Juggling Laptops (decision help) Blade vs. GS60 vs. X3+ v3

[decimalpoint]

So I will be heading to college after a few months and I am in need of a replacement for my current ASUS U43Jc. I already have a custom desktop rig; no use in suggesting for me to build one.

 

My decision needs to be as portable as possible so I have narrowed it down to these 3 laptops, but 2 mainly.

 

1. Aorus X3+ v3

2. MSI GS60 Ghost Pro

3. New Razer Blade FHD

 

My budget as you can see is ~ $2000. I am going to be using my laptop mainly for research, web browsing, and taking notes, but I am a gamer on the side and would like portable power wherever I may need to go. I will be using a mouse for gaming, but mainly sticking to the track pad and keyboard. Battery life is a prime conern for me walking between classes away from a wall outlet. Whats the point of buying a baller laptop if it just keeps dying? I am stuck between the pros and cons of each of these laptops, so here are my concerns.

 

By far, the Razer Blade is my favorite choice in build quality, battery life, power, and portability (awesome power adapter), but the catch is the storage size. Only 256 Gb and 8 Gb of RAM? That will hardly hold 5 new titles with no other space for my schoolwork. Sure I could get the terabyte mSATA from Samsung, but that's voiding the warranty and I am hoping this laptop will last me hopefully 4 years of college.

 

The Aorus and GS60 are mostly on the same playing field with either one having a feature and the other lacking or vice versa. Aorus takes the cake in style, storage space with 2.5" drives, M.2 slots, a nice track pad, and a gorgeous screen. From reviews I've heard it has a mediocre keyboard, flimsy build, and relatively mixed battery life from 2 1/2 hours to 5 hours. MSI excels in build quality, a great Steel Series keyboard, decent audio, and a good selection of storage options. It's screen isn't great, but not bad either, and I've heard about several thermal issues and shoddy battery life. 

 

Any discussion is well appreciated without flaming comments with no real evidence behind them. Hands-on experience, is most appreciated as I will be buying online. Any other suggestions will be thoroughly considered. Thank you!

[Decon]

blade

 

that is all

[ShadowCaptain]

SNIP

 

There is also the new Asus G501, gigabyte p34, p35x, clevo p650, p651

 

bear in mind some models have problems with thermal throttling - I am also in the same place as you, picking between these models

 

best idea is to open up excel - make a pros and cons list - for every model - pick the model with the most pros

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dr_deconstruct, I see a flaw in your argument: there isn't one. Thanks though!

[decimalpoint]

There is also the new Asus G501, gigabyte p34, p35x, clevo p650, p651

 

bear in mind some models have problems with thermal throttling - I am also in the same place as you, picking between these models

 

best idea is to open up excel - make a pros and cons list - for every model - pick the model with the most pros

I like the G501, but it only comes with a 960m? Otherwise it would be on my list as well. The Gigabyte options were on my list, but the throttling issues along with multiple QA issues I've heard just deterred me. Clevo seems like a good laptop, but I havn't heard much about them and they are just a bit too think. 

It's funny, I was about to do the whole pros and cons thing, I've been battling this decision for about 3 weeks now, lol.

[ShadowCaptain]

I like the G501, but it only comes with a 960m? Otherwise it would be on my list as well. The Gigabyte options were on my list, but the throttling issues along with multiple QA issues I've heard just deterred me. Clevo seems like a good laptop, but I havn't heard much about them and they are just a bit too think. 

It's funny, I was about to do the whole pros and cons thing, I've been battling this decision for about 3 weeks now, lol.

 

same here, still need to sell my m18x so I can afford a new one, I am so lazy and I cant make a decision so I am just sitting around silently crying

 

yeah its a 960m in that, shame, the 970m or 980m is really what I want, but honestly, all of them have major cons.. but all of them are nice. so its a hard pick - none are prefect

 

I would settle on the gs60 ghost but I wanted 13"

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same here, still need to sell my m18x so I can afford a new one, I am so lazy and I cant make a decision so I am just sitting around silently crying

 

yeah its a 960m in that, shame, the 970m or 980m is really what I want, but honestly, all of them have major cons.. but all of them are nice. so its a hard pick - none are prefect

 

I would settle on the gs60 ghost but I wanted 13"

Yes, alas the perfect laptop avoids us yet. For future proofing purposes, I am only considering 970m or above, or 965m SLI *wink wink Aorus x5*...

