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.
Excellent Laptop
Great laptop. I built a high end desktop for about $2k not long before I purchased the MAX-15, and ever since, I ended up using the MAX-15 much more. I have had 0 issues running any game, and it is very small and light. I didn't know laptops could even be this strong! The screen is great and the keyboard is also good, and you could turn off the leds if you're not into them. It has features that allow you to lock the touchpad and windows key extremely easily, which I have not seen in a laptop before, very useful. This is my third laptop, and this is by far the best laptop I've ever owned.
Nothing to complain about
What a great deal this laptop is! Got it for a mobile work and gaming station secondary to my tower. This laptop competes in graphical power against my 3k PC! It has a great, responsive keyboard with a good travel distance, a good screen with tiny bezels and some great thermals for the power it's packing. The battery doesn't last long but if you want battery, the mag 15 is a better option where the max will get you more power for the price as long as you'll be close to an outlet. Fast delivery and a good experience all around!
