The laptop world is so strange with its GPU naming / specs situation. We'll figure out what kind of video to make with our 'bonus' charts also. Collected enough for a pretty good video, but didn't do a full review since we don't normally work on laptops. Maybe we turn it into one and run more games? Preferences on other tests?
"The Laptop GPU and CPU marketing world is a long plastic hallway where criminals and pimps run free and honest men fall like dogs. Also it has downsides" (To paraphrase Hunter S Thompson) What I'm saying is that while I trust you to do the testing, the marketing of what laptop hardware is and how it interacts with the myriad power and thermal limitations of the various designs means that it's really really hard to interpret the results. It would be really useful to know the performance of specific models as long as the manufacturers don't change the designs midway through a production run, but otherwise I wouldn't know how to interpret the results. As you pointed out on this specific design they left a lot to be desired with ventillation intake so a different laptop with the same paper specs but with a better designed intake set would likely perform a lot better on sustained work loads.
It is clear that laptops are not reviewed on this channel. It looks like someone finally reminded Steve to disconnect the battery (hard cut after pulling the screw for the water cooling port that he won't remember). I was getting worried for a minute. :)
Edit: Got it, you are training Josh! Will watch his channel for laptops. I hope you can recommend someone who can actually give a good review of laptop designs and parts. I have to periodically upgrade and would love to know the best value for money parts available for laptops.
@@EminemLovesGrapesyou and the 5 bots that liked your comment are all incorrect. It says "It is forbidden to disassemble privately to avoid electrical failure".
Steve, I talked to our IT department and we shipped more than 40 laptops to Kramden institute this week! I'm so happy that your channel helped us find a good institution for refurbishing semi-older laptops efficiently!
Wow! That's so awesome to hear. A lot of corporate machines are still great for use by the public, so that's really cool that your team is doing that. Thanks for telling us!
@@GamersNexus SalemTechsperts are doing a great job of pushing for refurbishing office laptops, both encouraging experienced users to do it themselves and selling reasonably priced refurbished laptops, instead of buying new, especially since the newer the laptop, the more likely it's harder to repair. I've been needing a personal laptop to use around the house, and I found a T480 with an i5 8530U, 8 GB of RAM, no drive, no external battery, no charger--for $70. I already have plenty high wattage USB-C chargers all over the house, and an M.2 SATA SSD lying around. Plus the internal battery last for like 3 hours, and an OEM battery will cost me $30 total. After a cleaning and a re-paste, it's working exactly as new (as indicated by benchmarks). So now I've got a laptop that is A) more than fast enough for anything I need it to do, B) built to last far longer than a new $500 laptop, C) if I need more power I can remote into my desktop. All for less than $120 (after I finally buy the external battery lol). Even if I didn't have parts lying around, you could refurbish the laptop for ~$200 total. It was a no brainer for me.
XMG here live in the comments from Germany. To our greatest enjoyment, we sent out this laptop pre-production sample to Just Josh and we've been in touch with their team for BIOS updates and a bit of tech support almost daily over the last two weeks. Glad to see XMG being shown on this channel - ask us anything! // Tom
Nice work with the Thermal Putty and PTM/PCM! Out of curiosity, are the gaps larger or smaller than 0.5mm? Just want to know so I can make a good recommendation for putty if anyone decides to change it out at some point.
why do manufacturers keep doing this janky ethernet plug on gaming laptops? why can't we go back to thick af laptops that have a full sized jack? better cooling and another part that doesn't snap. my alienware m17x r2 for example, old though it is, had an upgradeable CPU and was so thick and "heavy" at 5.3kg, but it kept the GPU and CPU at 60 degrees C under full synthetic load (when not clogged up with cat hair that is). I just don't understand it when the modern laptop is crying for more cooling yet weighs less than a cat that I can handle sat on my lap all day (cats are on average between 3.6 to 5.4kg, even alienware's x16 for example is underweight for a cat at 2.72kg which is around what my inactive unhealthy 21 year old weighed when we had to put her down and she felt like nothing on my lap) note: cats used as reference for our American friends who avoid the metric system
@@snarksdomain Gaps may depend on production tolerance. We specify the putty product on a reference table which is linked in our FAQ. XMG NEO 16 (2025) uses DPU-600A. By the way, the warning label on the PCIe bridge has been replaced for mass production with this wording: "Disassembly may void your warranty. High risk of mechanical or electrical damage. Contact support". This was already finalized in January, but we forgot to tell Josh and Steve about it. // Tom
presumably not since they've been doing this misleading naming thing for the last like 10 years (and it's the same thing with CPUs, so it's not only nvidia that's doing it)
Get over it and don’t buy the product. Everyone with two brain cells to rub knows already for decades, laptop gpus are not as powerful as desktop variants. Putting an M in the name for mobile doesn’t change that
@@SupraSavNot to mention that the actual hardware isn't even the same. The laptop "4090" uses a desktop 4080 hardware. So the accurate name would be 4080M.
@@SupraSavwhat lol many of these high performance laptop Gpu’s easily draw 100 to 175 watts. We’ve got the Rtx 4070 laptop Gpu, and it pulls nearly 140 watts in some games so the 5090 is gonna be capable of pulling 175 watts or more
XMG is one of the very few laptop makers that allow you to disassemble the entire cooling (for cleaning and dedusting) without taking your multi year warranty. Just taking the board out obviously is forbidden under warranty.
because it's RTX 5080 with a maximum consumption of 175 watts, in other laptops the consumption may be even less. But still the most productive chip for laptops. The chip from 5090 with a consumption of 175 watts would also be the most productive, but the price...
My bigger concern is the deceptive marketing. There is no such thing as a rtx 5090 in a laptop. Anyone who checks the specs can see that clearly. It is not just the lower wattage but the entire chip is different. The lower performance is to be expected, i have a 7945hx3d rtx 4080 laptop and sure wasn´t expecting anything close to a 4080 performance. It is more in line between a 4060ti and 4070 (closer to a 4070) which works fine for me. However... to market it as a rtx 4080 is just deception and purposely misleading. That this hasn´t resulted in a law suit already surprises me.
When Steve was man handling the external water cooling unit that still had water in it speaking of how it leaks right over the naked PCB had me on the edge of my seat.
Water does nothing to electronics that are powered down. You can dunk them in water and if yiu let it dry fully itll be fine. Been watercooling for 25 years now
Laptops would be cool to see here from time to time, even as a disassembly (like here), to look at how well or poorly certain brand's solutions related to the components perform- just like the pre-built pc tear-downs that are done. Albeit, probably with less missing screws, hopefully.
I too would be VERY interested in this. The Lenovo Legion lineup has for me been a mainstay gamer laptop for years. I had a 3060 and 4060 version, and ive suggested them in the past to friends (1060 6GB and a 3060 115W TGP)who have been very happy with them. Hell even some of the LOQ versions is good (watch out for ssd type though).
From what I've seen and partially experienced, a lot of these xmg, eluktronics, cyberpowerpc laptops are rebranded Tongfang laptops. The difference is xmg actually supports their laptops with bios and software updates, where as cyberpowerpc does not.
@game-tea it wouldn't be economical for those relatively small production runs (compared to HP, DELL, LENOVO, ACER etc) to build up all the manufactoring.
@game-tea Tongfang was sold to AiStone group. I work in a company like XMG in Brazil, who give the support for firmware and schematics, all support for us is Uniwill. I think that they create this product and Tongfang (now AiStone) is responsible for build them. Something like Project vs Manufacturer.
I mean, every 5090 laptop and 4090 laptop should be in quotes. Both of them use the die from the lower-tier desktop variant, AKA the 5080 and 4080 respectively.
Got a few things to clarify here. Neither the laptop, nor the cooler is made by XMG. It's made by an OEM called Tongfang and many companies (XMG, Eluktronics, PCSpecialist, Medion, Tuxedo, etc...) sell it under their name. The laptop is configurable to order when bought with various gpus and for easier manufacturing the motherboard was made modular last year (this liquid cooled series is running since 2021) The cooler itself is in its 3rd generation (or 4th rev), and pretty underwhelming to see they started to use the magnetic connection for the unit. I've got a 2023 model, and in that, the cooler end is properly secured with a screw-on seal, the laptop side is magnetic which interestingly although bad but still works better than this one in the video(the only issue it has is that the tube can pull it down, but only if the laptop it's on a vesa stand like I have, on a table it's not a problem). Also it doesnt do wonders, but really helps with having sustained performance without the laptop sounding like a hair dryer, more so given that the new generations has way quieter pump and fan than mine has. Also these cooling units are interchangeable between generations, and they connect to the laptop via bluetooth Also interesting to see that under 2 years they blocked off a lot more openings on the bottom of the unit, the 2023 one had less cool design went on the bottom plate but looks to have way better throughput(and honestly made me nervous that it sucks a lot of dust in)
Yeah, that's just hardware in general. The liquid coolers on the market are all Asetek, CoolIT, or Apaltek. PSUs are all Great Wall, Crystal, FSP, etc. Nvidia FE coolers and boards are Foxconn. But we still call them by what they're sold under since each brand tweaks it slightly. As for the cooler getting worse versus your prior generation, that's unfortunate to hear. Haven't personally looked at their prior models. Sounds like it is not moving in the right direction.
