Dell Gaming G15 Ryzen Edition (2021) review

[ntab Configuration]
The Dell Gaming G15, as the name suggests, is part of the G-Series lineup of gaming laptops from Dell. It looks like Dell is consolidating its gaming laptop portfolio, setting the Alienware brand to focus on middle and high-end gaming machines while leaving the Dell G-Series to address the budget-oriented market. However, the 2021 G15’s drastic redesign seems to break the tradition of cheap build quality and poor cooling that plagued the previous generations of Dell’s budget gaming laptops, like the G3. Does this redesign truly place the laptop in a higher value league, or is it just aesthetics? Continue reading to find out.

Our review unit is the Ryzen edition with model number 5515. There is also an Intel variant designated by the model number 5511. Regardless of the processor type, both versions come with various RTX 3000 series graphics cards from Nvidia.

[ntab General overview]

The 2021 design of the Dell Gaming G15 resembles more of a portable workstation than a gaming laptop. This impression is due to two things. One is the massive hinge which is well integrated into the body of the chassis, giving the laptop a unibody look. The second is the “massiveness” of the laptop, being bigger and heavier than the other gaming laptops tested so far by the Noteb team. The unit reviewed here had the Phantom Grey colour with speckles all over me, and the hinge was painted in a darker grey to break the monotone look. The G15 is also available in Spectre Green and Black colours for those who dislike the grey look.

The chassis felt pretty sturdy and had little flex despite being all-plastic. This sturdiness is a step up in quality from previous Dell gaming models

The four-zone RGB keyboard shows significant improvements as well over previous Dell gaming laptops. The keycaps seem slightly smaller than average and have low travel time, but they don’t feel cramped, and the overall experience is excellent. The keyboard even has a non-compromised NumPad which is a plus. Not so great are the arrow keys, which are cramped and a lot smaller than the rest of the keys and felt horrible to use during gaming.

The peripheral port selection is decent and spread out on all sides.

On the left side the laptop has :

On the back it has :

And on the right side it has:

Remember that the USB Type-A 2.0 ports are only on configurations with the RTX 3050 and the RTX 3050 Ti dedicated graphics cards. The G15 models that come with RTX 3060 GPUs have upgraded USB type-A 3.0 ports in place of the 2.0 ones.

Another essential thing to mention is the reversed motherboard. The upgradable components like the RAM sticks, M.2 SSDs and WiFi are easily accessible but repasting the CPU means that the entire motherboard needs to be removed. Despite the reversed motherboard, the chassis temperatures don’t seem to be affected, with the WASD area being cool to the touch while gaming.

Quick note: The RAM modules in the G15 are 1Rx16, which means they might be slower than laptops with 1Rx8 modules in some tasks.

[ntab Display]

The Dell Gaming G15 is equipped with the Innolux N156HRA-GAA/ CMN1522 IPS panel, a slightly updated version of the N156HRA-EA1panel that Acer and HP use on their budget gaming laptops (Helios and Pavilion). Apart from the 120 Hz refresh rate, there aren’t many great things to say about this display. It is pretty dim at 250 measured nits. It has a high response time resulting in ghosting in fast-paced games. It has a low colour coverage of 63.9% sRGB, 44.5% Adobe RGB, and 45.6% DCI P3 making it unsuitable for video/photo editing.

Here is a link to the calibrated display profile of the reviewed unit. Because each display is unique, this profile will not perfectly match other displays of the same model. Still, using this profile should give better overall colours.

sRGB profile and calibration

[ntab Disassembly]

Note: The G15 has two M.2 slots, but the 2nd slot is missing the brackets, so to install it, the user has to purchase aftermarket ones.

[ntab Benchmarks]

Night Raid

SCORE	28858
Graphics score	41626
Physics score	10540

Fire Strike

SCORE	10914
Graphics score	11970
Physics score	18294
Combined score	4816

Sky Diver

SCORE	26581
Graphics score	32968
Physics score	14759
Combined score	21244

Time Spy

SCORE	5044
Graphics score	4891
Physics score	6134

Orange Room

SCORE	5911
Average frame rate	128.85 fps
Target frame rate	109.00 fps

Cyan room

SCORE	4615
Average frame rate	100.68 fps
Target frame rate	88.90 fps

Blue Room

SCORE	1462
Average frame rate	31.86 fps
Target frame rate	109.00 fps

Nvidia DLSS Test

DLSS Off	– fps
DLSS On	– fps

Cinebench R20

Single Core	510 pts
Multi Core	3453

Blender

CPU blend time	4m 39s
GPU blend time	1m 13s

Geekbench 4

Single-core score	Multi-core score
5687	25831

Geekbench 5

Single-core score	Multi-core score
1342	6031

PCMark 10 Web Score 8763 Apps Score 9789 Chat Score 7639 Photo Score 9432 Video Score 4781 Writing Score 7533 Spreadsheet Score 10157 Essentials 8685 Productivity 8744 Digital Content Creation 6976 SCORE 5800

