My gtx 1060 laptop that costed me rm6400 not booting up just barely after 3 years. Dont ask me which brand. I dont really blame them yet, because it could be my fault that I placed it on a soft mattress cover while it was still shutting down. I also changed the battery only 10 days ago and vacuumed the vents 2 days ago. There can be so many culprits.

I am here to ask anyone with experience of using ultraportables (~2.0 kg) with above xx60 nvidia cards, because these range are the ones that run hot, and whether you have been able to use it beyond 4 years? Meaning yours could be a 960M card that is still going with minimum fuss.

honestly no one can predict how long will a laptop unit last

what's ur budget?

Thanks for reply. My budget is rm7000, but I'm willing to increase or reduce it depending on the generally-perceived reliability of the brand and model, and how much it can future-proof.

Ultraportable and gaming doesnt usually go hand in hand because of the amount of heat generated.

My only advise, get something with beefy cooling. It will last you a long time.

Also, if you game heavily, make sure to change the thermal pad and thermal paste at least once a year and use the good stuff

Edit: at 7K you will have great selection with tons of cooling.

This post has been edited by joedpa82: Sep 25 2021, 08:24 PM

like i mentioned earlier no one can predict the reliability

under RM6k there is Thinkbook 16p but only 75W 3060MQ (it's geared towards business use instead of prioritizing performance), or Legion Slim 7 with 100W 3060MQ but runs a bit hot on GPU side

and there are a few Tongfangs like Illegear Onyx V AMD and Onyx G, but quality is still questionable

Was told from reviews the laptop had amazing thermals that outshone even the bigger models... or maybe its just the type of games that I play is CPU-intensive. Maybe those reviewers live in the part of the world where they can afford to change to new machines before warranty end.

Pleased to hear that it has less to do with brands and its just the nature of ultraportables. This is why I am here to gather these feedback.

For example, the swelling battery issue is unfair to lock on a single brand, because I experienced that (twice) with another brand prior to current one, and is a renowned brand. Heck, I unscrewed my work laptop yesterday to find it swelling too. Not to mention work laptops didn't have to go through the same heat and they operate mostly under air-con office. I appreciate Lenovo (Vantage), Asus and MSI (Dragon Centre) are providing software to conserve battery.

Getting a light machine is "quality of life" for me because I'm always juggling between work and home laptops on a relatively small room, and consequently, small desk too. Besides, Ryzen 7nm process could be an improvement.

Thinkbook 16p is superb. 75W 3060MQ is not bad. Sadly only 60Hz screen.

Legion Slim 7 is even better, but are they exaggerating the 6-8 weeks delivery?

How is the Onyx Pro and Zephyrus G15 GA503Q?

This post has been edited by BaboonZ: Sep 26 2021, 03:30 AM

Also, try to get models with removable battery. When you game, use direct power connection with the batteries popped out and when work just plunk in the battery.

yes wait time is long, but 6-8 weeks is just an estimate

see again what i commented about tongfangs, for G15 it's ok but it's also has 95w 3060 and no MUX...so better get the cheaper LS7 (with coupon)

Mine still works. It's i7-6700HQ, GTX 960M. Dell 7566. Weighs like a ton of bricks. Am thinking to sell it off. Hardly use nowadays. Got a desktop gaming rig and another gaming laptop. Most laptop last pretty long (> 5 years), provided you don't stress the CPU/GPU over prolonged period of time. Over time, you need to re-paste the CPU/GPU for best thermal performance. Use a laptop cooler, keep temp in check. Works wonders. Am even using laptop cooler for router, unifi BTU etc. All runs cool.

can consider predator helios 300 with rtx3060. dont think it's "ultra-portable", but should be close to the 2kg mark. other than that, can consider level51/illegear but with laptop cooler

Gigabyte G5 provided that option, but would like to see more brands coming up with creative solutions. Although I can disassemble the battery as it is now, it's much more convenient to have an easy-access physical or software switch.

95 watts is not as big a problem as being unable to lower it to those ranges. But yeah, LS7 is overall the better deal.

Thanks for feedback, though you did mention that you "hardly use" it, which could explain its longevity.

How bout those new Asus g14?

Helios 300 is 2.3kg. I would consider Triton 500 but the maintenance is going to be a nightmare because of the inverted motherboard.

Level 51 laptops catalog shrunk a lot over the past year, unlike Aftershock in Singapore. I'm aware that Illegear are the main distributors of Tongfang laptops in Malaysia, so that may have something to do with it.

Build quality looks good. Armoury Crate and MyASUS both look very solid apps. Being able to limit battery charging to 60% or 80% is great when it is left at home majority of the time.

