Looking for a chonky high-end laptop with 3080Ti, NOT marketed to gamers.

[Sonic-Diatoms]

I am a game developer with the intent to use a mobile desktop replacement for UE5 work and 3D animation/VFX, and some AI work too.

I actually want it be thicc (better for cooling and often better for modifying).  All those thin ones skimp on ports (I'm looking at you MSI, Asus, and Razor).  I don't care if the base is 2"+, especially if it means I get more performance bang for the buck.  My current Sager NP9175 laptop is a good benchmark for size, though I'd go even chonkier if given the option.

 

I am not much of a gamer.  I don't care about all the bells and whistles of gaming, and don't want to pay for these things if I can help it:

• RGB LED deocorations
• Nvidia AI "game enhancers"
• G-sync and related tech
• Mechanical keyboard (I use an external anyway)
• High FPS display
• Looks like the love child of a spaceship and sports car
• Good built-in sound
• Any other gamer gimmicks/bloatware
   

What I do care about:

• Ports ports ports (I'm talking 4 USB A and 2 USB C ports, ideally.)  I switch between a lot of different input devices in my workflow, hence the need for a lot of ports.  I want to be able to easily drive 3 external displays.   
• Good cooling, quiet fan. Needs to be able to render at high performance continuously for 24+ hours sometimes.  This thing needs to be able to run marathons when needed.
• High power draw (and quality AC adapter to match)
• Good colorspace on screen, matte finish

Specs: 

• Res:  QHD screen size, 17 inch screen
• SSD:  2TB Evo Pro M.2 980 as main drive, slots for expansion later
• RAM:  64 GB (maybe 128 GB, still deciding)
• GPU:  3080 Ti
• CPU:  12 gen Intel i9, ideally 8 core (I am open to a Ryzen but I don't want one with too many cores, per-core performance is more important to me right now)

My current machine is a Sager/Clevo NP9175 and I've been very happy with it overall.  Seems less gimmicky and has performed well under long-term stress.  I might go with one of those again, except the Sager model I want doesn't support 12 gen Intel chips, yet, or Ti 3080s.  (I would settle with a normal 3080 if I have to, though).  I'd really just like to see something that uses gamer guts (Nvidia GPUs) but with more business class sensibilities, so I don't waste money on stuff I don't want and have more capacity for external devices.

 

Budget is ~4-5K

Please no "why-don't-you-just-get-a-tower-it's-cheaper" replies.  I need to be able to more easily move this thing around, it's kind of my only option of luggables don't come back.

I'd really appreciate any input.

[Shimejii]

uhhh change your title from 1080ti to 3080ti since  that would be 6 years ago at this point lol.

 

Generally speaking you are pretty much gonna have to go the Sager clevo or Elektronics route. Origin/Maingear laptops will be out probably by the end of the year but they prefer thinner laptops now.

 

If you buy a 3080ti System, its gonna come with  ahigh refresh rate display and mech keyboard and such, unless you can custom make on from elektronics, i dont think youll be lucky to find one.

 

 

[TrigrH]

I think its pretty clear that you know what you want, my only advice is if you cant find what you're after: wait.

 

3080ti is a brand new mobile GPU. More laptops will surely roll out over the next few months.

[Needfuldoer]

Look into "mobile workstation" grade laptops like the Dell Precision 7760 or Lenovo ThinkPad P series. They're big, no-nonsense, chonky laptops that are clearly designed for work. 

 

We have a whole fleet of Precision laptops deployed as mobile video editing systems, and they've held up through plenty of carelessness and neglect.

[Kisai]

28 minutes ago, Sonic-Diatoms said:

 

 

Budget is ~4-5K

Please no "why-don't-you-just-get-a-tower-it's-cheaper" replies.  I need to be able to more easily move this thing around, it's kind of my only option of luggables don't come back.

I'd really appreciate any input.

You're probably not going to find anything to your liking:

1) Only gaming laptops mainstream Geforce parts. Business laptops will be Quadro series.

2) The trend is thin-and-light, which absolutely suck for gaming/cad/or-really-anything.

 

Your best option right now is to stick with a 11th gen Sager and pick the Geforce RTX 3080. You'll get 3070 performance out of it.

 

The upper-end parts will be disappointing regardless. So you'll have to decide if you're willing to make that compromise, because personally you're better off having two towers in two locations than trying to travel with a laptop if you really need that performance.

