Wow! That sounds like a super-deal! Which processor, memory, etc? My GF just bought a Costco membership and she said they have computers there also.

Here are a couple similarly speced Dell's with Intel CPUs.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-m17-r4-gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-m17-r4-laptop/wnm17r410h

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-x17-gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-x17-r1-laptop/wnx17r1cto20s

Dell often has some good sales, so would expect you could find similar prices as the Asus, especially around Black Friday deals.

Personally, I'm not a fan of 17in+ screens on a laptop. Had one in the past and it just felt too bulky. I now prefer the 15in monitors much more. Not too small, while not being too bulky for mobility use.

I've been looking at the Alienware laptops as well but I'm unconvinced that Alienware in general is significantly better than Dell's G-Series laptops e.g. this one at Dell UK is listed at £1299 including sales tax (UK VAT); recently it was just £1099 and these offers seem to pop up regularly either via an email or just featured. It is the RTX 3060 GDDR6 rather than the 3070 but so what. The SSD is 1TB. In addition you can add a 2nd SSD up to 2TB and add RAM up to 32GB. One slot has USB3.2 v2 thunderbolt.

Wow! That sounds like a super-deal! Which processor, memory, etc? My GF just bought a Costco membership and she said they have computers there also.

I felt like it was a substantial deal at the time. However, that was 3 1/2 years ago when I was shopping so specs aren't so great compared to current offerings.

When I shop for a PC, I set my target price point and like yourself try my best to find the best overall performance. I don't tend to put a high priority on items such as amount of included memory or drive size capacity included since those are items which I feel can be better served by shopping around and then upgrading those items at a later time as needed. I put a higher priority on the amount of drive bays, their interface connection speeds, and max memory capability. I typically start with deciding which CPUs I want where I'm sure since you've built multiple PCs understand there is always the top of the line high price point CPUs for those who have to have the latest best performance CPU, but then prices start to gradually drop off from there, where you eventually identify a sweet spot between good price vs good performance=Best value. So with my current system at the time, I had settled on the Intel i7-7700HQ and the i7-8550U. Similar price points, with similar performance for Intel CPUs. The i7-8550U was the next gen CPU so I put a higher priority on that, due to I knew it would run cooler and drain less power when not under heavy load, thus increasing battery life.

At the time, I also didn't feel I was going to be doing much video editing with it, so I minimized my need for a high performance GPU which tends to start raising the price significantly. Things have changed since then, so that's my biggest regret but I knew that going in. I was mainly purchasing it for audio and home use at the time.

However, since I like to get at least 5 years or more out of my laptops what I do when shopping is put an excel spread sheet together with each system's specs layed out side-by-side so I can best A/B compare and thus better understand what I'm gaining and sacrificing.

I had to go dig that spread sheet back up, but attached is what it looked like. I started off with about 12 different laptops and these were the final 4 which were in my target price range with best performance at the time. Now that I revisited this....I see I actually paid $700 for the Dell I got which ended up being the Inspiron 7570.

With the $ I saved with the Sam's Club sale, I ended up upgrading it rather quickly and after my upgrades of maxing out the memory to 32GB, and installing a Samsung NVMe M.2 and SanDisk SATA3 SSDs, I still ended up around my $1200 price target.

If I was shopping today, hindsight being 20/20 I would likely put a higher emphasis on higher performance GPU like yourself and less emphasis on getting one with a touchscreen. However, one feature on this Dell that I really learned I like which is now a must have is the infared web cam. I use face recognition to log on and that's really nice of being able to walk into a dark room with no lights on, and have the PC recognize my face to log on.

I've been looking at the Alienware laptops as well but I'm unconvinced that Alienware in general is significantly better than Dell's G-Series laptops e.g. this one at Dell UK is listed at £1299 including sales tax (UK VAT); recently it was just £1099 and these offers seem to pop up regularly either via an email or just featured. It is the RTX 3060 GDDR6 rather than the 3070 but so what. The SSD is 1TB. In addition you can add a 2nd SSD up to 2TB and add RAM up to 32GB. One slot has USB3.2 v2 thunderbolt.

Likely the only thing you gain with the Alienware over their G-Series is a little more cooling capabilities and flashy design. Any of their gaming offerings tend to include a higher performance GPU. You could even add their XPS series in there as well. I started by putting my shopping spec comparison matrix together which works great for comparing overall system specs. I included their Inspiron, XPS, G-Series, and Alienware laptops. For my needs at the time I ended up settling on an Inspiron which was on the higher side of specs for an Inspiron series where I found an equal spec XPS series cost significantly more. If hardware configuration is similar, then the price differences tend to be on build quality robustness, and cooling design additions, as well as some marketing in there as well. I believe the XPS series over the Inspiron offers more cooling and are more robust designs for those who tend to travel for business with a laptop. Inspiron is their best value for consumer grade, and G-Series is best value for gaming intended systems.

