Please decide for me..

[spikerules]

Op what are your main purposes, portability or staying in one place and moving it around once in a while?

for £2500 the gigabyte aorus looks to have the best specs

Best specs doesn't always equate to best laptop. Gigabyte lack TB3 and thus any kind of future proofing. I spent £2500 on a 1060 Razer laptop with Razer core for instance. The build quality, finish, TB3 port and weight all equate to a better purchase than any 1070 gigabyte laptop at a better spec IMO.

 

[nightmare99]

Best specs doesn't always equate to best laptop. Gigabyte lack TB3 and thus any kind of future proofing.

Be fair, the vast majority of gaming laptops sold are not and will not be used with an external GPU. Just because it is your number one requirement does not mean it will be a priority for somebody else.

 

[Dizz]

Hi guys,

The number one use of the laptop will be gaming at ultra settings. Many different types of games. I play a lot of DOTA so could have gone for a 1060 model but the 1070 ensures that I can play my other games at max settings.

I do prefer a larger size. While I am always on the move, I will 95% of the time, have a desk or suitable surface to put it on so I want it to be somewhat of a monster.

I prefer the larger sizes also due to the better cooling potential. I would agree that the Aorus looks the best bang for buck but I have doubts on its cooling compared to the other 2 which sport mammoth exhaust vents.

I am still massively considering the MSI despite some users experiences. The MXM upgrade would not affect me in the slightest so it doesnt even come into my factors to decide..

There is a lot of choice out there and while the Razer brand is a premium, the 1080 model is the one I would go for and it isnt out in the UK yet.

 

[spikerules]

Be fair, the vast majority of gaming laptops sold are not and will not be used with an external GPU. Just because it is your number one requirement does not mean it will be a priority for somebody else.

Oh no. My number one concern is having a laptop that will last and running a fast external Thuderbolt RAID array. All of which are useless if you buy a gigabyte. It's just common sense to buy somehow that will last.

As for external GPU's? They are in their infancy, but wouldn't you rather have the option? If your answer is no then you deserve to get conned by Gigabyte.

Hi guys,

The number one use of the laptop will be gaming at ultra settings. Many different types of games. I play a lot of DOTA so could have gone for a 1060 model but the 1070 ensures that I can play my other games at max settings.

I do prefer a larger size. While I am always on the move, I will 95% of the time, have a desk or suitable surface to put it on so I want it to be somewhat of a monster.

I prefer the larger sizes also due to the better cooling potential. I would agree that the Aorus looks the best bang for buck but I have doubts on its cooling compared to the other 2 which sport mammoth exhaust vents.

I am still massively considering the MSI despite some users experiences. The MXM upgrade would not affect me in the slightest so it doesnt even come into my factors to decide..

There is a lot of choice out there and while the Razer brand is a premium, the 1080 model is the one I would go for and it isnt out in the UK yet.

Fair enough then. I would go for an Asus or MSI to be honest. I personally don't like bulk and if I needed to add some bulk I wouldnt add it to the laptop! I'd go external as I've mentioned in my other posts. However if you want to take your laptop out and about that obviously isn't going to be the easiest thing to lug about.

Then again lugging about a massive laptop isn't what I would call easy either... From what I hear the Razer laptops are great for cooling, but they do get loud!

 

[nightmare99]

Oh no. My number one concern is having a laptop that will last and running a fast external Thuderbolt RAID array. All of which are useless if you buy a gigabyte. It's just common sense to buy somehow that will last.

To be honest that's probably even more of an edge case on a gaming laptop than an external GPU, like I say its horses for courses. No offence intended just pointing out that a priority for you wont be the same for others.

 

[spikerules]

To be honest that's probably even more of an edge case on a gaming laptop than an external GPU, like I say its horses for courses. No offence intended just pointing out that a priority for you wont be the same for others.

Oh no offence taken! Everyone has different needs. And in some cases people don't need common sense. Who needs a laptop that is future proof longer than just one gen of GPU or to get more external and fast storage. Who needs that, right

 

[nightmare99]

Who needs a laptop that is future proof longer than just one gen of GPU or to get more external and fast storage. Who needs that, right

To be honest only a small percentage of people will actually do that, no problems pointing out the facility.

 

[MiSJAH]

To be honest only a small percentage of people will actually do that*, no problems pointing out the facility.

