[New post] Dell G15 5511 Gaming Laptop review: Old specs but is it worth the budget?
Raunak Saha posted: " Dell G15 5511 - Why Should you go for this budget Gaming Laptop in 2022? Dell has a huge portfolio of products in India and laptops are their strong market obviously, however, Dell has been known to be a premium gaming laptop brand under Alienware and" TechnoSports
Dell G15 5511 - Why Should you go for this budget Gaming Laptop in 2022?
Dell has a huge portfolio of products in India and laptops are their strong market obviously, however, Dell has been known to be a premium gaming laptop brand under Alienware and the budget segment still needs to get refined. While it has been in the market for some time now but Taiwanese companies like ASUS and Acer are providing more value options for the same price.
Now, that doesn't mean Dell has lost its brand value or perception among its customers but yes Indian people are more inclined towards value-for-money offerings. This is why the budget gaming laptop market of India has boomed in the country in the last few years as most gamers feel content to play at 1080p by not spending a lot of money.
To cater to this immense demand a lot of OEMs have pounced on this opportunity and Dell's relatively old offering but currently at the budget price segment offers good value. However, is it enough to the modern gaming standards to give you a comfortable 1080p gaming experience? Let's find out in our review:
Specifications of Dell G15 5511 Gaming Laptop
Processor: Intel Core i5-11260H (Base: 2.60 GHz up to 4.40 GHz) 12MB Cache
Display: 15.6" FHD WVA AG 250 nits 120Hz Narrow Border, Keyboard & Warranty: Backlit Keyboard Orange & 1 Year Onsite Premium Support
Ports: 1. HiSpeed USB 2.0 | 2. HiSpeed USB 2.0 with PowerShare | 3. USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port with DisplayPort with alt mode | 4. SuperSpeed USB 3.2 | 5. HDMI | 6. Power in | 7. RJ45 | 8. Headphones/mic
Design & Build Quality
As a budget gaming laptop, this Dell G15 5511 is made out of plastic and is not unusual for the price range but its build is solid as well as bulky, weighing around 2.7kg, so carrying it anywhere could be a tiresome job.
However, it retains that same boxy design you have seen with the previous Dell G15 gaming laptops, though it does have its own gaming vibe but has become a bit old. Overall, the Dell, logo, rear styling, and good airflow with smart design elements give it still an edge over others, it's decent enough for budget gamers, but for the price, you cannot ask more.
Display
Coming to the display of this Dell New G15 5511, you now have a 15.6-inch FHD display with an old 16:9 aspect ratio along with a 120Hz refresh rate. Well, for most budget gamers this is a decent display for gaming with 250 nits of peak brightness that sometimes feels awkward but playing indoors won't be an issue at all.
Working on it for day-to-day usage, it does feel on the budget end with low brightness and less color accuracy but after a few days, you get used to it. For casual work or play, the display is good and could serve the purpose for most budget gamers out there as it's very responsive even while gaming.
Also, the viewing angles are not the best but the screen is an anti-glare one which does help during work in a bright environment. To test the accuracy and other features claimed by Dell on this new Dell G15 5511, we ran tests on our Datacolor SyperX Pro, and here are the results:
As you see in the results, the Dell G15 gaming laptop's display performs as the company claims with up to 250 nits of peak brightness and lower color accuracy. The display provides a 66% sRGB and 48% P3 color gamut, which is normal in this price segment, however, you do have to use the display indoors and knowing you cannot expect great color accuracy for professional work.
For basic work and gaming, this display will solve most people's needs and for a budget gaming laptop like this, the sole purpose is mostly solved but Dell should work to improve it in the next generation.
Performance
Having played with a lot of mid-range to premium gaming laptops, this budget one is kind of new to me but to be fair though I had very low expectations surprisingly it gave somewhat Ryzen 5 5600H level performance which for a budget gaming laptop is quite good.
This Hexa-core CPU with 8GB DDR4 RAM didn't give me much of a struggle honestly even though I was a bit anxious about how it would perform. With 512GB SSD, this Dell G15 5511 gaming laptop surprisingly didn't give me any hiccups while my day-to-day work, opening a bunch of Chrome tabs, a lot of music listening and YouTube sessions gave no struggle at all.
To test how this gaming laptop will perform in various productivity applications, here are some of the synthetic benchmarks we ran on this device:
As you see in our charts, the performance is in line with the Ryzen 5 5600H and falls as a good budget gaming option even though this is an 11th Gen processor. The scores are pretty well even with 8GB RAM which we recommend you upgrade down the line so that you get the best results.
Though the efficiency is not AMD Ryzen level to be fair this Dell G15 5511 laptop stays very cool thanks to the great cooling Dell has provided with. Surprisingly, the SSD speeds are not too shabby also because the read speeds go as high as up to 3396MB/s, which for a budget gaming laptop is quite good.
Yes, the write speeds could have obviously been better but considering the price point, we can't complain much because the everyday experience with Windows OS is fluid and there are no hiccups as such.