All laptops are SoC designs now, where the CPU pretty much dictates all the I/O max connectivity capability then a separate GPU gets added to that SoC design and then over and above that it's display size/type and the case and cooling measures added that encloses it all.

@Rednroll

Thanks for detailing all of that! It would be neat to construct an "optimal" weighted-average algorithm, ideally, based on real-word benchmarks and tests using specific combinations of CPU/GPU confirmations with specific applications (I said, ideally!). The TechGage articles have been very interesting since they specifically tested systems using Vegas Pro.

As you say, the RAM and storage specs are less important since these may be user-upgraded at a fraction of the price the manufacture charges for merely inserting in two different SO-DIMMs and snapping the two quick-clips.

To laptop or not to laptop?

So I've been re-thinking this purchase a bit. It really is a luxury purchase for me (i.e., I don't need it). But on a more practical consideration, this thread here regarding sharing an external SSD between two computers gave me some pause. A few considerations:

1. Primary desktop PC: It may make sense to have a single computer for "everything."
  A. Primary ingest-station with all capture-cards in one machine.
  B. Best monitoring set-up for a desktop PC.
  C. Plenty of internal drive-bays for multiple 2TB SSDs.

2. High-performance laptop with fast GPU for as little as $1,499 out-the-door.
  A. This loaded Asus Ryzen-9 laptop just seems kinda hard to resist.
  B. $1,799 version: Pretty darned good GPU with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM.
  C. $1,499 version: 15" or 17" version with one-tier lower GPU with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM.
  D. Crucial 32GB 260-pin SO-DIMMs are only $168—easy install, too.
  E. Mobile (e.g., take to work, beach, etc.).
  F. Limited battery-life (e.g., 2-3 hours?).

Again, no tax and free shipping when using B+H's credit card. I was only taken aback by the relatively short battery life. I suppose it was to be expected with a fast CPU (i.e., 4.6GHz boost-speed), and fancy GPU, but two hours is pretty limiting, Though, this was from a review for the lesser 65Wh battery in a previous Asus G15 model, not the larger 90Wh battery the current product.

So now I'm really tempted by the $1,499, 17" model ($1,668 with 32GB memory-upgrade), since all you sacrifice is the one-tier lower NVIDIA GPU and 2GB less VRAM (edit—I just noticed the SSD is smaller, 1/2-TB, so maybe the $1,799 model is still in the running).

I was only taken aback by the relatively short battery life.

The time quoted is presumably when new. Assuming it's Lithium-ion how quickly does the battery deteriorate so after a while you find a total recharge gives you far less time?

 

Again, no tax and free shipping when using B+H's credit card. I was only taken aback by the relatively short battery life. I suppose it was to be expected with a fast CPU (i.e., 4.6GHz boost-speed), and fancy GPU, but two hours is pretty limiting, Though, this was from a review for the lesser 65Wh battery in a previous Asus G15 model, not the larger 90Wh battery the current product.

I have a lithium battery car jump starter that has a 19v output for laptops and an adapter cable. It is least bulky option if added battery is needed when required. Can also use car adapter and plug into the 12v socket which increases bulk slightly, the worst option for mobility is the battery connected to inverter connected to your computer's standard charger.That not very practical

Cool! So these a pure-sinewave inverters then? Yeah, I probably wouldn't want to lug around an inverter anyway (I'm pretty lazy in general).

I was only taken aback by the relatively short battery life.

The time quoted is presumably when new. Assuming it's Lithium-ion how quickly does the battery deteriorate so after a while you find a total recharge gives you far less time?

 

Lithium batteries have the highest power-to-weight ratio, but they're also the most finicky batteries to maintain with the lowest number of charge-cycles of any battery chemistry. Unfortunately I have a lot of dead, expensive Lithium batteries for strobe equipment. Just too much much to maintain.

I have a $2,000 Anton-Bauer charger for my pro-video batteries and it's pretty good at maintenance (i.e., set and forget), but my strobe batteries require me to manually maintain the charge-cycles. Lithium batteries are best kept at 50%-charge for longest life or for long-term storage (source: Sony, Panasonic).

I bought two camera batteries in 2016 and five years later on the Anton-Bauer charger, they still retain perhaps 70%-80% of their original Watt-hours. I have a Sony FP-970 battery that has been left in a cabinet for several years and the darned thing still works!

