Dell Precision 17 5770 review

If you’ve ever wondered if the XPS series can get more professional than they already are, this review is for you. Ultimately, there is one significant feature missing on the XPS laptops, that would make them 100% ready for all you can throw at them. And the feature is called pro-grade graphics cards.

There is a reason why Quadro (and RTX A-series) graphics cards exist, and it is because of the certifications. They are sometimes expensive, and your everyday gaming notebook doesn’t really need them. However, they are intended to ensure that your animation, 3D modeling, or civil engineering apps will work correctly with the hardware you have, and with as little support needed.

We’re going to leave this topic for the end of the review, and focus on what the eyes can see and what the hands can touch. Ultimately, you are looking at an XPS 17 9720 clone that comes with 12th Gen Intel processors and up to a 4K IPS touchscreen display.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-precision-17-5770/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Dell Precision 17 5770 - Specs

  • Sharp T3MW9-LQ170R1 (SHP1517)
  • Color accuracy  2.2  1.5
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 16000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home
  • Battery
  • 56Wh, 3-cell, 97Wh, 6-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum, Carbon
  • Dimensions
  • 374.48 x 248.08 x 19.54 mm (14.74" x 9.77" x 0.77")
  • Weight
  • 2.17 kg (4.8 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 4x USB Type-C
  • 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • Card reader
  • SD, SDHC, SDXC
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Dual-Array Microphones
  • Speakers
  • 2x 2.5W Woofers + 2x 2.5W Tweeters
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, we found some paperwork, a 130W USB Type-C charger, and a USB Type-C to USB Type-A and HDMI dongle.


Design and construction

Once again, Dell is trying to lie about this laptop’s thickness. Instead of the 8.67-13.15mm we are told, it is actually 19.54mm – the same as the XPS 17 9720. This is true for the weight as well – 2.17 kg for the model with only an integrated GPU, and 2.57 kg for the one, equipped with a dedicated GPU.

Even though it looks exactly the same, the Precision 17 5770 has a slightly darker tint on its grey metal panels. Other than that, you should expect the same rigid and flex-resistant chassis, as on the XPS 17.

The lid can be opened with a single hand, but it’s a bit difficult to grip it when it’s closed. Nevertheless, the inside reveals slim bezels, which make the laptop a lot smaller in footprint, than its display size would suggest. Despite the thin top bezel, Dell has managed to squeeze in an HD Web camera, and an IR face recognition scanner there.

The keyboard lacks a NumberPad but is surrounded by enormous speaker cutouts. Given its XPS lineage, the laptop expectedly comes with some of the best speakers on a Windows laptop. Anyway, the keyboard itself features decent key travel and clicky feedback, which makes it comfortable for typing. The Power button doubles as a fingerprint reader, while the carbon fiber texture is a bit difficult to clean after you smudge it with your fingerprints.

In addition, there is a huge touchpad. Its smooth surface, accurate tracking, and responsive input make it one of the best units on the market right now.

Looking at the bottom panel, we see two more cutouts for the speakers, as well as a ventilation grill for cool air intake. The hot air, respectively, is being exhausted through two vents on the back of the laptop (or in between the lid and the base).

Ports

On the left side, there is a security lock slot, as well as two Thunderbolt 4 connectors. Then, on the right, you will find an audio jack, an SD card reader, and two more Thunderbolt 4 connectors.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

This device’s bottom panel is held in place by 8 Torx-head screws. After you undo them, pry the panel with a plastic tool and lift it away from the chassis. Be careful, as the sharp metal corners might cut your skin.

The huge 97Wh battery pack inside lasts for nearly 15 hours of Web browsing, or about 10 hours of video playback. To take it out, you would need to unplug the connector from the motherboard and undo all 7 Phillips-head screws keeping it in place.

This laptop supports up to 64GB of DDR5 memory, which works in dual-channel mode. Storage-wise, there are two M.2 PCIe x4 slots, both of which support Gen 4 drives.

Unsurprisingly, the cooling system features a vapor chamber, with two fans blowing the heat away from the chassis.


