Thin'n'light + Thunderbolt eGPU or AMD 4800 Laptop?

[chuck990]

I'm in the market/soon will be in the market for a new laptop. I've got an absolute maximum budget of 1.5k.

For ages I've had big, heavy, 'gaming' laptops. Current one is a clevo model, but it's hinges & battery are failing (it's 6 years old to be fair) so it needs replacing.

The way I see it there are two options;
1. Buy an Intel thin'n'light, plus a Thunderbolt eGPU

2. Buy a new Ryzen 4000 series laptop for a more 'all in one' solution

Can anyone provide any thoughts on advantages/disadvantages of the two?

 

[Hades]

I'm a Thinkpad fan so I'll give that as an option. I'm sure others can suggest more mainstream laptops with a similar setup:

Used Thinkpad X1 Extreme - Thin and light 15" i7 hex core 45w CPU with a range of screen options from 1080p to 4K touch. Two user upgradable RAM slots and two user upgradable NVME slots. Great ports and connectivity with USBA and two full speed 4 lane USBC ports.
Gen 1 has 8750H CPU and nV 1050Ti Max Q GPU
Gen 2 has up to 9750H CPU and nV 1650 Ti
The sister P1 laptop is almost identical to the X1E but has slightly weaker GPU options and can be found cheaper used, especially the quad core version. I have heard the quadro GPU may cause more difficulties with an eGPU though so an X1 Extreme might be preferred over it.
£1100 on a good day on ebay

eGPU USBC enclosure £200 to £250

GPU of your choice, preferably a used one to reduce cost.



I'm sure there are equivalent, probably better, Dell XPS 15 options too (I personally like Thinpads for their indestructibility, good resale value and best in class keyboards). Choosing the XPS or X1 Extreme with eGPU route means the laptop is still thin and light and is not a heavy gaming laptop, but still has sufficient onboard GPU power for occasional gaming away from home. They are basically desktop replacements. They may suffer a little thermal throttling as a result but I personally prefer that to a big and bulky gaming laptop with RGB lighting everywhere. In fact I have just bought a Thinkpad X1E Gen 2 (9750H and 1650Ti) but don't yet plan to use an eGPU with it because I have a very good desktop setup for gaming. But if I didn't have a desktop then I'd be adding an eGPU to it. I haven't even unboxed it yet though. Simply haven't had time lol.

 

[MiSJAH]

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15
R7 4800H
16 GB 3200 RAM
GTX 1660Ti
15.6" 144Hz display

~£1,300

Thin, light, quiet.

Ideal budget/entry level portable gaming/media/work laptop.

 

[DanTheMan]

I think unless I did all of my gaming in 1 place, I'd go for an all in one solution.

I've only had my first gaming laptop in a decade for a few days but I've already gamed on it in 4 different places. Moving an egpu along with a laptop would become inconvenient quickly for me.