Most powerful gaming laptop to date?

Hey there

Just curious as to what the most poweful gaming laptop to date is?

Are there any new GPU/CPUs coming out soon that would be worth waiting for?

Thanks!

 

most powerful would probably be the m18x r2 from alienware with two gtx 680m gpu's in sli. Couple that with a 3920xm or 3940xm cpu. Yes there are two big gpu's coming out soon. The 8970m and the 780m. 8970m is already getting pre orders.

 

There's also the Clevo P570WM but you'll have to deal with two 330W PSUs for the high end configs and overclocking.

 

The NP9570 is gimped by limited BIOS options and CPU throttling unfortunately. It's a powerful machine, but it'll never match an overclocked M18x r2 in gaming performance.

 

clevo vs alienware again.

the clevo is a beast and now has the option of the i7 3960x or xeon e5 2680 8 core

 

It's not a subjective argument based on personal preference... it's a fact. Show me an NP9570 that easily scores 14-15k in 3DMark11, and I'll take it back. The NP9570 has its benefits, but its not as good for gaming. The 3970x throttles like crazy in a NP9570.

 

Yeah the P570WM was designed with the 3960x in mind right from the start. But it still wouldn't even reach full TurboBoost speed at load Let's see a 3960x throttled at 3.6 GHz fight it out with 3940xm at 4.5GHz in games

 

Clevo P370EM is the competitor to M18X with support for Intel mobile extreme CPU and SLI 680m's as well. The P570WM is really for those that need ultimate CPU power, but not really necessary for gaming.

 

It is one chunky monster though. I am sure there are some compact desktops that are smaller

 

The NP9570 in HTWingNut's sig a few weeks ago (literally )

 

Yup and that one has a desktop xtreme CPU. I'd definitely have to go with that one and plus it has vastly superior options for display.

Which is why I find the P570WM and M18x make no sense to me. Why have something that is bigger when you can build something for half the cost and smaller? Anyone who is going to tell me they game on their lap with a M18x, well I'll think two things, liar, or insane. As for portable, yeah blow it out your butt.

 

Lol my M18x is on par with an i7 3770k/GTX Titan build. Sure, it's a heavy laptop, but you wanna tell me you could build something that weighs less with just as much power? Give me a break, you're BSing as usual.

M18x owners didn't buy their notebooks because they're affordable, they bought them because they're the most powerful gaming notebooks on the market. An M18x still offers more portability than a Mini ITX build with a monitor and keyboard, which is the smallest possible competitor. It's a DTR that you can bring with you when you go out of town or on vacation. You won't find this level of performance in a smaller package anywhere.

 

Also as a Sager owner as an addition show me a Sager/Clevo that can hold together longer than a month or two before parts failure.

 

any links for a desktop that is smaller than P570WM or M18x? (that can pack similar power obviously)

 

This... I like the idea of the Sager's, but durability/reliability was a disaster with mine.

 

lol... my last clevo rebranded as a voodoo was quite good at multitasking...

played games and kept my food and room warm.

sadly it did not go the other way in the summer.

 

NP9370 is smaller and as powerful, and cheaper, has same specs as M18x r2. M18x is definitely a nice machine though.

Seriously? I've owned a number of them and lugged them everywhere with nar an issue. Only after a wine spill did I encounter issues with my NP8662.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

I have owned Sager/Clevo since 2001, and have never had any physical/mechanical issues ever. They are, and always has been very well-built machines in my 12 years of owning them.
The only issue I have had with ANY of them that I have owned, is the Nvidia 9800 GTX card in my Sager burnt up and died after only 2 years of use, and thus my laptop became an un-salvageable and worthless scrap of junk, and it was thrown away.

 

Yeah, was a really unpleasant overall experience and why I've never bought another... maybe it was a fluke, as I know you guys love em, but I had motherboard issues, ram issues, cpu ran hot as a devil (was actually a desktop CPU if I recall), regular bluescreens and overall build quality was just really lacking. I used it 90% sitting on my desk never moving the screen, and still after less than a year had stress cracks all over the top lid. Never had any other machine that was so annoying to own.

Granted, this was a while back, shoot probably more than a while ha, the Sager 4780 listed in my signature. Old tech I know, but at the time it was leading edge and cost like $2500 which was and still is a lot of money for a laptop. If I recall it had the ATI Mobility 9600? Not dissing on any modern Sager but this is why I avoid them.

 

I can understand the hesitation, but they are solid machines for the last 10 years at least. They do lack in a few areas, but considering there's not many alternatives, with Alienware being pretty much your only similar option, usually at a much higher price point, it's pretty much the best bang for the buck for a high performing gaming laptop. The BIOS is the biggest issue. It is as sparse as the Sahara desert is with vegetation, but thankfully there is great enthusiast/third party support. And to be honest, there's little I've needed to do that I haven't easily found a workaround.

