When you mention Dell, people go one of two ways. Either they think you’re all business, or they get the right idea and start thinking along the lines of Alienware — the really exciting Dell division. But the company also has a middle-ground in their Dell-branded gaming kit. Which isn’t quite as ‘enthusiast’ as its Alienware stuff but isn’t nearly as stuffy as their office gear. It’s basically gaming in shorts and a T-shirt, as opposed to an esports jersey or a business suit.
Clumsy metaphors aside, Dell announced this week a whole new crop of gear in its gaming sector — a pair of new notebooks, a new gaming desktop, as well as a pair of monitors and an Alienware keyboard that looks like it was made by Razer.
A couple of Gs
Dell’s newest gaming notebook is the G7, which comes in two flavours. There’s the G7 15 and the G7 17, which can be told apart by the size of their displays. Guess which is larger.
Both machines feature slim bezels, support Intel’s 10th-gen processors (up to the i9, if you have the budget for it) and Nvidia GeForce 2070 GPUs — though there are two different versions of the card, one for the smaller and one for the larger model. We guess that involves chassis space.
A glass trackpad, customisable LED lighting and a backlight keyboard are, of course, standard, as is Nahimic audio and a so-called ‘Game Shift’ toggle that’ll let you kick the fans in so it doesn’t sound like a plane taking off until it absolutely has to. Dell’s G7 15 and 17 launches in SA from September, with pricing to be announced closer to the time.
Another G in the house
Dell’s new gaming desktop is the G5 and, like the notebook series, supports up to Intel’s 10th-gen Core i9 processors. Users can spec up to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX range inside, or opt for AMD’s RX 5600 series GPUs. As is normal for a desktop PC, the power here is in its versatility. You can cram as much as you can fit/afford into the G5 chassis.
Which is a thing of beauty in itself. There are four thermal mode options for users, while the whole case has been designed to be tool-less (unless it’s being used by somebody wielding an aimbot — but in those cases, Dell has nothing to do with the tool in the equation). The G5 chassis has a compact design and an adjustable RGB panel up front — because how else are you going to know it’s gaming hardware? Dell’s G5 launches in SA from August or September this year.
And the rest of the crew
Also on the cards are two Dell 27in gaming monitors, as well as an Alienware keyboard. Dell’s 27in flatscreen S2721DGF monitor features a 165Hz refresh rate, 1m/s response time, and QHD resolution and is set for launch from July this year. A local date isn’t firm, however. Dell’s 27in curved S2721HGF monitor sports a 144Hz refresh rate and supports Nvidia G-Sync in its FHD panel. Expect it from August this year.
And then there’s the Alienware RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, which will drop in SA at an unspecified time this year. It features a pass-through USB port, Cherry MX Brown switches, adjustable heights and angles, as well as per-key RGB. Because you can’t do anything gaming without RGB these days. It’s the law.
