If you’re in the market for a 17-inch laptop, you’re someone who values a larger screen and keyboard as well as additional space for more powerful components. This size is ideal for designers, gamers, and professionals looking for a mobile laptop with impressive specs or excellent versatility. While 17-inch laptops are becoming harder to find due to the shift towards 16-inch or 18-inch sizes, we’ve compiled a list of the best 17-inch laptops for 2024, starting with our top pick, the Dell XPS 17. For more buying options, check out our list of the best overall laptops for 2024.
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Dell XPS 17 9730
The best 17-inch laptop you can buy
Pros
- Solid productivity performance
- Good gaming performance
- Excellent build quality
- Great keyboard and touchpad
- Superior IPS display
- Classic design
Cons
- Dramatic drop in battery life
- Webcam is just 720p
- No Wi-Fi 6e
- Productivity performance unimproved
Why you should buy this: The Dell XPS 17 9730 is an excellent professional laptop with a larger display.
Who’s it for: This laptop is perfect for professionals, visual editors, and many others.
Why we picked the Dell XPS 17 9730: While the Dell XPS 13 has been a popular choice, its larger cousin, the XPS 17, also has much to offer. It boasts modern components and discrete graphics, retaining the versatile features of the XPS line on a larger scale for those in need of more display space for their work. The XPS 17 comes with the latest Intel 13th-generation processors, offering up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, and up to 8TB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive (SSD). Display options include a 17-inch 16:10 Full HD+ or UHD+ IPS panel, both designed to provide incredibly wide and accurate colors and deep contrast. The compact design is similar to smaller XPS machines, but due to the larger display and greater weight (5.37 pounds), it may be less portable. The focus has shifted to the XPS 16, a smaller machine with similar specifications, which will take the XPS 17’s place.
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Asus ROG Strix G17
An incredible value in a 17-inch gaming laptop
Pros
- Cheaper than the competition
- Solid performance at native resolution
- DLSS 3
- Fantastic keyboard
Cons
- Low battery life
- Some configurations have poor value
Why you should buy this: The Asus ROG Strix G17 offers great gaming performance at an attractive price.
Who’s it for: Gamers who want top-tier performance at an affordable price.
Why we picked the Asus ROG Strix G17: The 17.0-inch ROG Strix G17 features a high-resolution display running at 2560 x 1440 and up to 240Hz, making it perfect for gaming. Equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX processor and a GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, it is capable of handling modern titles at 1440p. With multiple ports and sleek design features, this gaming laptop offers great value for the money.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best resolution for a 17-inch laptop?
While you can get old-school 16:9 Full HD (1920 x 1080) displays for 17-inch laptops, that’s not what you want. With such large screens, you’ll notice the pixels in text and images will be less than idea. The best display resolution for a 17-inch laptop is 16:10 UHD+ (3,840 x 2,400), which not only gives you a taller display that shows more vertical information but high enough resolution that text and images will remain sharp.
What should I look for in a 17-inch laptop?
In addition to the high-resolution display mentioned above, you’ll likely want your 17-inch laptop to equip the latest and fastest components. Large-screen laptops are aimed at creators, workers, and gamers who require a ton of screen space, and if your CPU and GPU can’t keep up than you’re wasting your investment. As of right now, that means Intel H-series 45-watt 12th-gen and AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs. A discrete GPU, preferably starting at an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, is also a must. Finally, look for plenty of RAM, with 16GB as a minimum, and tons of storage so that the machine will grow with your needs. You can also look for smaller and lighter chassis, as with the Dell XPS 17 that’s tops on our list, but that does compromise performance. A thicker and heavier chassis often means better thermals, which will help optimize performance.
Which is the best Dell 17-inch laptop?
There’s no doubt about it: the Dell XPS 17 that we list above is the best Dell 17-inch laptop you can buy. It’s incredibly well built and attractive, features top-notch components and performance, and even gets decent battery life. Its UHD+ display is also one of the best IPS panels we’ve tested, with wide and accurate colors, deep contrast, and plenty of brightness.
What’s the biggest laptop screen you can buy?
The largest mainstream laptop display is 17.3 inches (the actual standard for 17-inch laptops). Anything larger is going to be a one-off oddity and difficult to find.
Editors’ Recommendations