 

If you`re gonna go all mental and buy a notebook with desktop parts, I`d rather buy a desktop and build myself a SILENT small desktop.
When you pack two 100W GPUs and 100W CPUs inside a notebook, you end up with a VERY noisy and hot notebook. P570WM saw 57dB on gaming when notebookcheck tested it. LOL

For the $3.5K a P570WM cost, you end up with an extremely powerful silent desktop and still have money left for a touchpad or notebook for other activities than gaming. I personally think the negative parts outweigh the postiive parts with a barebone with SLI and desktop CPU. Much better balance on cost, heat, noise on a Alienware with 680M SLI and 45/55W CPU. Or a clevo with the same parts.

 

Yes seriously, hard drive failure out of the box, RMA hard drive failed again, connection between the LCD panel and the motherboard deteriorated, within 4 months of it arriving. Catastrophic video card failure, LCD panel failure, blu-ray failure out of the box. I would say it was the worst laptop I have ever encountered, but I used to work for Gateway. As a fun fact they had a code to put into service requests DoB we would enter into the service request, stood for Dead out (of) Box. I am pretty sure Sager/Cleavo sports a similar code for service, but that is just a guess. Needless to say, my first and last Sager.

Oh one last slap in the face from Sager support I had tried to suppress. When asked about the video card crashing constantly (the new ones I just got back, with the same issue I sent it in for by the way) they asked immediately if I use any other drivers, I said of course the one provided were from 2009, some games require updated drivers to even run. I was then informed that any other driver on the system is not recommended or supported. They basically dropped support for the system immediately after I bought it. Sager can die in a fire, that was a bit harsh, maybe be seriously burned or something either way they lost a customer.

 

You're right, but there's definitely nothing that's half the price and size of the NP9370/M18x with just as much power as Zymphad was claiming lol.

Agreed, you could definitely spend your money in better ways than an NP9570 imo. It's not a bad machine, it just isn't practical in terms of performance.

 

Since the OP seems interested in new gpus around the corner, maybe wait a little. I wonder if dell is going to release a new chassis for haswell or just update the current chassis on all the alienwares with a new mobo

 

What the heck do you do with your laptops? They're not step stools and baseball bats lol. That is bad luck, but a one time bad build isn't indicative of overall bad products. If that was the case I wouldn't own a single laptop or any other brand product for that matter. Sager as far as support is a bit lacking, but they are quick to fix issues and usually are decent about addressing them. They're one of the few manufacturers that aren't fickle about components that you replace in your machine.

 

Link for proof? Not to sound incredulous, but really... unless you can back that claim up, I have to speak out against it.

The P370EM is the other potential competitor to the list though. The P570WM isn't really built for gaming to be honest... The machine is designed as a mobile workstation.

 

One article supporting failwheeldrive can be found in HTWingNut's signature (directly above your post), although he's obviously quite lenient with the fact that an XM CPU can hardly be overclocked at all in the P570WM.

Another one was done by notebookcheck: Review Clevo P570WM Barebones Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

NBC stated that 3.6 GHz is the highest the 3960X ever got. I would be asking for my money back by this time

Edit: Just read that 6-core turbo limit for the 3960X was meant to be 3.6 GHz. Seems that NBC misfired again

In the end nobody really seems to know how well the Sandy-E's overclock in the P570WM..

 

Should we really await for a really more powerfull new line-up of procs in the months coming ?

 

Unless you absolutely need a laptop now... why not?

 

off topic but hey ho

my m860tu is now over 5 years old and still going strong.
like transphasic my 9800GT died after 2 years but so did thousands of others. replaced under warranty with a 260gtx and still working perfectly.

on the other hand my alienware m15x pile of crap lasted 19 days. every day i was onto tech with a different problem. in the end dead cpu, dead gpu. repaired and sent me someone elses laptop. been clevo ever since.

 

My 3 year old M15x is still going strong! Awaiting a 7970m and 940xm can over clock to 3.5Ghz. Beast of a laptop. Think you were just unlucky.

Maybe not the most powerful but Lenovo Y500 750m sli will kick !

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Tapatalk HD

 

NP9370 is such a nice machine btw, it is just 8.6lb and slightly thinner than m17x, I guess a very viable option for SLI lovers

 

Wow, only 8.6lb?I guess that's one of the benefits of a plastic chassis. I'd still avoid the 7970m model, with all the cooling horror stories I've read online.

 

Nothing much, oh yes I used it, which also appears to be not recommended by Sager support. Having worked for a two PC manufacturers I have seen what constitutes a "lemon" and just a bad build, this usually involves the same part failing repeatedly, and sometimes this is narrowed down to an issue with the motherboard causing an issue with another part for example a hard drive, video card etc that continues to fail. Both the manufacturers I worked for would replace a system if it has been in for repair for the same issue more than 3 times. Just be aware not every new tech knows this, and you have to ask unless you find a veteran. Veterans are also rare, cause phone support is also awful, but that is a different story. What indicates a single lemon would be the issues being related, and consistent the hard drives continuing to fail could have been an indication, when I did send it in, costing me $200 + by the way, Sager never found an issue with the motherboard, yet the issues started happening again within a week. Too many indicators of incompetence for me to risk paying money for a Sager again, their support is not awful, but also not great, or even good for that matter. The machines, though they look nice, as I prefer something that looks normal not something that abducts cattle in the night, and conducts experiments on the residents of trailer parks, the quality just did not stack up

 

Clevo P570WM monster laptop

 

Nicely done Prema! Now let's see some benchmarks so we can compare numbers against the M18x

 

Ha ha, I am sure there will be some P57 hardcore usere like you to bench with...arg I am having all the work and you are having all the fun...

