Looking for a Thunderbolt3 with MX150 Laptop

[Drexo]

Hi all.

I need a recommendation.

I am getting burnt out from searching for my next laptop. I am leaving Apple, I think for good and I'm going back to PCs since 2005.... I need a new good laptop.

My interests are:

• Basic graphic design for personal use with photoshop, illustrator and Indesign.
• Recreational gaming on the side (World of Warcraft mostly but I'm looking forward for more titles once I get back to Windows).
• Surf the web, email, normal work stuff.

Since the introduction of thunderbolt 3 my eyes lit up with the immense possibilities of serious gaming occasionally by hooking up an eGPU at home without the need of caring with me all day a bag of bricks as my daily driver laptop, so this is a must have for me.

So summarizing my must have are:

• At least 1x Thunderbolt 3 port (40Gbps).
• Intel 8th gen CPU 4 cores or more.
• >5 hrs battery.
• Descrete looks, no retarded red stuff.

I have a brand new 27" gaming display that I'm going to hook up to this new laptop every time I'm at home so I don't really care about the display quality of the laptop, just FHD with a decent brightness.

I've being trying to look for something on a budget for a year and a half now but that's clear that for now it's somewhat unrealistic.

The best prospect I had till now was the Dell G3. The config with an Nvidia 1060 has everything I need, for less than a 1000USD$ but I'll have to swap out basically everything: from the very dimm display which is going to kill my eyesight at work to the hard drives and even the Wifi card if I get picky, all around it's going to cost me >1500$ with upgrades. At this point I'm better off spending a little more and directly buying something better maybe next year.

I have looked everywhere and for now my best option is finding something with a cheaper dedicated GPU like an Nvidia MX150 (still decent) with a TB3.

I'm already thinking of getting anything without TB3, there far better choices like the ACER Swift 3 for staying on a budget or even buying another dedicated gaming PC a couple of years from now and a decent laptop just for going back and forth from work but I'll never be able to justify buying 2 PCs for myself. I really wish I could get all my eggs in one basket with only one good laptop that down the line I could upgrade with a eGPU.

Before giving up do you guys know of any laptop with the most similar specs?

Thanks.

[genexis_x]

If I remembered correctly, any laptop with ULV+MX150 and TB3 will have reduced PCIe lanes (x2) due to chipset limitation

 

What's your preferred weight? Budget?

Edited July 25, 2018 by ZM Fong

[Drexo]

I’m on a budget but I understand it’s impossible to have everything under 1000$ so I’ll try and save some more if it’s worth it all of the specs I mentioned.

I prioritized portability, and battery duration over everything but at the moment I’m open to everything as long it has TB3 and it’s under 1500$. Right now anything without TB3 seems to me a bad investment.

 

[genexis_x]

Any links of online stores?

[Drexo]

This is my latest, best prospect.

Smart sons of a b... just got rid of the 1060 MaxQ config https://www.dell.com/en-us/member/shop/dell-laptops/member-purchase-dell-g3-15-gaming/spd/g-series-15-3579-laptop?view=configurations.

Hope it's only a out of stock thing.

I was checking out some time ago the Electronics N131WU too, it's a Clevo http://www.eluktronics.com/N131WU. Very basic stuff but with thunderbolt 3.

The only problem I don't know these guys and I can only Immagine support.

Still looking for something with a better integrated GPU at least an MX150 or even a 1050 with TB3.

[genexis_x]

Now you have 2 choices:

1. Gaming laptop with TB3 - must sacrifice weight and battery life

2. Ultrabook without dGPU, with TB3

Which one do you prefer? I'll find options for you

[Drexo]

The 2nd.

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, Andres Valdevit said:

The 2nd.

Dell XPS 13 refurb

Lenovo Yoga 920

Lenovo Yoga 730 13

Lenovo Ideapad 720s 13

 

These are what I've found

[Drexo]

Thank you very much.

I have taken into consideration before the Ideapad 720s, it is in fact the perfect laptop for me, but I have found reports of CPU throttling at base speeds, it's a problem with all units but I haven't checked the Yoga series just because they're 2-in-1 which I don't need but looking at their specs especially the 730 is well equipped for a good price.

About the refurbished XPS, I don't have refurbished products in my country.

Thank you very much I'll be investigating more on the Yoga 730 and I'll check again the Ideapad 720s if there are any updates.

[Drexo]

Look thanks for the help I think this question is solved I'll update my search with a new post.

I'm making the following assumption that is really invalidating the need for a TB3:

...I am looking for the most affordable ultrabook, or at least portable enough, with a TB3 but with a decent enough dedicated GPU to avoid incurring in the need have to buy an egpu right away, I wouldn't de able to afford both a new laptop and an egpu at the same time. By the time I'll need to buy an egpu to compensate for the laptop's going outdated, by that time, I'm guessing in a couple of years, I'll have to change the laptop anyway so why bothering having TB3 in the first place right now...?