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https://www.originpc.com/gamin...

There you go!

I mean, I don't know if dual GTX 1080's are close enough to RTX series cards, though I do know that the 2080's are coming in the next month or two. Also, I don't think an 802.11ad laptop chipset is an option at the moment, though I'm sure retrofitting one into an m.2 slot in a year or two will be a trivial upgrade. I don't know if the 3840x2160 screen is 144Hz, but it does do G-Sync. The i9 option is sustained 3.6GHz with a 5GHz turbo mode, a bit shy of your 4GHz requirement. Finally, I hope your wallet isn't a factor; a quick-and-dirty build assuming 32GB of RAM, a pair of 500GB M.2 SSDs, and a one year warranty is north of $5,700; hitting $10K is well within the realm of possibility. ...But it's about 90% of the way to what you were looking for.

Laptop with specs of gaming rig costs more then $5000.

https://www.originpc.com/confi...

Messed around with the configurator, and it's entirely possible to get a gtx1060, an i7, 16GB of RAM, and an SSD for under $3,000. They're certainly not cheap, but if "high" instead of "ultra" graphics settings are acceptable, it's nowhere near $5,000 for a gaming laptop.

I was considering replacing my MacBook Pro 2013 with a new MBP. Unfortunately to get a machine of roughly the same specs as I had (formerly top-of-the line for 2013, 1 TB SSD, discrete SSD, etc) it now costs 33% more. To get the top of the range 2016 MBP it now costs 66% more. I wouldn't mind paying for this but I do a lot of OpenGL coding and the GPU on the MBPs is quite weak. So I've been looking for alternatives.

In addition to the Dell XPS i considered the Microsoft Surface Books, but their GPU is so-so.

Three manufacturers of great 15" laptops with decent GPUs are:
1) Origin PC, http://www.originpc.com/ - which has a thin laptop with moderate GPU power, and a heavier laptop with more power.
2) System76 has just released a laptop with a 4k display and a GTX 1070 GPU https://system76.com/laptops/o... - my friend has one with a 1080p display and it looks very good,
3) Razer also has an option of a small and light laptop with external GPU. The laptop is a bit small for me, but the external GPU is intriguing. http://www.razerzone.com/store...

I haven't made up my mind which to get. But I hope this may be of some interest to anyone else who'd like a bit more GPU power than the Apple MBP can give, without having to haul a brick.

Why the hell was this upvoted? Updating a Bios is "terrifying". A whole bunch of unqualified bitches. Alienware was always in the "you must think I'm stupid" range. Maybe OP is just less stupid now.

Yes, updating a BIOS is indeed terrifying. If it doesn't complete, your machine is likely bricked. If it completes, your machine might still be bricked. If it completes and doesn't brick your machine, there's no guarantee your settings will remain the way they were. If you're doing it remotely and don't have a DRAC/iLO or equivalent, the machine stays down until on-site happens.

Have there been advances in the field? Yes. Many motherboards have a dual-BIOS that gives a fail-safe option now, the updater utilities tend to go through a bit better QA than they used to, and it's not uncommon for some motherboards to have user-replaceable BIOS chips that can be ordered from the company. Still, it's always nerve-racking whenever a BIOS update is performed because you don't know when you'll be in 'the other 10%' of moments when things go pear-shaped and your evening plans change.

With respect to Alienware's pricing, they've always been expensive...but the value was that the units were hand tested, bloatware free, tended to have custom themes, genuinely useful bundled software, higher end hardware, and solid technical support that was very dependable and weren't too familiar with the word 'no'. Within a year of Dell buying the company, most of that went away; machines were mass produced, calls went to India with the rest of Dell's support queue (unless you ponied up even further), and the bloatware was back.

If you want Alienware, the company you're looking for is Origin PC. Founded by the Alienware founders, still hand-built and supported in Florida, great tech support, solid machines. They take a month from order to shipping, and they're indeed Clevo chassis...but I've owned two of them and I'll never buy from anyone else.

