NEW Gigabyte P34 V2

Not quite right. You almost never pay sales taxes in the US when you order online. You only pay your state's sales tax if you are shipping to within that same state. So only if the store is located in the same state it is shipped to. And it is still always less tax then the crazy 21% of Eurape. Oregon and Minnesota don't have any sales tax and usually it's around 7% or so. So if you buy it in the store, the sales tax is added if the state requires it. If you are in Washington and order from a store in Florida you pay no sales tax at all! So US is always a lot cheaper if you happen to be there. Canada is always more expensive and always charges 12% sales tax within the country no matter where you are. But you don't get a German keyboard.

 

*13%
You could always order it from Canada, have it shipped to states, drive to states to pick up, say it's your "personal" laptop at the border and save on shipping (xoticPC = free US shipping) as well as the sales tax of Canada. Of course, that's too unethical; Canada Gov't NEEDS your $$$

 

And how do you see any difference when comparing the fans? I actually see only a different color for the GPU-Fan. .I had the p34g_V1. This version also already had two black fans... probably it was only the "review-version" which had a red fan. I don´t know for sure of course. And since they have released a BIOS-update. The fan of the v1 has also improved. But still: when surfing the web they stop...start...stop. Problem: even the first "level" of the fan is audible. Not to compare with macbooks.
Just my opinion!

 

How about Hungary with 27% sales tax and with their poor salary? Haha, seriously if I buy it, I fly to Oregon and save the fly ticket .

 

Thx for clarifying that for me. So overall the result of the tax discussion is: Europe is way more expensive than US, but you have the most complicated sales tax in the world

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 4 mit Tapatalk

 

Thanks, Sebi, for your video review. Again very informative and helpful! :thumbsup:

In your gamevideos you lowered the resolution to 1600x900 for showing performance on battery. Can you please tell us, how the quality is in comparison to the native res?
I saw displays, which interpolated very well with only very slightly loss of sharpness. On the other hand downscaling from the native 1440x900 on my Macbook Pro to 1280x800 results in very noticeably quality loss...

I gently wanted to refer to my previous question

And last short question : Could you, if you don't mind, post your 3D Mark 11 score (graphics and overall score) and Fire Strike Standard graphics score for orientation? Thanks

 

Looking forward to your repasting guide sebi. Although i think I remember you saying that you were getting ic diamond, which I've heard some issues about abrasion? Personally I've never repasted before but after some research it seems like the Gelid solutions GC extreme is the best thermal paste out there.

So on a totally unrelated topic, anyone else think that the Gigabyte forum should be moved out of "Other Manufacturers"? Its a lot more active than some of the ones I see that are not in this subcategory lol.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I have not had experience with IC Diamond (I usually use Arctic Silver 5 but ran out) so it's my first time. Hopefully it will be good; supposedly it's the top performing paste on the market right now. In my opinion, the abrasion should not be a problem. The paste should be changed once every 2 years; so the chance of scratching effectively gets cut to 3-4 times (6-8 years of owning laptop). Either way, the point of the paste is to fill imperfections in the die. If creating abrasions, the paste should/will cover them and allow for optimal thermal conductivity. In a perfect world, metal contacts metal with no paste in-between.

As for the management of this thread, I can't say much other than it's stupid that the tittle is wrong; anyone searching P34g v2 won't findd this thread. Thread is named P34 v2

 

The lowering of the resolution results in a minor drop in quality. It's hard to specify exactly how much the quality drops but I'll do my best.
First, you must remember that the type of game you are playing is VERY important. For example, battlefield 4 MUST be played at 1080 (or whatever the native resolution is) to be able to see far-off targets. Games such as Dirt 3 and Skyrim, are perfectly fine at 1600*900 as they just don't require that extra sharpness so at 1600*900 they look just fine. Some other games (such as Civ 5) are almost unplayable at any resolution lower then native due to the text not being readable. Second, it could also be a psychological effect. If I gave you a laptop right now with 4k display and you do everything in 4k, then when you go to 1080, you will say it's terrible. This has a similar effect in our scenario. If I was to have my resolution at 1600*900 ALL the time, then I would get used to it and think that it looks good. In conclusion, when dropping to 1600*900 the change is noticeable. Whether it's noticeable because of true lack of quality or simply because you are used to 1080, is up to debate/interpretation.
As for more benchmarks, I will get to it in 3-4 days as I have 2 major exams coming up , remind me then again.

