EVOC PA71HS-G from HIDEvolution

Hey all. I've had my PA71HS-G from HID for about a month now and wanted to share my thoughts. First off, the guys and gals and HIDevolution were first rate. Here's a quick run down of the upgrades I chose for system:

Calibrated Display (LG 1920x1080 IPS 75Hz)
Minimize Backlight Bleed
1 year Perfect Panel Guarantee (No stuck or dead pixels)
Conductonaut, Gelid GC Extreme, Fujipoly thermal pads
7820HK
2 x 8GB Dual Channel DDR4
No SSD or HD (Installed 500 GB 960EVO and a 2TB Seagate Firecuda myself)
Intel AC 9260

Everything went fairly smooth during the order and shipping process. The only hiccup we had was a stuck pixel that was found during the build process. That delayed the order a few days as HID waited for the new panel to arrive. I elected for the rush build option, and it was honored per the agreement. If I remember the dates correctly, I submitted my order on January 31 and it was shipped out on February 9.

As for the system itself, I'm giving it a solid A. It's not perfect, but for my purposes it's a wonderful laptop. Coming from an old XPS 13, my first impression was "This thing is HUGE!" Initially, I was a bit worried about the size since I travel extensively, but the laptop AND AC adapter fit perfectly in my eBags Professional Slim backpack. Can't say enough good things about that backpack, but I digress. It's a solid laptop, but I don't find the weight too cumbersome. Build quality is very good, but the display flexes just a bit under pressure. The keyboard is a bit mushy for my taste, but it gets the job done. I have no issues whatsoever with trackpad and fingerprint reader.

I opted for the 1080p panel for the higher framerates, and I'm glad I did. I didn't realize it was a 75 hz panel when I ordered it so that was a bit of a bonus. An even bigger bonus is that my panel easily overclocks up 100 Hz without issue. For normal usage I leave it set at 75 though. The display calibration probably wasn't needed for me personally, but I can definitely see a difference in color accuracy with and without the profile loaded.

I'm still debating the value of the 'minimize' backlight bleed option, however. I most definitely have some amount of backlight bleed, but I don't notice it under normal conditions. The only time I do notice it is on boot up in the lower right portion of the screen. I guess my main problem is that I have no way of knowing what I would have received if I hadn't purchased this option. Now if the display was perfect and without any backlight bleed at all (or at least very little) then the $100 option would have definitely been worth it...but I wouldn't describe my panel as having "very little" bleed. Moving on...

The last thing I'll touch on is the cooling ability of this model. I'm thoroughly impressed for a laptop that is obviously not meant for overclocking. At stock settings with a -0.13V undervolt offset, it will hold high 60s temps running Prime or AIDA. For day to day use and plugged in, I'm running stable at 41x with a mild .06V undervolt and low 80s on the temp under full load (also with AIDA or Prime). I haven't found the sweet spot for the 1070 yet, but so far I'm running +50/+50 without issue. Temps on the 1070 top out in the mid to low 70s. Overall, the cooling capability is much better than expected and is able to hold a decent overclock with a re-paste and pad. I also bought some laptop feet on Amazon to raise up the back.

Well, I think that's it. It's been really fun setting this thing up with all the guides available on this forum (Phoenix's NBR Windows 10 clean install guide, software updates (RIP), Clevo Driver Update Utility by Obsidian, and The ThrottleStop Guide). Now it's time to start using it for its intended purpose.

Oh yeah, battery life. Getting about 5-6 hours of normal use with tweaking.