The "Best laptops with a GTX 1080" Discussion Thread

Richdog · 25 Jan 2017 at 15:34

Well, the GTX 1080 for notebooks has arrived and forever changed the face of PC gaming. No longer do people need to invest in a desktop to get gleeding edge graphics performance... rejoice!

With that in mind, I am eagerly keeping an eye out on laptops with a GTX 1080 that fit my ideal criteria:

QHD or 4k IPS screen with 75% or greater Adobe RGB, or 1080p 120hz IPS screen with G-sync
Intel i7 6820HK or 7820HK processor
Good keyboard, backlit

I do not include those with a TN panel as I have no interest in poor viewing angles or colour reproduction on a £3000 laptop.

So far the ones that look decent and fit the criteria seem to be:

-ASUS ROG G701VI https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ROG-G701VI/

-ASUS ROG G800VI https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ROG-G800VI/

-MSI GT73VR 6RF Titan Pro https://www.msi.com/Laptop/GT73VR-6RF-Titan-Pro.html#hero-overview

So, any suggestions for any more coming up that I've missed?

EDIT - Great link summarizing all laptops with GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 that is constantly updated: http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10939-laptops-nvidia-1070-1080/

MiSJAH · 25 Jan 2017 at 16:02

Clevo/Sager

Desktop CPU with GTX 1080, screen as you prefer. Immensely customisable.

Richdog · 25 Jan 2017 at 18:29

MiSJAH said:
Clevo/Sager

Desktop CPU with GTX 1080, screen as you prefer. Immensely customisable.

Hmm I saw these but the chassis always looked cheap and ugly to me. Plus, the desktop CPU's are power guzzlers and in the taking turbo boost into account aren't 'so' much faster than the laptop CPU's.

Barham2016 · 26 Jan 2017 at 13:34

Alienware 17?

Richdog · 26 Jan 2017 at 14:01

Barham2016 said:
Alienware 17?

TN QHD panel with the GTX1080... ugh.

Meaker · 27 Jan 2017 at 13:28

Richdog said:
Hmm I saw these but the chassis always looked cheap and ugly to me. Plus, the desktop CPU's are power guzzlers and in the taking turbo boost into account aren't 'so' much faster than the laptop CPU's.

Sustained turbo speeds tend to be around 33% higher on the desktop side.

Richdog · 27 Jan 2017 at 16:04

Meaker said:
Sustained turbo speeds tend to be around 33% higher on the desktop side.

True, but is it worth the heat and energy increase over the already fast laptop K series?

tropicola · 27 Jan 2017 at 17:41

Richdog said:
Hmm I saw these but the chassis always looked cheap and ugly to me. Plus, the desktop CPU's are power guzzlers and in the taking turbo boost into account aren't 'so' much faster than the laptop CPU's.

sadly if you want to get max power/optimal gaming/nice display sometimes you have to comprimise

i can assure you if your starring at 4k 120fps gaming, you are not going to be looking at the chassis as you won't be able to take your eyes off the sexy graphics

also desktop cpu power guzzlers? a gaming laptop imo is merely a desktop replacement and the majority of time you plug it in. Also any respectable company would use power management software when unplugged anyway so is that an issue?

Richdog · 27 Jan 2017 at 18:00

tropicola said:
sadly if you want to get max power/optimal gaming/nice display sometimes you have to comprimise

i can assure you if your starring at 4k 120fps gaming, you are not going to be looking at the chassis as you won't be able to take your eyes off the sexy graphics

also desktop cpu power guzzlers? a gaming laptop imo is merely a desktop replacement and the majority of time you plug it in. Also any respectable company would use power management software when unplugged anyway so is that an issue?

Well, I am not 'starring' at 4k 120fps gaming because that's not realistic even with a single GTX 1080. I will happily settle for a regular 2k (imo the sweet spot) or 4k G-Sync IPS panel of 60hz, especially considering most panels can be overclocked to around 100hz.

Also, I personally don't see the performance gain (around 25%) as significant enough to warrant going from a 45W TDP 6820K laptop CPU to a 95W TDP 7700K desktop CPU even if the laptop stays plugged in for 95% of the time, and especially considering most games are GPU dependent. A laptop CPU has plenty of grunt for my uses.