Display quality

Dell Precision 17 5770 is equipped with a 4K IPS touchscreen panel, model number Sharp T3MW9-LQ170R1 (SHP1517). Its diagonal is 17.0″ (43.2 cm), and the resolution 3840 x 2400 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:10, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 266 ppi, and a pitch of 0.095 х 0.095 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 33cm (13″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The measured maximum brightness of 540 nits in the middle of the screen, with a maximum deviation of 13% (“Vibrant color mode”). The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6730K – slightly colder than the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is very good – 1730:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Dell Precision 17 5770’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 100% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, 100% of Adobe RGB, and 98% of DCI-P3.



Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you see the scores of Dell Precision 17 5770 (with the sRGB profile in Dell PremierColor) with our “Gaming and Web design” profile.

Also, you can see a comparison of the scores in the P3-D65 color space.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 25 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Dell Precision 17 5770’s backlight doesn’t use PWM above 140 nits of Luminance. Below 42% brightness, the amplitude is not too high, which makes the display less harmful in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Gloss level measurement

Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 78.2 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Dell Precision 17 5770 configurations with 17.0″ 4K IPS Sharp T3MW9-LQ170R1 (SHP1517).

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/precision-17-5770-laptop/drivers

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. Here, the battery has a capacity of 97Wh. It lasts for 14 hours and 43 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours and 44 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

This device can be found with the Core i5-12600H, Core i7-12700H, Core i7-12800H, or Core i9-12900H.


GPU options

Graphics-wise, you can choose between no dedicated GPU, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (8GB GDDR6, 65W), or RTX A3000 (12GB GDDR6).


Gaming tests

Metro ExodusFull HD, Low (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Extreme (Check settings)
Average FPS114 fps50 fps23 fps

Borderlands 3Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Badass (Check settings)
Average fps99 fps68 fps51 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)
Average94 fps81 fps78 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average fps91 fps73 fps71 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

Intel Core i7-12700H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Dell Precision 17 57703.34 GHz @ 2.69 GHz @ 78°C @ 95W3.30 GHz @ 2.66 GHz @ 87°C @ 92W2.54 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 75°C @ 55W
MSI Pulse GL76 (12Ux)3.29 GHz @ 2.76 GHz @ 77°C @ 97W3.27 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 83°C @ 95W3.14 GHz @ 2.68 GHz @ 86°C @ 85W
MSI Crosshair 15 (B12Ux)3.27 GHz @ 2.67 GHz @ 84°C @ 97W3.19 GHz @ 2.65 GHz @ 91°C @ 94W3.05 GHz @ 2.47 GHz @ 88°C @ 80W
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-56)3.39 GHz @ 2.84 GHz @ 64°C @ 103W3.53 GHz @ 2.76 GHz @ 71°C @ 100W2.66 GHz @ 2.86 GHz @ 87°C @ 102W
MSI Stealth GS66 (12Ux)3.84 GHz @ 2.82 GHz @ 83°C @ 124W3.55 GHz @ 2.67 GHz @ 85°C @ 107W3.19 GHz @ 2.42 GHz @ 83°C @ 85W
MSI Vector GP66 (12Ux)3.81 GHz @ 2.91 GHz @ 81°C @ 116W3.54 GHz @ 2.72 GHz @ 83°C @ 98W3.30 GHz @ 2.57 GHz @ 79°C @ 86W
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-52s)3.25 GHz @ 2.52 GHz @ 89°C @ 80W3.10 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 90°C @ 73W2.93 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 91°C @ 66W

The Precision 17 5770 is definitely acting a bit crippled in longer runs. This is mainly due to its 130W charger, rather than lack of cooling capacity, as it has a vapor chamber at its disposal.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA RTX A2000GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
Dell Precision 17 57701630 MHz @ 76°C @ 62W1612 MHz @ 80°C @ 62W
Dell Precision 15 75601808 MHz @ 74°C @ 79W1788 MHz @ 76°C @ 80W
HP ZBook Fury 15 G81208 MHz @ 67°C @ 40W1230 MHz @ 65°C @ 40W
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 21780 MHz @ 81°C1742 MHz @ 86°C

Well, the tests of the graphics card show a limitation to the cooling system. The GPU is rated at 65W in the NVIDIA software. And even though it comes close to it at 62W, there is still 3W of unexplored potential, while the core is still running at 80°C.