My perfect screen size is ~15 inches though, so the GS60 is a nice option, that battery though....

[D2ultima]

The Gigabyte options were on my list, but the throttling issues along with multiple QA issues I've heard just deterred me.

Clevo seems like a good laptop, but I havn't heard much about them and they are just a bit too think. 

Aorus laptops are FAR more likely to throttle and cause issues than Gigabyte's main line. They're also more expensive, I believe.

If the Clevo P65xSx series is too thick, you might want to reconsider what's too thick.

 

My decision needs wants to be as portable as possible so I have narrowed it down to these 3 laptops, but 2 mainly this one laptop.

 

My budget as you can see is ~ $2000.

 

Battery life is a prime conern for me walking between classes away from a wall outlet. Whats the point of buying a baller laptop if it just keeps dying?

 

By far, the Razer Blade is my favorite choice in build quality, battery life, power, and portability (awesome power adapter), but the catch is the storage size. Only 256 Gb and 8 Gb of RAM?

 

The Aorus and GS60 are mostly on the same playing field with either one having a feature and the other lacking or vice versa.

 

MSI excels in build quality, a great Steel Series keyboard, decent audio, and a good selection of storage options. It's screen isn't great, but not bad either, and I've heard about several thermal issues and shoddy battery life.

Fixed your first sentence for you.

 

Healthy budget! Good!

 

If you intend to game on a laptop, you're never going to get anything resembling battery life. End of story. As for "what's the point if it just keeps dying", it's to HAVE POWER ON THE GO. Powerful parts = suck battery life. You don't get both. It does not happen. Laptops that have "both" also lack many features for themselves: Case in point being Razer lacking any optical drive, hard drive, various I/O ports, etc. If you want good battery life and a powerful PC, you're *GOING* to sacrifice internals. It is a fact; battery tech hasn't improved enough in recent years to prevent this.

 

Razer's build quality is in its externals. Its keyboard, screen, chassis, etc all look and feel amazing. The inside is not as good, with loud fans and cooling issues under any sort of real stress, and most importantly, the lack of various internals to keep with its ultrathin motif etc. It is a machine wholly designed for someone who ALREADY has a good machine, and wants something for midrange gaming on the go. That's all.

 

No, the Aorus is far more prone to throttling than the MSI, and SLI without having top-end cards is going to be a huge huge problem these days. I guarantee it.

 

MSI's audio is one of the most top notch in the laptop market, in general. It's not just "decent'. It is the machine least likely to run into thermal issues as far as I know; especially if you set the fans right. The fans will be pretty loud as with all thin machines, but it likely isn't going to be as bad as the Razer Blade.

[PaulKolby]

So I will be heading to college after a few months and I am in need of a replacego. I will be using a mouse for gaming, but mainly sticking to the track pad and keyboard. Battery life is a prime conern for me walking between ely mixed battery life from 2 1/2 hours to 5 hours. MSI excels in build quality, a great Steel Series keyboard, decent audio, and a good selection of storage options. It's screen isn't great, but not bad either, and I've heard about several thermal issues and shoddy battery life. 

 

Any discussion is well appreciated without flaming comments with no real evidence behind them. Hands-on experience, is most appreciated as I will be buying online. Any other suggestions will be thoroughly considered. Thank you!

I would recomend the blade or auros, they a great laptops, and stay very cool

[decimalpoint]

Aorus laptops are FAR more likely to throttle and cause issues than Gigabyte's main line. They're also more expensive, I believe.

If the Clevo P65xSx series is too thick, you might want to reconsider what's too thick.

 

Fixed your first sentence for you.

 

Healthy budget! Good!

 

If you intend to game on a laptop, you're never going to get anything resembling battery life. End of story. As for "what's the point if it just keeps dying", it's to HAVE POWER ON THE GO. Powerful parts = suck battery life. You don't get both. It does not happen. Laptops that have "both" also lack many features for themselves: Case in point being Razer lacking any optical drive, hard drive, various I/O ports, etc. If you want good battery life and a powerful PC, you're *GOING* to sacrifice internals. It is a fact; battery tech hasn't improved enough in recent years to prevent this.

