This includes the previous-edition XPS 17, a couple of creative-professional laptops in the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED and the Gigabyte Aero 16, and a workstation in the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 4. Below are the systems against which we will compare the new XPS 17. Just how fast is this machine? Let’s see how it did on our benchmark tests. The Core i7-12700H is a 14-core/20-thread CPU, with six P-Cores and eight E-Cores, per the 12th Gen chip architecture. Those are noteworthy upgrades in every category, increasing speed, graphics performance, storage capacity, and display resolution significantly. For that price, you get a Core i7-12700H processor, 32GB of memory, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, a 1TB SSD, and the 4K touch display.
Our test unit is configured way up to $3,049, though, a superior and much pricier configuration. The new 2022 edition starts at $1,849, which nets you a Core i5-12500H processor, 8GB of memory, Intel UHD integrated graphics, a 512GB SSD, and a full HD+ display (1,920 by 1,200 pixels, due to the 16:10 ratio).
The big upgrade is the 12th Generation Intel “Alder Lake” processor, which, in our testing, has generally shown across-the-board improvements. Our particular review unit is also a near-exact match for the 2021 XPS 17 we reviewed.
XPS 17 Components: Welcome to 'Alder Lake' They can fill the room if you prefer to watch media without headphones, and maintain richness even at maximum volume. The speakers, on the other hand, are good quality. With video calls more popular than ever, this is a miss on a premium laptop.
It doesn't capture dimmer environments very well, and even with overhead lighting, the image is much fuzzier than nicer 1080p webcams we've seen. The XPS 17's webcam is only 720p, and unfortunately that shows in the picture quality. But it largely repeats the design from the previous edition, so there isn’t much new to say. That’s not a bad thing, since this is one of our favorite designs, with top-notch build quality. We won’t spend too much time retreading ground on the design-we’ve seen many XPS laptops, and this new XPS 17 is the same as before in terms of its build. If you own a recent XPS 17, a CPU bump isn’t worth the upgrade, but those with a bigger budget seeking a shiny new desktop replacement can’t do much better. This combination costs a pretty penny, but the end result is a big-screen laptop for power users that has few true competitors. This slim, premium-feeling chassis is home to an optional 4K touch panel and Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics in our review configuration, as well as plenty of RAM and storage. The new XPS 17 model 9720 (starts at $1,849 $3,049 as tested) is very similar to last year’s edition, but brings Intel’s 12th Generation “Alder Lake'' processors to bear.