If you've heard me rant before about gaming laptops, you'd know I have a deep appreciation for the budget kind. However, manufacturers have been pricing budget gaming notebooks at mid-range prices, and there's simply no excuse.
I recently reviewed the Dell G16 (7630), which is a master-class example of what a budget gaming laptop should be. It features an Intel Core i7-1365HX processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz display. That comes at a sale price of $950.
If that is not impressive enough, let's dive into why the Dell G16 (7630) is my favorite budget gaming laptop.
It's about quality
I knew I was going to love the Dell G16 (7630) when I saw the display. Not only is it large (16 inches), but it also offers a crisp resolution (2560 x 1600) and smooth visuals (240Hz). It appeals to both the fidelity and performance crowd of gamers.
While specs will only get you so far, that didn't stop the G16 (7630) from crushing even premium gaming laptops. The G16 clocked in 114% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 310 nits of brightness. That isn't as bright as I'd like, but to put it bluntly, I don’t care. That’s an easy fix — turn off the light (this is a gamer’s true form). What you can’t fix is color depth. For context, the $5,000 MSI Titan 18 HX features a color coverage of 112.4%.
That’s not the only premium quality this budget gaming laptop offers. For that same exact price, you can configure the Dell G16 with a CherryMX tactile mechanical keyboard (make sure you select this option at checkout.
The Dell G16’s keyboard is punchy and bouncy and all-around amazing. Again, for context, the $5K MSI Titan HX is one of the few gaming laptops that supports a mechanical keyboard in a laptop. You can certainly find one for cheaper, but they’re usually still above that premium $2K+ range.
Those two qualities put the Dell G16 above all budget gaming laptops and even some premium gaming laptops. It’s still a budget rig in terms of performance, but that performance is competitive within its category.
With an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GPU, the Dell G16 ran through the benchmarks for Borderlands 3 (Badass, 1080p) at 82 fps, Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, 1080p) at 33 fps, Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ultra, 1080p) at 88 fps, and Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium, 1080p) at 64 fps. It surpassed the average budget gaming laptop on all those tests.
However, the corner the Dell G16 does cut is its CPU, toting a last-gen Intel Core i7-1365HX processor. But again, I do not care. Why? Because its lower-end CPU performance did not negatively impact its graphics performance. Typically, if the CPU underperforms, it’ll bottleneck the GPU. But while the 13th Gen Core i7 is weaker than its 14th Gen siblings, it is not weak in and of itself.
The Dell G16 still managed to score 11,209 on the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test and it took 4 minutes and 19 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake benchmark. To top it off, it features a decently fast SSD, sporting a transfer rate of 1,719 megabytes per second.
Outlook
I would never recommend anyone buy anything other than the Dell G16 (7630) under $1,000. If it wasn’t clear, the display and keyboard are of such a high quality that they outpace most premium gaming laptops. And the performance itself keeps up with the budget notebooks in its category.
If you’re going to purchase the Dell G16 (7630), make sure you get it for its $950 sale price and confirm that you’ve selected the mechanical keyboard option. This Dell shop link should take you exactly where you need to go.
Is your budget under $1,000? Don’t think about it, just buy the Dell G16 (7630).
