We have no idea when a 1070m will come out. It could be 2 months from now, it could be 6 months from now. There's plenty of time to design a laptop, sell it, and do a refresh when a 1070m comes out.
I agree there is a matter of price - for a good price it could be nice, but initially, you'd get it probably for the same price as these go usually - $1300-$1500. And that's without taking eGPUs into consideration..
This looks like a replacement for their P34 line, which is close to 3 years old now. New P34G And W models opened at a $1799 price point (currently in the $1300-$1500 range).
The full aluminum chassis should help with a lot of the build quality complaints about the P34. In particular, the bottom would warp (on mine the notch next to the memory door has bulged out) so it wouldn't sit flat on 4 feet anymore. The other major quality complaints are a warping trackpad button, and gaps between the screen bezel and lid.
Then there's the heat. The P34's cooling is OK for its size, but the intake ducts are poorly designed. Some owners have cut holes where these ducts are, and reported a 10C drop in temperatures. I can't tell from their pics if they've addressed this (looks like they moved the exhaust vent to the front of the screen, which seems a bit crazy to me with air cooling 80-90C components. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx...
That's nice to have a $1500 laptop that has a little less build quality problems, but the point is that unlike desktops, the upgrade options and even reliability of a laptop is way more limited (remember also that in many cases, it's all soldered on the motherboard). You are paying $1500, maybe $1200 with some deal, and then what? 2-4 months later, you have half considerably less performance for the price and the purchase lost its value quite quickly.
It's not a matter of wanting to have more performance for the price around the clock, just a notion about the consumption industry. Wouldn't it be nice to have a crowd sourced company working for the people (so to speak)?
Building modularity to facilitate upgradeability tends to increase size. In my opinion, the Dell XPS notebook line gets it mostly right - allow the user to upgrade the memory and storage solutions, as well as offering dual and quad core processors, and Iris and discrete graphics options. Really, after a few generations your motherboard is obsolete as CPUs have moved on to a new socket, and desktops are no different than laptops in this regard. It would be great if MXM graphics modules were more widely supported, but again, this would add bulk and there is something to be said for something you can carry around easily.
Those new GPUs you mentioned aren't out. We don't even have the first desktop launch products on the Polaris / Pascal generation. We have no idea when the mobile parts will be announced,made available, and put into shipping laptops.
There is plenty of time to launch a 970m GPU laptop, and then do a refresh when the 1070m GPUs eventually come out... especially since the Pascal GPUs don't dramatically increase TDP.
It would actually make LESS sense for Gigabyte to wait until Pascal mobile GPUs are out. With the amount of time it takes to get inventory of those yet-to-be-announced mobile GPUs, refresh the laptop design, manufacture those laptops, and get inventory into the retail channel, Gigabyte would miss the back-to-school buying cycle; and potentially even the holiday 2016 season as well.
(I respect the reply & fully appreciate model refreshes & to showcase new product lines etc) Granted, availability & pricing (unofficial/rumours/hints have some level of detail) not confirmed as yet; but AMD Polaris announcement is in a couple of days...
in particular, the retailers (boxmart and online) who sell lots of laptops to the less tech literate demand 'new' models on a yearly basis (thus all the rebadges); and they have a lot more buying clout than we geeks on forums/comment threads. Assuming an MXM module, a mid year refresh when the 1070 is out should be an easy option for Gigabyte to do.
If this is an issue you can pick up a USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter, usually under $25. You might not achieve true Gigabit speeds, but that isn't as important as latency, and the latency of the USB 3.0 bus is measured in microseconds, not milliseconds, so it should be fine for gaming.
All my experiences with ethernet dongles have been terrible. Gigabit capped at 100mbit, dongle not be recognised when waking up from sleep or after being replugged. I won't touch an ethernet dongle anymore.
Are you sure it was both Gigabit and USB 3.0? It also sounds like you may have had a driver issue (if you were using it in Windows that's entirely possible, as Windows 10 is still flaky with certain USB 3.0 devices).
This is the one I had for my MacBook Air (it went with the MBA when I sold it), and it worked fine. It capped around 850Mbps, was very low latency, and I never had any issues with sleep/wake or otherwise.
These're trade show announcements; that means they've got to run from one to the next and don't have time to grill the PR people for any details not given in the powerpoint. Scheduling also tends to be tight enough that even a brief hands on isn't always doable.