Screen too small. No MUX. Can bypass iGPU by plugging external monitor to USB-C port but I don't use an external monitor.

Vents directing hot air to the screen, or your right mouse hand, not convinced either way.

Their RTX 3060 only 60W (80W with Dynamic Boost). Not sure if they locked it to save people from melting their machines. Because of the CPU-intensive games I play, I prefer manual control whereby I will inactivate iGPU with MUX switch (but FreeSync would not work without Radeon), and lower CPU TDP to 25W. With the shared heat-pipes, I can give higher allowance to GPU wattage, to around 100W, which could be the sweet spot for 3060 before diminishing returns in frames per watt.

Only one m.2 slot.

There is premium in the price as well. It is at least RM500 more than alternatives.

Being able to use any compatible USB-C charger is nice though.

This post has been edited by BaboonZ: Oct 4 2021, 07:59 PM

As a user of an older generation Illegear Onyx ,mine is close to 3 years old now, there is something that you should know. Aftersales support is not great. You dont get even BIOS updates and new drivers over time like the bigger manufacturers out there. And TongFang based laptops have crap built-in speakers. I would only recommend it if you are a PC enthusiast and have a good level of technical knowledge. Battery size is smaller than the competition too. The only good thing about this laptop is, the chassis is very easy to open for maintenance and the bottom cover has ZeRo clips, only screws. Spareparts are plentiful in Aliexpress for those who can DIY.
Actually you can experience Wifi 6 even on a Skylake based Intel laptop (6th gen). Just slot in an Intel AX200 card that u can buy from Shopee or Lazada for ~70 bucks or less. I did it for my HP Elitebook for work use .

If I were you , I will go for Lenovo Legion 5. It is abit heavy, but this is the only rig that has both GSync and Freesync on the display, with MUX switch too. Very hard to pass on it given the price .

If you live in US , then Asus laptop is okay. In Malaysia , the warranty service is awful. I have sent 1 to lowyat plaza service center in the past. Took 1 month to repair, come back with extra scratches too...
These days , many companies have on site warranty service.

This post has been edited by k!nex: Oct 5 2021, 07:35 AM

Good advice indeed. I'm aware that these simple upgrades such as faster RAMs, SSDs, WiFi cards, replacing battery, etcetera can save a lot of money. But I'll do it once I'm really sure the vital components like motherboard, CPU and GPU are alright. I'll continue to investigate and purchase things that are cheap to replace such as CMOS battery.

Tongfang build quality are as good as the big brands. They may be lacking in terms of firmware updates, but since the launch of their RTX30 lineups, I like the freedom given by a wide array of settings provided by G+ control panel. The Onyx V (aka MAG-15) is the Intel-reference design model so I believe it should have the most stable and feature-packed firmware settings of all the models in their lineup. CORRECTION: MAG-15 has over 93Wh battery so Onyx V with 62Wh is probably NOT the Intel NUC. Onyx V is RP-15.

This post has been edited by BaboonZ: Oct 7 2021, 04:36 PM

I went for the omen 15 with fhd screen and rtx 3070. For 6900 at shopee. And i'm very happy with it. Yes, it doesnt have mux n the 3070 is only up to 100w and cpu is up to 35w. But with that, the laptop run much cooler compared to all other laptops out there. I value thermals n noise more than performance hence why i went with this.

About the battery drain issue jarrod mentioned, that is by design hy hp so that the battery wont be in a state of overcharge. Ive played games for more than 6 hours straight and the battery stops draining at 50% and once ive stopped gaming, the laptop charges normally.

The low TDP limits aren't a problem. CPU will surely run hot at 45W on a lot of these slim laptops.

The battery drain to 51% behaviour has been described by BOAT in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-nV2QiR8Os at minute 9.35

It is an effective solution, but along with the out-of-factory TDP limits, it is clear that, like most of the big brands, by taking away the freedom of choice to the users, HP are catering for less knowledgeable users. It is also to protect their service centers from getting overwhelmed with warranty claims.

No MUX is a letdown for those that don't plug to external display, but with the good price and thermals, I could see this being a decent alternative especially with Lenovo having shipment issues.

Yup. Initially i want to get legion 5 as well but the heavier laptop+adapter, and hotter cpu+gpu, are things that i dont like. Yes its cheaper and its performance is very similar to the omen config that i get. But the lighter laptop+adapter, cooler cpu+gpu, a better batery life due to the lower tdp consumption and also more future proof as 3070 have 8gb vram, are what make me decide to get the omen over legion 5.