Dell XPS 17 9700 vs Dell G3 15 3500 Comparison

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Dell XPS 17 9700

17 inches | May 2020

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Dell G3 15 3500

15.6 inches | April 2020

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Dell XPS 17 9700 vs Dell G3 15 3500 Comparison Overview

Dell XPS 17 9700

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Dell G3 15 3500

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Dell XPS 17 9700

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Dell G3 15 3500

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In this review, we will be comparing XPS 17 9700 and G3 15 3500, two laptops by Dell. Dell XPS 17 9700 was introduced to market in May 2020 and Dell G3 15 3500 was launched in April 2020. There is only 1 months difference between XPS 17 9700 and G3 15 3500 so we are expecting this to be a fair comparison regarding age and technology level.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

Here is a brief look at the main features of Dell XPS 17 9700 and Dell G3 15 3500 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

Dell XPS 17 9700 Key Specs

Launched in May 2020
17.0" IPS LCD, 16:10 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i5 10300H
GPU: GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile 4GB
8GB Ram
375 x 248 x 20 mm (14.76 x 9.76 x 0.79 inches)
Weight: 2.51 kg (5.53 lbs)

Dell G3 15 3500 Key Specs

Launched in April 2020
15.6" IPS LCD, 16:9 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i5 10300H
GPU: GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
8GB Ram
365.5 x 254 x 21.4 mm (14.39 x 10 x 0.84 inches)
Weight: 2.34 kg (5.16 lbs)

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how XPS 17 9700 and G3 15 3500 compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose Dell XPS 17 9700 over Dell G3 15 3500

Screen-to-Body Ratio	~90.1% vs ~72.3%	Larger screen area ratio
Side Bezel Thickness	4.4 mm vs 10.1 mm	5.7 mm thinner bezels
Display Size	17 inches vs 15.6 inches	Larger Screen Estate
Contrast Rate	1686:1 vs 700:1	more pleasing colors
Screen Resolution	1920 x 1200 pixels vs 1920 x 1080 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
Max Brightness	500 nits vs 300 nits	Brighter Screen
USB Power Delivery	Yes vs No	Charges via USB-C type cable
Charging Port Position	Left, Right vs Left	Flexible cable positions
Speaker Loudness	82.2 dB vs 73.3 dB	Generates higher sound levels
Bluetooth	v5.2 vs v5.1	More advanced Bluetooth connectivity
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes vs No	Easy login with fingerprint
Thunderbolt	v3 vs No	Support audio, data, power and video all through one single port
Touchpad Size	15.0 x 8.9 cm vs 10.5 x 8.0 cm	Larger Touchpad Area

Reasons to choose Dell G3 15 3500 over Dell XPS 17 9700

Weight	2.34 kg vs 2.51 kg	0.17 kg lighter
Noise Level	48.7 dB vs 49 dB	Less fan noise
Screen PPI	141 ppi vs 133 ppi	More pixels per inch
Response Time	35 ms vs 41 ms	Faster Response screen
GPU FLOPS	3.195 TFLOPS vs 3.041 TFLOPS	Connect to external monitors directly via HDMI cable
HDMI Port	1x HDMI 2.0 vs No	Connects to the local network via Ethernet RJ45
Ethernet RJ45 Port	Yes vs No

Common Strengths of Dell G3 15 3500 and Dell XPS 17 9700

Screen Coating	Matte vs Matte	Less reflections on the screen
Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
Upgradable RAM	Yes vs Yes	Option to increase the RAM size
RAM Type	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) vs PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	Fast RAM type
Upgradable Storage	Yes vs Yes	Option to increase the Storage size
SSD Type	NVMe vs NVMe	Faster Data Transfers
Wi-Fi Standard	v6 vs v6	Fast and Reliable Wi-Fi Connections
Bluetooth Standard	v5.2 vs v5.1	Fast and Reliable Bluetooth Connections
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable
Built-in SD Card Reader	Yes vs Yes	Read & Write SD Cards
Keyboard Backlight	Yes vs Yes	Easily see the keys under low light

Common Weaknesses of Dell G3 15 3500 and Dell XPS 17 9700

Touchscreen Capability	No vs No	No Touchscreen Capability

Dell XPS 17 9700 vs Dell G3 15 3500: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the Dell XPS 17 9700 and the Dell G3 15 3500.

