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

Well then that makes more sense. So SM/SM-A should run any MXM card with modded drivers, no need for BIOS mod to POST?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

hey guys, I just received this laptop and the gtx 870 is showing only 4gb of video ram. Is this normal? I'm running windows 7 if that helps.

 

We have heard this a few time, it is usually the software reporting it wrong as the higher amount vRAM GPU's are so new. What software are you using thats reporting 4GB?

 

I'm running Intel xtu and cpu-z

 

Try nvidia inspector, but if your card is showing as 256bit it must be 8GB since no compatible 4GB cards were ever made.

 

Thanks I'll try that once I get home.

 

Anyone else having problems getting sound to work correctly out of the headphone jack? I plugged in my headphones and did the test from Windows sound properties. The test sound came out but only on the right "speaker".

I have no issues when using digital out or when using the builtin speakers.

 

Maybe try reinstalling the drivers?

 

Did you make sure it was set to 2.1 when the headphones were in? Do they work ok in other devices?

 

Also,I'm playing StarCraft 2 wings of liberty and there seems to be a lag? I maxed out the settings and all but the gtx870m shouldn't be lagging right? Note the dgpu light is on...thanks.

 

What sort of lag? Frame skipping? SC2 is notorious for being more of a cpu hog, check your cpu loading level/temperatures/frequencies (intel xtu is a good monitoring tool)

 

Like choppy scrolling. The CPU doesn't appear to break 16% of utilization over a 10 min session.

 

Ok what about using a program like gpu-z to look at your clocks/utilisation/temperature of your gpu?

 

Thanks for the excellent review, HTWingNut! Definitely persuaded me towards this model (by upgrading the GPU to 980M 8GB). I am almost there. The main competition to this is the Gigabyte P35xv3, so far. It offers thinner and lighter form-factor albeit with possible trade-offs in cooling/fan-noise.

The screen option is the only pending item on this for me.

 

I got a Clevo P150SM-A from Pro-Star recently... it is a typical model, nothing fancy : i4810 CPU, 2x8Gb (regular, not CL9) RAM, 1msata + 1HDD (7200)... and Nvidia GTX870m/6Gb - and this card creates a lot of problems for me - when you switch your computer and NVidia drivers/software start to load the notebook goes berserk, fans start working full RPM and (I'd assume) thermal overheating (not real I guess, but rather what system "detects") makes notebook to start beeping loudly flashing 3 blue lights on the left side of keyboard... note that there is no overclocking of any kind and I even did not run any software yet that is really using the dGPU... now I might be able to live with fan (by throttling it manually down) - but it seems there is no way to eliminate the irritating beeping... checking temperatures with tools like Aida64, etc does not show anything abnormal.

I put Prema bios in - that reduces the problem somewhat (however it does not eliminate it completely)... the only way to get the notebook function normally is to disable dGPU in Windows 8.1 and stay with only iGPU (Intel HD 4600)... I am not playing any games (and not going to) and I am not interested in overclocking the system - I only need dGPU severa times a week for a raw converter (CaptureOne) - in Photoshop I can live w/o using dGPU (and it is not using it that much anyways)... so what are my options ?

is it a defective installation of dGPU or copper cooling system ?
is it a defective design by Clevo ? they are apparently not able to design something that will properly manage fans
is it a problem with nVidia drivers/software (the fan and beeping starts when they are loading during 8.1 boot - once I disable dGPU in Windows 8.1 - everything works like a charm)

now if I have Prema bios in the notebook is there a way to throttle dGPU down... I mean I OK if it will function with lesser performance for as long as it sill work w/o that noise.

PS: how do you people manage to live with *80m -series dGPU in your notebooks and using them for hours gaming at all ?

 

I'd phone and talk to your reseller, get them to lead you through some diagnostics over the phone. They will take it back if they think it's something that needs looking at.

 

Does anyone know which MSI steel series keyboard this is referring to, I'd like to get this and install for my 8258 ( should I order it ) since right now the current inline keyboard is a deal breaker for me, and I've been reading that this has been done on the p-150 (8268) so not seeing why it wouldn't do the same for the 8268, granted I'm aware XoticPC is no longer allowed to install it, but wondering if there are tutorials required for this or if its a simple snap in.

