Laptop Feedback

[BlueJazz]

Good morning All,

I'm looking for your feedback on this PC Specialist custom built laptop below. My main concern is if it will actually run cool enough without thermal throttling to full utilise the specs below. You can buy an additional cooler pack but I would rather not carry something else. This is to replace my 16 inch MacBook Pro M1 Max for which the other option is to simply get an M2 Max (64gb version) or my final option of a Samsung Book 3 Ultra i9. The main draw of the Samsung is the OLED screen and its integration with my S8 tablet and S23 phone.

Your advice is most welcome, laptop will be used for all things and the M1 Max is going to a work colleague in-case you were wondering why I'm not keeping a perfectly good laptop.


Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
250GB KINGSTON NV2 NVMe PCIe SSD (3000MB/R, 1500MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00005]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on usb

[mmm-five]

It looks to be a a full-fat gaming laptop, so I think it WILL throttle HEAVILY without the external cooler...and probably still will to an extent even with the cooler.

You could always ask if anyone on the PCS Forum has specific experience though (besides them telling you to get a desktop instead )

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/

[BlueJazz]

mmm-five said:

It looks to be a a full-fat gaming laptop, so I think it WILL throttle HEAVILY without the external cooler...and probably still will to an extent even with the cooler.

You could always ask if anyone on the PCS Forum has specific experience though (besides them telling you to get a desktop instead )

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/

Thanks for your feedback, throttling is my main concern. The MacBook doesn't spin a fan whereas my Alienware 8th gen does it as soon as you plug it in and can hear the room! There's little point in all that power if I can't use it so that may point me in the Samsung direction. It's got the same i9 but a 4070 card limited to 60W and only 16gb system ram. I do like the custom built one on the grounds it can be fixed or upgraded easily though.

[mmm-five]

BlueJazz said:

Thanks for your feedback, throttling is my main concern. The MacBook doesn't spin a fan whereas my Alienware 8th gen does it as soon as you plug it in and can hear the room! There's little point in all that power if I can't use it so that may point me in the Samsung direction. It's got the same i9 but a 4070 card limited to 60W and only 16gb system ram. I do like the custom built one on the grounds it can be fixed or upgraded easily though.

It's the i9 part that I thought would be producing all the heat and causing the throttling, so unless you can real-world-demo the Samsung, I'd be wary.

Depending what you're using it for, the i7-13700HX (same 8 performance cores as the i9, just half the efficiency cores) and 4090 may still be fine...and don't forget the laptop GPUs are named stupidly and are not directly comparable to the their desktop counterparts of the same name. For example, the laptop 4090 has half the shader units and 2/3rds the SMs of a desktop version...which makes it almost identical to the desktop 4080...so the desktop versions of the 4070/4080/4090 are about 50% faster than their laptop counterparts.

However, don't expect any powerful laptop to be as quiet as a MacBook...but then the MacBook won't be anywhere near as powerful in gaming (or other specific use cases).

[BlueJazz]

Thanks again for your advice. I've watched a few YouTube reviews on the Samsung which seem to be positive, the 16gb of ram the only drawback (other countries get 32 with the i9). The 60W limit on the 4070 prevents throttling so this may be better than the gaming rig as it can sustain it's performance longer. I do love OLED too.

I agree with the naming convention confusion, if only there was a table that gave you the laptop graphics card and its desktop equivalent.

[xeny]

Keep in mind there's a significant difference between the i9 H series in the Samsung and the i9 HX part. Look at the Wikipedia page and compare the core counts and clock speeds.

Looking how thin the Samsung is, I would question how it is going to dissipate just the 45W sustained from the CPU without being noisy

[BlueJazz]

Thanks to all with the feedback, I went with the Samsung in the end. Looks like the Samsung can sustain its performance well, even at full tilt. The gaming laptop needs the purchase of an external water cooling system for its performance to be fully utilised. The OLED screen of the Samsung was a major factor too even though the gaming laptop has the better components.

[anonymous-user]

That gaming laptop sounds like a beast, but at what point is it just easier to build a desktop?

[mmm-five]

Joey Deacon said:

That gaming laptop sounds like a beast, but at what point is it just easier to build a desktop?

Laptop only makes sense if it MUST be portable....it's a compromise in every other way.

[BlueJazz]

mmm-five said:

Joey Deacon said:

That gaming laptop sounds like a beast, but at what point is it just easier to build a desktop?

Laptop only makes sense if it MUST be portable....it's a compromise in every other way.

And would only work to its full potential with an extra, external water cooling system. Thanks for all your advice again, it has been most appreciated.