When Dell updated the XPS 15 for 2023, it upgraded to Intel’s 13th-gen CPUs and added a faster GPU with the RTX 4070. Otherwise, the laptop was unchanged and starting to show its age. With the newest XPS 17, Dell did the same thing, maintaining the tried-and-true design while upgrading the internals.

Both laptops are on our best-of lists for their respective sizes, 15-inch laptops and 17-inch laptops, but we’ll have to reconsider given the increased competition. The XPS 17 9730 is an incremental upgrade at best, and it’s no longer the no-brainer recommendation that it once was.

Dell’s configuration options change often, but this isn’t an affordable laptop in any arrangement. Right now, the entry-level model available on its website is $2,450 for a Core i7-13700H, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, and a 17.0-inch Full HD+ IPS display. My review unit with a Core i7, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, an RTX 4070, and a 4K+ IPS display is priced at $2,950. 

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