Several days ago, we published the best gaming laptops for 2016 and the figures have been quite bleak for the budget-conscious since the list demonstrated how this segment is dominated by high-spec but high-priced models.
Enter 2017 and Dell. The company announced that it will be releasing a portable gaming rig on Jan. 5 that is targeted at average gamers turned off by the eye-watering price tag of gaming laptops.
The device is, however, not part of its dedicated Alienware range. It is called the Dell Inspiron 7000, which has a $799 base price tag.
Dell Inspiron 7000: Gaming Spec Credentials
From the get-go, the Inspiron 7000, which comes in 14- and 15-inch variants, will not really take your breath away in terms of looks. According to The Verge, the series is based on last year's chassis. The same can be said about the technology under the hood.
Those who have owned last year's iteration of this model would know that there is only a slight improvement for the new laptops, with the 15-inch model receiving bigger spec bumps. For example, while the 14-inch model runs on a Core i5 7300HQ, its bigger sibling has the Core i7 7700HQ quad core processor.
The most important difference, however, is the integration of the new Nvidia GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti in the Inspiron 7000 14 and 15-inch variants, respectively.
Nvidia GTX 10 Series Technology
The Nvidia GTX 10 Series technology was only recently announced by Nvidia and the claim is that it can bring desktop-level gaming to laptops. The 1050 and 1050 Ti chips are considered as powerful as their desktop versions with a performance difference of below 10 percent.
"Gamers can now experience the power and performance of GeForce GTX 10-Series GPUs in a mobile form factor," Nvidia stated. "These laptops give you everything you need to unleash your gaming dominance by turning your mobile rig into a sleek, powerful gaming weapon."
According to Nvidia, the GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti can both trounce older-generation graphics in terms of speed and power efficiency. In a benchmark test, for example, the duo left the GeForce GTX 750 Ti in the dust when playing Overwatch, Gears of War 4 and Grand Theft Auto V.
Of course, the only time we can truly confirm if the Inspiron 7000 can indeed deliver the goods is when we actually run the laptops through their paces. If the performance is not up to snuff, we can always turn to competing budget gaming laptop alternatives such as the Lenovo Legion gaming range.
These devices are also outfitted with the 1050 but the base price is more expensive at $900.
For the more discriminating gamers — those with higher spec requirements — Dell has promised that it will also be refreshing the Alienware lineup, so stay tuned for that update.
