Hi, have you tried maybe to undervolt the GPU? The RX 580 usually submit pretty well to undervolting and people say this bring the temperatures down pretty well without hurting performance. This is typical for AMD cards as of late. If you still have the machine it is worth a try.
your lack of understanding amd cards is clear in the review, but you seem to do a decent job giving facts not traditional talking points. its clear that the 580 due to its clocks on a mobile platform is slightly slower than a 1060 in games and the power is also slightly higher for its lower performance which results in terrible battery life.
This alone does not make it a bad laptop however. price is the ultimate deciding factor. even a 1060 would give this laptop 1:20 uptime gaming. you should have tried using amd power saving features such as radeon chill to determine effectiveness in this review
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:19 pm
I actually agree with you here. I have two Ryzen 1700x boxes in HAfb cases, one with a 1080 and one with the RX580, the 580 machine is actually better for what I do which is compiling code on 8 cores with 16 threads and the occasional testing of my software app that uses all cores. I prefer the machine with the RX580 in it, runs cooler and the CPU has slightly more capability than the one with the 1080 in it for some reason.
I did have to switch my power approach for these beasts with a sine wave UPS. I wonder if the brick that comes with this thing will be good enough with an 1800x chip in it instead of the 1700?
I don't play games on my PC other than my own app, but it has near zero graphic content (chess). This box is perfect for coding and normal Office use with some heavy Visio action with my standard ASUS 32" multiple monitors setup.
Charlie
August 24, 2017 at 1:04 am
Do someone know the thickness of the mechanical HDD so to be able to be replaced with a 3 or 4 th 2.5". It makes sense for using it as a mobile workstation.
Given the fact that this is basically a desktop system put in a laptop case, I think it is very good. 40W consumed in normal tasks considering this doesn't have any graphics switching option, an 8 core CPU and a power hungry AMD GPU, 17 inch display and a chipset designed for desktop, I think it is pretty good.
If you look at desktop replacements with Intel desktop CPUs (7700K) you will see that they are ~ same from consumption and acoustics perspective.
I agree, I just wanted to make sure potential buyers understand that. This is after all a laptop and people might expect to be able to use a laptop on battery :)
No one would buy this expecting it to last long on a battery. Your review is kind of crap in a way. UEs Nvidia uses less power but that might buy you an extra 15 minutes of battery life at best. Neither AMD/Nvidia mid level GPUS will last long on battery power.
:) Look at the TDP/performance ratio of the AMD chip that's included on this laptop and the Nvidia options. Battery life isn't the only issue, temps/noise are as well and they're associated with that higher TDP GPU.
Jeff
October 19, 2017 at 9:51 am
Really seen many of Jay 2 cents and other laptop reviews with 1060 or higher cards in them and all get very loud and hot. Even a 1050 laptop gets loud and hot. My point is any dGPU worthwhile from AMD/Nvidia is loud and hot. Ya okay Nvidia is a tad better not enough to be a valid argument.
Based on my experience, laptops with 1060 get to about 48-50 dB at head level. This one gets to 60 dB, which is significantly noisier and imo, alongside the high TDP of this chip, valid arguments why this doesn't make sense in a laptop.
Jeff
October 16, 2017 at 9:07 am
So why does the AMD GPU not make sense? Because it is not Nvidia? A similar Nvidia 1060 will fair no better with power and heat in a Laptop environment.
Look at the TDP of a 1060 chip. How does it not make more sense inside a laptop?
Raz
October 21, 2017 at 1:31 pm
That cooling system looks like it would be enough for a gtx 1080 (or at least 1070), so yeah, getting 1060 max-q type of performance (in gaming) with that cooling system, really doesn't make sense!
Jeff
November 14, 2017 at 9:11 am
Geez you leave out its CPU performs like a desktop unlike every 1060 max-q system. Ahhh Nvidia has no CPU.
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:21 pm
Anything AMD related with a full Ryzen architecture is never going to be battery friendly….its all about the power baby!!
Den
September 16, 2017 at 1:57 pm
Finally a ROG laptop with a powerful and properly socketed cpu(not that BGA calculator-hardware that intel makes for laptops since 2015 and not LGA with enormous socket) …comes with a non-replaceable soldered on mid-level gpu. This is awkward.
