The Dell Precision 17 7730 is a powerful laptop that is perfect for professional use. It has a large screen, a fast processor, and plenty of memory. It is also very durable, making it a great choice for people who need a laptop that can handle heavy use.
Dell Precision 17 7730 Review
“Precision” is a term that refers to accuracy and quality. It’s no surprise that Dell named its high-performance workstation series after this word. This review will focus on the Precision 7730, a 17.3-inch device that replaces the Precision 7720. It scored 89% in our review less than a year ago.
Although the market for mobile workstations remains small, it is an attractive sector for OEMs due to its high asking prices. Despite not having the latest HP device, Dell is still in a battle for a share of the workstation market with HP, Fujitsu, and Lenovo. We have the ThinkPad P72 and Celsius H980 and the Precision 7720 to test the Precision 7730.
The Precision 7730 is almost identical in appearance to its predecessor. Although the case is smaller, it shares the same keyboard, trackpad, and arrangement of ports as the Precision 7720.
Pros
- Sharp, vibrant 4K display
- Performance that is blistering
- Comfortable keyboard
- Durable, premium design
- Graphics that are powerful
Cons
- Battery life is below-average
- Warm runs
- The most expensive configurations are outrageously costly
1. Features:
- CPU: Intel Core i9-8950HK
- Graphics Card: Nvidia Quadro P5200
- Hard Drive Size: 512GB
- Hard Drive Type: M.2 PCIe NVMe Class 40 SSD
- RAM: 32GB, RAM Upgradable to 64GB
- Secondary Hard Drive Size: 512GB
- Size: 16.3 x 10.8 x 1.2 inches
- Weight: 7.5 pounds
- Display Size: 17.3
2. Design
The laptop is lighter than the ThinkPad P71 (8 lbs) at 7.5 kg but weighs more than HP ZBook 17 G4 (7.9 lb). Read more Lenovo ThinkPad e585 Review.
The Precision 7730 is thinner than its predecessor, but it is still a slimmer machine. It is best to keep the Precision 7730 on a desk. The Lenovo ThinkPad P71 is roughly the same size (16.4×10.4×1.2 inches), while HP ZBook 17 G4 measures 16.5x11x1.3 inches.
The Precision 7730 is a high-end machine that features durable, premium materials such as a carbon-fiber lid and a soft-touch deck. The machine’s sheer size will be noticed by many, but the industrial black-and-silver design is straightforward on the eyes.
The additions of aggressive dual vents, a shiny metallic trim around the deck, and a thin LED indicator on the front lip make the device a welcome addition. The lid is a magnet for fingerprints, and the display bezels could be trimmed.
3. Ports
The Precision 7730 offers a wide range of ports conveniently located around it.
You’ll find two Thunderbolt 3 ports and an intelligent card reader on the left.
The right side has two USB 3.1 Type-A ports and a Kensington lock. There is also a headphone/mic combo connector.
The rear contains an HDMI, a Mini DisplayPort, and an Ethernet port. There is also a DC power adapter and a third USB Type-A port.
4. Durability and security
The Precision 7730 is a tank that can withstand a fall, so don’t be afraid of your arms breaking. According to Dell, the laptop passed 15 MIL-SPEC durability tests. These included extreme temperatures, high altitudes, dirt, and shock and drop.
You can also protect sensitive data with Precision 7730. To go with the standard smart-card reader or an NFC sensor to contactless smart cards, you can add a FIPS fingerprint scanner to the palm rest.
5. Display
The Precision 7730’s 17-inch display offers a theatre-like viewing experience. The bright 4K panel of the Precision 7730 is highly detailed and produces vivid, rich colors.
The trailer for Green Book, an autobiographical film about Mahershala Ali, was visible in my eyes. I was able to see the individual records in Mahershala’s home in a wide shot that showed his elegant living room and the smoke rising from Viggo Mortensen’s cigarette. As if the car was just left the showroom, the turquoise paint on the Chevy of the pianist popped.
Similar to the trailer for Kin, the bright neon lights and explosions bursting with rich, saturated oranges fill the trailer. Although matte displays aren’t as striking as glossy ones, I was astonished every time I visited my favorite sites on the Precision. The display’s main problem is how skin tones appear too saturated. However, you can adjust the color temperature with Dell’s display-calibration software.
Our testing revealed the display’s exceptional qualities. Our testing revealed that the panel reproduced a staggering 211 percent of the sRGB gamut. This is one of our highest ratings. The meetings of the HP ZBook 17 G4 (173%) and Lenovo ThinkPad P71 (183%) were also impressive, but they weren’t nearly as vibrant as the Precisions. At 149 percent, the average workstation is lower.
The Precision 7730’s matte display and high peak brightness will make it easy to use in bright environments. The maximum brightness reached by the show was 330 nits. This is more than the scores of the ThinkPad P71 (283 and HP ZBook 17G4 (256 respectively). The average brightness of the workstation is 325 nits.
6. Touchpad, Keyboard and Pointing Stick
The chiclet-style keyboard is easy to use even when typing for long periods. It has a 69g actuation force and an essential travel range of 1.6mil. The backlit keys are tactile and weighty and provide a lot of feedback. They are also well-spaced.
