Spec Check on new laptop

rockboy247

Hey guys,

I am planning on buying a new laptop from the PCSpecialists which should be my first proper gaming laptop.

I want this to be thin and portable for work but also want to play games, please could you have a look at the below and let me know what you all think? I understand NVIDIA has just announced the RTX 5000 for think laptops and I am unsure if I should wait out for that! I am grateful for every response.

Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1


1st Storage Drive
500GB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 2.5" SSD, (upto 560MB/sR | 535MB/sW)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)

AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor

Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62WH)

Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio   MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1550 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC   BLUETOOTH 5.0

USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 x USB 3.1 PORTS (Type C)   2 x USB 3.1 PORTS

Keyboard Language
RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM

EndlessWaves

I couldn't see any reviews of the Clevo P97 chassis, or the smaller 16.1" P96 version. I'd be hesitant to buy a powerful and thin (i.e. hot and noisy) laptop without knowing the cooling system was top notch and could keep it the right side of tolerable.

Or if you just want to game and don't need the power for work then consider going for a mid-range CPU and GPU instead. Lower power consumption means a nicer laptop to live with.

If you do decide to go for this one I'd probably swap the SSD for something bigger and better and swap the network card for an Intel one.

rockboy247

Thank you for your reply! Ideally, I do need it to be thin/portable.
In terms of the network card, how is the Intel better than the lan killer?

EndlessWaves

KillerNIC generally hasn't had a brilliant reputation. They're a software company so it's a standard network chip combined with their network optimisation software.

In the past they've been known for the lack of robustness in the software and the cheap network chips they use.

Software like this has always struggled to make a big enough difference to be noticeable. These days the headline selling point is mostly traffic shaping for when there are two demanding internet programs running at once - streaming video and online gaming being the most common example.

It looks like that particular 1550 model is using the Intel 9260 hardware, so you can use the Intel drivers if needed, and the £14 price appears to be in-line with competing software like cFosSpeed. So if there is anything in the feature list that sounds like it may be useful you could give it a go.