This laptop apparently isn't available in the United States. How would I go about getting my hands on one of these? The Amazon listing doesn't ship to the US.
thisis available only in uk and germany. all the others waiting for mid November. I tried to buy from both countries but no one is exporting even to other EU countries and the warranty is only local and that is too bad in case a technical problem show up.
why aren't they selling it in the US ? also why is it standard with an ssd and 16 gb ram man 1500 dollars is hard to spend all at once would've rather been given the option to upgrade later, its so cool that the cpu is upgradable cause of ryzen 2 coming out next year
It's not a good idea to upgrade the cpu. I talked with aids and they delayed it because they had problems with the thermals. And as a joke I mentioned that It was released only in countries that they have colder weather for this reason :)
haha do you think they'll let us buy it with less ram and without the ssd? by my calculations that would make it at least 200 dollars cheaper
anon
October 27, 2017 at 11:48 am
also don't know why they are having thermal issues those heat pipes look crazy almost overkill but its great that they're paying attention to that I was considering the clevo n850hk1 but I changed my mind when I saw how bad the thermals were and they had only 2 heat pipes on that. Hopefully they don't go the other direction and try to cut some costs by cutting the copper. Wouldn't mind an rx570/560 for lower temps just really need that ryzen, since raven ridge is for the thin and light market and I don't know when coffee lake will come to the mobile market and what price it will be this laptop is my only option for performance cause I'm going to use it to render 3d models. been waiting for it for months now
Charlie
October 30, 2017 at 7:40 am
I am waiting it from july. I needed for 3d rendering and Content creation. If they will not release it globally till the 15th of October intel 6cores desktop i7 with clevo barebones will be available as an alternative from many system builders.
anon
November 25, 2017 at 3:01 am
both are out now I cant find any new reviews …. buying 1st gen stuff is a little risky and not having an onboard graphics card like the intel processors makes me nervous, my last laptops gpu died in 3 years and I was stuck with the onboard gpu, having a dedicated gpu run 24/7 might lower its lifespan… I need to make my decision this weekend contemplating between this and the Lenovo legion y720 saving 500$ is pretty good although the Lenovo looks really tacky… would've bought the asus without the ssd and with a ryzen 1600 to save 250-300$ in a heart beat … the clevos are way more expensive than the asus and I think they were 15 inchers also as I said in my last comment clevos aren't interested in the finer details like cooling
anon
November 25, 2017 at 3:08 am
btw if you are willing to wait a month or so the mobile coffee lake hq cpus for performance laptops are rumored for release
Kevin
October 26, 2017 at 9:25 pm
Can't wait to see what will be the price of this badboy in Canada!
Not a good review. There should be more statements that Amd did the fastest laptop and it's twice as fast as any Intel laptop currently on the market when comparing multicore. What this review mainly does says that its too loud and a mixed bag?! Of course its loud if all the parts are desktop parts?. The only laptop in the world which has all desktop parts really should be the loudest. It's still cheaper and 100% faster than Intel, isnt that something more than saying only "its a mixed bag" It is supposed to be mixed and only about 7% slower GPU compared to 1060 is absolutely nothing. Wait until there comes there real AMD mobile parts with VEGA chips. Hope you will then make a fair review and finally admit that AMD did something fantastic for this market. Even you are paid by the blue and green team.
I agree with you. It's the fastest laptop around the best mobile workstation in the market.
In some scenarios the gpu performs better in business applications as it has more computational power than 1060.
Finally the pricing is super cheap. The 6core laptop with Intel cpu from exotic pc costs double the money and the multi core performance is not faster than this laptop.
I would say we need more laptops like these, heck we need even less of a laptop, more of a desktop in a laptop. And gj for amd for at least trying to knock some sense into intel with the current underperforming laptops for such extreme prices.
A gaming laptop is a gaming machine, it's not your small thin little portable ultrabook that you go in the park with and write poems about flowers. It's supposed to be loud, heavy and powerful.
You carry it around because you can't carry an entire pc around with you, but the performance you get should match that of your pc, and the price of it as well. Who exactly uses a trackpad on a gaming laptop? You tried playing a shooter on that thing? Yeah….I thought so.
Who needs extended battery life in a gaming laptop, you have your smartphone if you want to browse facebook or send an email or watch youtube videos right? What could you possibly use your 2-3 hours worth of battery life in a gaming laptop.
The purpose of such a laptop is portable power, not gadgets, and fancy battery life, trackpads and ultra surround sound system, but raw power, a workstation, a gaming rig that you can carry. It's supposed to be loud, it's supposed to be heavy. Most people who buy such machines already have quality headphones or speakers with them, they also have a quality mouse and a power socket nearby.
The only bad thing I found about this is the no possibility for upgrading the gpu, as that cpu will be good for many years to come, the gpu….not so much.
I never contested this laptop is a good buy if you want it for applications that can benefit from that AMD CPU. But even so, I still would have preferred a laptop that combines that AMD CPU with an Nvidia GPU, which would have either been faster, or quieter imo. Of course, you and others might feel different and that's perfectly OK, go get it then :)
Even with the new i9 6core 45w laptop will not be faster than this one in cpu power and this laptop will more.edpensive. So if you need a super cheap laptop with multi core performance this is the cheapest one.
Also I read in a thread that the new AMD ryzen desktop cpus that will available in 65w can be installed in this laptop. Ok there is a bios availability issue but asus will get around it :)
Sure, I'm swimming in those Nvidia money. Please don't go there and accept people's other opinions, whether you agree or not. Or just go and buy the laptop if it's good for you, regardless or my own subjective conclusions
I still wont buy it yes as I would like a Ryzen 7 laptop with a gtx 1070..I am an nvidia fan, but not intel.
