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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here.
00:01So in front of me are eight laptops, and I would consider these to be the best laptops right now in mid-2018.
00:07So kind of the best laptops in that premium, thin and light market.
00:11These are all very powerful. They all have high CPU core count.
00:14They all have dedicated GPUs. Well, most of them do.
00:17These are... yeah, these are like the premium ones.
00:20So I have four gaming-oriented ones, and I have four content creation-oriented ones.
00:26But in 2018, I feel like there's a lot of crossover.
00:29Like a lot of the stuff that gamers are looking for is the same stuff that content creators are looking for.
00:33So I've kind of mixed them up.
00:34But to introduce them, I'm going to go with the gaming side first.
00:37So we have the GS65 from MSI.
00:39So there's no more black and red accents on this thing. It's gold and black.
00:42It has thin bezels, and it's by far the best thin and light laptop that MSI's ever made.
00:47We also have the Aero 15X.
00:49Gigabyte did a pretty heavy refresh on it this year.
00:52Faster components, faster screen, but the chassis is pretty much unchanged from last year.
00:57We have the 2018 Razer Blade.
00:59This is Razer's new 15-inch thin and light gaming laptop.
01:02It's got better thermals, thinner bezels, and it's improved all around this year.
01:07We also have the GM501 from Asus.
01:09So this is the more reasonably-priced variant of the original Zephyrus.
01:13It's packing a faster screen and a better keyboard and trackpad layout than the original Zephyrus.
01:19Okay, moving on to devices that are leaning more towards content creation.
01:22So these are for people that are into, like, 3D modeling or they're illustrators or video editors.
01:27Whatever it is that you do, if it's content and you're making it, you can probably use one of these.
01:31Okay, first we have the XPS 15. So this is the 9570.
01:34This is a product ID that's on year 3.
01:37Beautiful screen, but the unchanged design and the thermal limitations are getting a little stale.
01:42We also have the XPS 15 2-in-1.
01:44So it's got the Maglev keyboard, pen support, tablet mode.
01:47It's got an AMD Vega-M GPU combined with an Intel CPU, all in a very thin package for a 2-in-1.
01:53We also have the new ZenBook Pro from Asus.
01:56So this is a laptop with two screens to help for productivity.
01:59A regular screen and then a screen and the trackpad.
02:02Powerful components, but it's also in this somewhat dated-looking chassis.
02:06Lastly, the LG Gram. So this is a 15-inch Ultrabook.
02:09It's not as powerful as the other devices here, but it's crazy light while rocking a 15-inch screen.
02:13So lots of room for creative projects without having to pay for a more expensive CPU or GPU,
02:18which you may not need depending on the type of stuff that you're working with.
02:21Now, if you'll notice, I did not mention MacBooks at all.
02:24And it's not that I have anything against MacBooks,
02:26but right now, in mid-2018, it just does not make sense to purchase a new MacBook.
02:31They're still using the 7th Gen CPUs, and when it comes to content creation,
02:35the 4-core CPUs in the MacBook Pros just don't compare to the 6-core CPUs in the Windows machines that you see here.
02:42Like, the difference is way too big for me to just recommend this.
02:44So, unless you're bound to some kind of Mac-exclusive program like Final Cut,
02:49then I would recommend a Windows laptop for performance.
02:53Okay, so in this video, I'm gonna go through some different categories
02:56and then talk about, I guess, my top picks for each category,
02:59and then we'll kind of choose—well, I will choose my overall pick for best laptops.
03:04Okay, let's start with build quality first.
03:06I know this is something that some people don't care about,
03:08but when it comes to buying a device, I like the device to last as long as possible.
03:12And build quality has a huge play in that.
03:14The XPS devices are the best built here.
03:16The carbon fiber chassis is really good.
03:18It's strong, it's durable.
03:20This is a material that seems to last a long time for people.
03:22The Razer Blade is also well-built.
03:24I think it's actually better built this year than it has been in other years.
03:27It's just a really sturdy device this year.
03:29The GM501 from Asus is also really tanky.
03:32The rest are still well-made, but they don't stick out as being leaders in build quality.
03:36The LG Gram is obviously not as durable.
03:39It's tunnel vision on being ultra-lightweight, so there's some material compromises,
03:42but for a laptop that's just over a kilogram, it's made quite well.
03:45One other thing, the MSI GS65, when I did a review of it, I was using an engineering sample.
03:50The retail version is better built.
03:52Particularly in the power button, there's just way less flex on the retail version
03:56than there was on the early engineering sample units.