Considering the overall performance, for day-to-day using average user, this 8GB RAM accompanied with 11th Gen Core i5 processor does provide you good performance. Doing basic work, coding, and running useful software, this Dell G15 will not disappoint you at all, highly recommended for students looking for a gaming laptop at this price segment.
Gaming
In terms of gaming at first, you might get sceptical about the Core i5 processor, however, thanks to RTX 3050 at 1080p you get good overall performance. In games where you have DLSS, the performance gets a bump for free, and even without it in most games, you comfortably get 60+ FPS.
In Battle Royal games, you get good frame rates to be it at any quality preset so that you can enjoy the fluency of the 120Hz refresh rate. In games where DLSS and Ray tracing both are present as you see, you can even play the game with high details and RTX On without any issues:
CS GO
Far Cry 6
GOD of War
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
PUBG PC
Rainbow Six Extraction
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Stray
Valorant
Watch Dogs Legion
World War Z Aftermath
Honestly, this Dell G15 5511 gaming laptop exceeded my expectations in gaming, giving great numbers even though it's a budget option. So, if you are an FHD gamer, you can enjoy games at high resolution without any issues or in Medium/High to enjoy more FPS, giving more fluidity while gaming.
Keyboard & Trackpad
Being a 15.6-inch laptop and having an older design, this Dell G15 5511 as I said is bulky and has a full-size keyboard which has a lot of space at the sides but is kept for ventilation. Somewhere I feel the keyboard design is crammed in and typing on it becomes extremely difficult and if you have been using keyboards with bigger keys might give you a nightmare.
Practically I didn't find the keyboard layout suitable for me and without backlighting, I couldn't use it, which again goes to two levels of brightness. The keyboard here is for casual use or for those who don't type a lot, else the layout on ASUS TUF or Lenovo Ideapad gaming laptops is much better.
The trackpad in this Dell G15 gaming laptop is on the shorter side, though the quality is quite good but very small in size to actually use for day-to-day work or even gaming.
I/O & Connectivity
Obviously, Dell has given you no opportunity to complain on the port front as you have enough options on each side. On the left-hand side, you have an ethernet port along with a 3.5mm headphone jack while on the right-hand side, there are two USB Type-A ports and on the rear end, you have a USB Type-C port, another Type-A port, HDMI port, and power input.
Coming to the connectivity, part, this Dell G15 budget gaming laptop comes with both Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, performing as expected. The best part I noticed is that the network reception on it was great, better than many flagship laptops, and gave incredible Wi-Fi speeds as you see in the screenshots.
So, while gaming, in games that are heavily dependent on internet latency, gamers will genuinely benefit from this Dell G15 5511 laptop. Also, talking about Bluetooth, I have a habit of using my Logitech MX Master 2S always and had no issues in connecting or using it along with my PS5 controller to play endless FIFA sessions.
Thermals & Upgradability
Dell has been known to provide very reliable laptops and it continues its trust with this Dell G15 because for a budget laptop, the kind of cooling the brand has provided is incredible. I have been using gaming laptops for a long time by many OEMs but the kind of ventilation and the thermal package offered on this G15 is incredible.
The laptop hardly gets hot unless it's pushed very hard and unlike other laptop designs where hot air gushes out from the sides, which is very irritating though, this budget gaming laptop from Dell doesn't do so. The 8GB RAM here is upgradable and for storage, you can upgrade that as well.
Audio & Webcam
Being a budget option, this Dell G15 5511 doesn't sound the best but is decent enough for daily usage, obviously, could have been better but cannot ask for more. For users who are music addicts like me will suffice with the sound quality but the sound feels a bit low while watching movies and hearing dialogues or even during random YouTube sessions.
On the webcam front, the 720p webcam is quite good and bright enough to satisfy all your video call needs along with game streams as well.
Battery Life
Considering the fact that this is a budget option and racks an older 11th Gen Intel processor, you cannot expect great battery life. So, this Dell G15 gaming laptop gives you an average of 2 hours of battery life and considering this is 2022, the standards are pretty bad, it's very hard to stretch to 3 hours+ unless you watch videos and do light stuff.
The added weight of the charger and the laptop makes it heavy to carry obviously, above 3kg for sure on a daily basis. One good thing is about the instant wake function that lets the Dell G15 5511 power almost instantly as you open the lid automatically, which is convenient though.
Verdict
Overall, if you are searching for a new gaming laptop in the Rs.60k-70k price segment, considering this Dell G15 5511 as an option does make sense. It provides good performance while gaming at FHD and you will enjoy it but doing other productivity works cannot be considered due to lack of color accuracy.
However, normal students and college goers can actually go for this if they need that horsepower for work but keep in mind its low battery life. In terms of everyday usage and performance, the Core i5 is still good enough for most work will recommend upgrading RAM sooner for extra smoothness.
Dell should eventually update its age-old boxy design which although gives itself a signature look a fresher design is always welcome because it's very bulky to carry. Overall, at Rs.69k on Amazon India, this Dell G15 5511 gaming laptop readily retails in the country, considering Dell's reliability, good thermals and of course connectivity along with performance, this is a good option to choose from keeping in mind its cons as well.
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