Laptop hunt

[Voodoo Rufus]

I've been casually looking at getting a new laptop for a few months now. Mainly I was waiting for Falcon NW to update their laptops (TLX mainly) to the newest hardware, but then I got to thinking few manufacturers build their own chassis. I think I figured out that Falcon uses Clevo chassis for their laptops, and then Xotic markets Clevo under their brand or Sager. Once spec'ed out, there's not much difference between the Sager/Xotic Clevo options within the same chassis part number. So besides "ownership experience" and brand name, what is one paying for in the Falcon laptop that justifies a 15% premium over Xotic/Sager?

More background: I bought the wife a nice Asus Intel laptop with a 16" OLED screen and it's beautifully built and wonderful to use. We usually share it on weekends, but she gets first use if there's something important. I did have a 2nd Gen Core i7 Alienware M17X R3 which I retired a couple years ago. It was a heavy brick at 8lbs or more. Now I'm interested in my own laptop but with a less wieldy 15.6" screen and less weight for weekend or vacation trips. I don't need a ton of gaming horsepower but it's nice to have the occasional option to fire something up. That's how I ended up zeroing in on the Falcon TLX. Besides having a good reputation, the I/O is far better arranged compared to most consumer options. I like having the power, video I/O and ethernet plugs on the back. And I don't particularly like the expandable RJ45 plug in favor of a full size one.

 

[notarat]

Frame Work 13 or 16. Choose prebuilt or DIY.

 

[Trap05]

Have you looked at the MSI gaming line?

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Frame Work 13 or 16. Choose prebuilt or DIY.

Who? Not much detail there justifying it.

Have you looked at the MSI gaming line?

MSI could work. I'd consider their laptops.

 

[Trap05]

I worked on an Acer Nito the other day as well that I found to be quite decent

 

[notarat]

Frame Work 13 or 16. Choose prebuilt or DIY.



Have you looked at the MSI gaming line?

The 2 posts you quoted contain the same amount of information...I know you know how to google

 

[Archer0915]

I have an ASUS 14in that is good. ROG something or other. Good battery life and light.

 

[notarat]

I have an ASUS 14in that is good. ROG something or other. Good battery life and light.

I currently have an Asus Tuff that's pretty good. Only thing I don't like about it is the RGB keyboard. Other than that it's pretty good.

I did order the Framework 16 to replace it though since it is so modular and has the 10key and macro keys.

Framework Laptop 16 now shipping

Framework Laptop: A thin, light, high-performance notebook that's upgradeable, repairable, and 100% yours. Order today with the latest configuration options.

frame.work

 

[Archer0915]

I

I currently have an Asus Tuff that's pretty good. Only thing I don't like about it is the RGB keyboard. Other than that it's pretty good.

I did order the Framework 16 to replace it though since it is so modular and has the 10key and macro keys.

Framework Laptop 16 now shipping

Framework Laptop: A thin, light, high-performance notebook that's upgradeable, repairable, and 100% yours. Order today with the latest configuration options.

frame.work

I think it is a Zuphrus that I have. Got it for the shop.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Guess no one has experience with Clevos....

 

[notarat]

Guess no one has experience with Clevos....

I've checked their website from time to time but never really considered them since I haven't seen many people who use them. They seem pretty good though

 

[notarat]

Hands-on review of the Framework 16. (Though it is from the verge)

Framework Laptop 16: our exclusive hands-on

We upgraded a laptop GPU with a snap — and six screws.

www.theverge.com

 

[MisterEd]

I currently have an Asus Tuff that's pretty good. Only thing I don't like about it is the RGB keyboard. Other than that it's pretty good.

I have an ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (2022) laptop. I find the RGB keyboard distracting so I leave it set to a static white color. The Functions keys are particularly hard to use because they are poorly labeled. I sometimes accidentally turn off the LED keyboard lighting which really makes the keyboard hard to use. Do you find the Asus TUF keyboard as annoying as I do?

 

[notarat]

I have an ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (2022) laptop. I find the RGB keyboard distracting so I leave it set to a static white color. The Functions keys are particularly hard to use because they are poorly labeled. I sometimes accidentally turn off the LED keyboard lighting which really makes the keyboard hard to use. Do you find the Asus TUF keyboard as annoying as I do?

This is the one I have. (Picture is my testing the fit of the vertical stand on the wall of my cubicle at work so it isn't fully connected to everything...the dock and power brick sit under the holder to save space. The holder is also a cellphone holder.)



If I'm using it un-tethered I do find the RGB annoying from time to time precisely because it makes the keys harder to read. That's probably my biggest gripe with it

I use it docked about 99% of the time so it doesn't bother me as much as it would normally. My vertical stand and usb dock for home is very similar to the one above so I use a normal keyboard and mouse.

 

[Blaylock]

Not sure if you're still looking, but both my boys just bought the MSI Katana. They seem to be excellent for the price. Microcenter had them at $300 off. Not sure if you have a Microcnter nearby or if the sale is still going on but I would grab one if you can.

 

[Woomack]

I was searching for a new laptop, mainly for work, but I just gave up. Everything that I find good for me is highly overpriced, like 100% more than I would pay. Most new series are also worse quality/expect to die faster. I wish for a smaller laptop but with a regular power plug, 2 regular memory slots, and space for a 2x M.2 SSD. I don't need an additional gaming graphics card but I care about quiet work. Everything is loud (I was checking various brands), all new smaller laptops (13-14") have USB-C power = it's too fragile and often breaks, RAM is way too often soldered, and laptops are available with 8GB or 16GB, 32GB is quite rare, and I wish for 64GB. At work, I already RMAed multiple $2-3k ultrabooks, and I don't even want to buy anything similar myself. Some series, like Lenovo Carbon X1, had replaced a motherboard three times for the same issues. Even when support arrived with a new motherboard, then it was DOA.

