Gaming Laptop, advice please

Defiance XS or Defiance III


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Hello all,

I'm in the market for investing in a new laptop and am undecided between the Defiance XS and Defiance III. If someone can help me that would be a bonus
I play mostly Cities Skylines, Simulations, RTS and Turn based Strategy games on Laptop. For FPS, Role-Playing (GTA, Witcher 3, etc) & racing games I use my ps4 and have no plans to turn away from consoles for those types of games.

Additionally I work in GIS so something that will be powerful enough for Geo-work (ArcMAP, CAD, LiDAR) would be a real bonus (but not compulsory).
Do I need a 1070 GTX or is a 1060 GTX sufficient for my needs, say the next 4 years? I am keen for 32GB of RAM however I may just purchase a second stick at a later date. If I can save money anywhere that would be useful as well!

Finally, I’d appreciate if anyone knows of good laptop cooling stands.

These are the specs I'm considering:

Defiance XS
Chassis & Display Defiance Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 120Hz IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM): 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk: 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive: 256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
Memory Card Reader: Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor: 1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable: 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste: EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card: Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless: GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options: 3 x USB 3.1 Type A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C AS STANDARD
Keyboard Language: RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System: Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language: United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software: FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus: BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser: Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse: INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam: INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty: 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee: 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Insurance: 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery: STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days

£1757.

Defiance III

Chassis & Display: Defiance Series: 15.6" Matte 3K IPS LED Widescreen (2880x1620)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM): 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics CardNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video
RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC
1st Hard Disk: 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
2nd Hard Disk: 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)M.2
SSD Drive: 256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
RAID: RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
Memory Card Reader: Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor: 1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable: 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste: EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card: Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless: GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options: 3 x USB 3.1 Type A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C AS STANDARD
Battery: Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Keyboard Language: DEFIANCE SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System: Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language: United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software: FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus: BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser: Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse: INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam: INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty: 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee: 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Insurance: 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery: STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days

£1791

Thanks in Advance!
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
1st Hard Disk: 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
2nd Hard Disk: 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
Why not just a single 2TB HDD? Then you still have the other 2.5" bay free for future upgrades. If you're going for RAID as a backup strategy it may not be as good as real-time versioned backups.

In terms of deciding between the two, it's entirely up to you.

The Defiance XS is smaller and lighter. The GPU is a little bit less powerful than the Defiance III, and it lacks the 2nd 2.5" storage bay. The Defiance III also has a 3k screen option.

If you need a 3k screen for your work, then that makes the choice for you. If you don't, the regular 1080p screen for the Defiance III should have gsync.
 
Why not just a single 2TB HDD? Then you still have the other 2.5" bay free for future upgrades. If you're going for RAID as a backup strategy it may not be as good as real-time versioned backups.

If you need a 3k screen for your work, then that makes the choice for you. If you don't, the regular 1080p screen for the Defiance III should have gsync.

Good shout about a single 2TB HDD, I'll think about that.
The 3k screen isn't a requirement, more a luxury that sounds nice!
I am looking for something portable, which is why I looked at the Defiance XS. I'm not someone will ever play games at ultra or max settings, high is good for me, also why the max q is an option. Unless a full gtx 1070 would be worth my while?

There are more upgrade options with the defiance III, however I don't tend to upgrade much, my current laptop is nearly 5 years old still with all stock parts ha!

I'll probably go with the consensus from this post in the end though.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
also why the max q is an option.
The GTX 1070 Max Q is a downclocked version of the laptop GTX 1070, designed to run cooler and possibly quieter as well. It has similar performance to the regular laptop 1070 - its performance is a bit lower, not a lot lower :)

If you need something portable, and aren't bothered about pushing settings to the absolute limit, the XS would probably be the winner.
 
That's great thanks so much Oussebon!

Final query, just seen the Defiance IV, is this worth looking at? From images it seems quite slim and good specs, so maybe it runs hot?
 
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