Dell XPS 17 9730 review – Feature-packed laptop but at a premium

• The Dell XPS 17 9730 is the company’s latest lightweight laptop in the XPS series.
• The laptop comes with a large 17-inch display and powerful hardware.
• Here’s our review of the Dell XPS 17 9730 that will help you decide whether you should buy the laptop.

Dell has revealed the XPS 17 9730, the company’s latest high-performance laptop in the XPS series. The laptop is aimed at professionals and students looking for a powerful laptop that is capable of easily handling heavy tasks.

The Dell XPS 17 9730 is packed with powerful hardware, with up to 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900H processor, a large 17-inch 4K UHD+ display and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics.

I’ve been using the XPS 17 9730 laptop with the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900H processor for a few days now, and here is my detailed review of the latest high-performance laptop from Dell.

Dell XPS 17 9730 price and availability

The Dell XPS 17 9730 is priced starting at ₹3,64,290. The laptop is available from the company’s website and leading online and offline retailers across the country in a Silver exterior with Black interior combination.

You can also opt for the lower end variant, which is available at ₹3,11,990.

In the box

• Dell XPS 17 9730 laptop
• Charging adapter
• Documentation

Dell XPS 17 9730 specifications

Dell XPS 17 9730 pros and cons

Pros

• Powerful hardware
• 4K UHD Display with touch support

Cons

• Expensive

Dell XPS 17 9730 design

Dell has not made any significant change in terms of design when compared to last year’s XPS 17 9730. The laptop continues to offer an aluminium and carbon fibre combination.

The laptop features a minimalistic silver aluminium lid with a matte finish that prevents fingerprint smudges. It comes with the Dell logo at the back, with the rest of the back being empty.


Due to the touch screen and the large battery, the laptop is on the bulkier side at 2.44 kg. So, if you are someone who often needs to use their laptop on the go, you need to consider the weight. As someone who already uses a heavy laptop, I did not find any issues with the weight.

Opening the Dell XPS 17 9730 may be an issue sometimes as you may not find anything on the lid to hold on to. Unlike Apple’s MacBook which can be opened easily with a single hand, I often had to use both hands to open the laptop.

On the other hand, the keyboard area is black and comes with a carbon fibre texture. It comes with a large trackpad and is equipped with two speakers on either side of the keyboard.


The keyboard is backlit and feels good to type on. As someone who has to type a lot, I had no issues while typing on the XPS 17 9730. The keys offer a 1.3mm travel and do not make a lot of noise. The touchpad is large, which makes it easier to use and is very responsive.

The keyboard comes with a 60% layout and does not feature number buttons on the right. If you are someone who uses numbers a lot, this may not be the ideal option for you. Then again, this is aimed at creators, who don’t use numbers very often.

In terms of ports, the Dell XPS 17 9730 is equipped with ample ports. It offers four Thunderbolt 4 USB Type C Ports, a full-size SD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack

As it is equipped with a powerful processor and graphics card, Dell has offered a large vent at the bottom to manage the heat. It also comes with XPS branding at the bottom.

Display

Coming to the display, the Dell XPS 17 9730 is equipped with a 17-inch 4K UHD+ IPS LCD display with a resolution of 3840 x 2400 pixels and a 60Hz refresh rate.


The display offers a 500 nits brightness, which is quite good for a laptop and allows you to use it even when under the sun. It offers 100% Adobe RGB minimum and 94% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage. While an OLED panel would have offered higher brightness and superior colours, the IPS panel on the XPS 17 9730 performs well.

The high resolution and colour accuracy make it a great option for content creators who need to be very careful with colours. The low refresh rate may disappoint users who may have wanted to play fast-paced action games as you will be limited to 60Hz.

Performance

In addition to a large display, the Dell XPS 17 9730 is also packed with the 13th gen Intel Core i9-13900H processor coupled with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics.

The laptop is available in two variants, offering up to 32GB DDR5 4800 MHz RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD. You can further upgrade the storage to up to 8TB.

The powerful combination means the laptop is able to carry everything that you throw at it with ease. You can easily multitask on the device with several applications running.

Considering the processor and graphics card combination, I also tried a few games on the laptop, including Red Dead Redemption 2. The laptop was able to handle these heavy games without any issues at the highest graphics.


To keep the laptop cool, it comes with dual fans and a large vapour chamber at the bottom. While the vapour chamber and the fans work well, it is only a laptop at the end of the day and it starts heating up during extended gaming sessions.

The Dell XPS 17 9730 is equipped with a large 97Whr battery that easily lasts for a day with normal usage. If we add in some light gaming and video streaming, the laptop still offers over 8 hours of usage, which is great.

Verdict

The Dell XPS 17 9730 is a good laptop that ticks a lot of boxes, including powerful hardware, large display and an excellent battery. At the same time, it is on the heavier side and the price is on the higher side.

If you are looking for a powerful laptop and do not mind the price tag, the Dell XPS 17 9730 is an excellent option.

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