Hope that helped! :thumbsup:

 

It helped again. Thanks Sebi for your reply.

Admittedly i have not so much experience on so many different games. So that's an interesting point, that it does matter, what game or genre is more or less good playable in a non-native resolution. But if overall quality drop from native to 1600x900 is rather minor, this would be good news, as the screen gets quite blurried on my macbook pro with going down from the native 1440x900 to 1280x800...

Oh man! Of course your exams have absolutely priority and i wish you best of luck for your exams!! :thumbsup:

 

Something unrelated:
Check out this video I made with Dirt 3. Played with a logitech g27. This game is soo fun Strongly recommend it!

 

So I'm wondering what would void the warranty on this laptop? The things I plan to do on my own are:

1. Replacement the HDD with an ssd

2. Repaste the CPU (potentially the GPU but probably not since the temps are so low already)

Would either of these void the gigabyte warranty?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

How's the display on this? Also I noticed the battery size on the xotic model is less than normal - would it be possible to git rid of the 2.5" drive and put the bigger battery in?

 

I will address that in my video
But no, it can be done in a way so as to not void the warranty

100th post; yay!

 

Has anyone ran benchmarks yet on the P34Gv2? I was serious about the Razer Blade 2014 until it was discovered it only has one m.2 slot. I am curious how the P34Gv2 stands up against the Blade and the MSI Ghost.

Here are some links to similar benchmarks done that we could compare against.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/razer/752450-side-side-comparison-razer-blade-2014-msi-ghost-pro-gs60-non-3k.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/razer/752809-my-blades-13-vs-14-benchmarks-overclocking.html

 

European taxes are (more or less) national. You countries have always been countries, aside from borders being moved back and forth. The U.S. was created on newly settled territory, with communities having to be self-sufficient. Consequently, you have city governments, county government (mostly handle elections, permits and licenses, and sheriffs), state governments, and finally federal (national government, each with specific things that they govern. All of these can impose taxes, though in practice sales taxes are typically only imposed at the state level (a few states have no sales tax). In some areas though, county and city governments also impose sales taxes, resulting in something like 10,000 different sales tax rates across the country.

So conceptually it's simple, and it is simple in practice for anyone running a brick and mortar store. But it ends up being super-complicated for anyone selling mail-order or over the internet. The no sales tax for sales between states comes from a prohibition the Federal government imposed centuries ago, to stop trade wars between states. Kinda like how forming the EU made trade between EU countries easier.

Do note that the gamma curve is rather easy to adjust using Windows' built-in calibration, or (for much better accuracy) a colorimeter. Those images will show you how well the stock display performs at the default gamma setting. Not how well the display will perform after calibration. Speaking of which...

From what I've been able to gather, the display is the same as the previous v1 version. An AUO B140HAN01.1 pane or some variant thereofl, which by all accounts is a very nice panel. It is IPS-equivalent, and reviews typically put it at between 95%-105% sRGB in color gamut. It is one of the nicest laptop panels widely available of any size, and also used in the Acer V7-482PG, and Thinkpad 440s.
AnandTech | Acer V7-482PG-9884 Review: Everything You Need
Review Update Lenovo ThinkPad T440s 20AQ0069GE Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

I asked XoticPC about the larger battery version. They said they haven't heard from Gigabyte about any plans to release the 63 Wh battery version in the U.S. thus far. From what I've been able to gather, it's available in Australia (one of the Aussie posters earlier in this thread has one), the UK, and China.

 

Solandri - thank you very much the information..that really helped my decision making. Sounds like the display is awesome! Bummer about the battery, but I guess a lot of people do prefer more storage vs a little longer life.

 

So it seems like gigabyte is releasing multiple versions of this laptop with very minor changes. The CF1 version was the original, while the CF2 version upgraded from 4700hq to 4710hq. Now, I've actually come across a CF3 version
http://www.cclonline.com/product/14...1-i7-4710HQ/1TB/8GB-DDR3L/GTX-860M-/NOT00196/

Not sure what is different from the CF2 version though

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

CF3 has no SSD? Just noticed all 3 available for pre-order (May 28th) on amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00K8QZ8XA/ref=pd_aw_sbs_2?pi=SS115

No mention of option for larger battery though, so will likely hang fire.


