Hey y'all, I was just hoping I could run something by you before I buy: I'm thinking of getting an Alienware 13 R2 laptop with an eye toward getting their external graphics card enclosure for a 1080ti as well. Does anyone have any experience with the "Alienware Graphics Amplifier" or any other laptop + external graphics setup? Is there something I'm missing, another better priced combo maybe? Am I going to regret getting the R2, being held back in higher end games by the older cpu?
Based on a recent LTT video, make sure it's got Thunderbolt 3 and 4 PCI-E lanes for the external enclosure. Otherwise it's a bottleneck. Bonus points if the Thunderbolt port connects straight to the CPU.
Yes it's largely game-centric, but most modern games will likely lean hard on the GPU so the laptop CPU shouldn't hold you back much.
I don't have experience with it, but you may need a cooling solution for the laptop depending on the voracity and length of your game sessions.
The AGA uses a proprietary connector from Alienware that's supposed to actually be faster than Thunderbolt.. But according to some external gpu modders (I may have fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole here) the laptop I was looking at seems to actually run it at a lower speed due to some kind of shared pci-e solution it uses? Going to keep researching, there seem to be a lot of companies coming out with external gpu enclosures recently.
I needed to pick up a cheap used laptop for general use and ended up settling on a Thinkpad X131e that I got off eBay for <$75. Nobody really talks about them, so I didn't realize that some of them came with an Ivy Bridge i3 (3227u) that's hyperthreaded. Most listings I'd seen had them equipped with an AMD E-series APU. They also supposedly support up to 32GB of RAM but that seems like way, way overkill.
It's kinda chunky but in a confidence inspiring way.
for a very short time i had an old used XPS13 i picked up off ebay, but it had charging issues so I had to sent it back. It was really nice though.
I just ordered a inspiron 13 off ebay. they were some that the boxes had water damage on, but the laptops themselves were new and unused. just over 400 for a i3, 8gb ram, and 128gb ssd. Even dells outlet can't beat that.
* Oh god, 60Hz. I forgot what it was like to play Overwatch on that. But its a laptop, what are you going to do?
* I paid for GPU overclocking. It's outperforming my desktop's i7 940 and GeForce 1080ti, and at lower temperatures, which gives me a free hand to upgrade and overclock the desktop!
* In fact, the laptop has a Display port so I could set my entire desktop aside and set my laptop beneath my computer desk.
* When I paid for a 250GB SSD, I thought I was upgrading the OS SSD. No, this now has three drives in it, two SSD, one standard! I fit Overwatch and both Total Warhammers on it so far. YouTube has instructions on how to set up two Steam libraries on the two drives.
Another interesting feature, there is a mini DisplayPort socket on the laptop. If I can figure this one out, the laptop could fully replace my desktop while I upgrade it. However it only has three USB sockets. That's one for my mouse and one for the headset. Neither of my two keyboards (both SteelSeries) can use the last USB on its own. I'll have to think about this one.
If it's the model I'm seeing on Google, as well as the three USB ports (not sure why your keyboard wouldnt work with the third?), haven't you also got a USB-C port on the back? You can get adapters to plug standard USB devices into that if you want. Or just use a USB hub - the mouse and keyboard at least should be fine with that.
If it's the model I'm seeing on Google, as well as the three USB ports (not sure why your keyboard wouldnt work with the third?), haven't you also got a USB-C port on the back? You can get adapters to plug standard USB devices into that if you want. Or just use a USB hub - the mouse and keyboard at least should be fine with that.
Thank you, I didn't know USB-C was a thing. I also forgot about mini DisplayPort, so I just ordered both cables:
"Goddammit, I thought this had DisplayPort, what's this tiny socket with a D, ooooohhhhhhhhhh"
I know better than to put my SteelSeries Apex in the laptop, which requires two USB ports for its power demands, but I have a basic but very nice SteelSeries 6GV2 with options for USB or an old school keyboard port, and I got no response. I'll have to inspect it more carefully and see if my laptop is responding to it.
EDIT - For those who don't know, the SteelSeries 6GV2 is a discontinued conservative gaming keyboard with proprietary mechanical switches. It has no LEDs, is strictly black and white, has ports for headphones, a mic, and usbs, and features widely splitting cable for USB, and a traditional keyboard socket/plug. Its my backup gaming keyboard. I took it to work in my college code monkey days and terrorized my co workers with my rapid typing.