 

Razer's build quality is in its externals. Its keyboard, screen, chassis, etc all look and feel amazing. The inside is not as good, with loud fans and cooling issues under any sort of real stress, and most importantly, the lack of various internals to keep with its ultrathin motif etc. It is a machine wholly designed for someone who ALREADY has a good machine, and wants something for midrange gaming on the go. That's all.

 

No, the Aorus is far more prone to throttling than the MSI, and SLI without having top-end cards is going to be a huge huge problem these days. I guarantee it.

 

MSI's audio is one of the most top notch in the laptop market, in general. It's not just "decent'. It is the machine least likely to run into thermal issues as far as I know; especially if you set the fans right. The fans will be pretty loud as with all thin machines, but it likely isn't going to be as bad as the Razer Blade.

First of all, wow, I never would have expected such a response! Second, I believe my first sentence was fine the way it was, but thanks for the suggestion, lol.

 

I'm going to revisit the Clevo option as I was in a pinch when I took a look at it.

 

Ok, you say that Aorus is more likely to throttle...I have a hard time believeing that because of the massive fin arrays near the back edge. When searching for it on Google, the only reviews I could find that mentioned it throttling was this one by Gizmodo, and they refer to it throttling under "torture use" and its an outlier, and this one by Hexus saying that even with the throttling it still "comes out on top" (yes, I know this test didn't include the Blade, but it did the GS60!). I don't mind being corrected so if you have other sources, please share them. And, yes Aorus is more expensive than the regular Gigabyte gaming models.

 

I knew what to expect from battery life, I was comming from a relavent to the other competition on the market POV. IF the Blade can achieve a great battery life (5ish hours) in a 14 inch form factor, then the competition (who has had years more experience) should be able to do the same if not better in a 15.6 inch form factor, just saying.

 

From the videos I've heard, SLI utilization is actually improving through driver updates and such. I'm not sure how you can gauruntee that it will be an issue...

 

I say MSI's audio is decent because it is back firing. Maybe if MSI would have used the rear of their laptop for exhaust rather than the speakers and the top grill for the speaker grill, it would change my opinion. This is exactly the problem with phones now that don't follow the HTC One and Nexus 6 examples. You can have all the branding (Dynaudio) and tweaking you want, but if I have to cup the back of my laptop to hear sound, that's not acceptable. But, hey, maybe I'm wrong... I have never even used the laptop.

[decimalpoint]

I would recomend the blade or auros, they a great laptops, and stay very cool

Hey man, thanks for the feed back! Have you had any experience with them? 

[D2ultima]

I'm going to revisit the Clevo option as I was in a pinch when I took a look at it.

 

Ok, you say that Aorus is more likely to throttle than what?

 

IF the Blade can achieve a great battery life (5ish hours) in a 14 inch form factor, then the competition (who has had years more experience) should be able to do the same if not better in a 15.6 inch form factor, just saying.

 

From the videos I've heard, SLI utilization is actually improving through driver updates and such. I'm not sure how you can gauruntee that it will be an issue...

 

I say MSI's audio is decent because it is back firing. Maybe if MSI would have used the rear of their laptop for exhaust rather than the speakers and the top grill for the speaker grill, it would change my opinion.

The specific model linked to you is their thinner line. It's not AS thin as a GS60/70 or Blade, but if that's too thick... I'm sorry.

 

Than the regular Gigabyte models and the GS70 (not 100% certain on the GS60, but I believe there too). Hell, I even think the Razer Blade throttles less. Also, to the people who rated it highest, it's because throttling SLI > non-throttling single GPU (same GPUs) for the most part... but it doesn't mean it isn't a machine that cannot handle decent load. If you ever play more high end games like BF4 or Crysis 3 or Killing Floor 2 (that's a wringer on the GPU) or GTA 5 (on the CPU) etc, you're not gonna have a nice day.

 

The blade, as I pointed out, does not have a lot of things. No hard drive slot; only mSATA. No optical slot. This means you CANNOT put in hard drives or disc drives internally. That saves system power; more than you would think. It lacks a lot of things internally (that would require power) and as such when under general productivity load (typing, youtube videos, etc) it uses less power than the other models like the MSI, which DO have HDD slots etc etc. More battery life == reduction in available internal hardware.