If anyone has the information I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

Later models of sagers AND steelseries keyboards have broken compatibility as far as I am aware.

 

People,

I have been researching the NP8268 for a while now and so far I've seen the following caveats being brought up. I was hoping some of the owners here can lend their opinion on these points:

1. Default screen - how does the display look for playing games and watching HD movies? How are the viewing angles? Is the upgrade to the 95% NTSC really worth it?

2. Headphone jack - I have read some complaints on the xoticpc forums on the headphone jack not performing up to par on these models, or hearing a buzzing noise. Any feedback on that? HT referred to just the built-in speakers, don't think he plugged in any fones.

3. Keyboard - reading very mixed reviews on this, but at this point I might just be ok with whatever the default is. How does it feel to type on this for long hours?

4. Trackpad - Is the trackpad smooth and responsive? I understand some of these can be fixed through software. I don't plan on getting an external mouse or keyboard, so these things are relevant to me.

Thanks!

 

Hey pal, can one of you sager/clevo owners tell me if the pc can run plugged in without a battery ? I managed to save my battery life for years by disconnecting the battery when not in portable use mode just wondering if the same can be done for the p150sm-a models.

 

Yes it will run but one of the feet will be effectively missing.

 

Thanks pal so effectively what your saying is that it will run without the battery but it is in danger of not cooling due to the missing peg stand thats on the battery pack. As long as the machine will activate without the battery while being plugged in then i'm fine.

 

While it will run we do suggest keeping it in the notebook to serve the same purpose of a UPS for desktops, so you dont have sudden shut downs from power spikes.

 

Relax pal, I always use surge protectors even so Ive done this with all my note books and they have lasted the test of time. My acer for ex is 10 years old and my hp which I currently game on is about 5 yrs old. I do understand why you said that and I was thinking about mentioning that in my last post even. I rather remove the battery and save it for when I really need it especially since most likely there is no smart adaptive battery charging on it. I know li batteries go bad over time but I managed to keep mine a lot longer this way. Speaking of which its too bad there is no optional bigger battery. I'm real surprised there isn't even a aftermarket one from china by now.

 

I hope this helps!

 

I do prefer the touchpad of the Sager NP8258 (157SM) since it's not rubber coated.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Finally! 980m in this P150SM-A!

Very happy with the combo:
I7-4810mq @4gh
16GB Ram
Nvidia 980m GTX

Tried Catzilla bench 720p 17500 Catzilla Computer Benchmark - ShowTopList

CPU Temps during bench: 65-69c
GPU Temp : 67c
Power draw from wall max 160W
Idle 15-16w
Room temp 20.5c

With ref to my 970gtx catzilla score of 18000-20000.

 

My dream laptop! Congratulations. Are those temp without cooler/propping? Can you run some graphic demanding game like witcher 2 or something like that and check out the temp?

 

Witcher 2 managed to 68c on gpu, on cpu61-68, did enable vsync tho, it ran without breaking a sweat. Maxed cept for uber and aa. Lets just say the 980m eats everything alive without chewing. xD

Ran Lost Planet 2 vsync off managed to max out wattage of 180w from the wall, 79c max cpu, gpu 64c max, Laptop is propped up you could say.

 

Hmm there is a new version of the hotkey software, but it references an updated BIOS version. Am I blind or is it damned difficult to find BIOS updates for this model?

 

Apparently they're not being officially published, You can try Clevo mirror or prema modded bioses, or send an email to your original seller. However don't hold your breath, I have a brand new 8268-S with 970m, bios 1.03.05LRS1, EC 1.03.06, just installed this hotkey 2.35.55 and selecting custom fan profile doesn't make any difference. It still behaves like automatic. There are some values written into EC (you can see in RWEverything) but CPU fan still starts at 55, stops at 40, regardless of what is set in the custom fan profile.

 

Yeah I'm not having a lot of luck, and the Prema bios for the 8268-S is several months old now. It's frustrating with how the fan functions more than anything.

 

Benchmarks ? Mine should be coming in today and i wanna make sure my temps/benchmarks are normal.

 

Okay i have had the laptop for a little under an hour now and i have a couple of questions.

