Build Advice Powerful Non-Gamer looking Laptop - Please Advise/Suggest

Potentially you could order the xmg neo 16 from XMG with 5080 and 9950hx and it comes in budget once discount is applied at checkout but don't know if you'll get stung with import charges now we are not in EU.

XMG NEO 16 (A25) - Gaming laptop with RTX 50 and AMD Ryzen

 

I haven't heard of that brand before... Doesn't give me confidence. I'm sure it's just fine, but it'll be hard to ask for a company hardware for a brand that is less known.

 

Comparing the Intel vs the AMD version of the same laptop, This video tends to lean heavily towards the intel version of the Asus. Strix

 

if you are buying for best gaming experience any review of gaming not covering 1% lows is not even worth your time really, that's the frame dips, stutters etc. averages gloss over this.

If you have higher averages but your game is full of stutter/dips, it will be worse to play on. Now it could be the case Intel suffers from the P core E core stuff and windows scheduling and it will improve but its pretty simple with AMD all cores are the same (not strictly true, only half the chip gets vcache but its been a thing for years and is well known)

There are lots of other reasons to get the intel hardware, due to all the stuff that comes with it, TB5 etc, but gaming, since AMD 3D cache came out, that is the chip to have desktop or laptop.

Really you need to canvas the DOTA community and see what rings true for your title of interest, in reality any of these is going to smash it and I would likely just get the best GPU you can but the inclusion of an X3D for a gaming orientated device makes it a hard choice as some games love cache and hard to know what is better. I suspect better 5080 GPU with more GDDR7 is better for gaming laptop longevity just might not be the best thing for your game of interest.

Ultimately I played for hours on an APU @2560x1600 with no GPU grunt or VRAM, though it is Zen5 which is strong CPU and was doing 70-80fps, didn't noticed mad dips, these laptops will absolutely dominate with any chip.

 

I have to admit I started to like more and more the thinner form factor of the Zephyrus G16, especially in the white colour. Obviously would be less powerful because its is twice as thin, but it looks pretty clean for the money and seems very capable.

The version I am looking at is The 5070TI , but I am not sure about which CPU option to look for.

There is also the Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 with Ultra 9 275HX and 5070TI for £2512.14 , also looking much better than a thick gaming machine.

I also looked at the HP Omens, but with the higher end CPU it goes £2800.

 

You were totally right. After doing extensive research and watching plenty of videos and opinions, pure raw power is not as appealing anymore. I really changed my mind after seeing several reviews of the Thin and Light metal build gaming laptops, In particular the Zephyrus G16 in White Colour. I am really considering it unless something similar of the same size, looks and build quality comes my way.

Can you comment on the Options in Thin and Light Metal Body between £2500 and £3000 ?

I noticed from all reviews I've watched that there is no real need to go beyond 5070 TI on these models, because the power is restricted and a 5080 and 5090 can't make full use of it, with the 5070ti being the sweet spot.

 

Yup a better build quality will come in something like a Razer, Lenovo and HP thin and lights, the chunky gamer ones are cutting such corners to be your DTR focussing on cooling hot chips down, with DTR you're not thinking about using the thing portable, just moving it from fixed place to fixed place.

As an aside, though irrelevant now your are going down the T&L route the YouTube algorithm served me up a 275HX vs 9955HX comparo including DOTA 2, short summary 70% better averages and 20% better 1% lows on AMD. Basically anything CPU limited AMD smashes it, other wise its a wash. I mean the averages were ~200 something vs 300 something, so you are hardly slumming on the Intel but it did dip <60.

Quite why most manufacturers are gimping the AMD chip in old feature sets, chassis and pairing with low end GPUs generally beggars belief, must be some greasing of palms going on. It's like putting a v12 in a Ford Fiesta.

In terms of recommending a T&L I can only do what you can which is look at Youtube, ultrabookreviews, notebookcheck and laptopmedia etc, I have no experience, sometimes just going down the shops for a touchy feely session is enough. Lenovos have traditionally rated quite highly as good quality gamers as have Razer.

