NEW Gigabyte P34 V2

We're constantly trying to bring in new models but unfortunately not all models are available to us right away. We'll be on the lookout for its availability though and update it to the site when available.

 

Sebi97, where is your video review posted?

 

Likely the bulge I spoke of is a large part of the problem. I still say it is shallow, though also keep in mind this is my first ultrabook-ish laptop (I also have an Acer 3820TG though, and I find that keyboard preferable to this one).

I wasn't able to get my programming session in last night: I managed to get a flat tire on my bike. Spent last night at home eating Chinese food instead of at the library. Hopefully tonight I'll have time (meeting someone about an apartment) and I will post further thoughts here after.

Does Linus still program, or does he sit on a throne somewhere and dictate policy?

 

Here are all my videos. Leave a like if you can, it really helps out

 

I just got mine in.

The screen has HORRIBLE backlight bleed, and one fan already sounds like it's failing. This was evident within the first 30 minutes.

I'll post more soon, but can anyone else take a pic of black screens and chime in on any backlight bleed.

thanks

 

Post some pics up when you can. Do keep in mind IPS and IPS type screens do have more of a bleed then regular TN panels do, its know as "IPS Glow" and is normal for these types of screens. You may notice it more if you're coming from a computer that used a TN panel.

 

It seems Gigabyte's quality control is lacking :/
This is why I recommend buying from XoticPC. They check all their laptops before shipping for issues such as back light bleed, failing fans, etc.
Also, what makes you say the fan sounds like it's dying? I'm curious to know if mine has a problem The fans sound strong and consistent on mine.

I do have 1 thing I dont like about this laptop (which will hopefully get fixed soon; also if any of you guys from XoticPC can help;it'd be appreciated)
When the fan setting is on auto and I'm gaming on my desk, all is good and fans stay below max speed and temps are good. Yesterday, I was playing on my dinner table (laptops ftw) and the fan intakes were covered over. I start playing and after a while I notice I'm getting sever fps drops. I start MSI Afterburner and sure enough the GPU is throttling itself as it has reached 90 degrees.
Here is the problem: then fans stayed a position or two below max speed! This means that the laptop will begin throttling components before turning the fans to max position. A solution to this problem would either be a BIOS update where if GPU hits 85 degrees, fan goes to 100% or a fan control utility where the user can define custom fan curves.

What do you guys think? Should I contact Gigabyte about this?

 

sebi97,
Great review, exactly what I was looking for. I left a question for you, how is the brightness of this display? I was hoping to find the actual nits somewhere, but even a comparison would be nice. The thing I miss the most about my 2008 MBP is the brightness. I do website design work and some photography which makes having a quality display a must for me. A decent trackpad and keyboard is also important. Thanks for your very helpful videos, I liked and subscribed.

 

I just got my laptop last night from XoticPC. So far I'm very relieved, the build quality is nothing spectacular but it's very, very far from being bad. I'd rate it as above average overall.

Screen:
Screen is sharp and has no dead or stuck pixels (I opted for the pixel policy), and no noticeable backlight bleed to speak of. You can notice it a little if the brightness is turned to max and you're looking at a black screen, but again it's hardly noticeable. Windows 8.1 desktop mode defaults to the largest scaling option by default, so text is a little larger than what I was used to coming from a 17" 1600x900 screen, but the other DPI settings just seem too small for day to day use. I am slightly nearsighted, but don't need to wear glasses for most indoor settings. The problem with the DPI scaling is that Windows handles it jarringly, so some applications like Dropbox have uber-tiny native-res fonts while others like Steam have an appropriate size but are slightly blurred. Thankfully Firefox handles just fine. This is Microsoft's fault though, not Gigabyte's. Still, I think a 1600x900 screen might have been more appropriate for this size laptop.

Keyboard:
Works just fine for typing, and doesn't have the doublepress issue my old G72GX did. Key travel is good, the sound is good, and there's little flex in actual usage. (And I'm a very hard, loud typist that my coworkers often make fun of.) I'm especially fond of the Windows key actually being located on the left side of the keyboard, something that MSI and Steel Series really need to rectify. My only major complaint is how the arrow keys are different sizes, so I often end up hitting shift when I meant to hit up-arrow. It feels weird, but I'm hoping I'll eventually get used to it.