Charlie
December 12, 2017 at 12:29 pm
One of the best laptops for content creators, 3d developers, architects and steaming gamers etc.
I just grabbed one to replace my Asus laptop with i7 4core and 1060.
The 580 vs 1060 in some gaming that I tried is just 2 to 5 frames less in the most tiles in some other is faster that 1060. So its not real problem for gaming because you can stream at the same time something with the help of the 8 cores that i7 can not do with the 4 cores.
I tried also unbiased renderers that use both cuda and opencl and AMD is far faster in comparison to cuda on 1060 as 580 has more computational power.
Also in 3d rendering with both cpu and gpu loaded at 100% heat is at the same levels with my other asus laptop with i7HQ/1060. The strange part is that has half the fan noise in compariton to my i7hd/1060 model.
This system is a good investment. Even the i9 6core 45w for mobile will not surpass its multithreading performance.
Also sizewise is super thin if you compare it with other 4core systems that have desktop CPU based that are using CLEVO barebones or many other gaming laptops with 1060 in the same price range. Only the power supply is big in size but that is natural for a laptop with a desktop cpu.
Another crazy part in EU it is priced in the category of i7/1050 i7/1050ti super super cheap.
Exactly. Few other laptops will compete with this beast in terms of multi threading on those 8 cores, I compile code on 6 different boxes and I am using AMD Ryzen and threadripper combinations for everything now. My two 1950x threadripper boxes deliver insane throughput on those cores for half the price compared to Intel i9.
I had two i9 boxes to evaluate from MSI and went with the MSI Carbon based 1950x solutions. I just had to get one Cyberpower1500 sinewave UPS per two systems as they are sensitive to PFC power related spikes that PG&E offer as a standard feature and caused serious tripping on my 15A circuits.
They actually perform pretty well on the smooth sinewave power now. Will probably have to get each machine its own Sinewave UPS for proper shutdown purposes….worth the investment though.
Not familiar with that one, perhaps other readers can reply though.
LOL Icon
December 15, 2017 at 6:59 am
this laptop recently out in my region and i plan to buy it, but i have few question
1. you say this one is sample (im not sure cuz i belive sampel is one with heatpipe block ram) and maybe they make improvement, but are they really do it? is you has exp about compare sample with official release? consider about asus is kinda big company
2. many say this laptop is first generation and usually bad, and best will be 2nd. you think so? you think new one will be release soon? (like case of AW 17 R4 ver 2016 n 2017)
3. im gamer that also use content creator, i play game medium-high 4 hours nonstop and open web for game guide plus record in few moment(not always active but ready to shot). is that enough to make me meet worst condition like you say?
using mine for the last week and it runs great temps are great living in a really hot country(still is winter though), i don't thinks i would've been comfortable if the screen was any dimmer, most of the alternatives are 250 nits this 1 is 350, freesync is half the reason i bought it and its awesome screen tearing makes games look like crap ….. frame limit set to 60 and fans at max(sounds like a helicopter taking off) metal gear solid 1080 p ultra 60c witcher 3 ultra 1080 65-70 c wtcher 3 in 4k high preset 25 -30 fps 80-85c, overwatch ultra 50c , getting a score of 1400 on cine bench cpu hasn't gone above 70 I think … its got a solid build and its much thinner and lighter than I expected … still isn't perfect startup time is not as fast as I expected I'm guessing too many preinstalled programs and I'm too inexperienced and lazy to do a purge… my palms are sweaty(moms spaghetti) and I think some of the brushed aluminum coating on the palm rest is coming off , the worst part is the battery it barely lasts and everything under clocks when not plugged in get a score of 400 on cinebench (1400 normally) and uniengine gets 5 fps (50-60 usually) and the charger is as big as some laptops I had an alienware before and this charger dwarfs that 1 it almost doesn't fit in my bag… also i don't know whether u have this problem but the up down left right buttons are squeezed in and i cant hit them intuitively and the minus button is adjacent to the power button and I might hit the wrong button , the rubber legs are really high too, which is good cause ive used a msi gs and that thing is so low that I think its half the reason why it over heats and they are solidly built too the msi rubber feet are just slipping of got to stick them back with glue ,but the laptop doesn't fit in bag sleeve compartment cause of the feet so check the bag dimensions before u buy 1 for reference I'm using the ebags professional slim
ps. ryzen 2 will most likely come with an onboard gpu which could solve the battery life issue also those onboard gpus will atleast be as powerful as a gtx 1030 maybe even a 1050 I think this might also be the best(or only) option for people who want a swappable gpu in their laptop, most mainstream laptops have the gpus and cpus soldered on I think clevos and alienware are the only ones ive seen with that functionality but the gpus cost twice as much last time I checked and compatibility was an issue… swapping to a ryzen 2 you get a new cpu and a new gpu at the cost and tdp of just the cpu
in urma review-ului tau am achizitionat un astfel de laptop si sunt multumit, dar pentru un film mai lung trebuie sa il alimentezi. Problema este ca in ultima excursie am pierdut incarcatorul si nu reusesc sa gasesc unul compatibil. Ai idee de unde pot achizitiona un nou incarcator?
