast field is created for marketers to manipulate and pure fraud with batches of the same model ...

I love that Dell went for a bit thicker chassis! 27mm is the sweet spot in terms of still good portability and cooling.

I like the rather thicker fans although I was astonished by the insane amount of fan blades. Do they even offer enough space for incoming air to be sucked in?

What I also like on the G16 is that they shifted the keyboard a bit downwards to drill ventilation holes above it for the fans to better suck in air.

While the internal temperatures are higher than I feel comfortable with, the fan noise of 45 db in balanced mode is the nearly perfect sweet spot of bearable noise and still good cooling. Temperatures and TDP / TGP in balanced mode would have been appreciated!

What I dislike is the flipped motherboard making repasting nearly impossible.

I think not bad

No second ssd option  why? why Dell.

Quote from: Maxtech on November 07, 2022, 04:06:21why Dell.

Because Dell again goes to the divisting of the shares.

Hi guys the 5521 special edition is a better bet, its basically a full alien ware M15 but the later variants has the full 140w GPU and full PL 115W. My first unit had an overheating motherboard replacement is perfect and very fast GPU scores 22,000 on pass mark 10.2 CPU scores 30500-32000 in bench tests.

Dell ships the 5521 gen 3 mostly Samsung drives in later versions but only scores 19000 changed straight away for 2tb Kingston KC3000 scores 57,000 NOW changed to the faster fury scores 60,000 fastest drive on market also changed the 4800 MHz memory that was scoring 3100 2x8 gb for the new crucial 5600 it still runs at 4800 but is much faster as it has more 4800 headroom

Biggest winner over the 16 though is the screen has the 240hz version that is simply one of the best screens out there despite it only being a 15.6 plus its 600 quid cheaper to buy refurbished and yes I don't like dell the company but their gaming products are the best for power delivery very few can match.