Apparently you have never replaced a bios prom manually in this case. If your bios update fails all is not lost. I have 5 working machines at home right now that I have replaced the Bios chips in and function flawlessly despite being run 24/7.

Why the hell was this upvoted? Updating a Bios is "terrifying". A whole bunch of unqualified bitches. Alienware was always in the "you must think I'm stupid" range. Maybe OP is just less stupid now.

Yes, updating a BIOS is indeed terrifying. If it doesn't complete, your machine is likely bricked. If it completes, your machine might still be bricked. If it completes and doesn't brick your machine, there's no guarantee your settings will remain the way they were. If you're doing it remotely and don't have a DRAC/iLO or equivalent, the machine stays down until on-site happens.

Have there been advances in the field? Yes. Many motherboards have a dual-BIOS that gives a fail-safe option now, the updater utilities tend to go through a bit better QA than they used to, and it's not uncommon for some motherboards to have user-replaceable BIOS chips that can be ordered from the company. Still, it's always nerve-racking whenever a BIOS update is performed because you don't know when you'll be in 'the other 10%' of moments when things go pear-shaped and your evening plans change.

With respect to Alienware's pricing, they've always been expensive...but the value was that the units were hand tested, bloatware free, tended to have custom themes, genuinely useful bundled software, higher end hardware, and solid technical support that was very dependable and weren't too familiar with the word 'no'. Within a year of Dell buying the company, most of that went away; machines were mass produced, calls went to India with the rest of Dell's support queue (unless you ponied up even further), and the bloatware was back.

If you want Alienware, the company you're looking for is Origin PC. Founded by the Alienware founders, still hand-built and supported in Florida, great tech support, solid machines. They take a month from order to shipping, and they're indeed Clevo chassis...but I've owned two of them and I'll never buy from anyone else.

I've been looking at replacing my MacBook Pro with a non-Mac. The reason for this is that MacBooks are weak in the Video RAM (VRAM) department (the thing that actually makes a difference in gaming these days) and I'm like more than 1 GB of RAM. A Retina Display with high pixel count also makes the limited VRAM of the Mac even worse. I also *loathe* glossy screens.

The Alienware machines are ok. The big problem for me is the fact that the ones I can buy online are either 14 inch or 17 inch form factors. No 15 inch form factor (which is what I'd like).

Alternatives for my high-end purposes are the HP/Compaq and Dell Precision lines of professional laptops. Unfortunately these are horrifically expensive and suffer from the fact they have Quadro graphics cards. While Quadros are great for OpenGL (which is what I'm writing my modern jet air combat simulator in) the problem is that updating drivers for these on a mobile system is not always easy. Generally they get fewer driver updates than consumer mobile graphics chipsets. I intend putting Linux Mint Cinnamon on my new laptop, so having a mainstream GPU solves a lot of hassles.

After evaluating all these I was lucky enough to stumble across a little-known vendor in the US (called Origin PC) that builds mobile workstation class laptops with the things I want:
* up to 4 GB of Video RAM * consumer-grade or pro-grade (Quadro) mobile GPU, configurable by you * up to 32 GB of RAM at reasonable bus speed * Quad Core * a multitude of form factors, including 15" * 1080p display, non-glossy * very very reasonably priced (compared to the HP/Compaqs and Dell Precisions with *lower specs*; I guess a small outfit like Origin can keep costs down by not supporting the huge corporate edifices of Dell & HP)

The reason Origin PC gets it right is that it was founded by a gamer, so he appears to have better taste than beancounters over what the high-end performance laptop market actually wants.

