Dell Inspiron 17 3793 review – a budget daily driver that will stretch your backpack

Today, we are going to review a bit of a clunky daily-driver from Dell. It is the brand new Inspiron 17 3793 and is now equipped with the Ice Lake processor line-up from Intel. Similarly to its 15-inch brother, it is good to see that a somewhat entry-level device is swiftly refreshed with the 10nm CPU Intel has to offer.

Else of that, the notebook comes with a 1080 IPS panel (optional), which is going to be significantly more pleasing to the eye than the TN-version. Furthermore, you can configure the device with an MX230 dedicated GPU, which provides some extra graphics power over the already improved Iris Plus Graphics.

Let’s see how did the cost-cutting affects the performance, as well as the overall usability of this laptop.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-inspiron-17-3793/

Contents

Specs Sheet

What’s in the box?

If you pick the option, including the dedicated MX230, you are going to receive the 65W power adapter, else, there should be a 45W unit.

Design and construction

As seen on Dell’s official page, this device is sold in a touchscreen and a non-touchscreen form. Its both iterations weigh 3.03 kg. Apart from the obvious capabilities of the former, they differ in thickness, as well. The first is 21.9mm in the front and 25mm in the back, while the second goes from 22.5-25.6mm. As far as the design goes, the Inspiron 17 3793 is unamusing, with a fairly old-looking shell. In terms of colors – there is a silver and black model.

Frustratingly, the lid cannot be opened with a single hand, which is not very comfortable, when the laptop weighs more than 3 kg.

Further to the base, the budget plastic materials continue, however, there is a cross-cut-looking finish, that from around 1-2 miles can be mistaken for carbon fiber. While there is some bend when you press hard on it, there is nothing too dramatic. Then, the keyboard has decent tactile feedback and relatively long key travel. In addition to that, the board is equipped with a NumberPad section, although the keys are slightly smaller than the rest.

Further below, the fingerprint reader looks a little too small for the footprint of the device. On the bright side, it is above the average seen on Windows laptops, with its accurate reading and matte finish.

Lastly, on the bottom plate, there are three distinctive cut-outs. The foremost two are for the speakers, while the one in the middle is a ventilation grill. Expectedly, hot air comes out from in between the base and the lid.

Ports

Most of the I/O of this machine can be found on its left side – there you will see the power plug, as well as a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 1) port, an HDMI connector, an RJ-45 connector, followed by two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) ports and an audio jack. Then, on the right, are located the Optical drive Read/Write, a USB Type-A 2.0 port and an SD card reader.

Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

As is the case with almost all units that come with an optical drive is that it is the first thing to go. Unscrew the screw that keeps it in place and just pull it out. Then, there are 14 additional Phillips-head screws to remove, two of which are located beneath where the optical drive used to sit. After that just pop the thing with a plastic pry tool, and you are inside!

The cooling of this notebook is nothing too fancy – just a single heat pipe and a fan, blowing at the heat spreader.

On the bright side, there are two RAM DIMMs that support up to 16GB of DDR4 memory in total. Moreover, it has an M.2 slot that supports PCIe x4 speeds and up to 512GB capacity, as well as a 2.5″ SATA drive that can fit a 2TB HDD.

Last, but not least, there is the 42Wh battery, seen on its 15-inch brother.

Display quality

Dell Inspiron 17 3793 is equipped with a Full HD IPS screen, model number CMN1738 (Y4PG7-17HCE; N173HCE-E31). Its diagonal is 17.3″ (43.94 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 127 ppi, their pitch – 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 69 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Its viewing angles are comfortable. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

The maximum measured brightness is relatively high – 310 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 294 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 7070K (average) – colder than the 6500K optimum for sRGB. The average color temperature through the grey scale before profiling is 6950K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 43% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.11 cd/m2).
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 (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is very good – 1250:1 (1140:1).

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 in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, 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 Inspiron 17 3793’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 94% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, which provides a vibrant and punchy image.

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 can compare the scores of Dell Inspiron 17 3793 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

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.

Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

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 Inspiron 17 3793’s display is doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment up until 82 nits and with high frequency. This makes it comfortable for long working periods, without being harmful to your eyes 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.

