Shopping for new audio production laptop (~$2500)

[zosterops]

Hey all, I'm looking for a new audio production laptop. Budget around $2500; located in USA.
Windows OS. 17" Display. Need something well built that will last for a long time. I'm not concerned about weight or battery life.
It'll be used for mixing and mastering, primarily. Some light video editing work and tracking a vocal now and then.
My typical Reaper sessions are 30+ tracks, 100+ vst/vsti plugs.
I use a Scarlett 2i2 for my mobile rig.

I've done a ton of research into off-the-shelf laptops and have boiled those down to the ASUS ROG GL703GS (i7-8750H CPU, 16gb RAM, GTX-1070 8gb GPU, 256gb SSD + 1tb FireCuda).

But I've also been considering either a purpose-built laptop from PcAudioLabs (Rok Box MC M7 S) or building my own Clevo machine with parts from Eluktronics.

Anyone here have any experience with Clevo machines, Eluktronics, or PcAudioLabs? How's the build quality? Do you find a purpose built system, like from PcAudioLabs, is worth the premium?
I'm experienced with building desktops but is it a pain in the ass to build your own laptop?

Any insight at all would be appreciated. There doesn't appear to be a lot of info or reviews online for Clevo systems being used for audio production or on PcAudioLabs' laptops or the company itself.

Thanks for the help!

[Kaine]

At least one of the Audiolabs units looks to be Clevo which is hardly surprising given they are one of the largest laptop ODM's in the world and they do tend to crop up with a lot of firms out there using them. Some of ours are too and I'll note that we do tend to have a back and forth when testing samples asking for tweaks and changes when setting up new ranges and sometimes models are just not suitable too.

In that regard, for the end user, it's often the same as buying any other brand off the shelf, in that you either get lucky or you don't.

In regards to building them, it's easier than the average desktop if you can source the relevant parts.

[zosterops]

Thanks for your expertise, Kaine.

The "you either get lucky or you don't" aspect of laptop shopping has always been agonizing for me. It's tough to drop two grand on a gamble. =\

I really like how upfront SCAN is about the details of their components; esp: brand name RAM and drives. Do y'all ship to the US?

[todd_r]

I got one of these about a month ago and I'me very happy, added a second HD

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing ... 1-pdt.html

Not sure about shipping or if you could find the same model in the US. Graphics in mine aren't quite as good as the one you mention, but I wasn't really too bothered about that, and I think you can get versions with diff graphics cards.

[Kaine]

Thanks for your expertise, Kaine.

The "you either get lucky or you don't" aspect of laptop shopping has always been agonizing for me. It's tough to drop two grand on a gamble. =\

I'd imagine that's the same for most users to be fair. It's alright if you can get DPC checked first, but it's rare to be able to get stores to start opening up random boxes sat on the shelf, mainly due to warranty reasons through which is understandable I guess.

I really like how upfront SCAN is about the details of their components; esp: brand name RAM and drives. Do y'all ship to the US?

Sure, we've done a few larger systems over the years when requested without issue and certainly further afield than that, so I'm sure a laptop would be simple enough logistics wise. Obviously, I don't think we'd be able to keep the onsite support in the package, but the rest of it would be stright forward enough.