Can you clarify something? The photo at the top has different heatpipe configuration than the photos below, the top photo's heatpipes don't overhang the DDR4 slots and there is a heatpipe going to the chipset, in the bottom photos the heatpipe doesn't go to the chipset and two of them loop over the DDR4 slots…
I understand there was a pre-production unit reviewed, can you clarify which picture represents which model? Is the top photo hardware the pre-production or the final market model?
I wondered if the reviewer or others know about upgradability, as I was looking at this more from a portable workstation than a gaming perspective:
I think I understand a Ryzen 2xxx CPU (Zen+/"Pinnacle Ridge") could be installed out of warranty later if really needed and if it draws the same or less power.
However I am not sure about memory and hard drives:
The memory is dual channel – if two SODIMMs are installed?
What is holding it back from running with 64GB memory, SODIMM capacity or is there actually a chipset/motherboard/bios issue?
I would be using it for development with several server instances and doubt 32GB would be enough for the lifetime of the machine.
A 5400rpm platter hard drive is mentioned.. I guess a faster one can be installed should it be an issue (less likely with an SSD)?
That's the point: this laptop MUST be upgraded with dual channel fast RAM (3000 would be optimal, but is expensive) for full power!
However I think the heat-pipe design is wrong in this laptop: RX580 requires a lot of power and can get really hot. I would have put more heat-pipes on the GPU rather than on Ryzen.
Keep in mind: We manually approve each comment. This way, we can attend to all your questions and requests. There's no need to submit a comment twice, just be patient till we get to it. Thank you!
Table of ContentsThe Best Premium fanless laptops and ChromebooksFull-size fanless laptopsFanless ultrabooks and Windows ultra-portablesFanless Windows-running Mini laptops In this article, we’re discussing fanless laptops and silent Windows ultrabooks...
Charlie
August 22, 2017 at 8:02 pm
For content creators is a super mobile workstation. In raytracerts AMD GPU perform better that nvidia.
Ryan Eka
October 24, 2017 at 10:25 am
how to enable raytracer ?. bcoz in after effects, I can not enable it with my RX 480 an d R7 1700…
sicily428
August 23, 2017 at 3:02 am
Is that Ryzen cpu soldered or not onto the motherboard? could you take a photo of that without the heatsink?
Andrei Girbea
August 23, 2017 at 5:21 am
Here you go: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/internals.jpg
sicily428
August 23, 2017 at 7:33 am
wow! Thanks for that :)
Agent Hunk
August 20, 2020 at 4:12 pm
How much of the 330 watts of power is the cpu+gpu laptop using when gaming and being idle?
Agent Hunk
August 20, 2020 at 4:50 pm
Do you have any info on how this model can handle ethernet streaming of games in 1080p?
As well as wireless streaming of 1080p?
Comparison?
I know I have it,but cannot test ethernet since I have means to do so.
I cannot find a review on streaming tests….
Jeff
October 16, 2017 at 9:31 am
NO it is not soldered
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:08 pm
Its a standard Ryzen CPU base, you can upgrade to an 1800x easily.
Charlie
August 23, 2017 at 8:20 am
The problem is that it can not support more tdp with that cooling solution.
This could be upgradable if proper motherboard firmware would be released.
Even if Intel make 6core mobile cheaps I do not think in 45w tdp will much the performance not ryzen 1700 in multithreading.
RMg
August 23, 2017 at 2:30 pm
Hi, have you tried maybe to undervolt the GPU? The RX 580 usually submit pretty well to undervolting and people say this bring the temperatures down pretty well without hurting performance. This is typical for AMD cards as of late. If you still have the machine it is worth a try.
Andrei Girbea
August 23, 2017 at 3:46 pm
No, and I returned it already. Unfortunately my experience with AMD cards is basically null and I didn't think about this when I still had the laptop.
Ben Wagner
October 16, 2017 at 11:47 pm
your lack of understanding amd cards is clear in the review, but you seem to do a decent job giving facts not traditional talking points. its clear that the 580 due to its clocks on a mobile platform is slightly slower than a 1060 in games and the power is also slightly higher for its lower performance which results in terrible battery life.
This alone does not make it a bad laptop however. price is the ultimate deciding factor. even a 1060 would give this laptop 1:20 uptime gaming. you should have tried using amd power saving features such as radeon chill to determine effectiveness in this review
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:19 pm
I actually agree with you here. I have two Ryzen 1700x boxes in HAfb cases, one with a 1080 and one with the RX580, the 580 machine is actually better for what I do which is compiling code on 8 cores with 16 threads and the occasional testing of my software app that uses all cores. I prefer the machine with the RX580 in it, runs cooler and the CPU has slightly more capability than the one with the 1080 in it for some reason.