Physical Specs
Weight	2.51 kg (5.53 lbs)	2.34 kg (5.16 lbs)
Surface Area	930 cm2 (144.1 inches2)	928 cm2 (143.9 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~90.1%	~72.3%
Side Bezel Thickness	~4.4 mm	~10.1 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.15 kg/inch	0.15 kg/inch
	0.33 lbs/inch	0.33 lbs/inch
Colors	Silver	White, Black
Cover Opening Angle	150Â°	140Â°

Comparison of the Dell XPS 17 9700 and the Dell G3 15 3500 External Dimensions

Weight

XPS 17 9700 weighs 2.51 kg (5.53 lbs), whereas the G3 15 3500 weighs 2.34 kg (5.16 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. However, it's important to consider that comparing their weights directly may not provide a complete picture since they also have different display sizes.

Weight Comparison

Dell XPS 17 9700

Avg: larger than 17.0"

Dell G3 15 3500

Avg: 15.0-15.9"

Thickness Comparison

Dell XPS 17 9700

Avg: larger than 17.0"

Dell G3 15 3500

Avg: 15.0-15.9"

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the Dell XPS 17 9700 is 0.15 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the Dell G3 15 3500 is 0.15 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

Microsoft Surface Go 4: 0.05 kg/inch
LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Microsoft Surface Pro 12: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

Dell XPS 17 9700 vs Dell G3 15 3500: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	Intel Core i5 10300H Intel Core i7 10750H Intel Core i7 10875H Intel Core i9 10885H	Intel Core i5 10300H Intel Core i7 10750H Intel Core i7 10875H
Base Frequency	2.5 GHz	2.5 GHz
Turbo Frequency	4.5 GHz	4.5 GHz
Number of Cores	4	4
Number of Threads	8	8
L3 Cache	8 MB	8 MB
Integrated GPU	Intel UHD Graphics 630	Intel UHD Graphics 630
CPU Fabrication Process	14 nm	14 nm
Geekbench 5 (Single)	1186	1186
Geekbench 5 (Multi)	3813	3813
Cinebench 23 (Single)	1128	1128
Cinebench 23 (Multi)	4906	4906

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the Dell XPS 17 9700 and Dell G3 15 3500.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPU ( Intel Core i5 10300H ) and compare them:

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile 4GB GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q 6GB	GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile GeForce GTX 1660 TI Mobile GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile 8GB
Base Clock Frequency	1350 MHz	1380 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	1485 MHz	1560 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)	50 W	50 W
Type	Dedicated	Dedicated
FLOPS	3.041 TFLOPS	3.195 TFLOPS
Memory Size	4 GB	4 GB
Memory Type	GDDR6	GDDR6
Memory Bus	128 bit	128 bit
Memory Speed	~12 Gbps	~12 Gbps
Shading Units Cores	1024	1024
TMUs	64	64
ROPs	32	32

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. Dell XPS 17 9700 has a FLOPS value of 3.041 TFLOPS whereas the Dell G3 15 3500 ' has a FLOPS value of 3.195 TFLOPS. If graphical performance of the laptop is important for your use type, the Dell G3 15 3500 may be the better choice between these two setups.