The one thing I don't like is that the Caps Lock key has an On-Screen display that can't be disabled easily. I've not tried myself just yet, but others have said that invoking the OSD can cause fullscreen games to minimize. Not good. To rectify this I've made a one-line script that kills the OSD, and pinned it to my Classic Shell start menu. This allows me to keep Gigabyte's "Smart Manager" installed since I rather like it and want to keep using my Fn hotkeys.

Code:

taskkill /IM GBOSDV2.exe

Trackpad
Works just fine for most things. The feel is smooth and the buttons don't require too much or too little force to actuate. The sensitivity is slightly jumpy but can be tweaked in the Elan control options. I've since switched out to the Samsung lappy's drivers so I can have smoother two-finger scrolling and two finger taps for right-clicking. The Samsung drivers don't allow you to selectively disable any of the four three-finger swipes however, so I had to disable them all. I had to disable the edge swipe gestures as well, since I kept accidentally activating them and have ZERO intentions whatsoever for using the Metro interface.

The one downside to the Touchpad is that the Elan drivers, no matter which version you choose, all seem to all disable simultaneous left and right clicking as I found out last night in Metro 2033. As this ROG thread points out you can get the functionality back by switching to generic PS/2 mouse drivers, but then you lose out on all the other gestures like two-finger scolling. I guess I'll just keep a mouse handy when traveling.


Thermals
I really, really like this laptop's thermal profile. The keyboard remains cool to the touch even under load, and the underside doesn't get that hot during idle. The fans seem to stay quiet while doing basic web browsing, still audible but very soft. They occasionally will cycle to a moderate profile for some websites and of course get even louder for gaming, but never excessively cycle back and forth like my old 1st gen Macbook. You can also force them to run silent or at full tilt using the Smart Manager program.

Internal temps are also good. With an ambient temperature of 24C, (75 F) I'm idling around 53C averaging all the cores together. Under load with Intel Burn Test or Furmark's CPU Burner, the hottest core never breaches 91C. TjMax for this CPU is 100C, so there's still some headroom. My NVIDIA GPU never exceeds 81C under Furmark's stress test at 1920x1080 fullscreen, again with the CPU Burner running in the background. This is all with stock paste. I'll probably re-do the paste with Arctic Silver 5 once my 2-year warranty's up if it becomes an issue, but lemme just drop this nugget for anyone considering IC Diamond paste. The thread it references is worthy of some delicious buttery popcorn.



Speakers
Ehh, they work. Much much better than my first-gen MacBook that you could barely hear, but I'll be sticking to headphones or my portable USB speakers if I'm doing anything beyond web browsing. Yes, you can (easily) hear music and games over the fans even when they're running at full speed. Oddly enough the speakers are at the front edge of the laptop, not behind the grills near the power button. Drivers are thankfully Realtek and don't have any Creative bloat installed, so I'm not expecting any crashes.



Bloatware
What bloatware? This is amazing, just about everything installed by default is actually useful. If I had to get rid of anything it'd be the Microsoft Office 2013 installer, but that's only because I'm using Office 2010.

Gigabyte Smart Update is handy for getting the latest drivers and utilities, but is slow at downloading and unfortunately keeps a medium-sized window in the foreground while downloading. Update this app first since the newest version has the option of downloading beta updates not readily available on Gigabyte's website.

Gigabyte Smart Manager is good for disabling the Windows key if you're accident prone, and of course forcing the fan speed. You'll also need it for hotkey support.

Gigabyte Smart USB Backup is a quick way of saving the 16GB recovery image to a flash drive in case you want to swap out the hard drive or delete the recovery partition to save space. For some reason XoticPC told me there wasn't is no such utility when I asked about it, but thankfully this wasn't the case. (The recovery partition is on the SSD, not the HDD).

Gigabyte Smart Switch is a fix for the missing Windows 8 power button that lives in your taskbar, and also serves as a quick toggle for booting straight to the desktop. It's largely been made irrelevant by recent Windows updates and various start menu apps like Classic Shell.

