Intel’s 8th Gen Core CPUs for gaming and high-end productivity, entitled Coffee Lake, are here. And now that Coffee Lake has been announced, there are a slew of notebooks, especially in the gaming space, that have been announced with the new processors. Here are some of the laptops we’re most looking forward to seeing roll through our labs, and a few that we were lucky enough to get our hands on early to test.
The Aorus X9 is the first laptop we’ve reviewed with a Core i9 CPU. Paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 and 32GB of RAM, the notebook is ridiculously powerful for both gaming and productivity. We found the display to be dimmer than we liked and it runs very hot, but we did appreciate the striking design, mechanical keyboard and customizable RGB lighting. Of course, you also have to be able to swallow the $3,899 price tag.
Just when you thought the Stealth couldn’t get any thinner, the MSI has gone and made it 0.7 inches thick. Starting at $1,799, it’s one of the first gaming notebooks to take advantage of Intel’s new 8th Gen Coffee Lake Core i7 CPU. The $1,999 model we tested came with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q and a 512GB SSD, while the cheaper version opts for a 1060 Max-Q and a 256GB SSD. A maxed-out $3,000 config has 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The whole thing got a makeover too in a delicious black and gold that looks far classier than MSI’s red ever did.
The new Zephyrus is thicker than last year’s Max-Q version but with a Coffee Lake Core i7-8750H, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, 1TB SSHD and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. That costs $2,199 and you can read our review here. It even lets you tinker with the components. The audio quality is solid, the display is great, and unlike last year’s Zephyrus, the keyboard is squarely in the middle of the chassis where it belongs.
Samsung’s next gaming rig, the Notebook Odyssey Z, focuses on being thin and light. It will be available with a Coffee Lake Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, an up to a 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. Samsung claims to have focused on a better keyboard and touchpad design that feels more like a desktop, and we’ll put it to the test when it arrives in Q3 of 2018. No pricing has been released yet.
Acer’s Nitro 5 lineup is getting a simple refresh to Coffee Lake Core i5 processors (with Core i7 coming soon), starting at $750 when paired with a GTX 1050 and 1TB hard drive or $850 for a GTX 1050 Ti and a 256GB SSD. The look hasn’t changed at all, but it’s an easy, affordable way to get in with the latest processors. We liked the design of the old model, so that’s not a bad thing, but hopefully this one has better speakers and battery life.
Origin PC's latest Evo15-S weighs is just 0.7 inches thick with Intel's Core i7 Coffee Lake CPU and a GTX 1070 Max-Q, a choice between a 4K screen or 144Hz display and up to 32GB of RAM. We're still waiting on pricing and availability.
Dell is using Coffee Lake as an opportunity to refresh its entire lineup of entry-level gaming machines. They come in three tiers, the G3, G5 and G7, and each comes in different color combinations. They start as low as $749.99 for the G3 and go higher than $1,100 for the G7. Depending on your configuration, you can get up to a Coffee Lake Core i9, GTX 1060 Max-Q GPU and several display options.
Gigabyte’s super-thin, bezel-free gaming notebooks are thinner and lighter than ever. Both feature Coffee Lake Core i7 processors. The difference between the Aero 15 and the 15X is that the former has a GTX 1060 Max-Q GPU and costs $2,000, while the latter opts for a 1070 Max-Q and runs for $2,300. They come with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, and while last year’s models came in lots of colors, this year they’re starting in just black.
The new Alienware 15 and 17 come with tons of extra RGB light zones to color customize (13 in total). They’re getting Intel’s 8th Gen Coffee Lake CPUs in Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9 varieties to be paired with Nvidia’s 10-series GPUs. Displays will go up to 4K, and the 17-inch model will feature Tobii eye tracking.
Not only is the XPS 15 getting an upgrade to Intel’s Coffee Lake processors (Core i5, Core i7 or Core i9), but it’s also getting a new GPU option in the GTX 1050 Ti. It comes in a new Onyx Black color, which looks really nice, and has 1080p and 4K display options. Unlike the XPS 13, the 15-inch model still has full-size USB Type-A ports alongside Thunderbolt 3, but there’s still one big issue; the webcam is underneath the display.
