What kinds of Windows laptops do you want to see at CES?

[Queen6]

Yeah, me to, I just don't understand the introduction of that Studio brand. It is almost like they're trying to tell people who can't read the gaming laptop specs - " hey, you can totally use it for professional work!!".

Some are offering a more visually toned down version, less flashy versus the gaming notebooks. ASUS is also offering Xeon and Quadro graphics if it materialises for the StudioBook. Overall I'm liking the diversity and the recognition that all professional's don't only want emaciated Ultrabook's with weak or watered down internals.

Liking more and more the duo display ASUS and I would love a shot of Acer's Concept D9. I still favour the gaming notebooks as they tend to offer a lot of flexibility and features. Little things like being able to set the exact colour of the keyboard; White in the day, Red for night, and now Red plus 25 Green, perfect for working late at night with the lights dimmed.

TBH I want my notebooks to be as versatile as possible, not needlessly thin as possible. ASUS produce a 17" ZenBook Pro Duo with RTX 2070, I think I'd all over it, maybe even the 15"

Q-6

 

[Thysanoptera]

TBH I want my notebooks to be as versatile as possible, not needlessly thin as possible. ASUS produce a 17" ZenBook Pro Duo with RTX 2070, I think I'd all over it, maybe even the 15"

I'll wait for some reviews for the 15 inch version, and rather large number of them to weed out those that make wrong assumptions or present false results. I'm a little worried the second screen takes some real estate away from the cooling system.

And I don't like they make those 'Studio' based laptops in white with white keyboards (MSI, Razer), but I guess it doesn't matter as long as the original gaming equivalent is still available.

 

[kazmac]

I guess it makes sense then I forget sometimes that even the best inventions can go unnoticed unless they're marketed in a proper way.

True. Plus there are so many types of PC laptops .

Some are offering a more visually toned down version, less flashy versus the gaming notebooks. ASUS is also offering Xeon and Quadro graphics if it materialises for the StudioBook. Overall I'm liking the diversity and the recognition that all professional's don't only want emaciated Ultrabook's with weak or watered down internals.

Liking more and more the duo display ASUS and I would love a shot of Acer's Concept D9. I still favour the gaming notebooks as they tend to offer a lot of flexibility and features. Little things like being able to set the exact colour of the keyboard; White in the day, Red for night, and now Red plus 25 Green, perfect for working late at night with the lights dimmed.

TBH I want my notebooks to be as versatile as possible, not needlessly thin as possible. ASUS produce a 17" ZenBook Pro Duo with RTX 2070, I think I'd all over it, maybe even the 15"

Q-6

I am sure you already read this:

Here’s official info on the smaller Asus Zenbook Duo.

Well, real life has spoken. I am going to my local Best Buy today to pick up something. Probably a better idea that I just jump in, knowing what I’d like & need that fits my budget (which has shrunk). Quite possibly a Spectre since the 2018 models are marked down.

I agree with your post about the diverse line up and choices.

The white laptops, I like some of them (getting a white MacBook vibe). Not sure how well the backlight would show up for some of them though.

 

[Queen6]

Not a fan of white as it always ages poorly, frequently turning that nasty yellow tinge No hurry to replace the GL703GS, however if another presents a significant advantage it will be a go

Q-6

 

[maflynn]

Not a fan of white

Same here, just not something I gravitate towards at this point in my life

 

[MBAir2010]

i was reluctant to buy an all black keyboard and cover as the dell xps but i think that makes more sense compared to a silver shiny macbookair from 2010. all white is a risk and we can't use that after labor day.

 

[Queen6]

Another contender Strix Scar III

Little disappointed in the performance, maybe possible to eek out some more out of the notebook, my own 17" Strix II with 8750H pulls a clean 3100CB on Cinebench R20. Lightshow would need go, fine with no webcam, Keystone just something else to loose

Q-6

 

[kazmac]

Not a fan of white as it always ages poorly, frequently turning that nasty yellow tinge No hurry to replace the GL703GS, however if another presents a significant advantage it will be a go

Q-6

That’s a great point (as usual) about white.

 

[Queen6]

That’s a great point (as usual) about white.

Never seen anything white really hold up well (in this context) especially if handled frequently.

