Question Mid-to-High-end Gaming Laptop

[royverd]

Hello people, I am a Computer Science student and I own a mid-to-high-end personal computer but I would like to purchase a laptop just so I can take it with me whenever I go on vacation or even at the university, at a friend's house etc. I will probably be spending most of the time doing Coding, video editing and content creation, gaming and the occasional movie (Keep in mind I have a pc with 3 monitors to use whenever I am at home).
That being said I've tossed and turned and delved deep into the gaming laptop industry, from many youtube videos to asking various hardware store employs a lot of mind numbing questions, I have gather a fair bit of knowledge about the subject matter. Alas, from the available laptops in my region, I fail to narrow my options down further, that's why I came calling to the tomsHardware wisdom that's known to have helped me once before.
From Display Types and Display Quality, GPU and CPU benchmarks (for laptops), Refresh rates, color gammut, power consumption, bttery, hardware support, Ram speed, Cores, Thermal Design, Ergonomics, Nits, Dolby Vision και Adaptive Sync, NVIDIA® Advanced Optimus and MUX, to every other piece of knowledge I could find, I am down to these 3 options. I will give some brief description of each as well as some comparative information as to why I can't seem to decide between them.

- Lenovo Legion 7 16IRX9 Laptop 16" IPS (Core i9 14900HX/32 GB/1 TB/RTX 4070 8 GB/Windows 11 Home)​

2.599,00 €​

Starting off with the middle option, at 16 inch it's decent real estate for coding, yet portable due to it's slim and did I mention, premium build quality and design and with a QHD, 3200x2000 IPS panel, this is a great laptop for multipurpose general work combining, the efficiency of 8 Performance and 16 efficient cores, great for video editing and multitusking and solid for gaming with the 4070 being not optimal but decent for qhd gaming. Overall I believe this to be a good middle choice.

- Asus ROG Strix G814JIR-N6013W Laptop 18" IPS (Core i9 14900HX/32 GB/1 TB/RTX 4070 8 GB/Windows 11 Home)​

2.399,00 €​

The Asus ROG, known for focusing more on gaming, with a humongous 18" inch IPS QHD panel make it excellent for gaming and provides an overall better working experience for all tasks including coding and content creatior where more real estate always feels nicer and with the i9 CPU and 4070 GPU to provide more than enough horsepower (still *could* use a 4080 as the performance between a 4070 at its max 140w compared to a 4080 at 175w sees about a 50%+ performance boost Ο.Ο, even though we have to consider that not all laptops will run a 4080 at 175w and specifically the next on showcased here only runs at 125w max which is still about a 40% performance increase from the 4070 and for less power consumption.) All the while, this beast of a laptop comes at a whopping 3 kilos (without cables and charger + about half a kilo) and a significantly thiccer base than the other 2 option at about 3cm height vs 2cm and 1.72cm).

- Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402XZ-NC009W Laptop 14" WQXGA IPS (Ryzen 9 7940HS/32 GB/1 TB/RTX 4080 12 GB/Windows 11 Pro)​

2.299,00 €​

This little beast is only here due to it's very small price tag compared to it's competitors and it's out-of-the-blue monster of a graphics card the 4080 providing (at max power) a whopping 50%+ performance boost compared to the 4070. This model doesnt have as many cores as intel with only 4 Performance and 4 Efficient Cores, making it better suited for single-core usage, lagging behind a bit on multitasking and multi-core usage but potentially making up for it in horsepower from the Third Best Ryzen 9 (According to Various Benchmark Sites , the 7940HS and 4080 combo making this small beast a literal powerhouse. Coming at a QHD+ 14" WQXGA IPS 2560 x 1600, this makes it a excel if only by a little from the other 2 options on display quality and portability as well as (single-core) horsepower but lacking behind in real estate and maybe the slightly better lenovo metal build quality.

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Considering all of the above, even though I believe all of these to be great options, I am conflicted as to which one would be the best for me. As I mentioned, mostly I am concerned about having something to work with whenever I am not on my home, whether that's for a longer vacation or a more short-term visit, and be able to do mostly Coding, Contenct creation, Video Editing and gaming. While I do appreciate the compactness and neat design of the Zephyrus as well as its behemoth of a Graphics card, I don't know how much the small screen will be an issue and at the same time I am not sure about whether I want (Intel's) more cores and multitasking performance but more consumption and lower battery life or (AMD's) better single core performance and more battery life even if it's just a bit(maybe an hour or two more at best) . On the other hand, the 18inch Asus promises excellent and efficient comfort while using it while having decent hardware and horsepower to back it up( even though a 4070 at 140w is definetely lacking it turms of power compared to the 4080 even at 125w) all-the-while it is more beefy and maybe harder to carry arround (again, I dont know how much that is an issue, I can't imagine it being too much. I'd probably rather the real estate to portability trade-off). And at last we have the Legion combining the best of both works with 16 inch, slighlty better detail at 3200x2000, but still just and IPS display, but combining that with the premium build quality of lenovo and the right-in-the-middle display size, I'd say maybe you could turn a blind eye and overlook that chunky performance loss that comes from not having the 4080.
I would really like to hear what you guys think if anyone would care to share some of the indecision with me :3

 

[Lutfij]

Out of those 3 options, I'd pick the Ryzen equipped, Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402XZ-NC009W, laptop, merely to avoid anything Intel might be hiding under it's carpet at this moment of time, after what's come to light with the prior desktop range of CPU's.

Once you get your laptop, look into undervolting it using Curve Optimizer.

 

[Lafong]

Is there any chance you can actually put your hands on any of the 3 prior to purchase?

Or are you buying online and must rely ONLY on specs and opinions and anecdotes from others?

Have you found online reviews of these specific models?