Sanity Check

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 02:02

I’m considering purchasing a ‘thin’ gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 15, I currently have an Hp Spectre x360 and a main rig (specs in sig). I plan on buying the new ti when it lands with an HDR UW / 4K monitor next year.

Main machine is unusable in the day due to glare. I work from home and have to use my phone/laptop in the day and work on the computer in the evening; Mrs works then too. I get a couple hours gaming in the afternoon.

I travel often; long flight coming soon, with a lot of sitting around. When I’m not working I’d like to play some games. With a something like a Razer Blade 15 I can use it for work and travel, to get my afternoon gaming session it. It will probably run better than my main machine, and I can still use it for work the rest of the time.

I nearly always have power when I travel, so a couple of hours battery life is fine, more is a nice bonus.

I can sell the Spectre x360 (great nick) to contribute to the Razer.

So, is my logic sound or am I ****ing bonkers?

Rroff · 27 Jun 2018 at 02:09

Hah - depends if you'll actually use it or not - I spent a lot of money doing something similar and then just never actually used it for its power instead mostly watching videos, etc.

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 02:15

Rroff said:
Hah - depends if you'll actually use it or not - I spent a lot of money doing something similar and then just never actually used it for its power instead mostly watching videos, etc.

This is a very good point. Short answer is yes, I’ll definitely use it to game. It’s deeply annoying that I’ve got a half decent machine, and time to use it, and can’t because of the bloody glare.

What did you get? Pleased with its YouTube/Netflix performance?

Rroff · 27 Jun 2018 at 02:26

Was a couple of years or so back now - semi-custom Clevo - now changed to a GPD Pocket as it is much more convenient for travelling though somewhat limited for gaming heh.

terley · 27 Jun 2018 at 02:48

A gaming laptop can never compare to a desktop, even when set-up in desktop mode with their peripherals.. a year or so back i bought a £1,500 gigabyte gaming laptop i7 top end 900 series GPU at the time.. even with a £600 monitor, £150 keyboard, £100 mouse and £90 headset the experience didn't compare to desktop.

Mainly due to noise, heat, external display issues and the spiderweb of wires every time i wanted to take it out..

My current desktop setup is in my sig, but in october i'm buying a thinkpad without a GPU purely for work.

Rroff · 27 Jun 2018 at 03:26

terley said:
A gaming laptop can never compare to a desktop, even when set-up in desktop mode with their peripherals.. a year or so back i bought a £1,500 gigabyte gaming laptop i7 top end 900 series GPU at the time.. even with a £600 monitor, £150 keyboard, £100 mouse and £90 headset the experience didn't compare to desktop.

The laptop in my sig I use as basically a second desktop system - back when the GPU was relevant it did pretty well compared to desktop GPUs and the CPU still holds up pretty well today.

Eurofighter · 27 Jun 2018 at 07:16

You could just get some blinds or a curtain to reduce the glare. but as a gamer I think a gaming laptop and a nice rig is a good idea, I mostly play mmorpgs and do this on my laptop. its a semi gaming laptop with a nvidia 950, I would love an Alienware. will need it if Star Citizen ever gets finished. Need a new rig for that too.

Atom80 · 27 Jun 2018 at 09:26

WantoN said:
I’m considering purchasing a ‘thin’ gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 15, I currently have an Hp Spectre x360 and a main rig (specs in sig). I plan on buying the new ti when it lands with an HDR UW / 4K monitor next year.

Main machine is unusable in the day due to glare. I work from home and have to use my phone/laptop in the day and work on the computer in the evening; Mrs works then too. I get a couple hours gaming in the afternoon.

I travel often; long flight coming soon, with a lot of sitting around. When I’m not working I’d like to play some games. With a something like a Razer Blade 15 I can use it for work and travel, to get my afternoon gaming session it. It will probably run better than my main machine, and I can still use it for work the rest of the time.

I nearly always have power when I travel, so a couple of hours battery life is fine, more is a nice bonus.

I can sell the Spectre x360 (great nick) to contribute to the Razer.

So, is my logic sound or am I ****ing bonkers?

Hi @WantoN - Sounds like you need an AERO 15 in your life.

Fits your profile perfectly, and will give you more battery life than you actually demand,,,,, 8-10 hours of light use is completely realistic.

Just yesterday we learned that AERO15 is Number 1 within Notebookchecks' round up / reviews of all products in this segment.

With Gigabyte bringing this form factor to market over 1 year ago, we really are the Original,,,,, others claim "worlds first" ….. ??????? blah blah blah.....

Top 10 Thin and Light Gaming Notbooks

Because of high demand, we have sold out of the GTX1070 (MaxQ), AERO15X version, but do have stock of the Full Fat GTX1060 (AERO15W) version.

The "X" will be landing in the UK over the next week to 10 days.

Check the AERO15 Range @ OcUK:

Any questions let us know, and we hope that helps with your decision making.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:31

Atom80 said:
Hi @WantoN - Sounds like you need an AERO 15 in your life.

Atom, nice seeing vendor reps getting involved. I particularly liked the 15x but unfortunately the enormous gigabyte logo on the back, and lack of an available 1070, are deal breakers for me

I’m in no rush, so if something surfaces that has a 1070, and less garish branding, I’d be very tempted.

terley said:
A gaming laptop can never compare to a desktop,

I’ve used a laptop in lieu of a desktop quite a few times, what about it is it you don’t think compares? Have you seen the latest offerings? They pack incredible performance, and run pretty quiet too...

Eurofighter said:
You could just get some blinds or a curtain to reduce the glare. but as a gamer I think a gaming laptop and a nice rig is a good idea, I mostly play mmorpgs and do this on my laptop. its a semi gaming laptop with a nvidia 950, I would love an Alienware. will need it if Star Citizen ever gets finished. Need a new rig for that too.