I did have to switch my power approach for these beasts with a sine wave UPS. I wonder if the brick that comes with this thing will be good enough with an 1800x chip in it instead of the 1700?
I don't play games on my PC other than my own app, but it has near zero graphic content (chess). This box is perfect for coding and normal Office use with some heavy Visio action with my standard ASUS 32" multiple monitors setup.
Charlie
August 24, 2017 at 1:04 am
Do someone know the thickness of the mechanical HDD so to be able to be replaced with a 3 or 4 th 2.5". It makes sense for using it as a mobile workstation.
Vlad
September 12, 2017 at 4:12 am
Given the fact that this is basically a desktop system put in a laptop case, I think it is very good. 40W consumed in normal tasks considering this doesn't have any graphics switching option, an 8 core CPU and a power hungry AMD GPU, 17 inch display and a chipset designed for desktop, I think it is pretty good.
If you look at desktop replacements with Intel desktop CPUs (7700K) you will see that they are ~ same from consumption and acoustics perspective.
Andrei Girbea
September 12, 2017 at 4:14 am
I agree, I just wanted to make sure potential buyers understand that. This is after all a laptop and people might expect to be able to use a laptop on battery :)
Jeff
October 4, 2017 at 9:14 am
No one would buy this expecting it to last long on a battery. Your review is kind of crap in a way. UEs Nvidia uses less power but that might buy you an extra 15 minutes of battery life at best. Neither AMD/Nvidia mid level GPUS will last long on battery power.
Andrei Girbea
October 4, 2017 at 11:25 am
:) Look at the TDP/performance ratio of the AMD chip that's included on this laptop and the Nvidia options. Battery life isn't the only issue, temps/noise are as well and they're associated with that higher TDP GPU.
Jeff
October 19, 2017 at 9:51 am
Really seen many of Jay 2 cents and other laptop reviews with 1060 or higher cards in them and all get very loud and hot. Even a 1050 laptop gets loud and hot. My point is any dGPU worthwhile from AMD/Nvidia is loud and hot. Ya okay Nvidia is a tad better not enough to be a valid argument.
Andrei Girbea
October 19, 2017 at 9:57 am
Based on my experience, laptops with 1060 get to about 48-50 dB at head level. This one gets to 60 dB, which is significantly noisier and imo, alongside the high TDP of this chip, valid arguments why this doesn't make sense in a laptop.
Jeff
October 16, 2017 at 9:07 am
So why does the AMD GPU not make sense? Because it is not Nvidia? A similar Nvidia 1060 will fair no better with power and heat in a Laptop environment.
Andrei Girbea
October 17, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Look at the TDP of a 1060 chip. How does it not make more sense inside a laptop?
Raz
October 21, 2017 at 1:31 pm
That cooling system looks like it would be enough for a gtx 1080 (or at least 1070), so yeah, getting 1060 max-q type of performance (in gaming) with that cooling system, really doesn't make sense!
Jeff
November 14, 2017 at 9:11 am
Geez you leave out its CPU performs like a desktop unlike every 1060 max-q system. Ahhh Nvidia has no CPU.
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:21 pm
Anything AMD related with a full Ryzen architecture is never going to be battery friendly….its all about the power baby!!
Den
September 16, 2017 at 1:57 pm
Finally a ROG laptop with a powerful and properly socketed cpu(not that BGA calculator-hardware that intel makes for laptops since 2015 and not LGA with enormous socket) …comes with a non-replaceable soldered on mid-level gpu. This is awkward.
Bryan Hernandez
October 9, 2017 at 12:21 am
This laptop apparently isn't available in the United States. How would I go about getting my hands on one of these? The Amazon listing doesn't ship to the US.
Charlie
October 25, 2017 at 5:42 pm
thisis available only in uk and germany. all the others waiting for mid November. I tried to buy from both countries but no one is exporting even to other EU countries and the warranty is only local and that is too bad in case a technical problem show up.
Othmar
October 17, 2017 at 11:03 am
Is it possible to upgrade the RAM modules with higher speed ones?
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:21 pm
yes
anon
October 26, 2017 at 1:09 am
why aren't they selling it in the US ? also why is it standard with an ssd and 16 gb ram man 1500 dollars is hard to spend all at once would've rather been given the option to upgrade later, its so cool that the cpu is upgradable cause of ryzen 2 coming out next year
Charlie
October 26, 2017 at 5:29 am
It's not a good idea to upgrade the cpu. I talked with aids and they delayed it because they had problems with the thermals. And as a joke I mentioned that It was released only in countries that they have colder weather for this reason :)
anon
October 27, 2017 at 11:10 am
haha do you think they'll let us buy it with less ram and without the ssd? by my calculations that would make it at least 200 dollars cheaper
anon
October 27, 2017 at 11:48 am
also don't know why they are having thermal issues those heat pipes look crazy almost overkill but its great that they're paying attention to that I was considering the clevo n850hk1 but I changed my mind when I saw how bad the thermals were and they had only 2 heat pipes on that. Hopefully they don't go the other direction and try to cut some costs by cutting the copper. Wouldn't mind an rx570/560 for lower temps just really need that ryzen, since raven ridge is for the thin and light market and I don't know when coffee lake will come to the mobile market and what price it will be this laptop is my only option for performance cause I'm going to use it to render 3d models. been waiting for it for months now
Charlie
October 30, 2017 at 7:40 am
I am waiting it from july. I needed for 3d rendering and Content creation. If they will not release it globally till the 15th of October intel 6cores desktop i7 with clevo barebones will be available as an alternative from many system builders.