Comfort during combined load

This leads to a rather high external temperature of nearly 49°C in the middle of the keyboard. The fan noise is not too obnoxious, on the other hand, which is always something we like to see.


Verdict

Now that we’ve seen what the Precision 17 5770 is all about, it’s time to summarize all the information and try to help you make a purchase decision. Before we start, you have to know that this laptop is fairly expensive. It has all of the vPro goodies from Intel, as well as the optional certifications, should you pick a model that comes with a dedicated GPU. In our experience, the RTX A2000 happened to work just fine, although it was 3W shy of maintaining its 65W power budget.

The reason for that may lay in the small size of the vapor chamber cooling unit. But in our view, the reason is the entire philosophy behind this device. First, and foremost – Dell has equipped it with a 130W power brick. This itself means that they have not built the machine to be a powerhouse. Instead, you are getting yourself an artwork, designed to help you create artwork in any form.

Dell Precision 17 5770’s touchscreen 4K IPS panel (Sharp T3MW9-LQ170R1 (SHP1517)) shows a very crisp image with comfortable viewing angles, a good contrast ratio, and a high maximum brightness. It is able to represent the sRGB, DCI-P3, and Adobe RGB color gamuts. Furthermore, the “Dell PremierColor” app allows you to choose a specific preset, depending on your needs. Plus, it successfully simulates the different color spaces. On the other hand, we see some PWM use, but it’s not too harmful, thanks to the small amplitude of the pulsations.

Another important aspect of having a workstation is having the option to upgrade it down the line. This particular model features up to 64GB of DDR5 memory, which can work in dual-channel mode if you use the two SODIMM slots. And for storage, you get two M.2 PCIe x4 slots, which can fit Gen 4 drives.

Yes, all of this sounds impressive, but the thing that struck us the most is the battery life. One would argue that a 97Wh unit should always deliver a good screen-on time. However, this is rarely the case with 4K displays. Rare, but not never. This device lasted us nearly 15 hours of Web browsing or about 10 hours of video playback on a single charge. Not bad at all.

This machine comes with one of the best sounding speakers in the Windows world, which is courtesy of its XPS legacy. The input devices are also very good, while the fingerprint reader and the IR face recognition scanner do help with security. And while having four Thunderbolt 4 connectors is excellent, and utilizing a full-sized SD card reader is useful for photographers, we really miss the dedicated USB Type-A ports and HDMI connectors. Don’t be scared, though, as the company provides a USB Type-C to USB Type-A and HDMI dongle inside the box. It’s little, but it can make a difference.

At the end of the day, getting this laptop should be a choice made by your area of work. If you want 100% productivity, then, probably go for a bulkier notebook with higher TGP graphics cards. However, the power of the Ampere family of GPUs and the Alder Lake series of Intel processors definitely make the XPS… sorry, the Precision 17 5770 is a powerful contender in a slim chassis.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-precision-17-5770/

Pros

  • Strong body build of carbon fiber and aluminum
  • Virtually bezel-less screen
  • 500+ nits maximum brightness, 100% sRGB coverage (Sharp T3MW9-LQ170R1 (SHP1517))
  • Accurate color representation with our Gaming and Web design profile (Sharp T3MW9-LQ170R1 (SHP1517))
  • Thin and light
  • Boasts up to Core i9-12900H processor
  • Easy upgrade and maintenance
  • Great keyboard, touchpad, and speakers
  • Fingerprint reader embedded in the power button and an optional IR face recognition system
  • Four Thunderbolt 4 connectors, USB Type-C charging, and an SD card reader (+ tiny dongle inside the box)
  • Great battery life


Cons

  • Can’t extract 100% of the hardware it comes with
  • Expensive

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