Advice needed for a decent light laptop - which is best?

[road warrior]

Hi everyone. This is my first post but I've already read some postings and learned about some good stuff. So, my thanks go to all members.

 

Ok now. I will try to explain what I need. I am looking for a laptop which is

+ reasonably thin and light,

+ has a graphics card between 1050-1060,

+ a strong enough processor - preferably mobile i7, maybe a good i5, not weaklings like ulv or i3 family, 

+ 14-15 inch display,

+ all with a good build quality and good cooling system.

 

My budget is 1700-1800 usd.

 

Please don't get the idea that I'm only looking for a thin and light laptop with some power. What I need is the thinnest and lightest possible laptop that can check ALL the boxes mentioned above, including the thermals. I know, I know... laptops tend to overheat so thinner ones turn into oven and all that.

 

Again, I'm NOT after the thinnest and lightest laptop in the world even if it has strong specs. I'm hunting a good all purpose laptop which serves my needs - taking to workplace and work on some stuff requires some processing power, gaming, -like gta-v- and daily tasks - browsing, watching, reading, writing... so there will be a need for at least 3-4 hours battery life doing light stuff like these. Easy maintenance and upgradability is a plus.

 

Thunderbolt-3, 4k, active pen support are all good to have features but I don't really care too much.

 

Thank you for your time.

[Brooksie359]

Razer blade

[Zando_]

3 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Razer blade

The new ones have massive quality and cooling issues. 

 

I'd recommend a Dell, they make solid laptops for a great price, and have anything from gaming machines to thin-and-light laptops that meet your desired specs. 

[Brooksie359]

You could also look at the Acer predator 17 

[The Sloth]

i suggest a XPS 15 

[road warrior]

4 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

You could also look at the Acer predator 17 

If only it was a bit more portable

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

The new ones have massive quality and cooling issues. 

 

I'd recommend a Dell, they make solid laptops for a great price, and have anything from gaming machines to thin-and-light laptops that meet your desired specs. 

I also prefer staying on the safe side about Razer, at least for now. Which one exactly do you suggest? XPS 15 maybe? It also is on my list but runs a bit warm as I read.

 

Thank you both for the answers.

[The Sloth]

14 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Razer blade

so many issues from poor engineering and quality control to bad support. 

[Zando_]

Just now, road warrior said:

If only it was a bit more portable

I also prefer staying on the safe side about Razer, at least for now. Which one exactly do you suggest? XPS 15 maybe? It also is on my list but runs a bit warm as I read.

 

Thank you both for the answers.

XPS 15, or an Inspiron Gaming laptop if you want to save some money. If you want to go full gamer, get an Alienware. The new ones are really good from everything I read. (wierd, since it's the opposite to Razer. They had a rep for great laptops, but now make crappy ones, whereas Alienware had a rep for bad laptops, and now makes great ones)

[road warrior]

3 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

XPS 15, or an Inspiron Gaming laptop if you want to save some money. If you want to go full gamer, get an Alienware. The new ones are really good from everything I read. (wierd, since it's the opposite to Razer. They had a rep for great laptops, but now make crappy ones, whereas Alienware had a rep for bad laptops, and now makes great ones)

I agree that Alienware is good. But both Alienware and Inspiron are a bit more flashy than I would like. Anyway, alienware is on my list now, even though not the first one I would choose. I'm sure there is a version that fits my budget.

[Zando_]

Just now, road warrior said:

I agree that Alienware is good. But both Alienware and Inspiron are a bit more flashy than I would like. Anyway, alienware is on my list now, even though not the first one I would choose. I'm sure there is a version that fits my budget.

Yup. They're great laptops, but fall prey* to the gamer aesthetic common on high performance laptops. 

 

 

 

*Haha, get it? Prey is a game, and we're talking about gaming laptops! .... not funny.... okay.......