Wait, how the fuck does a keyboard need more power than one USB3.0 socket can provide? Is it all the LEDs? Have we brought about our own downfall?
It's partially all the lights and everything, yes, but also backwards compatibility. All keyboards are built to work on USB 2.0 ports, which have about half of the power output of a USB 3.0 port (around 500mA vs about 900mA, I believe).
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
I just had an unpleasant thought. Did I waste $79 on overclocking capability?
1 x Intel® Core™ i5-7600K (3.8GHz - 4.2GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) QUAD Core CPU Processor - Unlocked $79.00
1 x 250GB XOTIC PC Certified M.2 Solid State Drive [Spring Closeout Special] $30.00
IC Diamond Thermal Paste
Having a K processor and IC Diamond paste is all fine and dandy, but there were no CPU cooling options available for purchase with the XoticPC Valkyrie. They overclocked my GPU but not my processor; perhaps they can't or shouldn't. There may have been no sense in my buying the K if cooling cannot be changed. This won't be a problem for years, though.
Cantido on
3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
Overclocking in a laptop is generally a bad idea if it's even possible.
That said, the K models are actually a step up, clockspeed-wise, from the non-K equivalents, so you didn't waste your money going with a 7600K instead of a 7600.
minor incident on
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
I ordered an Asus Chromebook, the one that seems to be recommend - C302. There was a choice to get either one with a m3 or m5 for another $140.
Should I have ordered the m5? Will that make any difference in the long run?
I ordered an Asus Chromebook, the one that seems to be recommend - C302. There was a choice to get either one with a m3 or m5 for another $140.
Should I have ordered the m5? Will that make any difference in the long run?
for chrome os, not really. maybe in some multi-tasking or android app situations it would help. I've got a m3 version from my work and it's great, and I honestly can't see any situation where i'd need to have the faster cpu. They are eventually adding some linux app support to chrome os soon though, so depending on what all shows up through that it might be useful, but i still can't really see justifying the extra 140 yet.
I'm looking for a new laptop and kind of want to get some opinions here
Sub-15inches, no numpad, 1920x1080 screen size, at least 8gigs of ram, a good processor that can do multi-tasking well so maybe an 8th gen i5 or i7 depending on how much it is, and definitely an SSD that's at least 256gb. Those are my must-haves, everything else is just a nicety. I would like to spend under 700, but I'd be willing to go around 1k if it's a laptop that's good, has solid recs here, and is something that will last me a few years. I'm using this for graduate school and, since I'll be on campus all the time and working and not using my desktop constantly, looking to basically make it my main-driver for the foreseeable future. Not looking to game on it unless it's maybe rocket league, but I want a decent professor and ram so I can do coding (Python and R being the main stuff for data-analysis).
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BouwsTWanna come to a super soft birthday party?Registered Userregular
edited July 2018
Hey guys, I'm doing some shopping for some workstations at my families auto garage, I've been looking at something like these Dell 2in1's
Trying to keep it reasonable in Canadian funny bucks, definitely sub 1000, preferably in the 7-800 range. Is there something at a better price point i'm obviously missing?
Must haves are an SSD for the boot drive, at least 8GB of (expandable) RAM, and a decent processor (no preference for AMD or Intel).
Edit: Going to be buying 4 of these things as well, not that it should matter much.
BouwsT on
Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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BouwsTWanna come to a super soft birthday party?Registered Userregular
I'm looking for an SSD 256gb for my laptop. Any suggestions on where to buy?
Typically all SSD's are in the 2.5" form factor, so there isn't really a specific "laptop" style SSD. Just look for deals at the regular outlets (Fry's, Best Buy, Amazon, NewEgg, Memory Express in Canada, etc) and try to get a price match to get the best pricing.
Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
Are the Samsung 840s still considered very good for price/performance ratio?
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BouwsTWanna come to a super soft birthday party?Registered Userregular
Are the Samsung 840s still considered very good for price/performance ratio?
Samsung is still very good, and their included drive cloning software is stupidly easy to use. the 840 is definitely old stock though, 2.5" drives are using the 860 moniker currently. I've also personally had good luck with Crucial MX series, and Sandisk as well. Heard anecdotal good things about Adata as well. Check reveiws, but if you need cloning software it's tough to beat Samsung.
Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
I am about to buy an msi gs65 stealth- anyone here have that?
