Portable Performance Laptop

[Bishop Crane]

I'm looking for a new work laptop, I work primarily in video, online streaming, as well as some video conversions and the like, but thankfully not editing on the laptop.
I travel a lot for work, sometimes every week, so I want something really portable.

I currently have a HP Pavillion Gaming, its been great, and because of the GTX950M which is able to keep up with the very demanding video, as we're dealing with 4K on occasions and the HD530 struggles to keep up.

So ideally I want something lighter, as the current laptop at 2.3Kg plus another 0.4kg  for the charging brick its not as portable as I would like. (2.7Kg/6lbs total)
I'm looking for recommendations, something light, but powerful, and ideally with its own GPU, doesn't need to be amazing, but something other than the on-board will help with my work.
Heat, I realise a lot of the small laptops will have throttling problems.  I do have a cooling stand at my desk, which I'm happy to upgrade to something a little more aggressive.
Oh and I know I said 4k, but happy for the laptop to only have a 1080p screen, my eyesight isn't that great.  I have an external screen for when I do the 4k work.

Price wise ideally under £1,700 (1,900 EUR - 2,200 USD - 2,900 CAD - I'll stop now)

And ideally want something that looks ok in a professional environment.

Things I've looked at
Surface Pro - Love the portability and battery life, just concerned a little about performance

Razer Blade 13 or 15 - both look pretty good spec wise, however some of the reviews I've read vary greatly in battery life apparently its a bit of a lottery, is that true?

MacBook Pro - Great in the portability department, but would need to buy a windows license, and to get a GPU is way out of my price range.

 

Dell XPS 15 - While its certainly powerful, starting at 4lbs for just the laptop its a lot heavier than most.

Dell XPS 13 - Much more portable, but no GPU

Obviously open to other ideas/opinions, I realise its somewhat of a trade-off between performance and portability, but just seeing if there is a model I've missed?

Cheers!

[markr54632]

You kind of pointed the biggest problem out. There is nothing in the category you want that doesnt severely thermal throttle. Cooling stands do not help.

 

The razer and new xps have alot of qc complaints.

 

The new macbook keyboard is horrendous. Everything is soldered, and they are less friendly than ever towards professional use.

 

The gs65 would have potential, but poor thermals and no qc what so ever make it a worse option than the razer.

 

The zephyrus has good thermals, and the 10 series model can be had under budget. It is the loudest under load of anything so far, but thermals aren't terrible.

[EWIL]

I just purchased a new Laptop and was in a similar position. 

For me a 15 inch was not really an option, because the trade-offs in battery life and so on didn't make sense.

My choices were:

Razer Blade Stealth 2019 with mx150 and Full HD Display

Problem: You have to swap the hard drive (only 256 GB) and huge quality Control issues and the keyboard.

Positive: Looks, Touchpad, "Only Full HD" (Battery Life), Thunderbolt with 4 lanes.

 

Thinkpad T480s:

Problem: Thunderbolt with 2 lanes, slower MX150

Positive: No Dongle Needed, good keyboard, good built quality, Older Cpu but similar results due to better cooling

 

Dell 9380:

Problem: Dongle, Only Intel Graphics 

Positive: really light and small, 4 lanes 

 

I chose the t480s because I got a good deal and I am a bit scared of Razer.

I run 2 1440p Displays over thunderbolt and it's wonderful.

The new t490s will come out in June, so maybe you can score a good deal in the next months, don't buy the t490s, it's worse.

 

 hope that helps

 

[genexis_x]

3 hours ago, Bishop Crane said:

I realise a lot of the small laptops will have throttling problems

Most laptops nowadays have cooling problem due to hot 8th gen Intel mobile chips