 

No. SLI is decidedly getting worse. I've been playing quite a few of these new AAA games and SLI util is either gimped, not there, or CPU-limited. Plain and simple. Dying Light, GTA V, etc? Your CPU will bottleneck you. Badly. There's no question about it, I am as a user currently experiencing these games etc, informing you that it will happen. Then games like Killing Floor 2 come out without SLI support and with no support being talked about on the horizon, and any game using Unreal Engine 4 or Unity Engine or ID Tech 5 (most anything Bethesda produces) won't even SUPPORT SLI. Ever. Because the engines are designed to not use it. When DX12 comes out and SFR (split-frame rendering) makes a comeback using both GPUs like one large GPU, then maybe things might change, but then that slays the memory access bandwidth improvements from AFR (alternate frame rendering) that is currently present, etc... and SFR is not as great a performance improvement as AFR is. (Remember, I wrote that SLI information guide in my signature. I'm seeing bad trends for SLI; either there's problems getting SLI to work or it's not supported or we're all way too CPU limited, and games like Evolve that basically give full scaling easily are a bit hard to come by these days.) You're going to want the single strongest GPU you can hold BEFORE going SLI. That is my absolute, final recommendation here. At least for the next year or so. I can't even easily recommend SLI-ing 970Ms unless you're very much willing to install unlocked vBIOSes (that may or may not exist for your specific system) and overclock the living daylights out of them when you need to run single GPU.

 

Fair enough. I can't say it does or does not do that on the GS60, so... fair enough.

[decimalpoint]

The specific model linked to you is their thinner line. It's not AS thin as a GS60/70 or Blade, but if that's too thick... I'm sorry.

 

Than the regular Gigabyte models and the GS70 (not 100% certain on the GS60, but I believe there too). Hell, I even think the Razer Blade throttles less. Also, to the people who rated it highest, it's because throttling SLI > non-throttling single GPU (same GPUs) for the most part... but it doesn't mean it isn't a machine that cannot handle decent load. If you ever play more high end games like BF4 or Crysis 3 or Killing Floor 2 (that's a wringer on the GPU) or GTA 5 (on the CPU) etc, you're not gonna have a nice day.

 

The blade, as I pointed out, does not have a lot of things. No hard drive slot; only mSATA. No optical slot. This means you CANNOT put in hard drives or disc drives internally. That saves system power; more than you would think. It lacks a lot of things internally (that would require power) and as such when under general productivity load (typing, youtube videos, etc) it uses less power than the other models like the MSI, which DO have HDD slots etc etc. More battery life == reduction in available internal hardware.

 

No. SLI is decidedly getting worse. I've been playing quite a few of these new AAA games and SLI util is either gimped, not there, or CPU-limited. Plain and simple. Dying Light, GTA V, etc? Your CPU will bottleneck you. Badly. There's no question about it, I am as a user currently experiencing these games etc, informing you that it will happen. Then games like Killing Floor 2 come out without SLI support and with no support being talked about on the horizon, and any game using Unreal Engine 4 or Unity Engine or ID Tech 5 (most anything Bethesda produces) won't even SUPPORT SLI. Ever. Because the engines are designed to not use it. When DX12 comes out and SFR (split-frame rendering) makes a comeback using both GPUs like one large GPU, then maybe things might change, but then that slays the memory access bandwidth improvements from AFR (alternate frame rendering) that is currently present, etc... and SFR is not as great a performance improvement as AFR is. (Remember, I wrote that SLI information guide in my signature. I'm seeing bad trends for SLI; either there's problems getting SLI to work or it's not supported or we're all way too CPU limited, and games like Evolve that basically give full scaling easily are a bit hard to come by these days.) You're going to want the single strongest GPU you can hold BEFORE going SLI. That is my absolute, final recommendation here. At least for the next year or so. I can't even easily recommend SLI-ing 970Ms unless you're very much willing to install unlocked vBIOSes (that may or may not exist for your specific system) and overclock the living daylights out of them when you need to run single GPU.

 

Fair enough. I can't say it does or does not do that on the GS60, so... fair enough.

