The Dell G5 15 Special Edition has been updated with the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series CPUs and
Radeon graphics. Along with that the new XPS 13 is here, finally with a 16:10 aspect ratio
which looks simply stunning, so let’s get into checking out what new laptops Dell had
on show at CES 2020.
Let’s start out with the G5 15 Special Edition gaming laptop.
I'm not exactly sure of all possible specs it will be available with yet, but I have
confirmation that the G5 will be available with the 6 core 12 thread Ryzen 5 4600H, or
8 core 16 thread Ryzen 7 4800H processors, along with Radeon RX 5600M graphics.
I’ll definitely put these options to the test and compare against the Intel and Nvidia
competition once I’ve got them for benchmarking.
The top of this G5 looks kind of grey under normal light, but depending on the angle you're
viewing it from it's actually quite shiny with a sort of rainbow finish within.
On the left from the back there’s the power input, mini DisplayPort and HDMI outputs,
USB Type-A port, ethernet, and Type-C port with DisplayPort support.
The right has an SD card slot, 3.5mm audio combo jack, two USB Type-A ports, and a lock
slot.
The back just has some air exhaust vents near the corners with the G5S logo in the center.
Underneath there are just the usual air vents towards the back and speakers up near the
front. Battery size wasn't mentioned, but as it's available with an optional 2.5" hard
drive it's probably the same 60 watt hours we've seen before, but it could also have
a 90wh option, we’ll have to see.
The screen is a 15.6" 1080p 144Hz panel, and like the other new AMD laptops I've seen so
far, uses FreeSync which is a great addition as it offers smoother tear-free gaming. Inside,
the keyboard and touchpad appear to be the same as the previous Intel based G5, it looks
like the same 4-Zone RGB keyboard.
For the most part, the design looks similar to the new G3 gaming laptop that I've previously
reviewed, at least visually on the exterior anyway, and it’s a bit different to the
previous Intel based G5 that I’ve reviewed on the channel last year.
The interesting part is of course the use of AMD Ryzen and Radeon CPU and GPU, but unfortunately
we won't know more about how these actually perform in games until later. You'll definitely
want to make sure you're subscribed to the channel to see my full review once I've got
one for hands on testing.
I asked if there were any plans to give the AMD treatment to the G3 or G7 but was just
told that they're unable to comment on possible future products, so for now just the G5.
The new AMD based G5 15 Special Edition will start at $799 USD for the entry level specs,
whatever those are, and I was told it would be available in April. The model I was filming
was also an engineering sample, so some small changes could happen before then.
Depending on the price of the 8 core model, this could be a great option for multicore
workloads, and given many modern games are starting to take advantage of more cores,
it's great to see more options featuring these new higher core count AMD Ryzen CPUs becoming
available.
I found it interesting that this AMD version of the G5 wasn't worthy of a mention in the
Dell presentation event, I guess they did have big Intel logos on show the whole time,
so I guess they're just easing into that AMD life and don’t want to make their bigger
partner upset, but hey who knows, just an observation that I thought was weird.
The new XPS 13 9300 was also on display, the obvious difference when looking at it with
the old model side by side is the addition of a 16:10 display which takes up more of
the available space, giving the new model a 6.8% higher screen to body ratio. There
are a few other smaller changes, but for the most part it's similar to the previous XPS
13 but with a nicer display and slightly bigger touchpad. I know the screen in particular
is a welcome change over the previous 16 by 9 options based on the comments of my previous
XPS 13 review.
As for Alienware, they didn't have anything new to announce in terms of gaming laptops,
there were just some m15 and m17 laptops on display, my guess is the higher end options
like these won't refresh until the Intel 10th gen H series is ready later this year.
With that said I can't recall the last time off the top of my head Dell used AMD components
in their gaming laptops, so it’s a welcome addition to the G series lineup. Let me know
your thoughts on Dell’s move to AMD Ryzen and Radeon with the G5 down in the comments,
and if you’re new to the channel get subscribed for the rest of my upcoming CES 2020 coverage.