[Review] HTWingNut Review of Sager NP8268 / Clevo P150SM-A

Hello I have used this forum for a while when troubleshooting my Sager NP8268-S (Clevo P150SM-A). A big thanks as it has saved me from many potential headaches. One issue that I have not noticed from anyone else is involving my Hotkey Control Panel. I have Hotkey V1.03.03 and I can not change the setting under performance profile (system program -> power conservation) I cant choose the first of the three options (Performance). Is this because my version of hotkey is out of date?? I am confused about the overall purpose of this program other than the ability to change the colors of the keyboard back light. I am not a computer whiz by any means and I appreciate your help.
thanks
oz

 

Can you take a screenshot or photo of what you mean and post it up?

 

This is the option that appears but is unavailable for selection.

Hotkey by oz.graff posted May 15, 2015 at 8:39 AM

 

It will be non selectable on battery yes.

 

Speaking of the battery how much video movie time will I get at lowest settings? What times do you get for movie playback on battery?

thanks in advance

 

You should get 2.5-3 hours if it's set up correctly using the optical drive.

 

So in comparison with the zm models how much of a difference do you think that is? And do you think the prices on this unit will be lowered before the internals are eventually discontinued and replaced ?

This question was asked a few times already but yeah when using xtu many users reported that thier 8gb 980m was not showing up correctly. Try using nvidia inspector to verify it.

 

It's about 2-2.5 times what they tend to get.

 

I would love to see a newer model refresh to these with skylake being introduced later this year. The only sad thing is that the cpu would be soldered but if the gpu is still mxm it would still appeal to many I think. I'm hoping that the rumored new skylake mobile xeon will be socked :
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/mobile-skylake-launching-september-2015.776276/

 

I very much doubt it would be socketed.

 

I hear ya, well no love lost with intel for me, still curious to see whats next or what the new chips will do and if the prices on the current haswell refreshes will be reduced after a season. Still mad I missed the i7 4810mq $35 sale price that ended in November. Ah well Ive waited so long doesn't hurt waiting a lil more to see whats next I reckon.

Ps:
Does anyone know if this machine will have optimus issues? I have been told over and over how optimus is not good for hdmi gaming or drivers and is only good for battery life but people on many forums are telling me its not worth it.

 

Would you still recommend this laptop, considering the price drops it's seen as of late? Currently it's possible to get a 980m in the NP8268-S configuration at XoticPC without breaking $1600 USD (factoring in the cash discount). I'm aware that the NP8652 base model should be very similar performance wise, but with a sort of better screen (whether it's really night and day and a graphics professional would be happy with it isn't something I know) instead of a 120 GB msata drive. It's also thinner and lighter, but I'm not all that worried about those two things right now. Also kind of wondering how the keyboard in this stacks up against the rather similar in looks and feature wise (other than gaming macro key utilities being built in) keyboard in the Batman.

 

I figured I'll reply to you considering I know how it feels to be ignored and I'm still waiting for a reply of my own. The price has not really dropped all they did was omit one of the dvd drive options so the price for the base looks like less but its the same base prices minus a bluray reader. If anything the price went up and one time you could get a better cpu for only $35 dollars more now the 4810mq is $175 extra.

 

It was a sale, and I can let go of what I didn't get because the price used to be higher on the base laptop itself when that was going on; I'm pretty sure about that.

And I actually haven't been ignored too much on here. Any posts I really want answers or comments to get answers or comments.

The NP8268 is going to be gone soon, and it looks like it's become the best deal you can get on 980m full vram setup in the process. It cools well, and other than the screen and size is on par with all the newer gaming laptops.

 

You'll always get the best deals on models they are looking to clear.

 

Yeah but it was always the lowest price option though, I know because I've been following these machines for years and its kinda sad to see these mobiles go since word around town is the replacements will have soldered cpu's. It is on sale now you save about $30 for the lowest base config but personally I think the best sale was with the upgraded 4810cpu for just $35 extra when the 900m series just released. @ I was just having some fun with the ignored comment I made, I saw your post was unanswered for a little while. Naturally its not true as I would not have even replied to you LOL sometimes things asked may get skipped like every forum but yea eventually people will respond in some way.

 

The zm is the spiritual replacement for the HM of old and is taking over the role of the P150 systems.

 

*nods* I considered springing for a ZM, but honestly? I have to admit that the system itself should be replaced by the time i'd consider upgrading anything. I just don't have the money to go nuts with computer stuff the way I'd like, and I won't for at least 3 years at best. That considered, the NP8268 checks all my boxes. I get the impression Optimus actually works really well and considerably fewer games freak out about it than SLI. Assuming it allows the 980m to power through pretty much all games at excellent settings, I think I'll be happy with a P150 sm-a until the next time I need a laptop. As far as I understand it should easily last 5 years. Knock on wood, of course, since parts can and do spontaneously break before that mark sometimes.

 

Yes much less issues than sli by a long way.

 

so far no DSR because of optimus. no other problems with it though.