I saw some reviews on the Clevo stuff, I'm not sure, some of them just looked poorly constructed... and what's the deal with the Clevo/Sager thing? Are they 2 brands or 1? 

 

I went back an reread your comment about throttling and it made more sense. Although, I'm pretty confused on why you even mentioned SLI throttling though. Maybe I'm just being ignorant but the statement "throttling SLI > non-throttling single GPU" made no sense to me. The only time I ever said anything about SLI was about an unannounced laptop to ShadowCaptain. None of the machines in question are SLI so why are we even mentioning it? On another note, you still havn't convinced me that Aorus throttles that aggressively. I do plan on playing the Batllefield releases and GTA V so if you have some forum posts or a video or any evidence at all, I would love to check it out, and not just on Aorus, on the Blade or GS60 as well.

Yes, the Blade does lack an optical drive, but so do the others...So, that leaves the only other thing it is lacking is the ability to take a hard drive. While I'm no where close to being an expert on laptop hard drive battery consumption, MY OPINION is that they could have squeezed one in there if they had to. ANYWAY, I probably won't get it just for that reason. :'( 

 

Ok, ok, you've more than adequetly have proved you know a thing or 2 about SLI, lol. I am clearly a little new to the LTT forums, I came from Tom's (which was less than helpful, btw), please excuse me not noticing the guides/information you have posted on the topic. But, like I said before, none of the options I presented had SLI, so that means we're getting a bit off topic.

 

So, back on topic, if you were in my situation which laptop would you choose (from my three) and why? Also, if you had to recommend a laptop or laptops, what would be your recommendations? Please keep in mind mobility is key! Thanks otherwise!

[D2ultima]

I saw some reviews on the Clevo stuff, I'm not sure, some of them just looked poorly constructed... and what's the deal with the Clevo/Sager thing? Are they 2 brands or 1? 

 

I went back an reread your comment about throttling and it made more sense. Although, I'm pretty confused on why you even mentioned SLI throttling though. Maybe I'm just being ignorant but the statement "throttling SLI > non-throttling single GPU" made no sense to me. The only time I ever said anything about SLI was about an unannounced laptop to ShadowCaptain. None of the machines in question are SLI so why are we even mentioning it? On another note, you still havn't convinced me that Aorus throttles that aggressively. I do plan on playing the Batllefield releases and GTA V so if you have some forum posts or a video or any evidence at all, I would love to check it out, and not just on Aorus, on the Blade or GS60 as well.

Yes, the Blade does lack an optical drive, but so do the others...So, that leaves the only other thing it is lacking is the ability to take a hard drive. While I'm no where close to being an expert on laptop hard drive battery consumption, MY OPINION is that they could have squeezed one in there if they had to. ANYWAY, I probably won't get it just for that reason. :'( 

 

Ok, ok, you've more than adequetly have proved you know a thing or 2 about SLI, lol. I am clearly a little new to the LTT forums, I came from Tom's (which was less than helpful, btw), please excuse me not noticing the guides/information you have posted on the topic. But, like I said before, none of the options I presented had SLI, so that means we're getting a bit off topic.

 

So, back on topic, if you were in my situation which laptop would you choose (from my three) and why? Also, if you had to recommend a laptop or laptops, what would be your recommendations? Please keep in mind mobility is key! Thanks otherwise!

Clevo isn't poorly constructed. Their internals are easy to access and very user friendly. Their outward construction doesn't usually look as sleek as other brands etc though. Clevo is an ODM. They are rebranded by various OEMs, called "Clevo rebranders". These include, but are not limited to: Sager. Origin PC. iBuyPower. Cyberpower PC. Mythlogic. Eurocom. mySN. Scan UK. Clevo Extreme Gaming. Metabox. Ava Direct. Falcon Northwest. Pro-Star computing. Venom Computing (they deny this, but they are).

Reseller websites like XoticPC and LPC-Digital are websites that act as a middleman (and sometimes get discounts or after-sale services for you) between you and your OEM/rebrander. XoticPC is the largest and works with MSI/ASUS/Gigabyte & Aorus/Sager/etc.