From the gaming series, I think that ASUS and MSI have pretty good options, but again all gaming laptops are noisy. I had ASUS TUF A15, 2021, as I remember, but I gave it to my mother as her old laptop was simply way too old and slow. It was a cheaper option than buying her something new, and she wouldn't buy anything herself. ASUS was the quietest option when I was buying it, and it was still noisy even while playing videos.
I wish laptop manufacturers include software or BIOS option to adjust fan speed as bumping from 0 to 100% every couple of seconds/minutes is very annoying during regular "office" work. I understand that fan speed is automatic, but all brands could make it better. I'm not even pointing out a specific brand, as I haven't seen it done right. ASUS has its Armoury Crate, but on all laptops that I was using, it had only silent, standard, or turbo options. Silent is like 30% of its max performance, and it's not really silent. Standard is noisy, and turbo performs about the same as standard, but it is way too loud.

There are also DELL gaming series, not Alienware, just regular gaming laptops. I heard they're pretty good, but I had no chance to test even one. I wanted to buy one, but DELL had about 6 months delay with store availability, and back then, I got ASUS.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

The MSI options look pretty nice, but once you go for the higher end CPU/GPU options the pricing gap narrows to the more custom options.

I didn't know about USB-C fragility, but my work laptop is holding up just fine to many plug/unplug cycles. I like having the option to charge conventionally and via Thunderbolt.

 

[notarat]

The MSI options look pretty nice, but once you go for the higher end CPU/GPU options the pricing gap narrows to the more custom options.

I didn't know about USB-C fragility, but my work laptop is holding up just fine to many plug/unplug cycles. I like having the option to charge conventionally and via Thunderbolt.

My Framework 16 will use USB C for power. Since the unit allows one to swap out the ports I can simply replace a worn port with a new one if it becomes necessary. I think it ships with 6 of them by default...but I know I ordered 6 with mine.

 

[stompah]

I was searching for a new laptop, mainly for work, but I just gave up. Everything that I find good for me is highly overpriced, like 100% more than I would pay. Most new series are also worse quality/expect to die faster. I wish for a smaller laptop but with a regular power plug, 2 regular memory slots, and space for a 2x M.2 SSD. I don't need an additional gaming graphics card but I care about quiet work. Everything is loud (I was checking various brands), all new smaller laptops (13-14") have USB-C power = it's too fragile and often breaks, RAM is way too often soldered, and laptops are available with 8GB or 16GB, 32GB is quite rare, and I wish for 64GB

I just went through this with my search for a 13-14" laptop for my daughter to take to school. Compromises had to be made to get some features I wanted and not have the price be too high.

I got an AMD 7535u and soldered 16GB of RAM. It wasn't what I wanted. I was hoping for similar or faster CPU and RAM slots. I found a lot of slower and older gen Intel/AMD CPUs with RAM slots.

It seemed to get what I wanted and not be too expensive I'd have to go up in screen size which I couldn't do.

It did come with a regular AC port. I wasn't happy about the expandable USB-A jacks. I have a feeling that she will manage to break that.


It ended up around $700 with the 3 year accident protection warranty.


The good news is that I have a 10+ year old HP laptop that functions fine altho it is slow. (Battery still works.) And I have another that is several years old and functions fine. I hope this one has the same quality. Especially considering costing more than both.




I did look at Framework but the price was in the Mac zone.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I just browsed Newegg a bit, and I think I found a few more options. The Lenovo Legion Pro and Acer Predator Helios come with the CPU I want and various sufficient GPUs with the port configurations I like (Power, full size RJ45 and display outputs on the back).

Acer PH16-71-94FB Gaming Laptop Intel Core i9-13900HX 3.00 GHz 16.0" Windows 11 Home 64-bit - Newegg.com

Buy Acer Predator Helios 16 - 16.0" 250 Hz Mini LED - Intel Core i9 13th Gen 13900HX (2.20GHz) - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU - 32 GB DDR5 - 2 TB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home 64-bit - Gaming Laptop (PH16-71-94FB ) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Lenovo Legion Pro 5i 16" LCD Gaming Laptop WQXGA 240Hz Intel Core i9-13900HX 16GB RAM 1TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB Onyx Grey - Newegg.com

Buy Lenovo Legion Pro 5i 16" LCD Gaming Laptop WQXGA 240Hz Intel Core i9-13900HX 16GB RAM 1TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB Onyx Grey with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16" QHD+ 500nits Gaming Laptop 240Hz Intel Core i9-13900HX 16GB RAM 1TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12GB Windows 11 Onyx Grey - Newegg.com

Buy Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16" QHD+ 500nits Gaming Laptop 240Hz Intel Core i9-13900HX 16GB RAM 1TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12GB Windows 11 Onyx Grey with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Lenovo 82WK00AHUS Gaming Laptop Intel Core i9-13900HX 2.20 GHz 16.0" Windows 11 Home 64-bit - Newegg.com

Buy Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16IRX8 - 16.0" 165 Hz IPS - Intel Core i9 13th Gen 13900HX (2.20GHz) - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU - 32 GB DDR5 - 1 TB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home 64-bit - Gaming Laptop (82WK00AHUS ) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com