Q-6

 

[hajime]

I hope Gigabyte's new AERO 15 OLED's cooling solution is as good as they claim. As least we don't need to do a thermal re-paste (hopefully). Do you think the 17" version will be able to cool better than the 15" version? Given that the new models have vents on both sides, the back and the bottom, I really hope their cooling system works well.

Still haven't been able to find Acer's Concept in stores.

 

[Queen6]

I hope Gigabyte's new AERO 15 OLED's cooling solution is as good as they claim. As least we don't need to do a thermal re-paste (hopefully). Do you think the 17" version will be able to cool better than the 15" version? Given that the new models have vents on both sides, the back and the bottom, I really hope their cooling system works well.

Still haven't been able to find Acer's Concept in stores.

Powerful gaming notebooks will have associated fan noise simple as that and nothing's going to change until the technology of the CPU's & GPU's updates significantly. Your confusing running cool and silent operation, with hex/oct core CPU & RTX GPU anything much above idle is going to require active cooling, unsurprisingly fans will spool up. If you purchase an AERO it will likely suffer the same fate of the others as it will be too noisy. There's good reason why people have been recommending you get a passively cooled system for about the last two years

Concept D9 is said to run at 40db, equally it's not stated under what conditions and it's a very large notebook nor available for retail as yet. I would guess that it can run as quiet as 40db at idle as given the specs it will need significant cooling. I have an Acer Predator 17" and it is indeed very quiet at idle, equally it's around 5Kg which helps to mask the sound and once the quad core 7700HQ fires up so do the fans which are similar tech as the Concept D9/7 and it's most definitely audible although slightly muted in comparison to Asus or MSI. Acer may have a smarter design for the fans, however same as the rest Acer cant change the laws of physics.

Q-6

 

[hajime]

Powerful gaming notebooks will have associated fan noise simple as that and nothing's going to change until the technology of the CPU's & GPU's updates significantly. Your confusing running cool and silent operation, with hex/oct core CPU & RTX GPU anything much above idle is going to require active cooling, unsurprisingly fans will spool up. If you purchase an AERO it will likely suffer the same fate of the others as it will be too noisy. There's good reason why people have been recommending you get a passively cooled system for about the last two years

Concept D9 is said to run at 40db, equally it's not stated under what conditions and it's a very large notebook nor available for retail as yet. I would guess that it can run as quiet as 40db at idle as given the specs it will need significant cooling. I have an Acer Predator 17" and it is indeed very quiet at idle, equally it's around 5Kg which helps to mask the sound and once the quad core 7700HQ fires up so do the fans which are similar tech as the Concept D9/7 and it's most definitely audible although slightly muted in comparison to Asus or MSI. Acer may have a smarter design for the fans, however same as the rest Acer cant change the laws of physics.

Q-6

So even manufacturers are advertising that they have designed new cooling system to make the system cool and quiet, in practice those machines with RTX GPU are going to be noisy? Even on my Yoga C930 (Core™ i7-8550U Processor 1.80GHz, up to 4.0GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache), I have seen it thermal throttling doing Cinebench R10. I think hex/oct core CPU may be worse.

 

[Queen6]

So even manufacturers are advertising that they have designed new cooling system to make the system cool and quiet, in practice those machines with RTX GPU are going to be noisy? Even on my Yoga C930 (Core™ i7-8550U Processor 1.80GHz, up to 4.0GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache), I have seen it thermal throttling doing Cinebench R10. I think hex/oct core CPU may be worse.

Yeah, but logic dictates that CPU's on same lithology/process with more cores will equal more power demand and greater generation of heat. Intel can only do so much optimisation, which is what we see with 8th Gen versus 9th Gen. Intel is now forced to drop the CPU base clocks and increase Turbo to actually offer more performance per core.

Yes OEM's are constantly developing cooling systems and again there is only so much that they can do as the laws of physics apply. I guarantee that your i7-8550U is a lot cooler and therefore quieter than my i7-8750H as there's a significant difference in power consumption the i7-8550U is a 15W chip, the i7-8750H a 45W chip that under full load can pull up to 90W

There's just no way around it right now, my GL703GS (8750H & GTX 1070) runs relatively cool, equally to do this it has a significant cooling system and three fans and when the system us under full load it's loud simple as that as the notebook is designed to dissipate a TDP in the region of 230W. It doesn't throttle, equally it will only ever be quiet under low loads and reduced power settings.