Anyway, if you are in the market for a non-glossy laptop with great video performance then I'd suggest taking a look at the customizable Origin laptops:
http://www.originpc.com/
http://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/eon15-s/ http://www.originpc.com/workstation/laptops/eon15-s-pro/

I'd really like to stick with my MacBook Pro but Apple are obsessed with thinness, shiny screens that look great in brochures (but are crap to work with day-in day-out), and battery life (like that matters in a performance laptop) rather than what power users actually need. There is supposed to be an Apple refresh in June but unless they change direction I think this will be another big disappoint for mobile workstation fans. I'm glad I found the Origin PC line - I'm just not looking forward to going back from Mac OS X (stable and "just works") to Linux (fragmented and takes time to tweak and keep operational).

It is very good of Dell to offer Ubuntu on their machines. Too bad they are actually overpriced and only medium power (compared to the equivalent Origin PC machines I looked at).

I've been looking at replacing my MacBook Pro with a non-Mac. The reason for this is that MacBooks are weak in the Video RAM (VRAM) department (the thing that actually makes a difference in gaming these days) and I'm like more than 1 GB of RAM. A Retina Display with high pixel count also makes the limited VRAM of the Mac even worse. I also *loathe* glossy screens.

The Alienware machines are ok. The big problem for me is the fact that the ones I can buy online are either 14 inch or 17 inch form factors. No 15 inch form factor (which is what I'd like).

Alternatives for my high-end purposes are the HP/Compaq and Dell Precision lines of professional laptops. Unfortunately these are horrifically expensive and suffer from the fact they have Quadro graphics cards. While Quadros are great for OpenGL (which is what I'm writing my modern jet air combat simulator in) the problem is that updating drivers for these on a mobile system is not always easy. Generally they get fewer driver updates than consumer mobile graphics chipsets. I intend putting Linux Mint Cinnamon on my new laptop, so having a mainstream GPU solves a lot of hassles.

After evaluating all these I was lucky enough to stumble across a little-known vendor in the US (called Origin PC) that builds mobile workstation class laptops with the things I want:
* up to 4 GB of Video RAM * consumer-grade or pro-grade (Quadro) mobile GPU, configurable by you * up to 32 GB of RAM at reasonable bus speed * Quad Core * a multitude of form factors, including 15" * 1080p display, non-glossy * very very reasonably priced (compared to the HP/Compaqs and Dell Precisions with *lower specs*; I guess a small outfit like Origin can keep costs down by not supporting the huge corporate edifices of Dell & HP)

The reason Origin PC gets it right is that it was founded by a gamer, so he appears to have better taste than beancounters over what the high-end performance laptop market actually wants.

Anyway, if you are in the market for a non-glossy laptop with great video performance then I'd suggest taking a look at the customizable Origin laptops:
http://www.originpc.com/
http://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/eon15-s/ http://www.originpc.com/workstation/laptops/eon15-s-pro/

I'd really like to stick with my MacBook Pro but Apple are obsessed with thinness, shiny screens that look great in brochures (but are crap to work with day-in day-out), and battery life (like that matters in a performance laptop) rather than what power users actually need. There is supposed to be an Apple refresh in June but unless they change direction I think this will be another big disappoint for mobile workstation fans. I'm glad I found the Origin PC line - I'm just not looking forward to going back from Mac OS X (stable and "just works") to Linux (fragmented and takes time to tweak and keep operational).

It is very good of Dell to offer Ubuntu on their machines. Too bad they are actually overpriced and only medium power (compared to the equivalent Origin PC machines I looked at).

I've been looking at replacing my MacBook Pro with a non-Mac. The reason for this is that MacBooks are weak in the Video RAM (VRAM) department (the thing that actually makes a difference in gaming these days) and I'm like more than 1 GB of RAM. A Retina Display with high pixel count also makes the limited VRAM of the Mac even worse. I also *loathe* glossy screens.

The Alienware machines are ok. The big problem for me is the fact that the ones I can buy online are either 14 inch or 17 inch form factors. No 15 inch form factor (which is what I'd like).