Loki · 27 Jan 2017 at 18:22

Hey Richdog,

You may want to have a look at this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...-intel-i7-7820hk-gaming-laptop-lt-25t-ms.html

17.3" 120Hz IPS Display
i7 7820HK
GTX 1080 8Gb GDDR5X
32GB DDR4 2400
512GB SSD + 1TB

I notice that the adobe sRGB is important so a feature we put on our display is called True Colour Technology which can offer close to 100% sRGB Colour replication. There are lots of other features around the sound (DAC Audio)you can find Here

Keyboard is by SteelSeries and is fully programable and backlit

OcUK has stock landing around Tuesday

Richdog · 27 Jan 2017 at 18:24

Loki said:
Hey Richdog,

You may want to have a look at this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...-intel-i7-7820hk-gaming-laptop-lt-25t-ms.html

17.3" 120Hz IPS Display
i7 7820HK
GTX 1080 8Gb GDDR5X
32GB DDR4 2400
512GB SSD + 1TB

I notice that the adobe sRGB is important so a feature we put on our display is called True Colour Technology which can offer close to 100% sRGB Colour replication. There are lots of other features around the sound (DAC Audio)you can find Here

Keyboard is by SteelSeries and is fully programable and backlit

OcUK has stock landing around Tuesday

Hi Loki,

That's a very interesting and powerful config (and I have been checking out the MSI's as an option)... but is the display on that model not G-sync? That makes a big difference for smoothness at lower fps.

Loki · 27 Jan 2017 at 18:36

Richdog said:
Hi Loki,

That's a very interesting and powerful config (and I have been checking out the MSI's as an option)... but is the display on that model not G-sync? That makes a big difference for smoothness at lower fps.

Hi

I just checked and its none G Sync. We will have models that are 120Hz G Sync soon but they are around 4 weeks from what I can see

Richdog · 27 Jan 2017 at 18:44

Loki said:
Hi

I just checked and its none G Sync. We will have models that are 120Hz G Sync soon but they are around 4 weeks from what I can see

In that case I will hold on until then... but if it is the same 100% RGB 4k panel then there is a good chance that MSI may be taking my money... if I can reassure myself that your aftersales support isn't as bad as people are saying in the MSI thread.

MiSJAH · 27 Jan 2017 at 20:07

Richdog said:
In that case I will hold on until then... but if it is the same 100% RGB 4k panel then there is a good chance that MSI may be taking my money... if I can reassure myself that your aftersales support isn't as bad as people are saying in the MSI thread.

And elsewhere....

killswitch73 · 27 Jan 2017 at 21:40

Loki said:
Hey Richdog,

You may want to have a look at this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...-intel-i7-7820hk-gaming-laptop-lt-25t-ms.html

17.3" 120Hz IPS Display
i7 7820HK
GTX 1080 8Gb GDDR5X
32GB DDR4 2400
512GB SSD + 1TB

I notice that the adobe sRGB is important so a feature we put on our display is called True Colour Technology which can offer close to 100% sRGB Colour replication. There are lots of other features around the sound (DAC Audio)you can find Here

Keyboard is by SteelSeries and is fully programable and backlit

OcUK has stock landing around Tuesday

I have this and all i can say is wow !!!! the extra £450 over the 6RE is well worth it and with the kaby lake 7820hk there is over 1200 points more over the 6820hk .

I'm loving my machine and put in a 2TB Firecuda in and its great loading the games up .

killswitch73 · 27 Jan 2017 at 21:41

Loki said:
Hi

I just checked and its none G Sync. We will have models that are 120Hz G Sync soon but they are around 4 weeks from what I can see

Loki

it is Gsync , i have the exact laptop , however , its NOT IPS !!

GT73VR 7RF (Titan Pro) 286UK

this is what i have . MSI say "IPS Level" but its not IPS i can assure and it 100 million % gsync .

overclockers made a mistake with CPU too in spec list .

Specification:
- CPU: Latest 6th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ processor (its deffo a 7820hk)
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- Memory: 32Gb DDR IV
- Display: 17.3 FHD IPS level panel, 120Hz Display (this they have corrected)

Richdog · 28 Jan 2017 at 04:49

killswitch73 said:
Loki

it is Gsync , i have the exact laptop , however , its NOT IPS !!

