What is the thinnest 17in laptop with an nvidia 780m card?

Hi,
I want to buy a new laptop, and I have been looking around for pretty much everything that is available, but I have run into an issue:
All the laptops that house the 780m are incredibly big!
I would like a laptop like the MSI stealth, or Razer Blade Pro, but there are (apparently) impossible to upgrade to a 780m, due to size and heating issues.
So, is there a close match to these laptops that can contain a 780m? or am I stuck having to buy an huge/thick laptop?

I am a gamer by nature, so I need an excellent graphics card, and i change my laptop once every 4-5 years, so that is why i cant manage with the 765m.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Just take the MSI GT60 2OD--064US, or the GT70 2oD-064US.

A thin or light laptop with the GTX 780M simply does not exist, in any sense. At that point, you simply look for the best laptop for the money. You can look to Sager, which is mediocre in every way, or you go up a level of quality and features, to consider MSI.

 

Thinnest notebook with 780M would be Clevo/Sager. Thickest would be MSI. Middle ground would be Alienware.

I would go with Alienware personally, just because it has dual fan setup and built better and more support than Clevo does right now. Clevo is restricting GPU upgrading options right now, for example I can't upgrade my 2012 machine to a 2013 780M. AW doesn't seem to have that issue right now.

 

Looking for a thin laptop with 780m is like looking for Corvette powertrain in a golf cart. They don't go hand in hand. But as noted, choose the best value for the money. If you're not into upgrading things, then Clevo is probably the best bang for your buck. Alienware are solid machines but also quite expensive compared with Clevo and MSI, but have a more full featured BIOS and tend to hold up better over time.

 

I have not been following the notebook market for quite some time. But I am curious, what makes Sager mediocre and MSI higher quality and better features?

 

Thickest MSI? Lol, someone is forgetting about the NP9570:

http://i.imgur.com/M4kRrtt.jpg

(from HTWingNut's review)

 

Wondering the same.

 

Keyboard, speakers, touchpad, down to things like how well the headphone jack drives power to headphones.

All of these are just ok, down to outright terrible in the 15" and 17" single GPU laptops. Then you add in how MSI delivers a standard 2 years of warranty, including 1 year of accidental coverage, while those are premium purchases with Clevo/Sager.

Let me be clear with one thing: check my post history. I've bought nothing except Clevo gaming laptops for the last 6 years. This GT70 has just opened my eyes to the adverse aspects of being brand loyal to a fault.

Clevo does nothing better than MSI. Not a thing. But that doesn't mean don't buy them. Just go in knowing that Sager is the 'budget tier' of gaming laptops, and it shows in the final product.

 

Performane wise, Sager/Clevo is 2nd to none though. My 15" notebook is running a BCLK unlocked 3740QM at 4.1 ghz across all 4 cores. The ram timing reduced to 1T and with mSATA, SSD + 750 XT, it's a damn fine machine.

Keyboard is actually quite good. Talking to Mythlogic and XoticPC, neither feel the SteelSeries MSI keyboard is an upgrade, just preference.

As for sound, speakers are crap on MSI. There is no such thing as good laptop speaker. That's not a debate, it's a fact and will stay that way probably for another decade.

Headphone output, yes it's bad on Clevo. Very bad, but then most gamers have external soundcards to drive their headsets, at least the ones I play with do. So do I. Moot issue.

Go for MSI, they do a lot of things great, but I wouldn't go to say MSI is that much better than Clevo. IMO skip MSI and go for Alienware, if not go with Sager. MSI also make the ugliest gaming machines. If that matters to you.

If you want the thinnest 780M notebook, go with Sager/Clevo. If you want something built better, go with Alienware. MSI is neither, it's the fattest and it's not as well built as Alienware and being better than Clevo is very subjective. And for a lot of people, the single fan just doesn't cut it. Though their cooling system is as good as Clevo/Alienware, but it is bigger, fatter and louder.

I really only have two issues with Clevo. You can't upgrade the GPU anymore. Stupid. And the headphone/mic really is that bad.

 

The main thing I don't like about MSI is that there is waaaay too much plastic. It feels so cheap. Also, the single fan cooling system is not something I am a big fan of either.

 

Well, if thin matters.
M6700, m6800,zbook 17

Oh and let's not get into build quality, warranty and features.

 

Warranty is really the only thing I would say MSI outshines Clevo/Sager in.

Everything else you mentioned save maybe the keyboard is hardly ever a strong suit of absolutely any laptop. There is no such thing as a laptop that drives headphones well. No matter what if you care about the quality your going to be running an external unit Keyboard is a preference thing for sure.

But when it comes to peformance, check out my 3DMark11 run below. Try that with your MSI. Heck, it allowed me to set an XTU benchmark score with my 3630qm I havent seen an MSI laptop close to. Upload your score to HWBot if I'm wrong!

 

Whatever it is, it will have a significant overheating problem relative to "thicker" laptops.

You don't want a thin high-end gaming laptop.

 

If you buy a MSI, you better prepare to have a secondary cooler. Worst cooling I've ever experienced in any of the three gaming laptop brands being discussed in this thread. MSI brings a lot of flare and warranty, which is needed, being the cooling design is atrocious.

 

The new MSI GT60/GT70 has cooling issues? The proof of that is where? My temps barely run in the 80s, in the most demanding of games.

What experience do you have, exactly?

