AMD powered 17 inch laptops

[Aereldor]

I was looking into buying a 17" laptop with a nice big screen in 2022 to finally retire my trusty Alienware 13r3. Having owned one of the first OLED laptops, the display has spoiled me and has beocme a priority - I'd rather have something with a gorgeous screen than the 'best specs for the money'. 

 

The catch is, my top pick, the Dell XPS 17 9710, only uses Intel chips, which makes it inefficient, and while the Alder Lake upgrade this year promises better performance, the laptop will no longer be available with an RTX 3060 like the current gen - the best you'll get is a 3050. And I don't want to drop $300 on an enclosure and $600 on a GPU after spending $1500 on a laptop. I'm also not convinced alder lake will meaningfully improve battery life.

 

So, a refurbished XPS 9710 with an RTX 3060 for ~1500 is the price to beat. I know there are laptops out there with a 3070 or better for this price, but for me I'd rather have a really nice screen, good battery life and build quality, and gaming performance that is good enough than something that is all spec, weighs 4 kilos, lasts about 8 minutes on battery, and has glaring build issues.

 

What's out there? Is there anything that has a comparable giant screen, a dGPU (3060 or better), comparable huge battery (97 W/h), and hopefully an AMD chip? For around $1500 but ideally cheaper, since at that point I'll just buy the refurb XPS. 

[DANK_AS_gay]

1 hour ago, soundlogic said:

I'd rather have something with a gorgeous screen than the 'best specs for the money'. 

I mean, Apple has some of the best if not THE best laptop screens in the market, and if you don't care about 'best specs for the money'... And it's not like MacBooks are slow, in some use cases they actually do have the best specs for the money. And the M1 MacBooks have incredible battery life. 

 

1 hour ago, soundlogic said:

really nice screen, good battery life and build quality, and gaming performance that is good enough

1. Check

2. Check

3. Check

4. Depends on good enough...

 

The library isn't great on Mac. I personally find it good enough, I can play PS3 emulated titles on the base model MacBook Air M1 with the 7 core GPU and only 8GB of RAM. Emulation is great, the games that are on Mac run well in general, even on Rosetta. I personally find myself gaming at home, so having a mobile gaming device is pointless. Therefore the other things you have mentioned are satisfied by a Mac, then you can spend $300 on an Xbox Series S for gaming. All of this is your choice, but I prefer having the split between work and play.

[dizmo]

Do you actually plan on taking a 17" laptop around to use on the go? I always thought they were simply desktop replacements.

IMO do the best of both worlds; save the money, get last years model and use some of that money you would have put towards a better GPU go buy an ultrabook. There's loads of new Asus Zenbooks on eBay for around $400.

 

1 hour ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

I mean, Apple has some of the best if not THE best laptop screens in the market, and if you don't care about 'best specs for the money'... And it's not like MacBooks are slow, in some use cases they actually do have the best specs for the money. And the M1 MacBooks have incredible battery life. 

 

1. Check

2. Check

3. Check

4. Depends on good enough...

 

The library isn't great on Mac. I personally find it good enough, I can play PS3 emulated titles on the base model MacBook Air M1 with the 7 core GPU and only 8GB of RAM. Emulation is great, the games that are on Mac run well in general, even on Rosetta. I personally find myself gaming at home, so having a mobile gaming device is pointless. Therefore the other things you have mentioned are satisfied by a Mac, then you can spend $300 on an Xbox Series S for gaming. All of this is your choice, but I prefer having the split between work and play.

Is looking for a gaming rig, and you recommend a Mac?

[DANK_AS_gay]

20 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Is looking for a gaming rig,

 

2 hours ago, soundlogic said:

but for me I'd rather have a really nice screen, good battery life and build quality, and gaming performance that is good enough than something that is all spec, weighs 4 kilos, lasts about 8 minutes on battery, and has glaring build issues.

There goes all gaming rigs in this price range. A mac fulfils the most requirements the OP has set out. No other device from any other manufacturer can do this. For the same price and battery life you can either get a Mac or a Chromebook essentially. I'd rather have the mac that can actually game to some degree, than the ChromeBook with an Intel Celeron N4020 6w processor that cannot game in the slightest, and that's ignoring the even worse game support on ChromeOS.

 

2 hours ago, soundlogic said:

I'd rather have something with a gorgeous screen than the 'best specs for the money'. 

 

20 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Is looking for a gaming rig, and you recommend a Mac?

Doesn't sound like a gaming rig to me. Unless OP wants to pay 8 grand and have a laptop that weighs "4 kilos, lasts about 8 minutes on battery, and has glaring build issues". Which they literally said they didn't want, as stated here:

2 hours ago, soundlogic said:

that is all spec, weighs 4 kilos, lasts about 8 minutes on battery, and has glaring build issues.

