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

No, the dimensions of the speakers are different.

 

Does anyone have a completely stock clevo GTX 880m vBios for me? I just want to compare temperatures and I can't seem to find mine. (You retrieve your current vBios in GPU-Z with the little green icon next to the bios ID).

 

I have the stock vbios. Send me s pm and I will send you a dropbox link.

 

I have a few questions about this model for the owners. Do any of you game using an external 3d monitor? Does this notebook when equipped with 900m cards run compatible with nvidia 3d vision? I like to game in 3d using my 55in passive 3dtv and before I buy anything I want to check with you to avoid potential disappointment. Will the 900m series gpu's allow me to game in 3d using 3d vision?

 

Yes you can use an external emitter and 3d will work with a 3d display however that display must be 3dvision ready, 3d tvs are not usually supported. However without 3d vision you can play 3d bluray movies using your machine since the playback program should be able to output the right sort of frame for the TV to composite into 3d for you.

 

hi guys anyone share settings for x-fi audio? i would best audio settings possibility. anyone help me?

 

Sorry to reply here. I have this particular laptop and I have not been able to use the eSATA port as such. Any suggestions? I reformatted the hard drive a few months back and maybe I missed a driver? Any help or link to another article would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

No problem at all and welcome to NBR. Can you tell us what you are trying to connect to it?

 

Strange, my esata works fine without any drivers. Is it linked to the usb 3 drivers from intel by any chance? The port is a combo esata with usb3 so that might help.

 

Hi folks.

As of writing its 17th January, 2015. I finally received my laptop on 12th January, 2015.

I'm not sure about the rules here about linking to external reviews (since I wrote a user review, so i'm going to copy paste here if there are people interested in it)

However, to the question about temperatures and also noise:


Temperature:
1) Here where I live is hot, and humid. (Malaysia. Its sandwiched between Thailand and Singapore). I haven't actually got the fans fully running in full blast mode, despite my usage. I don't have a thermal gun, so I don't even know HOW to check the GPU and CPU temperature while and post gaming. Any advices would be much appreciated. But i've never heard the fan going on full (i've set it to go full when it hits 60, which is the minimum)

2) Cooling noise
I turned the fan by FN+1 and frankly speaking my older Compaq Presario V3840TU makes even louder noise than this. The speakers on full volume overcomes this. On half (50%, not that noticeable, or maybe because i'm so used to hearing other background noises, that it's become white noise).

Maybe I should put my review here (which is only based on impression), but i don't know how to copy paste pictures from another place to here LOL

 

Hey Everyone,

I upgraded my 8268 from 870m to 970m. Everything working fine as it appears but the thing is in BIOS the card is not getting recognized although windows identify it at once.
Not sure if this is some sort of issue or just because I didn't update BIOS.
If BIOS is the case then do I need to update, because I would only like to do that in case it affect GPU performance somehow ?
Kindly suggest.
Thanks.

 

No, it should not cause any issues.

 

OMG has ANYONE figured out how to stop the screen dimming when going from a light to a dark background with this computer? I have tried everything and it drives me CRAZY!!!!!!

otherwise, a good comp. I have had it for almost a year now - no problems

 

Does buying this machine in the currently offered configuration still make sense? My NP8130 seems to be dead, but I've been holding out for a Broadwell refresh..

 

Depends on what you do with the computer. Unless you are doing a lot of CPU intensive programs Broadwell may not benefit you much, the Haswell CPU's are very capable. The Nvidia 900M series have really lived up to the hype too. If you're after gaming the current models are really good choices.

 

Has anyone had any had any issue getting the keyboard to work after taking it off to access the underneath? I can't seem to get the cable to seat properly or register. Has anyone done this successfully and maybe have pictures I can reference in case I'm just being stupid?

 

has anyone tried a sager 230W PSU with an adapter and work OK? i can't seem to get a straight answer.

 

In windows power mode. Your current power setting -> advanced settings -> Intel Graphics settings -> Maximum performance.

 

Hi.

I'm curious, so please don't shoot me if i'm asking a bad question.

There's 2 MSATA slots on this, and 2 slots for normal HDD (the other one is by removing the DVD ROM and have a caddy case). My question is, for the normal HDD, (not via the MSATA slots), what's the biggest HDD you can fit in there?

1TB? 2TB?

I'm just curious.

 

I've run a 240W dell brick hard modded (cable replaced) with the chassis type before. Just be sure the polarity is ok with any adapters.