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

I'd like to thank everyone who posted their impressions of this laptop. I was pretty uneasy about the thought of buying a gigabyte pc because while I knew of them, I hadn't heard much about their products until now. Both my parents work for HP so I've always gone that direction in terms of a laptop because of the decent discounts I could get. My trusty 3 year old Envy 14 just died recently though, and I'm not impressed with anything they make today so I decided to take a leap of faith and look at some high performance gaming laptops. I love the P34G because while I wanted to do some gaming, I'm also a graphic design student, and I have to carry my laptop everywhere so the portability and plain aesthetics are definitely a plus for me in that area. I just got mine today and so far I couldn't be happier. Love the screen, love the power and speed, and I love the overall feel. I hope Ito get quite a few years out of this thing. Thanks again everyone who posted their impressions, I'll be sure to visit this thread frequently!

 

Just wanted to share my experience with XoticPC:

So up to this point I didn't feel this was worth mentioning but the situation has degraded rapidly... When I ordered the laptop, I chose an option with the free 4GB RAM upgrade. I asked for it to not be installed (so that laptop can be shipped immediately). Once I got the laptop, I looked through ALL the packages extensively for the RAM and, it was not present. I checked the laptop and it was not installed either. It kind of bummed me out but I figured it's no big deal; XoticPC is only human and they make mistakes too. I then talked to Josh about it (who was SUPER helpful; he helped me alot pre-sale) and he directed me to their E-mail. So I email them, explain the situation. I immediately get a response and they tell me to send my personal info (shipping address, phone # etc.) I do that. Then no reply. I message them "I am still waiting for a reply" two days later and they finally do reply with

"Can you check the packaging? Here what the response I got when I asked about it: The ram was not installed as shown in the order information, the customer wanted to install the RAM on their own. The RAM should have been in the box with the computer."

I reply telling them I have checked the box over and over again and still no RAM. Then, no reply. 2 days later I message them again "I am still waiting for a reply". Then they tell me it should have been in laptop box, I tell them I checked (again). Then they change their story and tell me "The RAM was wrapped in a bag and taped to the Gigabyte box." I messaged them again saying it was not included and they have yet to reply. This is the point I am at right now. I will update as situation develops.

NOTE: I do NOT want to create a bad image for XoticPC at this point. The experience I have had (short of this) was fantastic. It is a shame 1 employee has to ruin my whole impression of the company; and for what? A 25$ stick of RAM on a $1500 purchase?!?! We will see how honest this company really is and I will update as necessary. If any XoticPC staff read this; please contact me and help me resolve this problem.

 

Hey there, Josh doesn't frequent NBR forums but I've asked him for an update and he is currently working alongside the service team to try and get a resolution on this. I won't be too involved with the process myself but I've pointed this post out to our service team and they should be getting a response to you.

 

Sebi97,

I do apologize and we are currently looking into this issue. At first sight, are inventory shows that the memory was pulled, checked on your order and our shipping personnel has verified that he remembers putting it in your box specifically. We are going to check video footage to verify and will let you know what the end investigation leads to

 

Hi Derek, I appreciate the fast response and your attention to this problem. I am chatting with Josh now on the website. Hopefully we can get this problem resolved. I look forward to dealing with you guys in the future. Products are great, prices are too and so is the pre-sale support. We will see how good the post-sale support is... I'm sure my frustration is understandable..

 

Definitely understandable and I know where you're coming from. Unfortunately it's not a simple process where we can just say OK, we trust you're being honest, and ship you the RAM. If it was something where our paperwork and shipping personnel showed that it may not have been included, no question about it. From everything we have documented though, at least from my understanding, is that the RAM was with the machine when pulled from inventory, checked off on the order checklist, with it as it was QA'd, and then our shipping team remembers putting it in the package specifically since that isn't a normal thing to do for a customer shipping it uninstalled instead of installed. That's why there is so much back and forth because our records show one thing and you're showing another. I'm sure we'll be able to get to the bottom of it and in the meantime if there is anything else that we can help out with let us know and we'll be glad to help.

 

Unfortunately I didn't record me opening it up the box so I have no solid evidence other than my word that the RAM was not included. At first I was told the RAM was in computer box then that it was taped to the outside of the box. Can you please find out which one it really was? As I mentioned earlier, the only reason I asked for the RAM to not be not installed was to speed up the "production" time.

