Dell G15 (5515) Review - Impressive AND Disappointing? 🤔

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Dell G15 5515 Review Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:10 Dell G15 Specs
0:21 Design / Size & Weight
0:58 Screen
2:56 Camera / Mics
3:15 Keyboard & Touchpad
4:02 I/O Ports
5:16 Build Quality
5:46 Getting Inside + Internals
6:07 Wi-Fi Test
6:14 Slower Memory
6:56 Speakers / Latencymon
7:07 Battery Life
7:50 Thermals & Software Modes
8:50 Temperatures / Clock Speed / TDP
10:18 CPU Performance - Cinebench
10:59 Keyboard Temperatures
11:17 Fan Noise
11:42 Game Performance Comparison
13:24 Game Test After Memory Upgrade
14:08 Content Creation
14:53 Storage Testing
15:06 BIOS & Linux Support
15:43 Pricing & Availability
16:11 Stay Away From RTX 3050 / Ti?
16:47 Conclusion - Is Dell's G15 Worth It?

[dann]

I'm a student Jarrod, but when I start earning, I'll be sure to contribute to your Patreon. There is just too much effort that you've put into helping people make the right choice and spending their money wisely. I can't thank you enough.

P. S Can't wait for the Victus Review!

[tommybro]

Jarrod: *It’s impressive*

Me: Wow, that’s impressive

Jarrod *and it’s disappointing*

Me: I hate it!

[pinguinn_]

2019 - year of the pig
2020 - year of the rat
2021 - year of the silicon shortage

[Royan]

Jarrod: "...but I guess nothing in life is perfect"
Me: looking bedazzled by Jarrod's consistently perfect reviews.

[DyllonStejGaming]

I was able to get the premium model (165Hz screen + 3060) for a total of $1149.41 (With tax included) as part of a sale that Dell had early in August, and I can confirm that the model reviewed in the video is basically identical. I have the same enjoyments (Battery life, quiet operation, overall power) and gripes (Arrow keys, BIOS-only settings), and would recommend this overall, especially with a similar sale to the one I got.

[Nooboroshi]

If Dell improves the display, the I/O on the lower end devices and adds a separate power button, this laptop would be one of the best they've ever made! But at that point it would probably be branded as an Alienware.

[KeyTch]

Yo dude that webcam looks way too good for a gaming laptop

[artursilva]

Only Dell could make a laptop worthy of this title 😂

[masx]

This is why i trust 100% of your review. you did it with objectively wihtout any intervention at all, you mentioned the pros and cons on every laptop. so i can expect true result of your review
also you give to Brand some sugestion to do something better on the laptop that they made. damn, i never found laptop reviewer who better than you are. keep doing it jarrod

[LimitTheFox]

Also important to note, the 165Hz version is not available for purchase in certain countries (mine for example), so that's a pain.

[henryrichardson]

Thanks for the review. Yesterday I ordered a G15 with i7-11800H, Nvidia RTX 3060 6gb, 16gb, 1tb ssd, 120hz display. I never play games. I use my computers for Lightroom, Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, Gigapixel AI (Topaz programs benefit a lot from a good GPU -- Lightroom and Photoshop use the GPU for some things too, but the benefit is less), and just normal usage (email, internet, etc.). I usually have it connected to an external display.

My current computer is a 2019 Dell laptop with i7-8565u, Nvidia Geforce MX250 2gb, 32gb, 512gb SSD. So, I hope with the much more powerful GPU and faster CPU that the Topaz programs, in particular, will see a nice speed up in interactive use. I need something reasonably mobile so that is why I don't get a desktop. I have another display at another location I go to sometimes so I don't need to carry my display around, only the laptop. I live in Japan and there are not as many choices as in the U.S. with regards to many different models of computers and configurations. The Dell Japan website has fewer choices and mostly no customization. Prices are usually quite a bit higher here too, but I was able to get this G15 right now while they have discounts going so the price isn't a whole lot higher than in the U.S. Fingers crossed that it works well for my purposes. I will probably change the memory to 32gb later. The Dell Japan website, as I said, allows no customization so I couldn't get 32gb at the time I ordered.

I realize that you and most of your viewers are most interested in games so, naturally, you focus a lot on that. There are many people who do photo and video editing too though and it is hard to find information about which computers, GPUs, CPUs, etc. work well with programs such as the Topaz programs. The Topaz programs take 10-20 seconds to update my display when viewing a photo at 100% every time I make a change using my current computer. That is the time using the Nividia GPU. Using the CPU it takes 30-50 seconds. And I just have a 1920x1200 display. People using higher rez displays which show more pixels when at 100% can take a long time even with a higher end GPU than my current MX250. It would be cool if you considered this sort of real world benchmark too.

[milehighyt]

Honestly this has been a great laptop, especially for the price point. There have been major issues with advanced optimus turned on though. I'm not sure why that is but it seems like the integrated graphics tends to artifact. Turning it off totally fixes the problem though

[Manulajes]

“At least you can solve this problem with money” 🤣😭

[Notebcom]

Excellent review, I'd like to add that for the RTX 3050 model one of the two USB 2.0 ports has the same speed as USB 3.0 - I don't understand why they did this... As for the cooling system, most laptops gain a thermal boost after upgarding the thermal paste, for this laptop it's going to be difficult, as you pointed out, the heatpipes are under.

[TheEpistemologo]

Great review. Honestly I got this model 3months ago for University work and it's been great so far.

[fohatadri]

Got this laptop new on sale for 657$. Even with all the problems shown in this review, I still think it's incredible laptop for the price I paid for it.

[Armageddon]

Hey Jarrod! thanks you for all your indepth reviews they are all very helpfull as Im in the market for a new laptop!

[siyzerix]

The only guy to call out nvidia for their bullshit on the 3050 and 3050ti this year.

Props man. The 3050 and 3050ti are worse at launch than the 1050 4gb and 1650 gddr6. At least they didn't run into vram limits AND were cheap at around $700.

[tuttutt]

Great video ! Dell was the last company I can think of competing to the legion 5 quite well imo considering the last gen model was quite bad
But the the 2021 11th gen Helios has a full 130W 3060 too so interested

[effanbyte]

Most models now are coming with a 165Hz screen. The 120Hz screen is the biggest problem in the laptop. If you get the 165Hz version, the only actual problem that remains and can't be fixed is the Alienware control center. It's legitimately one of the top 3 laptops of 2021 for me.