No software that needs to be updated/patched, no lengthy troubleshooting, no messing with drivers... Google Docs now also edits Word documents natively, so no need to convert to a Google Doc anymore. Performance is actually pretty great, too: over 7hrs battery life, boots up in ~5sec, and I haven't noticed any slow downs even with multiple tabs with videos open. There's a 4GB version as well, which I got for my parents, but when I used theirs, nothing came close to that usage. So I just got the 2GB laptop for myself.
I can't see any use for a touchscreen at this point, but who knows how they'll change ChromeOS... at $16, it's a no brainer.
RAM cannot be upgraded. Again, unclear how ChromeOS will develop and what other apps may end up running on it. But for now, 2GB is way more than you need. The next step seems to be automagically porting Android apps, which again don't take up much memory.
Keep in mind that virtually everything runs in Chrome. If you ever notice performance decreases (which I haven't yet), you could just install this Chrome extension:Chrome Web Store - OneTab-- it suspends your tabs (so they no longer take up memory) and lets you resume them with a click.
Just ordered a custom built Aorus laptop from Xotic PC. Will provide some feedback as I jump through the various hoops of getting it to Canada. So far they have been excellent (fantastic customer service, excellent online ordering process and good email feedback on status).
Just ordered a custom built Aorus laptop from Xotic PC. Will provide some feedback as I jump through the various hoops of getting it to Canada. So far they have been excellent (fantastic customer service, excellent online ordering process and good email feedback on status).
Their order spec sheet is a little rough to read. Main guts of it are double 860M in sli, an over clocked i7, overclocked ram and the super-raided SSDs
Ram 16GB DDR3 2133MHz [SKU-444KZ] (Overclocked Kingston HyperX CL12 Dual Channel Memory (4x4GB SODIMMS))
Graphics Video Card SLI (2x) - NVIDIA? GeForceT GTX 860M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11
Thermal Compound IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds) (XPC Service)
Processor 4th Generation Intel? Haswell CoreT i7-4710HQ (2.5GHz - 3.5GHz, 6MB Intel? Smart Cache)
Availability PRE-ORDER - ( ETA, specifications and upgrade-ability are subject to change by manufacturer )
Free Shipping FREE!!! - U.S. UPS GROUND SHIPPING (Use Coupon Code "FREESHIP" in Checkout) [U.S. Lower 48 ONLY / Restrictions Apply]
Display 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080)
Build Time Rush Build (Ships in 1-4 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed) (Subject to Parts Availability) [List Unique Delivery Requirements in Comments Box] (XPC Service)
The XOTIC PC Difference * 24/7 LIFETIME U.S. based technical support
* Extreme QA testing by dedicated technicians
* 24-72 Hour stress testing and benchmarking to ensure top performance and stability
Certificate of Ownership No Certificate & Binder
Warranty 2 Year AORUS Warranty
XOTIC PC Global Anti-Theft Protection No Global Anti-Theft Protection (Options below require an operating system)
Software Bundle (Not Installed) No Software Bundle
Microsoft Office Software No Office Software
Back Up Software No Back Up Software
Cloud Backup - Unlimited GB Storage No Unlimited GB Cloud Backup
ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE None
Operating System - Clean Installation Option Keep factory installed operating system
Operating System WINDOWS 8.1 - 64-Bit (Pre-Installed)
OS Redline Boost No Operating System Redline Boost
XOTIC PC Redline BoostT Extreme Performance No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system
Sound Card Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
Camera Built in 1.3Megapixel Camera
Memory Card Reader Internal SD Only Card Reader
Wireless Network Intel? Dual Band AC 7260 802.11 A/AC/B/G/N 2.4/5.0GHz + Bluetooth 4.0 | Up to 300/867Mbps (2x2) (SKU - WIFI24)
Bluetooth Bluetooth Included *With select wireless cards only* (See "Wireless Network" Section Below)
External Hard Drive (Back Up) No Back Up Hard Drive
mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 3 ) 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID 2) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 2 ) 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID 2) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 1 ) 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID 2) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
mSATA SSD Drive - Configuration Option mSATA Option: Operating System Installed [Default] w/ mSATA(s) selected below
Primary Hard Drive 1TB 7200RPM (SATA III - 6GB/s) - Default (SKU - HDD025)
Will do. I suspect given the SLI cards, it will be a situation where anything optimized for dual cards will easily outpace the single 880, but anything not, the Alienware / Razorblade will fare better better (there is a sizeable performance bump from the 860 to the 880 in single card performance). Probably be a couple weeks before I have it in my greedy little hands though to find out for sure.
