Potential buyer's remorse: Gigabyte Aorus 17X or X170SM-G?

So a while back, I ordered the Aorus 17X from HID, and it seems it's still under pre-production. I also came across the aforementioned Clevo model courtesy of HID and XMG, and now I'm having doubts about my purchase.

I initially dismissed the Clevo because of it having only m.2 slots. I like how the Aorus has a 2TB HDD because my intention was to fill it with my regular media collection (music, movies, TV shows, etc.) to make it a fully-fledged standalone entertainment machine without having to rely on external drives other than for backup purposes, and paying $300 for a 2TB SSD initially seemed overkill for a media repository.

But looking closely at the other things on offer, such as the delidded CPU and extra cooling, I'm starting to wonder whether this would be the better option for longevity purposes, and whether it's better to futureproof with all-m.2 or not.

Thoughts?

General Questions

1) What is your budget?
USD6000 (not including shipping and taxes)

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen
3) Which country will you buying this notebook?
USA or EU

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: most brands
b. Dislike: can't really think of any. However, I would like to avoid brands that HID or other resellers won't service

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
No, new only

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
In order of descending priority, and all non-professional/hobbyist except WFH: gaming, game streaming, video editing, MS Office WFH

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Mostly on the desk. I may take it on vacations as I'm a contractor living in company housing.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? (If so, please state which games or types of games?)
Yes. No online, competitive gaming; all offline, single player experiences. Titles I want to play from the get-go: Halo MCC, Resident Evil (all of them), Witcher 3, Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series, Final Fantasy X and onward.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need? It's an afterthought. Treating the battery as a UPS.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK? The latter.

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, etc. I can more or less equally get around well enough in Windows or OSX, but this hardly matters with this laptop, I think.

Screen Specifics

12) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? (See further below for explanations.)
FHD or better.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? (See further below for explanations.)
No preference

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Looks aren't important.

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you need?
My initial loadout had a 1TB and 2TB SSDs. I can keep this or change to 2 and 2.

Timing, Warranty and Longevity

16) When are you buying this laptop?
ASAP

17) How long do you expect to use this laptop?
5 years at minimum

18) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail?
I have another laptop I can fall back on just in case.

19) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage?
The latter. Onsite warranty is N/A for me.

 

Hi,
Here's what I think so far:

_ Desktop replacement: MSI GT76 Titan (either 9th or 10th gen Intel), Asus ROG G703GX (9980HK, RTX2080), Asus ROG Mothership, Alienware Area 51M, Clevo P870TM-R, P775TM-R

_ LAN setup: I'm only suggesting this based on your budget and usage, as there are pros and cons to both desktop replacement and desktop.

Hope this helps.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

 

I canceled my Gigabyte and paid for a Clevo X170 less than a week ago. Going down the DTR route!