MSI GS43VR vs. Razer Blade 14 vs. Aero 14 vs. Alienware 13

[Logically2ed]

Hay LTT forum!

From the first laptop I've ever owned being a 14" Lenovo R61, I've loved the 14" form factor. I now need a replacement for my newer (but still quite old) Lenovo T430s. I edit video and looking to get better performance in the 3D ray-tracing and smoke rendering.  One of these bad boys is eventually going to be traded for my hard earned money. i just want to make sure that I'm getting the best computer in this form factor.

 

What do you guys think? I'm personally in the MSI camp simply because of the build quality and upgrade-ability.

 

 

 

Just so the forum knows, i already have a tower for the heavier work loads, but sometimes i feel like going to a coffee shop and get some work done.

[Pendragon]

If you want a 14in form factor get the XPS15. All of your options have significant problems. Like very significant problems. 

[Pendragon]

Alienware 12: Doesn't Exist

Aero 14: Worst bios fan design, poor hinge etc.

GS43VR: Worst heatpipe design (with heatsinks running over sensitive components and touching ports like HDMI)

Razer 14: Worst everything design. Hot as hell, heatpipe design rivaling that of the GS43VR, non existant quality control, non existant customer support and rma support.

[Logically2ed]

1st my fault on the wrong number for the Alien ware computer  it is actually the 13 i  was interested in.

2nd) the XPS 13 was one of the machines i was going to add to the list of possible purchases, but the fact that the XPS 15, its bigger brother, still is on the previous line of Nvidia GPUs is non ideal. They all come with a soldered in 8GB of memory with no upgrade tray making this machine useless to my workload. I agree its one of the sexiest and best constructed laptops currently available but realistically the programs i run will destroy this machine which for me throws out the XPS15 and (honestly) Blade 14 as well. 

Also not to mention that this is for the 14in form factor, XPS 15 is a 15.6in display. 

 

This is a tough spot in the market. if you wanted portable, thermal efficiency the easiest device to reach for would be that of an Asus ROG G-line or an MSI flame thrower.

[decayinjack]

I had a MSI GS40 but returned it due to glitches and the loud fan noise. I flirted with the idea of going with a bigger MSI but couldn't bring myself to do it due to bad reviews and my experience with the GS40's build quality. I was holding out for the Pascal Razer Blade but came across a insanely great deal for an Alienware 17 R3. Now that I've had some time with the Alienware, I'm really looking forward to the new 15" one. 

 

Build quality on the 17 R3 is great. It's huge and heavy but the fan noise is less than half that of the GS40. Plus, it's been rock solid performance and OS wise. 

 

If you can wait till October, definitely check out the refreshed Alienware 13. It's supposed to be thinner than the old model and have the new screen forward design. 

[Pendragon]

24 minutes ago, Logically2ed said:

Also not to mention that this is for the 14in form factor, XPS 15 is a 15.6in display. 

The XPS15 is a 14in form factor but I understand that a 960m isn't great. Unfortunately, unless you move up to 15in, there is literally zero 13in or 14in laptop that can handle the increased heat of Pascal. This isn't me saying that 14in laptops can't get through a Prime95 or OCCT benchmark. It's literally heating up to 95C on the CPU running a light game such as Overwatch. That's incredibly dangerous for laptops to run up to. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_ZTSMTYdfU

 

[Pendragon]

15 minutes ago, decayinjack said:

If you can wait till October, definitely check out the refreshed Alienware 13

Absolutely not. All the Alienware 13's should be ignored because they still insist on putting ULV CPU chips in them. Completely useless. Even if you pair it with a 1060/1070 it'll run slower than a XPS15 with a Quad Core + 960m. 

[Eason85]

6 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Absolutely not. All the Alienware 13's should be ignored because they still insist on putting ULV CPU chips in them. Completely useless. Even if you pair it with a 1060/1070 it'll run slower than a XPS15 with a Quad Core + 960m. 

I suspect they're releasing the 13 later than the 15 and because it's going to use the quad core ulv kaby lake chip. That's the best reason I can think of for staggering the soft release to October. If it uses that, I would be very interested.