*Citation needed.

Or maybe you are just guessing?

 

[kaktus]

I feel it's my duty to inform potential MSI customers of their current behaviour towards it's customers.

If you were in the market for a new expensive gaming notebook, wouldn't you want to know?

He probably wants to know how the product might compare to other products available you know in terms of performance, noise, quality etc and not about how you feel cheated by MSI because they won't comply with your demands (if by some miracle he's missed your 900 rants and isn't already fully aware which doesn't seem likely since he's specifically addressed the mxm update in his first post)

Dizz- you might want to consider an Alienware 17 R4. It seems to be surprisingly good value atm (and you can get a straight 10% discount off just by messaging online Dell Chat and asking for one). Couple of things to be aware of: there seems to be some people reporting problems with the heatsinks and poor thermals and the 17 version has a 120hz panel with apparent banding - this may or may not be an issue for you. Otherwise, it seems like the AW is relatively quiet, well constructed and top specs for considerbly lower price plus dell's support is excellent

 

[killswitch73]

has the OP considered this as i have . OMEN by HP 17-w102na

£1500 cant be bad .


great spec, just needs the ram upgrading .

but if i was spending what you want to spend then it would be this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoru...l-core-i7-6820hk-gaming-laptop-lt-02b-au.html

 

[Dizz]

Dizz- you might want to consider an Alienware 17 R4. It seems to be surprisingly good value atm (and you can get a straight 10% discount off just by messaging online Dell Chat and asking for one). Couple of things to be aware of: there seems to be some people reporting problems with the heatsinks and poor thermals and the 17 version has a 120hz panel with apparent banding - this may or may not be an issue for you. Otherwise, it seems like the AW is relatively quiet, well constructed and top specs for considerbly lower price plus dell's support is excellent

Hi Kaktus,

I had considered the alienware actually this time round as an initial advertisement caught my eye. I have watched a number of video reviews that have said the thermals arent the best so I have been a little put off by that.

has the OP considered this as i have . OMEN by HP 17-w102na

£1500 cant be bad .


great spec, just needs the ram upgrading .

but if i was spending what you want to spend then it would be this

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aorus...lt-02b-au.html

Yes considered this also. Did I write on your thread? If not I was going to at lunch time to say that I had checked out a few videos and although seems really good value for money, in my view it doesnt stack up to the other 3 mentioned. Although I do stress, good value!!

 

[Dizz]

Here's another question to add to the mix..

Would you rather a 15.6" 120Hz screen or a 17.3" 60Hz G-Sync screen??

 

[kaktus]

Hi Kaktus,

I had considered the alienware actually this time round as an initial advertisement caught my eye. I have watched a number of video reviews that have said the thermals arent the best so I have been a little put off by that.

It's mainly the 15inch versions which people are reporting the thermal issues with. Dell claims less than 1% of the units shipped have had this issue and it was early versions which have since been corrected. I'd take both statements with a pinch of salt. Bear in mind that on notebookreview there's a number of people who've re-pasted and they're running full load 10 hrs + at 40-50C which is astonishingly good especially for the 15 inch.

The 17inch has been a bit better from what I can tell and particularly for the standard 6700HQ processor.

So I wouldn't write it off just yet - but keep an eye on it

Here's another question to add to the mix..

Would you rather a 15.6" 120Hz screen or a 17.3" 60Hz G-Sync screen??

Depends, are you one of those people that thinks they can tell the difference between 60hz and 120hz? I think this is less important than G-sync but even then I'm sceptical about it. I just haven't seen enough of g-sync to really say "hm yea that's a big difference between v-sync or no-sync"

Try this video to get a feel of how it might look for you and judge for yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU8dnhFZKmM

 

[killswitch73]

Hi Kaktus,

I had considered the alienware actually this time round as an initial advertisement caught my eye. I have watched a number of video reviews that have said the thermals arent the best so I have been a little put off by that.



Yes considered this also. Did I write on your thread? If not I was going to at lunch time to say that I had checked out a few videos and although seems really good value for money, in my view it doesnt stack up to the other 3 mentioned. Although I do stress, good value!!

the vid you posted is not of the actual model . there is no vids of the actual model as its not been released yet and wont be until around 10th December . even though it says 5-10 working days on the Omen site i spoke to them to see if there as any black friday deals coming on. and even though they say no i do think there will be some kind of bundles and discount codes. there is a 3% code out there lurking and it works . so im thinking there will either be a cashback thing or a better discount code .