anon
November 25, 2017 at 3:01 am
both are out now I cant find any new reviews …. buying 1st gen stuff is a little risky and not having an onboard graphics card like the intel processors makes me nervous, my last laptops gpu died in 3 years and I was stuck with the onboard gpu, having a dedicated gpu run 24/7 might lower its lifespan… I need to make my decision this weekend contemplating between this and the Lenovo legion y720 saving 500$ is pretty good although the Lenovo looks really tacky… would've bought the asus without the ssd and with a ryzen 1600 to save 250-300$ in a heart beat … the clevos are way more expensive than the asus and I think they were 15 inchers also as I said in my last comment clevos aren't interested in the finer details like cooling
anon
November 25, 2017 at 3:08 am
btw if you are willing to wait a month or so the mobile coffee lake hq cpus for performance laptops are rumored for release
Kevin
October 26, 2017 at 9:25 pm
Can't wait to see what will be the price of this badboy in Canada!
stockholder
November 21, 2017 at 10:19 pm
Not a good review. There should be more statements that Amd did the fastest laptop and it's twice as fast as any Intel laptop currently on the market when comparing multicore. What this review mainly does says that its too loud and a mixed bag?! Of course its loud if all the parts are desktop parts?. The only laptop in the world which has all desktop parts really should be the loudest. It's still cheaper and 100% faster than Intel, isnt that something more than saying only "its a mixed bag" It is supposed to be mixed and only about 7% slower GPU compared to 1060 is absolutely nothing. Wait until there comes there real AMD mobile parts with VEGA chips. Hope you will then make a fair review and finally admit that AMD did something fantastic for this market. Even you are paid by the blue and green team.
Charlie
November 22, 2017 at 12:52 pm
I agree with you. It's the fastest laptop around the best mobile workstation in the market.
In some scenarios the gpu performs better in business applications as it has more computational power than 1060.
Finally the pricing is super cheap. The 6core laptop with Intel cpu from exotic pc costs double the money and the multi core performance is not faster than this laptop.
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:23 pm
Yeah a Vega with this thing would be awesome…
Iosif
November 23, 2017 at 6:57 am
I would say we need more laptops like these, heck we need even less of a laptop, more of a desktop in a laptop. And gj for amd for at least trying to knock some sense into intel with the current underperforming laptops for such extreme prices.
A gaming laptop is a gaming machine, it's not your small thin little portable ultrabook that you go in the park with and write poems about flowers. It's supposed to be loud, heavy and powerful.
You carry it around because you can't carry an entire pc around with you, but the performance you get should match that of your pc, and the price of it as well. Who exactly uses a trackpad on a gaming laptop? You tried playing a shooter on that thing? Yeah….I thought so.
Who needs extended battery life in a gaming laptop, you have your smartphone if you want to browse facebook or send an email or watch youtube videos right? What could you possibly use your 2-3 hours worth of battery life in a gaming laptop.
The purpose of such a laptop is portable power, not gadgets, and fancy battery life, trackpads and ultra surround sound system, but raw power, a workstation, a gaming rig that you can carry. It's supposed to be loud, it's supposed to be heavy. Most people who buy such machines already have quality headphones or speakers with them, they also have a quality mouse and a power socket nearby.
The only bad thing I found about this is the no possibility for upgrading the gpu, as that cpu will be good for many years to come, the gpu….not so much.
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2017 at 10:10 am
I never contested this laptop is a good buy if you want it for applications that can benefit from that AMD CPU. But even so, I still would have preferred a laptop that combines that AMD CPU with an Nvidia GPU, which would have either been faster, or quieter imo. Of course, you and others might feel different and that's perfectly OK, go get it then :)
Charlie
November 25, 2017 at 8:35 am
Even with the new i9 6core 45w laptop will not be faster than this one in cpu power and this laptop will more.edpensive. So if you need a super cheap laptop with multi core performance this is the cheapest one.
Also I read in a thread that the new AMD ryzen desktop cpus that will available in 65w can be installed in this laptop. Ok there is a bios availability issue but asus will get around it :)
Johan
December 10, 2017 at 3:55 pm
All i saw was a fkn awesome laptop and a shitty paid for review by Nvidia.
I can assure you if Amd sponsored this laptopfor review they wouldnt let this guy bad mouth their components to advertise nvidia gpus.