Indeed to your point I did notice the Razer 16 5090 beaten a few times in benches by a DTR 5070Ti, there is a price for thin and light.

 

Just for you, only 8Gb but at least it shows there is future updates, though it is a chunky machine due to upgradeability.

 

Ah that is a brand new video, and I've asked the question 2 days ago if Framework are going to update their GPU modules... Talking about timing ...

Sadly they will deliver in November and I need the laptop in my possession by the 13.09. If I were to buy it with my money, I would have waited, but I need it for work in Sept/Oct, and I am not paying for it myself, so I have no other choice.

I Also didn't like the Razer 16. I am a Razer hater, I had 2 of their products over the years, and the keyboard died after 4-5 years and the mouse wheel broke after 2-3 months... so I am not the biggest Razer Fanboy.

I also did not like the Acer Thin and Light Model.

I am now doing final research on 3 models :

The Zephyrus G16 - White Colour £2899 , it could be found 2-3 hundred cheaper but in grey
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/a...e-ultra-9-rtx-5070-ti-2-tb-ssd-10278170.html#

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Zephryus-GU605CR-GeForce-Gamepass/dp/B0DV5J5JZW/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3Q50AVJF3XZAF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.t_Y1j8naCfhbMGYVEi0TcUWy1PElZFTZ1gEHTI5s2xfzgGVkYjA33i2aC9rLaFyIjiaLqkVbNrCgRZUJ6mT59byxrVvD1mMFlqgd6rZcpIX5SG7mGecxclS6VXvl6Ccl2o2skwxl5raWPUcwdpjYhnQxOaNrVCuIOwZIirvJQeREG7HkYjgmA8DArk-FDKhqNgBG_JPtgXLMIw6vMSMsthn0CALeY2zmMyQVdNmYnKk.YKx7KoyKua9hwpLVT6tQWe6QpJOy9eFynUUdPgGT-u4&dib_tag=se&keywords=Zephyrus+G16&qid=1756134723&sprefix=zephyrus+g16,aps,117&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do:amzn1.fos.0fa28f01-6fca-4422-af4e-d52d5ad71bfe&th=1


The HP Omen Max 16 - White Colour £2800,
https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=BG9D6EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

The Lenovo Legion 7I Gen 10 - Sadly can't find it in White - £2521
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/lapt...ion-pro-7i-gen-10-16-inch-intel/83f5cto1wwgb4


Can you suggest ways to help me take a decision ? They all look ok, especially the ones in White.
I can't find them in stock in physical stores so I can go and touch/feel them.

 

I must say one thing, I have been a member of the forum since 2010, but been using it for tech decisions since 2005. All my PCs I've build over the years have always been influenced by the community of this forum.

I really appreciate everyone's help, and as much as I am an enthusiast, I don't keep up with the latest and greatest as much as I used to do as a kid, but I really enjoy these hours of researching and getting to know what is new and how it works, before I decide on what to get.

 

This single frame from a comparison review I've watched between the Zephyrus vs Legion is the reason why I decided to commit to the Zephyrus. Damn looks so sleek...


Now is a question of finding it in White in the UK for about £2800.

 

Whilst white looks cool, I don't think I have had a piece of white tech that has maintained that cool look, the colour often tainting but perhaps things have improved.

So white would not be my choice. I'd get the cheaper other dark one.

Zephyrus does look much better but I love a numpad, big laptops and no numpad, uuuurgn, also like matte screens even if they are not as impressive as glossy for graphics/media.

 

I have a White Lenovo 2in1 that I bought for my wife about 10 years ago, It is plastic body, but still going strong and not many signs of wear and tear ... Generally it will sit mostly on the desk, so I don't think it will get that much abuse.
I've send the link to our buyer to purchase the white one from Currys.
Will give update in a few days.