Alternatives for my high-end purposes are the HP/Compaq and Dell Precision lines of professional laptops. Unfortunately these are horrifically expensive and suffer from the fact they have Quadro graphics cards. While Quadros are great for OpenGL (which is what I'm writing my modern jet air combat simulator in) the problem is that updating drivers for these on a mobile system is not always easy. Generally they get fewer driver updates than consumer mobile graphics chipsets. I intend putting Linux Mint Cinnamon on my new laptop, so having a mainstream GPU solves a lot of hassles.

After evaluating all these I was lucky enough to stumble across a little-known vendor in the US (called Origin PC) that builds mobile workstation class laptops with the things I want:
* up to 4 GB of Video RAM * consumer-grade or pro-grade (Quadro) mobile GPU, configurable by you * up to 32 GB of RAM at reasonable bus speed * Quad Core * a multitude of form factors, including 15" * 1080p display, non-glossy * very very reasonably priced (compared to the HP/Compaqs and Dell Precisions with *lower specs*; I guess a small outfit like Origin can keep costs down by not supporting the huge corporate edifices of Dell & HP)

The reason Origin PC gets it right is that it was founded by a gamer, so he appears to have better taste than beancounters over what the high-end performance laptop market actually wants.

Anyway, if you are in the market for a non-glossy laptop with great video performance then I'd suggest taking a look at the customizable Origin laptops:
http://www.originpc.com/
http://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/eon15-s/ http://www.originpc.com/workstation/laptops/eon15-s-pro/

I'd really like to stick with my MacBook Pro but Apple are obsessed with thinness, shiny screens that look great in brochures (but are crap to work with day-in day-out), and battery life (like that matters in a performance laptop) rather than what power users actually need. There is supposed to be an Apple refresh in June but unless they change direction I think this will be another big disappoint for mobile workstation fans. I'm glad I found the Origin PC line - I'm just not looking forward to going back from Mac OS X (stable and "just works") to Linux (fragmented and takes time to tweak and keep operational).

It is very good of Dell to offer Ubuntu on their machines. Too bad they are actually overpriced and only medium power (compared to the equivalent Origin PC machines I looked at).

If anyone has any suggestions about other brands, products, or experiences I'd be happy to hear them. Because I certainly can't seem to find a reasonable alternative.

Origin PC

Now, the one thing I will say about my EON17 is that the keyboard on it is crap. The newer flavors of this model have nicer keyboards so I'm not sure if they're better in that regard, but that's one of two things I will hold against them (the other being battery life, but there's no such thing as a laptop with a desktop-grade core i7, GeForce 460M, three hard drives, and a long lasting battery). If you're doing serious typing to the point where a keyboard is more of a dealbreaker than anything else, some of the business grade Dell units still have an IBM-esque keyboard on them. If literally all else fails, Latitude D630's are a dime a dozen on eBay, and they're generally "quick enough" and have a pretty nice typing keyboard. Me personally, I have a USB gaming keyboard with Cherry MX keys on it. My friend told me he's getting me a Model M for my birthday that he's going to insist I start using...but I digress.

I don't work for Origin PC, but I am an incredibly satisfied customer. Now I completely understand that the 11-pound EON17 isn't for everyone, but they have a much more modest slim version, a 15" version, and an 11" laptop, all of which sport a core i7, either a glossy or matte screen, and as much RAM as you're willing to pay for. You can max out the specs, but what you pay for is the best support in the industry. I know everyone thinks that this award belongs to Apple, but let me know when an Apple support rep calls you from their personal cell phone on their day off to make sure that you got the support you needed - because one of their guys did that for me. They'll work with you on basically anything you need...I must have called their sales guy a dozen times, asking the most bizarre questions before I sent them a deposit check.

It's not for everyone, and if you're looking to spend south of $1,500 on a laptop you're probably screwed (even $2,500 will likely involve compromise). However, if you want a performance laptop with people who stand behind them and have the cash to prove it, then this is where your search ends.