 

I think a lot of issues came when it seemed to be getting in the way of upgrading the GPU, that's where a lot of the dislike on here came from. Early on (several years back) at launch there were performance/detection issues too.

 

Well thats it folks !!!! They have pulled the 8268 and the 8268-s off of the retail online sights for most vendors. Of course the one that's left is the more expensive 8268s2. Rip to one of the finest customizable laptops ever made.

 

The chassis had a good run.

 

oh does that mean that the chassis for P150SM-A won't be renewed anymore, and for upgrades, we'll have to literally buy and migrate to a newer chassis (i'm assuming the ZM series?)

 

The clevo p150sm-a/np8268 and all related series will not be used anymore or supported. The zm series tbh is on its way out since those mobos will not be compatible with the upcoming skylake which is the haswell/broadwell official replacement. With that said you may be able to continue to upgrade the gpu's if compatible but yes the chassis discontinued.

 

The P6xx/P7xx series has replaced it since they used the z height bonus of a soldered CPU since they had to use one anyway or gone desktop to retain the socket.

 

Anyone testing Windows 10 on their 8268? Wondering if there are any compatibility problems.

Also wondering how the 970m games in Windows 10.

 

Win10 and 8268 is fine. all the drivers work, even the fingerprint reader. Just watch out for NVIDIA drivers on windows update, which can be a bit fussy to work.

Anyone know about external GPU support with this chassis? Can this pci-e equipment connect anywhere to the device? Thinking about buying a docking station for use with a 4k monitor, since $500 - $800 is a bit much for a GPU upgrade.

http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-External-PCI-E-Graphics-Card/dp/B00Q4VMLF6

 

There would only be the 1x PCI-E 2.0 from the wireless card slot unless you broke out the MXM slot.

 

this is quite disheartening it. I guess i'll just have to double down and hope the MXM doesn't get shafted (like newer MXM standards).

Now really feeling buyer's remorse for a Clevo system. :/

 

Thanks for the info. Is 1x PCI-E 2.0 is only like 500 MB/s right? I'm guessing there's no way to get the full 16x 8GB/S I/O needed for a decent GPU...

 

Only by getting it from the MXM slot like I said but the EC unit wont like that very much.

 

Dont feel too bad, the cpu's wont get dated that quickly in terms of performance and the mxm might continue for a while.

 

hopefully. yeah.

But as of my own configuration, by the time i could save up the money for an "extreme" mobile CPU + a next gen GPU upgrade, it would almost cost for a new gen "lowest base" clevo laptop / mid-high end desktop, hahaha.
What a bad dillema.


By the way, i'm not sure if I should be asking here, but I noticed that my Clevo supplier gave me a 180W brick. Is there any other bricks that i should use if I want to go overclocking on the GPU? (i'm using a 980M, all stock I believe, oddly the MSI tuner allows me to overclock, but i have no idea to see if my bios and vbios are unlocked or not)
I'm using an intel i7-4710MQ, if its of any help.

I'm just afraid going to overclock the GPU (makes no sense to overclock the CPU anyway, at least that's what I'm led to believe) will cause the 180w to go poof with such a 'small' power load?

 

Your right about the cost of upgrading that thing and for the gpu its worth it but for the cpu i dont think it is. The base i7 4710 is enough for most games and the gpu is the only thing that might need a upgrade but even that wont really be needed since you will be able to play games the entire life span of the ps4/xb1 and then some until it hits a point you cant play games or want to upgrade.

The 180w brick is enough to do the plus 135 gpu OC but many users reported that the 240w psu would give more room to grow. With the 980m you really dont even need to OC and at best will only give a few more frames if any. Btw you can overclock the cpu with xtu by a few hundred points and make it more like a stock 4810 but even then the difference is minimal also if playing games. Prema does have bios you can use to make more power but you may need a better psu to take advantage of that.

The point is the machine you have can last a while so no need for buyers remorse.

 

Alright. Taking into account of what you've said, I'll try to research more.

There's this one that really excites me, about one guy who had 10K 3dmark scores, and turns out he hit 1300MHz for core clock and 1400MHz for memory clock. Considering the fact that when I pushed +135/200 (that is with everything stock, done via MSI afterburner) and only managing a meagre 8.5k points (much better than the situation I used to post way back in another thread where I was dissapointed with only having being 6.7k 3dmark score), well it does give some hope for the 980M.

But again, as like you've said, I've underestimated the longetivity of the machine, and the p150sm series as a whole even with the fact that the series is now discontinued. Many thanks again, @MichaelKnight4Christ

 

You have a long ways to go with that machine before its even close to being outdated plus you also have last ditch upgrade options that other machines wished they had. I'm glad you found whatever I said helpful I really like those sm-a 's wish I had one.

 

eh? last ditch upgrade options? Can you care to elaborate? Other than the GPU and the CPU, I don't see anything that can be upgraded anymore? (except if you're talking about the widescreen panel, and that's even a rarity to find ones with 95% gamut).