RAM Comparison

RAM	8GB 16GB 32GB 64GB	8GB 16GB 32GB 64GB
Memory Bus	2x4 GB	2x4 GB
RAM Clock	2933 MHz	2933 MHz
RAM Type	DDR4	DDR4
Upgradable	Yes	Yes
Max RAM Size	64 GB	64 GB
Total Slots	2	2
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)

Both laptops, the XPS 17 9700 and the G3 15 3500, come with similar RAM capacities of 8 GB, providing comparable performance in memory-intensive tasks.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

LLM Category	Dell XPS 17 9700	Dell G3 15 3500
Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B	✔ Run smoothly.	✔ Run smoothly.
Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

📌 MoE Models: Some models like Mixtral 8x7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) design, activating only part of the model during inference. This means they can often run efficiently on laptops with 12–16 GB of VRAM when quantized.

BATTERY

BATTERY	97 Wh 56 Wh	51 Wh 68 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Ion	Li-Ion
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	Yes	Yes
USB Power Delivery	Yes	No
Charging Port Position	Left, Right	Left
Charge Power	90 / 130 W	130 / 240 W
Voltage	11.4 V	11.4 V
Full Charging Time	2:00 hr	4:00 hr
AC Adapter Weight	447 gramm

Moreover, the XPS 17 9700 boasts a larger battery capacity of 97 Wh, offering extended usage time compared to the G3 15 3500's51 Wh.

Battery Comparison

Dell XPS 17 9700

Avg: larger than 17.0"

Dell G3 15 3500

Avg: 15.0-15.9"

STORAGE
With a larger storage capacity up to 2 TB, the XPS 17 9700 provides more space for storing files and applications compared to the G3 15 3500's max. storage capacity of 1 TB.

Storage Options	256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB	256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
Upgradable	Yes	Yes
Total Slots	2	2
Storage type	SSD (M2)	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	Yes

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

Dell XPS 17 9700 vs Dell G3 15 3500: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the Dell XPS 17 9700 and Dell G3 15 3500 since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. XPS 17 9700 has a display size of 17.0".On the other hand, G3 15 3500 has a smaller 15.6" display.The total usable screen area of the XPS 17 9700 is 838cm² / 130inch² whereas the G3 15 3500's total usable screen area is 670cm² / 104inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the G3 15 3500 features a higher pixel density with 141 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

Dell XPS 17 9700

Avg: larger than 17.0"

Dell G3 15 3500

Avg: 15.0-15.9"

Refresh Rate
Both XPS 17 9700 and G3 15 3500 offer the same refresh rate of 60 Hz.

Furthermore, the G3 15 3500 boasts a faster response time of 35.0 ms, reducing motion blur for fast-paced content.

Brightness
The XPS 17 9700 offers a higher maximum brightness of 500 nits, delivering a brighter screen.

Brightness Comparison

Dell XPS 17 9700

Avg: larger than 17.0"

Dell G3 15 3500

Avg: 15.0-15.9"

Dell XPS 17 9700 vs Dell G3 15 3500 Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Both laptops offer the same Wi-Fi standard (v6), ensuring fast and reliable wireless connections.

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
G3 15 3500 is equipped with 3x USB 3.2 USB-A ports. XPS 17 9700 does not have USB-A ports.
XPS 17 9700 is equipped with 4x USB 3.2 USB Type-C ports. G3 15 3500 does not have USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
XPS 17 9700 is equipped with Thunderbolt 3 port. G3 15 3500 does not have Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
G3 15 3500 features an HDMI port (1x HDMI 2.0) for connecting to external monitors. XPS 17 9700 does not have an HDMI port.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
Both XPS 17 9700 and G3 15 3500 come with an SD Card Reader for easy access to memory cards.

Audio Jack
Both XPS 17 9700 and G3 15 3500 are equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, providing seamless connection to headphones and speakers.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v6	v6
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5.2	v5.1
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	No	3x USB 3.2
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	4x USB 3.2	No
Thunderbolt (latest: 5)	Thunderbolt 3	No
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	No	1x HDMI 2.0
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes	No
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	Yes
Ethernet RJ45	No	Yes
SD CardReader	Yes	Yes
Proprietary Charging Port	No	Yes