 

[kaktus]

Correction - Alienware prices have gone up £200 over night from yesterday to today so now not so good value anymore. Actually pretty poor value tbh as the base 1070 spec is just over 2k and only comes with 1x 7200rpm HDD and 8GB ram.

 

[killswitch73]

Correction - Alienware prices have gone up £200 over night from yesterday to today so now not so good value anymore. Actually pretty poor value tbh as the base 1070 spec is just over 2k and only comes with 1x 7200rpm HDD and 8GB ram.

its a marketing thing where they hike the prices up before black Friday and then knock them back down with about £50 extra off . a few days ago there was a £100 code off all alienwares and now its only on XPS .

 

[kaktus]

its a marketing thing where they hike the prices up before black Friday and then knock them back down with about £50 extra off . a few days ago there was a £100 code off all alienwares and now its only on XPS .

They do that **** all the time. Every week it's either 10% off or £100 off.

If it works the best way to do it is sign up to my myunidays.com (I use my sister in law as she's a student) and get 10% discount code for Dell/HP/Apple etc

Go through quidco or TCB. Spec what you want. Apply discount code at checkout.

If it works (I haven't tested it yet as I haven't bought a system in years) you'll end up getting 10% off at check out and 7% off through quidco.

 

[Spike_UK]

Correction - Alienware prices have gone up £200 over night from yesterday to today so now not so good value anymore. Actually pretty poor value tbh as the base 1070 spec is just over 2k and only comes with 1x 7200rpm HDD and 8GB ram.

They appear to not be honoring older orders now too.

I ordered the Alienware 15 R3 with 120hz G-SYNC and a few tweaks for £1886 Inc VAT on Nov 5th.
That order has sat in Pre-Production since then with the estimated delivery date slipping even further and further into late November (25th as of today).

I contacted them today to find out what's happening only to be told the following.

"I have checked the status and find that the note on this order is that a particular part of this order is " end of life" which would suggest that this order may not be fulfilled and could be cancelled. Please let me know if I can arrange a call from our sales team to discuss other options."

Instantly I checked the order page again to see that the configuration I've selected is now nearly £300 more.

This seems to me as a way of forcing me to repurchase at the higher price. The "other options" from the sales team will be a price hike! A bit underhanded to say the least.

I can still spec up the exact same machine just £300 more than before. There's nothing "end of life" with the spec, they're simply fobbing me off.

Not pleased.
I was toying with Auros and went for AW because it was cheaper and had TB3 support. I have no idea what to go for now.

AW and Auros seemed to be the only option for both 120hz AND G-SYNC.

 

[Dizz]

"I have checked the status and find that the note on this order is that a particular part of this order is " end of life" which would suggest that this order may not be fulfilled and could be cancelled. Please let me know if I can arrange a call from our sales team to discuss other options."

Very frustrating. It is as if they think we are thick as mince! I suppose a lot of their customers fall for this bull**** or they wouldnt do it but as a customer who knows his **** it is so annoying where they make stuff up.

I had it on another website where I asked a question about the frame rate and they made up some horsesH*T to try and put my mind at ease about buying their product.

 

[Spike_UK]

Very frustrating. It is as if they think we are thick as mince! I suppose a lot of their customers fall for this bull**** or they wouldnt do it but as a customer who knows his **** it is so annoying where they make stuff up.

I had it on another website where I asked a question about the frame rate and they made up some horsesH*T to try and put my mind at ease about buying their product.

I actually wouldn't have minded if they were up front and said that they can't supply at that price anymore. I'd still be miffed, but I wouldn't feel like I'm being misled.

I think even someone without technical knowledge would find it incredulous that a part for a brand new laptop can be "end of life". Out of stock maybe, but end of life? Unlikely, and even less likely when the exact same laptop and spec are still on sale, just at a higher price.

I'm inclined to cancel the order and take my business elsewhere just out of principle.

I'm normally a fan of Dell. We use them in work for our workstations and laptops (education discount is good!) and I've have had nothing but praise for them as a business customer.

This is my second order as a consumer and it's the second time I find myself regretting my choice.