Aorus X9 GTX 1070 SLI, Fall 2017 release

So Aorus has confirmed that it will be SLI GTX 1070's (not sure about Max-Q) but hopefully it isn't outragously expensive

"The biggest news in Aorus releases is the top-of-the-line X9 gaming laptop. A pre-production concept was on display in January at CES, but the chassis has been redesigned and the specs have been shuffled somewhat. The X9 fits a 17-inch screen (backed by twin Geforce GTX 1070s in SLI) and individually backlit RGB mechanical keyboard into its 30mm-thick chassis. The X9 should be available between October and November."

from: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Gigabyte-introduces-new-X9-and-X5-MD-gaming-notebooks.224700.0.html

 

30mm sounds pretty thin for the standard 1070, I'd guess it's the max-q.

 

I am a little disappointed, GTX 1070's, potentially Max-Q varients, will be over costly for what is 6 month old gpu tech.

 

I imagine this gen is laying a framework for a separate ultrabook lineup and then we'll see it mature in the Volta gen.

 

When I bought my Lenovo Y410p, I could have ditched the optical drive for SLI. I wasn't necessarily married to getting a laptop with an optical drive, I just didn't want an SLI solution because it isn't always supported, doesn't always scale well when it is supported, etc. Now I see this and I just shrug. I get that it's dramatically more difficult to cool one super hot part (like the 1080 ti) instead of two hot parts (1070s), but in terms of power draw, the 1070s are going to suck down more juice than a single 1080 ti. I'd be much more interested in someone figuring out how to engineer that with worthwhile thermals. Worthwhile thermals being defined as a 1080 ti machine not being beat by 1080 equipped laptops in the same form factor, due to OC headroom (see: 1070 equipped laptops with a good OC beating the 1080 equipped, thermally limited Blade Pro). Otherwise, within the same form factor give me a single card with good thermals over an SLI solution any day. For those that want a laptop with SLI, how many people are going to pay the thin tax and buy this X9, versus some Clevo tank with dual 1080s?

I've also got my eye on the X5 MD which is also mentioned in the same article posted in the OP. Some of the marketing fluff on the normal X5 v7 mentions redesigned cooling. As above, it'll be good to see if it's enough to properly handle a 1080, or if a high OC on the 1070 version will beat it. With Nvidia seemingly doing their best to help notebook manufacturers design good cooling, this will be good to watch, with the X5 and X5 MD, along with other similar 15" notebooks by other manufacturers.

 

I personally think the first gen of this new stuff is not going to be a good indicator of how it will all work out to be honest. My opinion will likely be more solidified when these new design/power choices have a Volta flavor to them.