Please allow me to add some pointers to your clarification. 1) The magnetic seal on your 2023 model is exactly identical to the one found here in the video on the cooling unit. The chassis of the cooler hasn't changed since mid 2023, only the connection on the laptop itself has. 2) The screw-on seal on the Mk1 chassis was not superior, as it came with its own set of problems. For example, it was not self-sealing. 3) The air cooling of the 2025 model is slightly superior to the 2023 and 2024 models. We can prove this with higher sustained power limits while maintaining the same max temperatures. "Blocked off vents" are not a metric to evaluate a complete system. The air intakes holes of the 2025 model are in the right place to facilitate air flow. The "hole to material" ratio is designed also with structural integrity and EMI regulation in mind. Vents are not randomly blocked - instead, airflow is directed. Fans are bigger in the 2025 model compared to previous gen. I could go on. 4) Our ODM partners name is Uniwill. 5) Please see the article "What distinguishes XMG from other suppliers using similar barebones" in our FAQ.
@@xmg_gg 🙏🙏 One thing clearly distinguishes you from others is the superior support. I actually have a PCSpecialist Recoil but using your sw and drivers as they don't take care about updating their sw packages
Too bad the liquid cooling didn’t work. It’s different this gen, but last gen it helped quite a bit. Not so much in terms of extra performance, but more so in noise reduction. You go from very loud laptop fans under load to something much more reasonable, which pretty much never otherwise happens in the laptop world with this tier of hardware inside
Just bought the 4x Debug Coaster & Pint Glass set from the store. I live in Europe so shipping and imports are brutal, but I don't mind supporting you guys, keep it up.
@@TheGunnarRoxen I'm in the UK and order a few things from the GN store each year. Never had to pay any import tax and GN shipping is very reasonable. I just put a $30 coaster pack in my cart and it's only $12.74 shipping. That's cheap for low volume international and nowhere near doubles the price. We pay way more in percentage terms to some domestic vendors.
@@BoxFlyHaydn Lucky you then. I'm in Austria and the shipping cost plus customs was like over 40 Euros I think. Honestly didn't even know I had to pay import fees but I should've expected it I suppose. Got hit with the bill at the post office 😅
26:00 they do the magnet thing because there are already check valves on that end of the tubes and XMG probably want them to unplug quickly in case anybody falls over the tubes. There are also valves in the rad case side which only allow water to flow when the tube is connected.
Interesting thought on the liability prevention with a quick disconnect. They're not that long and it'd be odd if someone had it in a spot where it's a trip hazard, but from a liability standpoint, maybe it makes sense. Definitely not from a function standpoint, seeing as it leaked, so something isn't working.
Pure speculation on my part. While it's not a trip hazard, it is very likely a "pull" hazard that they are mitigating. Practically anyone who dailies a laptop and takes it with them from work to home or where ever will probably tell you they have forgotten to unplug the ac adapter or some peripheral cable at some point (...probably more than once...or so I've... errrr... heard). Ac adapters, USB cables, ect of various types all have different levels of inherent quick disconnect function because none of them have clips/screws, with the exception of maybe DisplayPorts and VGA/Serial ports (but even if you had the screws on your cable...who screws those in on a laptop anyway). Even when these various cables don't release in an accidental get-over-here event, none of them involve water. That's a long winded setup to say that this prevents someone, who has forgotten that their water cooler is still connected, to pick up the laptop and drag the cooler with it. The risk is inherently higher because the connection to the laptop is in the back where you can't see it if the screen is still up. At best this would drag the cooler across the desk creating a small amount of chaos, but at worst might break a port, causing water to go into unintended areas and result in irreparable damage that requires non-trivial parts to be replaced and/or complete destruction. With this magnet solution you then need to balance a minimum retention strength vs. a reasonable release force for the indented purpose to be functional. Looks like they errored on the side of the latter.
As a pet owner whos took apart of their laptop several times i can attest to the fact that hair gets everywhere, even places youd think impossible. Under heatsinks, halfway wedged in tape/labels, inside the screen lid sealed with adhesive tape, 4 layers deep into a keyboard i definitely didnt spill something on... And that gpu link board reminds me of the system Dell uses with their DGFF gpus, same sort of pin & contact pad setup but instead its up to 4 extremely short flat "cables" connecting the two, i assume theyre groups of pcie lanes but i never tried disconnecting one to find out.
I've got an Eluktronics 4090 with the water cooler, and it seriously brings the temps down when it's on the maximum settings for the pump and fan, and makes the internal laptop fans run very quiet. It's great!
Unlike on desktops, the plastic shrouds are really needed on laptops, airflow be damned. Crumbs and garbage isn't gonna be an issue for a side mounted computer fan, but it can be a real issue with crumbs, eraser bits, and generally garbage on university/school desk, Workshops, train seats and Everywhere a laptop might sit.
Also, structural integrity and EMI protection. Imagine you lift up your laptop from the bottom and the bottom case suddenly starts colliding with the running fans. Material thickness is mandated by system weight goals, and with up to 2.8 kg the all-metal XMG NEO 16 is already a chunky boi.
The reason laptops have low porosity on the bottom is for fan protection. Being a laptop, it is meant to be used in all kinds of environments with uneven ground and uneven pressure applied. A high-porosity grill on the bottom of the laptop is prone to breaking or bending easily, thus potentially interfering with the fans.
Sure, but it can still be better than this and we have seen much better on others, like the Omen. The way to do it would be a finer mesh with a higher porosity but outer structure for support, which tons of manufacturers use.
@ That is exactly my point, the name is just marketing. You CAN do that, but its NOT GOOD for the device. Few laptops are desinged to be operated on your lap. Most have airvent INLETS on the bottom that you will choke with soft fabrics or become so hot that longterm usage can harm you. The only laptops that is ok, for the device, to use on your lap are the ones that have no fans and are passively cooled while not overheating.
Ah, laptop screws on a piece of white paper. Perfect until that uncontrollable sneeze appears, making a great day at work a bit more cumbersome. Been there, done that. The same feeling as when disassembling a trigger-set on a gun and that pesky tiny spring decides to fly off, and You never hear it land.
XMG does some custom config / resale of models originally manufactured by Tongfang, a chinese ODM. They also sell to Eluktronics in the US. The separated motherboard and GPU is probably to keep their options open for "customer configs" to OEMs like XMG, so they can easily order whatever GPU boards they want to put into their devices or remanufacture devices with different model GPUs based on demand. That's how I understand it anyway.
Thanks for using the funds you receive from us to help have better reviewers instead of expending everything in a luxurious house w/pools and expensive cars.
I have this exact laptop but with the "4090" -- first time I set it up I was VERY careful -- seems like its working fine. ANNNND five minutes into my first game I notice there's a thin growing pool of water under my laptop 🫠😬 Yeah. 😅. Water damage is not included in warranty so you can bet right there I never used the water cooling again 😭 Laptop itself is okay though 🤷♂️. Gets very very slightly better performance and is noticably quieter at full blast than my friend's "4090" Lenovo Legion, with both on just air cooling. Love the stealth look of the XMG!! Gotta say though -- considering I could've gotten 5yrs of accidental protection instead of just 1yr of standard warranty from XMG... and a better (imo) build quality... All for a cheaper price if I just bought the Lenovo?... Replacement parts are also a little easier to find for Lenovos. So that's probably what I'll buy next time since I'm not using the water cooling. I should also point out I really like the XMG UEFI/BIOS mgmt -- very full featured!!! But at least on mine, the recovery features make boot times SOOOOOO SLOWWWW omg, might matter to someone. Other than that, mine has been going strong the whole time I've had it. I did reach out to XMG for some driver questions -- found the support to be pretty good! Kinda slow to respond BUT very thorough and helpful when they did so that was actually pretty nice. My experience with Lenovo support is universally horrible -- so bad actually I'm second guessing my thought about going with the Lenovo next time already 😅 Anyway -- I like the laptop!! Water cooling is pretty sketchy tho 😐
Thank you for the continued hard work from you and your team. I do have a question, is there any new testing equipment you have in mind or planned for the shop? You guys have the sound chamber and the airflow bench, is there any unique equipment planned yet?
