MAX 15 PERFECT LAPTOP
I purchased this model barebones (other than the processor) added 32 gb of ram and a 1tb Samsung 870 Pro. Win10 Pro loaded ultra fast, (I have many laptops to compare against this, I own a 6th gen Northwest Falcon 17", two lower line Eluks NBTZ50's one a rebuild due to a damaged motherboard with a I7 engineering sample processor, and a Evoc Clevo 9th gen with a Custom Prema Bios and none of these compare in speed and weight and quality and ease of access to the internals to change ram, wifi card a and drives. If the webcam location is sales breaker then you should buy a real webcam as no laptop has a top notch camera and mic system. Overall you can't buy a better laptop at this price range and not this light in weight with a all mag chassis not plastic, and only a Prema bios option would be the icing on this cake!!! BTW, a little difficult to load the Thunderbolt driver from the Eluk driver downloads as installing from executable does not work as you will have a device with an unloaded driver in the device manager list. (uncompress all drivers for this machine and point to surrounding folder for all (Place all in one folder) and update driver for unknown base device and driver will manually load as Win 10 will locate the proper driver from the drivers in the folder and load it for you.) Also, by default NVIDIA 2070 will not be the primary video unless this is changed in the bios.
Good, but with some notable oddities
I'll start off with a disclaimer- This is the only eluktronics product I have ever bought, and I do not have much indication (outside of other reviews) if my experience is normal.
Moving on.
First of all- the computer is generally great performance wise. Though, there are some hiccups that I'm suspicious about, but I feel that those lean more towards my paranoia than anything else. One thing I will mention is that the fans get LOUD when they get going. I pretty much always use headphones, so not much of an issue for me, but if you're trying to listen to something when the fans are going you're gonna need to pump up the volume, and the speakers aren't the best in the world (frankly speaking, the speakers are actually about equivalent to my last laptop. But that one was bought several years ago for 1k)
Working on the computer is great. The keyboard is pretty responsive, and the backlight is nice. Though the backlight does turn off whenever I unplug it, and I cannot seem to find a way to turn it back on while unplugged. It does come on instantly when I plug it back in however.
The screen quality is fantastic, and using browsers and such is extremely smooth. A+ there.
Now onto my main gripes.
The entire computer (at least the base) is uneven. Pressing on the bottom left porton when the computer is open causes the entire computer to tilt like a table in a restraunt resting on an uneven surface. This seems to be due to the rubber stands on the bottom being uneven and are frankly the most annoying bit I've had with the computer over the two weeks or so I've had it. The keyboard seems to be ever so slightly lower towards the left-middle, as if sagging by just a couple milimeters (not enough to effect working really). There were some odd, large scratches (two primarily, and closer to smears I suppose? About the width of a pinkie (relatively small one) and about as long, one smaller than the other) on the top of the laptop towards the bottom right (screen closed, as if you are about to open it.) But have no affect besides that due to me including the D-Brand skin (though I chose the option to just apply it myself).
Besides those issues mentioned above, I've yet to discover any other problem with computer, and so far it's been great, despite not giving me the best of hopes when coming out of the package. Hopefully I don't discover anymore, but due to college I've not been able to fully test out its performance in some higher-end graphics games and don't know if problems will arise then.
Overall, good computer.
This is the best gaming laptop I have ever had, and it still looks professional in the office!
My past gaming laptops have all been too loud, too hot, or too big. The design of this laptop keeps my WASD keys cool to the touch even during intense gaming. The build I chose came with a plastic bottom which is better at keeping my lap cool when actually on my lap. The magnesium frame is super light and thin and durable, all of which have been tradeoffs when buying gaming laptops in the past and I am pleased they are all in this new unit. The screen is amazing with its refresh rate and great look, and I love the thin bezel design. I acknowledged the camera was going to be an issue if I end up ever using it. I did pick up a small tripod and external webcam if I have meetings I need to look professional in and these will always be in my laptop portfolio, but my career rarely requires these to-date.
I did choose to have my laptop customized for me resulting in over a month for delivery. I could have bought almost the exact Eluktronics design on Amazon and received it within a week, so the customization was something I prioritized and appreciated.
I end up replacing my laptops every 16-24 months due to the amount of travel and use they all get, and I do extensive research before buying, Eluktronics is far ahead of my experiences with other laptops and name brands that I don't see myself going anywhere else for my next work/gaming computer.