Reviewer congrats on becoming a double agent
Andrei Girbea
December 12, 2017 at 11:08 am
Sure, I'm swimming in those Nvidia money. Please don't go there and accept people's other opinions, whether you agree or not. Or just go and buy the laptop if it's good for you, regardless or my own subjective conclusions
Johan
December 14, 2017 at 3:43 am
It seems so i did, but I did not, oh Hi mark..
I still wont buy it yes as I would like a Ryzen 7 laptop with a gtx 1070..I am an nvidia fan, but not intel.
Charlie
December 12, 2017 at 12:29 pm
One of the best laptops for content creators, 3d developers, architects and steaming gamers etc.
I just grabbed one to replace my Asus laptop with i7 4core and 1060.
The 580 vs 1060 in some gaming that I tried is just 2 to 5 frames less in the most tiles in some other is faster that 1060. So its not real problem for gaming because you can stream at the same time something with the help of the 8 cores that i7 can not do with the 4 cores.
I tried also unbiased renderers that use both cuda and opencl and AMD is far faster in comparison to cuda on 1060 as 580 has more computational power.
Also in 3d rendering with both cpu and gpu loaded at 100% heat is at the same levels with my other asus laptop with i7HQ/1060. The strange part is that has half the fan noise in compariton to my i7hd/1060 model.
This system is a good investment. Even the i9 6core 45w for mobile will not surpass its multithreading performance.
Also sizewise is super thin if you compare it with other 4core systems that have desktop CPU based that are using CLEVO barebones or many other gaming laptops with 1060 in the same price range. Only the power supply is big in size but that is natural for a laptop with a desktop cpu.
Another crazy part in EU it is priced in the category of i7/1050 i7/1050ti super super cheap.
Chaan
December 19, 2017 at 12:57 pm
Exactly. Few other laptops will compete with this beast in terms of multi threading on those 8 cores, I compile code on 6 different boxes and I am using AMD Ryzen and threadripper combinations for everything now. My two 1950x threadripper boxes deliver insane throughput on those cores for half the price compared to Intel i9.
I had two i9 boxes to evaluate from MSI and went with the MSI Carbon based 1950x solutions. I just had to get one Cyberpower1500 sinewave UPS per two systems as they are sensitive to PFC power related spikes that PG&E offer as a standard feature and caused serious tripping on my 15A circuits.
They actually perform pretty well on the smooth sinewave power now. Will probably have to get each machine its own Sinewave UPS for proper shutdown purposes….worth the investment though.
Brandon
December 26, 2017 at 2:51 am
Will this laptop be good for GPU-heavy rendering programs such as Lumion?
Andrei Girbea
December 27, 2017 at 5:25 am
Not familiar with that one, perhaps other readers can reply though.
LOL Icon
December 15, 2017 at 6:59 am
this laptop recently out in my region and i plan to buy it, but i have few question
1. you say this one is sample (im not sure cuz i belive sampel is one with heatpipe block ram) and maybe they make improvement, but are they really do it? is you has exp about compare sample with official release? consider about asus is kinda big company
2. many say this laptop is first generation and usually bad, and best will be 2nd. you think so? you think new one will be release soon? (like case of AW 17 R4 ver 2016 n 2017)
3. im gamer that also use content creator, i play game medium-high 4 hours nonstop and open web for game guide plus record in few moment(not always active but ready to shot). is that enough to make me meet worst condition like you say?
thanks for answere
chaan
December 23, 2017 at 11:58 am
I would not get this platform for gaming. Its more like a professional tool for architects, engineers and software coders.
Charlie
December 23, 2017 at 7:17 pm
its super for gaiming too if you need a 1060 performance and stream at tha same time.