I LOVE disassembly vids, it always brings such a mischievous smile to my face like I'm there too. Goes great with a nice cup of coffee. Cheers! Go get 'em GN! PS - I like some of the more unconventional tools you used for disassembly. 🤣
Mobile versions were always weaker and it's kind of obvious why, the problem here is them leaving the "mobile version" indicator and selling it as a desktop 5090 5080 specs would be pretty impressive if it wasn't misleading
@@thetrawlerman Yes weaker by downclocking, but 1000 and 2000 series used full fat desktop chips, that's why they dropped M suffix. By 3000 series they started cutting the HW more and more, yet never returned to M label. And that's is a definition of scam. Older GPUs were at least clearly named with M, and that's why there wasn't a issue
@ What annoys me is this misleading advertising. If they claim it's an RTX 5090, it should have the same specs (except for the power consumption limit). I think it would be more honest to launch it as the RTX 5080 Laptop, and even then, there are some specs cut compared to the 5080 Desktop. This is a marketing decision, as it only has the 5090 name, but the performance is much lower. The same should happen with other graphics cards for laptops.
@@panjak323the 1000 and 2000 series desktop chips used the same amount of power which is why. You can’t cram over 500 watts into a laptop. Calling this false advertising is fucking stupid lmao
Really appreciate you guys showing a gaming laptop. I don't have the space for a desktop one and had to completely switch to a laptop solution. Would definitely be super hyped to see some tests of current laptops and ofc their disassembly.
The separate MB and GPU board probably allow them more flexibility during manufacturing. They can make one MB solution, and pair it with different GPUs easily. A good way to hedge against inconsistent supply of any specific GPU. Probably helps with manufacturing defect repairs on the production line. You are not risking both the CPU and GPU at the same time when sending a faulty board to the repair line. A smart solution IMO.
9:59 that reminds me... to keep screws rolling away, I have a "Jakemy" brand screw collector thingy. It looks like a flat sheet of rubberized plastic on one side, and glossy writable & erasable plastic on the other side (use dry erasable markers). It's also magnetized so it keeps screws deposited on it from rolling away. Very helpful for disassembling laptops and phones.
I was using a similarly designed iFixit mat yesterday while I was working on my laptop. Then I dropped a flashlight right where I had my screws magnetized and had to go hunting for a missing chassis screw (one of the ones that came off the magnetized pad was conveniently on my flashlight's magnet). The sudden loss of organization was annoying.
Hi Steve and team! Just wanted to say: THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the work you put in. It really shows. You put out content day in and day out, seemingly (perhaps not) without sleeping... Thank you for leading this fight against bullshit!
That kind of ethernet port on laptops has been around for a long time. They are actually really nice cause the laptop doesn't have to be as thick to house the full ethernet port if it didn't have the spring expansion mechanism thingy.
Legitimately really happy with the dice. I got the inductor set and they are really good quality, especially for the price. Hope you guys do more DnD/TCG/TTRPG type products in the future. I'm a bit of a dice goblin in my friend group.
You should absolutely do performance laptop reviews. The unique solutions caused by the lack of space inherent with laptops makes for some interesting teardowns.
3 things. 1 The just Josh video was entirely reasonable but the GN Steve setting and features and cuts (no one cuts TO GN Steve!?) definitely kept me confused and entertained. 2 the treardown felt like an unedited hangout in the best kind of way (im half way through). 3 I can't put a finger on why I don't want to watch the j video. I think I missed the joke and am salty but don't want to admit it. But I'm short on content and know I'll enjoy once I hit play. I guess I'm confessing. Thanks as always!!
in case anyone else was wondering, these laptops start at around 4200$ so yea, don't buy this garbage, you can't imagine the disappointment you will feel spending this much on a laptop. For funsies I maxed one out and it cost 6213$ good luck with that XMG
The laptop RTX 4090 uses the exact same AD103 chip as the desktop RTX 4080, just with lower TGP and clock speeds. I'm not surprised that Nvidia are doing something similar (but not quite the same) with the laptop RTX 5090.
I mean, it's pretty rare throughout my 30yrs being a PC gamer that ever see full sized anything in a laptop form factor. In other words, ya, not surprising at all to me, the opposite would be tho but then price of this laptop would be even more insane.
@@PutYourQuarterUpGaming yeah, it's always been that way. At least the current laptop GPUs use the same generation technology as desktop GPUs. It's not like years gone by where the laptop GPU could be 1-2 generations behind, e.g. the GTX 870M effectively being a cut-down GTX 680.
@@PutYourQuarterUpGaming The 10 series and 20 were practically identical between the desktop and laptop versions. Same die but some might have slight changes to the core and clock speeds
My first impression on this video was 'Wow, an XMG'. You don't tend to see this brand get reviewed very often. Due to how much I travel, I've bought gaming laptops over a desktop setup for many years. I've had a couple of XMGs in that time and I've never regretted buying them. Yes, gaming laptops will never be as good as the desktop counterpart, but the XMGs I had always delivered a top tier experience and I never felt that I was missing out. Now that I am in a situation where I can buy a gaming desktop, I went to XMG and ordered it from them due to how much I've liked their products over the years.
Efficiency gains, but a huge price increase. Upto $13000 in nz and Australia. For those saying it's tariffs driving prices up, you are wrong, it's nvidia greed.
The motherboard split in two pieces is neat. It's probably cheaper to spin up different versions of the halves, like a Ryzen CPU half or a RTX 5070 GPU half. Good for repairability as well.
Maybe the weak water connection on the cooler side is a safety feature? You wouldn't want your laptop hanging by a water pipe, so if you trythat, it will "gracefully" disconnect on the cooler side so that your laptop is not going to catch water! Also if you trip over the cooler, it won't pull your laptop from the desk or rip a hole in it! I think this is VERY GOOD DESIGN.
I actually own one of them with my laptop, the magnetic connection makes it functional. And with a higher-end (relative) laptop build, you almost NEED it nowadays.
@@volvo09 On my cooler, it actually depends on how you connect it. One way will absolutely leak the whole tank out in short order, but flip it over and it's a nicely secure connection. It's not perfect, but it does securely hold once in position.
I get using magnets to prevent damage on removal, but why in the world is it on the radiator side? That side could have been just been standard fittings. The side that's going to see the most connect / disconnect actions would be on the laptop (which has the clip).
WOW, your company flew these guys out to you? That's mighty generous and impressive. Hell, you're sharing the wealth. That's very rare to see in the last twenty years.
can't help feeling that having a water cooling loop that will only be used occationally is a bad idea. Mostly because when those fans on the laptop get dusty and the cpu starts thermal throttling, the left over water in the chanber is going to get super heated. This will be an issue depending on how good those connectors are since they will be sealed when the pipes are not connected and lead to the cooler getting pressurised. I would not want to be the one sat on the opposite side of the laptop when a steam explosion erupts out the collectors directly into my face.
Even If the pressure some how got dangerously high the first thing to give would probably be the seal and the pressure will disapate without any catastrophic explosion
Solution: clean the fans with compressed air. Use the water cooler whenever you're gaming at home. Our CPU hot spot temp limit is 95°C, GPU is max 87°C, water temperature is way, way lower thanks to running loop.
@ in order for the seal to go, it would need to be pressurised and at that point its not known how it will fail. sure it wont be some kind of detonation but something that can potentially launch scolding water is never a good idea even if its a slim chance.
@ indeed, but thats still up to the user to remember to do that. Pretty sure you can agree that there are a lot of people that don't take the slightest care of their deviceseven if its as expensive as this.
Really enjoyed this one. I know it's outside of your usual coverage but I would love it if you guys reviewed and/or disassembled more mobile platforms (laptops, handhelds, etc.). I think technology-wise it has a lot to offer that's within your range of interests such as the latest Ryzen MAX APU series. Also, loved to see your approach/genuine surprise to things such as the angled screws and the narrow ethernet port ;)
I wish ya'll would review laptops more 🥲As an adult gamer on the go, laptop solutions are often way more relevant to me at least. Also, the laptop youtube reviewers are HIGHLY questionable in terms of technical honesty. There are way more factors bottlenecking laptop performance compared to a desktop
let me sum them all up for you - all laptops are crap. crap performance, crap value for money, doing anything serious without a charger is a crap idea, crap hardware in terms of reliability, repairability, etc. getting a low power laptop at least lowers the stakes.