 

15 inch systems should be removed from the Discussion, sorry but I'm thinking you're going to have to be at the Minimum 17 inches, as I reach page 4 of this thread right?

 

Semi irrelevant but I was at a LAN party last night ( yes they still exist ) and one girl ... yes GIRL. brought what looked like a large briefcase. and depending on your definition of laptop it was i7 2600 with dual 7970's, and integrated 22" BenQ LCD. and 30 minutes of battery

moral of useless info. if you can handle a luggable and are into modding the sky is the limit.

 

Wait what? Custom computer case with a built in 22" monitor? ATX mobo?

 

custom case ( walnut and aluminum I think ) i7 2600, GA-Z77X mobo. yes full desktop setup and custom power circuit and UPS battery and board installed. really impressive work, and I am convincing my husband to build something similar for me.

dont you ppl ever read Benjamin Heckendorn ( Ben Heck ) for his case and console mods?????? this kind of nonesense has been going on for a decade or two?
http://www.dvice.com/archives/2009/04/poor-mans-lapto.php

Edit. guess the custom power circuits came out of my husbands shop .... go figure

 

I got my Alienware M18x R2 last week ... with 3940 CPU and 680 SLI ... I have to say it is not only the fastest Laptop I have ever used ... it is also the one with the best build quality! An amazing machine!

 

To those talking about "sager durability issues" how many have you owned?

I've had 0 problems with the durability in my P150EM after 8 months. Have lugged it to and from school over 100 times, taken it to the mountains on vacation for some early morning gaming before the day begins. Taken it to Vegas a few times... Nothing has broken. Works great still, better than ever now that the 7970m has some decent drivers. I max out Bioshock Infinite and Tombraider at 1080p easily reaching 35+ FPS at all times. It's not one of these SLI 680m monsters but for 7lbs my P150EM does just fine. More powerful than a PS4 will be, with a screen and keyboard built in... Use it for school and gaming all the time never had durability issues... Unless you DROP yours?? lol

 

@micahmatthew - I think it's just a case of having a "bad egg" or a bad experience that left a sour taste in their mouth. I can appreciate that. I've had that too with other brands. But I've also owned at least a half dozen Sager models and all have been robust and withstood my abuse. I'd say to anyone who had a bad Sager/Clevo experience give it another try because you are sure to save a bunch of money and have a powerful and robust system.

 

See previous post with my info, but I'm one of those "sager durability issues" guys, and yes I've owned one and still do... it's just dead. As mentioned, they may have improved and I bet they have, but for $2500 a few years back I was ridiculously disappointed overall and I've owned about all other brands as well in the past 15 years... not saying I won't ever buy one as I love the idea behind them, just haven't gotten past the last experience.

 

I have owned one, and that is the last, with that many separate issues for one system I don't need to know any more about Sager/Clevo. The incompetent support is really all I needed to convince me this is the first and last one I would own. Drop it? That flimsy chassis would shatter into a million deadly shards of shrapnel if I ever did that, embedding cheap plastic bits into anyone near me, the horror. All I have ever done with it was I took it to school everyday, then it sat on a desk after school ended. Some of the biggest issues happened straight out of the box the moment I turned it on. Now I have to keep it covered, a strong breeze can cause some component to fail on it. Ok that is a little over the top, but it certainly feels that way.

Yeah, one $3500 + $300 more to ship it back mistake is enough thanks, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

 

I have owned a P150em, and anyone who would describe that laptop as having "poor" build quality would be just wrong. However I have also owned both a M17X & Razer Blade R2 & Macbook Pro all of those laptops blow the P150EM in "overall build quality", anyone disputing that is kidding themselves.

 

What do you think is going to happen when you drop a 12lb M18x? Hint, it's likely not going to be in 1 piece............The relevance of build quality is relative to what type of punishment you subject it to, if you are going to be using a laptop for a weapon then no plastic is not the best choice. However, if you plan on using it like a normal person then sturdy plastic offers nearly the same protection as aluminum.

 

No, plastic doesn't provide the same protection as aluminum. It wears faster, scratches easier, and is more likely to crack or break over time. Not to mention the fact that aluminum looks and feels better. Whatever though, we all know your laptop is perfect and AW is just overpriced gimmickry with "minor improvements," right? lol

 

Up to 15.6" - MSI 16F3
Up to 17.3" - Clevo 370EM/570
Up to 18.4" - M18X