 

hi folks, I need some help.

I'm seeing people on this thread looking around for 230-240W power supply.

I'm on 180W and from what I've read, (since I do own a P150SM-A), that means i won't be able to use full power?

 

Stock should be fine with a 180W brick, a higher rated one is for those who wish to push the system beyond stock.

 

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

 

Just got mine today and same exact issue.

***Fixed*** After SP1. fixed it self.

 

So this is the like the official owner lounge? For NP 8268?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231776

Can use or only 1600?

 

You van use 2133 with BIOS modo or max 1866 MHz plug AnD play

Inviato dal mio SM-G900F con Tapatalk 2

 

The price for a configuration with the intel i7 4810 is now up to $175.00. I cant believe mere months ago it was only $35.00 whoever got it at that time with a 900m card made out like a bandit. Broadwell hurry the heck up will ya, im dying to see what a 4core of those can do and how much it will be.

My question to the resellers is when will I be able to get that 4810 at a reasonable price again?

 

There were sales a few months ago everytime it either drops or becomes a free upgrade from the 4700, sometimes the 4910 becomes only 175$ or 150$ upgrade vs 300.

Sadly broadwell is more than likely gonna run just as hot if not hotter than Haswell... The generation of enthusiasts is dying for now until either skylake or cannonlake sadly. Given what current broadwell mobile chips (for laptops/tablets) are already doing in the market.

 

Broadwell should be a little more efficient but not anything amazing just slight tweaks.

 

I would have loved to have seen a deal like that but what vendors do you know that do those kind of specials? For the states I pretty much watch xotic pc and lpc digital and a few others but never came across deals like those. I have been watching this book for a while and the i7 4910 has never been on sale so maybe you can recommend a vendor.

What amazes me though with the 4810 is not the lack of discounts but the price actually rising ....I need a seller to explain how it goes from $135 to $35 to $150 then to $175. Why do you think i'm waiting for broadwell. It may reduce the prices.

I think for these clevo's every bit of efficiency helps as the battery life is always the weakest link. It should improve the speed as well, not amazing numbers but I'm pretty sure the base option on future broadwell will out preform the current i7 4710.

 

Broadwell will be all soldered chips and is supposedly only 5% faster than Haswell from what I've read. I wouldn't hedge my bets on Broadwell being anything worthwhile and with all the delays, might as well wait for Skylake at this point.

 

For a gamer I would just get an i7 at time of purchase, you won't need to worry for some time about cpu performance as gpu matters more.

 

Bios modo? Like perma mod?

 

Yeah but where did you hear this news from? Although it does sound plausible it hasn't been confirmed from intel. And I can wait thankfully I'm in no hurry. I look forward to seeing some refreshed clevo P15x/17x's since the cpu options on the current haswell 8100 is going up$$$ in prices.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-14nm-broadwell-y-core-m,3904.html

There are some benchmarks I don't trust demonstrating a measly 3% IPC increase over Haswell as well.

With Skylake set to be coming in August (I'm not holding my breath so I'm going to say December is a safe bet) with a whole new architecture, Broadwell makes no sense in my mind.

 

I hear ya pal, one big waiting game. It would be kinda neat to get a new chipset with, a new nvidea card and windows x all in one. About the article tho it is a bit dated and we dont know for sure if all the broadwell performance chips will be soldered yet. I never expected much speed gain but I am curious how much more efficient and cooler the broadwells will run. Skylake desktop might be out before the mobile chips and with all the delays with broadwell I'm sure skylake will be delayed also.

If I see a np 8268 with a cheap 8100 cpu or 9100 discount im going for it. I was supposed to have this thing since november lol. The day I go to pull the trigger they raised the prices on that i7. Then they announced the batbook (zm desktop cpu) and I waited even more. I never thought I would be so close to much more new things but I am.

 

hi folks, I've got another question here.

Are there any "mods" we can do with this machine?

e.g: screen mods, speaker mods, keyboard mods, etc.

i'm aware that most hardware related mods depend on the motherboard change (and if i do change the motherboard or the GPU, it would be near 1000USD for me, per piece, something a mental note for the future)


and this sounds like an absurbly crazy question, but are the displayports behind able to be converted to USB ports? Its just that i've never really understood this tech, as the P150SM-A comes with one full sized displayport, and one miniaturized displayport and 1 HDMI (theorically speaking, that makes it 4 screens supported one go, right? Unless the optimus is locked at 2 screens)

any advice, folks?

