CES 2019 | Dell updates G5 and G7 gaming laptops with Nvidia's new RTX 2000 cards and a 4K OLED display

In the year since Dell discontinued their Inspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop, the new G-series has proven to be a popular budget option due to the greater range of model configurations and competitive pricing. Although they only achieved average scores in reviews as 'decent' option. Now they are being updated with the mobile versions of Nvidia’s 2000 series graphics cards.

Dell has swapped out the GTX 1060, GTX 1070, and Max-Q variants and replaced them with the new Nvidia RTX 2060, RTX 2070, and GTX 2080 (surprisingly). This will help the ‘chunky’ G5 and G7 compete at the top-end graphically with other larger laptops, as long as the cooling system can handle the heat produced. A GTX 1050 Ti configuration will still be sold alongside these RTX cards, but it should be avoided unless there are significant discounts, since a 2000-series alternative is likely to appear in the future.

In addition to the standard FullHD (1920 x 1080) screen options, Dell is introducing a 4K (3840 x 2160) OLED display into the mix. This panel has a significantly higher max brightness at 400 nits, compared to the current 220 and 300 nit ones. OLED panels also have much faster pixel response times than small IPS panels (not directly mains powered), which is great for fast paced gaming. The refresh rate is capped at 60 Hz, which isn’t as smooth as the 144 Hz LCD option. The other caveat to watch out for is that OLED displays tend to have low-frequency PWM across most of their brightness range and this can be a problem for some users.

The bodies are the same all-plastic design on the Dell G5 and plastic chassis with magnesium keyboard deck on the Dell G7. The exception to this is the G5 15 5590 SE, which is available in white and blue exterior and blue cooling system. Both models are still configured with the Intel 8th Gen i5-8300H 2.3/4.0 GHz (4C/8T) and i7-8750H 2.2/4.1 GHz (6C/12T). Storage combinations of M.2 SSD and 2.5-inch HDD are available up to 1 TB each, and two DIMM slots support up to 32 GB of RAM.

The new G5 and G7 are available from 21 January, with pricing starting at US$999 for the G5 15 5590, US$1099 for the G7 15 7590, and US$1380 for the G7 17 7790. The OLED displays aren’t available from launch but will instead arrive April 2019.