Hi mate, thanks for posting. Like you I want it for other things, like I said I travel a lot. Being able to game in any room of the house, on planes/trains etc with my travel mouse and a controller is very appealing.

We have sun reflecting perfect fit blinds throughout the conservatory, but that end of the garden is a suntrap, I’ve tried hanging a load of blankets but it’s a pain and hardly elegant! especially if clients are coming round, and you’d need loads as it pours through the roof too (we got that blue glass but it hardly helped), roof has the same blinds.

We’re tidy freaks also, so piles of towels doesn’t appeal. I’m working on a clip in shroud, but it’ll be boiling and inelegant.

wolfie138 · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:35

is there some reason why forking out on an expensive superfluous bit of kit is a better option than looking into reducing the glare on your monitor? surely a change of angle,a set of curtains, or just a movable item to cast shade would be a better option?

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:42

wolfie138 said:
is there some reason why forking out on an expensive superfluous bit of kit is a better option than looking into reducing the glare on your monitor? surely a change of angle,a set of curtains, or just a movable item to cast shade would be a better option?

Thanks for sharing mate. I’ve had the rig in there for about 3 years, trust me I’ve been experimenting!

The monitor is on a good arm but I simply can’t find a position that mitigates glare at all.

There’s only one place it can be, party due to where the power and Ethernet is run. The sun floods through the roof so putting something in the way has proved impossible.

Curtains are a no go, mounting them would be very difficult and they would look awful. The span is wide and bunched up curtains would make accessing the end windows a pain. Plus it must pass the mrs test!

Considering the laptop will cost less than my planned upgrade, and will delay it, I don’t see it as that expensive tbh!

As I said, I travel a lot, so there would be plenty of opportunities to use it on the go too. (I’m not arguing, this is why I want the discussion to see if I was convincing myself, or if it made sense!)

Rannoch · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:44

I remember my Alienware with a 1080, great machine but under load the noise was annoying.

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:46

Vargas said:
I remember my Alienware with a 1080, great machine but under load the noise was annoying.

Crikey bet that was a beast! Yes noise is a concern, on the train moreso than plane!

New ones review quite favourably with sound... am I bonkers or thinking they won’t be annoyingly loud?

Rannoch · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:49

It was a beast. I now live in the quiet lane with an iPad. Silent bliss lol

Have you checked YouTube for reviews on the Razor?

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:52

Vargas said:
It was a beast. I now live in the quiet lane with an iPad. Silent bliss lol

Have you checked YouTube for reviews on the Razor?

Yes mate I’ve been checking all the contenders. The Razer appeals for its aesthetic, size and is apparently quite quiet. It has a high speed Nvme and 16gb of ram which you can upgrade. Only downside is it doesn’t have a second M.2 slot.

MiSJAH · 27 Jun 2018 at 10:59

WantoN said:
Yes mate I’ve been checking all the contenders. The Razer appeals for its aesthetic, size and is apparently quite quiet. It has a high speed Nvme and 16gb of ram which you can upgrade. Only downside is it doesn’t have a second M.2 slot.

The Razers have either Max-Q edition GPU's leading to a class below performance, eg 1070 Max-Q performs like a standard 1060, or throttling issues.

The alternative for you would be an AORUS X5. I have the X5V6 and it outperforms my old desktop that had I7-4790K and GTX 980Ti. The newer X5 has the 6 core I7 and full fat GTX 1070 and 144Hz IPS display.

My specs are in my sig, if you have any questions I'm happy to answer.

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 11:05

MiSJAH said:
The Razers have either Max-Q edition GPU's leading to a class below performance, eg 1070 Max-Q performs like a standard 1060, or throttling issues.

The alternative for you would be an AORUS X5. I have the X5V6 and it outperforms my old desktop that had I7-4790K and GTX 980Ti. The newer X5 has the 6 core I7 and full fat GTX 1070 and 144Hz IPS display.

My specs are in my sig, if you have any questions I'm happy to answer.

This is very interesting. The benchmarks I’ve seen put the 1070 max-q at about 10-20% below the 1070 or somewhere between the full fat and the 1060. I’ve seen really good fps at high/Ultra in tests that include thermals / noise / throttling results. I was impressed. Do you think these are fluffed a bit?

MiSJAH · 27 Jun 2018 at 11:24

Here's the firestrike graphics results for the new blade:

Link.

and here's mine with a full GTX 1070:

Link.

As you can see the results in the first image for the GTX 1080 Max-Q are readily outperformed by the full 1070 in my AORUS.

Noise management/temp control with max-q is via under performing the GPU.

novaenough · 27 Jun 2018 at 11:43

Would a monitor hood help for your pc?
PChOOD Pro Hood for 15-26 inch Monitor https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0037WXWPS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_YN2mBbEHZD6NY
You could always knock something up yourself to see if it would help rather than buying one.

WantoN · 27 Jun 2018 at 11:51

MiSJAH said:
Here's the firestrike graphics results for the new blade:

Link.

and here's mine with a full GTX 1070:

Link.

As you can see the results in the first image for the GTX 1080 Max-Q are readily outperformed by the full 1070 in my AORUS.

Noise management/temp control with max-q is via under performing the GPU.

I’m happy to take a small hit in performance for quieter, cooler operation and a smaller form factor. It is for travel too after all.

But sorry mate, I’m missing something. The 1070 in the Razer performs only 13% less than a 1080 (both Max-Q)?

The 1080Max-Q seems to have a better score than the second picture too.

Very much appreciate you taking the time to link pictures to aid in my dilemma

I looked at the Aorus x5 v8, whilst it’s a very capable machine, it’s large, heavy and very gamery, with thick bezels and an aesthetic that wouldn’t really fit in a board room.

Sanity Check

AORUS Rep