Which gaming laptop should I keep? Alienware vs Asus.

[zamardii12]

I have two gaming laptops ordered and i'm torn which one I should keep. Some quick thoughts of mine...

• I HATE the "gamer" design language of the Asus, but I am sure I can paint that red bit black and turn off the stupid RGB glow around the front. I like the look of the Alienware... all black.
• I've never bought an ASUS laptop before so no idea what to expect. Not sure about quality or warranty support. I've had Dell "G" series laptops and Alienwares in the past and they were fine and lasted.
• Alienware is $500 more for the same specs and is used. Same specs meaning from what i've read the AMD GPU and AMD CPU in the ASUS rivals the mobile RTX 3080 even in some cases. Idk about the Ryzen 9 5980X vs the i7-12700H...
• I've never owned an AMD laptop, desktop, or anything before. I've always had Intel and Nvidia so I am unsure whether the AMD setup of the ASUS can rival the Alienware with respect to performance.
• Despite my hatred of the ASUS design... the price for the specs is unreal... only $1,100 compared to the Alienware refurbished at $1,600.

Refurbished "Like New" from Dell Outlet Alienware M15 R7: $1,600

Specs:

• Intel Core 12th Generation i7-12700H Processor (14 Core, Up to 4.70GHz, 24MB Cache, 45W)
• 1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Gen 4 Class 40 Solid State Drive
• 16GB (2X8GB) Up to 4800MHz DDR5 SoDIMM Non-ECC
• 15.6 inch QHD (2560 x 1440) 240Hz 2ms with ComfortView Plus Non-Touch Display, NVIDIA G-SYNC & Advanced Optimus
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB GDDR6
• 6-Cell, 86 WHr Lithium Ion Battery
• Killer Wi-Fi 6 (6E* Pre-certified) AX1675 802.11ax 2x2 Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.2

Total: $1600 after 13% off with Flash Deal coupon and additional 2% off because order placed through Sales Chat. Also was given free 2-day shipping.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition: $1,099 at Best Buy right now on sale. Link.

Specs:

• AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX Processor
• 15.6" 2560x1440 QHD 165Hz 3ms 100% sRGB Color Display
• 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive SSD
• 16GB DDR4 RAM (3200MHz)
• AMD Radeon RX 6800M GDDR6 GPU
• WiFi 6 2x2 w/ Bluetooth 5.2
• Backlit Keyboard/IR Sensor
• 4-Cell Battery (90 Whr)
• Windows 11 OS (64-Bit)

 

[Armenius]

Dell put an underpowered 3070 into the M15 at one point (fewer CUDA cores than in the specifications). I don't know if it's the same with the 3070 Ti. Just something to keep in mind. Something else to consider about a NVIDIA mobile GPU is the Optimus system, which is a PITA to deal with from reading others' experiences. Regardless, the 6800M is a superior mobile GPU compared to the 3070 Ti.

Not sure about 12700H vs. 5980HX.

 

[elvn]

I prefer the legion pro line. They have a better cooling solution so their gpu has higher running wattage (like 140w vs 125 i think on some models). The other mfg designs throttle the cpu and gpu beyond that besides due to poor heat management design. The legion pros are also x1600 high rather than x1400, and have a peak 600 nit brightness. The 600nit peak is good when using them in bright environments, though as it relates to HDR usage - HDR has to be toned down brightness wise some or areas of the screen will wash out worse - its not FALD/OLED). Still some appreciable HDR highlight gains in games, more like "SDR+" . They also have a very rugged hinge design after redesigning the hinges from previous generation's issues. The ports on the back are super solid too, including the power port and power connector. Very sturdy laptop, best cooling solution outside of water.

All of these mfg models run hot though so I use a powered cooling pad while gaming. They are all loud when gaming too unless you use a artificial curve to throttle them considerably yourself. Anyone who says a full heat/fan curve on a mobile 3070 to 3080 isn't cranking fans to loud levels is lying. The legion can cool enough to avoid throttling though where the others can't. If I'm alone I'll use headphones or earbuds but if I'm around other people I'll use a curve to tone it down, or just stop gaming. At full power all of these laptops sound like a Cuisinart air fryer dBA wise. which as air fryers go isn't bad but for regular room noise levels, as well as right in front of your face, not so much. Some mfgs are even a little louder.