Please help me choose a laptop

[snowy2020]

Hi all - new user to the forum (and new to PCSpecialist).

I am a coder and a gamer. My home rig is an i9-9900k/32Gb/RTX-2080ti but I have a caravan that we visit at weekends.

I want to be able to code (and respond to bug reports) at the van and also be able to game (COD/Death Stranding/SOTR type games).

I have been using a Surface Book 1 but i'm finding the screen is too small and, of course, it's useless for gaming. Although it is nice a quiet!

So I have been looking at replacing it.

I was initially going to buy a Lenovo Legion 5i 17. (17" 144Hz, RTX2060, i7 10750h, 15Gb Ram, 500Gb nvme)

But then I discovered PC Specialist - I especially like the dead pixel guarantee as I HATE dead/stuck pixels with a passion!

So I now have to choose between the Lenovo above and various PC Specialist machines.

My budget is around £1350 - I don't need Windows (I have a spare key).
I also have a brand new 1Tb M.2 nvme drive to put in at as a secondary. This is a 2280 format drive so it is important that that laptop supports this size.
It will be used 99% of the time on mains power and on a table (never on my knee).
Keyboard is pretty important to me as a coder (I do a lot of typing).
Although not a deal breaker I would like it to be as quiet as possible when browsing/coding.
Also I like quite a bright screen but can't find any info about the NITS for the laptops.
I will also probably upgrade the warranty but I wanted to do a like for like comparison to the Lenovo so I haven't included that below.

Here are the machines I have been looking at :

Machine 1 (Defiance) - £1340 :

Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel[emoji2400] Core[emoji769] i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA[emoji2400] GeForce[emoji2400] RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX[emoji2400] 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Defiance Series Integrated 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (73WH)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL[emoji2400] Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
17" DEFIANCE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365[emoji2400] (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft[emoji2400] Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Promotional Item
Get Rainbow Six Siege: Gold Edition with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

Machine 2 (Vyper) - £1354:

Chassis & Display
Vyper Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel[emoji2400] Core[emoji769] i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA[emoji2400] GeForce[emoji2400] RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX[emoji2400] 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Vyper Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL[emoji2400] Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.1 PORTS
Keyboard Language
VYPER 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365[emoji2400] (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft[emoji2400] Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7MP0P (6GB RTX-2060, i7-10875H, 144Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,354.00 including VAT and Delivery

Machine 3 (Optimus Pro XI) - £1146 :

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel[emoji2400] Core[emoji769] i7 Six Core Processor 10750H (2.6GHz, 5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA[emoji2400] GeForce[emoji2400] RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX[emoji2400] 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Optimus Series Integrated 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL[emoji2400] Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365[emoji2400] (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft[emoji2400] Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GK7MR0R (6GB RTX-2060, i7-10750H, 144Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,146.00 including VAT and Delivery

I considered the Optimus X V2 but can't really tell much difference between that and the Optimus Pro XI ?

So there are 4 machines to choose from :

Lenovo Legion 5i 17
Defiance
Vyper
Optimus XI Pro

All similar specs - First 3 are similar prices - The Optimus is cheaper.

Also I can't tell what chassis the Defiance uses (it doesn't specify in the specs) - Any ideas ?

Any help would REALLY be appreciated

 

[snowy2020]

Another options is the Optimus Pro but with a Ryzen 4800H instead of Intel - For the same money I can configure this with 32Gb of RAM (can sometimes be handy in heavy coding environments with VM's) and a 1Tb SSD :


Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 Eight Core Processor 4800H (2.9GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Optimus Series Integrated 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GK7NR0R (6GB RTX-2060, R7-4800H, 144Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,294.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[snowy2020]

Or ANOTHER alternative - If I spec the Vyper slightly differently (slower boot drive - still nvme) then for just about £100 more than my budget I can get a 2700 card in there :


Chassis & Display
Vyper Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Vyper Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.1 PORTS
Keyboard Language
VYPER 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7MP7P (8GB RTX-2070, i7-10875H, 144Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,458.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[Notapcspecialist]

I think it all comes down to whether you’d like a gaming laptop to code on, or a coding laptop to occasionally game on.