Mine's not nearly up to date, it's running CFX AMD 7970M, so it's probably much more on par with the 860M. Passmark says the 7970M is faster, but Passmark is also full of shit on most benchmarks. I'm curious to see what something like 3DMark would say.
My cards are undervolted to 0.975V to preemptively avoid thermal issues, but I might just step the voltage back up to normal for this to get an apples-to-apples comparison going.
The Aorus was $2592 all in. It is about $2100 base, but I tweaked it a bit (ram, rush build since I am moving, and the shipping was high due to, well Canada). Not cheap by any stretch but I really wanted a light form factor.
When are those Maxwell's actually going to make it into not-top-end laptops though? I don't imagine the Lenovo Y series is gonna start shoving them in day one.
Not sure I love this razer blade after a month with it. The 14" screen is just too small. Everything else about it is amazing and it's small overall size is great if it wasn't for gaming.
Probably going to try to sell it for 90% of what I paid! doubt that will happen.
Their order spec sheet is a little rough to read. Main guts of it are double 860M in sli, an over clocked i7, overclocked ram and the super-raided SSDs
Ram 16GB DDR3 2133MHz [SKU-444KZ] (Overclocked Kingston HyperX CL12 Dual Channel Memory (4x4GB SODIMMS))
Graphics Video Card SLI (2x) - NVIDIA? GeForce? GTX 860M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11
Thermal Compound IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds) (XPC Service)
Processor 4th Generation Intel? Haswell Core? i7-4710HQ (2.5GHz - 3.5GHz, 6MB Intel? Smart Cache)
Availability PRE-ORDER - ( ETA, specifications and upgrade-ability are subject to change by manufacturer )
Free Shipping FREE!!! ? U.S. UPS GROUND SHIPPING (Use Coupon Code "FREESHIP" in Checkout) [U.S. Lower 48 ONLY / Restrictions Apply]
Display 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080)
Build Time Rush Build (Ships in 1-4 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed) (Subject to Parts Availability) [List Unique Delivery Requirements in Comments Box] (XPC Service)
The XOTIC PC Difference * 24/7 LIFETIME U.S. based technical support
* Extreme QA testing by dedicated technicians
* 24-72 Hour stress testing and benchmarking to ensure top performance and stability
Certificate of Ownership No Certificate & Binder
Warranty 2 Year AORUS Warranty
XOTIC PC Global Anti-Theft Protection No Global Anti-Theft Protection (Options below require an operating system)
Software Bundle (Not Installed) No Software Bundle
Microsoft Office Software No Office Software
Back Up Software No Back Up Software
Cloud Backup - Unlimited GB Storage No Unlimited GB Cloud Backup
ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE None
Operating System - Clean Installation Option Keep factory installed operating system
Operating System WINDOWS 8.1 - 64-Bit (Pre-Installed)
OS Redline Boost No Operating System Redline Boost
XOTIC PC Redline Boost? Extreme Performance No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system
Sound Card Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
Camera Built in 1.3Megapixel Camera
Memory Card Reader Internal SD Only Card Reader
Wireless Network Intel? Dual Band AC 7260 802.11 A/AC/B/G/N 2.4/5.0GHz + Bluetooth 4.0 | Up to 300/867Mbps (2x2) (SKU - WIFI24)
Bluetooth Bluetooth Included *With select wireless cards only* (See ?Wireless Network? Section Below)
External Hard Drive (Back Up) No Back Up Hard Drive
mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 3 ) 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID 2) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 2 ) 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID 2) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 1 ) 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID 2) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
mSATA SSD Drive - Configuration Option mSATA Option: Operating System Installed [Default] w/ mSATA(s) selected below
Primary Hard Drive 1TB 7200RPM (SATA III - 6GB/s) - Default (SKU - HDD025)
Damn nice!! For Christmas I bought my wife a gaming laptop and looked around at a lot of places. Friend always used ibuypower but they just couldn't beat the builds I was getting, and price that Xotic PC was offering, so I too went with them. Others I did check was cyberpower and the Lenovo Y series, which at the time had a smoking deal on a dual 650m nVidia SLI'd laptop. Ended up going with a Sager (Clevo) laptop from Xotic PC.
Mine ran just under $1500, with an i7, 8gb RAM, and 8970M radeon graphics card. At the time they were having a special to upgrade the graphics card, and the performance jump going with AMD versus nVidia was too good to pass up!
Their communication, and customer service were bad ass, and I'd recommend them to anyone looking for a gaming laptop.
