Pretty solid so far, I like the build quality and screen, specs are good for the price especially compared to other brands. I haven’t paid much attention to the thermals, and the fan can get a little loud. The only complaint I have is the battery life kinda sucks, even with the dedicated GPU off and on low power mode I only get roughly 3 hours. Not to big a deal, most the time I have access to charge it. It’s a reasonable trade off for the specs, I haven’t had any issues playing games on it. Read more
Have had this Storm laptop for a month. This is a non-USA, Chinese brand that is the lowest priced one that I've found among 17.3" gaming laptops. To get one that is “assembled” in USA but which all the compute components are made outside of the USA, the price jumps dramatically. My review is based on this usage and history - I purchased the Storm as a replacement for my aging HP dv-1270us entertainment laptop which is excellent and been in use since ~2006 but has gotten very slow with the bloat of Windows and browsers consuming tons of RAM. I use DuckDuckGo browser (a RAM hog), and typically have multiple large excel files open, and develop software, but don't play games very often. My internet provider is Spectrum TWC providing up to 500MBPS, and only use it on Wifi. The Storm model I purchased has 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD, Intel i7, and RTX 5070 GPU in the Storm which has 8GB VRAM in the laptop model vs. 12GB VRAM in standalone module for desktops. There is a GPU Switch setting in the Storm Control Center app that allows for options including “Integrated GPU Only”, “Discrete GPU Only”, or “MSHybrid”. The “Integrated GPU Only” option taxes the battery least for on-battery use, but apps run and browser loads run slower (or somewhat laggier) than in “Discrete GPU Only” mode. Cons: 1. The touch pad very squirrelly. It is very large and probably because of its size, when typing on the keyboard parts of my palms periodically come in contact with the touchpad causing the mouse pointer to move randomly. Because of the sensitivity, I had to do a driver update to prevent the text position cursor (not the mouse pointer) from randomly jumping to other locations while typing, so that is no longer an issue now. However, touchpad usage is still a bit unstable even on the Windows low sensitivity setting. Using an external mouse is better but I don’t always want to carry a mouse around. If it wasn’t for the positives, I would return this laptop just because of this. 2. The battery life is rather poor due to the small 53Wh battery for laptop that consumes ~28 watts/hour. The 53Wh battery is one of the lowest I've found among 17.3" laptops similarly equipped. I am able to get +/-2 hours on battery use with “Integrated GPU Only” or “MSHybrid” modes depending on apps, open browser windows, display brightness, Wi-Fi signal intensity, etc. For me, I usually run with the charger connected, so battery life of 2 hours is not too big of a deterrent. 3. The laptop comes with one battery charger and the manufacturer (Thunderobot.com) doesn’t sell the charger as an accessory. Thus, finding a suitable replacement takes time because the charger needs to have a barrel plug (the part that plugs into the laptop) with a size of OD=5.5mm, ID=2.5mm (5.5 x 2.5 mm) and does not have a pin in the center, and which can supply at least 180W (20VDC at 9A). I found this charger to be suitable: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1YM63M3?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title. 4. Not a USA (but Chinese) brand which is supported only by contacting PCOnline (merchant) in the Amazon marketplace or Thunderobot.com in China. Am skeptical of long-term support as well as potentially hidden malware built-into the HW by CCP criminal actors. Pros: 1. Best performance when operating in “Discrete GPU Only” mode and with at least 32GB RAM. Ok performance in MSHybrid mode. 2. The keyboard keys action is solid and the key spacing provides easy reach for my large manly hands, and the keys have an easy to see smooth finish. Very comfortable wrist resting and key accessibility. Lighted keyboard is very nice allowing for selection of a good choice of many colors. 3. Laptop has a nice plastic case (except the lid appears to be metal) with a nice smooth, durable finishes and pro look all-round. Although the finish easily shows finger and hand prints. 4. Laptop temperature stays cool - no noticeable heating. 5. The matte finished display is very nice with crisp sharp text and colors. 6. Weight is 6 pounds, which for a 17.3” laptop is great compared to others. This is probably why the battery life is poor – fewer batteries = less weight. 7. Good price for RTX 5070 GPU equipped laptop compared to others. Read more
It runs like a beast i love it but i did have some stability issues. I don't know if its an SSD bottleneck ram or just windows 11 being terrible. i looks amazing and the sound quality is average but since my last laptop had my soundcard fry I'm just grateful. in about a year i might come back and give an update. Ty very much for this dream of a laptop. Update :If you are having stuttering problems increase virtual memory it fixes all windows 11 issues i had. Read more
Excelente equipo, calidad ,rapidez ,muy buena Read more