GT73VR 7RF (Titan Pro) 286UK

this is what i have . MSI say "IPS Level" but its not IPS i can assure and it 100 million % gsync .

overclockers made a mistake with CPU too in spec list .

Specification:
- CPU: Latest 6th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ processor (its deffo a 7820hk)
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- Memory: 32Gb DDR IV
- Display: 17.3 FHD IPS level panel, 120Hz Display (this they have corrected)

Ahh an IPS level TN panel is certainly still not IPS in terms of viewing angles, it's just a good TN panel (for a TN) with marketing spiel behind it... that's a shame if true and more than a little disingenuous of MSI if even their own reps aren't aware of it...

As for the difference between a 6820hk and 7820hk, there is almost zero difference outside of synthetics benchmarks.

killswitch73 · 28 Jan 2017 at 10:11

Richdog said:
Ahh an IPS level TN panel is certainly still not IPS in terms of viewing angles, it's just a good TN panel (for a TN) with marketing spiel behind it... that's a shame if true and more than a little disingenuous of MSI if even their own reps aren't aware of it...

As for the difference between a 6820hk and 7820hk, there is almost zero difference outside of synthetics benchmarks.

its not MSI's fault as they state IPS level and and they do have screens that are true IPS , its an error by overclockers in titles saying "IPS". you will not get an IPS Gsync & 120hz . but if you get a IPS MSI they overclock well to around 75hz-100hz . some will some wont . my friend has a MSI GT72VR 6RE(Dominator Pro)-040UK and that overclocks to 85hz and its gsync and his IPS is only got slighlty better colours and the angles are a little better without colour shift . the IPS level screens are very very good and impresses me every day with very very slight bleed at bottom of the screens and its only noticiable when booting laptop and nothing else ..really impressive screens . i have 32in 4K screen and to be honest i do love my 4K screen but its only 60hz gsync and even though 4K is eye candy i do like the MSI screen as looking at at head on (you will only ever look head on) itd amazing and on par with IPS .

Richdog · 28 Jan 2017 at 11:03

killswitch73 said:
its not MSI's fault as they state IPS level and and they do have screens that are true IPS , its an error by overclockers in titles saying "IPS". you will not get an IPS Gsync & 120hz . but if you get a IPS MSI they overclock well to around 75hz-100hz . some will some wont . my friend has a MSI GT72VR 6RE(Dominator Pro)-040UK and that overclocks to 85hz and its gsync and his IPS is only got slighlty better colours and the angles are a little better without colour shift . the IPS level screens are very very good and impresses me every day with very very slight bleed at bottom of the screens and its only noticiable when booting laptop and nothing else ..really impressive screens . i have 32in 4K screen and to be honest i do love my 4K screen but its only 60hz gsync and even though 4K is eye candy i do like the MSI screen as looking at at head on (you will only ever look head on) itd amazing and on par with IPS .

Why would you think that my only use for a laptop screen is looking at it head on? Viewing angles and colour wash-out do matter to many people, we don't all just sit alone in our bedrooms 100% of the time.

Anyway, a TN panel is not and never will be good enough for me personally, no matter how it is marketed. A 60hz G-Sync IPS panel would be fine for my uses with some overclocking. Thanks anyway, though.

killswitch73 · 29 Jan 2017 at 02:13

Richdog said:
Why would you think that my only use for a laptop screen is looking at it head on? Viewing angles and colour wash-out do matter to many people, we don't all just sit alone in our bedrooms 100% of the time.

Anyway, a TN panel is not and never will be good enough for me personally, no matter how it is marketed. A 60hz G-Sync IPS panel would be fine for my uses with some overclocking. Thanks anyway, though.

sorry for trying to help you . and i do not think your only use is to sit directly in front of the screen head on as i meant in general as people in general buy the machine to play games or watch Films . and i also said some overclock not all . as a few with ips screens in the MSI owners thread only overclock to 63hz .

All i was saying its a very good TN panel as i do have a 4K IPS GSYNC screen to put it next too for comparison .