Reason we are recommending you to avoid it because we own similar systems and they are designed for performance not silence. Remember the OEM sites all the same Apple included being purely sales and marketing, so of course they are billed as cool & quiet. If you want solid independent review's that cover noise look at notebookcheck.com.

I've said before for meetings etc. I have a passively cooled 2in1, for heavy lifting I have the ROG GL703GS. If you want performance the trade of is heat, if you want silence the trade of is performance it's simply the current level of technology...

Q-6

 

[kazmac]

Dave Lee on the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo

 

[Queen6]

Dave Lee on the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo

Seen, as ever Dave makes some valid points. Must admit a little disappointed in the lack of ports as we all can't just simply rely on a dock.

As I always travel with two systems, it's less of a factor for me, especially as my Switch 5 can wirelessly be used as an extended display to the Asus GL703GS.

Q-6

 

[maflynn]

Dave Lee on the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo

Interesting insights on his review. I had not even thought about viewing angle of the secondary screen.

Overall, I realized that this type of computer is not for me, but his review confirms this, not that I was looking to buy a laptop at this point (which I'm not)

 

[kazmac]

Seen, as ever Dave makes some valid points. Must admit a little disappointed in the lack of ports as we all can't just simply rely on a dock.

As I always travel with two systems, it's less of a factor for me, especially as my Switch 5 can wirelessly be used as an extended display to the Asus GL703GS.

Q-6

I was surprised at the lack of ports too. Not to mention the viewing angle. I hope that Intel prototype becomes reality because it solves the viewing angle problem beautifully.

I am very impressed with Asus constantly trying new things in their designs.

Glad to hear you have a dual display set up now though.

 

[maflynn]

I am very impressed with Asus constantly trying new things in their designs.

This is where I felt Apple had played it safe in some respects or hadn't thought more out of the box. The touchbar was their attempt to combat the touchscreens on laptops and people using them, I can't imagine apple thinking of a design that had a larger then TB screen to act like a secondary device.

With the low battery life, thicker design, its not surprising however to see perhaps why apple chose to just provide a tiny strip, but still if anyone could design a long lasting dual screen laptop it could be apple.

 

[kazmac]

This is where I felt Apple had played it safe in some respects or hadn't thought more out of the box. The touchbar was their attempt to combat the touchscreens on laptops and people using them, I can't imagine apple thinking of a design that had a larger then TB screen to act like a secondary device.

With the low battery life, thicker design, its not surprising however to see perhaps why apple chose to just provide a tiny strip, but still if anyone could design a long lasting dual screen laptop it could be apple.

Very good points. As you say the battery life and thin design matters more to Apple. I have to remember the lower battery life on some PCs is due to specs and/or pushing a second display.

I am still gutted Apple never followed through on their Surface Studio style iMac too. That 2010 patent haunts me.

 

[TSE]

Very good points. As you say the battery life and thin design matters more to Apple. I have to remember the lower battery life on some PCs is due to specs and/or pushing a second display.

I am still gutted Apple never followed through on their Surface Studio style iMac too. That 2010 patent haunts me.

Agreed. A touch and Apple Pencil enabled iMac would put Wacom even more in danger.

It’s a shame for the ZenBook Pro Duo, but it’s still a first generation attempt. I think the reviews last year on the screen trackpad were “its 75% there” and this year it looks like they made the necessary improvements on that. There’s still hope but I think Dave2D is right - a way to tilt the screen would increase the quickness in which you can use the second screen. Interesting concept, but might end up in a future list of “Obscure Laptop Designs You Never Knew Existed”.

 

[cube]

I want to see 8-core laptops with a hard drive and 4 RAM slots that don't weigh more than 3kg.

And TB3.

 

[jrichards1408]

And TB3.

And a 6k 120mhz full Adobe RGB colour gamut screen

 

[cube]

And a 6k 120mhz full Adobe RGB colour gamut screen

When I got my laptop they did not have 4K in stock so I bought FullHD.

But I was not keen on downgrading from 16:10 .

 

[maflynn]

And a 6k 120mhz full Adobe RGB colour gamut screen

I'm at a point where I think 4k on a laptop is overkill never mind 6k. FHD is really more then enough imo

 

[cube]

I'm at a point where I think 4k on a laptop is overkill never mind 6k. FHD is really more then enough imo

I would be more interested in 2304x1440.