Anyone know where i can get a full explanation for the control centre ? Pressing the big A key turns off the annoying capslock/numlock nottifications and im sure the airplane is airplane mode but i have no idea what the other two do and its not in either the hard copy manual or on the cd.

Secondly, and this is really annoying me now, every tem minutes or so something on my laptop ramps up quite loudly. I imagine its the fan but my temps are very good as i haven't been gaming and its on a laptop cooler. Possibly the harddrive ? This is a pretty big deal if i have to take it into a work enviroment.

 

try prema modified bios = Prema Mod | Your freedom, Your choice , it fixed my issues with Clevo P150SM-A based notebook

 

Sadly i don't think i have enough knowledge to mess with my laptop without runing it. If anything my annoyances run the other way; when i spend over a grand for a laptop i expect it to come pretty much perfect. Now i find i have to tinker with it just to do basic things like not turn on the jets for absoluetely no reason or play video games without the game crashing for no apparent reason, which it just did on the Witcher 2.

Anyway tommorow i have a day off so i can finally run some benchmarks and try to get to grips with it otherwise i might just return it.

 

Hi eric, I was researching Sounds cards and am looking at a bunch of Creative and Fiio options. How did you choose this particular one?

 

I went with the recon 3d since it offers hardware sound processing.

 

people buy Canon 5DmkIII ($3K+ new body) and yet put the custom Magic Lantern bios in it because they are not happy with the functionality that Canon provides... I didn't have any experience with custom bios for notebooks before - I just read the instructions twice, but well I was not interested (hassle) to return it (~$1450 as charged) back to dealer or live with fan noise and overheating beeps... I read that there are dealers like Mythlogic that allegedly put Prema modifies bios in shipped notebooks - so may be just buy from that dealer.

 

So what was your problem with it and what did it do for you ? I also would hate to retunr it but for the £1300 i paid for it i expect a polished laptop.

 

Well I get my P150SM-A on Thursday. I'll be glad to have a very good gaming laptop that will also be good for my business as well. I appreciate all of the information in this thread and all the others, which made choosing my laptop a much easier experience.

 

A lot of people get it for just that reason, a high performance machine that wont raise eye brows at the office.

 

Thats what i thought when i bought it but now im not so sure. You might be able to get away with it in an office enviroment but i don't think the randomly bursting fans would let you get away with it in a library or a conference room.

 

as I noted - my problem with my P150SM-A was that when windows 8.1 starts to boot and load drivers/start services/etc (every single boot that was happening) fans begin to work at max rpm (= very noisy) and 3 blue-lights/loud beeping indicate that something allegedly is overheating (which I am pretty sure was not the case)... I solved my own issue with 3 things - installed bios modified by Prema, rolled back Nvidia drivers back to the version posted by vendor (not the latest posted by Nvidia), blocked Nvidia control application from starting... now for several weeks already I have no issues... may be bios alone is enough, but I am not in the mood for any experiments - I do not use it for any gaming... I only need for an above average power notebook within my budget that can run smoothly C1 raw converter and I need 32 gb RAM in a compact body that I can haul between home and work (I do not need notebook's LCD display, keyboard or touchpad - just a body with relatively good CPU, relatively good dGPU and 4 SO-DIMM slots that fits in a shouder bag - was not able to find mini/micro PC that fit the bill featurewise vs size/shape)

 

work in this model corsair vengeance 2x4gb or 2x8gb 2133 cas 11? no issues?

 

Prime95 Large FFT - CPU stable 89c with fans in auto, with fans at max it drops to 79c (max core temp, the spread was some 5c)
MSI Kombustor, Titan profile 1080p, GPU stable at 68c with fans in auto, fans at max drop it only to 65c

This is with 4810MQ and 970m, sitting flat on a wooden desk in a fairly warm room. I like it and will keep it. My take on this revision:

Pros:

