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

There are some IPS panels using LVDS 40 pin connector, 2 channel 6 bit, like LG LP156WF4-SLxx series, but they won't physically fit. And actually on the schematics it looks like Clevo is doing eDP ->LVDS conversion that ends with LVDS connector, while eDP is only disabled - but it could be potentially enabled with some soldering.

 

Oh? so the best screen for the P150SM-A is still a TN panel, but made from Samsung?

 

No, I'm not saying it is the best panel, I personally just like it the most in the most subjective, unscientific way. General consensus is that B156HW01 v4 or v7 are best (both TN 95% gamut), but I just don't find them that appealing. Colors need calibration, you need to use software that is aware of calibration profiles (games look strange) and it was not as bright as even the stock screen.

 

Now that's something. I should do some research on this panel.


I have the stock panel (I think?) but the color calibration seems off despite having the CD for the color calibration (I have no idea what to do, just click next, next, next, ROFLMAO)

 

I own the v7, and its pretty bright. Knowing how to use the calibration software vs using wizard mode helps too in making adjustments. I'm looking at possibly installing v4 and seeing what the diff is (other than gloss vs matte) as the slight filter from the matte might darken it to be perfect almost.

As with ANY screen you almost always need to calibrate it, not all come from the factory w/ a perfect calibration, the odds of that are slim. More than likely they had a defective panel.

 

Thanks Luna. The company that I bought it from only gave me a disc for the calibration, and its says "calibration" ROFLMAO, so actually I had no idea what to do with it.



By the way, just to ask other P150SM-A owners

I noticed that my SSD, as of right now is around 67 degree celcius. Speedfan app says that's bad. Is this normal?

 

More than likely it just has the ICM profile that you have to manually load in. If you have the same screen as me I can share a few of my calibrations, depending on the brightness/gamut level you're looking for.

 

They likely have it already on the machine and gave you a disc as a backup since its a file with the settings and is not in the firmware.

 

I'm going to have to find means to identify the LCD screen i'm using,

but today I ran into a snag. Apparently for some reason the fingerprint scanner refuses to work. I'm not so sure as to why, but can anyone guide me as in how to troubleshoot / identify what part of the fingerprint scanner isn't working?

 

Look up the hardware ID in device manager.

As for the fingerprint reader you need to give us more details about how exactly it is not working.

 

The fingerprint reader, on windows 8.1 logon screen, refuses to acknowledge any input.

Its a EgisTec ES603, I presume its the same for everyone,

I normally use the fingerprint to log in to windows. It just refused to work. As of just now it worked again, not sure why / how.

I remember when it doesn't work, it doesn't say "wrong fingerprint" (which meant it worked, but i swiped it wrongly. This one just stays dumbed, as if no input was given.


@LunaP

HWInfo64 gave this screen name

Monitor Name: AU Optronics B156HW02
Monitor Name (Manuf): AUO B156HW02 V1

no serial number detected.

oddly it says the screen was manufactured back in 2011

 

oh ew, that's the 60% gamut screen. It was standard w/ mine when I ordered it and I swapped out to the V7 going to grab a v4 and test before sending this back in.

 

Finally pulled the trigger today, very excited. Will share my thoughts upon receipt...

i7-4910
GeForce 980
16gb Kingston hyperx ram
500gb Samsung SSD boot drive
1tb 7200 HD
6x blu-ray read/write
intel wireless
windows 7 pro (I loathe windows 8)

whoa baby!

 

Congrats, thats a good looking build

 

And I got it from you guys

 

yikes

what's the better alternatives for this screen then? The screen I have is 60% gamut? no wonder why the colours looks off to me. I suppose the "better" screens are all TN panels? No IPS ones?

 

No IPS panels will plug into this model.

 

woops, thanks again. Need to keep remind self.

What kind of "better" TN panels would fit into this one? Now i'm getting confused, kinda thought that Clevo had the flexibility when it comes to "upgrades"

actually for the weirdest reasons, I think I prefer TN panel because i don't want others to have a clear look at what I'm doing on my laptop, but I suppose after spending so much, a guy like me would want a colour accurate screen, or is it just too much (probably?) to ask for things like this? Is it vanity? I hope not.

