The Eluktronics MAX-17 is a new gaming laptop featuring powerful hardware in a thinner and
lighter chassis, but just how well does it actually perform in games? I’ve tested 20
different games at all setting levels and also compared it with other laptops to help
you decide if it’s worth it.
My configuration of the Eluktronics MAX-17 has an Intel i7-9750H CPU, Nvidia RTX 2070
graphics, there’s no Max-Q here, 16gb of memory in dual channel, and a 17.3” 1080p
144Hz screen. You can change the specs a bit when ordering, it’s also available with
GTX 1660 Ti or RTX 2060 too, you can find updated prices linked in the description.
It’s basically a larger 17” version of the MAX-15 I recently tested, I’ll be comparing
the two in a future video so make sure you’re subscribed for that.
The control panel software lets you select different performance modes, I’ve done all
testing with turbo mode which enables EluktroBoost, and I had fan boost enabled for best results.
There’s a -0.05v undervolt to the CPU by default too, and my unit has stock thermal
paste.
What makes the MAX-17 impressive is the size and weight, at under 2cm thick it weighs around
400-500g, or around a pound less than other powerful 17” options like the Razer Blade
Pro 17, Gigabyte Aero 17, or ASUS Zephyrus GX701.
We’ll only be covering gaming performance in this video, so if you’re new to the channel,
you'll definitely want to get subscribed for the upcoming full review. Let’s start out
by going through all games at all setting levels, then afterwards we’ll see how the
Max-17 compares with some other laptops.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark tool. High settings
was still able to give decent average frame rates considering this is a resource heavy
game.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode, I’ve got the results with RTX enabled, shown
by the green bars, and RTX off, shown by the purple bars. It was pretty playable with RTX
on, though as a first person shooter game you’ll probably want the higher FPS that
can be obtained with RTX off, which ran much better.
Control was also tested with and without RTX enabled. The game still plays ok with lower
frame rates for the most part, so RTX even with the highest setting was usable, but I
personally preferred high settings with RTX off which averaged above 60 FPS.
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest
possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. The 144 FPS frame cap was
being hit at minimum settings, and even maxed out it wasn’t too far behind this.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare was tested in campaign mode, and I’ve also tested it with
the settings either maxed out or at minimum. Minimum settings was close to 100 FPS in this
test, however it still played pretty well even with everything at maximum.
Borderlands 3 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark, and even with the highest
setting preset we’re pretty much averaging 60 FPS, which is a great result for a gaming
laptop, and is definitely due to the RTX 2070 graphics we’ve got here.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were
alright, I’ll show you how different laptops compare in this game and some others soon.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was also tested with the benchmark tool, and this was another demanding
game that was still able to surpass 60 FPS even with the highest setting preset due to
the 2070 graphics that we’re dealing with.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and as a less demanding game epic settings
wasn’t too far behind the refresh rate of the screen, so no problems playing it all,
while medium settings would give us even 1% low performance above the screens refresh
rate.
Overwatch is another less demanding game and was tested in the practice range. Again, even
with the epic setting preset the frame rates are very high, with the 1% low not that far
below the refresh rate of the screen.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and the results aren’t too different compared
to other laptops with lower tier GPUs. This test seems to be more CPU heavy, and once
we’re at frame rates this high there’s usually more of a benefit seen from laptops
that allow you to disable Optimus, which unfortunately the MAX-17 does not support.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane, and as is typically the case with this game,
higher end graphical power in most laptops hardly makes a difference as the limitation
tends to be the i7 CPU. Regardless, normal results here, which means it’s performing
extremely well.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark but using Vulkan, which was recently
added to the game. If you saw my recent blog post at jarrods dot tech, I mentioned I’ll
be moving to Vulkan for future testing as it tends to perform better than the older
DirectX 11 implementation. I’ll leave a link to that post in the description if you’re
interested. Anyway, excellent results here.
Metro Exodus was tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform
a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what
to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case.
The Division 2 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results here seem better
compared to most other laptops, the 1% low in particular isn’t as low as it usually
is, so it appears that the RTX 2070 is providing some benefit here.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature. Even at ultra settings it was possible to
pass 100 FPS, however we could also achieve this in 1% low performance with the low setting
preset which would deliver a smoother experience.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, and as a resource
heavy game the frame rates weren’t that high with the higher setting presets, however
hitting 60 FPS in this test for a laptop at very high settings is a fair result.
Far Cry New Dawn was also tested with the games benchmark, and for the most part the
results aren’t really that much different when compared to most other laptops I’ve
tested with lower GPUs, as it seems to be more limited by the i7 processor.
The Witcher 3 was playing fine even with max settings, I don’t think it really sees a
benefit from super high FPS, however stepping back just one setting level would perform
a fair bit better without too much loss to visual quality.
F1 2019 was tested using the game’s benchmark tool, and although max settings had decent
average FPS, simply by stepping down one preset to high settings was able to score about the
same for the 1% low than the average at max settings.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the Eluktronics MAX-17 compares with other
laptops, use these results as a rough guide only as they were tested at different times
with different drivers.
Starting with Battlefield 5 I’ve got the MAX-17 highlighted in red near similarly specced
machines. In this game, the performance was about the same as the smaller MAX-15, which
is just below it on this graph. The results are somewhere in between the other 2070 laptops
I’ve tested, so fair results considering the MAX-17 is on the lighter side.
These are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark.
This time the MAX-17 saw an improvement over the MAX-15, and was now actually beating all
of the other 2070 laptops that I’ve done this test with. The 1% low is right up there
too, coming in third out of this selection.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings. Again the results were a little ahead of the smaller MAX-15 with same specs,
and close to the heavier and larger GP75. The ASUS GX502 seems to perform better though
despite being smaller, most likely due to the ability of bypassing Optimus.
Overall the MAX-17 is performing quite well, and for the most part a bit better than the
smaller and lighter MAX-15 with same specs, owing to the additional cooling space. I’ll
go into more depth on that topic when I do the dedicated comparison video.
If you’re looking for a 17 inch gaming laptop, the MAX-17 appears to be delivering on the
performance front compared to the competition. It’s performing quite close to the heavier
GX701 and Razer Blade Pro 17, all while being about 20% lighter, so a more portable option.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the Eluktronics MAX-17 gaming
laptop down in the comments, and if you’re new to the channel consider getting subscribed
for the full review to see everything this gaming laptop has to offer.