• Doesn't break a sweat under load, temps are ok, fans are fairly quiet, surface temperatures cool. First time I run Primes I thought something was wrong, the fan speed barely increased and based on other Clevo comments I was expecting jet engine noise.
• Small outline dimensions. All the 'thin and light' 15 inch laptops have borderline 17 inch laptop dimensions. I know it is only an inch or half in width and depth, but for me it is a difference whether I'm able to put my bag vertically in an airplane overhead compartment or not. Plus I hate those thick bezels around LCD.
• Super easy to access all components
• 'Legacy' drives, mSATA and CD drive. M.2 using PCIe are few and expensive, while mSATA is at sweet spot right now. Having CD and still three other drives is handy in my line of work.
• 32 GB RAM.
• Easily available spare parts (try to get a replacement battery for gigabyte laptops, lol)
• Surprisingly good build quality
• Looks like a workstation and not a toy

Cons:

• Not that much of a difference in fan noise between load and idle. What I consider 'quiet' under load becomes annoying at idle. The lowest fan setting is simply too high, which leads to endless start-stop cycles, with CPU bouncing between 40 and 55c. I'd much rather prefer the fan to be steady low speed while keeping CPU at 50c.
• Screen. My came with AUO B156HW02 v1. While it has really good brightness and contract it is hopelessly shifted to the blue. I applied some color profile I've found for that screen and it helped a lot in Windows, but while gaming my eyes were bleeding. I got a good copy of B156HW01 v4 off ebay and that obviously solved the problem with colors, but the brightness and contrast are worse. Oh well.
• Rubberized touchpad.
• Battery life. I'm getting under 3 hrs while doing office type work, browsing etc.

For me this is as good as it gets. If it had an IPS screen and better fan control it would be perfect.

 

I get the idea every once in a while to see if I can find a better screen for it, but most of the time I have it plugged into a 30" and 24" monitor so it's not a priority. The fan ramping up and down all the time is what annoys me the most about this system. Your point about a lower consistent speed is spot on. I would vastly prefer that to what it does right now.

 

Hey pal I want to thank the reviewer who made this thread and all those who chimed in. I am falling in love with this laptop even though I didn't buy it from what I see this seems to have what I want for major gaming. If I bought this with the 6gb 970m or especially the 980m 8gb vram I am sure it would last the entire current ps4/x1 generation.

I have a few more questions for those who have this clevo model or even other similar spec clevo pc models:

*If you have the 6gb 970m do you feel confident with that ? or do you wish you had the 980m?

*I have a 90w targus portable adapter, will I be able to use that charger if I am only using igpu/cpu only I believe the cpu is 47w so will my portable charger work for that instance instead of the huge brick?

*Is it possible to use different intel cpu's ? If you have older clevos were you able to upgrade your cpu ? I know the mxm b has been a great swapper for about 3 years or more but what about the cpu ? I know only the model i7 user upgrade choices are only supposed to work but has anyone modded the bios to use other chips successfully ?

*The mxm type b has been going on strong for some time now , how much longer you all think it will carry on ?

*when will clevo release a upgrade for these 8268/p150sma models ?

*Finally lets say they stop using mxm b and move on to mxm c or the dreaded all integration..... will I have another method to upgrade to lets say a docking station solution? is this sager/clevo compatible with vidock like upgrades?

 

Thanks for your review Thysan; i agree with you almost entirely though I haven't tried out the battery life yet. But even then 3 hours is more than enough for my needs.

Must be a very warm room indeed. With ambient temps of around 15c i never broke 70c while running Firestrike and other benchmarks and this was on the standard low-speed fans and my laptop cooler turned off. As far as i'm concerned temps for this laptop are mythically good.

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  I definitely agree with this though and i'm still not sure how to fix this without installing PermaBios. I went and downloaded MSI Afterburner to manually control my fan speeds and yet the option never came up making me think the bios has blocked it somehow. I have a lot of free time this week though so I should get this issue solved soon.
  
  If you want to see what people are talking about when they mention the jet engines though go to the control centre and under the system program tab change your fan speed from auto to max. My eyes popped when i heard them for the first time, especially when coming from the much more modest MSI GX640.
  
  
  I haven't really noticed anything wrong with my screen. Though you seem to be a graphics professional so i imagine you would be more knowledgeable in this regard.
  
  
  64 player BF4 maps on maximum settings at an avg of 60fps with massive headroom for overclocking, what more could you possibly want ? I might wish i went with the 980 when Star Citizen comes out but that's the only game coming out in the near future i can think of that could tax my GPU too hard. Sadly i'm not knowledgeable enough to answer the rest of your questions.