 

Forgive me for that one, I saw 965M SLI and I know some of the Aorus machines use SLI in a super thin form factor, and they throttle like crazy for it. As for the Aorus X3+ v3, you might want to look at this http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-aorus-x3-and-x3-owners-lounge.761197/

 

The Gigabyte models and the Razer Blade models can both acquire ~5-6 hours if you cut down on things running/brightness/etc, but remember that your screen also has a power draw associated with it and higher resolution ones will draw more power, etc. So it's not always apples-to-apples. The MSI is more of a "all-encompassing yet thin" machine, and the others are a bit more likely to sacrifice for their thinness. As far as I remember, cooling should be best with the MSI models, once you set the fan curve well.

 

Not a problem here .

 

If I were from you, I would go for the MSI. The Razer Blade, as much as I bash it, is indeed a machine I'd expect to work, but the price/performance ratio is unbelieve-ably bad, and I hate recommending products that are so anti-consumer. The MSI will let you do basic maintenance such as opening and cleaning the fans etc without hassle. You so much as install a new drive on the razer and boom goes the warranty. I've also seen bad things in the same thread I linked you about the specific Aorus machine you linked. My opinion/idea/experience of the entire Aorus line is that they're trying too much in way too small a form factor. I'd quicker recommend the P35x v3 over any of the Aorus machines, for example.

 

From what I know of the current market in general though, the line that makes the best products for the end-user is CURRENTLY Clevo. They have the single-GPU high end market, the SLI high end market, the mostly-thin midrange market and even the low-end market, with its 960M-using machines. Especially the W230SD. Nice machine, that.

 

Previously, Alienware was king of the high end, and MSI was the bottom tier. Now Alienware is generally considered bottom tier, with MSI being mostly 2nd running. ASUS, among laptop enthusiasts, is either a hit or miss. Either people love them and rate them highly, or hate them and rate them as not even worth your consideration. There is no "middle-ground". But one thing everyone will agree on with them is if you get a machine that WORKS, it will work well for quite some time.

 

Anyway, the market right now is stumbling over itself because nVidia's Maxwell GPUs are exceptionally cool; cool enough that in some instances, they're 20 degrees cooler than the previous flagship (in the same machine, with the same heatsink setup), while being significantly stronger than the previous line. This has prompted various manufacturers to shove flagship or 1-under-flagship GPUs in very thin machines like the Razer Blade or Gigabyte's new thin models or the Aorus models (previously the best you'd get there was 860M SLI, which was a heavily gimped GTX 760, and even considered a fairly bad midrange card). Now you have 980Ms and 970Ms etc. But it doesn't help the CPU cooling issue, because Haswell Blast Furnace is an extremely hot CPU architecture, and the way to mostly mitigate it is to share cooling among the CPU and GPU. But if you stress em both or stress the CPU a lot, you're gonna run into some serious problems. CPU intensive games can indeed pose quite a problem. This is why I'm fighting it down for you on what to get, so you'll get a machine that'll work as best as possible for you. The superthin machines that people don't stress, or do stress and throttle (and don't even REALIZE it) are selling like hotcakes because now people know the tech exists... so bulky machines are all but forgotten. But take it from me; you want a machine to do what you want, anything under 1" thick ain't gonna do it, cooling-wise. And if it does, it's gonna be LOUD and likely lack internals to make room for larger fans & fan space etc.

[decimalpoint]

Phew! That's a lot of information to take in, still trying to process it! I went through most of the discussion on that Aorus thread the other day, as it was my go to model for a while until I found the GS60. Obviously MSI has got something that works since their GS60 is being rebranded (ironically like Clevo) by guys like Cyberpower, Origin, and probably others you've named that I've never even heard of, haha. 

 

I believe the MSI GS60 has jumped to the top of my list now for the moment (I don't have to make a purchase decision til around june-july), but the X3+ v3 is still a strong contender until I find solid evidence to disprove it. GS60's keyboard and build quality is what makes the difference for me. What are your thoughts on the 965m version of the GS60? Or just 960m/965m laptops in general, I was really interested in the G501 as I have plenty of ASUS parts in my system, and am coming from an old ASUS laptop. I would might be willing to sacrifice graphics for good quality everything else (depending on the "everything else"), but $2k for a 960m laptop seems kinda crazy imo...

