Battery, Portability, Pricing, Conclusions

Battery Testing

Testing the battery life of gaming notebooks is usually an act of futility, though I know that many of you are still interested in how much web browsing time you can get away from a wall outlet with the EVGA SC17. The result is unimpressive, but expected.

Even with a 74 Whr battery, browsing time is limited…

At just about 200 minutes in our web browsing test, the EVGA SC17 can get you through 3.3 hours of of boredom on a full charge. 

Opening It Up

Taking apart the SC17 required the removal of just 10 screws, revealing the innards you see below.

The hard drive, memory and SSD are all easily accessible, though the CPU and GPU are hidden behind another layer of heatsinks and heatpipes. 

Interestingly, the board does have a space for a second M.2 slot to be installed, leading us to think EVGA might be planning for future upgrade paths.

Portability

Carrying around a nearly 9 lb. laptop with a power adapter can be a pain in the butt, there is no getting around that. The EVGA SC17 has a couple of ways to help you out though. It’s fairly thin, at just over an inch at its deepest point, and that should help it fit in more bags and backpacks than some other gaming notebook options out there. Its metal body can make it hard to grab out of a bag with one hand, though. I always would recommend grabbing it with two, and a dense, solid heft.

Another way EVGA helps is with the unique power adapter the company designed to be flat and portable. For me, this is a great idea and it means that the power “brick” is less of a brick, sliding into a pocket of a bag much better than anything else I have used. If you have ever traveled with a laptop AC adapter for gaming machine, then you know the inconvenience of having a bulge in your bag.

It’s not lightweight Ultrabook or 2-in-1 and be prepared for the odd glance when you try to use it on the plane, but EVGA did what it could for a 17-in gaming machine.

Pricing

EVGA is pricing out the SC17 at $2,699 as we have reviewed it. In fact, this is the only SKU that EVGA is going to be offering for now. Other changes and options will be coming down the road.

For comparison, MSI sells the GT72S, with very similar hardware specifications, for $2599. That notebook is thicker (1.89 inches), has a 1080p screen and includes an integrated Blu-ray burner. The MSI GS72 Stealth Pro 4K is $2149 and thinner than the SC17 but drops to a GTX970M GPU and 16GB of memory.

Basically, the SC17 is priced very competitively based on the tradeoffs of performance, form factor and capability. EVGA is trying to make an immediate impact in the gaming notebook space.

Conclusions

After spending a few solid days with the EVGA SC17 gaming notebook, I’ve really fallen for it. The design and style, the all-metal body, the keyboard, the performance of the CPU and GPU all add up to an impressive package for gamers that want to take their passion on the go. Little extras like the integrated overclocking utility, a BIOS reset switch and keyboard shortcuts for changing performance profiles really add to the idea of quality and completeness. Yes, this is still a very expensive, very heavy notebook, but all that size and weight has a purpose – to bring desktop quality gaming with you in your backpack. We know that EVGA is planning a version later this year with a G-Sync display, but at what resolution and time frame I’m not sure.

If you are on the hunt for a gaming notebook this spring that will get you through all of your gaming sessions while enabling some impressive desktop capability for professionals, the EVGA SC17 is one of my new favorite option!

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