[don_svetlio]

4 minutes ago, Eason85 said:

I suspect they're releasing the 13 later than the 15 and because it's going to use the quad core ulv kaby lake chip. That's the best reason I can think of for staggering the soft release to October. If it uses that, I would be very interested.

quad-core ULVs are not coming. All ULVs are dual-cores once again judging by the spec sheets released a few days ago

[Dark]

9 hours ago, Pendragon said:

If you want a 14in form factor get the XPS15. All of your options have significant problems. Like very significant problems. 

The end-all with the XPS15 is the screen latency, it's damn near impossible to have an immersive gaming experience when the screen is so ungodly slow.

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, Dark said:

The end-all with the XPS15 is the screen latency, it's damn near impossible to have an immersive gaming experience when the screen is so ungodly slow.

Depends what type of game it'll play. He's doing 3D ray tracing and rending. You don't really give a shit about latency there. 

[Eason85]

13 hours ago, don_svetlio said:

quad-core ULVs are not coming. All ULVs are dual-cores once again judging by the spec sheets released a few days ago

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Kaby-Lake-Quad-Core-ULV-Processors-in-2017.172188.0.html

 

This is outdated/incorrect (with the ppt slide)? That would be very disappointing.

[Logically2ed]

37 minutes ago, Eason85 said:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Kaby-Lake-Quad-Core-ULV-Processors-in-2017.172188.0.html

Now this gets my attention. This could possibly fix the problem I'm seeing from most of the posted points about the capable computers being dangerously hot on partial to full load.

I still feel like the most capable machines here in this line would be the MSI machine and the Aero 14. Sure they have trade offs with each other like the GPU and screen resolution and have almost the same design flaws in build quality and thermals. 

 

And while were on the topic of not good enough computers, who thought soldered 8GB of RAM was good enough? 

[Pendragon]

16 minutes ago, Logically2ed said:

Now this gets my attention. This could possibly fix the problem I'm seeing from most of the posted points about the capable computers being dangerously hot on partial to full load.

I still feel like the most capable machines here in this line would be the MSI machine and the Aero 14. Sure they have trade offs with each other like the GPU and screen resolution and have almost the same design flaws in build quality and thermals. 

 

And while were on the topic of not good enough computers, who thought soldered 8GB of RAM was good enough? 

At best going to be released Q2 2017. 

 

8gb of RAM is not enough. I have 32gb.  Granted I generally dont use more than around 16gb or so, but MORE IS BETTER. 

[Logically2ed]

3 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

8gb of RAM is not enough. I have 32gb.  Granted I generally dont use more than around 16gb or so, but MORE IS BETTER. 

I guess i forgot to mention that the little lenovo i have has 16GB of ram and seems to not able to function on anything less . So the idea of purchasing a computer with less than 16GB and no way to upgrade it would seem backwards and damning in the end. 

 

So after some more diging the only other 2 laptops i can find are the Dell Precision 5000 line and its Quadro GPU (painfully underpowered for the price) and the Aorus x3 which has the same issues as the GS43VR and Aero14.

[Pendragon]

2 minutes ago, Logically2ed said:

Dell Precision 5000 line and its Quadro GPU (painfully underpowered for the price)

This is essentially the XPS15 with a less powerful GPU. It runs beautifully if not painfully overpriced (cause business laptop and quadro verification). 

 

It's quite impossible to find a 14in form factor that'll do well. Moving up to 15in you got a few extra options if you'd like to hear them. 

 

GS63VR - Seems to cool well enough with a 1060. Decent screen, seems like they did a better job with the trackpad. Downsides are that it's VERY loud and NO battery life (2 hours)

Asus GL502 (1060) - Too hot. It was built to handle a 970m. It's redeemable with a repaste and undervolt but that void warranty and you need to disassemble the WHOLE thing to do it. Very anti 3rd party upgrade friendly

P650RP6 and P650RPS - Currently the best 15in Pascal 1060 or 1070 laptop around. Cools well. 45db noise level. 5.5 hours of battery cause of MUX switch available. Everything else is good, screen, trackpad, etc. Only downside I've noticed is that in certain computers backlight bleed is very significant. You can easily get the retailer to check for you and request another one.

[don_svetlio]

8 hours ago, Eason85 said:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Kaby-Lake-Quad-Core-ULV-Processors-in-2017.172188.0.html

 

This is outdated/incorrect (with the ppt slide)? That would be very disappointing.

Last I saw - the highest end ULV was the i7 7500U - dual-core 2.9GHz to 3.5Ghz with HT