 

Still not sold on the Clevo branding whatever its called lol... if the one that I was referenced to was their "thin" option, it was 5+ lbs, thats over a pound difference from the heaviest of my options which was the GS60 @4.1 lbs. If there is a more carry around from class to class everyday friendly option that has the 970m, what is the model number?

 

That is something I've noticed in my research, its either love it or hate it. And if you get a "good" laptop from the factory, its absolutely fantastic. But, if your laptop has 1 thing wrong with it, there's probably more defects down the road.

 

I've run into a barrier in my research trying to sniff out the right laptops with the right GPU's. Most the reviews for the Aorus X3 whatever has 8xx series GPU, same with the GS60, although there are a bit more updated GS60 reviews. The Razer Blade 14 970m YouTube reviews are almost non-existent.

[exercutor5]

Phew! That's a lot of information to take in, still trying to process it! I went through most of the discussion on that Aorus thread the other day, as it was my go to model for a while until I found the GS60. Obviously MSI has got something that works since their GS60 is being rebranded (ironically like Clevo) by guys like Cyberpower, Origin, and probably others you've named that I've never even heard of, haha. 

 

I believe the MSI GS60 has jumped to the top of my list now for the moment (I don't have to make a purchase decision til around june-july), but the X3+ v3 is still a strong contender until I find solid evidence to disprove it. GS60's keyboard and build quality is what makes the difference for me. What are your thoughts on the 965m version of the GS60? Or just 960m/965m laptops in general, I was really interested in the G501 as I have plenty of ASUS parts in my system, and am coming from an old ASUS laptop. I would might be willing to sacrifice graphics for good quality everything else (depending on the "everything else"), but $2k for a 960m laptop seems kinda crazy imo...

 

Still not sold on the Clevo branding whatever its called lol... if the one that I was referenced to was their "thin" option, it was 5+ lbs, thats over a pound difference from the heaviest of my options which was the GS60 @4.1 lbs. If there is a more carry around from class to class everyday friendly option that has the 970m, what is the model number?

 

That is something I've noticed in my research, its either love it or hate it. And if you get a "good" laptop from the factory, its absolutely fantastic. But, if your laptop has 1 thing wrong with it, there's probably more defects down the road.

 

I've run into a barrier in my research trying to sniff out the right laptops with the right GPU's. Most the reviews for the Aorus X3 whatever has 8xx series GPU, same with the GS60, although there are a bit more updated GS60 reviews. The Razer Blade 14 970m YouTube reviews are almost non-existent.

 

The Clevo one you are most probably referenced to is the P650SE.

[decimalpoint]

The Clevo one you are most probably referenced to is the P650SE.

That's it! Is that their slimmest model w/ 970m?

[D2ultima]

That's it! Is that their slimmest model w/ 970m?

Yes. Please note however, it has two HDD slots and two M.2 SSD slots as well as two fans for the GPU and one for the CPU.

 

Here's a screenshot of the internals (note the difference from a Razer Blade):

Razer Blade:

 

It's why I initially amended your first post saying you "wanted" as portable as possible, because an extra pound or 1/4" thickness isn't going to kill you, especially if you get an overall better machine for it.

[exercutor5]

That's it! Is that their slimmest model w/ 970m?

 

They do have a 980M model which is the P650SG, thicker than the SE by 3.8mm. Otherwise, the 970M and 965M variants are of same thickness.

[decimalpoint]

Yes. Please note however, it has two HDD slots and two M.2 SSD slots as well as two fans for the GPU and one for the CPU.

 

Here's a screenshot of the internals (note the difference from a Razer Blade):

Razer Blade:

 

It's why I initially amended your first post saying you "wanted" as portable as possible, because an extra pound or 1/4" thickness isn't going to kill you, especially if you get an overall better machine for it.

Well, here's the thing. A want and a need are very different things. I do, in fact, need it to be as portable as possible. Ultrabook like portibility, hence the 3 options I presented. All under an inch and withing the same weight range, if that's the thinnest Clevo option its a pound and a half heavier, its not the extra thickness that is the issue here. 

 

Yes, I can clearly see the advantage it has over something like the Blade, but remember the Blade is my bottom option ATM. I don't plan on buying it.