High Performance w/ odd quirks
Pros:
- Lightweight
- High performance with great frame rates
- Nice quality screen
- Responsive/smooth touchpad
- The bundle is a welcome addition, but I would give it up in a heartbeat to address the first con.
Cons:
- The Webcam renders me speechless. The positioning is the worst I've ever seen. The camera points directly at your stomach and when typing, your fingers. I will have to buy a separate webcam as it is unusable. Manufacturers claim that the placement is for design purposes, but it would have been smarter to not include one at all. It actively angers me to have such a useless feature in a premium laptop that costs 2K.
- The fans are extremely loud when playing videogames.
- The lack of a dedicated home button is annoying especially when they've included a dedicated pause button. Strange design choice there.
Wow...
I did so much research to find the perfect laptop. I came across the max 15 and decided to give it a try. Wow. Everything about this laptop is actually perfect. Best design out there and incredible specs. I don’t think anything on the market even competes with this. Only problem is webcam... awful positioning
Best laptop on the market
After using this laptop for a while I can say that it deserves its reputation as a great machine. Could not be happier with the purchase.
Pros:
-Lives up to claims of thin and light. Very discreet machine for how powerful it is, and certainly more portable than most other gaming laptops. The design, overall, is just about perfect.
-Gaming performance is outstanding and thermals are great.
-Monitor is ultra-smooth with high refresh rate, colors are accurate.
-Plays well with Linux. I have been able to run all distros, including Live OSs with no problem. BIOS compatibility is good, and no hardware issues on Linux that sometimes pop up on other brands (WiFi drivers, etc).
-I really appreciate that Eluktronics offers this without Windows installed for reduced cost. Not many brands do this, I hope this support continues.
Cons:
-Webcam mounted at the bottom of the panel is a bit awkward. I don't mind personally, but something to be aware of. Trade off is thin bezel up top.
-Charging brick is large and heavy considering how light and thin the laptop is. I understand that this machine requires high wattage and therefore large power brick, but something like a GaN power adapter to reduce size and weight would be a great change.
For my needs, it's practically perfect
After lots of research to find a gaming laptop that could handle Autodesk Revit, I was about to pay for a Dell Alienware gaming notebook. But just below the checkout (on Amazon), I saw a highly rated review for an Eluktronics notebook. After checking it out on their website, it was no contest. Not only does it handle the software with ease, it's the lightest computer I've ever used. Didn't realize that they are located in Delaware- where I am- so it was a breeze to get it, and it makes me feel better that they are close in case I need support. They kept in touch with me, and even sent me a HDMI cable. This was a fantastic purchase, and I recommend the computer unequivocally.
10outta10
Best laptop
Max-15 (RTX 2060)
What else can I say but that I'm glad I took a chance on this company. I've had mine for going on about two weeks now (received it June 4th) and it has been a hassle-free experience. Aside from the normally de-bloating of Windows apps and services that I normally do (not today Bill Gates!) I've done very little fiddling with this laptop to achieve great performance and decent temps. Right out of the box in office mode playing Fallen Order and my CPU hovers right around 80C and my GPU in the mid 70s (60-90fps); same for Forza Motorsport 7 (locked 72fps). Arkham Knight is usually in the mid 60s for both which is crazy too me (70-90fps). I'm playing all these games at absolute max settings @ 1080p btw. The only power adjustments made to this laptop was the -.80mv under-volt in the BIOS... that's it. As for the laptop aspects...
-Screen has been great, no issues with bad backlight bleed on mine. I believe it's a 350-nit panel (don't have the instruments to test brightness and response time) which I normally keep around 50-70% brightness when plugged in. Response times seem excellent as well, I've noticed no ghosting when playing games at above 100fps.
-I love the keyboard! It's a membrane keyboard which will take some getting use to for some, but it has decent travel and keys don't feel cramped even with a number pad on here. Way better than my old 13in 2017 Macbook Pro.
-Speakers are decent. I'm not fond of the THX drivers though. They get too loud and distort at higher volumes. The realtek ones sound much better imo. The laptop lacks the bass and fullness of a Mac or XPS though, but it does still get plenty loud.
-Trackpad is solid and smooth. Feels just as good as using a Mac. Just wish it was a little wider.