Of course, the $8,000 battery in my Ford Focus Electric has lost over 20% of its capacity since 2014. Soon, I'll barely be able to make it to work on a single charge. Think I'll just buy a Porche Taycan!

Here's an excellent battery handbook on the basics of maintenance for various chemistries here. Since Anton-Bauer no longer serves this document (I have no idea why), I've linked the .PDF file to a third-party site; it's on a known pro video distributor's site (Miller), so it should be safe.

Cool! So these a pure-sinewave inverters then? Yeah, I probably wouldn't want to lug around an inverter anyway (I'm pretty lazy in general).

That's right only use pure sinewave generators and inverters. Years ago we were using an inverter in a camper vehicle. Everything worked fine, but laptop charger had a slight coil whine which I had not heard before. Was told later the inverter was feeding a modified power wave which caused charger to work harder and hotter to develop the same output

To laptop or not to laptop... So I've been re-thinking this purchase a bit...

For <$2000 USD you could probably get a decent laptop AND upgrade your desktop if you are patient & wait for the right deals...

In January 2020 I got a $999 Walmart Evoo 17 gaming laptop and last month I updated one of my old Xeon desktops to a 11700K CPU ($350 Microcenter), ASRock W48 Creator motherboard ($200 Newegg sale), 32 GB DDR4 (borrowed from another system that had 64...), Noctua CPU cooler (reused from Xeon) adapter ($8), and VEGA 56 ($200 eBay) for under $900 total, so IMO if you find the right deals you can have BOTH a decent laptop & an upgraded desktop PC for under $2000...

The Evo 17 came with a 17" screen, 6-core 9750H CPU, RTX 2060 GPU, 16GB DDR4, USB-C, (2) Mini DP, (1) HDMI, (2) USB 3.1, (1) USB 2.0, 1G Ethernet, webcam, SD card reader, audio in & out, 1TB M.2 for the OS, a 2nd empty M.2 & an empty 2.5" slot. It's built using the same popular Tongfang GK7CP0S chassis & motherboard used by many other brands, so its super easy to find replacement parts although I also added Walmart's 3 year accidental damage replacement for just $88, which was a no-brainer... I added a $180 2TB M.2 for source video and a 2TB 2.5" SSD that I already had for my target video, so I have 5TB of space across all 3 internal storage spaces...

The Evo 17 is MUCH faster than a 6-core 4ghz Xeon with AMD RTX 570 that I still use for importing tape media, etc. where speed does not matter. Of course the laptop is not as fast as my 9900K & 11700K desktops with VEGA 64 & VEGA 56 GPUs... Although I use my faster desktops for editing 4K intermediates, mainly because I need more drive space & have large RAID arrays in those..., the Evoo 17 is GREAT for editing 1080p cellphone videos I make for my school (work), family & non-profits where I volunteer to make promo videos, etc.

The 11700K & ASRock W48 Creator motherboard also make a great bang/buck combo. The W48 comes with built-in 10G networking & Thunderbolt 3, leaving (3) full-size PCIe slots for my RAID cards, Decklink capture card, etc. With just a used $200 VEGA 56 it is up to 30% faster than my 9900K & VEGA 64 LQ combo for certain tasks, like rendering MainConcept Blu-ray mpgs for certain clients.

The latest Tongfang laptop chassis now comes with a 3070 GPU, so maybe this Black Friday Walmart will offer a similar deal but with the better GPU...

To laptop or not all depends on your personal intended uses.

For myself a laptop fit the fact it takes up less space where the older I get, the more junk I acquire, the more space becomes premium real estate around my home. When I purchased my home, it was "this room will be for my studio". Now it's half my studio, part game room for my son, part family printer/scanner server room, part the dog sleeps over in this corner.

I also preferred a laptop for a mobile recording setup intended for youtube production creation. I have 4 action cams to simultaneously record multiple angle views. An example is that I'm filming my son's karate instructors teaching class. To get good sound I mic each instructor with a wireless headset or lapel mics. I have a portable audio i/o sound device setup which I also use at home. So I use that setup to record audio into Vegas remotely then just plug it all back into my studio setup at home. I then just pull the sd cards from the action cams and sync the video on them with the audio I already recorded into Vegas during the remote video shoot. So if you plan to do any similar remote shooting, a laptop you can use at home and on location is the way to go in my opinion. You can even start working on the project remotely while you're waiting on others.

To laptop or not all depends on your personal intended uses.

For myself a laptop fit the fact it takes up less space where the older I get, the more junk I acquire, the more space becomes premium real estate around my home . . .

