Dell G15 5510 laptop review: Budget gaming laptop with the RTX 3050

Users who aren’t willing or able to spend more than 1,000 Euros (~$1,050) for a gaming laptop might have already come across the Dell G15 5510. Although the version that we reviewed no longer has the most up-to-date CPU with its Core i5-10500H , six cores and 12 threads are still respectable in 2022. The graphics card, on the other hand, is up to date thanks to ray tracing support, even though the GeForce RTX 3050 quickly runs out of steam at higher resolutions and settings due to its low memory configuration.

The mass storage drive in our review unit is a 512 GB NVMe SSD in the M. 2 format. Along with that, there are 2x 8 GB DDR4-3200 RAM sticks in dual-channel mode.

A matte wide-view panel with a refresh rate of 120 Hz handles image reproduction. The Dell G15 5510’s competitors include other affordable gaming laptops with the GeForce RTX 3050 or the RTX 3050 Ti, such as the Acer Nitro 5 AN517 , the Gigabyte G5 GD , and the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15IHU , all of which show up in the tables as comparison devices. Since the case is identical to the recently reviewed model with the Core i5-10200H and the RTX 3050 Ti , we won’t go into details regarding the chassis, the connectivity (ports, etc.

), and the input devices here. The corresponding information can be found in the linked article . Like most budget gaming laptops, the Dell G15 5510 unfortunately doesn’t have a good display.

While the black level and contrast are more than decent for a laptop with an IPS panel (0. 24 cd/m² and 1,200:1, respectively), the brightness and color space leave a lot to be desired. An average of 264 cd/m² means that the 15-incher is not suitable for outdoor use.

The display would have to reach at least 350 cd/m² for this. A meager 62% of sRGB coverage also leads to relatively pale colors, but the color accuracy is acceptable. Response times are also worse than what we’re familiar with from more expensive gaming laptops.

Around 21 ms black-to-white and 33 ms gray-to-gray can lead to compromises during fast movements (e. g. in first-person shooters).

Meanwhile, there’s little to complain about in terms of viewing angles – these are pleasingly stable. The Core i5-10500H and the GeForce RTX 3050 place the Dell G15 in the mid-range. 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage are also standard for a budget gaming device.

The preinstalled Alienware Command Center lets you adjust dozens of system settings. Our tests were performed using the default configuration, where both the power management and the thermal profile are set to “Balanced” (see screenshots). The Core i5-10500H is a somewhat older hexa-core CPU from Intel’s Comet Lake generation, which is manufactured in the outdated 14 nm process.

As mentioned earlier, the 45-watt model can process up to 12 threads in parallel. When the dedicated Nvidia GPU is idle, the internal graphics chip, namely the UHD Graphics 630 (Optimus technology), takes over. Compared to the rival laptops with newer CPUs, our review unit’s performance is decent.

Consequently, the i5-10500H settles comfortably between the Core i5-11300H and the Core i5-11400H in the Cinebench R15 loop, and it easily surpasses the i5-10200H found in its similarly priced sibling model. Very nice: The CPU performance remains quite constant, even over prolonged periods of time. The device’s system performance fulfills every expectation that you might have of a budget gaming laptop.

Although the results in PCMark 10 are only good enough for the penultimate place in the test field, the operating system (Windows 11 Home) responds pleasantly fast from a subjective point of view. In terms of latencies, there’s definitely room for improvement for Dell. Out of the box, the G15 5510 isn’t particularly suitable for real-time audio and video editing according to the LatencyMon tool.

Some competitors do better in this regard. The performance of the built-in SK Hynix M. 2 SSD is rather unremarkable.

By NVMe standards, the 512 GB drive is neither slow nor particularly fast; instead, it tends to perform somewhere in the midfield. Dell is more aggressive when it comes to the graphics card. A TGP of 95 watts including Dynamic Boost is a very high value for the RTX 3050, which has to make do with 4 GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

This is also noticeable in our benchmark course: The Dell G15 outperforms almost every other laptop with an RTX 3050. It often even reaches the level of the allegedly better RTX 3050 Ti. As long as the RTX 3050 isn’t used for ray tracing or resolutions beyond 1,920×1,080, the DirectX 12 model has enough power to run the latest games at high to maximum details.

Only very demanding or VRAM-intensive games, such as Dying Light 2 , will be problematic. Praiseworthy: Besides the CPU performance, the GPU performance also remains stable over prolonged periods of time, as is shown in our one-hour stress test with the role-playing game The Witcher 3 . Fan control isn’t exactly one of Dell’s strengths.

We can also see room for improvement in the G15 5510. Instead of letting the fans run constantly at a decent noise level in idle usage, the cooling system is either completely off, or it suddenly kicks in loudly. Under load, the noise is similar to that of the Acer Nitro 5.

Although 45 to 47 dB(A) isn’t annoying (yet), it’s still very audible. Heat development is also in line with the competition. A maximum of 49 °C (~120 °F) on the case’s bottom tends to speak against gaming sessions using the device on the lap.

The top even reaches up to 52 °C (~126 °F), although this value only affects the rear third of the laptop. The palm rest area remains pleasantly cool at all times. The 60-minute stress test with the FurMark and Prime95 tools didn’t result in CPU or GPU throttling.

While the Core i5-10500H got hot around 93 °C (~199 °F), the GeForce RTX 3050 also settled at a high, yet still uncritical, 83 °C (~181 °F). Thanks to the graphics-switching implementation, the G15 5510 is quite frugal in idle usage with a consumption of 3 to 13 watts, if you exclude short-term outliers above this level. The included 240-watt power adapter has to work a lot harder in 3D mode.

Between 103 and 204 watts is relatively high for a mid-range gaming laptop. Battery life isn’t bad at all. Despite the rather poor capacity of 56 Wh, the G15 5510 lasts for over 11 hours under ideal conditions.

Buyers can expect around 6 hours in real-world scenarios like web browsing over Wi-Fi – a solid rate. Apart from its peculiar design and the high TGP of the GeForce RTX 3050 , the Dell G15 5510 has a hard time standing out from the crowd of budget gaming laptops. As most of its competitors, the 15-incher only comes with a mediocre display that lacks both brightness and a decent color space.

In our opinion, such panels should only be used in very inexpensive office laptops at most. Nearly every manufacturer should improve considerably in this area in the future. The 15-incher’s connectivity isn’t very up to date, either.

Two USB 2. 0 ports, as well as the lack of a card reader and a Thunderbolt port raise eyebrows. Otherwise, the Dell G15 5510 is neither particularly positive nor particularly negative.

Regardless of whether it’s about input devices, battery capacity, or emissions: The properties and measurements determined do justice to the budget price. Overall, the Dell G15 5510 is on par with the competition ( Acer Nitro 5 , Gigabyte G5 , Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 , . .

. ), and it’s interesting for gamers who are willing to compromise and who have a maximum of 1,000 Euros (~$1,050) at their disposal. Dell has created a well-balanced overall package here.

At the time of writing, the exact configuration that we reviewed (i5-10500H and RTX 3050) seems hard to come by in the United States. Nevertheless, there are close alternatives on Amazon like the this one (i5-10500H, RTX 3050 Ti, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, $1,197), and this one (i5-11400H, RTX 3050, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, $929). .