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
I do not own it, no. If it helps at all, I believe both JayzTwoCents and Kyle at BitWit both reviewed it.
You may also want to check www.notebookreview.com to see if anyone posted their experience with it.
Oh man I went down those roads
Now im an owner. So far out of the box the chip thermal throttles and power throttles left and right. You toss a small undervolt on there-> runs like butter no more power/ no more thermal throttle. im still in setup phase tho....
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
So, I hadn't bought myself a proper not shitty Windows laptop since..... 2004. Literally. I'm a gamer, so I've always had a desktop as my primary windows box, and my laptop as a secondary device. I had a Macbook Air for a number of years to keep current on OS X, and then a couple chromebooks. Chromebooks do 85% of what I need in a laptop, and cost like $250. I've always been able to work around the other 15%.
Even at work I've never had a nice/not heavy/bulky laptop. Back in the day I had giant 15" dell laptops that could also function as a medium sized raft. Recently I've just had a desktop at the current job. I generally need workstation type machines, so thin and light has never really worked for me at work. I've set up ultrabooks and nicer laptops for other people, but never had once myself.
So, my current employer provides a self directed fund every fiscal year, with a limited number of things I can use it for. A laptop is, however one of those things. Since the time on this fiscal year is starting to run out and there's nothing else pressing to spend it on, I picked up the Dell XPS 13 9370 on the weekend. And, holy crap this thing is great.
The config I got is Core i5/128GB/8GB/4K touch panel. After applying my work fund to it it is going to end up costing me about $300, or the cost of a nice Chromebook.
I have a 4k TV, but have never seen a 4k display on a computer before. It's ridiculous. I literally watched a 4K thing on netflix on it instead of my TV yesterday just to do it. This laptop is going to ruin me for substandard hardware and I'm kind of in love with it.
I'm in Canada, so prices are a bit higher, but the specific SKU I bought is normally a $1900 SKU and the Microsoft store has it on sale for $1300 as part of their back to school promotions. Just a ridiculous sale.
I know the reason is because the 9th generation processors are going to be announced in late august so we're starting to see inventory clearouts of the 8th gen parts, but I highly doubt the 9th gen parts will be significantly better than the 8th gen parts (probably the standard 5-10% performance boost with the same battery life). adding more cores in the kaby lake refresh parts is probably the best upgrade we're getting on the intel mobile parts for another year or two.
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
edited July 2018
just a quick update on the MSI GS65 stealth thin- Its important to know with these thin and lights, that every single one has more raw power than it has the cooling to handle.
For me-
I under-volted the proc (lowers heat by 1-5 degrees), swapped to high quality thermal paste, tweaked fan profiles and even down clocked the 8750h's turbo just a smidge.
Is it slower than stock? Yes. Does it hit 90 degrees and thermal throttle all over the place? N-O-P-E.
So now i can rock out 80 fps minimum in bf1(ultra) without this thing hitting the low 90s in spikes.
Just understand that if you are looking at the blade2018, Aero 15x, Zephyrus thin, MSI GS65 - They all run very hot out of the box (if you look at the good benchmarks they run two runs and the second runs are all thermal throttled and much worse than the first)- they all get better with tweaking. Its not something that will run perfect without some work.
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
So, I hadn't bought myself a proper not shitty Windows laptop since..... 2004. Literally. I'm a gamer, so I've always had a desktop as my primary windows box, and my laptop as a secondary device. I had a Macbook Air for a number of years to keep current on OS X, and then a couple chromebooks. Chromebooks do 85% of what I need in a laptop, and cost like $250. I've always been able to work around the other 15%.
Even at work I've never had a nice/not heavy/bulky laptop. Back in the day I had giant 15" dell laptops that could also function as a medium sized raft. Recently I've just had a desktop at the current job. I generally need workstation type machines, so thin and light has never really worked for me at work. I've set up ultrabooks and nicer laptops for other people, but never had once myself.
So, my current employer provides a self directed fund every fiscal year, with a limited number of things I can use it for. A laptop is, however one of those things. Since the time on this fiscal year is starting to run out and there's nothing else pressing to spend it on, I picked up the Dell XPS 13 9370 on the weekend. And, holy crap this thing is great.
The config I got is Core i5/128GB/8GB/4K touch panel. After applying my work fund to it it is going to end up costing me about $300, or the cost of a nice Chromebook.