 

I'm sure it'll be great, the thinness comes from having slightly lower spec hardware as usual, lower cores and lower power limits, but it is all probably enough considering your main gaming target of dota2, only the AMD cpu will give any worthwhile bump in that one.

In some ways that is a better balance, you don't need all the cores for gaming just enough, 6 full fat ones should be fine, the 9955HX3D 16/32 is a bit stupid really for a gamer the much better chip would be the one AMD chose not to release, the laptop variant of the 9800X3D, that'd cut down on power and give you all the performance but I guess 8/16 doesn't look good on a spec sheet going up against Intels relatively poor 24 core, which is only 8 full fat cores despite being superior.

Should be a lot quieter too, I know my old work T480 I used to throttle just using daily because of consistent fan noise due to hot Intel chip, no one wants that when your just doing email and teams etc.

 

Yeah, I had similar thoughts. My Current "high end" PC (for when I bought it) has a RTX 3080 and Ryzen 9 7900X. with 64GB @6000MT/s.
I have more than enough FPS at full max settings, I had to limit the Max FPS manually or else my room gets too hot and the fans are too loud. I limit them to around 150fps. @4k

I assume with the newer gen hardware on the G16 I would be able to come closer to this performance, considering I will be playing on a 1440p Monitor at 1440 resolution (despite the laptop monitor being much better overall).

I have over 18,000 hours of DOTA2, so it is highly unlikely I would play anything else anytime soon. I'm too old to learn new games. DOTA2 is toxic enough for me, No need for more toxicity.

Laptop will be delivered tomorrow at some point, update to follow.

 

Unboxed it, Great build quality, very sleek, very good speakers, screen is great, I havent managed to get the full 120hz out of my 34inch 1440p monitor, but it must be a driver or something else. I will be fully setting up over the weekend and will test gaming etc...

So far I'm in the honeymoon period, where I can only find positives about it, subconsciously trying to justify my decision p

 

Enjoy the laptop, looks great.

How do you have the laptop connected to the monitor?

It mentions in the specs HDMI is limited to 100hz and it needs DisplayPort for 120hz, I would assume usb c should support 120hz fine also as as it's normally a form of DisplayPort.

How does the built in dock connection work? I know at lot of them are using a usb displaylink video driver which your not going to want when playing dota!

 

I have now wrapped/sealed the monitor to be collected and sent across Europe to Bulgaria via a courier. I will be doing all the monitor tests when I get there and start working from abroad.

I am under pressure to submit some documents by end of month, so I'm working overtime to catch up. That Laptop research consumed quite a few hours/days of my working week .

I will test as many things as I can on the laptop itself over the weekend.

I did try a direct HDMI connection to the monitor and I was able to get 75hz at lower resolution and 60hz at native. I am sure the problem was with me and the method of testing and cables I used. I simply had no time earlier. Courier is collecting packages tomorrow, so I had to wrap everything up.
I am basically building a second office abroad. I'm sending a Chair, Monitor, Standing Desk, Speakers, and other accessories. The office will be in my holiday home abroad.

 

Yup, also all cables aren't the same and have cable specs too, though this shouldn't be your problem as it is hard to buy low spec cables these days but if you have used something you have had laying around, it might not be good enough.

 

Discovered PC Specialist sells this chassis in the UK as the Recoil 16/Recoil 16 AMD

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the Recoil 16 AMD to your ideal requirements.

From what I gather if you are a tweaker though there don't do all the BIOS work XMG does as people are moaning that it lacks undervolting features etc, which surprises me as it's all part of AMDs AGESA etc, always hard to know if it is a laptop issue or a user problem when you read the threads though as it is clear that some people don't know what they are buying, but its rare that laptops give you access to everything, MSI seems to be one of the few that lets you get into everything, after a cheat code.

One of my mates is going to take a punt on one of these with an x3d and 5080/5090 as he is doing similar to you, new role working away.