Azom. Worth it?

[DeathPig]

Hey digit. First post here.

I've been using an aging Dell XPS L401X for five years now. It's got a 425M GPU and a first generation i7. I was not really smart and bought this thinking it would be the mean gaming machine a teenager with money issues could get at a bargain. Long story short, mistakes were made, purchases done, and I had this. It's been holding up pretty good for these years, but I haven't played a major AAA release in 2 years.

I've finally started thinking about a replacement. Was looking at Sager and other brands, but they're really expensive. And Alienware/MSI are right out of my price range for not so great specs.

I was searching around and found a brand called Azom who seem to offer made to order laptops. They seem to use a Clevo barebones as the foundation, and build the product as per the customer's technical requirements. The whole website uses a single link so I'm not able to link you guys to the technical specs, but if you choose Exigo under Mobility Solutions, then choose Tech Specs it should be there.

I have been out of touch with hardware for a long time. I was thinking on a GTX970 (980 will be too steep for me) and an i7 Processor. But looking at processors, a lot of i5s' and i7s' performance ranges seem to bleed into other ones', especially for laptops. And as for SSD, all I know is it's fast. They offer 2 HDD bays so I was thinking about an 1TB drive now, and an SSD later on if it's gonna raise the cost too much.

All in all, I'll be buying this laptop in 2-3 months once I decide on the specs(where you guys could help a lot) and they decide on the cost. If anything I've said is not clear let me know.

Link to a review of the laptop explained by the company's co-founder.

Cheers, DP

 

[omega44-xt]

I guess gaming is your main priority.

Azom exigo costs 1.2 lakhs with i7 & 970M... Yeah it surely is a VFM laptop for gamers but are you sure you need to spend 1 lakh+ on a laptop?

If possible, desktop would be a much better option. Buy a 70k desktop (with 970) & a 30k laptop (add a SSD to it)

After sales will be an issue with azom laptops, otherwise it's great



Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

 

[DeathPig]

I guess gaming is your main priority.

Azom exigo costs 1.2 lakhs with i7 & 970M... Yeah it surely is a VFM laptop for gamers but are you sure you need to spend 1 lakh+ on a laptop?

If possible, desktop would be a much better option. Buy a 70k desktop (with 970) & a 30k laptop (add a SSD to it)

After sales will be an issue with azom laptops, otherwise it's great



Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

I have thought in that angle. But I might need to move back home in a year. Then move abroad in a year and a half. I do want a desktop but I'm not sure I'll be able to use one much. Granted, 1.2 is a big amount but I'm not sure what else I can do. Or should I go for a 70k laptop with a 960/950 and use that for the next 4 years?

I'm ready to explore all options. Just don't know where to go.

Edit : Working in Chennai now. Have minuscule living space.

 

[omega44-xt]

I have thought in that angle. But I might need to move back home in a year. Then move abroad in a year and a half. I do want a desktop but I'm not sure I'll be able to use one much. Granted, 1.2 is a big amount but I'm not sure what else I can do. Or should I go for a 70k laptop with a 960/950 and use that for the next 4 years?

I'm ready to explore all options. Just don't know where to go.

Edit : Working in Chennai now. Have minuscule living space.

You can get a GTX960M laptop at 85k (Dell 7559 or Lenovo Y50) which will easily play all the games for next 4 years

My 3 years old Y500 still runs all the games smoothly, but at 720p low graphics settings (for AC Syndicate & CoD BO3)

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Also you can expect updated ASUS GL552 in the coming months which too has 960M but also has DDR4 RAM & a USB C port

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In my opinion GTX950M isn't all that strong to survive for 4 years (I don't know why it got GTX branding)

 

[DeathPig]

You can get a GTX960M laptop at 85k (Dell 7559 or Lenovo Y50) which will easily play all the games for next 4 years

My 3 years old Y500 still runs all the games smoothly, but at 720p low graphics settings (for AC Syndicate & CoD BO3)

- - - Updated - - -

Also you can expect updated ASUS GL552 in the coming months which too has 960M but also has DDR4 RAM & a USB C port

- - - Updated - - -

In my opinion GTX950M isn't all that strong to survive for 4 years (I don't know why it got GTX branding)

Thanks for the prompt responses you're giving, anupam.

How long would a 960 hold up in your opinion? Or should I see if there are going to be major price reductions when the much hyped Pascal enter the market? I've been looking at graphs and saw a marked improvement from 960 to 970. But the price factor exists. Or I could keep quiet for a year then see if I can move to a desktop. I'm in a big dilemma now, sorry for projecting that here.

Thanks. I'll update you guys when Azom give a quote, and be browsing stuff in the mean time. And out of curiosity, how much would a PC with a 970, i7 and all the other stuff cost? 80k?

 

[Hrishi]

IMO, you should go for a desktop at this moment. You can spend 70k on a desktop and get all the crunch you need.
Once you have plans to move....just sell the desktop except the SSD/HDD. Desktops have good resale value compared to laptops.
Add the money to buy a laptop when you have plans to move.

CPUs are pretty powerful in mainstream laptops so they won't go obsolete so easily
The only problem with gaming laptops is that their GPUs go obsolete pretty quickly and you simply can't swap one with a more powerful one.
So if you have decided to buy a gaming laptop just stress on the GPU as much as you can - New gen games are very demanding on the gpu front, particularly the vRam.
If you want to play next gen games at high settings upto 3yrs from now, a GTX970m would be good choice. [ GTX 970M is equivalent to a Desktop Class GTX960, which is a mid-range Gaming GPU for Desktop ].
SSD/RAM..etc are all upgradable and Any modern day non ULV i7 will suffice for couple for years at least.