 

Either of the 95% gamut panels from AUO colour calibrated are the highest end solutions.

 

I didn't know such panels existed, or rather the company I ordered through don't supply that.

What do these panels normally cost if I have to procure them separately? Any ideas? I'm living in Malaysia.

 

Usually not much extra than normal panels. The issue is finding a genuine panel since they went out of production.

 

wow, what luck... this is... oh well.. Thanks. That's sad to hear that such a good panel is no longer in production.

 

It's from 2011, I can provide you with links to either if you'd like, I've already done the research, there are a few companies that still have roughly 10-15 in stock. Never buy off ebay, and NEVER purchase from ANY seller/website that has the words " compatible" listed in the description.

Which one are you interested in the matte or the gloss? I'm debating on sending my 15x back today so I'll have the gloss available for sale if so, however if not and or you want brand new ( mines 2 weeks old ) I can link you to either, they're roughly 120-140$ due to their rarity ( brand new )

so you're still in luck. The colors are amazing on then.

 

ok, now im nervous lol. I ordered my system (detailed specs are on page 21 of this thread), any idea which screen I will be getting?

 

Depends on the reseller and the option you went for.

 

You guys are scaring people off. The stock screen is plenty good (bright, good contrast) even if it is 60 something % gamut. Unless you're professional working on graphics you don't really need anything above 72% NTSC gamut (100% sRGB) - all the windows software works in this color space (sans pro graphics tools). And if you're a graphics pro using 15 inch TN screen on a gaming laptop as a reference - you're doing it wrong.

 

ouch, with the shipping + tax and all that yada yada, the price will baloon up to the point i could be reaching halfway for a barebones P770ZM (cry)

Still, thanks for the heads up and advice, gonna have to start saving if i really wanted the screen.


@Thysanoptera, its not much of an issue, since I would rather have the screen replaced eitherway, if the reseller doesn't recognize any warranty on the screen scratch that I had (which I'm not sure whether its their fault, or the shipper's fault)

 

Decent screens are available still, around the 72% gamut range.

 

Hi folks, sorry to disturb you people again.


Furmark tests on my machine, i got 88c (I think that's the treshold before the GPU throttles itself). With the fan overriden to run at maximum speed, i got 83 degree celcius.

Something tells me that something's not right. The machine I'm using is supposed to have IC Diamond on it.

Any opinions or advices, people?

 

how much thermal paste you apply? use gelid extreme and repaste ( you can apply one big point at center of cpu and press heatsink (not big press) and rebuild

 

I have no idea. It came with the reseller. Reseller says it already has IC Diamond on it, but if I recall, with IC diamond, with fans on full mode, somebody claims it shouldn't reach more than 80 celcius, or am I wrong?

Gelid Extreme, that's a paste I haven't heard about. Is this recommended, or any other "pastes" as well?

 

Exact temperatures would be dependent on the heatsink fit and finish along with chip quality.

 

can you enlighten me more about this?

I had the impression that all Clevo based notebooks came from the same factory, no matter the reseller.

This one wasn't installed with any mods / upgraded stuffs.

I had a 980M and everything came from the factory, but probably built/assembled by my reseller in Malaysia.

 

Every board, chip, heatsink and fan will be manufactured to a certain set of tolerances, every chip will have different temperature calibration and depending on how they interact depends on the results you see.

Hand tuned lab equipment with calibration certifications etc tend to cost one or two orders of magnitude more for instance and that's the point where things are individually calibrated.

 

Im worried why is it that the k5100m (8gb) not part of the upgrade options for this? Why is only the lesser k4100m supported?

 

It could simply be cost reasons, the K5100M is so expensive and the uses for it so niche that they reserve it for the more expensive systems.