03:59Okay, if speaker quality is important to you, the ZenBook Pro has the best speakers of this bunch.
04:04Most of the gaming laptops are good as well, like the GS65,
04:08the Razer Blade, the GM501, they're all pretty good speakers.
04:11The Aero does not have good speakers.
04:14It's the gaming laptop in this pile that just doesn't have good speakers compared to the other ones.
04:18The XPS device is also not very good, same with the LG Gram.
04:22But best, ZenBook Pro.
04:24It's loud, it's clean, it's got respectable bass.
04:27If you're a speaker guy, ZenBook Pro.
04:30Alright, let's talk about screens.
04:32A lot of the gaming laptops here are using the 1080p 1440Hz screen.
04:36This is the popular screen for 2018.
04:38They're usually made by AUO and they're very good screens.
04:41There's a little bit of difference between all of them.
04:44I don't know if it's a manufacturing difference or if it's driver differences.
04:47But they all look slightly different.
04:49But if I had to choose a winner, it's difficult.
04:52I would say that the Razer Blade has my favorite look.
04:55It looks a little bit brighter to me.
04:57I'm not sure if it's the actual panel or if it's the coating they're using on the panel.
05:00But it looks a little bit brighter and the colors pop out a little bit more on the Razer Blade screen.
05:04But all four of these gaming laptops have great screens.
05:07The content creator devices often have 4K options.
05:11And here, the resolution and color accuracy tends to be a little bit more important.
05:15I've always liked the 4K screen on the XPS 15. It looks good.
05:18They're still using the same screen after a couple of years.
05:21But, yeah, it's a kick-ass screen.
05:23The webcams on these devices aren't great.
05:25Like, if you're someone that really cares about a webcam, you're gonna have to get an external one.
05:28If you wanna get one of these.
05:29Or, I mean, if you're just looking for webcam recommendations,
05:32the Microsoft Surface products, those all have pretty good webcams.
05:35Same with the MacBooks, like the MacBook Pros.
05:37Those are good webcams as well.
05:39If I had to choose a winner, maybe the XPS 15, but the camera angle looks up your nose.
05:43So, I'd have a tough time choosing a winner between these.
05:46Okay, keyboard.
05:47I'm picky when it comes to keyboards.
05:49So, in a lot of my reviews, I'll kind of nitpick on keyboards.
05:52But here's the truth.
05:53Most keyboards are good enough that you can get used to them over time.
05:56So, even if you have a keyboard that has a really weird layout,
05:59if it's your primary device and that's, like, the only thing you'll ever use,
06:02you'll get used to it pretty quickly.
06:04The issue comes up when you have, like, if you have, like, a work keyboard,
06:07like your office or whatever, and you have your keyboard at work,
06:09and you kind of get used to that, and then you're switching between a regular keyboard
06:13and then, like, a weird layout for your laptop at home.
06:15That back and forth can mess you up.
06:18But for most people, if it's your primary device and it's, like,
06:20you're gonna be using that keyboard over time,
06:22it doesn't matter.
06:23A keyboard is a keyboard.
06:24You can get used to it.
06:25Okay, in terms of the best keyboard of this bunch,
06:27I would say that the GM501 keyboard is my favorite.
06:30It's got a good feel to the keystrokes.
06:32The tiny arrow keys are a little bit weird, but you'll get used to them.
06:35The GS65 keyboard is also pretty good.
06:38The Razer Blade has a super weird shift key on the right side of the keyboard,
06:41but, again, you'll get used to it with enough time.
06:43It has a really good keystroke and, I think, the best RGB lighting in the entire industry.
06:49In terms of the content creation laptops,
06:51I hate using that term, content creation laptops,
06:53but that's really what they're geared for.
06:55I like the XPS 15 keyboard the most,
06:57and I would say the LG Gram has a great layout,
06:59but the keystrokes are pretty shallow.
07:01Looking at the ports, these all have a pretty good selection of I.O.,
07:04except for maybe the XPS 15 2-in-1.
07:06This has four USB-C,
07:08and it's not that it's, like, a deficiency in the number of ports or anything like that,
07:11but I guess it works for the demographic.
07:13Like, the people that are purchasing this could probably make that work.
07:16In terms of just sheer number of ports,
07:18the GM501 has five USB,
07:21so four of them type A, one of them type C.
07:23It's got a ton of USB.
07:24For people that are, like, gamers that want Ethernet,
07:27I think the only two here with an Ethernet port built in
07:30is the GS65 and the Aero 15.
07:32So, yeah, if hardwired connection is super important for you,
07:35then those two.