I have a 4k TV, but have never seen a 4k display on a computer before. It's ridiculous. I literally watched a 4K thing on netflix on it instead of my TV yesterday just to do it. This laptop is going to ruin me for substandard hardware and I'm kind of in love with it.
About to get a XPS 15 laptop for work myself. Instead of an ultrabook. I just like the XPS better, and can use it on trips for some light gaming/videos without having to carry my Inspiron with me as well.
So, I hadn't bought myself a proper not shitty Windows laptop since..... 2004. Literally. I'm a gamer, so I've always had a desktop as my primary windows box, and my laptop as a secondary device. I had a Macbook Air for a number of years to keep current on OS X, and then a couple chromebooks. Chromebooks do 85% of what I need in a laptop, and cost like $250. I've always been able to work around the other 15%.
Even at work I've never had a nice/not heavy/bulky laptop. Back in the day I had giant 15" dell laptops that could also function as a medium sized raft. Recently I've just had a desktop at the current job. I generally need workstation type machines, so thin and light has never really worked for me at work. I've set up ultrabooks and nicer laptops for other people, but never had once myself.
So, my current employer provides a self directed fund every fiscal year, with a limited number of things I can use it for. A laptop is, however one of those things. Since the time on this fiscal year is starting to run out and there's nothing else pressing to spend it on, I picked up the Dell XPS 13 9370 on the weekend. And, holy crap this thing is great.
The config I got is Core i5/128GB/8GB/4K touch panel. After applying my work fund to it it is going to end up costing me about $300, or the cost of a nice Chromebook.
I have a 4k TV, but have never seen a 4k display on a computer before. It's ridiculous. I literally watched a 4K thing on netflix on it instead of my TV yesterday just to do it. This laptop is going to ruin me for substandard hardware and I'm kind of in love with it.
About to get a XPS 15 laptop for work myself. Instead of an ultrabook. I just like the XPS better, and can use it on trips for some light gaming/videos without having to carry my Inspiron with me as well.
Yea that's a solid "almost workstation" style device. Too big for my home use, but I definitly get the utility.
the one thing that bothers me about a lot of newer high end laptops is that most still don't charge via USB-C, which for me is a deal breaker in 2018. I can carry one charger in my bag that charges my phone, laptop, Switch, and even my wireless earbuds if I need to. That's huge.
And hell, I can even trickle charge my laptop off of my portable battery if it came down to it.
just a quick update on the MSI GS65 stealth thin- Its important to know with these thin and lights, that every single one has more raw power than it has the cooling to handle.
For me-
I under-volted the proc (lowers heat by 1-5 degrees), swapped to high quality thermal paste, tweaked fan profiles and even down clocked the 8750h's turbo just a smidge.
Is it slower than stock? Yes. Does it hit 90 degrees and thermal throttle all over the place? N-O-P-E.
So now i can rock out 80 fps minimum in bf1(ultra) without this thing hitting the low 90s in spikes.
Just understand that if you are looking at the blade2018, Aero 15x, Zephyrus thin, MSI GS65 - They all run very hot out of the box (if you look at the good benchmarks they run two runs and the second runs are all thermal throttled and much worse than the first)- they all get better with tweaking. Its not something that will run perfect without some work.
I just did this on my Inspiron and it's great. No more (or a lot less) thermal throttling, and less noise, and better performance overall. Win-win.
I'm assuming I will want to do this on the XPS as well.
So, I hadn't bought myself a proper not shitty Windows laptop since..... 2004. Literally. I'm a gamer, so I've always had a desktop as my primary windows box, and my laptop as a secondary device. I had a Macbook Air for a number of years to keep current on OS X, and then a couple chromebooks. Chromebooks do 85% of what I need in a laptop, and cost like $250. I've always been able to work around the other 15%.
Even at work I've never had a nice/not heavy/bulky laptop. Back in the day I had giant 15" dell laptops that could also function as a medium sized raft. Recently I've just had a desktop at the current job. I generally need workstation type machines, so thin and light has never really worked for me at work. I've set up ultrabooks and nicer laptops for other people, but never had once myself.
So, my current employer provides a self directed fund every fiscal year, with a limited number of things I can use it for. A laptop is, however one of those things. Since the time on this fiscal year is starting to run out and there's nothing else pressing to spend it on, I picked up the Dell XPS 13 9370 on the weekend. And, holy crap this thing is great.