Dell has had a problem building a gaming PC for decades now. But when it comes to a laptop, in my opinion, you can't find a better one. They are not the cheapest, but they build an exalent machine that is extremely easy to serve and maintain. And the quality is the same across the range. From the budget baller to the most expensive gaming focused laptop, all are built extremely well without the insane over engineering found in the desktop division.
Well, I guess they have different motherboards for the CPU and CPU, connected by that weird bridge, because that laptop/barebone is designed to be configurable, so they can easily change the CPU or GPU, depending on the user choice.
I think the idea behind the mag connection on the water cooling loop was a breakaway connection. You have a portable device (laptop) with a water cooling base station. Imagine brain farting for a moment, closing your laptop, picking it up and attempting to walk away and forgetting to disconnect the rad. If you have a secured connection on both sides then you are just going to drag a heavy object (rad brick) off the desk and send it crashing to the floor, possibly taking your laptop out of your hands with it or at least it getting snatched out of your hands by the hose loop. With the mag connection on the radiator side the hose loop will break away from the radiator instead of potentially destroying both your expensive laptop and radiator by sudden unintended Linus Sebastian (for those of you who don't know, Linus has a habit of accidentally dropping and destroying expensive electronic items).
Would love to see blooper videos of the reassembly that happens after all these teardowns. Filming this would give Steve more motivation to actually put them back together. Don't think we didn't notice the Nvidia prototype cooler still in pieces on the table.
Depends on what other prices you can find. Personally I'd say it looks like a fantastic deal (625 pound sterling = 750 euro and local prices for the 9070 XT here in Germany are hovering around 800 euro for good models, even more for the top end variants). I'd even go as far to say that it looks almost too good to be true. Make sure it's the 9070 XT (and not the slower 9070 as that would be way too expensive for that GPU), also ensure the offer is from a reputable vendor, there's still a buch of scams out and about.
Bitte macht doch eure Videos mit deutscher Audio, das doch mit RUclips kein Problem mehr, ich muss dann immer deutschen Untertitel lesen, was manchmal etwas mühselig ist! Trotzdem vielen lieben Dank für all deine Videos!
Warum sollte ein RUclips Kanal der in den USA basiert eine deutsche Tonspur übersetzen und aufnehmen? Wenn du Maschinenübersetzungen anhören willst musst du Google/RUclips fragen und nicht die Leute die die Videos machen. Alternative: Schau dir der8auer (oder andere deutsche Tech-Kanäle) an für original deutsche Videos. Alternative #2: pass beim Englisch Unterricht auf und du brauchst keine Übersetzung.
@Aotearas mach ich doch schon, aber zu wenig Content in Deutschland und gefühlt immer später, ich bin doch bestimmt nicht der einzige Englisch Legastheniker in Deutschland, die eueren Kanal schauen! Schade eigentlich, dann schau ich halt mit Untertitel, eure Videos sind trotzdem super! Vielen lieben Dank dafür!
![[BONUS] Quand le patron du PSG impose sa loi aux autres présidents de club (Version longue)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xjZeo7FIWQg/mqdefault.jpg)
The laptop world is so strange with its GPU naming / specs situation. We'll figure out what kind of video to make with our 'bonus' charts also. Collected enough for a pretty good video, but didn't do a full review since we don't normally work on laptops. Maybe we turn it into one and run more games? Preferences on other tests?
"The Laptop GPU and CPU marketing world is a long plastic hallway where criminals and pimps run free and honest men fall like dogs. Also it has downsides" (To paraphrase Hunter S Thompson) What I'm saying is that while I trust you to do the testing, the marketing of what laptop hardware is and how it interacts with the myriad power and thermal limitations of the various designs means that it's really really hard to interpret the results. It would be really useful to know the performance of specific models as long as the manufacturers don't change the designs midway through a production run, but otherwise I wouldn't know how to interpret the results. As you pointed out on this specific design they left a lot to be desired with ventillation intake so a different laptop with the same paper specs but with a better designed intake set would likely perform a lot better on sustained work loads.
It is clear that laptops are not reviewed on this channel. It looks like someone finally reminded Steve to disconnect the battery (hard cut after pulling the screw for the water cooling port that he won't remember). I was getting worried for a minute. :)
Edit: Got it, you are training Josh! Will watch his channel for laptops.
I hope you can recommend someone who can actually give a good review of laptop designs and parts. I have to periodically upgrade and would love to know the best value for money parts available for laptops.
Thermals and performance at certain noise levels are the way to go for laptops since they're right beneath you. Thanks Steve!
🤘gamers nexus guitar picks disassembly confirmed 🤪
Good thing this disassembly is public rather than private then.
S tier
That's bad though, that means Steve can't avoid Electrical failure. The sticker says you have to do it privately to prevent it
@@EminemLovesGrapesyou and the 5 bots that liked your comment are all incorrect. It says "It is forbidden to disassemble privately to avoid electrical failure".
@@thatzaliasguy Humor is just something that happens to other people for you, isn't it?
@@thatzaliasguyThanks for making the original joke funnier by being a laughing stock 😂😂
'Forbidden disassembly privately'
Steve: Got it! Let's disassemble it, publicly.
or rather "forced assembly, publicly"
It's probably just their attempt at getting around warranty problems in the EU.
gotta love terrible translations
This disassemble video is technically publicly released
Steve, I talked to our IT department and we shipped more than 40 laptops to Kramden institute this week! I'm so happy that your channel helped us find a good institution for refurbishing semi-older laptops efficiently!
Wow! That's so awesome to hear. A lot of corporate machines are still great for use by the public, so that's really cool that your team is doing that. Thanks for telling us!
@@GamersNexus SalemTechsperts are doing a great job of pushing for refurbishing office laptops, both encouraging experienced users to do it themselves and selling reasonably priced refurbished laptops, instead of buying new, especially since the newer the laptop, the more likely it's harder to repair.
I've been needing a personal laptop to use around the house, and I found a T480 with an i5 8530U, 8 GB of RAM, no drive, no external battery, no charger--for $70. I already have plenty high wattage USB-C chargers all over the house, and an M.2 SATA SSD lying around. Plus the internal battery last for like 3 hours, and an OEM battery will cost me $30 total. After a cleaning and a re-paste, it's working exactly as new (as indicated by benchmarks). So now I've got a laptop that is A) more than fast enough for anything I need it to do, B) built to last far longer than a new $500 laptop, C) if I need more power I can remote into my desktop. All for less than $120 (after I finally buy the external battery lol).
Even if I didn't have parts lying around, you could refurbish the laptop for ~$200 total. It was a no brainer for me.
XMG here live in the comments from Germany. To our greatest enjoyment, we sent out this laptop pre-production sample to Just Josh and we've been in touch with their team for BIOS updates and a bit of tech support almost daily over the last two weeks. Glad to see XMG being shown on this channel - ask us anything! // Tom
Nice work with the Thermal Putty and PTM/PCM! Out of curiosity, are the gaps larger or smaller than 0.5mm? Just want to know so I can make a good recommendation for putty if anyone decides to change it out at some point.
hey xmg, is this model a clevo model by any chance?
What’s the rate of warranty calls on these high end gaming laptops vs units sold?
Out of the warranty calls logged how many are honoured vs declined?
why do manufacturers keep doing this janky ethernet plug on gaming laptops? why can't we go back to thick af laptops that have a full sized jack? better cooling and another part that doesn't snap. my alienware m17x r2 for example, old though it is, had an upgradeable CPU and was so thick and "heavy" at 5.3kg, but it kept the GPU and CPU at 60 degrees C under full synthetic load (when not clogged up with cat hair that is). I just don't understand it when the modern laptop is crying for more cooling yet weighs less than a cat that I can handle sat on my lap all day (cats are on average between 3.6 to 5.4kg, even alienware's x16 for example is underweight for a cat at 2.72kg which is around what my inactive unhealthy 21 year old weighed when we had to put her down and she felt like nothing on my lap)
note: cats used as reference for our American friends who avoid the metric system
@@snarksdomain Gaps may depend on production tolerance. We specify the putty product on a reference table which is linked in our FAQ. XMG NEO 16 (2025) uses DPU-600A. By the way, the warning label on the PCIe bridge has been replaced for mass production with this wording: "Disassembly may void your warranty. High risk of mechanical or electrical damage. Contact support". This was already finalized in January, but we forgot to tell Josh and Steve about it. // Tom
Calling the desktop version and the mobile version the same name is a crime. How are they not being sued for misleading?