PowerDVD 10 is included, which is nice if only for the licensed codecs. Not sure if I'll ever need it though since I'm a VLC user and the laptop doesn't have an optical drive. Not sure if it supports Blu Ray playback or not.

Microsoft AmCap is a lightweight video capture utility meant for use with the Webcam. Seems to be an older version but works just fine and takes hardly any space.

Office 2013 is the usual office trial. gg uninstall.

The Realtek drivers do have some Dolby bloat for EQ profiles and spatialization but it seems lightweight and stable overall.

Adobe Reader. Because, well, Adobe Reader. The English PDF manual for the laptop is installed on the desktop after all.


Overall build quality
Seems fine so far. Lightweight, little flex, and well-balanced for carrying single handed when the screen's open. My only gripe here is that this piece of thermal tape was sticking out from under the front right USB port by a few millimeters. I didn't want to open the case just yet so I've circled the tape I think is at fault using Coflash's internal photos.
imgur: the simple image sharer

It's a shame that XoticPC didn't notice this before shipping, since the tape sticks out just as much as the sticker that points out the USB charging port. Oh well, no big deal; I just took some flush cutters to the tape for now.

The only other blemish I've found so far is the left trackpad button seems to be slightly lower than the right button, but they both behave the same and feel fine to the touch. Just an OCD issue I guess.

Power adapter seems fine. Not excessively bulky or anything.


Goodies
A screen protector cloth and (faux?) leather sleeve are included.

I have an Ethernet port for LAN parties!! Suck it, Razer Blade!


That's all for now. I'll track this thread for a few days and answer any questions I feel comfortable with and will post any other discoveries I make. I'm still in the trial period after all so I haven't removed any stickers yet.

 

Thanks for the extensive review. Based on your comment about HDD, I assume you have the SSD + 2.5" HDD version with the smaller 47 Wh battery. How many hours of battery life are you getting?

 

hi,
i recently bought p34 v2 and i m very disappointed with the sound quality. i am not talking about laptops speakers (they are terrible too) but i am talking about sound quality when i plug my Sennheiser headset into p34g v2. all the bass gone now. really really poor sound. i don't get it. i updated sound drivers but nothing changed. any ideas?

 

Well, I had my programming session last night. The keyboard is fine: not too shallow, plenty of feedback. Once I started typing on it in earnest and focusing on code, I found I liked the overall feel of it.

That being said, the home, end, page up and page down keys are fn+arrow key combos. I use home and end quite a bit with shift and the arrow keys to select, copy and paste text so it is going to take some getting used to (kind of like combos from street fighter....). I may end up suffering from emacs pinky (or perhaps p34gv2 pinky, now).

The screen is amazing, really happy with it. Watched some anime last night and wow, the colors just pop and the contrast is wonderful (even without calibration). I do find the occasional blurred text in windows a bit annoying due to the relatively high DPI.

The fan profile is a little louder at idle than my w350et however it is much more pleasant (and it does kick up occasionally when web browsing). I was able to play a bit of Minecraft in the library without the fan blasting, which is something the w350et found impossible.

I'm definitely keeping it. I am considering fixing the keyboard though: I wonder if the bulge is do to one of the snaps not being in place, or if a wire is out of place under the keyboard etc...

 

Yes, I got the CF1 configuration with the standard 5400RPM drive, but upgraded the RAM to 16GB. I've used about 45% battery life in the last two hours doing some general web browsing in Firefox and texting in Skype. Bluetooth is disabled, keyboard is at 50% brightness, screen is on Automatic Brightness + 20%.

This is using the Power Saver profile btw.

 

Can anyone guess how well the P34g v2 will hold up with Star Citizen/Elite Dangerous? I need a new laptop for the space sim Renaissance and I think it's gonna be this one

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

If you are looking for a good thermal paste i will recommend you Arctic Cooling MX2 or MX4 (depends on how much money you want to spend)
IC Diamond might give you a little better results, but bears no risks if a bit of the paste gets onto the mainboard or so.
Sorry for this question: Is the 860M in the P34 V2 Kepler or Maxwell?

