Review: Dell Precision 7730 and 5530 Mobile Workstations

Encoding Perfomance

When it came down to testing performance on these laptops, I expected great things. After all, these machines are running some of the latest and greatest from premium component makers. Below are the results of some of the encoding tests I ran in Adobe Media Encoder 2019.

(7730) Premiere Pro timeline: 16.5 minutes TRT

• H.265: 2 hours 47 minutes (CUDA)
• H.264: 11 minutes 15 seconds (CUDA)
• H.264: 11 minutes 31 seconds (OpenCL)

(5530) Premiere Pro timeline: 16.5 minutes TRT

• H.265: Did not test
• H.264: 9 minutes 42 seconds (CUDA)
• H.264: 10 minutes 17 seconds (OpenCL)

If those results seems backwards to you, it’s not a mistake. Somehow the 5530 outpaced the 7730. I ran these tests several times with slightly different settings and configurations, but they came out nearly identical each time. Dell includes its Dell Precision Optimizer software on these machines that features different profiles built for specific applications. In theory, this configures the machine to run optimally based on activity. For all of my tests, I chose the Adobe Media Encoder profile. I also confirmed in Windows Task Manager that the computers were utilizing the separate GPU and not just relying on the built-in processor graphics.

There’s always a chance that I missed something and could have tweaked some other setting to get different results, but I did my due diligence when I ran these tests to ensure I was giving both machines a fair shake. Dell’s best possible explanation for the difference was the class 50 SSD in the 5530 versus the class 40 SSD in the 7730. Frankly, these encoding times are nothing to complain about either way, but I was surprised to see the 5530 outpace the 7730 by so much.

Warranty and Support

The 5530 features a one-year hardware service with onsite/in-home service after remote diagnosis, while the 7730 provides three years. For even more piece of mind, Dell offers Premium Support for between $49 and $89 per year depending on your model. This option includes 24/7 phone and online support, on-site repair service and a slew of other diagnostic and setup assistance.

In a world of cheap, plastic, throwaway computers and overpriced art pieces requiring dozens of dongles, Dell has firmly established itself as a professional workstation provider. Their pricing may be on par with Apple computers, but if you can ignore any Microsoft angst you may be harboring, you may find a much better experience with the Precision line of mobile workstations.