 

That's a point of contention that I honestly didn't get a good answer on as I'm getting info from about three different sources at this point. I think what they meant by that is they taped it to the outside of the inner box prior to boxing it in the larger one. Makes the most sense to me.

 

I suppose that makes sense. Although, I don't see why the RAM wouldn't just be placed in the laptop box...

 

We don't typically put anything inside the main box that doesn't belong in it as a policy. I'm sure if the situation could have been predicted they might have reconsidered, but this isn't exactly something that could be predicted to have occurred. In any case, whether it would've been in the main box or on the outside of it, if it was in there it'd still be in there upon delivery since they're sealed. Where it was located wouldn't change that.

 

I am thinking of ordering the CF3 from Amazon.co.uk and then get my own mSATA SSD, anyone think this is a better option?
The fact that the LiteOn SSD is not the top performer and I can easily get a better 256GB one for around a 100quids, which
will still turn out to be less than the CF1 package.

 

I'm going to do similar - I'm hoping to get the bigger battery and then install a 512gb SSD, so will likely get the bigger battery version of CF3 if that is at all possible.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

Do you think CF3 will actually have a bigger battery?

 

Absolutely no idea, sorry. I've read somewhere (possibly pc pro review) UK is one of the countries to get the bigger battery option, but haven't been able to find any mention of it. The amazon specs unhelpfully just say that it has a battery, but not what size!

I'm hoping there will be a battery option for CF1, CF2 and CF3 at some point in future, though I'd imagine it will be released later on after Gigabyte has done production runs that satisfy their worldwide markets. We'll see...

I don't think the bigger battery is standard, but would drop cash in a flash if there was clarity on the amazon spec. I'll email them and let you know response.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

That will be cool! Well, for me, I don't necessarily need a bigger battery, just that I am thinking of paying less and get a better performance by doing a bit of DIY.

 

Weird. Just checked amazon from my PC and it shows the battery on all 3 models as being 73wh. Gigabyte lists options as 47.73wh, or 63.64wh. Amazon have probably scraped in the last part of the "47.73"...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

As much as I want the following to be true, I doubt Gigabyte have their specs wrong. PC Pro have the largest battery down as 64wh (reviewed).

You're now connected to Amazon from Amazon.co.uk
Me:Battery size on B00K8QZ8Q2. Hi there, this laptop is available for pre-order, but the battery size is different to the options available from the manufacturer website. Amazon states 73wh. Gigabyte states 47.73Wh or 63.64Wh.
Amazon:Hello, thank you for using Amazon Chat. My name is Pelagio.
Me:Hi Pelagio. My name is siperiea
Amazon:Hello siperiea.
Me o you have more details available on the battery size that Amazon will be shipping (as per above).
Amazon:Would it be okay if you give me 2-3 minutes while I check this for you?
Me:Of course!
Amazon:I'll be happy to check this for you.
Me:Thank you Pelagio
Amazon:No worries
is this for the Gigabyte P34G V2-CF3 14-inch Gaming Notebook (Intel Core i7 4710HQ 2.5GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 4GB Graphics Card, USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HD Webcam, Windows 8.1)?
Are we still connected siperiea?
Me:yep
Yes, thats the product. There are three (CF1,CF2 and CF3), all state 73wh, but Gigabyte dont appear to have this as an option.
Gigabyte P34G V2-CF3 is the one Im enquiring about right now though!
Amazon:I have checked with our Product team and also with our inventory's product details and can confirm that this has a 73wh Battery
Me:If I were to order this item and it didn't have 73wh battery, it was smaller, would I be eligible to return the item? I'd probably have to open the box to find out the battery size...
Amazon:Yes siperiea and the returns will be at no charge, you will be eligible for a full refund.
Me:Cool, OK Pelagio. Thank you very much for your help. Have a nice day!
Amazon:You too siperiea.
I will send a follow up email as a confirmation to the conversation we had.
Me:Thanks
Amazon:Have a nice day too.
Bye siperiea
Amazon from Amazon.co.uk has left the conversation.

 

Omg. This sounds too good to be true...