The 10fastfingers.com typing exam measured me at 114 words per hour with a 5 percent error rate. This matches my 95 percent accuracy rate, but it is slightly slower than my 119 words per minute average. This may be due to the key’s higher-than-average actuation force.
The Precision 7730’s touchpad measures 3.9 x 2.1 inches, which is inexplicably tiny for this hefty device. It responded quickly to my gestures, including pinch-to-zoom, four-finger tapping for settings, three-finger swipe to change apps, and four-finger tapping for open environments.
If touchpads don’t appeal to you, you can also use the rubber nub at the middle of the Precision 7730’s keyboard if you can find it. It blends well with the black deck because it doesn’t have any colored ring around its pointing stick. The pointing post and secondary set left-, right, and middle-click buttons were easy to use for navigation of the web.
7. Performance
The Precision 7730 is a powerful machine. The Precision 7730 is equipped with 32GB RAM and an Intel Core i9-8950HK processor. It quickly loaded 30 Microsoft Edge tabs. Four of them played YouTube videos, while two streamed Fortnite on Twitch.
The workstation was able to open the Xbox and 3D Paint Windows apps with no problem despite the demanding workload. It’s impressive, sure, but it’s not surprising, considering that the Precision 7730 was designed to handle the most challenging tasks like 3D rendering and video encoding.
The Precision 7730 took only 1 minute 19 seconds to complete our Excel Spreadsheet Test. This involves matching 65,000 names with their respective addresses. At 1:21, the average workstation speed is just a fraction slower 1:31.
The Geekbench 4 comprehensive performance test scored this laptop an impressive 23,130. This is significantly more than the scores of the Lenovo ThinkPad 17 G4 (15.972) and HP ZBook17 G4 (15.839) and the average workstation (15.252).
The Precision boasts high-speed storage. The File Transfer Test showed that the Precision’s two 512GB M.2PCIe SSDs copied 4.97GB of mixed media files in just 9 seconds. This is a speed of 565 megabytes per sec. This is faster than the Lenovo ThinkPad 71’s (463 MBps) and the average workstation (505.6 MBps); however it falls short of the speed of the dual-SSDs in HP ZBook 17G4 (848 Mbps).
The Precision 7730 was able to transcode a video from 4K up to 1080p using Handbrake, and it finished the task in 8 minutes, 59 seconds. This is almost twice the speed of the average workstation (17:44).
8. Graphics
Nvidia Quadro P5200 GPU has 16GB of GDDR5 RAM. This is enough power to run most graphics-intensive programs and recent games at high settings. Precision 7730 received a score of 3,953 in the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra synthetic graphs test. This GPU beat the Lenovo ThinkPad P71 (3.588), HP ZBook17 G4 (3.643), and the average workstation (1,490).
The Precision 7730 racing game Dirt 3 at 223 frames per second, making drifting around the hairpin turns a breeze. The same title was run at 171 frames per second on the Nvidia Quadro P5000-equipped HP ZBook 17G4 with Nvidia Quadro P5000.
9. Audio
Although the Precision 7730’s bottom-firing speakers are loud enough for large rooms, they sound terrible. Glen Hansard’s vocals in “Grace Beneath the Pines” were clear and prominent, but the Irishman was silenced, and the piano chords that give life to the emotional song were hollow and empty.
Similar impressions came over me when I listened to John Mayer’s fast-paced single, “New Light.” Mayer’s smooth vocals were accurate enough. However, the drum hits lacked weight, and the instruments in this funky tune were scattered all over.
10. Battery Life
Even with an optional 97Wh battery, the Precision 7730 won’t last very long on a single charge. After 14 minutes of continuous web surfing at 150 nits brightness, the machine shut down in just 4 hours and 14 mins. The Lenovo ThinkPad 17 G4 (5.57) and HP ZBook 17G4 (5.23) lasted more than an hour, but they still fall below the average workstation time (6:49).
11. Webcam
The webcam of the Precision 7730 is good. Although the 720p lens captures decent detail, it is not very bright and produces colors that look artificial. In my dimly lit office, I noticed that the reds in my face and the pattern of white dots on the shirt made it look oversaturated.
12. Heat
After watching a 15-minute HD YouTube video, the Precision 7730 did not stay calm. The touchpad was comfortable at 83 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the keyboard’s underside (108 degrees) climbed above our comfort level of 95 degrees. The vent on the bottom reached a disturbing 110 degrees.
13. Software and warranty
Preinstalled software is not included with the Precision 7730’s Windows 10 Pro operating systems. The included software is quite useful, including Dell Power Manager, which monitors the health of your battery, and PremiereColor, which allows you to adjust the display color, brightness, and white balance.
10 Dell-branded apps provide tech support, general warranty, and optimization of the workstation’s performance. The Dell Precision Optimizer is a unique program that automatically uses AI to optimize applications.
On the Precision 7730, most of the bloatware Microsoft brings to Windows 10 is absent. A few apps remain, such as Microsoft Solitaire Collection or LinkedIn, but Candy Crush is not available.
The Dell Precision comes with a three-year warranty. This warranty can be extended to five years by requesting on-site repairs.
Last words!
Let’s finally talk about the Dell Precision 7730 price. You will need to dig into your pocket to purchase this unique laptop fit for kings.
Thank you for reading!
This review was enjoyable. Did you like this review? If so, will you buy the laptop?
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