 

Thanks, but really I'm fine with the stock thermals; they're the best I've ever had in a gaming laptop. I also have plenty of AS5 for when I need it down the road.

The 860M in the P34G v2 is Maxwell.

 

Indeed, your temperatures look quite good considering 24*C ambient temperature!
I always use MX2, it delivers good performance and doesnt damage any components if it drops somewhere at the mainboard or so
I just hope that prices will drop in Germany (right now it costs 1399€), the ancestor only 749€.
But I think the prices are very likely to drop because the laptop isnt available yet (you can just preorder it so far)

 

I too am waiting for the cf3 version in the US. All cf3 versions thus far seem to be in the UK. I am also planning on getting my own msata or ssd and saving some money

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

From the Star Citizen forum requirements forum:

The Minimum system requirements are: ( Source: "Windows 7 or 8 64-bit, Dual Core CPU (Intel: Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz, AMD: Phenom X2) 8GB of RAM, NVidia Geforce 460GTX, AMD Radeon HD5850 (DirectX 11 only)".)

The Recommended system requirements are: i5 2500, i7 2600, 2700 or better with a GTX 670 or greater.

And for a smooth experience at Maximum settings at 1080p, a R9 290x or GTX 780 will be required (a GTX 680/R9 280x will likely therefore very likely achieve high comfortably). For a 4K experience, a pair of mid-high end cards (680/770 7970/280x or better) or a future high end card (GTX 880 or R9 390x etc) will be required.

So in short, I think you're going to struggle to run it. Low may work ok, although I'm not sure.

 

860m is almost on par with 680m so that makes no sense...

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860m is slower than the 680m

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It apparantly is, but if 680m runs it at high comfortably 860m should be able to do so as well...

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As the previous poster quoted, a GTX 680 is expected to achieve high comfortably. A GTX 680 is not a GTX 680m.

 

Ah my mistake I read it as 680m


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Thank you for the update - I'm pleased you managed to get on with it. After further research I've decided to go for a 15.6" screen - my eye sight isn't as good as it was

On a minor point, after having a good play with a similar keyboard layout, the lack of dedicated Home | End | Page Down | Up buttons would continue to frustrate me.

 

Thanks to everyone for sharing your reviews and impressions of this laptop. I had a really hard time ordering something without seeing it in person and trying out the keyboard/touchpad first hand, but reading through all your posts and watching the videos helped me decide to buy this laptop. Ordered it next day delivery from XoticPc's Amazon store so should get it tomorrow, and I paid only $5.99 shipping with Prime!

 

Looks like you must have gotten one of the last we had there. Let us know your thoughts once you get it.

 

Hi everybody, I bought the P34G V2-CF2 from GenTech PC and I received it last Tuesday. 3 days ago I changed the factory installed mSATA SSD to a 512 GB Samsung mSATA SSD and also added a 512 GB Samsung SATA SSD, and these last two days I've been busy installing Windows and games. Call me a happy owner of a P34G V2.

 

What was the point of getting both an msata and an ssd? Why not just get a 1 Tb msata or ssd if you wanted that much fast storage

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He probably already had them laying around.

 

I also have a 1 TB mSATA Samsung Evo SSD and a 1 TB SATA Samsung Evo SSD, but I save them for my next project.

 

Hello ,

Anybody try to overclock the GTX860m ? what's the result in 3Dmark for example ? What frequency can be done ?

Thanks

 

Here is a thread called "860m is a beast", which is about that topic.
But i guess you are referring to OCing the 860m specific in the P34G v2? Therefore i wanna join this request, as i would be quite interested in that, too.

The user 'Sebi97' wanted to do a video on repasting his P34G v2 with IC Diamond as well as about OCing his laptop. But he also wrote, that he would have to write some exams next time. So i guess we have to be patient for hopefully just a few days, even if it's hard...