Look at the left edge and around the enter key: They've got something weird where the tilde should be, the pipe on the right part of what should be the shift key, and a narrow two high enter with the tilde key clipping its bottom left. However they still have the US shift characters on top of the numbers. It looks to me like they're still doing their single keyboard shenanagans and badly grafting a US layout onto a base keyboard intended for somewhere else in Europe.
I'm actually kind of digging the design of this laptop. How is Gigabyte's reputation? I know they've put out laptops in the past, but I've never seen one in the flesh.
The article is incorrect in stating that Gigabyte has not disclosed VRAM information: the Gigabyte website clearly states that the cards available with this model will be the 2GB and 3 GB versions of the 965m and 970m, respectively.
I'm not sure why anyone would get a gaming laptop with a Maxwell GPU right now, with Pascal right on the horizon. The perf/watt delta for Pascal is pretty big, and therefore (arguably) it'll mean even more in the mobile gaming space than in desktops. So much so that I'm really wondering why nVidia didn't lead off with mobile solutions. VR in a notebook would kinda rock.
This is exactly the type of laptop I have been looking for for years. Thank you for building something that has all the right specs in a small form factor. Can I buy one RIGHT NOW?
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33 Comments
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junky77 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
a moment before a GTX 1070M?lexluthermiester - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
So you're implying the GTX 970M is worthless? That's a silly notion.junky77 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
No, I don'tSpunjji - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
He didn't imply that at all, but the timing does make this a lot less attractive than it would otherwise be.Jttw2 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
Lol better for us, the price will probably drop after the 1070m is released :Dkent1146 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
We have no idea when a 1070m will come out. It could be 2 months from now, it could be 6 months from now. There's plenty of time to design a laptop, sell it, and do a refresh when a 1070m comes out.junky77 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
I agree there is a matter of price - for a good price it could be nice, but initially, you'd get it probably for the same price as these go usually - $1300-$1500. And that's without taking eGPUs into consideration..Solandri - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
This looks like a replacement for their P34 line, which is close to 3 years old now. New P34G And W models opened at a $1799 price point (currently in the $1300-$1500 range).The full aluminum chassis should help with a lot of the build quality complaints about the P34. In particular, the bottom would warp (on mine the notch next to the memory door has bulged out) so it wouldn't sit flat on 4 feet anymore. The other major quality complaints are a warping trackpad button, and gaps between the screen bezel and lid.
Then there's the heat. The P34's cooling is OK for its size, but the intake ducts are poorly designed. Some owners have cut holes where these ducts are, and reported a 10C drop in temperatures. I can't tell from their pics if they've addressed this (looks like they moved the exhaust vent to the front of the screen, which seems a bit crazy to me with air cooling 80-90C components.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx...
junky77 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
That's nice to have a $1500 laptop that has a little less build quality problems, but the point is that unlike desktops, the upgrade options and even reliability of a laptop is way more limited (remember also that in many cases, it's all soldered on the motherboard). You are paying $1500, maybe $1200 with some deal, and then what? 2-4 months later, you have half considerably less performance for the price and the purchase lost its value quite quickly.It's not a matter of wanting to have more performance for the price around the clock, just a notion about the consumption industry.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a crowd sourced company working for the people (so to speak)?
forgot2yield28 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
Building modularity to facilitate upgradeability tends to increase size. In my opinion, the Dell XPS notebook line gets it mostly right - allow the user to upgrade the memory and storage solutions, as well as offering dual and quad core processors, and Iris and discrete graphics options. Really, after a few generations your motherboard is obsolete as CPUs have moved on to a new socket, and desktops are no different than laptops in this regard. It would be great if MXM graphics modules were more widely supported, but again, this would add bulk and there is something to be said for something you can carry around easily.ToTTenTranz - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
When the world + dog is about to present laptops with FinFet GPUs from AMD, Gigabyte releases a thin and light model with 1.5 years-old nvidia GPUs?kent1146 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
Those new GPUs you mentioned aren't out. We don't even have the first desktop launch products on the Polaris / Pascal generation. We have no idea when the mobile parts will be announced,made available, and put into shipping laptops.There is plenty of time to launch a 970m GPU laptop, and then do a refresh when the 1070m GPUs eventually come out... especially since the Pascal GPUs don't dramatically increase TDP.