 

This is why businesses should be purchasing desktop computers their employees need if they are expected to come into the office, and not laptops that are to be taken back and forth from home and office. Now multiple offices? That is what laptops are for. Meeting with clients? Laptops.

 

But don't do serious work on thin-and-light laptops, you will be disappointed within three months as the thing will sound like a jet engine.

 

Dell Precision 77xx laptops are the "biggest" you can still get from Dell, but it's heavy and will be disappointing compared to a desktop.

[GuiltySpark_]

I just looked through Dell's Precision line, Sager and Clevo and can't find anything that has everything the OP wants. In fact the closest thing I can find is this 17" MSI Creator that's just missing some USB Type-A ports. 

 

Dell's highest end Precision workstation

 

Sager and Clevo's websites are absolute garbage for drilling down 

[Sonic-Diatoms]

23 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

uhhh change your title from 1080ti to 3080ti since  that would be 6 years ago at this point lol.

 

Generally speaking you are pretty much gonna have to go the Sager clevo or Elektronics route. Origin/Maingear laptops will be out probably by the end of the year but they prefer thinner laptops now.

 

If you buy a 3080ti System, its gonna come with  ahigh refresh rate display and mech keyboard and such, unless you can custom make on from elektronics, i dont think youll be lucky to find one.

 

 

Lol, fixed... thanks for pointing that out. 

 

12 minutes ago, TrigrH said:

I think its pretty clear that you know what you want, my only advice is if you cant find what you're after: wait.

 

3080ti is a brand new mobile GPU. More laptops will surely roll out over the next few months.

Luckily, I'm not in a major hurry.  I can stand a few months.  Thanks for the advice.

 

10 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Look into "mobile workstation" grade laptops like the Dell Precision 7760 or Lenovo ThinkPad P series. They're big, no-nonsense, chonky laptops that are clearly designed for work. 

 

We have a whole fleet of Precision laptops deployed as mobile video editing systems, and they've held up through plenty of carelessness and neglect.

Last time I looked into all those, they were not using Geforce chips, mostly the inferior bang-for-buck "high precision" GPUs (read, quadro).  It's long known that the quadros help subsidize the gaming line.  I've done some more digging and it's nice to see Geforces as an option!  Thanks for reminding me of this term.

I neglected to mention in my post that I would also consider a mini-tower, designed for portability, just take a nice portable monitor to go with it.  Any thoughts on those?

[Kisai]

37 minutes ago, Sonic-Diatoms said:

 

What I do care about:

• Ports ports ports (I'm talking 4 USB A and 2 USB C ports, minimum.)  I switch between a lot of different input devices in my workflow, hence the need for a lot of ports.  I want to be able to easily drive 4 displays.   

I want to address this separately.

- It is not possible to drive 4 monitors on a laptop. You will need an eGPU, and at that point you may as well just buy a tower.

At most, is 2 1920x1080 monitors off a USB-C dock or a TB dock https://www.dell.com/en-ca/work/shop/dell-thunderbolt-dock-wd19tbs/apd/210-azbi/pc-accessories . The TB dock can drive a single 4K monitor, or three 1080p monitors.

To get a 3rd or 4th monitor you will need to use the onboard HDMI/DP ports

 

In most cases, this is not super-viable.

 

As for USB-A ports, you won't find any laptops with more than 3 USB-A ports. You will need a docking station to get 4 USB-A ports.

 

[Sonic-Diatoms]

26 minutes ago, Kisai said:

You're probably not going to find anything to your liking:

1) Only gaming laptops mainstream Geforce parts. Business laptops will be Quadro series.

2) The trend is thin-and-light, which absolutely suck for gaming/cad/or-really-anything.

 

Your best option right now is to stick with a 11th gen Sager and pick the Geforce RTX 3080. You'll get 3070 performance out of it.

 

The upper-end parts will be disappointing regardless. So you'll have to decide if you're willing to make that compromise, because personally you're better off having two towers in two locations than trying to travel with a laptop if you really need that performance.

 

This is why businesses should be purchasing desktop computers their employees need if they are expected to come into the office, and not laptops that are to be taken back and forth from home and office. Now multiple offices? That is what laptops are for. Meeting with clients? Laptops.

 

But don't do serious work on thin-and-light laptops, you will be disappointed within three months as the thing will sound like a jet engine.

 

Dell Precision 77xx laptops are the "biggest" you can still get from Dell, but it's heavy and will be disappointing compared to a desktop.