-Battery life for me is usually around 5-6 hours doing normal office work with battery saver mode on and 50% or lower brightness. I still get email notifications as well. No complaints here, except that I think a little more battery can be squeezed out if the PL is lowered to 25w while on battery. Right now checking in Hwinfo it stays at 45w as soon as you unplug. Also I keep my max processor state at 90% which lowers the core frequency to around 1.8ghz on all cores.
All in all I love this laptop. It does some serious gaming without the goofy "gamer laptop" look. The magnesium build is solid (there is slight flex on the lid when the laptop is completely closed) and it's very lightweight for all the power it's packing. I've posted a bunch of benchmarks and some of my other thoughts on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Solemnity_12
If you're like me and on the fence about this laptop, give it a try. I'm sure glad that I did!
Laptop of choice, after much research
I have been researching laptops for about a year, read countless reviews, watched numerous Youtube laptop reviews. I consider myself an enthusiast/power user, I am willing to tweak a laptop to make it run more efficiently/cooler. But I am also very much a mainstream user in that I value the aesthetics of a laptop, how light-weight/sleek it is, the quality of the screen, and balance between battery life and performance, and of course I also look for value in a laptop. I must say - the Max-15 ticks all those boxes for me. In my opinion, this laptop gives you the best value for the money out of any laptop I've come across in my research. I got the liquid metal thermal paste upgrade, 2 year extended warranty, RTX 2060 option. So far, I am very happy with the performance. The laptop also looks very professional and sleek, it looked better in person than in photographs and certainly cleaner looking than the Mag-15. It is very light-weight, and I've been able to get around 5 hours of battery life doing normal tasks (screen brightness at 45%, better battery setting, office mode) like watching Youtube videos, surfing the web using WiFi. It's no Mag-15 but certainly good enough for me. I keep comparing this to the Mag-15 because that was the other laptop I had my eyes on. I did tweak the laptop and capped the maximum CPU wattage to 45 watts, I think 100 watts maximum that the laptop allows is too much for my use case. Although I do appreciate that Eluktronics provided the flexibility to tune to your liking, and the laptop can certainly handle higher CPU wattage, especially with liquid metal, I like to keep CPU/GPU temperatures under 80 C while playing games. Red Dead Redemption 2 came as a free game with the laptop purchase and I did get a chance to test it. With CPU wattage capped to 45 watts, performance mode set to Game Mode/Auto fan, 1080P and generally setting all graphic settings to High, the game ran smoothly with respectable frame rates (between 45-90). Never did the game stutter. CPU/GPU temperatures never rose above 80 C, which I think is perfect for laptop longevity. I do not like pushing the system to the extreme just for more frames per second. The area in the middle of the keyboard and above the keyboard deck near the screen do get toasty, but I think this is par for the course for any gaming capable laptop and any metal chassis will conduct heat much more than a plastic one. The fan does ramp up when playing games and while it is audibly loud (especially if you happen to be sitting in a quiet library) it is not obnoxiously so. Most importantly, the fans do a superb job at cooling the laptop under heavy use. The membrane keyboard is quiet and feels nice to type on, but any laptop keyboard takes time to adjust to and I still can't type as fast on it as my regular keyboard. The lack of Thunderbolt 3 port and full size SD card slot doesn't bother me, but then I am not a content creator. If you want WiFi 6 this laptop doesn't have it. I personally don't have a router that supports 802.11ax so it doesn't bother me.
To me, the Max-15 provides the least amount of compromises for your money which is the name of the game with laptops. One small thing I will mention is I did have to go to the Eluktronics Support page to download and install the latest THX Audio drivers to make it work on the system that was shipped to me. Personally, THX Audio sounds kind of weird to me compared to the standard RealTek Audio. Maybe I just don't have the proper headset to fully take advantage of it. When all is said and done, I am very happy with my purchase. This laptop also doesn't require a BIOS update like the Mag-15 to fix the GPU and Microphone issue.
The Max-15 delivers at an excellent price
You simply can't beat the value of a 2070 Max-P, 144Hz screen, 32GB RAM, 2TB Storage, and a 2 year warranty for $2100. Oh, and with excellent thermal application. Shipping did take about 10 days with the thermal compounds, but the customer support was EXCELLENT and I always got quick answers to my emails. I also called the techs to ask if I could upgrade the wifi card to wifi 6 myself, and they literally took apart a laptop and tested it for me right then. This is the type of quick service companies need and what will make me come back when I need to upgrade in 3 years or so.