So yeah, I recommended the best option for the OP. In most situations where people want exclusively gaming rigs, I would not recommend a Mac. This is clearly not one of those situations. My choice remains valid. Plus I admitted the downsides of owning a Mac, in terms of gaming and offered a solution.

Your choice is a used laptop off of eBay with last gen hardware, a used and therefore reduced battery, and a last gen screen. All of which means poor battery life, inefficiency, and a worse screen that likely is 1080p 144hz and not color calibrated from the factory like Apple's displays are. Out of the four things OP wanted, your "solution" fulfills one. And that one thing is the one they specifically stated wasn't as important. And you dump on mine? Simply because it's a "Mac"? Really?

[dizmo]

8 minutes ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

 

There goes all gaming rigs in this price range. A mac fulfils the most requirements the OP has set out. No other device from any other manufacturer can do this. For the same price and battery life you can either get a Mac or a Chromebook essentially. I'd rather have the mac that can actually game to some degree, than the ChromeBook with an Intel Celeron N4020 6w processor that cannot game in the slightest, and that's ignoring the even worse game support on ChromeOS.

 

 

Doesn't sound like a gaming rig to me. Unless OP wants to pay 8 grand and have a laptop that weighs "4 kilos, lasts about 8 minutes on battery, and has glaring build issues". Which they literally said they didn't want, as stated here:

So yeah, I recommended the best option for the OP. In most situations where people want exclusively gaming rigs, I would not recommend a Mac. This is clearly not one of those situations. My choice remains valid. Plus I admitted the downsides of owning a Mac, in terms of gaming and offered a solution.

Your choice is a used laptop off of eBay with last gen hardware, a used and therefore reduced battery, and a last gen screen. All of which means poor battery life, inefficiency, and a worse screen that likely is 1080p 144hz and not color calibrated from the factory like Apple's displays are. Out of the four things OP wanted, your "solution" fulfills one. And that one thing is the one they specifically stated wasn't as important. And you dump on mine? Simply because it's a "Mac"? Really?

You're chugging pretty hard on that Apple Koolaid if you think $1,500 won't get you a decent machine.

Most of what you said is absolutely ridiculous. I'm just going to leave it at that.

[DANK_AS_gay]

15 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You're chugging pretty hard on that Apple Koolaid if you think $1,500 won't get you a decent machine.

 

I never said it wouldn't be decent, I'm saying that such a device would not tick all of the boxes. You can either get good performance, or you can get a good screen, battery life, and build quality. Name one used device with a full metal chassis, 18 hour+ battery life, "2K" or greater color calibrated screen, and decent performance for $1500 or less, and I will eat my own hat. That isn't an exaggeration. 

Here is one with a decent screen: https://www.ebay.com/itm/224779852502?hash=item3455ec5ad6%3Ag%3AHLsAAOSwYmth2NQu&_trkparms=%26rpp_cid%3D62182586a65a7ceb18b06ab4

But it's a Dell, so build quality is out the window. It has no dedicated graphics, there goes performance. Battery life is 13 hours according to pcmag.

Here is a good option:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304185773366?epid=5050812315&hash=item46d2e28d36%3Ag%3AmkQAAOSwNlBhblGT&_trkparms=%26rpp_cid%3D62182586a65a7ceb18b06ab4

Decent performance, decent screen, but build quality is ok at best, and it is the "4 kilo" beast OP was talking about, with the awful battery life.

 

Her is a MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro for $1700. For $1700 the odds of finding a machine more suited for your needs from another supplier are better, and you may want to look for that, but this checks every single box, or gets very close.

1. 16 in (you wanted 17in, it's pretty close)

2. Excellent screen

3. 20 hours tested by Anthony in LTT's review

4. Full aluminum chassis, doesn't get much better than that

5. M1 Pro so 16 core GPU, no slouch at gaming, trades blows with a mobile 1660ti

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363635353714?hash=item54aa5b2872:g:2B8AAOSwBnxhoEJO

[Aereldor]

7 hours ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

I mean, Apple has some of the best if not THE best laptop screens in the market, and if you don't care about 'best specs for the money'... And it's not like MacBooks are slow, in some use cases they actually do have the best specs for the money. And the M1 MacBooks have incredible battery life. 

 

1. Check

2. Check

3. Check

4. Depends on good enough...

 

The library isn't great on Mac. I personally find it good enough, I can play PS3 emulated titles on the base model MacBook Air M1 with the 7 core GPU and only 8GB of RAM. Emulation is great, the games that are on Mac run well in general, even on Rosetta. I personally find myself gaming at home, so having a mobile gaming device is pointless. Therefore the other things you have mentioned are satisfied by a Mac, then you can spend $300 on an Xbox Series S for gaming. All of this is your choice, but I prefer having the split between work and play.

