$2000 for a new School/Gaming/Workstation Laptop/Setup

[Pendragon]

15 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834233181

This model was considered bad back when Maxwell came out. The 1070 is hotter than the 980m. Like it didn't even have the nice aluminum like the Razer Blade. Avoid it. 

[Pendragon]

19 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

snip

It's really just thermodynamics. You need space and heatpipes to cool hot things. You can optimize space inside a chassis as much as possible, but nothing beats just more space and heatpipes. 

[D2ultima]

1 hour ago, xaviersykora said:

 

Does MSI have the super terrible CS and QC like ASUS? Or are they an option?

 

No, but they're known for cutting a couple corners in power usage and cooling etc on any model other than the GT72. No idea about their GT73 and GT83 yet, or their new GS line; I can't properly say.

55 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

So, as of now I think I am going to be going with the NP8153-S from Sager in the following configuration:

- 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor ( 6MB Smart Cache, 2.60GHz)
- 15.6" 4K QFHD Matte Display with G-SYNC Technology (3840 x 2160) Back Order! (ETA: 08/30/2016) [+$100.00]
- Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels for first 30 days of purchasing
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB GDDR5 Video Memory
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- Windows® 10 Home 64-Bit Edition Preinstalled
- 32GB Dual Channel DDR4 SDRAM at 2400MHz - 2 X 16GB [+$125.00]
- RAID-1 Storage ( Data Mirror - Requires 2 identical drives )
- 256GB SanDisk X400 M.2 SSD (as Storage Drive)
- 256GB SanDisk X400 M.2 SSD in RAID configuration [+$100.00]
- None [-$40.00]
- Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 M.2 AC Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Module

Which comes to a grand total of: $2,034.00

 

Or the MSI Phantom PRO-006 in the following configuration:

http://www.xoticpc.com/shared_product/index/configure/id/19422/

Which comes to a grand total of: $2,068.00

 

in the following configuration:

http://www.xoticpc.com/shared_product/index/configure/id/19424/

Which comes to a grand total of: $2,074.83

 

The first option is a sort of balance between performance and size, while the second puts more of the emphasis on size, and the third is all performance. Let me know what your guys' thoughts are.

@Dackzy@Pendragon@D2ultima

Yeah, I'ma be blunt...

That configuration is so badly balanced it's actually amazing. Let me break it down for you.

 

- The 6700HQ really doesn't feed a 1070 well enough. Get a 6820HK at the least.

- The 4K screen is going to hurt your 1070 quite a bit. Why do you want it exactly? You aren't going to have too nice a time gaming at that resolution, and if you're going to lower your resolution every time you game then you should REALLY have some productivity needs otherwise... please be *ABSOLUTELY* certain you want that 4K screen. Don't buy into the hype. Go do some research on people who actually used them and are gamers.

- If that no dead pixel warranty is an add-on purchase (I'm not sure) then don't worry about it and use the $$ somewhere else. It's probably cheaper to just replace the screen manually, especially after the first 30 days.

- Don't buy W10 home unless you know specifically you are not going to have any problems with the updates, don't use non-microsoft controllers, and generally don't care about having your PC very custom. I'd even say to avoid W10 entirely if you can, or at least get a copy cheaper elsewhere and save the $$ in the configurator.

- You sure you want 32GB? I won't tell you no, but it seems like there's a bunch of your budget in things I'm not sure you really want. This is a small point though.

- Please don't raid M.2 drives, and definitely don't get these Sandisks. Get 850 EVOs if you need to get cheap SSDs; I'd even suggest a 250GB OS SSD and the 1TB 7200RPM HDD to begin with just for storage sake. And if you're getting this for a gaming setup, that is an EXTREMELY small amount of storage. New games are like 60GB+ each, far less your OS and programs and pagefile etc which I fully expect to be at least 100GB on its own, and you want it for a workstation too.

 

Also, why are you so adamant to avoid Mythlogic & HIDevolution or other Prema shops? Is it a money issue?

[xaviersykora]

8 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

No, but they're known for cutting a couple corners in power usage and cooling etc on any model other than the GT72. No idea about their GT73 and GT83 yet, or their new GS line; I can't properly say.

Yeah, I'ma be blunt...

That configuration is so badly balanced it's actually amazing. Let me break it down for you.

 

- The 6700HQ really doesn't feed a 1070 well enough. Get a 6820HK at the least.

- The 4K screen is going to hurt your 1070 quite a bit. Why do you want it exactly? You aren't going to have too nice a time gaming at that resolution, and if you're going to lower your resolution every time you game then you should REALLY have some productivity needs otherwise... please be *ABSOLUTELY* certain you want that 4K screen. Don't buy into the hype. Go do some research on people who actually used them and are gamers.

- If that no dead pixel warranty is an add-on purchase (I'm not sure) then don't worry about it and use the $$ somewhere else. It's probably cheaper to just replace the screen manually, especially after the first 30 days.

- Don't buy W10 home unless you know specifically you are not going to have any problems with the updates, don't use non-microsoft controllers, and generally don't care about having your PC very custom. I'd even say to avoid W10 entirely if you can, or at least get a copy cheaper elsewhere and save the $$ in the configurator.

