But which 17-inch laptop is best for you? To help answer that question, we’ve decided to assemble this list of top rated portable that we’ve reviewed in the last year. And in doing so, we have honed in on the features that matter to people, including how well they perform in day-to-day working, whether the battery will last you a full working day and whether that big 17-inch screen is actually good to look at. To get these real-world results, our team of experts use each laptop as their main device for at least a week, utilising both real-world experience and a series of industry-standard benchmarks. We also use specialist equipment such as colorimeters to gain accurate and comparable results. If you can’t find a 17-inch laptop you like at the moment, we’d recommend bookmarking this list as we’ll be updating it frequently as more contenders pass through the Trusted Labs. It’s also worth checking out our Best Laptop, Best Ultrabook, Best Student Laptop and Best Budget Laptop pages for a more general look if you’re happy to explore other screen sizes.
Best 17-inch laptops at a glance:
Best productivity 17-inch laptop: LG Gram 17 (2021) – check priceBest gaming 17-inch laptop: Alienware x17 R2 (2022) – check priceMost powerful 17-inch laptop: Razer Blade 17 2022 – check priceBest mid-range 17-inch laptop: Dell XPS 17 (2022) – check price
Having a 17-inch laptop so light made it incredibly portable, which we found to be super convenient to sling into a bag for the commute to work. With the slim chassis and lightweight form in mind, the port selection is great with USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, USB-A HDMI and microSD all represented. For such a lightweight laptop though, some corners have been cut, as the Gram features a magnesium-alloy case that flexes under pressure. During testing, the 17-inch display, complete with its 2560×1600 resolution, proved to be excellent, offering sharp imagery. With it also came a great contrast ratio of 1518:1 and superb colour accuracy, with our colourimeter measuring the panel to hit 100% of the sRGB coverage, and 81% and 96% for Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 respectively. This means you could use this LG laptop for colour-sensitive design work as much as for general use. Inside, it packs an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, the same as the smaller 16-inch model that we found to breeze through productivity tasks. With that being said, we found it to lag behind competitor’s models with the same chip inside, as well as laptops that were smaller in size. The SSD read and writes here were also quick, making loading your files on and off the 512GB drive incredibly easy. The battery present here is the same 80Wh capacity as in the 16-inch model too which, during our PC Mark 10 benchmark, managed to last 11hrs and 20 minutes. For a laptop this size, it’s a respectable result, although lasted just under 4 hours less than the LG Gram 16. So if you fancy a 17-inch laptop that’s also portable enough to bring to the office or the university lecture hall, there really is no better option than the LG Gram 17. Reviewer: Ryan JonesFull review: LG Gram 17 (2021) review This comes especially thanks to the 17-inch 1080p IPS panel that, on its own, may not sound like much. But combine it with the powers of a 1ms response time and a 360Hz refresh rate, and you get one of the most powerful panels on a laptop today. We found it to offer a responsive gaming experience alongside some marvellous image quality thanks to a contrast ratio of 1153:1, and great colour space coverage with 98.1% sRGB represented. During testing, the x17 R2 proved to be an immensely powerful laptop with its benchmark scores and results sitting very near to the top of the tree. In testing AAA titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn at max settings in 1080p, the x17 R2 mustered up a result of 120fps, and offered up a jaw-dropping 226fps in Rainbow Six Siege. Those high-flying results are taken care of thanks to some beefy internal components including a high power Intel Core i7-12700H processor and an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti GPU. We also thought this Alienware laptop looked fantastic with some impeccable build quality that high-end gaming laptops have become known for. At 21mm thick, it’s a nice middle ground between the thinner Razer Blade 17 (2022) and the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17. The keyboard here is also a notable plus point with crisp and responsive keys, complete with full NKRO too, so inputs will be as precise as possible. So if you’re looking for ultimate gaming laptop with a 17-inch screen, look no further than the Alienware x17 R2. Reviewer: Mike JenningsFull Review: Alienware x17 R2 (2022) review That power comes courtesy of an Intel Core i7-12800H processor, an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti and 32GB of RAM, which is one of the most powerful configurations money can buy today. As a result, it should come as no surprise that Razer’s large screen candidate romped our tests, offering unmatched scores in the benchmarks, and excellent results in AAA titles, with Horizon Zero Dawn averaging at 119fps in 1080p, and 99fps in 1440p. The power of the Blade 17 also extends into its display, with our sample shipping with a 240Hz 1440p panel, which sits in the middle of the available options. We found its colours to look bright and vivid, which came thanks to above-average brightness and a respectable contrast ratio of 1140:1. As well as being vivid, those colours were especially accurate with our colorimeter measuring 99% in sRGB, 83% in sRGB and 97.50% in DCI-P3. This means you could comfortably use the Blade for professional workloads, and offers a comparable experience to Apple’s MacBook Pro. With regards to design, the Blade 17 looks fantastic with a professional aesthetic afforded by the black, anodized aluminium chassis. Its sturdiness is backed up by the 2.75kg heft, although at just 19.9mm thick, it’s relatively slim, too. We also found the port selection to be top class with HDMI, Ethernet, USB-A and Thunderbolt 4 all represented. In running our benchmark test for battery life, the Blade 17 performed poorly, only managing to last for just shy of three hours, so this will be a laptop to use while plugged into the mains pretty much exclusively. There really isn’t much separating the Razer Blade 17 from the Alienware x17 R2, but with a wealth of configurations available, you’re able to purchase one of the most powerful portables on the market with the Razer. Reviewer: Ryan Jones Full review: Razer Blade 17 (2022) review Despite its large display, the XPS 17 manages to maintain a slim profile that rids itself of any bulk, weighing between 2.17kg and 2.57kg (depending on the variation you pick up), which makes it a breeze to chuck in and out of a backpack. Sure, it’s not as portable as something like the MacBook Air M2 but if you want that large screen experience on the go then the Dell XPS 17 is one of your best options. You won’t find much to complain about with regards to port availability either. In addition to two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, the XPS boasts a full sized SD Card reader, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a HDMI slot and an always handy USB-A port. That SD reader in particular makes the XPS 17 an ideal pick for photographers or filmmakers who want to dive into their latest captures quickly, without having to faff around with dongles. The accompanying 4K IPS display, while not quite as eye-catching as the OLED variant on the Dell XPS 15 (2022), is still impressive enough to lend some very accurate colour profiles to the latest films and TV shows. The only major downside to the Dell XPS 17 is its battery life which, at around 3 hours and 37 minutes for office work, isn’t ideal for long periods away from a power outlet. Still, if you know you’re headed to a place where topping up the battery is easy enough, then you won’t find this to be an issue. Reviewer: Stuart AndrewsFull review: Dell XPS 17 (2022) review