07:37SD card slots.
07:39So, XPS 15 and the Aero 15 have full-size SD slots,
07:43and then these three have microSD,
07:45but who's using microSD?
07:47Seriously, like, I don't know.
07:49I feel like they just should have put full-size SD on those things
07:51if it was possible.
07:52Okay, performance.
07:54The LG Gram runs a four-core CPU without a dedicated GPU.
07:58It's not for the hard cores,
07:59but it's a strong device for certain types of content creation.
08:02The rest of the gaming laptops are equipped with the i7,
08:05and CPU performance is strong for all of them,
08:07but under stress tests,
08:09some of the devices have issues keeping up,
08:11particularly the XPS 15.
08:13It's a chassis that has always had thermal limitations.
08:16It's great for normal workloads,
08:17but if you're putting a long render through it
08:19or if you're playing games for an extended period of time,
08:21it can throttle down,
08:22and it's a bit of a shame because you have a core i9
08:25in a thermally cramped laptop,
08:26which doesn't allow it to flex the way that it could.
08:29It's not that it's a poor performer,
08:30but if it was cooled better, it would be better off.
08:33So, thermally, these are all difficult to cool.
08:35The GPU puts out a lot of heat,
08:37and when you have thin devices like this,
08:38the whole task becomes harder.
08:40The Aero 15 probably has the best maximum cooling.
08:43The airflow on that device is very high.
08:45It gets loud when it's cranked up,
08:46but you do get a little bit of a thermal advantage on it.
08:49The Razer has some of the best cooling we've seen
08:51from a Razer laptop to date.
08:52It's using a new vapor chamber.
08:54It gets hot, but it doesn't throttle.
08:56It's right on the edge of that thermal envelope.
08:58The XPS 15 throttles.
08:59It's a little bit disappointing.
09:01There are workarounds.
09:02You can repaste it.
09:03You can undervolt it,
09:04but just coming out of the factory,
09:05it's not performing at the level that I was hoping for it to,
09:08but that's XPS 15 for you.
09:11Okay, battery life.
09:13None of these are going to have amazing battery life
09:15because strong hardware is tough to keep juiced up.
09:17A few stick out as being better than the rest.
09:19The XPS 15 has always had long battery life,
09:22so there's that one.
09:23Well, also the LG Gram.
09:24That one's a beast,
09:25but keep in mind it's a very different kind of laptop
09:27from the other ones here.
09:28It's an Ultrabook.
09:29It's running a four-core CPU.
09:30It doesn't have a GPU,
09:32but I've included it because for a lot of content creators,
09:34that's a right fit.
09:36They don't need the CPUs and GPUs that you see in the rest of the stuff.
09:39They want something like that,
09:40and that has really good battery life.
09:42When we look at the price,
09:43it's tough to draw a proper comparison between them.
09:46There's so many little differences between them
09:48that could account for massive differences in price,
09:50like material choices and stuff like that.
09:52None of them are value devices, though.
09:55These are all in the premium segment,
09:56but if you're lucky enough to be in a position
09:58where you're deciding between them,
10:00it's extra hard this year.
10:02Devices are getting better,
10:03and even though there's some differentiating features
10:05like fingerprint scanners or Windows Hello cameras,
10:07it's a tough choice.
10:09In terms of raw value,
10:10the MSI GS65 probably has the best bang for your buck.
10:14Not that it's cheap,
10:15but it's slightly less expensive than the other devices in this space,
10:18like that thin and light premium space.
10:21Okay, overall picks.
10:23My number one pick is the Razer Blade.
10:25They've improved the device so much this year.
10:27It looks better, better thermals,
10:28better screen, better performance.
10:30Everything across the board is pretty solid,
10:32except for that right shift on the keyboard.
10:34I can let that slide,
10:35because everything else is so good.
10:37Number two, number three spots.
10:39Aero 15 and XPS 15,
10:41I'd say they're interchangeable, though,
10:43depending on what you do, what you're using them for.
10:45I like the XPS 15 a lot across the board,
10:47but the thermal limitations,
10:49they're there again,
10:51and that bugs me.
10:53Aero 15, also good device all around,
10:55but it's more like the overall usability.
10:58I don't like the trackpad that much.
11:00I don't like the keyboard all that much.
11:02So, yeah, that's like, that's my ranking.
11:06Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
11:07Thumbs if you liked it,
11:08subs if you loved it.
11:09I'll see you guys next time,
11:10and I hope this video was useful.
11:11Alright.
11:13Peace.