Dell XPS 17 9720 review: Almost all the right improvements

The XPS 17 (9720)’s design is unchanged from the previous version, the XPS 17 (9710). It retains the same incredibly solid chassis, with CNC-machined aluminum in the lid and bottom chassis and black carbon-fiber lining the keyboard deck.

While the design of the XPS 17 (9720) is the same as the previous generation, the engine driving the laptop has been brought up to date with Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs, DDR5 RAM, and PCIe 4.0 solid-state drives (SSDs). My review unit featured the Core i7-12700H, a 14-core (six performance and eight efficient), 20-thread 45-watt chip that’s been a strong performer in laptops we’ve reviewed. You can configure the XPS 17 with up to the faster-clocked Core i9-12900HK, although, as we’ll see, there may not be much value in doing so given the XPS 17’s thin chassis.

Dell includes its utility to adjust the fan and CPU speeds for quiet, balanced (Optimized), and performance (Ultra Performance) modes. I ran the benchmarks in both balanced and performance modes and reported both in the table below. Where available, I also reported both scores for the comparison machines. The XPS 17’s performance mode wasn’t as impactful as on some other laptops, including the XPS 15 that I recently reviewed, with one expectation that I’ll get to shortly.

Overall, performance was solid and a significant increase from the XPS 17. Geekbench 5 was the most significant change, with the new model scoring a whopping 50% increase. We didn’t record our Handbrake test for the XPS 17 9710, a test that encodes a 420MB video as H.265 and is CPU-intensive. In Cinebench R23, another CPU-intensive benchmark, the XPS 17 was 25% faster in balanced mode. In the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark that tests a variety of productivity, multimedia, and creative tasks, the XPS 17 was 15% faster. Performance mode tends to make little difference in this test on any machine.

My review unit was built around a 17-inch, 16:10 UHD+ IPS antireflective and anti-smudge touch display. There’s also a Full HD+ (1,920 x 1,200) option, but you’ll want the higher resolution given the larger panel. I found the display bright and colorful with deep blacks, although not the inky blacks of OLED screens.

I used my SpyderX colorimeter to test the display, and it passed with flying colors (no pun intended). It was very bright at 543 nits (300 nits is our baseline), making it bright enough to use outside. Its colors were wide at 100% of sRGB, 100% of AdobeRGB, and 98% of DCI-P3. They were also accurate at a DeltaE of 0.58 (less than 1.0 is considered excellent). And the contrast was 1,870:1, one of the highest scores we’ve seen in a laptop IPS display. It competes strongly with OLED displays in all but contrast, and it was by far the best IPS panel in our comparison group and one of the best IPS displays we’ve tested, period.

Creators crave a large, colorful, and accurate display, and the XPS 17 9720 delivers. Coupled with the laptop’s performance, the display makes for a highly portable creative workstation. Of course, it’s also great for productivity work and multimedia streaming.

Grammy Award-winner Jack Joseph Puig tuned the quad-speaker setup, with Waves Nx technology providing 3D effects. Two speakers bracket the keyboard while two downward-firing speakers are located along each edge, and the results were excellent. There was a ton of volume, enough to be uncomfortable in my small home office. Mids and highs were clear, and there was more bass than usual. The XPS 17 9720 joins the XPS 15 9520 in offering the best audio you’ll find on a Windows laptop. Only Apple’s MacBook Pro is better.

The XPS 17 9720’s keyboard is centered in the keyboard deck between large speaker grilles and is the same size as the 15-inch model’s. That makes it seem small, but in fact, it provides large keycaps and plenty of key spacing. The switches have 1.3mm of travel, which isn’t a lot, but each keystroke has a satisfying snap that provides a precise and confident feel. It joins the rest of the XPS line and HP’s Spectres in having one of the best keyboards on a Windows laptop, with Apple’s Magic Keyboard on its most recent MacBooks being the only one that’s better.

The touchpad is expansive, with a smooth surface and quiet clicks. Windows 11 multitouch gestures work perfectly thanks to the Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers, and overall, it’s one of the better Windows touchpads I’ve used. Maybe someday Dell will upgrade to a haptic touchpad, which is well-executed on the MacBook line and keeps Apple in the lead. The display is touch-enabled and works perfectly.

Windows 11 Hello passwordless login is provided by a fingerprint reader conveniently located in the power button and an infrared camera for facial recognition. Both methods worked quickly and reliably.

Like the XPS 15 9520, the XPS 17 9720 now has separate webcam and infrared cameras. That’s meant to improve video quality, but Dell kept the resolution at 720p, which is behind the curve. The video quality was OK, but an upgrade to Full HD would have been appreciated.

Powering a high-resolution 17-inch display and 45-watt CPU takes a lot of juice, and the XPS 17 9720 has the same 97 watt-hours of battery packed inside as did the XPS 17 9710. In terms of power consumption, the 12th-gen CPU is the only meaningful difference from the previous generation, so we should be able to gauge the new processor’s relative efficiency.

In our web browsing test that cycles through a series of popular and complex websites, the XPS 17 9720 lasted 7.5 hours, slightly less than average but more than two hours longer than the XPS 17 9710. The new model also lasted nearly three hours longer in our video test that loops a local Full HD Avengers trailer at 13 hours.

We didn’t test the previous-generation machine using PCMark 10’s Application battery benchmark, but the XPS 17 9720 managed seven hours. That’s again a bit less than average but still a decent score, indicating that the laptop may not make it through a full day of productivity tasks, but it will come close.

Battery life has improved significantly from the previous generation, and it’s just the slightest bit less than our laptop average. It’s solid battery life for such a large laptop with fast components, and the 12th-gen CPU does indeed seem to be more efficient.

My review configuration was priced at $3,039 with a Core i7-12700H, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive (SSD), a 17-inch UHD+ display, and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. The entry-level configuration is $1,839 for a Core i5-12500H, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 17-inch Full HD+ display, and Intel UHD integrated graphics. At the high end, you can spend $3,654 for a Core i9-12900HK, 64GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, the 17-inch UHD+ display, and the RTX 3060. Of course, you can mix and match using Dell’s configurator and design exactly the right machine for you at the best price point. But regardless, the XPS 17 9720 is an expensive laptop.

The Dell XPS 17 (9720) maintains everything great about the previous model, including packing a massive display into about as small a chassis as is physically possible. It’s not quite the thinnest 17-inch laptop you can buy, nor is it the fastest. But it balances size and speed in a way that no other laptop does.

It’s also incredibly well-built, looks great, and even offers decent battery life. Toss in one of the best IPS displays we’ve tested, and you have a highly portable machine for creators, hardcore productivity workers, and multimedia consumers. It’s not cheap, but it’s well worth the price.

Are there any alternatives?

The MSI Creator Z17 is a recent addition to the 17-inch class, and it provides similar performance to the XPS 17 while being just a hair thinner. It doesn’t offer nearly as good a display, nor as much longevity, however, and it’s also an expensive machine.

Another alternative is the Razer Blade 17, which is just about as fast and almost as thin. But it, too, doesn’t offer the same kind of battery life, nor as good a display. It can be configured with a faster GPU, however, meaning it makes for a better gaming laptop.

The most competitive alternative is the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which has the performance, battery life, and display quality to move ahead of the XPS 17.

How long will it last?

The XPS 17 is solidly built and should last for years of typical abuse. It’s also well-stocked with up-to-date components, and you can upgrade the RAM yourself and add in a second SSD, further extending the machine’s life span. Of course, I don’t like the one-year warranty, but that’s, unfortunately, the industry standard.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you need a large display with excellent performance in a reasonably sized chassis, then the XPS 17 is for you.

Editors’ Recommendations