What are the best 17-inch laptops in 2024?

In the realm of laptops, 17-inch displays offer a desktop-like experience in a portable package. Whether you're a creative professional, a hardcore gamer, or someone who simply values ample screen real estate, a 17-inch laptop can be a powerful and versatile tool. But with so many options on the market, choosing the right one can be overwhelming.

This guide explores the top contenders in the 17-inch laptop arena for 2024, catering to a variety of needs and budgets. We'll delve into key factors to consider before your purchase and highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each contender to help you find the perfect fit.

The top 3 best 17-inch laptops in 2024

Once very popular, the good old “multimedia PC” has lost its splendor in favor of increasingly compact laptops, the 13 or 14-inch “ ultraportables ”. However, not everyone needs a small and portable laptop. If your laptop mainly travels from room to room, a large screen will be a real plus in everyday life, whether for working or watching movies.

In addition, we are seeing a massive arrival of 16-inch screens on laptops. Thanks to increasingly thin borders, they allow you to have a large screen in a more compact chassis. They can therefore constitute an interesting option.

Want a big screen? That's good, we have chosen the best 17-inch laptops on the market, for all budgets.

The majority of the products chosen here are well-equipped in terms of connectivity, but you may still need more ports.

The best of 17 inches: Dell XPS 17 (9720)

With this PC, Dell updates its XPS 17 with this 2022 vintage. We looked at the 2021 version of this model (the 9710), which was already excellent. This year's seems further improved, even if the bases and chassis are the same. The price takes the opportunity to climb further.

Although with its large diagonal, it is not the most discreet, it is excellent for content creators and those who have adopted teleworking. The 17-inch screen is in 16:10 format: it will be, depending on the configuration chosen, in FHD+ or UHD+ and in this case, will be touchscreen.

The aluminum chassis has not changed, the finishes are still good, and the keyboard and touchpad are excellent. Nothing to say on this point, Dell remains on its line of premium sobriety. If the computer is thin and rather compact thanks to thinned screen borders, on the scale, the Dell XPS 17 still weighs 2.5 kg. In construction, the PC has 4 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5 mm jack.

This year Dell integrated the latest generation of Intel Alder Lake CPU (the powerful i7-12700H), coupled with an RTX 3050 (or 3060, your choice). A perfect combination for content creators and creatives such as photographers, but also gamers. In operation, the machine is quiet enough not to disturb you. The new XPS 17 gains performance and positions itself as one of the most powerful laptops on the market.

We note a nice progression in autonomy, which increases by one hour. We therefore reach around 9 hours (on the model with the UHD+ screen), which is good for a PC with such a panel.

Its base price of 3,200 euros with the FHD+ screen, and 3,500 euros with the UHD+ version, is undoubtedly the only obstacle to purchasing this PC.

You can configure your XPS 17 directly through the official Dell website.

The lightest: LG gram 17 (2022)

LG is not primarily known for its laptops, and yet the manufacturer delivers a balanced product. The LG Gram 17 has one big advantage going for it: its lightness. With its 1.35 kg, it is the same weight as some 13-inch ultraportables, a feat. However, it is indeed a laptop PC with a 17-inch panel and a good definition of 2560 × 1600 pixels. If the panel is excellent, we will nevertheless regret that it benefits from a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is a little light for a machine at this price in 2022.

The keyboard and touchpad are pleasant, and, thanks to the 17-inch format, the connectivity is complete: an HDMI port, two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a jack port, two USB A 3.2 Gen2 ports as well as a microSD port.

Performance-wise, nothing to say, the 12th generation Intel processor (an i7-1260P on our test configuration) is doing very well, coupled with 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM. We will praise the perfectly controlled heating so that your thighs and wrists remain protected from the heat. Good point also on the autonomy, around ten hours in classic work use. If the budget is there, it will make a good machine for a student who wants a big screen.

Balance at a low price: Acer Aspire 5 (A517-52)

Acer's Aspire series is known for offering excellent value-for-money products and this Aspire 5 A517 laptop is no exception. Given the price, compromises had to be made and the plastic chassis was the first of them. The finish is passable, nothing more.

On the other hand, we appreciate the rather well-provided connectivity, even if a second USB-C connector would not have been a luxury. The backlit keyboard offers a compact number pad and offers a decent touch. However, we regret the small size of the touchpad. The 17.3-inch screen is a Full HD IPS panel which is somewhat disappointing. It is not only poorly calibrated but also not very bright…

Fortunately, things are much more convincing on the performance side, thanks to the adoption of an Intel i5-1135G7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce MX350 graphics card. Coupled with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD storage, it allows you to obtain solid performance and even play light games in good conditions. In terms of battery life, count on around 6 hours – it's a shame, however, that the charger is not USB-C.

Despite a disappointing screen, the Acer Aspire 5 A515 is a laptop PC that seduces with its very attractive performance-price ratio. If your budget is limited and you mainly do office work, you will hardly find it better than this 17-inch laptop PC.