The config I got is Core i5/128GB/8GB/4K touch panel. After applying my work fund to it it is going to end up costing me about $300, or the cost of a nice Chromebook.
I have a 4k TV, but have never seen a 4k display on a computer before. It's ridiculous. I literally watched a 4K thing on netflix on it instead of my TV yesterday just to do it. This laptop is going to ruin me for substandard hardware and I'm kind of in love with it.
About to get a XPS 15 laptop for work myself. Instead of an ultrabook. I just like the XPS better, and can use it on trips for some light gaming/videos without having to carry my Inspiron with me as well.
Yea that's a solid "almost workstation" style device. Too big for my home use, but I definitly get the utility.
the one thing that bothers me about a lot of newer high end laptops is that most still don't charge via USB-C, which for me is a deal breaker in 2018. I can carry one charger in my bag that charges my phone, laptop, Switch, and even my wireless earbuds if I need to. That's huge.
And hell, I can even trickle charge my laptop off of my portable battery if it came down to it.
Our work ultrabooks are the same way. They still need an AC adapter to charge - and these are strictly work laptops, Intel HD graphics and all. Annoying.
Also I am unimpressed with Dell docking stations/replicators these days (we use the D6000s for our company).
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mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
just a quick update on the MSI GS65 stealth thin- Its important to know with these thin and lights, that every single one has more raw power than it has the cooling to handle.
For me-
I under-volted the proc (lowers heat by 1-5 degrees), swapped to high quality thermal paste, tweaked fan profiles and even down clocked the 8750h's turbo just a smidge.
Is it slower than stock? Yes. Does it hit 90 degrees and thermal throttle all over the place? N-O-P-E.
So now i can rock out 80 fps minimum in bf1(ultra) without this thing hitting the low 90s in spikes.
Just understand that if you are looking at the blade2018, Aero 15x, Zephyrus thin, MSI GS65 - They all run very hot out of the box (if you look at the good benchmarks they run two runs and the second runs are all thermal throttled and much worse than the first)- they all get better with tweaking. Its not something that will run perfect without some work.
I just did this on my Inspiron and it's great. No more (or a lot less) thermal throttling, and less noise, and better performance overall. Win-win.
I'm assuming I will want to do this on the XPS as well.
really undervolting with intel's utility and using throttlestop to adjust the multipliers is just about as easy as it could possibly be.
You should almost undervolt every laptop ever... no performance loss, less heat.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
yea the charging is a thing that is going to take a few years to completely move over and that's probably too long but here we are. It just makes sense, you replace a single purpose barrel port with a port that can charge and also do other things.
and USB-C was supposed to make docks easier, but I agree that the dell ones were shit. at my last place we demo'd a couple of their first gen ones with the built in cable to connect to a laptop and they were buggy as hell and the process for updating their firmware was a nightmare. the concept is *amazing*. Plug one connector into the computer and you get power, screen, everything. In practice, yikes.
the K17A is more commonly known as the WD15, which I have had good experience with. that's actually just the USB only version of the dell TB15, which was the one that supported real thunderbolt 3. the TB15 was the super buggy one, while the WD15 ended up being ok.
So I may be In the market for a new laptop. I have a leenova think pad that has served me well the last 3 or 4 years or so, but it's getting old, and I may have some money soon.
Would he looking for a laptop in the 750-1000 range and it'd be primarily for gaming. Even if I mostly play league of Legends and table top simulator.
My biggest regret with my current laptop is the screen is only capable of 720p, and man, is it a pain sometimes. Playing lol and other games my screen feels so small!
Gonna read the last few pages of this thread but looking for suggestions and deals .
Posts
The AGA uses a proprietary connector from Alienware that's supposed to actually be faster than Thunderbolt.. But according to some external gpu modders (I may have fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole here) the laptop I was looking at seems to actually run it at a lower speed due to some kind of shared pci-e solution it uses? Going to keep researching, there seem to be a lot of companies coming out with external gpu enclosures recently.
It's kinda chunky but in a confidence inspiring way.
I just ordered a inspiron 13 off ebay. they were some that the boxes had water damage on, but the laptops themselves were new and unused. just over 400 for a i3, 8gb ram, and 128gb ssd. Even dells outlet can't beat that.
My XoticPC Valkyrie came in the mail!
* Oh god, 60Hz. I forgot what it was like to play Overwatch on that. But its a laptop, what are you going to do?