 

Hi,
i have a big problem with my p34g v2. i was using logitech m705 marathon wireless mouse and logitech k340 wireless keyboard with my envy 14 laptop. i didn't get any performance problem with envy 14. but last week i bought p34g v2 and tried to use those logitech mouse and keyboard with my p34g and they started to act weird. both mouse and keyboard started to freez randomly and delay sometimes. after that i bought new pair of wireless keyboard and mouse (A4 Tech 6100H). but the problem continues. does anyone have the same problem? i installed the latest drivers. re-installed windows 8.1, nothing changed.
by the way, i mostly connect my laptop to my lcd tv when i am at home.

 

Im just about to buy this comp for music production.

It looks really good!

Just wondering in the future if its possible to upgrade the CPU on this computer?

The only thing Ive just noticed is that it doesnt support sata 3????

 

No, CPU is soldered (4700HQ is soldered, 4700MQ is with socket)
It is SATA 3

 

Please could you post some advice about how you did this?
I want to to install an mSATA SSD alongside the HDD. What software did you use to clone the hard drive etc?

 

Could someone please give me a quick step by step of the programs and processes needed to overclock and adjust the voltages of this notebook's GPU? it would be much appreciated.

 

There's a thread dedicated to this gpu here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=751352
Might be worth a quick read?

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Thanks mate, I'll check it out

 

Btw, the p34g v2 can now be ordered at alternate in germany

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 4 mit Tapatalk

 

I was wondering if anyone had any information about a unlocked BIOS version. Currently the GPU can only be OC'd by +135mHz but I know it can do ALOT more. I just need a BIOS so I can push it further and adjust voltages if need be

 

How far can you push the VRAM?

 

With the Windows installed drivers, it sounded great. When I installed the Realtek drivers, it sounded like crap until i put the sampling rate up to 24bit 192000. I suspect it is not actually running at this bitrate. 16bit 48000 should sound almost as good as a human is capable of hearing. However, when you select this setting in the driver control panel, it sounds like a transistor radio inside a metal trashcan. I'm going to try it with some ASIO drivers and see how it does. It sounded as good as a Macbook with either the sampling cranked or generic windows drivers on my Denon AH-D2000 headphones. I'll have to look in FL or Ableton to see if it's actually running at a weird bitrate. Will report back.

 

Thank you so much for that info! It is the second worst decision in current notebooks that the audio part is completely neglected and nobody seems to care that manufacturers save 35.7 cents by omitting stereo-inputs, using bad audio chips and speakers.

There they finally came around putting decent screens in and at the same time the product remains crappy by neglecting the audio. I wonder if anyone has thought about changing the integrated speakers for something more decent? Hell, cell phones have better speakers nowadays than high-end notebooks.

 

I agree, I use a usb dac for this reason.

 

Does anyone know why we aren't seeing any professional reviews of this yet? They've been out ages, seems kinda funny

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Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for the updates. Looks like it will be my next laptop.
I was originally thinking about the MSI GS60 Ghost pro but I read some crappy review about it (not very crappy, just that it is less perfect then it looks on paper).
So according to you, what will be the best option: P34G or GS60?
With the P34G, you lost some power (>GPU) but you win some autonomy/portability

Which one do you think have the best built quality? Which brand is the best?

And some quick additional questions:
- Do you think it is better to buy the version with a larger battery and after to change the SSD to have more storage (750go) or to go straight to the dual SSD HDD?
- Is that possible to install window 7 on it? I can't find confirmation.
- How is the T°/Fans? I know it have been already asked/answered but I just want to be sure that it is no too loud/hot when gaming or doing some office work.

Thanks a mill

Cheers

 

Has anyone heard / seen anything regarding release dates for larger battery option (particularly uk)? I've asked gigabyte UK if they have any idea when the larger battery model will be released, and if it will have a different model suffix (e.g. CF-4). Almost certain I'm going for this, but not sure if I want a larger screen. Are there any other slim (ish), Maxwell, cool and quiet (ish) laptops with larger screens on the horizon...?

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Couldn't comment on build quality as haven't seen either in flesh, but most people seem happy with P34G v2.
I'm going for larger battery and swapping in a big ssd.
Don't see any reason why you couldn't use win 7 (drivers maybe?).
I'd imagine it runs cooler and quieter than p34g review on notebookcheck. Sebi (and others) seem happy enough with temps and fans, considering the size, performance and price.

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