George Vassilev
December 27, 2017 at 7:45 am
Your ISP – Digi : 35 Mbps, symmetric
Adding only Com in the same :
My ISP – DigiCom :95 Mbps, symmetric
anon
December 30, 2017 at 5:26 am
using mine for the last week and it runs great temps are great living in a really hot country(still is winter though), i don't thinks i would've been comfortable if the screen was any dimmer, most of the alternatives are 250 nits this 1 is 350, freesync is half the reason i bought it and its awesome screen tearing makes games look like crap ….. frame limit set to 60 and fans at max(sounds like a helicopter taking off) metal gear solid 1080 p ultra 60c witcher 3 ultra 1080 65-70 c wtcher 3 in 4k high preset 25 -30 fps 80-85c, overwatch ultra 50c , getting a score of 1400 on cine bench cpu hasn't gone above 70 I think … its got a solid build and its much thinner and lighter than I expected … still isn't perfect startup time is not as fast as I expected I'm guessing too many preinstalled programs and I'm too inexperienced and lazy to do a purge… my palms are sweaty(moms spaghetti) and I think some of the brushed aluminum coating on the palm rest is coming off , the worst part is the battery it barely lasts and everything under clocks when not plugged in get a score of 400 on cinebench (1400 normally) and uniengine gets 5 fps (50-60 usually) and the charger is as big as some laptops I had an alienware before and this charger dwarfs that 1 it almost doesn't fit in my bag… also i don't know whether u have this problem but the up down left right buttons are squeezed in and i cant hit them intuitively and the minus button is adjacent to the power button and I might hit the wrong button , the rubber legs are really high too, which is good cause ive used a msi gs and that thing is so low that I think its half the reason why it over heats and they are solidly built too the msi rubber feet are just slipping of got to stick them back with glue ,but the laptop doesn't fit in bag sleeve compartment cause of the feet so check the bag dimensions before u buy 1 for reference I'm using the ebags professional slim
anon
December 30, 2017 at 5:50 am
ps. ryzen 2 will most likely come with an onboard gpu which could solve the battery life issue also those onboard gpus will atleast be as powerful as a gtx 1030 maybe even a 1050 I think this might also be the best(or only) option for people who want a swappable gpu in their laptop, most mainstream laptops have the gpus and cpus soldered on I think clevos and alienware are the only ones ive seen with that functionality but the gpus cost twice as much last time I checked and compatibility was an issue… swapping to a ryzen 2 you get a new cpu and a new gpu at the cost and tdp of just the cpu
Badea Gabriel
January 11, 2018 at 6:41 am
Salut,
in urma review-ului tau am achizitionat un astfel de laptop si sunt multumit, dar pentru un film mai lung trebuie sa il alimentezi. Problema este ca in ultima excursie am pierdut incarcatorul si nu reusesc sa gasesc unul compatibil. Ai idee de unde pot achizitiona un nou incarcator?
Andrei Girbea
January 15, 2018 at 1:02 pm
Complicat, incearca sa vorbesti cu suportul Asus in Romania, nu stiu daca vei gasi unul original.
Richard
February 23, 2018 at 6:42 pm
Can you clarify something? The photo at the top has different heatpipe configuration than the photos below, the top photo's heatpipes don't overhang the DDR4 slots and there is a heatpipe going to the chipset, in the bottom photos the heatpipe doesn't go to the chipset and two of them loop over the DDR4 slots…
I understand there was a pre-production unit reviewed, can you clarify which picture represents which model? Is the top photo hardware the pre-production or the final market model?
Andrei Girbea
February 24, 2018 at 9:44 am
The photo at the top is from the pre-production sample. The photos in the article are from the final retail unit.
S
March 21, 2018 at 7:23 pm
Where did you get the battery capacity specification of 76Wh? Did you verify it?
Many users are reporting 76Wh or 74Wh design capacity, BUT actually only ~60Wh full charge capacity.
Andrei Girbea
March 22, 2018 at 4:42 am
Hwinfo showed 76Wh design capacity and 74Wh charge capacity
Nik
March 26, 2018 at 9:21 am
I wondered if the reviewer or others know about upgradability, as I was looking at this more from a portable workstation than a gaming perspective:
I think I understand a Ryzen 2xxx CPU (Zen+/"Pinnacle Ridge") could be installed out of warranty later if really needed and if it draws the same or less power.
However I am not sure about memory and hard drives:
The memory is dual channel – if two SODIMMs are installed?
What is holding it back from running with 64GB memory, SODIMM capacity or is there actually a chipset/motherboard/bios issue?
I would be using it for development with several server instances and doubt 32GB would be enough for the lifetime of the machine.
A 5400rpm platter hard drive is mentioned.. I guess a faster one can be installed should it be an issue (less likely with an SSD)?
Febi Widi Fauzan
June 11, 2018 at 2:51 pm
Very helpful website, thank you sooooo much!
Cosmin
July 12, 2018 at 8:03 am
Ok. So I bought one. Then upgraded it with a Samsung 970 Pro 512 GB and 32GB RAM running dual channel.
I bought the laptop for 900 Euros, the upgrades for 700 Euros. Total 1600 Euros. Now it performs better than much more expensive laptops.
Also, running dual channel RAM improved my gaming fps by 5-10 fps.
Great laptop.
Runs hot and noisy but performance is adequate.
Hexaae
October 20, 2018 at 5:52 pm
That's the point: this laptop MUST be upgraded with dual channel fast RAM (3000 would be optimal, but is expensive) for full power!
However I think the heat-pipe design is wrong in this laptop: RX580 requires a lot of power and can get really hot. I would have put more heat-pipes on the GPU rather than on Ryzen.
Charlue
July 13, 2018 at 10:32 am
This CPU is faster 9 to 10% than a i9 laptop that cost 4k $
Rui
December 12, 2018 at 4:37 am
Is this laptop still a good buy at this time?
I can get at 999€
Thank you,
Rui Moreira
Cosmin
December 12, 2018 at 11:29 am
RTX based laptops are around the corner. I would wait and see what an RTX 2060 laptop has to offer.
BB
April 19, 2023 at 5:38 am
Would it be possible to replace the CPU with a ryzen 2600 as it is also a 65watt CPU for Windows 11 compatability?