=Dedicated gaming laptop or ultrabook + enclosure?

drummerdimitri

Honorable
Nov 7, 2013
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I'm torn between buying a high end ultabook (Lenovo Yoga 920 4k) with a thunderbolt enclosure and a gtx 1070 (already owned) and a gaming laptop (ROG Zephyrus 1080 8th gen)

I currently only play lol but whenever there is a game that comes out that I like and would like to play I want to be able to play it on the highest settings but that the same time it would be nice to have the higher resolution display for every day use, the touch screen, lightweight etc...

On the other hand, I dont really need something very portable as I only every use my laptop at my desk and it only ever gets carried with me from country to country unless i plan on having lan parties at a friends house in the near future.

I am not sure what suits me better. I am leaning more towards the Zephyrus since it does everything I need it to and is definitely better suited for gaming but lack the cool things like a 4k screen and touchscreen capability but on the other hand has a 144 hz ips panel.

Unfortunately you can't have it all as of today and I need to make a decision but I cannot do so on my own so any opinions on this matter would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Solution

kbarizo93

Prominent
Dec 27, 2017
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520
If you dont mind having an EGPU laying around, then by all means go with the ultrabook + egpu setup. EGPU do have a bit of a bottleneck since the methods of using them aren't as fast as an actual PCIe 3.0 slot but the cost effectiveness of it is much better than a gaming laptop.

Gaming laptops depreciate in price LIKE CRAZY, and they're not easy to upgrade, if possible at all. For the reason of depreciation alone, I personally would go with an eGPU setup.
 

jaslion

Honorable
Dec 17, 2012
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The problem with the yoga is that it does not run the u series cpu at full power. This is quite bad for gaming as it will perform a lot worse compared to the non factory limited laptops. Touch is take it or leave it, you might use it sometimes but generally touch + win 10 is a meh experience and it's easier to just use trackpad and mouse (and if you need to take notes trust me pen and paper is much easier).

4k on a 15.6inch device usually leads to scaling issues in a bunch of applications and the windows scaler is still not that good at fixing it. This will most likely lead you to put the display at a lower resolution to keep things functioning. However at 15.6 inch a 1080p panel has a bit higher pixel density than a 24inch 4k panel so you are not losing out on quality on a smaller screen.
 
Solution
Jul 2, 2018
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It also depends on how long will you use the laptop. If you are going to use it the whole day, it's better to get the Lenovo Yoga 920 than the Zephyrus which have a 2-3 hour battery life. If your not really a gamer, just get the eGPU, just hook up your ultrabook whenever you feel like playing. Furthermore, there is a eGPU that also charges your laptop when plugged, it's the Gigabyte Auros Gtx 1070 and 1080. It's only $599-$699, it's a eGPU box that comes with an unchangeable mini gtx 1070/1080.
 

fagetti

Prominent
Mar 1, 2018
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If your going for the eGPU setup check here for compatible laptop models: https://egpu.io/build-guides/
Just press build link to see more info on specific build. You can check theyre 3d mark scores to compare what you are actually going to get with each setup, there is about 10 builds with this yoga 920 model. Some crazy guy hooked up titan v to it : https://egpu.io/forums/builds/for-the-giggles-titan-v/
Hes score is destroying most 4k desktop gaming pc:s, jesus
 
Dec 15, 2018
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Dec 15, 2018
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I spent a lot of time going through the same question myself. I have recently decided to go with a gaming laptop instead of ultra book and eGPU combo.

Main reason for this for me was that the ultra books don't have a lot of RAM options. If you look at the eGPU guides, most of the comparably reasonable priced ultrabooks that work best with eGPUs only have 8gb ram that is not upgradeable. I am accustomed to using a tower PC with 32 GB DDR4 Ram so this feels important to me.

I ended up choosing an MSI gaming laptop with 32GB RAM, i7 and gtx1070 that is the same cost as getting an ultrabook with 8gb ram, i5 and GTX1080 eGPU combo.

I feel my decision is best but there are many reviews out there that you should research first.

Please read up on this blog before buying your eGPU solution as they have very important points you should consider in terms of picking the right combo. https://egpu.io/

Hope this helps. Difficult decision.