If it’s a big-screen laptop you’re after, then getting one of the best 17-inch laptops seems like an absolute no-brainer.
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 (2023) – check price
- Best premium gaming 17-inch laptop: Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D – check price
- Best value gaming 17-inch laptop: Medion Erazer Beast X40 – check price
- Best mid-range 17-inch laptop: Dell XPS 17 (2022) – check price
How we test
Every laptop we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including build quality, performance, screen quality and battery life.
These include formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests, plus a series of real world checks, such as how well it runs the most frequently used apps.
We also make sure to use every laptop we review as our primary device for at least a week to ensure our review is as accurate as possible.
- High-quality 17-inch 4K screen
- Good all-round performance
- Stylish, bulk-reducing design
- Not much battery life
- Stability issues in games
- Power-constrained GPU
- Outstanding performance
- Very good value
- Great mechanical keyboard
- Top-notch build quality and understated styling
- No HDR capability
- The keyboard is rather loud
- Battery life is nothing special
- Big and bright 17-inch screen
- Ultra-portable design
- Great port selection
- Solid performance and battery
- More expensive than key rivals
- Bland design with notable flex
- Even better gaming performance from new 3D V-Cache Ryzen 9 CPU
- Expansive, feature-laden keyboard
- Cool and quiet even under heavy load
- New CPU only available with premium RTX 4090 GPU
- 720p webcam is a poor effort
- Unbalanced layout of I/O ports
LG Gram 17 (2023)
Best productivity 17-inch laptop
Pros
- Big and bright 17-inch screen
- Ultra-portable design
- Great port selection
- Solid performance and battery
Cons
- More expensive than key rivals
- Bland design with notable flex
The LG Gram 17 (2023) is a pioneer of the excellent 17-inch laptop, making the form factor feasible for many who may have baulked at its large size. And, that’s mostly down to its remarkably light weight.
The range is by no means perfect, often demanding a high price of entry, but it does what it says on the tin. You can a humoungous and bright 17-inch 16:10 2560×1600 resolution display, offering stunning visuals whether your typing away on a spreadsheet or taking in a movie.
Then, the stars of the show are its slender frame and low weight, coming in at just 1.35kg and 17.8mm thin respectively. If you can fit it in your bag then it is sure to not put any strain on your back, and offers a gloriously portable big screen experience when you do come around to whipping it out. Its thin frame doesn’t prevent plenty of ports though, with a strong selection on either side.
The performance is up to standard too, with an Intel Core i7-1360P chip giving you more than enough in the tank for intensive productivity usage. You also get around eight hours of charge for your working day too.
Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: LG Gram 17 (2023) review
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D
Best premium gaming 17-inch laptop
Pros
- Even better gaming performance from new 3D V-Cache Ryzen 9 CPU
- Expansive, feature-laden keyboard
- Cool and quiet even under heavy load
Cons
- New CPU only available with premium RTX 4090 GPU
- 720p webcam is a poor effort
- Unbalanced layout of I/O ports
One benefit of a big ol’ chassis to accomodate a 17-inch display is that it offers plenty of room for high-end specifications. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D brings the specs and the immense gaming performance.
The power comes courtesty of an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU combined with AMD’s most powerful laptop chip, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945X3D. The regular ROG Strix Scar 17, and its 16 and 18-inch siblings, were already powerhouses in their own right but AMD’s swanky 3D V-Cache technology gives an added boost to this serious machine. You can get upwards of 70 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 with its demanding RT:Ultra settings turned on. FPS fans are well served too, with Rainbow Six Extraction seeing scores of 192fps in our testing.
This is all presented on a capable 2560×1440 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate panel. It measures in at 17.3-inches, bringing luxurious high-end gaming to a big screen with a dose of portability.
Reviewer: Alun Taylor
Full review: Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D review
Medion Erazer Beast X40
Best value gaming 17-inch laptop
Pros
- Outstanding performance
- Very good value
- Great mechanical keyboard
- Top-notch build quality and understated styling
Cons
- No HDR capability
- The keyboard is rather loud
- Battery life is nothing special
We described the Medion Erazer Beast X40 as a thoroughbred next-generation gaming laptop, coming with the latest and greatest components from Nvidia and Intel. It can be configured to an RTX 4090 GPU and a Raptor Lake i9-13900HX processor, with DDR5 RAM added on to help future-proof the device for years to come. It blasted through our gaming benchmarks with ease, scoring 122fps in Borderlands 3 at the native resolution with maximum ray tracing and no DLSS upscaling.
The display sits at 17-inches and boasts a WQXGA (25600×1600) resolution, giving you more than enough room to game and watch media content. In our screen tests, it managed to hit 417 nits of brightness, although the contrast ratio was disappointing at just 954:1. These numbers prove that while the Erazer Beast X40 won’t do justice to HDR content, it’s a lot more affordable than some other laptops that come with Mini-LED technology, like the MSI Titan GT77 HX.
We loved the large selection of ports, which include four USB-A ports, one USB-C Thunderbolt 4, a 2.5GbE Ethernet import and an HDMI 2.1 output. It also packs two 3.5mm audio jacks – one combo, one mic in – and an SD card slot. Looking further at what’s under the hood, the Erazer Beast X40 comes with support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1, which should ensure seamless wireless connections to both the internet and any Bluetooth-supported devices.
The only reason this laptop has been docked half a star is for its lack of HDR performance. Laptops like the Acer Predator Helios 16 (2023) will be your best bet if you don’t want the price to skyrocket but overall, unless you need an OLED or Mini-LED panel then the Medion Erazer Beast X40 is one of the best gaming laptops out there. It’s a lot more affordable than most of its rivals and comes with some of the most powerful internals on the market, giving you the chance to visit some of your favourite games without breaking the bank.
Reviewer: Alun Taylor
Full Review: Medion Erazer Beast X40
Dell XPS 17 (2022)
Best mid-range 17-inch laptop
Pros
- High-quality 17-inch 4K screen
- Good all-round performance
- Stylish, bulk-reducing design
Cons
- Not much battery life
- Stability issues in games
- Power-constrained GPU
Last year’s Dell XPS 17 (2021) was a fantastic laptop and a worthy addition to this list, but the machine has since been supplanted by its own successor, the Dell XPS 17 (2022). Dell hasn’t rocked the boat with any major visual overhauls but the XPS 17 still stands out for packing a lot of great features into a portable package.
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 Andrews
Full review: Dell XPS 17 (2022) review
We also considered…
We’ve reviewed
See all reviewsFAQs
Yes of course, there are a few 17-inch laptops available from various manufacturers, especially in the gaming laptop market. However, they’re certainly more uncommon than 13-inch, 15-inch and 16-inch laptops these days, considering the 17-inch design generally isn’t very portable.
This is subjective and depends on your workload. We like the LG Gram 17 for day-to-day use, while we really rate the Alienware x17 R2 for high-end gaming.
There’s obviously more room in a 17-inch laptop for more sophisticated cooling solutions compared to a 15-inch laptop. However, there’s always a chance that a 17-inch laptop could have the exact same cooler as a 15-inch laptop, so it really just depends on the individual designs.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