 

I forgot to quote you in my last reply to one of your replies, I was hoping to get your opinion on 965m/960m laptops, are they worth even considering? Here was my reply: 

 

Phew! That's a lot of information to take in, still trying to process it! I went through most of the discussion on that Aorus thread the other day, as it was my go to model for a while until I found the GS60. Obviously MSI has got something that works since their GS60 is being rebranded (ironically like Clevo) by guys like Cyberpower, Origin, and probably others you've named that I've never even heard of, haha. 

 

I believe the MSI GS60 has jumped to the top of my list now for the moment (I don't have to make a purchase decision til around june-july), but the X3+ v3 is still a strong contender until I find solid evidence to disprove it. GS60's keyboard and build quality is what makes the difference for me. What are your thoughts on the 965m version of the GS60? Or just 960m/965m laptops in general, I was really interested in the G501 as I have plenty of ASUS parts in my system, and am coming from an old ASUS laptop. I would might be willing to sacrifice graphics for good quality everything else (depending on the "everything else"), but $2k for a 960m laptop seems kinda crazy imo...

 

Still not sold on the Clevo branding whatever its called lol... if the one that I was referenced to was their "thin" option, it was 5+ lbs, thats over a pound difference from the heaviest of my options which was the GS60 @4.1 lbs. If there is a more carry around from class to class everyday friendly option that has the 970m, what is the model number?

 

That is something I've noticed in my research, its either love it or hate it. And if you get a "good" laptop from the factory, its absolutely fantastic. But, if your laptop has 1 thing wrong with it, there's probably more defects down the road.

 

I've run into a barrier in my research trying to sniff out the right laptops with the right GPU's. Most the reviews for the Aorus X3 whatever has 8xx series GPU, same with the GS60, although there are a bit more updated GS60 reviews. The Razer Blade 14 970m YouTube reviews are almost non-existent.

[decimalpoint]

They do have a 980M model which is the P650SG, thicker than the SE by 3.8mm. Otherwise, the 970M and 965M variants are of same thickness.

Thanks! This is just not the level of portability that I need. I think the Clevo options would be a solid choice if I was wanting to replace my desktop, but for everyday on the go, I believe I'll stick to one of the 3 options I posted.

[exercutor5]

Thanks! This is just not the level of portability that I need. I think the Clevo options would be a solid choice if I was wanting to replace my desktop, but for everyday on the go, I believe I'll stick to one of the 3 options I posted.

 

I'm actually carrying it to school everyday in my hand now, heavy in the sense that it is 2.5kg, so you have to hold it on different hands every 10 minutes or something. The thickness is quite alright, for a few days I carried it around without my sleeve for the past week, fits in my rather small-sized hands quite well. If you got that, you would most probably have one of the most powerful laptops, which is incredibly slim (though still not as slim as the Blade, but look at those storage options!)

 

EDIT: I forgot to add, if power brick sizes are a turn off, you should see this.

 

 

 

 

[decimalpoint]

I'm actually carrying it to school everyday in my hand now, heavy in the sense that it is 2.5kg, so you have to hold it on different hands every 10 minutes or something. The thickness is quite alright, for a few days I carried it around without my sleeve for the past week, fits in my rather small-sized hands quite well. If you got that, you would most probably have one of the most powerful laptops, which is incredibly slim (though still not as slim as the Blade, but look at those storage options!)

Ah well, having to switch hands every 10 minutes doesn't exactly scream portability now does it? I will most certainly be carrying it in a backpack or satchel, not literally carrying it in my hands. And while there's no doubt about me having the most powerful laptop next to a GT80, I will be going with the GS60 or the X3+ v3, they present ample storage room.

[D2ultima]

I forgot to quote you in my last reply to one of your replies, I was hoping to get your opinion on 965m/960m laptops, are they worth even considering? Here was my reply: 

I saw the ask about 965M/960M.

 

The 960M is basically a 750Ti, and the 965M is actually pretty decent for a current-gen midrange machine. I mean, if you can get a 970M get it, but a 965M shouldn't be a slouch.

[decimalpoint]

I saw the ask about 965M/960M.

 

The 960M is basically a 750Ti, and the 965M is actually pretty decent for a current-gen midrange machine. I mean, if you can get a 970M get it, but a 965M shouldn't be a slouch.

Ok, I gotchyah, hey man I appreciate all the information!