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 4 mit Tapatalk

 

Sorry, but that just looked so funny and took me a second to figure out why there was a smily there XD.
Although that seems fishy to me. I don't think gigabyte would be wrong about their own product, though you do have a full refund option so I say go for it.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Another retailer, cclonline, states both the CF1 and CF3 as Battery Life: 11.1V, 47.73Wh.

 

Some good news: My thermal paste shows to have been delivered
When I get home, I'll be making a video how-to guide and it should upload overnight

 

Yeah, sounds like Amazon just messed up the listing. Surprised they wouldn't look into fixing it though.

 

Yeah, realised fail when I posted. Decided it looked better if left in full natural glory

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

I purchased a p34gv2-CF1 from XOTICPC last Wednesday. It showed up in the mail yesterday.

Overall impressions:
Relatively quiet. In stealth I can still hear the fan, but it is a pleasant noise (as opposed to my W350ET, which I hate with a vengeance). Setting it to automatic, it rarely seems to hit the max mode (maybe once or twice in 3dMark) with graphics intensive loads. The weakness seems to be the CPU, heat and thermal wise. Still, it never gets as loud as the W350ET: and it has better ball bearings, too (there is no semi-random clacking noise from the fan).
Screen quality is excellent. There is some bleeding along the edges, but hardly noticeable. Didn't see any dead pixels, though I haven't looked for them. Colors seem vibrant, contrast crisp.
Build quality is fair. I doubt it would survive a drop test(few laptops would), however it does feel solid in my hands and the display hinges seem sturdy enough.
Keyboard kinda sucks. The keyboard is slightly bulged near center top, keys are shallow and they don't all make the same noises. Feedback is rather lacking. I hate the keyboard.
Trackpad is garbage. I don't use trackpads, generally turn them off. I can't comment on its effectiveness as a trackpad, but I can comment on its build quality. Already, with very few clicks, the left side of the button is in a bent position where you can clearly see it isn't being pushed all the way back up.

Interesting note: my Windows 8.1 license claimed the max number of copies were in use. I had to phone in activation...

Finally, the GIGABYTE Manager utility is pretty handy, definitely a keeper (at least, would be if I wasn't wiping the drive for Qubes soon...).

The keyboard is a killer. I do a lot of programming, and mostly bought this PC for programming (specifically interested in CUDA, since I'm an OpenCL guy). I'm going to have an intense programming session with it tonight and decide whether to keep it or return it.

I *really* wish they had put a high performance dual core in this machine instead. The quad seems to put out just a bit too much heat (that is, the system can handle it... but just barely). A dual core would perform about the same for most tasks (games especially) and result in a quieter system. It would also extend the battery life a bit.

 

Great review Coaxmetal. Honest one too

 

UPDATE 1
I have talked to XoticPC and they will be shipping a new RAM stick soon. Excellent service on their part.
UPDATE 2
The re-paste video will be delayed 1 day because there is just sooo much to edit/cut down. It will be posted soon though

 

Anyone know if Xoticpc.com will be getting the CF3 version? I am looking to purchase this laptop in the next 3-4 weeks and the CF3 looks like the perfect solution for me. The 128 GB SSD is just too small for me. I was going to buy a new SSD anyways so if I can save the money on an SSD I am not going to use, the better.

 

Yepp, I can certainly agree with that, this processor is just too powerful and therefore it becoming the weakest point of this laptop. I mean it is possible to undervolting, underclocking, but than why I have paid extra for this CPU? I just keep hoping soon comes the U24F v2 with i7 ULV CPU and I have my perfect laptop...

 

Is this difficult? Sounds like a good idea but the only upgrade to a laptop I've ever done myself is upgrading the RAM.

 

Can you give an update please? For me I only use the built in keyboard and trackpad and so your feedback is obviously very important to me.

It would be such a shame as everything else about this machine is perfect for me... :-(

 

Perhaps he had a problem with his keyboard? I remember Linus from LinusTechTips also praised this keyboard as being excellent. Personally, I also find it very high quality. If you haven't already check out my video review. The keyboard has no flex and have ALOT of travel (good feedback) they also make a nice click noise when pressing and have an almost mechanical feel to them
As for the touchpad, it's slightly above average when it comes to windows laptops. It doesn't compare with a mac but it's perfectly fine for regular usage (internet, text editing etc.) I use it extensively (I only use a mouse when gaming) and have no issues with it. Scrolling is super smooth.