It would actually make LESS sense for Gigabyte to wait until Pascal mobile GPUs are out. With the amount of time it takes to get inventory of those yet-to-be-announced mobile GPUs, refresh the laptop design, manufacture those laptops, and get inventory into the retail channel, Gigabyte would miss the back-to-school buying cycle; and potentially even the holiday 2016 season as well.
idris - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
(I respect the reply & fully appreciate model refreshes & to showcase new product lines etc)Granted, availability & pricing (unofficial/rumours/hints have some level of detail) not confirmed as yet; but AMD Polaris announcement is in a couple of days...
DanNeely - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
in particular, the retailers (boxmart and online) who sell lots of laptops to the less tech literate demand 'new' models on a yearly basis (thus all the rebadges); and they have a lot more buying clout than we geeks on forums/comment threads. Assuming an MXM module, a mid year refresh when the 1070 is out should be an easy option for Gigabyte to do.ImSpartacus - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
Yeah, I hope it's just a placeholder. Hopefully just a drop-in replacement in 6 mo or so.digiguy - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
No TB3? Missed opportunity....cm2187 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
What about the absence of ethernet port? Do gamers really play over wifi?kaidenshi - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
If this is an issue you can pick up a USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter, usually under $25. You might not achieve true Gigabit speeds, but that isn't as important as latency, and the latency of the USB 3.0 bus is measured in microseconds, not milliseconds, so it should be fine for gaming.cm2187 - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
All my experiences with ethernet dongles have been terrible. Gigabit capped at 100mbit, dongle not be recognised when waking up from sleep or after being replugged. I won't touch an ethernet dongle anymore.kaidenshi - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
Are you sure it was both Gigabit and USB 3.0? It also sounds like you may have had a driver issue (if you were using it in Windows that's entirely possible, as Windows 10 is still flaky with certain USB 3.0 devices).This is the one I had for my MacBook Air (it went with the MBA when I sold it), and it worked fine. It capped around 850Mbps, was very low latency, and I never had any issues with sleep/wake or otherwise.
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B014ZOJX7W
andrewaggb - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
We could really use some pricing information.... And whether the keyboard is any good, screen calibration etc.DanNeely - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
These're trade show announcements; that means they've got to run from one to the next and don't have time to grill the PR people for any details not given in the powerpoint. Scheduling also tends to be tight enough that even a brief hands on isn't always doable.Morawka - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
love the design and the keyboard.DanNeely - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
Look at the left edge and around the enter key: They've got something weird where the tilde should be, the pipe on the right part of what should be the shift key, and a narrow two high enter with the tilde key clipping its bottom left. However they still have the US shift characters on top of the numbers. It looks to me like they're still doing their single keyboard shenanagans and badly grafting a US layout onto a base keyboard intended for somewhere else in Europe.Drumsticks - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
I'm actually kind of digging the design of this laptop. How is Gigabyte's reputation? I know they've put out laptops in the past, but I've never seen one in the flesh.DanNeely - Monday, May 30, 2016 - link
This's the only recentish review for one of their laptops here:http://www.anandtech.com/show/9177/the-gigabyte-p3...
Temp01 - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Pricing wil run from $1499-$1699 in the US depending on configuration, and units will be available for sale by mid June.Temp01 - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
The article is incorrect in stating that Gigabyte has not disclosed VRAM information: the Gigabyte website clearly states that the cards available with this model will be the 2GB and 3 GB versions of the 965m and 970m, respectively.Gunbuster - Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - link
Okay this is killing me, why is the triangle filled in on the lime green, but not on the orange one?kondor999 - Friday, June 3, 2016 - link
I'm not sure why anyone would get a gaming laptop with a Maxwell GPU right now, with Pascal right on the horizon. The perf/watt delta for Pascal is pretty big, and therefore (arguably) it'll mean even more in the mobile gaming space than in desktops. So much so that I'm really wondering why nVidia didn't lead off with mobile solutions. VR in a notebook would kinda rock.nyn - Friday, June 3, 2016 - link
This is exactly the type of laptop I have been looking for for years. Thank you for building something that has all the right specs in a small form factor. Can I buy one RIGHT NOW?vedroid - Sunday, July 3, 2016 - link
I doubt it does support Thunderbolt 3 as specified in this article. Gigabyte says it doesn't support Thunderbolt 3 http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/gigabyte-a...vedroid - Sunday, July 3, 2016 - link
I was wrong bout article, it says Razer does support Thunderbolt 3, but not this Gigabyte, which is correct.