It obviously depends a lot on the genre of games you are going to play. If you are planning for simulators then a powerful i7 would do the trick. But if it's a top-range FPS game like Call of Duty Black Ops 3 or Battlefield 4...etc then you must be setting you eyes on at least a GTX970M.
GTX970M would get you around 50-55FPS on modern FPS games @1080p Ultra.
GTX960M would get you 32-35FPS on modern FPS games @1080p Ultra.

For racing games the GTX960m might live for another couple of years at high settings but for FPS it's going to struggle very soon.

Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk

 

[kunalgujarathi]

You can try to import this
Fangbook 4 SX6 15.6" Laptop: i7-6700HQ, 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, 970M
-
Slickdeals.net

 

[Hrishi]

Thanks for the prompt responses you're giving, anupam.

How long would a 960 hold up in your opinion? Or should I see if there are going to be major price reductions when the much hyped Pascal enter the market? I've been looking at graphs and saw a marked improvement from 960 to 970. But the price factor exists. Or I could keep quiet for a year then see if I can move to a desktop. I'm in a big dilemma now, sorry for projecting that here.

Thanks. I'll update you guys when Azom give a quote, and be browsing stuff in the mean time. And out of curiosity, how much would a PC with a 970, i7 and all the other stuff cost? 80k?

There is no point in getting a Core i7 for a desktop <1lakh INR. Core i5 would suffice for the task, unless you're into video editing,rendering,etc work.
55-60k will get you a very powerful modern day i5+GTX970+8GB RAM+240GB SSD+2TB HDD. You can spend the rest 20-25k on a Cabinet,Monitor+PSU+Controllers...etc.

Now even if you sell all this after an year, it will fetch you at least 70% of the price on a good deal.

 

[omega44-xt]

Thanks for the prompt responses you're giving, anupam.

How long would a 960 hold up in your opinion? Or should I see if there are going to be major price reductions when the much hyped Pascal enter the market? I've been looking at graphs and saw a marked improvement from 960 to 970. But the price factor exists. Or I could keep quiet for a year then see if I can move to a desktop. I'm in a big dilemma now, sorry for projecting that here.

Thanks. I'll update you guys when Azom give a quote, and be browsing stuff in the mean time. And out of curiosity, how much would a PC with a 970, i7 and all the other stuff cost? 80k?

You can easily assemble a PC with 970 & i5 at 70k(non OC ones), i5 will suffice for gaming needs, you don't the power of an i7

As far as price reductions go, what I have observed is that when a new gen GPU comes, old models get some price cut, but not huge(like in case of smartphones)... Consider the case of Lenovo Y50 with GTX860M, it was launched at 80k+ but now it's at 78k or less with 960M model being priced at 85k... So new generation doesn't always means huge price cuts (You just get a bit better system for same price or bit higher)

Budget - 72.2k (Modified)

Processor	Intel Core i5 6500	14,600
Motherboard	Gigabyte B150M-D3H	7,500
Memory	G.Skill RipJaws 8GB 2133Mhz DDR4	3,500
Graphics Card	Zotac GTX 970 4GB DDR5	25,800
Power Supply	Seasonic S12II 520w	4,800
Cabinet	Corsair SPEC-01	3,500
Internal Storage	WD Caviar Blue 1TB HDD	3,500
Monitor	Dell S2216H 22" LED IPS	9,000
	Total	72,200

 

[DeathPig]

Thank you so much. Everyone. The response from you all has been nothing short of incredible.

The guy from Azom called me. It seems they are making their laptops with desktop parts. He recommended me their i5, and a 6GB GTX. However, price was 120k as Anupam put it, and on top of that it's gonna weigh 4kg. I can't lug around 4kg wherever I go.

I've decided to wait till I go back home, then buy myself a shiny new PC. Or I'll try to get the Fangbook mentioned above through a friend in the US but I'm not even remotely hopeful about this.

Again, thanks guys. The guy from Azom will send me a quote on Monday on the mail. I'll post it here just in case.

 

[Nerevarine]

Good decision OP, and agree with Hrishi and anupam, +repped

 

[mikael_schiffer]

i too am in full support of gaming desktop+ budget laptop combo for 1lakh budget. There is zero zero zero point in spending 1 lakh on a laptop which you cant even sell for Rs50k after a year. Laptops have extremely pooooor resale value. A 3 yr old desktop will run like new after a fresh format. A 3 yr old laptop on the other hand will bring you 10 new problems everyday. And if there are scratches in your laptop...lol..ppl are gonna assume it has been dropped and banged several times, further lowering its resale value. Want a good resale value for on your laptop? protect it like a cellphone with covers

Try to build a mini itx system. My brother always carries his PC wherever he goes. His PC case is accepted as a hand baggage in airports, so dont need to remove gpu or cpu cooler while traveling. The only problem is the monitor.. which takes too much space. He uses Coolermaster 130 which can fit a triple fan GPU. Its a decently priced pc case. itx motherboards on the other hand, are pretty expensive...and rare.

Spend Rs75000 on your PC and Rs25000 for laptops with Core M CPUs.

 

[Minion]

All gaming laptops weigh around 3-5kg so it will be trouble some to carry them.