Yep, I'm really wary of the thin-and-light laptops for sure.  

One reason I don't want multiple machines is that I have a fiddly development environment, especially all the customizations on my 3D software. Many of my plugins/tools also have expensive single-machine licenses, so multiple machines means duplicating those.  I still might end up coming out ahead on a single machine when these factors are considered.  I will also be taking it to more than 2 locations.

And it's also just a big pain to set up, making me dread getting a new machine. (It's why I'm willing to hold my nose and pay to futureproof when possible.)
That said, I hadn't fully considered a portable mini-tower.  That might be a better call.  I'm new to that idea, though, and it will be my next research task.

 

17 minutes ago, Kisai said:

I want to address this separately.

- It is not possible to drive 4 monitors on a laptop. You will need an eGPU, and at that point you may as well just buy a tower.

At most, is 2 1920x1080 monitors off a USB-C dock or a TB dock https://www.dell.com/en-ca/work/shop/dell-thunderbolt-dock-wd19tbs/apd/210-azbi/pc-accessories . The TB dock can drive a single 4K monitor, or three 1080p monitors.

To get a 3rd or 4th monitor you will need to use the onboard HDMI/DP ports

 

In most cases, this is not super-viable.

 

As for USB-A ports, you won't find any laptops with more than 3 USB-A ports. You will need a docking station to get 4 USB-A ports.

 

Ah yeah, to clarify: I am counting the built-in display of the laptop in that 4.  My current environment uses 3 externals (2 QHD monitors + a touchscreen input and/or VR headset).  It's a Sager with 2 Minidisplayports and 1 HDMI, which is dandy for me.

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, Sonic-Diatoms said:

Yep, I'm really wary of the thin-and-light laptops for sure.  

One reason I don't want multiple machines is that I have a fiddly development environment, especially all the customizations on my 3D software. Many of my plugins/tools also have expensive single-machine licenses, so multiple machines means duplicating those.  I still might end up coming out ahead on a single machine when these factors are considered.  I will also be taking it to more than 2 locations.

Maybe you could consider a somewhat ruggedized tower. Like if you've seen those mini-server racks on coasters. Or a Mac Pro on wheels.

Or just https://www.amazon.com/RayLove-Mobile-Adjustable-Computer-Caster/dp/B091C6BCTD to anything.

 

2 hours ago, Sonic-Diatoms said:

And it's also just a big pain to set up, making me dread getting a new machine. (It's why I'm willing to hold my nose and pay to futureproof when possible.)
That said, I hadn't fully considered a portable mini-tower.  That might be a better call.  I'm new to that idea, though, and it will be my next research task.

 

Ah yeah, to clarify: I am counting the built-in display of the laptop in that 4.  My current environment uses 3 externals (2 QHD monitors + a touchscreen input and/or VR headset).  It's a Sager with 2 Minidisplayports and 1 HDMI, which is dandy for me.

Yeah, you're not going to be able to get that unless the laptop physically has the HDMI/DP ports on it, or has multiple TB/USB-C ports that output can be sent over. I know you can do this with the Dell Precisions, but that's pushing the limit of what you can really do with it since the 7740/50/60 have two USB-C ports that are also TB, but you will have to power the laptop from it's own brick not the dock if you use the USB-C ports for video. That still only gets you to 4 at the expense of any additional USB-A ports, which you'd only get from a dock or a hub. 

 

My suggestion here is try getting a mini/mid-tower that you can fit a 3-slot GPU into, that also integrates casters/handles into the chassis, as many chassis that have glass windows aren't super-solid either. It's better to have the solid metal panels.

 

 

[Sonic-Diatoms]

5 hours ago, Kisai said:

Maybe you could consider a somewhat ruggedized tower. Like if you've seen those mini-server racks on coasters. Or a Mac Pro on wheels.

Or just https://www.amazon.com/RayLove-Mobile-Adjustable-Computer-Caster/dp/B091C6BCTD to anything.

 

Yeah, you're not going to be able to get that unless the laptop physically has the HDMI/DP ports on it, or has multiple TB/USB-C ports that output can be sent over. I know you can do this with the Dell Precisions, but that's pushing the limit of what you can really do with it since the 7740/50/60 have two USB-C ports that are also TB, but you will have to power the laptop from it's own brick not the dock if you use the USB-C ports for video. That still only gets you to 4 at the expense of any additional USB-A ports, which you'd only get from a dock or a hub. 