- You sure you want 32GB? I won't tell you no, but it seems like there's a bunch of your budget in things I'm not sure you really want. This is a small point though.

- Please don't raid M.2 drives, and definitely don't get these Sandisks. Get 850 EVOs if you need to get cheap SSDs; I'd even suggest a 250GB OS SSD and the 1TB 7200RPM HDD to begin with just for storage sake. And if you're getting this for a gaming setup, that is an EXTREMELY small amount of storage. New games are like 60GB+ each, far less your OS and programs and pagefile etc which I fully expect to be at least 100GB on its own, and you want it for a workstation too.

 

Also, why are you so adamant to avoid Mythlogic & HIDevolution or other Prema shops? Is it a money issue?

Money. Also, is there really a big difference between the 6700HQ and the 6820HK? From the look of it, they seem pretty evenly matched with very little differences. I do a lot of productivity work (Premiere, AE, etc.) so the 4K display would definitely be a useful addition, along with the 32GB. I think the thing everyone is forgetting, is that I am using this for school primarily and gaming secondary. That's why I've been going for the "thin and light" models, as I'd like to be able to have a machine that can last 3-4 hours on a charge while taking notes/doing research, etc. Would the Gigabyte model really be a terrible option? I feel like if I acquired some external laptop cooling solution, that it wouldn't get killed by the small form factor for occasional 30m-3 hour gaming sessions here or there.

[Pendragon]

4 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

Also, is there really a big difference between the 6700HQ and the 6820HK? From the look of it, they seem pretty evenly matched with very little differences.

There are very big differences. Refer to D2's Mobile I7 CPU Info Guide in his sig. 

 

5 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

That's why I've been going for the "thin and light" models, as I'd like to be able to have a machine that can last 3-4 hours on a charge

The P650RS lasts 4 hours with iGPU on a 1080p screen. 4k screens cut into battery life significantly. Almost all the laptops you've mentioned with good battery life GL502, P35X have around 4 to 4.5 hours of battery life too. If you want a 1070, the battery life isn't going to be great. Other models like the MSI GS series literally gets 1.5 hours of battery. 

 

Granted the P35X and Aero 14 both by Gigabtye have some of the longest battery life for specs (4.5 hours on 4k screen, 5 hours on 2.5k screen respectively). Cooling stands at most lower 3-5C at the best as the increased airflow doesn't help that much due to not having enough heatsinks for the increased airflow to benefit from. 

[xaviersykora]

3 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

There are very big differences. Refer to D2's Mobile I7 CPU Info Guide in his sig. 

 

The P650RS lasts 4 hours with iGPU on a 1080p screen. 4k screens cut into battery life significantly. Almost all the laptops you've mentioned with good battery life GL502, P35X have around 4 to 4.5 hours of battery life too. If you want a 1070, the battery life isn't going to be great. Other models like the MSI GS series literally gets 1.5 hours of battery. 

 

Granted the P35X and Aero 14 both by Gigabtye have some of the longest battery life for specs (4.5 hours on 4k screen, 5 hours on 2.5k screen respectively). Cooling stands at most lower 3-5C at the best as the increased airflow doesn't help that much due to not having enough heatsinks for the increased airflow to benefit from. 

How loud are the Clevo models? If you know. I also just want to really minimize the weight as I bike about 8 miles to class every day, and it would be in my bag.

[Pendragon]

Just now, xaviersykora said:

How loud are the Clevo models? If you know.

ALOT quieter than any of the thin and lights. Expect around 45db compared to 55db on the Gigabyte, Aorus. 60db on the Razer Blade. MSI depends on the specific model. 

[D2ultima]

14 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

Money. Also, is there really a big difference between the 6700HQ and the 6820HK? From the look of it, they seem pretty evenly matched with very little differences. I do a lot of productivity work (Premiere, AE, etc.) so the 4K display would definitely be a useful addition, along with the 32GB. I think the thing everyone is forgetting, is that I am using this for school primarily and gaming secondary. That's why I've been going for the "thin and light" models, as I'd like to be able to have a machine that can last 3-4 hours on a charge while taking notes/doing research, etc. Would the Gigabyte model really be a terrible option? I feel like if I acquired some external laptop cooling solution, that it wouldn't get killed by the small form factor for occasional 30m-3 hour gaming sessions here or there.

The difference is that the 6700HQ is a 3.1GHz 4-core-load processor whose turbo bins cannot be adjusted whatsoever, and the 6820HK is a 3.2GHz 4-core-load processor which can be overclocked. I'd say you could reliably arrive around 3.6-3.8GHz at least with the 6820HK, which will significantly help the 1070 in gaming.

 

As for the 4K display helping, ok. I understand you. I know you said school/gaming but few people actually want to do enough work, hence why I was somewhat hounding you about it. If that's the case though I even MORE suggest the 250GB (or even 500GB) + 1TB HDD solution, because you'll need the space with premiere Pro and After Effects.

