Small, Light (~14") and relatively quiet work/gaming laptop - no good choices?

[ffrules]

So ive been trying to decide on a 14" gaming laptop that i can also use for work (meaning, non-rice/gamery), ive  been lurking and reading so much i cant even wrap my head around all of it..

i would like at least a GTX 1060, but i might compromise on a 1050~ if its not possible to get everything i want in such a small package.

 

$$$ is not the issue ( at this point i wish it was ), i just cant find something that's a perfect match.. so im looking for the closest i can get.

 

i will use this laptop for programming as well, so i would like a fairly good keyboard

i hate all touch-pads, so unless i find a really good one, i probably wont use it much.

 

i'm looking for something QUIET, meaning around 45-47~ db while gaming, 2kg~ max, and below 15" laptop size.

 

my current options :

 

MSI GS43VR 7RE:

pros:

• steel series keyboard - supposedly a very good keyboard
• build quality (?)

cons:

• loud fans (?)
• bad battery life (?)
• from pictures, looks kind of bulky/ugly and has a "gamer" tag on the back. (maybe i can buy a skin for it?)

 

Gigabyte Aero 14

pros:

• very light
• looks modern and discrete (the black model)
• big battery

cons:

• no TB3
• loud fans (?)
• macro keys on the left of the keyboard.. are kind of ugh..
• kind of plasticy.

 

Razer Blade 1060

pros:

• looks modern and discrete (the black model), macbook-ish
• ok~ battery

cons:

• overheating (?)
• very loud fans, coil while (?)
• expensive
• razer has a bad reputation with customer service.

 

XPS 15" (only because its chassis is more of a 14")

pros:

• very high quality screen
• aesthetically pleasing, high quality build.
• big battery

cons:

• GTX 1050 - (not even a Ti) a huge downgrade from a 1060..
• some rumors about QC issues (bad trackpads, not sitting right, etc.)
• very expensive

 

and then theres... upcoming models :

 

•  ASUS UX550 - an XPS contender, with a 1050 Ti GPU, but i will have to wait for reviews..
• Gigabyte new aero ?? - http://www.gigabyte.us/WebPage/323/ , no idea what this is.. anyone?

 

 

[genexis_x]

Quiet is not possible for laptop especially in those thin, light laptops with powerful hardware inside.

[Pendragon]

ye, quiet isn't going to fly here. all these laptops save the XPS15 are loud as all hell. 

 

I'd like to say if you truly have no budget. https://egpu.io/macos-pascal-drivers-gtx-1080-ti-2016-macbook-pro/

 

Otherwise, Alienware 13 R3 is only 2.5kg. 

 

[Junk4Brains]

I was in the same boat and I picked up the Aero 14. The ONLY thing that feels cheap/plasticy is the hinge. Which does feel kinda bleh. Macro keys on the side are kinda odd at first but I actually ended up absolutely loving them. But yeah if I were you I'd hold out for the new Aero... or actually you can buy it now.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/gigabyte-announces-new-aero-15.804148/

Has the info and seems newegg has an exclusive global launch. So you can get it from them now or wait to get it from another retailer later.

The changes are as follows

- Bezels shrunk
- 2 PCI M.2 SSD slots!
- thunderbolt 3
- Ethernet jack
- screen changed to 1080 from 1440p

[Pendragon]

26 minutes ago, Junk4Brains said:

I was in the same boat and I picked up the Aero 14. The ONLY thing that feels cheap/plasticy is the hinge. Which does feel kinda bleh. Macro keys on the side are kinda odd at first but I actually ended up absolutely loving them. But yeah if I were you I'd hold out for the new Aero... or actually you can buy it now.

4

Hmm the new ones look pretty nice. Wonder how much quieter it can get with proper tinkering

[ChuckMaurice]

I'm basically in the same situation and decided for a XPS 15 that I'm gonna buy soon, because having a desktop rig makes the gaming components less relevant to me than lightness, compactness or build quality.

 

The new Aero 14 looks cool, and I also have two friends with the MSI GS series laptops (the old ones with GTX 960), they are pretty satisfied but again they have a home desktop PC on the side with more GPU power.

Finally a colleague of mine uses a Alienware R13 laptop, and aside it being thick and pricey it looks really durable and powerful.

 

My advice if you want something really quiet: either go for a 1050 Ti at most, or a thicker laptop in 13" (I mentioned the Alienware R13, but MSI and Asus probably have contenders at this size). Heat exhaust is not magic, and I don't know any models with powerful GPUs that aren't annoyingly loud on GPU load. Even my Macbook Pro thinks he can compete with Dyson vaccum cleaners when I try to game on it.

 

Maybe external GPUs are the way if you don't want to compromise. It's something MSI, Razer and Alienware implemented recently, but they are expensive (like $400+ without GPU), not standardized and I haven't read any reviews of them yet.

[ffrules]

5 hours ago, Junk4Brains said:

I was in the same boat and I picked up the Aero 14. The ONLY thing that feels cheap/plasticy is the hinge. Which does feel kinda bleh. Macro keys on the side are kinda odd at first but I actually ended up absolutely loving them. But yeah if I were you I'd hold out for the new Aero... or actually you can buy it now.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/gigabyte-announces-new-aero-15.804148/

Has the info and seems newegg has an exclusive global launch. So you can get it from them now or wait to get it from another retailer later.

The changes are as follows

- Bezels shrunk
- 2 PCI M.2 SSD slots!
- thunderbolt 3
- Ethernet jack
- screen changed to 1080 from 1440p

damn, looks like it has an XPS 15 form factor ! meaning its still a small laptop.. now i have to wait for someone to try it and report on the build quality / fan noise etc.

this basically a "fixed" aero 14 (tb 3, ethernet port !! ), im excited