China is so impressive now, why are there still laptops that we can’t get our hands on?

Firstly, there’s the brand factor. Many brands that are quite strong abroad are basically giving up in the domestic market. The most typical example is Gigabyte’s laptops and its high-end brand Aorus. Although Gigabyte’s motherboards are actively sold in the Chinese market, their laptops really haven’t been marketed well.

Secondly, there’s the user acceptance level. The domestic laptop market is basically saturated. Those who wanted to enter have already done so, and new entrants (like MSI) have had to put in a lot of effort to carve out a niche. Therefore, even if those strong foreign brands are now making a big push in China, how many people will actually buy them remains uncertain.

Among them, EVGA is a brand that sells well abroad but struggles in the domestic market. Its graphics cards are quite famous among DIY enthusiasts, but very few people know about its laptops.

Recently, a translation master on the forum translated NBC’s review of EVGA’s laptop.

NBC is a relatively reputable foreign website with comprehensive testing data. Today, I will summarize this review to discuss this lesser-known but meaningful laptop for gamers:

EVGA SC17

Its specifications are as follows:

i7-6820HK Processor

GTX1070 8GB Dedicated Graphics Card

32GB RAM

256GB SSD

1TB HDD

17.3 inch 4K Resolution 72% NTSC Color Gamut IPS Display

Thickness 29.55mm

Weight 4.2kg

Current overseas purchase price: 20,500 RMB

Note: All channels show 0 sales, price is for reference only

Its pros and cons are as follows:

Pros!

1. The shell is solidly built, and the hinge has no looseness or wobbling issues.

2. Glass panel + fully laminated screen, high quality.

3. A relatively thin body with high specifications of i7 + 1070.

Cons!

1. The touchpad feels terrible, practically useless.

2. It can be stably overclocked, but the CPU can reach up to 100°C.

3. Too few ports, no card reader.

[Upgrade Suggestions]

If you manage to buy this laptop, there’s really no need for any upgrades.

Disassembly is very simple, and once opened, the heat pipes and hard drives are clearly visible.

32GB RAM is already sufficient for professionals, and the 256GB SSD can store the operating system and commonly used software.

This laptop only has one SSD slot, so if you must upgrade, it’s recommended to upgrade to a single 512GB or replace the HDD.

[Purchase Suggestions]

1. EVGA brand loyalists.

2. Those who have high requirements for build quality.

3. Those who do not need after-sales service.

I estimate that no one will buy this laptop because very few people know this brand in China, and there will be no after-sales service domestically, so buying it means no quality guarantee.

From a hardware perspective, this laptop is solidly built, has strong overclocking capabilities, and while the core temperature is high, it also means that its performance is fully released, making it a highly playable computer.

However, if you really want to buy it, I wouldn’t really recommend it. It has zero sales on Taobao, and other channels show no existence of this product. From any angle, I can’t confidently recommend it.

So if you happen to be an EVGA die-hard fan and also a fan of the forum’s review room studying abroad, then this laptop might be worth considering (but does such a person really exist?).

[The Author’s Concluding Thoughts]

EVGA seems to be a high-end brand, but its actual strength is not particularly strong. The hype around it in China is limited to its graphics cards.

In the past year, foreign brands have not made efforts to enter the domestic market. In the second half of 2015, a well-known foreign OEM, Origin PC, entered JD.com, but their sales were dismal, and they have now completely vanished, presumably losing money and fleeing back to the US.

In fact, the computer market in mainland China is still quite niche.

Sales in major regions worldwide mainly consist of thin laptops with integrated graphics, followed by gaming laptops. However, in China, any laptop equipped with a dedicated graphics card can sell well, regardless of how weak the graphics card’s performance is.

The most typical examples are the Xiaoxin Air 13 Pro, Xiaomi Air 13, and the Black General S5, which are completely unmarketable abroad.

Especially the ThinkPad Black General S5, which is called the E560P abroad, is a business laptop without a discrete graphics card, but in China, it has been transformed into a “business + gaming dual-mode” laptop.

This approach is not to say that it’s bad, as market feedback has indeed shown that adding a dedicated graphics card can lead to sales.

But sometimes I still reflect on whether Chinese consumers are really in need of dedicated graphics laptops, or if it’s the result of a collective deception by domestic dealers?

Daily Review of a Laptop

See you tomorrow

Click [Read Original] to view the full NBC review translated by pah2012great