Dell G16 2023 gaming laptop review: Good for gamers on a budget

When it comes to gaming laptops, there are only a few reliable brands that come to mind. And Dell is one of them. With its powerful Alienware series, Dell has made a name for itself among gamers. However, Alienware comes with a hefty price tag. In order to cater to the needs of gamers who are looking for more affordable options, Dell has introduced the G-series gaming laptops. Recently it launched the G-16 2023 laptop with some impressive on-paper specs.

So, when I got the opportunity to review the G16 gaming laptop with high-end specs and a relatively affordable price tag — and here the word relatively is doing a rather heavy lifting — I was quite eager to play my favourite titles. The experience was worth remembering.

With price beginning from Rs 1,61,990, the Dell G16 (2023) is for gamers on a budget. We know how costly gaming laptops can be. Hence, the Rs 1,61,990 price tag seems affordable in comparison.

Now, is the laptop worth shelling over a lakh? Read on to find out in this review.

Dell G16 (2023): Design and display

The Dell G16 7630 is a sleek and stylish laptop that resembles its predecessor, the Dell G16 that launched in 2022. This year, the G16 comes in two colour options — Metallic Nightshade and Quantum White. I got the Metallic Nightshade colour option for review, and it looks absolutely stunning, in my opinion. During my 2 weeks long usage, I didn’t really notice any smudges or dust gathering on the surface of the laptop.

Even though the laptop looks compact, it is quite heavy. It weighs almost 3 kg and you can’t really carry this beast around with one hand. Unless you consider carrying it around as part of your gym routine. Although, it is worth noting that gaming laptops are supposed to be bulky compared to the regular ones and they are also, mostly, kept rooted by people on their gaming stations.

On the right side, there are two USB Type A ports while on the left, there is an Ethernet port and a 3mm jack. I loved the location of the 3mm jack as it was quite convenient to connect my gaming headphones.

At the back, there is a USB Type-C display port, an HDMI port and a USB Type-A port. There is also a power charging port. At the top right edge, the RGB-lit letter G sits in all its glory and gives you those gamer feels. There are air vents on both edges, back and at the keyboard deck.

The keyboard deck features an RGB-lit keyboard that can be controlled via the Alienware Command Center. The keyboard feels somewhat fragile so be careful not to tap those keys too hard while gaming. The keyboard, however, is a delight when you are typing on it and I enjoyed working on the laptop for long hours without any problem. Below the keys is a small trackpad. It’s good enough but I didn’t really like its small size. I mean a 13-inch MacBook Air, which looks like half of the G16, has a bigger trackpad.

Coming to the display, you have a 16-inch QHD display with slim bezels, leading to an immersive gaming experience. The display is sharp, vivid, and makes game footage look crisp and clear. However, it offers brightness of only 300 nits. Now, even though most gamers prefer dark rooms over daylight, I still wish the display was a bit brighter because when I tried playing Resident Evil 8 sitting by the window at noon, I had a hard time exploring the darker locations.

With that being said, the display, with 165Hz refresh rate, impresses otherwise, and you will have a smooth experience playing your favourite games on it.

Dell G16 (2023): General Performance and battery

The performance is where the G16 shines. The unit I am reviewing is powered by Intel Core i7-13650HX processor and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card.

Apart from gaming, I also used the laptop for work, streaming OTT content, and occasional video editing. In all scenarios, the laptop surpassed expectations when it came to performance.

While working, I usually have many tabs open and the laptop’s large screen and buttery smooth performance made my job easier. While streaming OTT content, my favourite movies and sitcoms looked great and while video editing in an app like Filmora I saw no lags.

However, I did feel that the speakers were a bit underwhelming. The treble is fine but for people looking for more bass, they might be disappointed. The volume of the speakers filled the room but I wish there was that extra clarity and "boom" to it.

The laptop also doesn’t come with Windows Hello IR facial recognition or fingerprint recognition which might raise some eyebrows. Not deal-breaking but would have been nice to have them.

I also ran the laptop through a couple of benchmark tests and the results were quite decent.

In the Cinebench Single core CPU test, the laptop scored 1779 while the score was 12568 on the Multi core CPU test.

For testing the laptop’s graphic abilities, I used the Superposition benchmark tests.

In the Superposition Benchmark test set at 1080p high graphics settings, the laptop scored 9156. The minimum FPS was 39 while the average was 68.48.

In the Superposition Benchmark test set at 4K optimised settings, the score was 5240. The minimum FPS was 27 while the average FPS was 39.

Talking about battery, this is one aspect where I feel improvements could be made. The laptop lasted for barely an hour and a half when I was streaming YouTube videos. I didn’t play any games during this time. However, gaming laptops aren’t expected to have a great battery life and hence, we can cut Dell some slack here.

While gaming, the battery dropped by a whopping 20 per cent in just 10 minutes. Moreover, the FPS saw a major drop when the laptop was nearly out of juice and several demanding games became unplayable. Hence, it is advised to use your laptop while charging at all times.

Dell G16 (2023): Gaming experience

Now, let’s briefly talk about some of the games that I played on the G16 and the overall experience.

I first tried playing Forza Horizon 4 and absolutely loved how stunning all my cars looked. In Ultra dynamic render quality settings and motion blur at short, the average FPS that I got was around 70-80. The lowest FPS was at 60 and the highest went till 90.

After tweaking the settings a bit and fixing them at high graphics, the average FPS was around 110 and it never dropped below 100. At medium graphics setting, the average FPS was around 120 and the lowest was 90.

The next game I tried was Red Dead Redemption, which is a highly demanding game that can make various laptops sweat. The average FPS at best graphics settings, Ultra, was around 50 and even dropped to 34 for some time. However, the game was playable and there were no lags. Meanwhile, at medium graphics settings, the FPS hovered between 100 and 120 which is quite impressive. The lowest FPS recorded here was 60.

The game that I enjoyed the most on this laptop was Doom: Eternal. It got amazing FPS too with around 200 at Ultra Nightmare graphic settings and 250 at high graphics settings.

GTA V was also a smooth experience with FPS hovering around 100 at medium graphics settings, and at around 60-70 at best graphic settings.

As for Resident Evil Village, the average FPS hovered around 100 and 120 at the default graphic settings. When I tweaked graphic settings and set it to the best possible, it resulted in an average FPS of 45.

Hence, while the graphic settings are decent while playing demanding AAA titles, first-person shooter games like Call of Duty, Counterstrike and Doom are an absolute delight on this laptop.

Also, this is a quiet machine and you will not be bothered by a lot of fan noise. The device also manages heat well as after hours of gaming, the keyboard got warm, but not too hot.

Dell G16 (2023): Should you buy?

So, should you buy the Dell G16? If you love first-person shooters and are looking for a gaming laptop under Rs 2 lakh, this is the perfect option for you. Since gaming laptops can cost as high as Rs 4 lakh easily, the Dell G16 is quite the performance beast in this price tag. Hence for gamers who have a tight budget, this is a good option to consider.