In regards to thermals, I have been shocked that I am hanging in the high 60s and low 70s even during long gaming sessions on graphically intense game (Total War, Anno 1800, CoD, etc.). Performance has been excellent.
Battery life is adequate for office work and web surfing. I get around 6 hours watching YouTube if I optimize the battery saver settings. In terms of build quality, I have had no complaints. It is insane that I have a 15 inch powerhouse that is as light as a 13 inch ultra book. Being this portable and powerful is really liberating. The color and logo are very low-key as well so you do not stand out in any meetings. The keyboard is fine. It is amazing to have a numpad, but travel isn't amazing. That is to be expected when looking at a membrane keyboard versus a mechanical one, but I have been using it without complaints.
The gaming center software is excellent. Great RGB contral, fan curve control, and the ability to toggle between performance modes with a button on the keyboard is an amazing addition that I wish more laptops had.
My only complaint here is that the speakers are garbage. Maybe they will update this with drivers, but I can barely hear audio in my games when there is minimal ambient noise even when it is turned up to 100%. I tend to use headphones so it is ok, but I am dissapointed with that.
Overall, I would highly recommend this laptop. You will not get better value anywhere. I was considering a MacBook Pro 16" with the same specs, but it was $1300 more. Even comparable windows laptops have a tough time keeping up (especially at this weight). I would highly recommend using your savings to get the extra thermal compounds and at least a 2 year warranty.
Nice laptop, questionable quality control
After having this laptop for about a week, I just wanted to write down my initial impressions for other people looking to purchase the same laptop/same configuration that I went after - I'll spare you numbers on benchmarks/thermals/etc... as these have already been covered quite in depth by content creaters/forum posters.
I ordered this laptop with the aftermarket thermal compound, and justifiably so, the shipping took just a bit longer (selected 8-10 business days, got here in around 2 weeks or so, no big deal), and the customer service team was very pleasant/responsive throughout the process. Once the laptop was here, I was fairly disappointed as far as initial impressions go.
My first issue likely originates from ordering the aftermarket thermal compound, as I immediately noticed a metal tab from the bottom of the laptop sticking out - it looked as if whoever opened the laptop up to apply the thermal compound was either in a rush when placing the bottom of the laptop back on, or simply did not notice, and they ended up leaving one of those metal tabs sticking out - while not a huge deal, and relatively easy to situate on my side, it is unfortunate as there is a slight bend on the bottom panel of the laptop near the rear ports due to the metal tab warping it.
The second issue I ran into was the spacebar - this was almost 100% useless upon arrival. Spaces would only register when hitting the exact center of the key, and the key wouldn't even move whatsoever when pressing on either the left or right side to actuate it (making it almost impossible to type on). I was able to pry the spacebar off and re-situate the little metal bars into the stabilizers, and once all of the plastic tabs had clicked into place, it was working as intended from there on without any other issues arising. This issue is particularly frustrating as I would imagine the laptop had to be powered on/used for a certain amount of time for testing after the thermal compound had been applied, and yet this still was overlooked.
Now, with all that being said, I do really enjoy everything else about this laptop - the screen is beautiful, it smashes any game I throw at it (mostly MMOs), the track pad is lovely, and the laptop itself does look quite nice (the logo is fairly understated, I actually liked the look of the 15 over the 17 personally) - after reinstalling the spacebar, even the keyboard is fairly nice to type on. As far as actual downfalls go that aren't related to quality control, they are pretty few and far between - the speakers aren't amazing (to be expected), and the laptop does run quite hot/loud under load (the section above the keyboard is painfully hot to the touch when running full gas), though this is also to be expected from such a powerful laptop in such a small form factor.
At the end of the day, the issues are not large enough to warrant a return/additional shipping time, though they certainly are enough to make me hesitant to order another laptop from Eluktronics moving forward, as the quality control has inspired 0 confidence in me as a consumer. If you are interested in doing the aftermarket thermal compound, it may honestly just be worth ordering the laptop stock and doing it yourself (if you can be bothered to) to avoid the same oversights that I ran into with my unit.
Overall, 3 stars out of 5 for a product that ultimately is pretty good (especially considering the price:performance ratio on offer), but suffers from lackluster quality control, at least in my experience. I'm beginning to think that 2-year warranty may not have been such a bad idea after all.