If gaming you would want the best GPU possible as it’s soldered down and will be the first bottleneck. Your final vyper spec with the 2070 would be ideal however I’d change the Intel m2 to the PCs one as Intel drives have sustainability issues.

If coding is the priority and you’re not worried about a gaming lifespan then go with the Ryzen & 2060 GPU. AMD are the go to however it’ll be a while before we see you them paired with mobile 2070 and up GPUs

hope that helps

edit: The vyper also has a thunderbolt which can increase the gaming lifespan considerably

 

[snowy2020]

Thanks for the info Much appreciated.

I guess it's mainly a coding and general use laptop with gaming now and again. I've got an awesome rig for gaming at home and I never really get chance to game on that these days (5 kids!).

Why the Ryzen may I ask ?

How will thunderbolt increase the gaming lifespan ?

Are the 2070 cards hampered by the power limit as opposed to the 2060 ?

I am a little worried about reports that the Vyper lettering on the keycaps wears off quite quickly - would PCS replace that under warranty?

Sorry for all the dumb questions but i'm a software expert and not a hardware one LOL

 

[Notapcspecialist]

This is what I’d recommend

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 120Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 Eight Core Processor 4800H (2.9GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Optimus Series Integrated 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS PRO SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
TongFang GK5NR0O (6GB RTX-2060, R7-4800H, 120Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,170.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/optimusXI-pro-15/2FCg9W6J6C/

 

[Notapcspecialist]

Thanks for the info Much appreciated.

I guess it's mainly a coding and general use laptop with gaming now and again. I've got an awesome rig for gaming at home and I never really get chance to game on that these days (5 kids!).

Why the Ryzen may I ask ?

How will thunderbolt increase the gaming lifespan ?

Are the 2070 cards hampered by the power limit as opposed to the 2060 ?

I am a little worried about reports that the Vyper lettering on the keycaps wears off quite quickly - would PCS replace that under warranty?

Sorry for all the dumb questions but i'm a software expert and not a hardware one LOL

Ah, ok. In that case I’d definitely go with an AMD Ryzen CPU with a slightly weaker GPU. You’d still have the gaming horsepower for gaming but would be significantly better with thermals, security and is cheaper.

So thunderbolt increases lifespan because you can plug GPUs in directly. Essentially you can use the base laptop and upgrade the GPU, something that’s not been possible in previous laptops. The laptop I’ve specced above doesn’t have this because gaming wasn’t your priority and because if gaming isn’t the priority there is honestly no reason to go intel (because intel have swung a deal with Nvidia where the top mobile GPUs are only available with intel).

With regards to vyper lettering I can’t help I’m afraid. No-one of the forum works for PCS (bar 1 or 2 employees who will state that fact). You would have to ask PCS though i would hope if it’s a persistent issue they fix it ASAP.

In essence: primarily gaming = 2070 GPU probably in vyper chassis

Primarily coding/general use with some gaming go with the laptop I’ve specced or something similar

Hope that helps!

Edit: get the silver warranty for £5, I missed that

 

[snowy2020]

That spec looks great but I would respec it with the 17" screen I think

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Laptops are a bit tricky, the usual advice is go with the one with the best GPU for your needs, then spec everything else. As mentioned above, unless you buy a Desktop Replacement machine, the GPU's are soldered in (and some CPU's). This make upgrading in the future all but impossible.

Thunderbolt 3, allows you to connect all sorts or hubs and monitors into it, if my dodgy memory serves, this restricts you to Intel machines though.

 

[snowy2020]

Hmmm....

I am considering throwing some more money at it and going for the Vyper with either the 2070 SUPER or the 2080 Max-Q - I'm wondering if the 2080 Max-Q will perform any better than the 2070 Super ? Or even the 2070 non-super ?

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Max Q cards are aimed at the thin and light chassis, usually with lower cores and power consumption than the 4 Star/Leaded versions found in the desktops. So are geared more for gaming but with an eye on the battery life too (although even with this power saving, it will still cane a battery pretty quickly).

Think it really depends on the application at hand but from what I've read the 2080 Max Q is about 13-18% faster/better than the 2070 Max Q.