Conclusions

Dell Inspiron 17 3793’s display has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, high contrast ratio, comfortable viewing angles and exceptionally high color coverage – 94% of sRGB. Moreover, its backlight doesn’t use aggressive PWM to adjust its brightness levels and with the help of our Gaming and Web design profile, it can be used for design purposes, as the Average dE falls below the 2.0 value.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Dell Inspiron 17 3793 configurations with 17.3″ CMN1738 (Y4PG7-17HCE; N173HCE-E31) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS.

*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.

Sound

Dell Inspiron 17 3793’s speakers produce a loud sound with very good quality. Its low, mid and high tones are clear of deviations.

Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities can be downloaded from here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/inspiron-17-3793-laptop/drivers

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with 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. As we mentioned, the notebook features a 42Wh battery.

We were able to extract 5 hours and a half of Web browsing and around 6 hours and a half of video playback, which is somewhat reasonable, given the size of the display.

CPU options

Ice Lake is the family to go here. The processors of choice in ascending order are – the Core i3-1005G1, the Core i5-1035G1, and the Core i7-1065G7.

Dell Inspiron 17 3790 / 3793 CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Dell Inspiron 17 3790 / 3793 models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Dell Inspiron 17 3790 / 3793 model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

GPU options

In terms of the graphics card, there are the integrated Intel UHD Graphics for the first two and the Iris Plus Graphics for the latter. Additionally, the Inspiron 3793 can be purchased with the NVIDIA GeForce MX230 on board.

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 core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i5-1035G1 (15W TDP)	0:02 – 0:10 sec	0:15 – 0:30 sec	10:00 – 15:00 min
Dell Inspiron 17 3793	2.75 GHz (B+175%) @ 98°C	1.97 GHz (B+97%) @ 91°C	1.79 GHz (B+79%) @ 89°C
Intel Core i5-1035G4 (15W TDP)	0:02 – 0:10 sec	0:15 – 0:30 sec	10:00 – 15:00 min
Lenovo Yoga S740 (14)	2.64 GHz (B+140%) @ 100°C	1.89 GHz (B+72%) @ 83°C	1.66 GHz (B+51%) @ 69°C

One slight issue (or a perk) of this laptop is that its fan sounds like an RC car – the higher the rpm go, the more revving it sounds. Either way, we monitored frequencies that were kind of disappointing, compared to the Whiskey Lake CPUs. Additionally, the temperatures maintained quite a high value, throughout the entire test.

Comfort under heavy load

Verdict

What does a daily driver need, to be efficient as such? Well, it needs a decent display, that should be comfortable and bright, a battery that should get you through the day, some performance, and not on the last place – be easy to carry around.

Well, the Inspiron 17 3793 is certainly not the easiest to carry, with its 3 kg weight. If you look at it as just the next 17-inch notebook, it doesn’t seem like that much, however, when you take into consideration the fact that it is 2019 and there are laptops like the LG Gram that are lighter than a notebook – the things become different.

On the bright side, the device offers 16GB of total memory across two RAM DIMMs. Also, there is an M.2 slot for PCIe x4 and SATA drives, as well as a 2.5″ SATA drive slot. Not only that, but the Inspiron 17 3793 is one of the rare instances, where you will still find an optical drive.

Dell Inspiron 17 3793’s display has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, high contrast ratio, comfortable viewing angles and exceptionally high color coverage – 94% of sRGB. Moreover, its backlight doesn’t use aggressive PWM to adjust its brightness levels and with the help of our Gaming and Web design profile, it can be used for design purposes, as the Average dE falls below the 2.0 value.

As far as the battery goes, we weren’t particularly impressed by the 42Wh unit. It provides 5 hours and a half of Web browsing, and 6 hours and a half of video playback. Yes, all of this may sound reasonable enough for a relatively budget offering, but a 42Wh battery on a 17-inch laptop is not serious.

What could we say, guys, the build quality is not the best, the I/O doesn’t include a Thunderbolt connector, and there is something to be left in terms of its performance. However, things like the SD card reader, comfortable to type keyboard and IPS panel option help the Inspiron 17 3793 to float above the surface.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-inspiron-17-3793/