Best light 17" Pascal laptop?

[Damascus]

Sadly it looks like I may need to give up on my planned epic build and get a killer laptop instead.  

 

Criteria:

"Light"

17" screen

120hz and QHD are bonus

Unlocked i7 (6820HK or similar)

Pascal, preferred 1070 or better

Decent battery life

Budget 3000 CAD/2300 USD (is flexible)

 

 

So far the aorus X7 is the best fit, input is appreciated!

[Galm]

The Aorus X7 is really good.

 

If it's within budget (normally the only real constraint for most people) you won't find something with better quality that's thin.

 

The MSI GS73 feels pretty cheap next to it and doesn't have that 1440p 120Hz option.

[Damascus]

15 minutes ago, Galm said:

The Aorus X7 is really good.

 

If it's within budget (normally the only real constraint for most people) you won't find something with better quality that's thin.

 

The MSI GS73 feels pretty cheap next to it and doesn't have that 1440p 120Hz option.

Beast, pretty much my only worry with Aorus is that it doesn't have optimus and I'm worried about battery life.  2h 40m seems a bit low for college use

[Damascus]

@Galm

19 minutes ago, Galm said:

you won't find something with better quality that's thin.

How about light?  Don't mind a bit of heft if its a lighter laptop.

[Pendragon]

8 minutes ago, Damascus said:

Beast, pretty much my only worry with Aorus is that it doesn't have optimus and I'm worried about battery life.  2h 40m seems a bit low for college use

ye the aorus has pretty shit battery life. 

 

7 minutes ago, Damascus said:

How about light?  Don't mind a bit of heft if its a lighter laptop.

??? only 17in laptop with a decent GPU and good battery life is the AW17 R4. Its huge and heavy. 

[Damascus]

Just now, Pendragon said:

??? only 17in laptop with a decent GPU and good battery life is the AW17 R4. Its huge and heavy. 

Yeah, noticed that.  I'm probably not going with AW because it is more expensive and seems to have Quality control issues.

 

Oh, should have mentioned I'm after a 6820, 7820 or similar processor

[Galm]

3 hours ago, Damascus said:

@Galm

How about light?  Don't mind a bit of heft if its a lighter laptop.

Weight is like 7 lbs.  Pretty standard for a 17" gaming machine.

[Damascus]

1 hour ago, Galm said:

Weight is like 7 lbs.  Pretty standard for a 17" gaming machine.

 Yeah, checked out your in-depth review.  I was wondering about any other 17" laptops in that weight range (7 pounds or less)

[Galm]

41 minutes ago, Damascus said:

 Yeah, checked out your in-depth review.  I was wondering about any other 17" laptops in that weight range (7 pounds or less)

Basically nothing.  The MSI GS73 is very lightweight.  Everything else is heavier.

 

The Aorus is a much nicer machine though.

[Pendragon]

11 minutes ago, Galm said:

The Aorus is a much nicer machine though.

the battery life ): they need a MUX switch for that shit. They already have a huge battery. 

[Galm]

12 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

the battery life ): they need a MUX switch for that shit. They already have a huge battery. 

Wah...?  Does the GS73 have a mux?

[Damascus]

24 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

the battery life ): they need a MUX switch for that shit. They already have a huge battery. 

Yeah, I would love to have a non g sync panel.  G sync is great when you don't have to worry about always powering a GPU

[Galm]

16 hours ago, Damascus said:

Yeah, I would love to have a non g sync panel.  G sync is great when you don't have to worry about always powering a GPU

afaik only the Clevo P650 and P670 have GSync with a mux switch to turn the gpu off when not needed.

[Damascus]

42 minutes ago, Galm said:

afaik only the Clevo P650 and P670 have GSync with a mux switch to turn the gpu off when not needed.

Thanks for the input.  I'll keep it in mind in the coming months when I start buying these things (no need for a college laptop when college hasn't started yet )

[Snikerdoodlz]

On 4/18/2017 at 2:09 PM, Pendragon said:

ye the aorus has pretty shit battery life. 

 

??? only 17in laptop with a decent GPU and good battery life is the AW17 R4. Its huge and heavy. 

Those laptop battery tests are not realistic in my opinion. If you turn on Battery Saver and tweak a couple of things in Windows' Power Saver mode and turn down brightness, then you'll be able to squeeze a lot of life out of your battery. I had an X3 v1 and its 73Wh battery easily lasted me a full day of light on-and-off work. 

What are you talking about shit battery life? The X7's 94.24Wh is massive! The AW17R4 only has a 99Wh battery (the largest legal limit), which is a marginal improvement and technically is "better." 

If it's within your budget, Aorus is a great laptop. It performs great with that hardware (6820K and 1070) and you'll look like a baller.

[Damascus]

Just now, Snikerdoodlz said:

Those laptop battery tests are not realistic in my opinion. If you turn on Battery Saver and tweak a couple of things in Windows' Power Saver mode and turn down brightness, then you'll be able to squeeze a lot of life out of your battery. I had an X3 v1 and its 73Wh battery easily lasted me a full day of light on-and-off work. 

 

The thing is an X3 doesn't have a G-sync panel.  G-sync panels require full t ime GPU useage and that devours battery

[Damascus]

2 minutes ago, Snikerdoodlz said:

If it's within your budget, Aorus is a great laptop. It performs great with that hardware (6820K and 1070) and you'll look like a baller.