Unigine Superposition benchmark
720p Low	16187
1080p Medium	8380
1080p High	6358
1080p Extreme	2873
4K Optimized	3918
8K Optimized	1172

Crystal Disk Mark

[ntab Gaming benchmarks]

Click on the banner to go to our youtube channel

[ntab Temperatures]

The cooling solution of the Dell Gaming G15 consists of four heat pipes (two of which are shared between the CPU and the GPU), four heatsinks (two at the back of the laptop and two on each side) and two fans. As mentioned before, the G15 has a reversed motherboard, meaning that the cooling system is on the back of the motherboard. Repasting the CPU or doing fan maintenance means that the entire motherboard needs to be taken apart first.

All the tests were performed at an ambient temperature of 26° C (78.8° F).

During the standard 30 minutes AIDA64 stress test (CPU, FPU, cache), the processor reached an average temperature of 92 °C (197.6 °F), with a maximum of 93.3 °C (199.94 °F). At these temperatures, the processor managed to keep an average frequency of 3.70 GHz, with occasional dips to as low as 3.27 GHz on some of its cores. Despite the higher-than-average temperatures, the laptop performs well because the average 3.70 GHz speed is noticeably higher than the 3.30 GHz minimum base speed but way below the maximum boost of 4.20 GHz.

In the combined AIDA64 + Unigine Superposition stress test (which had both the processor and the dedicated graphics card under heavy load for 30 minutes), the processor reached a maximum temperature of 93.1 °C (199.5 °F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 92.7 °C (198.8 °F). During this time, the processor kept an average clock speed of 3.02 GHz with occasional dips to as low as 2.72 GHz. The dedicated graphics card maintained an average clock speed of 1715 MHz with a maximum boost of 1800 MHz. Temperature-wise, the video card hovered between 82.2 and 85.4°C (179.9 – 185.7°F). This time, the processor fails to output the marketed performance of at least 3.30 GHz.

Finally, the laptop was tested with the AIDA64 stability test, another combined stress test for the video card and processor. The results were very similar to the previous stress tests. The processor reached a maximum temperature of 92.8 °C (199 °F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 92.5 °C (198.5 °F). Despite its throttling, the processor still managed to keep an average clock speed of 2.48 GHz with occasional dips to as low as 2.41 GHz. The dedicated graphics card maintained a clock speed of 1901 MHz with a maximum boost of 1942 MHz. Temperature-wise, the video card hovered between 84.7 and 86°C (184.4 – 186.8 °F).

After all the tests conducted by the Noteb review team, it is safe to conclude that Dell’s cooling solution is adequate. The laptop manages to keep temperatures in check and deliver decent performance in both synthetic tests and real-life tests like gaming.

[ntab Noise]
The Dell Gaming G15 can either be quiet during regular use or very loud when gaming. Fortunately, the users can customise their fan profiles in the Alienware Command Center to accommodate their needs. Also, pressing Fn+G keys will activate Game Shift, setting the fans RPM to the maximum speed.

The LatencyMon test evaluates if a laptop is suitable for video/audio editing and recording. The laptop was tested while connected to the Internet with a network cable and while connected via WiFi. Unfortunately, the machine experienced moderate latency under both circumstances, resulting in clicks or pops while recording. The test was run multiple times to eliminate any flukes, and it constantly returned with the same results.

LatencyMon test – WIFI	LatencyMon test – LAN

[ntab Battery life]

Since most laptops are used on battery for mundane office activities and web browsing, the laptop was tested using a simulated continuous web browsing session over WiFi. The browsing session involved checking emails/news, social media and accessing multimedia websites, similar to the behaviour of an average user. The brightness level was set according to visibility and usability. At 50% brightness, the laptop provided an enjoyable viewing experience. The sound volume was also set to 50%.

With its 56 WHr battery, the laptop lasted 4 hours and 15 minutes. The machine was tested using both Firefox and Edge and yielded similar battery life results regardless of the browser.

Charging the laptop from 5% to 95% took 2 hours.

[ntab Conclusion]

Pros:

• good 1080p gaming performance
• high refresh rate display
• RGB keyboard
• stable chassis
• user defined fan curves

Cons:

• high response time display (ghosting)
• low colour coverage display
• reversed motherboard
• 1Rx16 memory modules

So, is the Dell Gaming G15 worth it? Did Dell manage to bring the quality of mid-range gaming laptops to the budget market? Well, you know what they say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. In other words, when you look at the G15 and get to fiddle around with it, it certainly doesn’t feel like a cheap laptop. However, to keep its price affordable, Dell had to cut some corners. These compromises include the reversed motherboard, the horrible screen and somewhat lower processor speeds under heavy load. Despite these shortcomings, in the end, the G15 will deliver the promised performance while looking sleek and without being expensive.

[ntab Videos]