Looking for Thin and Light Gaming Laptop

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1

I don't know if this is the right forum for this thread so if you need to mods, go ahead and move it.

 

I am looking for a thin and light gaming laptop for when I am on campus so I can game while I am waiting for class (When I'm not studying) and waiting for the shuttle bus to take me to the campus closer to my place.

 

I have narrowed it down to 2 Laptops, the MSI GS70 Stealth Pro (w/ 870m) or the Aorus X7 (w/ SLI 765m). I am needing around 2-3 hours battery life in case I cant get to a plug while in class. My budget is between $2000-2500 but no more than $3000. I am currently leaning towards the MSI GS70 because in my research of the new GPU's it is about a 680m/780m in terms of performance which is about the same as the 765m SLI, so I wouldnt have to deal with SLI Scaling and I would have Nvidia Optimis Battery Technology. I would prefer to buy off Newegg but if there is another online retailer that would be fine, or Fry's and Best Buy because I have a store of each near me.

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17.3-inch FHD 1920-by-1080-pixels; 60Hz, 120Hz or 3D 120Hz Wide Viewing Angle; Glossy or Matte; LED Backlit

  • Core Logic: Intel C600/X79 Express Chipset
  • Processor: up to Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition or XEON E5-2600 v2 series; LGA2011
  • VGA TECHNOLOGY: Modular MXM 3.0b; NVIDIA: GTX 780M, GTX 770M, GTX 680M, GTX 675MX, GTX 670MX (Kepler); QUADRO K5100M, K5000M, K4100M, K4000M, K3100M, K3000M, K2100M, K2000M; AMD: HD8970M, HD7970M; supports both SLI and CrossFireX
  • MEMORY: up to 64GB; DDR3-1333/1600/1866; four physical SODIMM sockets
  • EXPANSION: Built-in ExpressCard 34/54 slot
  • STORAGE: up to 6TB of storage with four physical SSD, Hybrid or HDD, RAID 0/1/5/10 support; SATA 6Gb/s
  • OPTICAL DRIVE BAY: DVD-RW or Blu Ray Burner or 4th HDD/SSD
  • I/O PORTS: 3x USB 3.0; 2x USB 2.0; eSATA; Firewire-800 (TI XIO2221ZAY); DisplayPort v1.2; DVI-I (SL); HDMI 1.4a out w/HDCP; Headphone; Microphone; S/PDIF out; Line-in; RJ-45 / LAN
  • COMMUNICATION: built-in 10/100/1000Mb Base-TX Ethernet LAN (Intel 82579V); WLAN (optional); Bluetooth v2.1+EDR (optional); 2M Video Webcam (built-in)
  • SECURITY: TPM 1.2; Fingerprint, Kensington Lock
  • KEYBOARD: Backlit; full-size with separate numeric keypad; W/A/S/D gaming key; built-in touchpad with multi-gesture and scrolling functions; 6 touch sensor instant buttons: Volume Up/Down, Mute, WLAN, BT, Webcam
  • WEIGHT/DIMENSIONS: 5.5kg (12.1lbs); 419(W)x286(D)x57.9-62.1(H)mm (16.76x11.44x2.31-2.48inch)

3

it's a steal at 3000 and it's a block buster at 7000

4

maxed out it sits at almost 24K 

5

i'm just gonna drop this here: i dont see the use of SLI, and certainly not in a laptop.

SLI is gonna murder your battery without giving you any real advantage.

6

I agree, but the Aorus X7 is still one of the more powerful options. Think there will be many thin and light laptops with the 870m?

7

Anyone have any other realistic options?

8

Well if you have a high budget

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-pro 

Really thin and powerful. 

9

I am not a fan of Razer, any other options? Also, has anyone had any experience with places like Gentech PC or Xotic PC?

10

I would go with the Aorus X7.  Most other laptops are thick.

11

I'd take the MSI.

Looks like exactly what you need.

Just make sure to have a power saving profile if you aren't gaming and need the battery life.

SLI = More power needed.

12

Didnt even think of using a power saving profile while on battery. Thanks for the advice.

13

MSI makes nice laptops. Mine can get hotter than the sun on the bottom if I'm gaming on a soft surface, but I guess that's common with the X460DX series.

14

Think there will be a version of the MSI with the 870m without Raid? Or would I have to custom order it like that from a place like Xotic PC?

15

Gigabyte make some nice machines. I bought a P27k recently and it has been great.

16

What are the chances of other companies coming out with a Ultra Slim laptop with a 870m? Right now the only confirmed ones that I know of are the MSI GS70 and the Razer Blade. Any others?

17

I wouldn't be surprised if Alienware, Asus, or certain semi-custom manufactures will.

Does Asus even make gaming laptops anymore?

18

I know that they are releasing new versions of the G750's with the 800m GPU's. But those things are huge and heavy, and after my issues with my Rampage 4 Extreme, I dont know if I would buy ASUS again

19

So I have basically narrowed it down to the MSI. Now the issue is where to buy it from, Gentech PC or Xotic PC? Anyone know any other custom laptop configuration sites? Also after talking with a Xotic PC Sales Rep, it seems they might not be able to disable Raid or change it to Raid 1 (I was thinking keeping the 2 128's as RAID 1 Boot Drives and getting a 500GB SSD for Programs and such and using the Mechanical HDD for Program overflow and file storage) but Gentech offers the option for All 3 (Raid 0, Raid 1 and Disabled). Furthermore, Gentech PC is about $400 cheaper for the exact same config on the laptop than Xotic PC? That seems kinda odd.  Another thing is I have heard good things about Xotic PC but have not heard much about Gentech and the only reviews I could find are linked from their site, seems kinda fishy to me.

 

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this guys?