If you are not fussed about batter life then it might pay you to have the non mobile version of the GPU, i was in the same boat hence why i bought a Desktop Replacement machine (although i couldnt find a RTX 2080 at the time.

 

[snowy2020]

I don't care about battery life to be honest - It will always be on mains - This machine is purely to take to my caravan every other weekend March to October and will always be on mains. Outside of that time it will never even be switched on.

I would LOVE to be able to game at the van but I don't think the kids will let me LOL!

A primary consideration is going to be noise - A caravan is the kind of place where you have to really be quiet when the kids are asleep. It's a tourer so we are basically all inside a tin box! I don't really want the roar of fans waking everyone up if I decide I can sneak ten minutes on COD.

I'm maybe getting carried away a little on specs and wanting everything perfect (I did that with my rig at home and I use only a fraction of it's power).

Realistically my main use is going to be web browsing, Slack, Skype, Notepad++, FTP. With the odd game thrown in when I get chance. I would be happy to dial down to High settings rather than Ultra.

So, now i'm thinking of the Optimus Ryzen and 2060 combo again vs the Lenovo 5i (10750h/2060/16Gb) for £1349 vs the Optimus at about £1200.

The Lenovo looks better IMHO and I'm a fan of Lenovo kit (I have a TS140 Thinkserver that has been running for years and has never let me down, not once) BUT I absolutely hate dead/stuck pixels with a passion. I once sent a Plasma back 3 times under the DSR because of this and scrapped a Dell notebook years ago because of it.

I could get the Lenovo and send it back within 14 days if it had dead pixels under the CCR but i'm worried it would develop them at a later date.

The Optimus comes with a 1 year dead pixel guarantee.

Who knew buying something to replace my Surface Book would be so difficult!

 

[Grumpywurzel]

I know it's a right pain. If you start chucking big ole graphics card in any laptop, then the fans will always ramp up, probably not a good call then with the sea sprouts in bed asleep.

 

[snowy2020]

Yup!

So... I 'm going to ramp down my requirements here and make it between the Lenovo and the Optimus configs (Intel vs AMD I guess).

My gut tells me to go with Lenovo due to the awesome reviews of the keyboard BUT that is only based on insufficent reviews of the Optimus keyboard.

And... The Optimus has the dead pixel guarantee...

 

[Grumpywurzel]

If it were a desktop system, the general advice would be to go with AMD. However i havent got a clue if the same performance difference is the same with mobile chips, sorry.

 

[luckyluca]

If it were a desktop system, the general advice would be to go with AMD. However i havent got a clue if the same performance difference is the same with mobile chips, sorry.

In my days it was go with Intel and Nvidia.
I'm a bit behind, care to elaborate?

Thanks

 

[SpyderTracks]

In my days it was go with Intel and Nvidia.
I'm a bit behind, care to elaborate?

Thanks

AMD are streets ahead of intel in the mobile space both in single core and multi core, plus with thermals and power. There's just absolutely no contest, AMD are the ones to go for with regards to CPU and will be for the foreseeable future.

With regards to GPU's in the mobile space, currently nvidia are the ones to go with. But expect that to start to change over this next year as AMD start releasing much more competitive options.

On desktop, AMD outperform Intel by absolute miles in multithreaded. In single threaded, Intel just about hold the crown, but it's such a minor win and for such a huge price increase, it's almost always not the right choice to make. The only area it's still really relevant to go with Intel is competitive gaming at 1080p.

And desktop GPU's are the same as mobile, AMD are about to release some serious contenders to give NVidia a run for their money, to be released in September (both AMD and Nvidia new cards)

 

[Grumpywurzel]

In my days it was go with Intel and Nvidia.
I'm a bit behind, care to elaborate?

Thanks

@SpyderTracks has got this covered, agree in "my day" grumble, grumble it was Intel and Nvidia too 🤣 🤣 . These young whippersnappers interfere with everything these days!

 

[snowy2020]

Yup I remember that as well - It was either red/red or blue/green !

 

[snowy2020]

On a serious note - Budget aside - I want the quietest laptop I get get away with gaming on - I am guessing the Optimus chassis will have that advantage (being bigger) - Will the AMD CPU also run cooler (and thus quieter) ?