 

Displayport and USB are quite different so no, even with soldering on new connectors.

Modding just for the sake of it seems odd, what are you trying to achieve exactly?

The IGP is capable of 3 displays at once using two external displayports (HDMI + 2xDP or 2xDP + internal). If you want to use the internal display and HDMI then you wont be able to use a DP monitor too.

 

So... how easy is this to do? I'm assuming you swap the cable that goes from the laptop into the psu. Is there any soldering required? Do you need to take the brick apart?

 

Yes it requires taking it apart and soldering. I posted up a guide a while ago now.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-connector-around-lets-do-it-properly.688665/

 

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

 

Not a problem, just heed the warnings

 

Hi there thanks for the reply.

I didn't had use for the displays, so I thought for whatever reasons there are means to give the laptop more USB ports, but I think i'll just use a USB hub / switch.

And maybe other mods i can think of

a) keyboard mod
b) speaker mod
c) screen mod (i'm using a TN panel, and i think its 72% gamut or something)

 

"mods?" How so, exactly?

 

Well i'm not sure if i'm using the term 'mod' correctly, or loosely, or neither applies.

But what I had in mind:

A) screen change to IPS panel, with a better color gamut if possible.
B) speakers - change it? not sure, but i doubt this can happen
C) keyboard changed to steelseries, but my own 'homework' tells me that this is not quite possible, since there aren't any compatible ones, and word has it SteelSeries has stopped allowing third parties to attempt modding their keyboards unto non MSI units. Or something like that, the story goes.



By the way, a general question. Does anyone know of any reliable software that can take temperature readings of CPU and GPU for the P150SM-A? Any advice would be appreciated. I don't have a thermal gun, but would like to know how I can monitor temperatures for stuffs like CPU, GPU, SSD, HDD, RAM, etc. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

You may be out of luck on all of these. I don't know of any IPS panels that this model can take, the speakers are not upgradable, and the keyboard is not upgradable.

HWMonitor and/or HWiNFO64 are favorites around here (among a few others). There are several monitoring utilities out there to choose from, though.

 

thanks for the prompt reply. I guess its time to invest in a proper headset+mic, an external monitor probably, and probably its time to really look at those miniature mechanical keyboards then. Thanks also for the recommendations for HWMonitor.


I've ran Skyrim modded, and found that

a) CPU can go up to 90 celcius
b) GPU go up to 95 celcius
c) my SSD hovers at around 75 celcius


i don't think the fans kicked in at full speed yet, since it was on AUTO. Will probably try to put it in full blast.


I'm having suspicions that the thermal paste wasn't done right, but I'm not too keen about opening up my unit. What gives? Any other possibilities?

as of the moment:

44c on my hdd
64c on my ssd
55c on my gpu
50-54 on my cpu.


while typing this.


any advice?

 

I've been searching for an IPS panel and there is none. All the ones available are just too big to fit inside. There is not a single one that would be mounted using side screws on bezel, they all use slugs on top and bottom of bezel. Besides those IPS panels are asymmetric, one side is wider then the other, and the electronics are below the screen and there is simply no space to mount it in Clevo.

But, I didn't like the stock screen, changed to 95% gamut and didn't like either (low brightness, over saturated colors without calibration) and finally settled on Samsung LTN156HT-101, and it is great. Almost full sRGB so colors are spot on without being overly saturated, very bright, no 'window screen' effect, no backlight bleeding. I don't really miss IPS at all, the only advantage would be vertical viewing angle, but on a laptop this is not a problem, you can always move the lid. I have P34G V1 with IPS also and I like that TN Samsung more.

The one mod I was really willing to do was to make CPU fan quieter. I've experimented with resistors on 5V line, and 10 Ohm made the fan spin, but it was producing unbearable coil whine. So I went with 5 Ohm and it was better but the whine was still quite annoying. It looks like the minimum RPM set by Clevo are actually the lowest that fan can spin without producing coil whine. Oh, and I've been running Primes on it with the resistors and there were no problems, maybe 5 deg higher temps, the heatsink doesn't need huge airflow to be effective. I couldn't find any other fan from other manufacturer that would fit (to replace A-power BS6005HS) but that seems like the only way to reduce noise.

 

There is also the issue of IPS displays using a different connector.