Maingear ML-17 It’s been a long while since I’ve tested a gaming laptop, and I’m honestly pondering why that’s been the case. I guess in a way, at least to me, these clamshell computers have become a sort of niche hardware genre, especially since the increasingly popular handheld gaming PCs hit the market. Something like a Steam Deck OLED or a ROG Ally X both feel infinitely more portable and playable on the go, not to mention infinitely more affordable .
If we’re being honest, you can’t find a gaming laptop worth mentioning for under $1,000, while the Steam Deck OLED starts at $549. Sure, Steam’s machine won’t provide nearly the same graphical fidelity or performance as some streamlined monster from Alienware or Lenovo. On that note, it’s not going to help you edit 4K videos or whatever.
But it is shaped like a controller and, depending on settings, probably has slightly better battery life, and isn’t that more important when it comes to gaming? Still, arriving at Maingear’s new ML-17 for this review has been a very interesting experience, and it’s shown me that gaming laptops a) still have utility and value in 2024 and b) continue to present annoying limitations because of form factor and charging technology. Full-size keyboard with RGB. The Goods The ML-17 that Maingear sent over is the base model, which is priced at $3,899.
Calling a mobile 4090 and i9-14900HX pairing ‘base’ is rather hilarious, but regardless, here’s the impressive spec shee.