Totally agree tho

[Snikerdoodlz]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

The thing is an X3 doesn't have a G-sync panel.  G-sync panels require full t ime GPU useage and that devours battery

Oh really? Hm...

I personally do things slightly differently. I use an AW13R3 connected to a Graphcis Amplifier and a 2560x1080 monitor. That way, I can carry around a much smaller laptop and not worry about screen size or performance when I'm at my setup gaming. If you have enough desk space, you could do something similar and use a different laptop without battery-sucking G-sync.

[Damascus]

Just now, Snikerdoodlz said:

I personally do things slightly differently. I use an AW13R3 connected to a Graphcis Amplifier and a 2560x1080 monitor. That way, I can carry around a much smaller laptop and not worry about screen size or performance when I'm at my setup gaming. If you have enough desk space, you could do something similar and use a different laptop without battery-sucking G-sync.

I'd love to pair an X3 and a dock, probably out of muh budget though

[Snikerdoodlz]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

I'd love to pair an X3 and a dock, probably out of muh budget though

You don't necessarily need a "dock," so to speak. At least not a TB3 one (TB's bandwidth isn't all used for a GPU). Just an X3 with a USB hub and a monitor, depending on your parts, might put you in the same place as an X7, although X3's still run around $2000 new. If you find a good used one on eBay, then you could use it with an external monitor. The X3 is really light at ~4 pounds and is great for backpacks.

[Damascus]

Just now, Snikerdoodlz said:

You don't necessarily need a "dock," so to speak. At least not a TB3 one (TB's bandwidth isn't all used for a GPU). Just an X3 with a USB hub and a monitor, depending on your parts, might put you in the same place as an X7, although X3's still run around $2000 new. If you find a good used one on eBay, then you could use it with an external monitor. The X3 is really light at ~4 pounds and is great for backpacks.

yee, forgot X3 doesn't have TB3 D: And yeah, an X3 and an X7 cost the same

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, Snikerdoodlz said:

What are you talking about shit battery life? The X7's 94.24Wh is massive! The AW17R4 only has a 99Wh battery (the largest legal limit), which is a marginal improvement and technically is "better." 

 

 

the fact that you use this measurement to judge battery life tells me you know NOTHING about how laptop's battery works LOL. The Alienware (non-gsync) gets the full 7-8 hours and the GSync ones still get 4.5-5 hours. Whereas the Aorus gets literally 3. at best. there are so many other factors determining battery life like how a laptops firmware and natural consumption and optimizations with the specific hardware inside etc etc. 

 

1 hour ago, Damascus said:

yee, forgot X3 doesn't have TB3 D: And yeah, an X3 and an X7 cost the same

none of the Aorus have TB3 except for the newest X5 and X7 v7 generation. And those are not commercially purchasable yet last I checked.

 

1 hour ago, Damascus said:

I'd love to pair an X3 and a dock, probably out of muh budget though

Get the Alienware 13 R3 with an eGPU + TB3 dock. 

if you want to attempt eGPU setup it's a whole other story. open another thread for that because there are a ton of potholes in that area.

 

On 4/18/2017 at 8:42 PM, Galm said:

Wah...?  Does the GS73 have a mux?

I'm saying Aorus should get a MUX. Then their laptops would be pretty good. For me. Performance is still gimped (performance isn't my primary concern, battery life is, but as long as performance is okay along with acoustics). 

[Galm]

21 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

the fact that you use this measurement to judge battery life tells me you know NOTHING about how laptop's battery works LOL. The Alienware (non-gsync) gets the full 7-8 hours and the GSync ones still get 4.5-5 hours. Whereas the Aorus gets literally 3. at best. there are so many other factors determining battery life like how a laptops firmware and natural consumption and optimizations with the specific hardware inside etc etc. 

 

none of the Aorus have TB3 except for the newest X5 and X7 v7 generation. And those are not commercially purchasable yet last I checked.

 

Get the Alienware 13 R3 with an eGPU + TB3 dock. 

if you want to attempt eGPU setup it's a whole other story. open another thread for that because there are a ton of potholes in that area.

 

I'm saying Aorus should get a MUX. Then their laptops would be pretty good. For me. Performance is still gimped (performance isn't my primary concern, battery life is, but as long as performance is okay along with acoustics). 

My experience with the X5 hasn't been that gimped.  Especially if you get it repasted somewhere it can hold it's own quite well.  Usually holds clocks in the mid to low 80s.  Gigabyte and by extension Aorus aren't the leaders for temps, but are pretty good at avoiding throttling.  The P35X would holds its cpu clocks at like 95C lol.

 

Aorus estimated in January the V7s would launch this month btw, so they should be soon.

[Pendragon]

14 minutes ago, Galm said:

but are pretty good at avoiding throttling

but i want to OC these things. plz. ): even on my AW15 R3 I have everything OCed to hell and back on one of the profiles. And temps are still solid.

 

And I'm still not very concerned with performance. I just prefer the far better acoustics of others. Aorus laptops are loud as FUCK. They are like Razer laptop level loud. 

[Galm]

24 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

but i want to OC these things. plz. ): even on my AW15 R3 I have everything OCed to hell and back on one of the profiles. And temps are still solid.

 

And I'm still not very concerned with performance. I just prefer the far better acoustics of others. Aorus laptops are loud as FUCK. They are like Razer laptop level loud. 

You can OC with the push of a button.  You or me could definitely do it.  Get liquid ultra in there from GenTech or HID, and there's like 1 push OCing or normal.  The cpu could definitely get over 4GHz with an undervolt.