* I paid for GPU overclocking. It's outperforming my desktop's i7 940 and GeForce 1080ti, and at lower temperatures, which gives me a free hand to upgrade and overclock the desktop!
* In fact, the laptop has a Display port so I could set my entire desktop aside and set my laptop beneath my computer desk.
* When I paid for a 250GB SSD, I thought I was upgrading the OS SSD. No, this now has three drives in it, two SSD, one standard! I fit Overwatch and both Total Warhammers on it so far. YouTube has instructions on how to set up two Steam libraries on the two drives.
And here's me with a laptop with a 120Hz screen and I'm someone who can't see the difference between 60 and 120! Sorry
'Grats on the new machine, looks like a lot of laptop for sane money
Steam | XBL
Steam | XBL
Thank you, I didn't know USB-C was a thing. I also forgot about mini DisplayPort, so I just ordered both cables:
"Goddammit, I thought this had DisplayPort, what's this tiny socket with a D, ooooohhhhhhhhhh"
I know better than to put my SteelSeries Apex in the laptop, which requires two USB ports for its power demands, but I have a basic but very nice SteelSeries 6GV2 with options for USB or an old school keyboard port, and I got no response. I'll have to inspect it more carefully and see if my laptop is responding to it.
EDIT - For those who don't know, the SteelSeries 6GV2 is a discontinued conservative gaming keyboard with proprietary mechanical switches. It has no LEDs, is strictly black and white, has ports for headphones, a mic, and usbs, and features widely splitting cable for USB, and a traditional keyboard socket/plug. Its my backup gaming keyboard. I took it to work in my college code monkey days and terrorized my co workers with my rapid typing.
A lot of keyboards now require both, yeah. Not ALL, but it's pretty common (most Razer and Corsair ones, for example).
It's partially all the lights and everything, yes, but also backwards compatibility. All keyboards are built to work on USB 2.0 ports, which have about half of the power output of a USB 3.0 port (around 500mA vs about 900mA, I believe).
Having a K processor and IC Diamond paste is all fine and dandy, but there were no CPU cooling options available for purchase with the XoticPC Valkyrie. They overclocked my GPU but not my processor; perhaps they can't or shouldn't. There may have been no sense in my buying the K if cooling cannot be changed. This won't be a problem for years, though.
That said, the K models are actually a step up, clockspeed-wise, from the non-K equivalents, so you didn't waste your money going with a 7600K instead of a 7600.
Should I have ordered the m5? Will that make any difference in the long run?
for chrome os, not really. maybe in some multi-tasking or android app situations it would help. I've got a m3 version from my work and it's great, and I honestly can't see any situation where i'd need to have the faster cpu. They are eventually adding some linux app support to chrome os soon though, so depending on what all shows up through that it might be useful, but i still can't really see justifying the extra 140 yet.
I'm looking for a new laptop and kind of want to get some opinions here
Sub-15inches, no numpad, 1920x1080 screen size, at least 8gigs of ram, a good processor that can do multi-tasking well so maybe an 8th gen i5 or i7 depending on how much it is, and definitely an SSD that's at least 256gb. Those are my must-haves, everything else is just a nicety. I would like to spend under 700, but I'd be willing to go around 1k if it's a laptop that's good, has solid recs here, and is something that will last me a few years. I'm using this for graduate school and, since I'll be on campus all the time and working and not using my desktop constantly, looking to basically make it my main-driver for the foreseeable future. Not looking to game on it unless it's maybe rocket league, but I want a decent professor and ram so I can do coding (Python and R being the main stuff for data-analysis).
Trying to keep it reasonable in Canadian funny bucks, definitely sub 1000, preferably in the 7-800 range. Is there something at a better price point i'm obviously missing?
Must haves are an SSD for the boot drive, at least 8GB of (expandable) RAM, and a decent processor (no preference for AMD or Intel).
Edit: Going to be buying 4 of these things as well, not that it should matter much.
Typically all SSD's are in the 2.5" form factor, so there isn't really a specific "laptop" style SSD. Just look for deals at the regular outlets (Fry's, Best Buy, Amazon, NewEgg, Memory Express in Canada, etc) and try to get a price match to get the best pricing.
Samsung is still very good, and their included drive cloning software is stupidly easy to use. the 840 is definitely old stock though, 2.5" drives are using the 860 moniker currently. I've also personally had good luck with Crucial MX series, and Sandisk as well. Heard anecdotal good things about Adata as well. Check reveiws, but if you need cloning software it's tough to beat Samsung.