 

The issue is that you want a render workhorse but you're looking for machines barely able to cool last generation with the "thin and light". Pascal is a killer. It's going to break everybody's old models. You're going to see GTX 1060s running worse than the 970Ms they replaced if people can't cool it properly.

 

3 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

If you want a 1070, the battery life isn't going to be great.

If Optimus is being used, battery life basically ignores the 1070 as it'll be turned off when not in use.

 

1 minute ago, xaviersykora said:

How loud are the Clevo models? If you know.

They're not as loud as one would think, but if the room is silent (let's say you've got a power outage or no fans or AC is on and nobody's talking, etc) you'll hear them... on max. On auto that won't be an issue unless you're stressing the hell out of it.

 

At the least though, I can say expect to not thermal throttle easily on them. It's basically Clevo's prime directive to make sure things don't overheat.

[xaviersykora]

2 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

The difference is that the 6700HQ is a 3.1GHz 4-core-load processor whose turbo bins cannot be adjusted whatsoever, and the 6820HK is a 3.2GHz 4-core-load processor which can be overclocked. I'd say you could reliably arrive around 3.6-3.8GHz at least with the 6820HK, which will significantly help the 1070 in gaming.

 

As for the 4K display helping, ok. I understand you. I know you said school/gaming but few people actually want to do enough work, hence why I was somewhat hounding you about it. If that's the case though I even MORE suggest the 250GB (or even 500GB) + 1TB HDD solution, because you'll need the space with premiere Pro and After Effects.

 

The issue is that you want a render workhorse but you're looking for machines barely able to cool last generation with the "thin and light". Pascal is a killer. It's going to break everybody's old models. You're going to see GTX 1060s running worse than the 970Ms they replaced if people can't cool it properly.

 

If Optimus is being used, battery life basically ignores the 1070 as it'll be turned off when not in use.

 

They're not as loud as one would think, but if the room is silent (let's say you've got a power outage or no fans or AC is on and nobody's talking, etc) you'll hear them... on max. On auto that won't be an issue unless you're stressing the hell out of it.

 

At the least though, I can say expect to not thermal throttle easily on them. It's basically Clevo's prime directive to make sure things don't overheat.

So what sub-$2100 Clevo model do you suggest for me? I've decided that I will take the slightly larger chassis and higher weight for less compromises in performance.

[D2ultima]

1 minute ago, xaviersykora said:

So what sub-$2100 Clevo model do you suggest for me? I've decided that I will take the slightly larger chassis and higher weight for less compromises in performance.

I think you have your choice already with the P650RS. Just make the changes to the CPU and storage and maybe source your own OS and you might end up within the same budget. I'ma see if I can find a similar thing on Mythlogic or HID though and be within budget. If Eurocom were cheaper, you could probably get from there, because that have a 10% off for students... but they likely would be still as expensive.

[Pendragon]

2 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

If Eurocom were cheaper, you could probably get from there, because that have a 10% off for students... but they likely would be still as expensive.

UNLESS UR IN CANADA , then you get screwed either way LOL. Import taxes from HID & Myth. Overpriced Eurocom GG. 

[xaviersykora]

12 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

I think you have your choice already with the P650RS. Just make the changes to the CPU and storage and maybe source your own OS and you might end up within the same budget. I'ma see if I can find a similar thing on Mythlogic or HID though and be within budget. If Eurocom were cheaper, you could probably get from there, because that have a 10% off for students... but they likely would be still as expensive.

http://www.xoticpc.com/shared_product/index/configure/id/19437/

So something like this?

[D2ultima]

13 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

http://www.xoticpc.com/shared_product/index/configure/id/19437/

So something like this?

Seems like it

[xaviersykora]

Just now, D2ultima said:

Seems like it

And you think that would last 4 hours of light libreoffice or firefox use?

[D2ultima]

19 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

And you think that would last 4 hours of light libreoffice or firefox use?

I'm certain it'll use that AS LONG AS YOU'RE SET TO OPTIMUS. If you set it to dGPU mode (requires a reboot) it'll last about 1.5-2 hours at best.

[xaviersykora]

Just now, D2ultima said:

I'm certain it'll use that AS LONG AS YOU'RE SET TO OPTIMUS. If you set it to dGPU mode (requires a reboot) it'll last about 1.5-2 hours at best.

Of course! Thank you SO much for your help. I apologize for me being a little consumerized bitch when it comes to brands and such. I will be purchasing that configuration.

[D2ultima]

12 minutes ago, xaviersykora said:

Of course! Thank you SO much for your help. I apologize for me being a little consumerized bitch when it comes to brands and such. I will be purchasing that configuration.

Okay. Good luck, and I hope you can get a Prema mod at some point.

 

Being a consumerized bitch is what everyone is. I don't blame you. At least you're willing to listen to us telling you that the mainstream market doesn't know shit. Which it doesn't. You'll be the one better off for it.

[Imglidinhere]

I love how you claim the Fangbook has thermal issues but don't think the freaking Blade has any issue with cooling.  Even Linus states it cannot handle the GTX 970M it's got without serious throttling.

 

Unreal...