Question Regarding the PA71HS-G & P750DM3-G GPU

Hey all,

First post here as I ran across this forums looking for a really nice laptop with tons of customization options and I think I stumbled upon the holy grail of laptop sites. I also spoke with Donald from HIDevolution and he recommended some people on here as well as praised this as being the best enthusiast site for laptops around.

So on to my big question. Initially I was looking for a laptop that had Thunderbolt capability so I could hook up an eGPU unit to it while I'm gaming at home. But Donald advised against that due to there being up to 30% loss in performance from using a laptop that has a beefy GPU built in it. So I go to looking around their website and ran across two systems that peaked my interest. These were the:

EVOC Clevo PA71HS-G and the EVOC Clevo P750DM3-G
Link to wishlist which has both laptops in it: https://www.hidevolution.com/wishlist/shared/index/code/c6a2801fcb8a3b4d040c9d578068925f/

I liked the PA71HS-G because it was a bit slimmer overall and had a nice 17" screen which would make gaming on the go a bit nicer and has a GTX 1070 which is more than enough for a 1080p screen. I liked the P750DM3-G because it had a smaller screen which would make packing it up and taking it with me a bit easier, it would be lighter but it is a tad thicker but allows me to have a beasty processor along side the GTX 1070.

With both of these laptops, all these full size GTX 1070's in here or are either of them upgradable in the future? Let's say 4 years down the road my processor is doing fine but I need a bit more beef in the graphics department, will I be able to swap the GPU out with a higher model without issue? Or are these like normal laptops to where once it is in, it is in and you have to get a whole new laptop to get a better GPU?


Edit: This is what I would wind up buying if I got the P750DM3-G. I would buy the RAM and SSD separate and install later for about $130-$150 less then what is offered on the website.

Grand Total $2,035.00

 

@Donald@HIDevolution had your back on the eGPU part. The bottleneck will only get worse over time and there are other headaches involved...

The P750 has an MXM gpu. I'm not sure what the exact likelihood is of Volta being compatible with it, but as long as Volta MXM exists in the same size I see no reason it wouldn't work... But unfortunately I can't give you any real assurance that will be the case.

The PA71 is a new chassis. I haven't seen one yet. Looks like a 17" P950.

 

Yeah, my big thing with the eGPU is that in the future, even though it is currently 30% less performance than using a standard GPU, the future proofing is very nice and in the long run will technically save me thousands if I can just buy a new GPU and slap it into the eGPU unit as opposed to having to buy a whole new laptop because the gpu isn't keeping up in it. I'm not worried about the processor, as an i7 7700k delidded, undervolted and overclocked will have no issues for years and years to come. It's all about future GPU expansion that isn't going to cost thousands.

 

The desktop based CPU system will be heavier with a shorter battery life but will have the full fat CPU in there typically giving up to an extra Ghz of clock speed at stock.

 

That's fine as this will mostly be used for stationary play but I do travel a few times a year and it will just me nice to not have to pack up a whole rig when I do leave. @Meaker@Sager are you able to advise any on the "future proofness" of the 1070 GPU in the P750DM3-G? This is my first time diving into an enthusiast laptop realm so I want to make sure I know what I'm getting into.

 

It's Nvidia's latest arch so should be good to go for some time.