Hi I’m looking for a new laptop to replace my dead Surface pro 3. I was interested in some of the 6 core 1070 max q laptops that have come onto the market recently. I was wondering if you guys had any experience with any of them.
-I have a pretty big budget ~$2500-$3000
- I’ve researched the :
Asus Zephyrus M
Msi GS65 Stealth Thin 8rf (god what a name)
Razer Blade 15.6 2018 4k
Gigabyte Aero 15x
Origin EVO 15-S
-Possible contenders might be:
Razer Blade Pro GTX 1080
Asus Zephyrus GTX 1080
My desktop at home is a Threadripper 1950x with a 1080ti so I really only want this laptop to carry around since I travel almost every week so I want to be able to very quickly grab it put it in back pack and jump on the bus or get through airport security without much hassle so thin and light is a must.
I’ve picked up video editing as a hobby so it’d be awesome if it the laptop was able to do that but that shouldn’t be a problem with any of the ones I looked at.
For games the only ones I’m playing now are Sea Of Thieves and PUBG.
Onboard speakers aren’t too big of a deal. I’ll most likely always have some decent headphones on me. Likewise I don’t use the webcam at all so that doesn’t really bother me too much. A nice track pad would be a plus though.
I just don’t have any experience with modern laptops. My last one was the Surface pro 3 and the one before that was an Alienware 17in from 7 years ago when I graduated High school.
Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me.
Edit: Forgot to mention that I’m in NYC. The GS65 I can have shipped to my dad’s place in PA by B&H to save me a couple bucks if that should figure into the buying decision.
Edit #2: Also forgot to mention that the Msi is currently in the lead for me but the 4k screen on the Razer plus I heard that big track pad is really nice. That Razer build quality though…
Edit #3 (sorry 
) : Are any of these laptops upgradeable? Not CPU and GPU obviously but Ram and Drives.
It seems like you’re mostly concerned with the specs. If I might recommend looking at reviews, for build quality, minor annoyances/quirts, etc…
If you like the MSI, maybe you should make a list of why you like the MSI over the others, and do that with the rest of the contenders, then tally up your lists and it can help you to come to a decision.
I don’t personally have any experience with anything in that spec/price range, so I can’t be too much of a help. Sorry!
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Intel has the i5 8305G and the i7 8705G in the Dell XPS 15. That is a Vega GPU with onboard HBM (4GB) memory on the same PCB as the CPU.
It depends on the priority of thin and light over a beefy GPU. The XPS is not cheap. GPU performance is good, not that good compared to a GTX 1060/RX580 though.
I would be wary of MSI Stealth laptops, the screens tend to snap off.
More to the point, they make the hinges a bit too tight, so opening and closing them stresses and breaks the hinge mounts. This happened to my GS73VR, and a bunch of others. I fixed it with metal infused automotive putty, but still annoying. Warranty people were hard to deal with, and couldn’t give me an answer to whether it was covered or not.
I guess, the moral of the story is to google laptop model + problems and see what comes up!
Thin and light and performance are often at odds with one another. If you already have a fairly beefy desktop gaming rig, perhaps consider stepping down a touch on the GPU and buy quality over specs since you have the budget.
The benefit is a laptop that may have better battery life, wont burn your lap, be lighter, thinner and overall quieter. I think you’ll probably be happier in the long run because it won’t be riding the bleeding edge of thermals all the time. Most games look great at 1080p on most laptop screens. Consider a GPU that is geared toward that resolution. Also consider that at 15" or less screen, a 4k resolution will scale horribly in windows for desktop programs or you will be squinting to read text. Any larger monitor will defeat the thin and light category.
Thanks for all the advice. I’ll definitely look at all the options. I had completely forgotten about those Intel Vega laptops
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The aero15x and msi stealth thin were extremely impressive. I played with them both at computex. I really liked both of them a great deal.
I did not care for the Razer keyboard.
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Never thought I’d ever see you respond on one of my threads Wendell!! 
Edit: fangirl moment
I’ve heard Macbook Air can run just about everything. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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With Nvidia’s GeForce now, that is very true.
They’re excellent. Plenty of power for all your farmville needs.
I thought Apple and Nvidia had a USA/USSR kind of relationship…