Hard decision: Portability vs Raw Power... Need help!

Okay, so its >that< time of year again....
Time to throw some money out there for a new toy.
This time, I have decided explicitely on a 17.3" laptop. This is written in stone. No more 15.6" with 1080p, its a nightmare for RTS gaming and Photoshop (especially when the buttons in PS are some mere 3mm on my screen).

1-st candidate: Clevo W370ET

Pros:
1.) Thinner than P370EM. Can fit in every 17.3" bag out there.
2.) Longer battery life. I wont be using battery much, but when I get a power outtage at home, its nice to get 3-5 hrs of on-time.
3.) Power brick is small, can be easily replaced with a generic brand 120W brick. Cheap and manage-able.
4.) Chassis is VERY EASY to clean. Has one fan, easily accessible, fast cleanup. Few holes and vents, that means less dust can get inside.
5.) Has metal audio outs, sturdier than the plastics found on my P150HM and P370EM.
6.) Cheap!!! I could be upgrading next year in spring and sell that for 75% of the price (or even 80%).

Conns:
1.) Videocard is relatively weak. Gtx660m + Optimus WILL be problematic for some custom maps on StarCraft 2 when playing on Ultra.
2.) Buying this laptop means giving up the power of my current AMD 6990m for just a better CPU and larger screen. Not liking that idea.
3.) No 7.1 output. I dont use it, but it might come in handy someday. DAC is also different (less SNR from what I read).
4.) No backlit keyboard *sadface*
5.) Throttling issues when gaming. CPU wont turbo and I will have to use ThrottleStop. Not liking the idea of using 3rd party software for that.

2-nd candidate: Clevo P370EM

Pros:
1.) Monstrous power with Gtx680m or 7970m either way.
2.) Creative X-Fi MB2 software. DO WANT!!! I might find it cracked somewhere, but I want an original.
3.) 2.1 sound with the built-in subwoofer. Bragging rights! DO WANT!
4.) Backlit keyboard awesomeness. Wont be using it, I always use my external one. But still awesomeness.
5.) 7.1 soundcard. Nuff said.
6.) Looks kinda awesome...
7.) Specs-wise could last 2x longer than W370ET

Conns:
1.) Thicker than most laptops (of all sizes). Need 18.4" sleeve for that, else it wont fit.
2.) Bottom has A LOT OF HOLES in it. Dust will gather faster than in my P150HM (and boy does it gather dust on a monthly basis!)
3.) Power brick is.... Jeesus. Its absolutely Jesus and its expensive. I want 2 bricks and the second will cost me +139 EUR.
4.) Battery life can't be good. I will need to downclock both CPU and GPU to the lowest in order to get 2 hours of internet surfing.
5.) Heavy weight. Laptop + Brick will be a challenge for my shoulder when I travel 1 hour in the full bus.

Okay, I need to decide which one. I want a 17.3" and I need to choose the correct one out of those 2 options.
I am leaning towards the P370EM but still considering W370ET.

 

Why wouldn't you just get the 170EM?

 

Yeah was about to suggest same thing, the P170EM seems a reasonable option here.

 

^ What the previous 2 stated.

 

P170EM is totally out of the question. Here is why:

1.) I hate glossy screen bezels. I still keep the stickers on my P150HM (havent removed them ever), just for not having to clean that mess up. And to avoid scratches.
2.) Dont like the aluminium on the back of the display and the palmrest area. Would prefer that to be rubberized finish than aluminium.
3.) More glossy-ness on the display edge (before the aluminium cover) and in other places.
4.) Cant have 7970m on it, because guess what: dont wanna hear about ENDURO. Ever.
5.) Dont want Optimus on a gtx 680m either. On a low-end gtx660m - yes, but not on the top-end 680.
6.) I can have that 220W adapter on my P370EM too, so....its still big. Might as well get the "more awesome" 370EM.
7.) Again no X-Fi MB2 pre-loaded
8.) Seriously, get ridd of that auto-switchable graphics on a high-end laptop!!!!

 

I always go for the powah. I'd rather suffer from carrying the thing around, than from poor performance. Once the thing is set up, it usually makes no difference if its bigger/heavier.

 

Let's put it this way. You are going to spend more time playing games on your laptop, than actually carrying the laptop. Go for POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


BY THE POWER OF GRAY SKULL....... I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

whats wrong with optimus on the 680m or any high performance laptop? i have the 150em and i need it to run on battery, so optimus is a must

 

I agree, I really like the fact that I get to use ALL the features of the computer, rather than missing out on what Ivy Bridge has to offer in terms of graphics, sometimes I want to run on battery, and sometimes I can't be bothered to plug everything in just to play a quick 10 minutes whilst passing the time.... I love the idea, and once enduro is fixed everything should be good... infact i played through the whole of portal 2 without plugging it in, and it ran great! I don't think i'd ever want something that big and powerful that in some cases you need 2 psu's for it to run properly, although I suppose it depends if you want it as your primary machine, I'd still have a desktop for raw power, and a very good laptop for when I'm not at home

 

It's not going away, get used to it.

 

Why? The future would be better if it was manually switchable, not some software-based (and biased) auto-madness!
I'd love switchable graphics only if I can control it. Like, disabling the discrete GPU completely when on battery AND the ability to switch it on when I need it.

But we dont have that. Instead, weve got Optimus and poor little Enduro, which somehow just know how to ruin the day when you get "the video driver has stopped responding but has recovered successfully" or worse.

 

i prefer not to worry about switching it on and off manually and i dont game when i am on battery anyways. if you game on battery, you can probably hardly finish and game before your battery is dead.

 

Well, Im leaning 70% towards P370EM so far, 29% for W370ET and 1% for keeping my P150HM.....

 

That's your opinion, and that's fine. The rest of the world disagrees with you, they prefer seamless switchable graphics. And unfortunately for you, Nvidia, Intel and AMD all came to the same conclusion. Not only that, so did Microsoft.

As I said before, get used to it, not only is it not going away, it's the standard now.

 

i remember playing batman arkham city a few weeks ago at my friends place and getting like high 20s frame and getting pissed off, then i came home and figured my setting was on battery saver...if optimus became manual, i be pissed off every day

 

I for my part agree to bob1man. I want to be able to control Optimus manually. If I want really need battery life, I could simply enable it. And for any other reason I could turn it off entirely. I hate reliying on automatic processes that are proven not to work flawlessly. Appearantly battery-saving is useful for office and multimedia Notebooks. But for high-end gaming machines it does only hinder the primary function. I think Clevo needs to get aware of often being perceived as the perfect gaming-notebook producer. Alienware knows what it stands for and allows for switching that crap off. So not the whole world disagrees with bob1man

And @Silverfern, at least now you know what the culprit was and in the future you'll know what to change if you get trolled by Optimus.

 

Yep. Imagine this: W370ET has a LED green light showing Optimus is on.
And you cant disable Optimus.
So what does that LED really do....

Also, I'd like a small utility tool with a simple slider from 5% to 100% for the dedicated GPU.
I would want to set it to 5%, so the GPU downclocks at its minimum when I work on Word and Excel.
Then on 10% for YouTube videos.
And 100% when gaming.
It should only do that - increase and decrease clocks (and keep them) according to the owner's desire.

How about that??

 

Isn't this is going way off topic? I thought the thread is about a laptop base on portability vs power. It's became a discussion about should auto-switchable graphic exist or not.