If it was me though, if I had known I would have witheld, but if had to choose between the P150family (which is how I ended up with the 150sm-a) I would probably have opted for the 157 for its better cooling options + extra slot for a HDD. Hahaha, I literally live and die by this laptop since i'm always on the move, so you can see why I'm aghast and felt buyer's remorse when they say that the p150 family was discontinued, and etc etc etc.

 

Last ditch upgrade options meaning if you want to upgrade or repair certain parts you can. The system is easy to open up and you can upgrade or repair parts at your own time and pace. The psu can be upgraded and the ram can also be updated in addition to the xtu tuning and bios gpu OC. You can also upgrade the cooling pipes and even the paste too.

 

That's the first time I've heard that the cooling pipes can be upgraded. I think in Malaysia where I live (where its perpetually super humid summer all year round), so any extra cooling options that I can dig in to, I would love to, but of course I dont' think it can beat the now legendary P7xxZM series where they can go 75c max on full load, unlike the p150sm series that can easily go over 90c even on normal loads.

 

Yeah they have copper cooling pipes available for those models that you can upgrade with. How long ago did you purchase the sma because if you have remorse then maybe you can return it for a zm instead if you still have time on the return policy. Just know with the Zm you would have to do some work to get them that cool plus you have to hope you get a good unit in the silicon jackpot since temps and performance can vary from user to user. A mandatory delid and some xtu tuning/undervolting would be needed to get those temps to that kind of level.

 

i actually did try to attempt to go for a return, but they asked for a migration instead, and for the total cost that I paid for, i guessed i could max out my p150sm and pay for some GPU ugprades along the line.

I paid for around USD 2500 (rough calculation based on today's value, not based on the value i bought back in january 2015) for everything that's in my system now (inclusive of a keyboard repair, and some custom paint job that was just ridiculously bad the 2nd time they repainted due to some flaws). Migrating to a ZM would cost me another USD1500, and that's something i wasn't willing to do, since i don't have that much cash, and it would made me look like a complete fool (because i could buy few desktops with that), so in the end i stuck with my p150sm-a haha.

 

Seriously its not the worst thing to have the sm though as we discussed, you would have to mod the zm to get it that cool and the sma is actually pretty cool with the maxwell gpu. In your type of climate even if you had the zm temps will still be similar. The zm was also more expensive than the sma. Also the zm is no longer upgradable cpu wise either since skylake will not use the lga 1150 socket Haswell used. The sma is a better bang for the buck IMO and will last just as long as the zm since they both use the same mxm slot. Stop feeling bad it could be worse you have a really nice pc that has the potential to last a really long time.

 

yeap yeap, i did. You did cheer me up a few posts up above, hehe. I am truly grateful. It just shows that I have a lot to learn when it comes to owning a Clevo based laptop. Clearly i'm underestimating it, like you said.

I think I have some vague idea as to what I would do to max out the laptop (i mean its near maxed out anyway, and i just have to prioritize things that I need, not simply gobling up everything. I'm sorry if i give the impression that i'm still sulking, when in actuality I was cheered up somewhat after your posts. Again, I want to thank you again for your insights. It truly does, how should I say.. "opened up my eyes". Thanks again.

++ adding up:
Just that, i'm still leaning on some really crazy ideas of modding, if what i'm thinking actually exist, or it may never. Just saying, i'm open to modding up the laptop since that its discontinued and all.

 

My pleasure I appreciate your kind words and I'm glad to hear I cheered you up. Remember you have many options on that machine when it comes to upgrades and in a few years those upgrade parts may become less expensive over time yet there still very strong performing hardware. Skylake mobile i7 chips wont even be as strong as the 4910mq or the 4940mx that you have the option of upgrading to after some time you might feel the need to increase your power on this machine. The first mod I would do is a repaste even if you already have ICD that you ordered with it. Many users improve temps just by repasting it themselves along with a cooling fan or even lifting the back up as JB,HT, and D2 mentioned in the past.

 

hi, does anyone know how or where can i get the default color profile for the p150sm-a, that came along with the windows 10?

I was stupid enough to not make a backup of the ICC file, and popped in the colour profile (which I believe was meant for windows 8), and it switched everything (gamma, contrast, brightness) etc all the way up the roof, and I've got no way to restore it.


Any advice people?

 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...r/7553a387-0965-4639-94c0-b21af6ab1e8c?auth=1

Is for windows 8 but I assume 10 will be similar.

 

You could possibly try reaching out to the manufacturer/reseller where you got your computer and see if they would have access to it as well.

 

they actually told me to go to another professional calibrator.. (then again i will waste USD100 just for shipping to them to recalibrate it). So they asked me to find another professional colour tuner to do it (to which... in my town there isn't).

 

Wow thats too bad pal, has the problem been fixed at all? Looks like your spending unnecessary money. Machines are so sensitive and delicate these days especially with new os that I don't do anything unless I know I have a back up restore and boot disk or a simple dual boot. Have you tried reverting back to win 7 or 8 and reinstalling the drivers?