This thing is great for traveling and taking care of your gaming needs.

This is a good machine but crippled with on board sodered 8gb ram and only one slot available and an i7. The upgraded model has two ram slots to get proper dual channel and an I9. So this machine is ok, but already dated. Same for scar and hero ii, the III(3)'s will be out soon. Just waiting on BB to stock them. Should see a substantial price cut on these models.

I have purchased several gaming laptops over the past 5 years. The key for me is performance and portability. I don't want to lug around a 12 lb laptop (plus giant power brick) for top performance. I also can't have the cooling solution be some obnoxious noise that sounds like a helicarrier taking off. I landed on the asus triton 700 two years ago. It severed me well. This laptop is categorically superior to my old one. I'll go down the list: 1. Performance - This laptop takes max settings, with GSYNC, and handles them easily. Giving me roughly 30+ more FPS than my old 1080 laptop (Division, Anthem, etc). 2. Cooling - the system is sturdy, sleek, and the best part - the sounds. No high pitched fans here. You definitely will hear it, but it's more of a "wooshing" sound that an airplane (think white noise). And the fact that the keyboard is away from those hot components means keyboard deck never gets uncomfortable. 3. Screen quality - this was the ONE area I was worried about. How would just a 1080p screen look at 17.3"? Well, when you can drives frames like that, have GSYNC, and the color calibration - it looks AMAZING. It was honestly my biggest concern before purchasing - and it's a 100% non-issue. 4. Keyboard - Yes it's pushed up front - but honestly once you get used to it, I actually PREFER this setup. Keeps the keys cool, and my wrists off the machine - which for previous gaming laptops, would always get pretty hot. This keyboard is punchy, consistent, and enjoyable to game on. 5. Portability - having a 17.3" screen in an almost identical footprint as my old Acer is a game-changer. Gaming is SO much more immersive. And not only is the laptop roughly the same size and weight, but they've managed to somehow make the power brick a reasonable size. I was shocked at the components that are included, and that they could drive it with such a small and light adapter (relative to other gaming laptops). 5. Quality - when it comes to spending this amount of money on a machine, I want to feel like the entire thing is premium - this accomplishes that in spades. From the two way brushed aluminum top, to the copper accents, to the phenomenal speaker quality, to the RGB volume rocker - I truly feel for the first time I have purchased a gaming laptop that didn't have some features missing, or I had to compromise on. **Other thoughts - I have not tried the optimus battery saving mode yet (fair warning - the laptop ships in this default state, so if you want GSYNC turned on, you have to switch it in the Armor Crate software first). But assuming what I've seen online is accurate, i'd be very pleased with 4-5 hours on battery.