Very affordable gaming: Acer Nitro (AN517-52)

Want a large laptop that's a little more muscular than average? This Acer Nitro might interest you. Although it is technically part of the manufacturer's gaming range, its strengths will not only interest gamers. First observation, it is surprisingly sober for a gaming product, with only the colored backlighting of the keys betraying its origins.

If the all-plastic chassis will not leave an impression, it is nevertheless solid and very rigid. If the connectivity is adequate, we still regret the absence of DisplayPort. The 17-inch Full HD screen is mediocre, although we appreciate the choice of IPS, the lack of brightness is however annoying daily. The double hinge is frankly useless given the size of the machine.

But where the Acer Nitro stands out is thanks to its configuration. It has a recent Intel Core i5 processor and above all an Nvidia RTX 3060 card. If this logically allows it to play in Full HD in excellent conditions, this power can also be used for any other task. We will thus be able to do 3D creation without the slightest problem.

The autonomy of just over 5 hours of office use is correct for this type of laptop, but you should not stray too far from the power supply for more demanding tasks.

Whether for the occasional gamer or those who need good computing power, this Acer Nitro is an excellent choice, it is difficult to find more performance at this price.

Multiple variants of the same model exist, but it is the 17-inch version of the laptop that in our opinion offers the best value for money.

The most powerful 17-inch PC: Asus ROG Strix SCAR 17 (G733P)

If you're looking for a racing beast with top-of-the-line power, the Strix Scar 17 is the PC you need. It integrates the latest components, including generation 40 of Nvidia GPUs.

You will be entitled, in the highest configuration (that we were able to test), to an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX SoC, 32 GB of DDR5-4800 MHz RAM, a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, as well as 1 TB of storage in PCIe 4.0. Rest assured that this PC is capable of running the most demanding games and the most demanding 3D software at full speed.

To benefit from such a powerful configuration, all well-ventilated, you will have to be willing to sacrifice style. The chassis of the Strix Scar 17 is not the most elegant, and the beast still weighs 3 kilos. The keyboard is RGB. On the connectivity side, you will have two USB A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a combo jack, a standard power port, a 2.5G Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports.

And that 17-inch screen? It is an IPS LCD panel with a maximum definition of 2560 x 1440 pixels, a maximum refresh rate of 240 Hz, and G-Sync technology. The color temperature, measured at 6530K, is almost perfect, which is rare.

In short, if you don't care about style and just want the most powerful 17-inch portable machine around, this is the ideal laptop.

Note that Asus recently released a variation with the X3D version, which integrates a new processor, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D. This offers a notable gain in terms of in-game performance.

The cheapest 17-inch PC: Lenovo IdeaPad 3 (17ALC6)

Renowned for its professional ranges, Lenovo also offers attractive entry-level laptops. This IdeaPad 3 is part of this tradition with a very sober, neat look. Too bad the finish leaves a little to be desired, better quality plastics would not have been a luxury. We also appreciate the surprisingly thin screen edges which make it rather compact for a 17-inch.

The keyboard, on the other hand, could have used more attention. It's too flexible and the keys themselves lack a bit of depth. We wouldn't have refused a more spacious touchpad either. Good point, however, about the Power button which also serves as a fingerprint reader.

The 17-inch screen is unsurprisingly quite average, with a definition of 1600 x 900 pixels and a slightly low brightness. We won't do any editing with it either, but for office use it's more than enough. The choice of a Ryzen 5500U processor and its six cores allows it to display more than adequate performance.

On the memory side, we will have 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB NVME SSD. Battery life is more than satisfactory with almost 9 hours on a charge.

If it doesn't revolutionize the market, the IdeaPad 3 is a good laptop option for small budgets.

What to know before buying a 17-inch laptop

What are the advantages of a 17-inch laptop?

The main strength of a large format laptop is above all its screen size. A larger display will be more comfortable, whether working, watching videos, or even gaming. We also appreciate the presence of a larger keyboard, most often integrating a numeric keypad. Useful if you spend long hours in front of Excel.

How big is a 17-inch screen?

The size of the screens of our computers, smartphones, and televisions are indicated in inches, a unit of measurement certainly widely used in the United States, but much less so in France. It is therefore normal, if you are not familiar with laptops, that it is difficult for you to imagine what 17 inches represents. The answer is simple: the diagonal of a 17-inch screen measures 43.5 cm.

AMD or Intel, which processor should you choose for your laptop?

Formerly the preserve of Intel, the laptop PC market has diversified thanks to the strong comeback of AMD. With its Ryzen 4000 and then 5000 processors, the manufacturer rivals or even exceeds its direct competitor in terms of performance. And the cherry on the cake, AMD succeeds in this feat by keeping consumption low and above all, very aggressive prices for its processors.

You will therefore find both AMD and Intel processors in the most recent PCs. AMD had recovered well, but it turns out that the latest and twelfth generation of Intel Core mobile processor (Alder Lake) is particularly successful, notably the i5s that we recommend.