 

I owned a GT70 with a 3610qm and a 680m. With only having one heatsink/fan, it's completely inadequate. The throttling issues were a joke, I had to edit my ec firmware to even stop that. My cpu and gpu would both hit in the 90s on stock clocks. My 7970m, which is known to run hotter than the 680m, doesn't even go over 75c with a 950/1450 oc on it during games in my p170hm.

 

That's fair, because I can't speak for previous generations. I can just say that they've improved the cooling solution in the newest gen. The heatsink design is different and there is a more powerful fan.

Also, I didn't mean to turn this into a versus thread. I was just sharing my experiences, having been a 'Clevo guy' for so long, and now dealing with the new MSI notebook. I experienced an upgrade in quality, and I listed the areas in which I did.

There is such thing as a laptop that drives headphones horribly. We know who manufacturers them.

I don't always feel like carrying my DAC, and I can at least plug in my IEMs and get good bass response with my current notebook. No, it's not perfect, but it's miles beyond my Clevo's headphone jack.

 

I had the exact same notebook with same specs. No throttling. CPU temps around 70C. GPU temps maybe touched 78C without turbo fan on. It ran really cool.
Something tells me you were really unlucky with yours. Bad pasting maybe?

That aside, MSI absolutely need to change their cooling design. Alienware 18 is lightyears ahead in quiet cooling and temperatures.
MSI need to do dual fan too.

 

MSI cooling design is far from atrocious. The one problem they do seem to have lately is excess in thermal paste with some laptops, which ends up being higher temps. But as far as cooling performance? It is most likely way ahead of the competition, but at a severe cost: Noise. It sounds like a massive yet engine! Full fan speed we enjoy 70s temp even overclocked.

Any computer with a bad paste job has horrible temps. No brand is immune to this. Dual fans are not beneficial just because they are dual fans, it is a matter of how much air flow can be pushed to cool down the heatsinks. You can have mediocre dual fans and they would never cool nicely

That being said, in the end it is all a matter of preference. I prefer MSI over Sager&Clevo in general. But I do consider at least alienware a nice choice too.

 

I repasted with ic diamond, still had the issue. Same paste job allows me to take my XM chip to 80w/90w/32s in my clevo. I was just pointing out, every brand has it's perks. I'd definitely say clevos cooling is better than MSI. For people who like to overclock/own XM chips, I'd go clevo or alienware.

 

Your scores are nice guys but the MSI does not lag behind:

MSI P8967

The latest MSI machines with a 4930MX and 780M will do much better than that too.

There is a reason we ship the MSI barebones with CPU overclock options.

 

Those are 24/7 clocks in both the 680m and 3940xm? You can game with them and not have to use a secondary cooling pad or run into heat issues?

 

No, it would loose about 500 for 24/7 but it's an old score so drivers would have improved it and 3dmark (especially 11) tends to favor AMD cards.

However all I am saying is on the cooling front the MSI is at least no worse.

The 680M does after all throttle much quicker than the 7970M.

 

What's the TDP for the 3940xm set at in that MSI?

Also I'm not trying to be confrontational right now, I'm genuinely curious at this point.

 

It was set at 75/95 IIRC since I have moved onto a transitional setup now.

 

Come guys. The OP wants a thin laptop with a 780M, you turned the thread into another brand loyalty war.

@OP I guess it doesn't really matter which one is the thinnest. A 17" is a 17", being a bit thicker or doesn't change much in terms of portability.

 

Not really, a G750 is a behemoth compare to my precision ~~ Even the old 15" G- series look huge compare to it..

 

So, what are some of the thinner 17 inch notebooks? Or did the OP give up? As far as I know the thinner models have smaller screens and tend to top out at the 765M.

 

Does anyone know how thick the Origin's are?

 

As thick as any other Clevo reseller can offer.

 

Origins are just Clevos with custom back plate. The dimensions should be the same as these:

17" Sager NP8275: 16.22" (w) x 10.87" (d) x 1.64-1.79" (h)

15" Sager NP8265: 14.76" (w) x 10.55" (d) x 1.73" (h)

And here are the MSI's:

17" MSI GT70: 16.85" (w) x 11.34" (d) x 2.17" (h)

15" MSI GT60: 14.97" (w) x 10.24" (d) x 1.77" (h)

And finally:

17" ASUS G750JH: 16.85" (w) x 11.34" (d) x 2.17" (h)

17" Alienware 17: 16.3" (w) x 11.8 (d) x 1.9" (h)

 

In case you're wondering:

Slimmest 770M (well, equivalent, 755/750 SLI) is Lenovo Y410p, Slimmest 765 is Razer Blade 14, Slimmest 750M is Macbook ProRetina.

The former cannot be found in SLI configuration without hardware tinkering and the latter two are ridiculously expensive.

 

Thank you all for your input.

I was heading towards the Clevo option as well (even if it does look like a pizza box). I was just hoping maybe someone heard of anything slimmer that may be released in the near future. It's very frustrating when you think that the thickness of a laptop jumps so much from a 770m to a 780m. I would love to buy an MSI Stealth now and just change it in a few years, but my budget doesnt permit such frequent purchases.
I wonder how much modding it would take to make a Stealth be able to run with a 780, but i doubt it is feasible with the current cooling tech.

Now im thinking if maybe I should reject the whole thin idea in favour of a laptop that may support SLI later on during its life (so buy one with just one 780m card and then in a few years, when prices drop, get a second one.).

Either way, back problems here I come

 

The 780M consumes a lot more power than the 770M, not only is the core more thirsty but there are extra GDDR5 memory modules to power.

The machines are thicker for a reason.