Remember: The rich can steal from you and get away with it, but when you try to get back at them, you lose more money
“RTX 5090” and “mobile RTX 5090” are legally distinct 🙄
presumably not since they've been doing this misleading naming thing for the last like 10 years (and it's the same thing with CPUs, so it's not only nvidia that's doing it)
Get over it and don’t buy the product. Everyone with two brain cells to rub knows already for decades, laptop gpus are not as powerful as desktop variants. Putting an M in the name for mobile doesn’t change that
Absolutely a misleading practice. It used to be clearer with at least an "M" at the end.
They should call it a 5090M at least, This is misleading marketing.
Absolutely. And agreed.
Like ALL laptop GPUs.. if it's drawing 25watts* how can it compare to a desktop drawing 500w+. Insane they can advertise like this.
@@SupraSavNot to mention that the actual hardware isn't even the same.
The laptop "4090" uses a desktop 4080 hardware. So the accurate name would be 4080M.
@@SupraSavwhat lol many of these high performance laptop Gpu’s easily draw 100 to 175 watts.
We’ve got the Rtx 4070 laptop Gpu, and it pulls nearly 140 watts in some games so the 5090 is gonna be capable of pulling 175 watts or more
If we're being honest it's what the original 4090m should have been...24gb of vram on the same node it just came out 2 years later
Steve, you seriously needed to wear an "I Void Warranties" t-shirt during this shoot.
and at the same time don't, bc those stickers aren't enforcable and misleading
@@Emma-i9x Those stickers weren't enforceable. They are now. What's left of Trump and DOGE's FTC will never help us.
@ what changed?
Some executive order that hasn't been declared illegal by the justice system?
Knowing Doge, i wouldn't be surprised if they repeal the fact that "Void if removed" stickers wont work in the states. @@Emma-i9x
"It is forbidden to disassemble..."
Oh no, anyway...
Oh no, so anyway, I started ratcheting..
XMG is one of the very few laptop makers that allow you to disassemble the entire cooling (for cleaning and dedusting) without taking your multi year warranty. Just taking the board out obviously is forbidden under warranty.
Yeah that's not how consumer rights work :-D
@@Cloney1337 To be fair, that part looks very fragile and I bet they are all gold pins too.
The performance difference between desktop & mobile version is ASTRONOMICAL.
because it's RTX 5080 with a maximum consumption of 175 watts, in other laptops the consumption may be even less. But still the most productive chip for laptops. The chip from 5090 with a consumption of 175 watts would also be the most productive, but the price...
So is the power consumption.
My bigger concern is the deceptive marketing. There is no such thing as a rtx 5090 in a laptop. Anyone who checks the specs can see that clearly. It is not just the lower wattage but the entire chip is different.
The lower performance is to be expected, i have a 7945hx3d rtx 4080 laptop and sure wasn´t expecting anything close to a 4080 performance. It is more in line between a 4060ti and 4070 (closer to a 4070) which works fine for me. However... to market it as a rtx 4080 is just deception and purposely misleading. That this hasn´t resulted in a law suit already surprises me.
So is the power draw
Did you think it wasn't going to be? lol
Glad we could bring you a top notch laptop... only for you to tear it apart :P
When Steve was man handling the external water cooling unit that still had water in it speaking of how it leaks right over the naked PCB had me on the edge of my seat.
There is never a dull moment at Gamers Nexus!
same!
Water does nothing to electronics that are powered down. You can dunk them in water and if yiu let it dry fully itll be fine. Been watercooling for 25 years now
He dropped the LGA connector pin side down on a blob of thermal putty as well, lmao.
I hope XMG doesnt want that laptop back.
Laptops would be cool to see here from time to time, even as a disassembly (like here), to look at how well or poorly certain brand's solutions related to the components perform- just like the pre-built pc tear-downs that are done. Albeit, probably with less missing screws, hopefully.
We could definitely do that! Would just be a question of which ones!
And yes, hopefully more put together than prebuilts.
@@GamersNexus Well since stuff like HP has shown itself to not be very reassuring, it would be a start to do it with them
I too would be VERY interested in this.
The Lenovo Legion lineup has for me been a mainstay gamer laptop for years. I had a 3060 and 4060 version, and ive suggested them in the past to friends (1060 6GB and a 3060 115W TGP)who have been very happy with them. Hell even some of the LOQ versions is good (watch out for ssd type though).
@GamersNexus Honestly even if you just stuck to the major flagships that'd be refreshing.
@@GamersNexusit depends if you want the good ones or the bad ones. One is a lot easier to find than the other
From what I've seen and partially experienced, a lot of these xmg, eluktronics, cyberpowerpc laptops are rebranded Tongfang laptops. The difference is xmg actually supports their laptops with bios and software updates, where as cyberpowerpc does not.
Correct, yes. Laptops are common supply.
XMG is in the comments here and they said it's a Uniwill, but that's of course similar to all those laptop ODM's. Tonfang etc make good stuff though.
@game-tea it wouldn't be economical for those relatively small production runs (compared to HP, DELL, LENOVO, ACER etc) to build up all the manufactoring.
@game-tea Tongfang was sold to AiStone group. I work in a company like XMG in Brazil, who give the support for firmware and schematics, all support for us is Uniwill. I think that they create this product and Tongfang (now AiStone) is responsible for build them. Something like Project vs Manufacturer.
It's ok for Steve to disassemble the laptop because he is doing it publicly 😂
I appreciate anyone who casually drops and ICP reference everytime they think about magnets. I've been doing that for 20 years and it never gets old.
Uh oh, the 5090 is in quotes.
I mean, every 5090 laptop and 4090 laptop should be in quotes. Both of them use the die from the lower-tier desktop variant, AKA the 5080 and 4080 respectively.
More of a 50-nein-T
5090 gts
yeah it's actually slower than 4090
509ti
nein nein nein!
Gtx 590
Got a few things to clarify here. Neither the laptop, nor the cooler is made by XMG. It's made by an OEM called Tongfang and many companies (XMG, Eluktronics, PCSpecialist, Medion, Tuxedo, etc...) sell it under their name. The laptop is configurable to order when bought with various gpus and for easier manufacturing the motherboard was made modular last year (this liquid cooled series is running since 2021)
The cooler itself is in its 3rd generation (or 4th rev), and pretty underwhelming to see they started to use the magnetic connection for the unit. I've got a 2023 model, and in that, the cooler end is properly secured with a screw-on seal, the laptop side is magnetic which interestingly although bad but still works better than this one in the video(the only issue it has is that the tube can pull it down, but only if the laptop it's on a vesa stand like I have, on a table it's not a problem).
Also it doesnt do wonders, but really helps with having sustained performance without the laptop sounding like a hair dryer, more so given that the new generations has way quieter pump and fan than mine has. Also these cooling units are interchangeable between generations, and they connect to the laptop via bluetooth
Also interesting to see that under 2 years they blocked off a lot more openings on the bottom of the unit, the 2023 one had less cool design went on the bottom plate but looks to have way better throughput(and honestly made me nervous that it sucks a lot of dust in)
All these writing and no one to appreciate 😢
This should be pinned
Yeah, that's just hardware in general. The liquid coolers on the market are all Asetek, CoolIT, or Apaltek. PSUs are all Great Wall, Crystal, FSP, etc. Nvidia FE coolers and boards are Foxconn. But we still call them by what they're sold under since each brand tweaks it slightly.
As for the cooler getting worse versus your prior generation, that's unfortunate to hear. Haven't personally looked at their prior models. Sounds like it is not moving in the right direction.
Please allow me to add some pointers to your clarification.
1) The magnetic seal on your 2023 model is exactly identical to the one found here in the video on the cooling unit. The chassis of the cooler hasn't changed since mid 2023, only the connection on the laptop itself has.
2) The screw-on seal on the Mk1 chassis was not superior, as it came with its own set of problems. For example, it was not self-sealing.