[genexis_x]

@road warrior Dell XPS 15 (9560), Gigabyte Aero 15

Or Clevo P950HP6, MSI GS VR if you don't care much about battery life

 

I suggest you to do undervolting and maybe replacing the thermal compound to liquid metal compound since thin laptops tend to overheat easily

[Arika]

XPS 15 gets my vote.

 

that or the aero 15

[road warrior]

4 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

@road warrior Dell XPS 15 (9560), Gigabyte Aero 15

Or Clevo P950HP6, MSI GS VR if you don't care much about battery life

 

I suggest you to do undervolting and maybe replacing the thermal compound to liquid metal compound since thin laptops tend to overheat easily

Undervolting seems to be the way to go for me if I get a very thin laptop. I can repaste with a non-conductive compound also if warranty is not an issue. Afraid of using liquid metal tbh, lol.

1 hour ago, Sierra Fox said:

XPS 15 gets my vote.

 

that or the aero 15

Aero 15 is a bit more expensive than I'm willing to spend without a discount. Anyway, we'll see. The thing is, will these run cool out of the box or at least after undervolting? I'd rather have a bit thicker last-longing machine even if it is a little less powerful than a strong thin one with tons of compromises.

[genexis_x]

35 minutes ago, road warrior said:

Undervolting seems to be the way to go for me if I get a very thin laptop. I can repaste with a non-conductive compound also if warranty is not an issue. Afraid of using liquid metal tbh, lol.

Aero 15 is a bit more expensive than I'm willing to spend without a discount. Anyway, we'll see. The thing is, will these run cool out of the box or at least after undervolting? I'd rather have a bit thicker last-longing machine even if it is a little less powerful than a strong thin one with tons of compromises.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Enthusiast-achieves-thermal-miracle-with-Gigabyte-s-Aero-15.218222.0.html

[road warrior]

6 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Enthusiast-achieves-thermal-miracle-with-Gigabyte-s-Aero-15.218222.0.html

Fantastic job indeed. Do you think temps will be good enough with undervolting only?

[fergusonnn]

I just bought an Open Box Gigabyte P35x v6 off Newegg for around $1849, was in brand new condition when I got it and works wonderfully.  15" IPS 4K display, i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM and a GTX 1070, with a 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD.  Great battery life (I get between 3 and 6 hours off the wall depending on how I use it, web surfing vs photo editing etc)

Pro's: 4K display (also means scaling down to 1080p for games is virtually flawless and improves performance dramatically) dual storage with expandability options, battery life, GTX 1070 GPU, lightweight (5.07lbs) good I/O (no Thunderbolt 3 on the Type C connector, but having a 2.1A charge port is an acceptable replacement, I suppose), stays cool where it matters the most during gaming (left side of keyboard) with the rest of the keyboard not getting too hot IMHO.  Haven't seen any noticeable thermal throttling yet, but I plan to stress test and log one day.

Con's: Graphics switching can be a hair bit buggy when tabbing in and out of games.  When on battery, the CPU seems to stay locked around 800-900MHz I presume for power saving, even on high power mode.  Made photo editing a bit of a PITA.  I used Throttlestop to disable BD PROCHOT and Speedstep which seemed to fix it.. Power brick is a bit odd, it's slim but wide, which I guess technically could help with heat dispersion.. not much of an issue with me. 

I was a little skeptical about Gigabyte, and the odd sized chin bars looked weird to me.  But that sweet 4K display makes up for it in every way.  Gigabyte gets a big thumbs up from me.

[genexis_x]

3 hours ago, road warrior said:

Fantastic job indeed. Do you think temps will be good enough with undervolting only?

