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Ignoring money, what laptop would you buy and why?


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As the title suggests:

If money was no concern, what make/model laptop would you purchase and why?

Unlocked BIOS?

Great cooling?

OC potential?

Easily up-gradable?

Port connectivity?

Nice display?

etc.

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Alienware M18x with 780M SLI and haswell CPU. Clevo will have competitors with similar performance but AW is my preferred brand. As for why in detail:

1. Bios allows OC

2. Easier upgrade path for future GPU vs competitors like Clevo/MSI/Asus

3. Next day at home warranty service.

4. 18" display

5. Metal build

6. Nice design + alienfX lights.

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I'd stick with this laptop. Clevos most certainly have their issues, which are annoying, but I am a nerd and I waste my time on this stuff as a hobby anyway. Unfortunately significant modding is required to make cooling competitive with top AW laptops, but it's doable. Only MSI makes a 15inch laptop that can also use the top end cards, but while it can be made acceptable, MSI laptops just seem to have a bit underpowered cooling. I need to take a laptop into school almost every day, and I am not aware of any 15 inch that has the power and modability of this laptop. 17inch just seems a bit too big to me, and I see no reason for the jump when the screen resolutions are the same anyway. Nvidia doesn't allow optimus on SLI laptops for some reason, so the battery life is horrid.

My favorite is that clevo provides complete voltage regulation schematics. For a nerd like me that provides endless possibilities. I need to practice heat gun skills on this dead 580 I have :)

As for what I would like to see, I would love a metal chassis. My last laptop had one and it just made the laptop so much more durable and just feel high quality. No one makes them though for high end non-business laptops.

Some people might not call it a laptop, but a P570WM would certainly be interesting to mess around with.

Update: found out that the m18x does in fact have a metal chassis. I'm jealous :(

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I had one apart the other day. You can fit a micro ITX mobo in there. And with something like this:

picoPSU-160-XT, 160watt (200watt peak) , 12V input DC-DC ATX Power Supply

OpenUPS

You can make the the desktop it always wanted to be. Just hookup some LiPo batteries (or use the giant one it already has).

tbh, I'm actually trying to figure how to build something both with a desktop CPU and desktop GPU while still fitting the laptop category (not the Dell version of the laptop category). The only thing I cannot figure out is how to adequately power a desktop GPU off batteries. A good GPU I should say (laptop with a Titan let's go!).

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Well the new Clevo P370SM3 120Hz/3D seems tempting. As I mostly work on my systems the integrated Thunderbolt port comes in handy to capture multiple 3D streams loss-less etc...

I would combine it with 2x K6000M and and a nice XM CPU and tweak the BIOS and cooling myself.

But as Khenglish said I really enjoy maxing my P170HM3 and hacking the sh.. out of it, I think next year will bring us the real perf. boost for CPU and GPU.

To sum it up I feel content and no urge to get a new system this year.

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I'd stick with this laptop. Clevos most certainly have their issues, which are annoying, but I am a nerd and I waste my time on this stuff as a hobby anyway. Unfortunately significant modding is required to make cooling competitive with top AW laptops, but it's doable. Only MSI makes a 15inch laptop that can also use the top end cards, but while it can be made acceptable, MSI laptops just seem to have a bit underpowered cooling. I need to take a laptop into school almost every day, and I am not aware of any 15 inch that has the power and modability of this laptop. 17inch just seems a bit too big to me, and I see no reason for the jump when the screen resolutions are the same anyway. Nvidia doesn't allow optimus on SLI laptops for some reason, so the battery life is horrid.

My favorite is that clevo provides complete voltage regulation schematics. For a nerd like me that provides endless possibilities. I need to practice heat gun skills on this dead 580 I have :)

As for what I would like to see, I would love a metal chassis. My last laptop had one and it just made the laptop so much more durable and just feel high quality. No one makes them though for high end non-business laptops.

Some people might not call it a laptop, but a P570WM would certainly be interesting to mess around with.

Update: found out that the m18x does in fact have a metal chassis. I'm jealous :(

About the part in bold: Alienware has manual switching in M18x so it gets about 4-5 hours of battery life.

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Well the new Clevo P370SM3 120Hz/3D seems tempting. As I mostly work on my systems the integrated Thunderbolt port comes in handy to capture multiple 3D streams loss-less etc...

I would combine it with 2x K6000M and and a nice XM CPU and tweak the BIOS and cooling myself.

But as Khenglish said I really enjoy maxing my P170HM3 and hacking the sh.. out of it, I think next year will bring us the real perf. boost for CPU and GPU.

To sum it up I feel content and no urge to get a new system this year.

How about for the less BIOS modding inclined (read: me). How good is the stock BIOS?

Thunderbolt would be awesome to have, especially if I could get my hands on a TH05 adapter (Thunderbolt to PCIe adapter for eGPU). The physical side of modding is appealing.

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How about for the less BIOS modding inclined (read: me). How good is the stock BIOS?

Thunderbolt would be awesome to have, especially if I could get my hands on a TH05 adapter (Thunderbolt to PCIe adapter for eGPU). The physical side of modding is appealing.

Stock BIOS is bad. BIOS is most certainly a resounding win for the AW camp. Even when running a modded BIOS I still have bugs like my BIOS refuses to load ES microcode updates, and the GPU fan will sometimes stick on at low speed even when the 680m is off and below 30C.

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M18x R2, mostly because its massive and 2x680m's!

Plus for a gaming laptop I wanted something to replace my desktop this does it nicely 18" screen and also massive power with only one annoyance and the lack of optimus.

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  • 3 months later...

One of the current Clevo 3xx series is what I'd probably end up with. (2x MXM 3b slots, accommodates 3 or 4 (can't remember) HDDs/SSDs, and it isn't too gaudy looking imho)

Been using a Clevo W860CU for a few years now. I've realized they (Clevo's in general) are extremely upgrade friendly, albeit "chincy" in some areas. (I guess you could say I'm willing to make some sacrifices in the name of performance vs. cost)

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Razer Blade 14 and a Alienware 14 plus some tools. Crack open both display assemblies, take the IPS display from the AW 14 and put it into the RzB 14, repaste, etc. My perfect road warrior made.

Going the route of desktop replacement - I'm not the biggest fan of dual GPUs so actually it would be the M17x R3 with modded bios, 2920xm/2960xm, and Quadro K5100m (not 780m because of compatibility issues with audio) plus WiHD. 3D version because the display used in the non-lightboost 120Hz display has the best overall RGB coverage and the Sandy Bridge Mobo is the last of the Alienware laptops to have WiHD no matter what GPU you have. This would serve as my workstation and server.

Finally, the gaming laptop...the one in my sig :D

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  • 4 weeks later...
Razer Blade 14 and a Alienware 14 plus some tools. Crack open both display assemblies, take the IPS display from the AW 14 and put it into the RzB 14, repaste, etc. My perfect road warrior made.

Going the route of desktop replacement - I'm not the biggest fan of dual GPUs so actually it would be the M17x R3 with modded bios, 2920xm/2960xm, and Quadro K5100m (not 780m because of compatibility issues with audio) plus WiHD. 3D version because the display used in the non-lightboost 120Hz display has the best overall RGB coverage and the Sandy Bridge Mobo is the last of the Alienware laptops to have WiHD no matter what GPU you have. This would serve as my workstation and server.

Finally, the gaming laptop...the one in my sig :D

For me it would have to be the Dell M6700 OR M6800 with k5000m+ card. And if money is not an issue you can just pay someone to carry it for you as it weights a ton.:friendly_wink:

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