3) The air cooling of the 2025 model is slightly superior to the 2023 and 2024 models. We can prove this with higher sustained power limits while maintaining the same max temperatures. "Blocked off vents" are not a metric to evaluate a complete system. The air intakes holes of the 2025 model are in the right place to facilitate air flow. The "hole to material" ratio is designed also with structural integrity and EMI regulation in mind. Vents are not randomly blocked - instead, airflow is directed. Fans are bigger in the 2025 model compared to previous gen. I could go on.
4) Our ODM partners name is Uniwill.
5) Please see the article "What distinguishes XMG from other suppliers using similar barebones" in our FAQ.
@@xmg_gg 🙏🙏 One thing clearly distinguishes you from others is the superior support. I actually have a PCSpecialist Recoil but using your sw and drivers as they don't take care about updating their sw packages
Too bad the liquid cooling didn’t work. It’s different this gen, but last gen it helped quite a bit. Not so much in terms of extra performance, but more so in noise reduction. You go from very loud laptop fans under load to something much more reasonable, which pretty much never otherwise happens in the laptop world with this tier of hardware inside
But does it have all its ROPS?
This one does!
Not too ROPey.
You would ROP so.
Lucky for Steve he didnt get ROPped.
No
Just bought the 4x Debug Coaster & Pint Glass set from the store. I live in Europe so shipping and imports are brutal, but I don't mind supporting you guys, keep it up.
Thank you for the support even in spite of the shipping!
yeah I'd buy more but being in the UK more than doubles the price with shipping etc
@@TheGunnarRoxen I'm in the UK and order a few things from the GN store each year. Never had to pay any import tax and GN shipping is very reasonable. I just put a $30 coaster pack in my cart and it's only $12.74 shipping. That's cheap for low volume international and nowhere near doubles the price. We pay way more in percentage terms to some domestic vendors.
@@BoxFlyHaydn
Lucky you then.
I'm in Austria and the shipping cost plus customs was like over 40 Euros I think.
Honestly didn't even know I had to pay import fees but I should've expected it I suppose. Got hit with the bill at the post office 😅
@@marcel-q1m Also in Austria, was surprised by the bill, lol.
26:00 they do the magnet thing because there are already check valves on that end of the tubes and XMG probably want them to unplug quickly in case anybody falls over the tubes. There are also valves in the rad case side which only allow water to flow when the tube is connected.
Interesting thought on the liability prevention with a quick disconnect. They're not that long and it'd be odd if someone had it in a spot where it's a trip hazard, but from a liability standpoint, maybe it makes sense. Definitely not from a function standpoint, seeing as it leaked, so something isn't working.
doubt
Pure speculation on my part. While it's not a trip hazard, it is very likely a "pull" hazard that they are mitigating. Practically anyone who dailies a laptop and takes it with them from work to home or where ever will probably tell you they have forgotten to unplug the ac adapter or some peripheral cable at some point (...probably more than once...or so I've... errrr... heard). Ac adapters, USB cables, ect of various types all have different levels of inherent quick disconnect function because none of them have clips/screws, with the exception of maybe DisplayPorts and VGA/Serial ports (but even if you had the screws on your cable...who screws those in on a laptop anyway). Even when these various cables don't release in an accidental get-over-here event, none of them involve water.
That's a long winded setup to say that this prevents someone, who has forgotten that their water cooler is still connected, to pick up the laptop and drag the cooler with it. The risk is inherently higher because the connection to the laptop is in the back where you can't see it if the screen is still up. At best this would drag the cooler across the desk creating a small amount of chaos, but at worst might break a port, causing water to go into unintended areas and result in irreparable damage that requires non-trivial parts to be replaced and/or complete destruction. With this magnet solution you then need to balance a minimum retention strength vs. a reasonable release force for the indented purpose to be functional. Looks like they errored on the side of the latter.
@@imback.15 Agreed, this way it disconnects from cooler instead of breaking off from the laptop.
As a pet owner whos took apart of their laptop several times i can attest to the fact that hair gets everywhere, even places youd think impossible. Under heatsinks, halfway wedged in tape/labels, inside the screen lid sealed with adhesive tape, 4 layers deep into a keyboard i definitely didnt spill something on...
And that gpu link board reminds me of the system Dell uses with their DGFF gpus, same sort of pin & contact pad setup but instead its up to 4 extremely short flat "cables" connecting the two, i assume theyre groups of pcie lanes but i never tried disconnecting one to find out.
My cat left me ten years ago, and my laptops fare a lot better.
people with pets are disgusting
those cables are Flex PCB cables for some the best since sliced bread for others the devil's worst idea.
I've got an Eluktronics 4090 with the water cooler, and it seriously brings the temps down when it's on the maximum settings for the pump and fan, and makes the internal laptop fans run very quiet. It's great!
Forbidden disassembly privately
Steve: "There we go...publicly"
👌
That little drop down Ethernet is the upgrade. Most business class laptops have a USB C dongle with a Ethernet port.
If it just was 10 Gbit...
Unlike on desktops, the plastic shrouds are really needed on laptops, airflow be damned. Crumbs and garbage isn't gonna be an issue for a side mounted computer fan, but it can be a real issue with crumbs, eraser bits, and generally garbage on university/school desk, Workshops, train seats and Everywhere a laptop might sit.
Also, structural integrity and EMI protection. Imagine you lift up your laptop from the bottom and the bottom case suddenly starts colliding with the running fans. Material thickness is mandated by system weight goals, and with up to 2.8 kg the all-metal XMG NEO 16 is already a chunky boi.
The reason laptops have low porosity on the bottom is for fan protection. Being a laptop, it is meant to be used in all kinds of environments with uneven ground and uneven pressure applied. A high-porosity grill on the bottom of the laptop is prone to breaking or bending easily, thus potentially interfering with the fans.
Sure, but it can still be better than this and we have seen much better on others, like the Omen. The way to do it would be a finer mesh with a higher porosity but outer structure for support, which tons of manufacturers use.
Thanks, ChatGPT
Or like many people that are not tech savy, will use a laptop on their laps or in bed.
@@sandertu8366 I wonder where the name LAPtop came from
@
That is exactly my point, the name is just marketing. You CAN do that, but its NOT GOOD for the device.
Few laptops are desinged to be operated on your lap. Most have airvent INLETS on the bottom that you will choke with soft fabrics or become so hot that longterm usage can harm you.
The only laptops that is ok, for the device, to use on your lap are the ones that have no fans and are passively cooled while not overheating.
Hopefully the cable won't melt this time
Overblown.
@@zamardii12the connector didn't blow, they melted silly
Definitely wouldnt mind more laptop reviews from the GN team!
Ah, laptop screws on a piece of white paper. Perfect until that uncontrollable sneeze appears, making a great day at work a bit more cumbersome. Been there, done that.
The same feeling as when disassembling a trigger-set on a gun and that pesky tiny spring decides to fly off, and You never hear it land.
XMG does some custom config / resale of models originally manufactured by Tongfang, a chinese ODM. They also sell to Eluktronics in the US. The separated motherboard and GPU is probably to keep their options open for "customer configs" to OEMs like XMG, so they can easily order whatever GPU boards they want to put into their devices or remanufacture devices with different model GPUs based on demand. That's how I understand it anyway.
Our ODM partner for this model is Uniwill in Taiwan. Parts are made in China, final assembly in Germany. (Greetings, long time no see!)
Thanks for using the funds you receive from us to help have better reviewers instead of expending everything in a luxurious house w/pools and expensive cars.
I have this exact laptop but with the "4090" -- first time I set it up I was VERY careful -- seems like its working fine. ANNNND five minutes into my first game I notice there's a thin growing pool of water under my laptop 🫠😬
Yeah. 😅. Water damage is not included in warranty so you can bet right there I never used the water cooling again 😭
Laptop itself is okay though 🤷♂️. Gets very very slightly better performance and is noticably quieter at full blast than my friend's "4090" Lenovo Legion, with both on just air cooling.
Love the stealth look of the XMG!!
Gotta say though -- considering I could've gotten 5yrs of accidental protection instead of just 1yr of standard warranty from XMG... and a better (imo) build quality... All for a cheaper price if I just bought the Lenovo?... Replacement parts are also a little easier to find for Lenovos. So that's probably what I'll buy next time since I'm not using the water cooling.
I should also point out I really like the XMG UEFI/BIOS mgmt -- very full featured!!! But at least on mine, the recovery features make boot times SOOOOOO SLOWWWW omg, might matter to someone.