 

My suggestion here is try getting a mini/mid-tower that you can fit a 3-slot GPU into, that also integrates casters/handles into the chassis, as many chassis that have glass windows aren't super-solid either. It's better to have the solid metal panels.

 

 

Hi, thanks for weighing in.  I've been researching compact towers, and I think this might actually be the best solution to me.  

The nicest looks to be the Corsair One line (like i300/a200 models).  Pricey, but still a better bang-for-the-buck for a laptop, given that they have better cooling and use the desktop version of the hardware as far as I can tell. https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Systems/CORSAIR-ONE/CORSAIR-ONE-Compact-Gaming-PC/p/CS-9020021-NA#  It has almost all the ports I want (minus one USB C).
I don't really have time to try to make a high end yet super compact PC tower from scratch, which seems like DIY hard mode, so I'm limiting to prebuilts right now.
My next stumbling block is ruggedness: I haven't found a good answer as to whether this type of thing can withstand being jostled.  And if not, whether there is a way to reinforce the fittings in order to help prevent stuff coming loose.  The liquid cooling has me a bit worried.

[Needfuldoer]

How about a 12th gen Dragon Canyon NUC? (Don't worry too much about the WiFi connector they broke, it's just the same kind of coaxial connector every WiFi card uses that's only good for a couple dozen plug/unplug cycles anyway.)

 

 

[Sonic-Diatoms]

13 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

How about a 12th gen Dragon Canyon NUC? (Don't worry too much about the WiFi connector they broke, it's just the same kind of coaxial connector every WiFi card uses that's only good for a couple dozen plug/unplug cycles anyway.)

 

 

That looks a lot like what I'm aiming for, thank you for linking it!  It has so many ports when you count the ones on the GPU, perfect.  It would be nice to see durabilitiy/ruggedness reviewed in this too.  At least I wouldn't be worrying about liquid cooling on transport, though.  I'd like to see him do a head-to-head between this and other compact gaming PCs.

[Kisai]

22 hours ago, Sonic-Diatoms said:

Hi, thanks for weighing in.  I've been researching compact towers, and I think this might actually be the best solution to me.  

The nicest looks to be the Corsair One line (like i300/a200 models).  Pricey, but still a better bang-for-the-buck for a laptop, given that they have better cooling and use the desktop version of the hardware as far as I can tell. https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Systems/CORSAIR-ONE/CORSAIR-ONE-Compact-Gaming-PC/p/CS-9020021-NA#  It has almost all the ports I want (minus one USB C).
I don't really have time to try to make a high end yet super compact PC tower from scratch, which seems like DIY hard mode, so I'm limiting to prebuilts right now.
My next stumbling block is ruggedness: I haven't found a good answer as to whether this type of thing can withstand being jostled.  And if not, whether there is a way to reinforce the fittings in order to help prevent stuff coming loose.  The liquid cooling has me a bit worried.

Liquid cooling tends to be less survivable to dropping. Given, air cooling tends to be heavier and if you drop something with a heavy aircooler the cooler will rip the CPU/socket from the board, or the GPU PCIe slot gets damaged without a retention bracket which you find in full size towers (and has literately been in PC's since the beginning.) Now given this is a liquid cooled solution that applies to both the CPU and GPU, I'm going to assume that the GPU is fitted to the case which might make it survivable.

 

That said, no computer survives a drop from 1m bare. Phones and tablets also don't survive that without rubberized cases. So if you're going to tow it around, maybe buy a pelican case that it can fit in. eg https://www.pelican.com/us/en/product/cases/laptop-case/protector/1510lfc

 

In most cases, a computer tower is more survivable than a laptop provided there are no mechanical hard drives. It's always the hard drives that don't survive a drop. At worse, in a liquid cooled case, a drop might break the radiator's mounts if they're plastic.

 

 

 

[The Torrent]

If you can settle for an rtx a5000 or something, I'd say dell precision 7000 series is your best bet

 

[dragonking_11]

Look at Eurocom (and within there, at 'mobile supercomputers'), which are desktop replacement laptops with socketed CPUs and MXM gpus.

Its built in a barebones clevo chasis, so tons of ports. Great screen options (usually) and a good power brick. 
 

But the last models they released, were updated in 2021, so are still carrying the Intel 11th gen and RTX 3080 as the top spec machine. (Eurocom Sky Z7 R2)

Drop them a message, they could update you on when the 12th gen and 3080Ti models will be released, which I expect should be in a few months.