 

Hi, I'm new here, but I've been nosing through this thread and a few like it in other places. I need a new laptop and would rather get a reliable one that really performs well than settle for something inexpensive that does the bare minimum. From what I can tell, the Sager NP8628-S and the NP8278-S seem to be the best deals as far as price, good build quality, lasting really well, and being powerful enough for me to enjoy up to a few years from now (if it lasts five years with no major issues, I'll be happy). I've looked at them primarily on Xotic PC, but from looking around I don't really see a laptop reseller anyone recommends more (though certainly a couple equally recommended who have identical prices). Links:

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268s-clevo-p150sma-p-6987.html
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8278s-clevo-p170sma-p-6985.html

However, there are a few lingering questions. 1: Is the i7-4710 mq a good processor? Everyone seems to be springing for the processor upgrades, but I really dunno if I need them if it should still age well (and not hold back gaming performance more than 970m Maxwell graphics card).

2: Is the processor easily replaceable a couple years down the road? Or will the motherboard be incompatible with any new processors and ones that are compatible prove difficult to find at a reasonable price?

3. The wifi/bluetooth card; are there any serious problems with it in these Sagers? I know in my Studio 1558 the bluetooth module Dell installed from Broadcomm would occasionally flip out and I'd have to trick Windows 7 Home Premium into using it again. I hated having to do that, so if this laptop doesn't share the problems people seem to have with the bluetooth in particular...that would be wonderful to hear. I'd use it for my mouse and occasionally to link to my Galaxy S3 right now...but I might get a keyboard too and try plugging the laptop into a TV via HDMI for gaming sometimes.

4: Are the stock screens really that awful, or will someone coming off a Dell Studio 1558 and Dell Inspiron 1501 (after the studio died I had little choice at the time but to use my mom's old laptop) with little experience with displays still find it a pretty awesome upgrade over what he's used before?

5: Which model is best? For the 17 inch one I'll have to get a new bookbag (my swissgear synergy backpack should fit the smaller one fine, but the other is a little too wide, I think), but if the stock screen is a lot better and otherwise it runs significantly cooler and so on, then I might get it anyways. Storage isn't really a concern. I dunno if I'll really wanna do a raid or anything special down the road, and I can always fill the second msata slot in the 15.6 inch one with a 500gb drive if I want more solid state storage space later.

6: Are there really any better options for around 1400 USD or less? I'll be using this laptop for gaming, coursework (my major is computer science), and of course web browsing and watching videos.

 

Hi again.


I ran 3d mark demo, and this is what I've got
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6886244?

Total score 6655
graphics score 7681
Physics score 8989
Combined Score 2784


Is something wrong?


On the other hand, while lurking, i found this:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5947854

turns out this guy is from another forum, had some cooling mods done so that he could overclock. (he upgraded from a 780m to 980m apparently I think, but decided to reuse the 780m copper fins, add in a copper bar, and added a 40mm fan, before proceeding with overclocking.


Assuming that my score is "valid" as a base, comparing both results,

from 6655 to 10048, that's some majorly big difference.

Does overclock give that much of a boost?

@Meaker: thanks for the response. I'm not sure if I fully understood, but I guess its down to the batch of products, I presume?

 

Your score is lower then it should be. Is your power option on High Performance?

 

CPU upgrades were on special for a while at significantly reduced prices. You may just be seeing the results of that. In general, the 4710 vs 4810 will be pretty much the same. The 4810 will be very slightly faster in benchmarks, but it's not something you will notice in real world use.

The 4910 has additional cache, which may or may not make a difference, depending on what software you're running and the workload. I think most would say it's not worth the difference in price

The trend seems to be going towards soldered chips. It's hard to say if Intel will continue to release newer versions of the socket compatible mobile chips. And then there's the BIOS issue. Even if Intel releases a newer chip that would fit in your socket, you would need an updated BIOS to support it.

I'm not aware of any issues with the wireless on these systems, but wireless is something that is easily and inexpensively upgraded.

There used to be better screens, but they have all been discontinued. You can still find them at some overseas vendors if you really want one. The stock screen is pretty good for a TN panel (the ones I've seen, anyway). But it's still TN (newer models have IPS, which are superior).