Ya. The thin one.
You may also want to check www.notebookreview.com to see if anyone posted their experience with it.
Oh man I went down those roads
Now im an owner. So far out of the box the chip thermal throttles and power throttles left and right. You toss a small undervolt on there-> runs like butter no more power/ no more thermal throttle. im still in setup phase tho....
Even at work I've never had a nice/not heavy/bulky laptop. Back in the day I had giant 15" dell laptops that could also function as a medium sized raft. Recently I've just had a desktop at the current job. I generally need workstation type machines, so thin and light has never really worked for me at work. I've set up ultrabooks and nicer laptops for other people, but never had once myself.
So, my current employer provides a self directed fund every fiscal year, with a limited number of things I can use it for. A laptop is, however one of those things. Since the time on this fiscal year is starting to run out and there's nothing else pressing to spend it on, I picked up the Dell XPS 13 9370 on the weekend. And, holy crap this thing is great.
The config I got is Core i5/128GB/8GB/4K touch panel. After applying my work fund to it it is going to end up costing me about $300, or the cost of a nice Chromebook.
I have a 4k TV, but have never seen a 4k display on a computer before. It's ridiculous. I literally watched a 4K thing on netflix on it instead of my TV yesterday just to do it. This laptop is going to ruin me for substandard hardware and I'm kind of in love with it.
I know the reason is because the 9th generation processors are going to be announced in late august so we're starting to see inventory clearouts of the 8th gen parts, but I highly doubt the 9th gen parts will be significantly better than the 8th gen parts (probably the standard 5-10% performance boost with the same battery life). adding more cores in the kaby lake refresh parts is probably the best upgrade we're getting on the intel mobile parts for another year or two.
For me-
I under-volted the proc (lowers heat by 1-5 degrees), swapped to high quality thermal paste, tweaked fan profiles and even down clocked the 8750h's turbo just a smidge.
Is it slower than stock? Yes. Does it hit 90 degrees and thermal throttle all over the place? N-O-P-E.
So now i can rock out 80 fps minimum in bf1(ultra) without this thing hitting the low 90s in spikes.
Just understand that if you are looking at the blade2018, Aero 15x, Zephyrus thin, MSI GS65 - They all run very hot out of the box (if you look at the good benchmarks they run two runs and the second runs are all thermal throttled and much worse than the first)- they all get better with tweaking. Its not something that will run perfect without some work.
About to get a XPS 15 laptop for work myself. Instead of an ultrabook. I just like the XPS better, and can use it on trips for some light gaming/videos without having to carry my Inspiron with me as well.
Yea that's a solid "almost workstation" style device. Too big for my home use, but I definitly get the utility.
the one thing that bothers me about a lot of newer high end laptops is that most still don't charge via USB-C, which for me is a deal breaker in 2018. I can carry one charger in my bag that charges my phone, laptop, Switch, and even my wireless earbuds if I need to. That's huge.
And hell, I can even trickle charge my laptop off of my portable battery if it came down to it.
I just did this on my Inspiron and it's great. No more (or a lot less) thermal throttling, and less noise, and better performance overall. Win-win.
I'm assuming I will want to do this on the XPS as well.
Our work ultrabooks are the same way. They still need an AC adapter to charge - and these are strictly work laptops, Intel HD graphics and all. Annoying.
Also I am unimpressed with Dell docking stations/replicators these days (we use the D6000s for our company).
really undervolting with intel's utility and using throttlestop to adjust the multipliers is just about as easy as it could possibly be.
You should almost undervolt every laptop ever... no performance loss, less heat.
and USB-C was supposed to make docks easier, but I agree that the dell ones were shit. at my last place we demo'd a couple of their first gen ones with the built in cable to connect to a laptop and they were buggy as hell and the process for updating their firmware was a nightmare. the concept is *amazing*. Plug one connector into the computer and you get power, screen, everything. In practice, yikes.
Would he looking for a laptop in the 750-1000 range and it'd be primarily for gaming. Even if I mostly play league of Legends and table top simulator.
My biggest regret with my current laptop is the screen is only capable of 720p, and man, is it a pain sometimes. Playing lol and other games my screen feels so small!
Gonna read the last few pages of this thread but looking for suggestions and deals .