Lmao the day that there are either great Windows drivers for the M1's GPU, or every dev starts to release an OSX version with full driver support, this isn't going to happen.

[Aereldor]

6 hours ago, dizmo said:

Do you actually plan on taking a 17" laptop around to use on the go? I always thought they were simply desktop replacements.

IMO do the best of both worlds; save the money, get last years model and use some of that money you would have put towards a better GPU go buy an ultrabook. There's loads of new Asus Zenbooks on eBay for around $400.

I thought about this, but I do actually need it around. I use it for music production on the go, since a lot of our recordings are done at venues etc, and my 13" laptop with bad battery life and a giant power brick certainly aren't helping. The big screen makes an absurd difference in any DAW.

 

I'm also most likely going to graduate school at the end of the year, and will need to carry it around to take notes, the 17" screen will be a lifesaver as a music student because it literally means I can fit twice as much into it (the screen area is roughly 2x of a 13" display)

 

That's why I'm leaning towards the XPS 17, it's not the most portable 17inch (that award goes to the LG Gram lol), but it is the most portable thing with a dGPU in it. 

 

But yeah I also want to be able to game, andI don't like the idea of having two separate devices like a laptop plus eGPU. At that point I might as well get a Macbook, a console, and a capture card, but to the chagrin of our resident Apple shills, I don't wanna do that at all. 

 

 

[dizmo]

6 hours ago, soundlogic said:

I thought about this, but I do actually need it around. I use it for music production on the go, since a lot of our recordings are done at venues etc, and my 13" laptop with bad battery life and a giant power brick certainly aren't helping. The big screen makes an absurd difference in any DAW.

 

I'm also most likely going to graduate school at the end of the year, and will need to carry it around to take notes, the 17" screen will be a lifesaver as a music student because it literally means I can fit twice as much into it (the screen area is roughly 2x of a 13" display)

 

That's why I'm leaning towards the XPS 17, it's not the most portable 17inch (that award goes to the LG Gram lol), but it is the most portable thing with a dGPU in it. 

 

But yeah I also want to be able to game, andI don't like the idea of having two separate devices like a laptop plus eGPU. At that point I might as well get a Macbook, a console, and a capture card, but to the chagrin of our resident Apple shills, I don't wanna do that at all.

If you're going with a 17" machine I don't think you're going to get away from having a huge power brick, especially if you want a big battery and a semi-powerful GPU.

Have you considered just getting a portable second monitor? Not sure if that's an option or if you need everything on the same display, but they're pretty affordable.

 

Have you checked out the Strix G17? It seems to meet a lot of what you're looking for. Most laptops of this size with decent GPUs are going to be just shy of 6lbs (I checked out quite a few, they're all about that). Which is a pound lighter than an Alienware, and a pound heavier than the XPS. IMO the difference isn't enough to rule it out, but if 1 lb makes a huge difference to you then the XPS is probably your only option. Clevo also makes a laptop with a 3060 and 5800H for $1,400, but I couldn't find a battery size.

 

The nice thing about going with a Gigabyte or similar brand is they're much easier to find on sale, since when they're due to be replaced companies try to get rid of them pretty quickly. Here's a couple:

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-ROG-Strix-G17-Octa-Core/dp/B09LH8KT6R/ref=sr_1_4?crid=28UX60TWOU0DL&keywords=asus%2Bg17&qid=1649090500&sprefix=asus%2Bg1%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-4&th=1

 

This one has a 16:10 panel if extra vertical is ever helpful:

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Zephyrus-1920x1200-i7-11800H-16-Thread/dp/B09KQDQ4RN/ref=sr_1_32_sspa?crid=28UX60TWOU0DL&keywords=asus%2Bg17&qid=1649090549&sprefix=asus%2Bg1%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-32-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzMkZITjRMTFBBVTJOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTQ5MTgzM1BLWjFaSjg0OFcyNyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTg2NjI1MzFBM1ZLUlhGUUlETiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2J0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

3060 destroys the 3050Ti though.

 

I personally wouldn't buy an MSI product, but they are an option and half a pound lighter:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GS76-Stealth-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B095B9PCPC/ref=sr_1_9?crid=22UUNBVREVWTF&keywords=laptop+3060&qid=1649090938&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A7817234011&rnid=2242797011&s=pc&sprefix=laptop+306%2Caps%2C144&sr=1-9

 

eGPUs are a horrible idea anyway.