Other than that, mine has been going strong the whole time I've had it. I did reach out to XMG for some driver questions -- found the support to be pretty good! Kinda slow to respond BUT very thorough and helpful when they did so that was actually pretty nice. My experience with Lenovo support is universally horrible -- so bad actually I'm second guessing my thought about going with the Lenovo next time already 😅
Anyway -- I like the laptop!! Water cooling is pretty sketchy tho 😐
I love how collaborative the tech reviewer community is :) it's nice that you guys don't see each other as competition
Other than that huge drama with Linus tech tips…
Thank you for the continued hard work from you and your team. I do have a question, is there any new testing equipment you have in mind or planned for the shop? You guys have the sound chamber and the airflow bench, is there any unique equipment planned yet?
I LOVE disassembly vids, it always brings such a mischievous smile to my face like I'm there too. Goes great with a nice cup of coffee. Cheers! Go get 'em GN! PS - I like some of the more unconventional tools you used for disassembly. 🤣
This 5090 Laptop is almost the same as the RTX 5080 Desktop specs with some lower specifications and they still call it a 90...
Mobile versions were always weaker and it's kind of obvious why, the problem here is them leaving the "mobile version" indicator and selling it as a desktop 5090
5080 specs would be pretty impressive if it wasn't misleading
@@thetrawlerman Yes weaker by downclocking, but 1000 and 2000 series used full fat desktop chips, that's why they dropped M suffix. By 3000 series they started cutting the HW more and more, yet never returned to M label. And that's is a definition of scam. Older GPUs were at least clearly named with M, and that's why there wasn't a issue
@ What annoys me is this misleading advertising. If they claim it's an RTX 5090, it should have the same specs (except for the power consumption limit). I think it would be more honest to launch it as the RTX 5080 Laptop, and even then, there are some specs cut compared to the 5080 Desktop. This is a marketing decision, as it only has the 5090 name, but the performance is much lower. The same should happen with other graphics cards for laptops.
@@thetrawlerman no where is it ever sold as a 5090 on nvidia’s website. They literally list the differences
@@panjak323the 1000 and 2000 series desktop chips used the same amount of power which is why.
You can’t cram over 500 watts into a laptop. Calling this false advertising is fucking stupid lmao
Really appreciate you guys showing a gaming laptop. I don't have the space for a desktop one and had to completely switch to a laptop solution. Would definitely be super hyped to see some tests of current laptops and ofc their disassembly.
You probably already know but Jarrod's Tech is really good for laptop info. I definitely would like to see GN go into this too.
Nvidia solution? Seems like everything they conjure up these days are Nvidia problems
I was watching so intently I accidentally flicked my cigar into my coffee and then tried to drink the ash tray...
The separate MB and GPU board probably allow them more flexibility during manufacturing.
They can make one MB solution, and pair it with different GPUs easily. A good way to hedge against inconsistent supply of any specific GPU.
Probably helps with manufacturing defect repairs on the production line. You are not risking both the CPU and GPU at the same time when sending a faulty board to the repair line.
A smart solution IMO.
Really would like to see GN do more laptop "reviews" etc. Good stuff.
Welcome to the Ethernet nightmare on laptops 6:00
Thanks, I hate it.
Still better than the modem connections on older laptops where the connecter slid out the side and the phone line plugged in vertically.
@@jefeglancy Ah, the X-jack, I want to say, on older PCMCIA cards?
@@GamersNexus First time? Lenovo's and other thin laptops have had that kind of jack for almost 10 years.
@@GamersNexus Look up the fujitsu ethernet jack for an even more creative solution
23:59 that's pretty nice honestly... means a gpu failure wouldn't require a full motherboard replacement under warranty. Kinda nice for repairability
9:59 that reminds me... to keep screws rolling away, I have a "Jakemy" brand screw collector thingy. It looks like a flat sheet of rubberized plastic on one side, and glossy writable & erasable plastic on the other side (use dry erasable markers). It's also magnetized so it keeps screws deposited on it from rolling away.
Very helpful for disassembling laptops and phones.
I was using a similarly designed iFixit mat yesterday while I was working on my laptop. Then I dropped a flashlight right where I had my screws magnetized and had to go hunting for a missing chassis screw (one of the ones that came off the magnetized pad was conveniently on my flashlight's magnet). The sudden loss of organization was annoying.
Hi Steve and team! Just wanted to say: THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the work you put in. It really shows. You put out content day in and day out, seemingly (perhaps not) without sleeping... Thank you for leading this fight against bullshit!
7:15 hairworks pre-installed
That kind of ethernet port on laptops has been around for a long time. They are actually really nice cause the laptop doesn't have to be as thick to house the full ethernet port if it didn't have the spring expansion mechanism thingy.
“So, we will disassemble it in public to avoid it”
Legitimately really happy with the dice. I got the inductor set and they are really good quality, especially for the price. Hope you guys do more DnD/TCG/TTRPG type products in the future. I'm a bit of a dice goblin in my friend group.
Those low profile click open ethernet ports were on the slim sexy eee x101ch from 2012
You should absolutely do performance laptop reviews. The unique solutions caused by the lack of space inherent with laptops makes for some interesting teardowns.
did they charge extra for the pre-installed hair?
3 things.
1 The just Josh video was entirely reasonable but the GN Steve setting and features and cuts (no one cuts TO GN Steve!?) definitely kept me confused and entertained.
2 the treardown felt like an unedited hangout in the best kind of way (im half way through).
3 I can't put a finger on why I don't want to watch the j video. I think I missed the joke and am salty but don't want to admit it. But I'm short on content and know I'll enjoy once I hit play. I guess I'm confessing.
Thanks as always!!
in case anyone else was wondering, these laptops start at around 4200$ so yea, don't buy this garbage, you can't imagine the disappointment you will feel spending this much on a laptop. For funsies I maxed one out and it cost 6213$ good luck with that XMG
do these new 5090 laptops come with external cooling now? wtf
@@CrystalisedWorld no not normally, i beleive XMG has been doing this since 3000 nvidia, its pretty unique to them.
@@nebadon2025 ahhh, thanks for letting me know! been out of laptop market for years haha
Yeah for $6200 I'm just getting a 5090 prebuilt and a full set of peripherals
@@murphy54000 good luck travelling with that
1:12 that cracked me up way more than it should have 🤣
The laptop RTX 4090 uses the exact same AD103 chip as the desktop RTX 4080, just with lower TGP and clock speeds. I'm not surprised that Nvidia are doing something similar (but not quite the same) with the laptop RTX 5090.
I mean, it's pretty rare throughout my 30yrs being a PC gamer that ever see full sized anything in a laptop form factor. In other words, ya, not surprising at all to me, the opposite would be tho but then price of this laptop would be even more insane.
@@PutYourQuarterUpGaming yeah, it's always been that way. At least the current laptop GPUs use the same generation technology as desktop GPUs. It's not like years gone by where the laptop GPU could be 1-2 generations behind, e.g. the GTX 870M effectively being a cut-down GTX 680.
@@PutYourQuarterUpGaming The 10 series and 20 were practically identical between the desktop and laptop versions. Same die but some might have slight changes to the core and clock speeds
That inter-board link is a KILLER to the repair/refurbish market.
My first impression on this video was 'Wow, an XMG'. You don't tend to see this brand get reviewed very often. Due to how much I travel, I've bought gaming laptops over a desktop setup for many years. I've had a couple of XMGs in that time and I've never regretted buying them. Yes, gaming laptops will never be as good as the desktop counterpart, but the XMGs I had always delivered a top tier experience and I never felt that I was missing out. Now that I am in a situation where I can buy a gaming desktop, I went to XMG and ordered it from them due to how much I've liked their products over the years.
Cheers!
@@xmg_gg Your products are stupid good usually, please keep this up
I love how you cover all topics in the investigative journalism way.
Efficiency gains, but a huge price increase. Upto $13000 in nz and Australia.
For those saying it's tariffs driving prices up, you are wrong, it's nvidia greed.
Its both. For America its tarrifs, and for you guys its greed. 😅
Love these teardown Steve keep up the great work. 👍
The motherboard split in two pieces is neat. It's probably cheaper to spin up different versions of the halves, like a Ryzen CPU half or a RTX 5070 GPU half. Good for repairability as well.
Exactly. This is "chiplets" but for motherboards.
Its a massive point of failure, though. Any hint of humidity there and you could potentially lose the motherboard if it oxidizes.
@@Bramble20322 idk about "lose", you could just polish the contacts, but i see your point
im surprised it doesnt have kapton tape on it
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Kind of like those old MXM GPU modules that (theoretically) let you upgrade your laptop's GPU
Maybe the weak water connection on the cooler side is a safety feature? You wouldn't want your laptop hanging by a water pipe, so if you trythat, it will "gracefully" disconnect on the cooler side so that your laptop is not going to catch water!