Will be enough. At least thermal throttling can be avoided

[road warrior]

1 hour ago, fergusonnn said:

I just bought an Open Box Gigabyte P35x v6 off Newegg for around $1849, was in brand new condition when I got it and works wonderfully.  15" IPS 4K display, i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM and a GTX 1070, with a 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD.  Great battery life (I get between 3 and 6 hours off the wall depending on how I use it, web surfing vs photo editing etc)

Pro's: 4K display (also means scaling down to 1080p for games is virtually flawless and improves performance dramatically) dual storage with expandability options, battery life, GTX 1070 GPU, lightweight (5.07lbs) good I/O (no Thunderbolt 3 on the Type C connector, but having a 2.1A charge port is an acceptable replacement, I suppose), stays cool where it matters the most during gaming (left side of keyboard) with the rest of the keyboard not getting too hot IMHO.  Haven't seen any noticeable thermal throttling yet, but I plan to stress test and log one day.

Con's: Graphics switching can be a hair bit buggy when tabbing in and out of games.  When on battery, the CPU seems to stay locked around 800-900MHz I presume for power saving, even on high power mode.  Made photo editing a bit of a PITA.  I used Throttlestop to disable BD PROCHOT and Speedstep which seemed to fix it.. Power brick is a bit odd, it's slim but wide, which I guess technically could help with heat dispersion.. not much of an issue with me. 

I was a little skeptical about Gigabyte, and the odd sized chin bars looked weird to me.  But that sweet 4K display makes up for it in every way.  Gigabyte gets a big thumbs up from me.

Thanks for the mini review  Features are great, laptop looks plain enough. But 1070 is somewhat overkill for me, I'm not an enthusiast gamer. If I can catch a great discount, I could jump on one though  This one is also out of budget, but I can take it into my secondary list given that Aero 15 is also expensive. If heat really is not a problem, P35 can be one of the greatest laptops of Pascal era imho. Let us know if you run the test please

[ToeJullar]

I'm in this same boat.  And as others have said, top picks are XPS 15 and Razer Blade.  I also wanna add on a third option.  The MSI GS Stealth Pro lineup is pretty decent as well, I just can't stand the damn dragon plate on the cover.

[road warrior]

1 hour ago, ToeJullar said:

I'm in this same boat.  And as others have said, top picks are XPS 15 and Razer Blade.  I also wanna add on a third option.  The MSI GS Stealth Pro lineup is pretty decent as well, I just can't stand the damn dragon plate on the cover.

Thanks for the reply. I agree except Razer being a good pick. Well, at least that's what I've read about this year's model almost everywhere. It doesn't worth the premium they charge seemingly. If you're looking for a similar one, I also suggest you to check Gigabyte Aero(s), P950HP6, and Yoga 720 15 inch even though 2 GB VRAM on this one makes me disinclined.

 

About GS series, I sure liked it but -please correct me if this is wrong- MSI cut corners in important places like screen, speakers, and overall build quality as most reviewers agreed on. When I pay that much, I expect the thing worth it, that's why I've started to look for a little thicker but better built and cooled laptops as possible alternatives. 16-17 mm? Sure, pretty and portable as a romance book but what will you do when the love burns you? 23-24 mm is acceptable enough from thinness perspective imo. And if I can't afford an Aero 15 or something tameable like that, I wonder which thicker one may present an alternative.

 

Oh, and Asus made a new Zenbook Pro to be released soon. That one seems pretty good, but will too overheat under load possibly. Can't say for sure of course and hope to be proven wrong.

[fergusonnn]

On 7/28/2017 at 8:37 AM, road warrior said:

Thanks for the mini review  Features are great, laptop looks plain enough. But 1070 is somewhat overkill for me, I'm not an enthusiast gamer. If I can catch a great discount, I could jump on one though  This one is also out of budget, but I can take it into my secondary list given that Aero 15 is also expensive. If heat really is not a problem, P35 can be one of the greatest laptops of Pascal era imho. Let us know if you run the test please

Aero 14 may be closer to your specs and budget then.  14W7 has a QHD display, 7700HQ with GTX 1060 6GB, and 512GB SSD for $1699 on Newegg.  On sale right now that is, not sure what standard price is but they may honor it if you ask them.  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233191

Linus did a video on the Aero 14 as well, which may help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItGMeNvP1iI