I prefer the 15.6 inch, but that's really a personal choice that you need to decide for yourself.

You might want to look at the NP8652 and NP8651 models. They are smaller, lighter, and have better screen options (IPS and 4K). Or the NP8672/71 models for 17 inchers.

These have soldered CPU+GPU, but upgrading notebook components has always been more difficult and less cost effective than desktop. A lot of people believe it's better to sell your old notebook and buy the newer one.

 

I am inclined to believe that I am on High Performance, at least right clicking on the "battery" icon" says so.

The tests were done with the laptop plugged in.


Do you know of any particular settings that I should be looking at?

 

Open up the search in Windows and type in Power Options, then make sure High Performance is selected.

 

Alright, thanks for the info. Looking at the NP8651 and the NP8671 now. But...to add the IPS screen on the NP8651 (which I'm leaning towards because it's more portable) and add the IC Diamond paste upgrade (after reading HTWingNut's review I'm inclined to add the paste upgrade just to be sure performance is close to what he got as far as cooling before repasting); then it's pretty close to the NP8268 in price. Close enough that spec tradeoffs are essentially a 970m with more vram, a blu-ray reader/dvd super multi drive, and a small msata ssd; versus a slimmer design with a better screen (though how much better that IPS is at only 45 bucks for an upgrade to it...I have no idea) and very marginally faster processor? I'm assuming cooling is fairly comparable, but it's possible I'm very wrong on that.

I should add: I wonder about the laptop GPU and CPU being replaceable less for upgrades and more because I would like this laptop to last at least 5 years without issue. And if it lasts only 3 before one of those two is unexpectedly fried? Would it be a stretch to say I could track down a reliable replacement fairly cheaply and replace and repaste it, and thereby ensure that it lasts as long as I really need it to (especially if I'm dropping over 1200 USD on it)? My Dell Studio would still quite possibly be running today if the GPU hadn't been a poorly designed Radeon Mobility HD 5470 that was soldered to the motherboard. And the design of the whole laptop hadn't been fairly poorly thought out from a thermal standpoint.

 

Hi there. Just to be sure, I did as you asked, and even reviewed every items individually. It is set according as you said, HIGH POWER option.

I'm still not seeing improvements. Furthermore, previously I've noted that my FURMARK temperatures can exceed 90c (and I had to quickly press FN+1 for full fan) and it still hovers around 90c and upper.

Are these two factors related to one another?

When I ran the Fire Strike Test I ran the fan at maximum speed so that it wouldn't throttle due to thermal issues. Any advice?

 

That is typical temps for FurMark or any stress test program. They are designed to really max out the performance potential and in turn will result in the highest temps you will run accross. Those temps will be higher then regular gaming, so 90C for that is OK.

For your 3D mark performance, have you tried updating the drivers to the newest ones from Nvidia?

 

Hi there, thanks again for popping in.

I believe I did have the latest drivers. 350.12, and clicking the NVIDIA panel doesn't give me any more updates. (for both geforce experience, and everything other)

Oddly, I ran another test, when i forced the program to run on 32bit only (my windows is a 64 bit btw), it jumps up to ... 8k total score?

 

Have you tried any other versions like 3DMark 11 to see if your score is on par.

 

hi again. sorry for the late reply. I tried to install 3DMark 11, but every time I run it has this "SystemInfo" error, but oddly 3DMark Fire Strike works.


Are there any other benchmarks I can use?


I'm kind of agitated to see my score for a GTX980M at 6k, that's the score for 970M.

Sigh.

 

Sounds like it could be a software or Windows issue then. Are you all caught up on Windows updates?

 

I believe I am. I just got updates for windows 8.1, and oddly one for it was for the IntelHD4600 (the one's that integrated with the i7-4710MQ? as well. Still no dice, as they say. No luck.

Also, i stumbled upon this app called "intel xtreme tuning". What puzzles me is that it says my GTX980M has 4GB instead of 8GB of VRAM. Is that supposed to be normal?