Also if you trip over the cooler, it won't pull your laptop from the desk or rip a hole in it! I think this is VERY GOOD DESIGN.
That connection for the water cooler looks terrible!
I actually own one of them with my laptop, the magnetic connection makes it functional. And with a higher-end (relative) laptop build, you almost NEED it nowadays.
@kerryblanchard9425 it doesn't leak? It looks like it's barely held on there.
@@volvo09 On my cooler, it actually depends on how you connect it. One way will absolutely leak the whole tank out in short order, but flip it over and it's a nicely secure connection. It's not perfect, but it does securely hold once in position.
Also, on second look, mine has the "blue" ends on both sides, it's full magnet with no physical clips at all.
That 9100PRO is worth more than a lot of laptops by itself.
The sound effects sounded so Jensen..
Like seeing interesting videos like this different from what we normally get!
I get using magnets to prevent damage on removal, but why in the world is it on the radiator side? That side could have been just been standard fittings. The side that's going to see the most connect / disconnect actions would be on the laptop (which has the clip).
Steve, the kind of guy that reads "forbidden to disassemble" and instantly feels his hand reach for a screwdriver.
0:15 A Freudian slip?🤔
WOW, your company flew these guys out to you? That's mighty generous and impressive. Hell, you're sharing the wealth. That's very rare to see in the last twenty years.
Steve: "It's probably very fragile underneath."
Also Steve: Proceeds to drop it on the very fragile side @22:50 😂
Awesome video! I hate how they call it an RTX 5090 when it clearly is not! Thanks Steve and GN Team!
can't help feeling that having a water cooling loop that will only be used occationally is a bad idea. Mostly because when those fans on the laptop get dusty and the cpu starts thermal throttling, the left over water in the chanber is going to get super heated. This will be an issue depending on how good those connectors are since they will be sealed when the pipes are not connected and lead to the cooler getting pressurised. I would not want to be the one sat on the opposite side of the laptop when a steam explosion erupts out the collectors directly into my face.
Even If the pressure some how got dangerously high the first thing to give would probably be the seal and the pressure will disapate without any catastrophic explosion
Solution: clean the fans with compressed air. Use the water cooler whenever you're gaming at home. Our CPU hot spot temp limit is 95°C, GPU is max 87°C, water temperature is way, way lower thanks to running loop.
@ in order for the seal to go, it would need to be pressurised and at that point its not known how it will fail. sure it wont be some kind of detonation but something that can potentially launch scolding water is never a good idea even if its a slim chance.
@ indeed, but thats still up to the user to remember to do that. Pretty sure you can agree that there are a lot of people that don't take the slightest care of their deviceseven if its as expensive as this.
Really enjoyed this one. I know it's outside of your usual coverage but I would love it if you guys reviewed and/or disassembled more mobile platforms (laptops, handhelds, etc.). I think technology-wise it has a lot to offer that's within your range of interests such as the latest Ryzen MAX APU series. Also, loved to see your approach/genuine surprise to things such as the angled screws and the narrow ethernet port ;)
I wish ya'll would review laptops more 🥲As an adult gamer on the go, laptop solutions are often way more relevant to me at least. Also, the laptop youtube reviewers are HIGHLY questionable in terms of technical honesty. There are way more factors bottlenecking laptop performance compared to a desktop
@JarrodsTech there some dedicated laptop channels like him
let me sum them all up for you - all laptops are crap. crap performance, crap value for money, doing anything serious without a charger is a crap idea, crap hardware in terms of reliability, repairability, etc. getting a low power laptop at least lowers the stakes.
@@sophiatheodores7985 that's definitely true, but it has a specific use case and it's more prevalent to some 🤗
I can't stop looking at the cyberpunk case in every video, you guys did a hell of a job on it.
"Not a lotta hole here"
Dell has had a problem building a gaming PC for decades now. But when it comes to a laptop, in my opinion, you can't find a better one. They are not the cheapest, but they build an exalent machine that is extremely easy to serve and maintain.
And the quality is the same across the range. From the budget baller to the most expensive gaming focused laptop, all are built extremely well without the insane over engineering found in the desktop division.
Hopefully the PCB wont melt!
Well, I guess they have different motherboards for the CPU and CPU, connected by that weird bridge, because that laptop/barebone is designed to be configurable, so they can easily change the CPU or GPU, depending on the user choice.
I mean, if you have to carry a box for water cooling, why not have an eGPU box instead?
You'd get a real 5090 in that case too instead of their mobile '5090'
You got a point ngl
You get drinking water
It doesn't require that box. Works fine without it. It just adds a little extra fps for the ultra nerds.
Way more expensive and the performance would be either similar or worse
Thanks for the content! Btw where did you get the spray can from? Grandpa’s garage? 😂😂😂😂
Sorry haven't finished but at 6:48 something popped off and onto the mat? Was it a screw or a clip break off?
It falls right out of the screw hole and it looks like a screw.
It was a screw.
@@GamersNexusgotcha. Guess I'm used to you putting screws on the mod mat. Thought maybe something cheap broke off.
Thanks for disassembling it publicly!
my guy just reveal a capable hot swapable laptop GPU board
hot swap means you can do it while the system is running though
@glebglub Hot swap because its a laptop 🔥
I think the idea behind the mag connection on the water cooling loop was a breakaway connection. You have a portable device (laptop) with a water cooling base station. Imagine brain farting for a moment, closing your laptop, picking it up and attempting to walk away and forgetting to disconnect the rad. If you have a secured connection on both sides then you are just going to drag a heavy object (rad brick) off the desk and send it crashing to the floor, possibly taking your laptop out of your hands with it or at least it getting snatched out of your hands by the hose loop. With the mag connection on the radiator side the hose loop will break away from the radiator instead of potentially destroying both your expensive laptop and radiator by sudden unintended Linus Sebastian (for those of you who don't know, Linus has a habit of accidentally dropping and destroying expensive electronic items).
Here before the bots!
It amuses me to no end that this will be donated to an eWaste center in about 10 years.
Watching this while shitting.
I mean, what else am I going to do while taking my 20 min shit. 😆
Jensen also watches this channel while shitting himself
TMI
@@SangheiliSpecOp He really doesnt give a shit (see what i did there)
Send pic
Would love to see blooper videos of the reassembly that happens after all these teardowns. Filming this would give Steve more motivation to actually put them back together. Don't think we didn't notice the Nvidia prototype cooler still in pieces on the table.
Is sapphire nitro rx 9070xt for £625 a good deal!?
(New to pc building world)
It's about what they should cost, so yes
Depends on what other prices you can find. Personally I'd say it looks like a fantastic deal (625 pound sterling = 750 euro and local prices for the 9070 XT here in Germany are hovering around 800 euro for good models, even more for the top end variants). I'd even go as far to say that it looks almost too good to be true. Make sure it's the 9070 XT (and not the slower 9070 as that would be way too expensive for that GPU), also ensure the offer is from a reputable vendor, there's still a buch of scams out and about.
I kinda wish at the end Josh could’ve piped in from offscreen shouting “STEVE?!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY LAPTOP?!!”
Bitte macht doch eure Videos mit deutscher Audio, das doch mit RUclips kein Problem mehr, ich muss dann immer deutschen Untertitel lesen, was manchmal etwas mühselig ist! Trotzdem vielen lieben Dank für all deine Videos!
Warum sollte ein RUclips Kanal der in den USA basiert eine deutsche Tonspur übersetzen und aufnehmen? Wenn du Maschinenübersetzungen anhören willst musst du Google/RUclips fragen und nicht die Leute die die Videos machen.
Alternative: Schau dir der8auer (oder andere deutsche Tech-Kanäle) an für original deutsche Videos.
Alternative #2: pass beim Englisch Unterricht auf und du brauchst keine Übersetzung.
@Aotearas mach ich doch schon, aber zu wenig Content in Deutschland und gefühlt immer später, ich bin doch bestimmt nicht der einzige Englisch Legastheniker in Deutschland, die eueren Kanal schauen! Schade eigentlich, dann schau ich halt mit Untertitel, eure Videos sind trotzdem super! Vielen lieben Dank dafür!
Hope you make another vid of how painful that XMG Neo 16 is to be put back together
Damn im so early
I would love to see more gaming laptop teardown and reviews personally