@Rednroll

Yup! I have a ton of stuff also crammed into my home studio! Eleven keyboarded synths, three 12U desktop racks full of modular-synthesis gear, a V-Drum kit, three Marshall 4x12 cabinets, five guitar amps, photography and movie-making gear, etc., etc., etc.

It's basically need vs. want. I certainly want a new PC-laptop, but could totally do without a new PC-laptop. It's just that the price is so attractive, for something so nicely equipped, it's hard to resist.

To laptop or not to laptop... So I've been re-thinking this purchase a bit...

For <$2000 USD you could probably get a decent laptop AND upgrade your desktop if you are patient & wait for the right deals...

In January 2020 I got a $999 Walmart Evoo 17 gaming laptop and last month I updated one of my old Xeon desktops to a 11700K CPU ($350 Microcenter), ASRock W48 Creator motherboard ($200 Newegg sale), 32 GB DDR4 (borrowed from another system that had 64...), Noctua CPU cooler (reused from Xeon) adapter ($8), and VEGA 56 ($200 eBay) for under $900 total, so IMO if you find the right deals you can have BOTH a decent laptop & an upgraded desktop PC for under $2000...

@TheRhino

Doh! I didn't even think about upgrading the Xeon server. I've been out of the PC-building game so long, I don't have any knowledge about that stuff anymore. I didn't even think that the socket for the Intel Xeon E5-1650 CPU I have in there now would even accept newer Intel processors with more cores. Definitely something to look into. Thanks!

 

Yup! I have a ton of stuff also crammed into my home studio! Eleven keyboarded synths, three 12U desktop racks full of modular-synthesis gear, a V-Drum kit, three Marshall 4x12 cabinets, five guitar amps, photography and movie-making gear, etc., etc., etc.

It's basically need vs. want. I certainly want a new PC-laptop, but could totally do without a new PC-laptop. It's just that the price is so attractive, for something so nicely equipped, it's hard to resist.

If you don't have the need, just tell yourself what I do. If I hold off buying what I don't really need today but is more of a nice to have, tomorrow when I feel I actually need it, the even higher performance PCs today which are $3000 will be the new $1700 price range of today.

I didn't even think that the socket for the Intel Xeon E5-1650 CPU I have in there now would even accept newer Intel processors with more cores...

Your Xeon is socket 2011 so you will need to upgrade the CPU, motherboard & RAM which is what I do every time I upgrade. In my case, I need 10G networking & Thunderbolt 3, which can cost $200 in PCIe cards to add to an older motherboard without them. However, the ASRock W48 Creator motherboard (socket 1200) I got from a Newegg sale for $200 has both 10G & TB3, so it kinda paid for itself by having a lot of features I need already onboard... IMO the Intel 11700K is a great bang/buck CPU for $350... I posted a review of my upgrade in this post....

It's here!

Wow! This thing is fast! I placed a 1/8th-speed Vegas slow-motion effect on a short clip, and the "analyze motion" progress bar zipped by so fast I couldn't even time it! This thing is huge—and, heavy! And, very colorful!

I got the base-model with just the 512GB M.2 SSD for $1,499 out-the-door, plus two 16GB Crucial 16GB-sticks for another $162. I was planning to add a 4TB M.2 drive in the second slot; though, I really like the idea of using a portable SSD to be able to easily move media between my ingest-workstation (my HP Z440 Xeon server) and this new laptop.

The display-adapter seems well-matched to the system: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6, and hopefully, 6GB of VRAM will be "enough" for the majority of my use-cases.

The 17" screen seems huge, but I can see where the Asus Duo would be extremely well-suited for working with both NLEs and DAWs. Placing Vegas' timeline in the secondary 14" touchscreen seems the perfect workspace for scrubbing the timeline and setting in/out-points.

However, the Duo clocks in at about twice the price of this single-screen PC, which on a purely bang-for-the-buck basis, seems a pretty amazing value.

@studio-4 Congrats. If you are curious, other users may be also, when you eventually land again 😂 maybe consider, sometime, adding it to the Benchmarking project. Link is via my signature.

Sure thing, JN!

. . . I was only taken aback by the relatively short battery life. I suppose it was to be expected with a fast CPU (i.e., 4.6GHz boost-speed), and fancy GPU, but two hours is pretty limiting, Though, this was from a review for the lesser 65Wh battery in a previous Asus G15 model, not the larger 90Wh battery the current product.

Update: The battery is in fact the 90W version, and from my brief use of it in the field, the battery life is very good, if not excellent. Much more than two hours (with GPU on). More likely nearer the 5.5 hours experienced by one reviewer of the Duo model with its second screen off.