[Review] Sager NP8651 / Clevo P650SE with GTX 970m HTWingNut's REVIEW

I'd certainly recommend the upgrade

 

Oh, okay, the TN panel wasn't even an option with my XMG, a 1080p IPS panel is a no-brainer for $45

True, but that adds a lot of cost and there is really no need for it for now, or even probably for the next few years, with a 1080p screen and a 970M (if going for a 4K screen, then maybe you might need this)

 

Indeed, like the one Oxford_Guy uses. Honestly, from what I understand there's nothing wrong with the NP8268, it's the same power for a little less price than getting an IPS in the NP8651 (or the equivalent clevo P650/1 se model built through a different shop) through sager or another american reseller, as far as I've found at the moment. If I can live with not having the best screen ever and not having the best wifi module for gaming available, and knowing the upgradeability options aren't gonna be useful unless a component decides to die before I want to drop the cash on a new laptop entirely (assuming old cpu's and gpu's don't have some ridiculous collectible status/rarity making them special enough to overprice stupidity going on), then getting the older model would be the best convenience.

I know I keep dancing back and forth on this, just not sure if taking the newer model would be worth the immediate hassel or not, heh. And no one seems to having anything troubling to say about how reasonable my hopes are that either one should last a solid five years without any major issues or particularly annoying minor ones.

I'm actually glad you pointed that one out. It's quite cheap for what it can do and would work better than the internal one in the NP8268, it looks like. If there was any reseller that offered a comparable clevo P650/1 SE configuration to the Sager NP8268-S in the US that has the IPS display as a standard feature, I don't think I'd still be on the fence. As it is, I really don't want to go past 1419.99 USD as the final price. And Maybe a cash discount would keep it close, but that's place a LOT of faith in a reseller compared to using a credit card. And even then that's not factoring in finding a decent external optical drive (if I'm gonna buy one, it might as be a model that will last and do everything I need it to, though writing to Blu ray discs honestly probably won't be one of those things I really need it to do, so maybe I could find a dvd drive for under 50; yours is tempting just because it is so incredibly versatile, heh).

I suspect that you're right, but I'll check. I live in Indiana, USA; by the way. I know there's Ibuypower and anandtech (or something like that) as well as Sager and resellers of Sager, like XoticPC, here in the US. Maybe Mythologic too.

I just don't know anything about any of these Clevo resellers, as far as how likely it really is that the experience is going to be good, and how bad it will probably be if the experience does end up being bad (almost all seem to guarantee a loss of at least 60 USD in shipping costs in addition to who knows how much time and frustration if I end up returning it for a full refund because I got fed up with a bad experience that only got worse and worse).

 

What are you comparing between the NP8268-S and the NP8651? They both do not have an IPS display. If you look at the NP8651-S it offers the same features as the NP8268-S with 8GB more RAM, a better processor, but it does not have an optical drive.

The one nice thing about Sager is that you get 30 days to decide if you want your refund. You will be out of your shipping costs (I was out $100 on shipping).

 

I am aware, but only the NP8651 of those two offers a cheap upgrade to IPS. That's a point in it's favor, I can't really argue otherwise, just not sure if I really need it. I keep coming back to: "Do I really need to bother with new and shiny (with more ram, but less vram, better wifi (possibly), and an option for a nicer screen, but the need to immediately drop even more cash on an external optical drive instead of pacing out my spending and getting that later; if I do at all), or will older and equally sturdy (as far as I have read) with essentially the same performance (plus twice the vram, though half the starting ram, and a built in optical drive, but no reseller options for a screen that would please a graphic designer) work fine for me?"

Also, that is kinda nice. Though paying for shipping is a bit frustrating. Not surprising, but really something I hope I don't have to deal with. I want to make a purchase I'm confident I'll like, from a clevo reseller who is extremely unlikely to botch things up, and to see it arrive looking perfect and performing so well that I'm left thinking "This was worth every extra cent I spent buying something well over my original planned budget of 999 USD," for the next few years. I loved my Studio 1558 (except when the bluetooth module was being difficult) all the way up until it died last May, not even four years after I bought it.

 

And I should apologize. I've realized that I'm more or less going in circles here, heh. I have noted all advice, and I'm not really sure there's any further input I can gather at this point. General consensus here has been that they're equally sturdy, comparable in many ways, but since the Sager NP8651 is newer and supports the newest format of solid state drives while being more portable, most would recommend it over the other. If I already had an external optical drive, I dunno if I'd be on the fence myself. Thanks for all the info, guys.

 

Why you bought XMG over Sager? What's the difference between them including the price?

Alienware 15 looks very much balanced as it provides IPS panel, GTX970, corei7, optional GPU amplifier compatibility, 8 cell battery that runs 6 and half hours smoothly for just 1425$ USD.

 

I live in the UK, so I was looking for a European Clevo reseller, I think Sager are based in the US? I did research a number of different Clevo resellers, though, comparing not just prices, but also customer reviews and feedback on the resellers, I also looked at the differing warranty terms (e.g. XMG offered two year collect and return as standard, which I wanted) and different product options and finishes offered.

In the end I went with XMG (bought through mysn.co.uk ) because I managed to get a good price with them (even though they weren't the absolute cheapest), they had excellent customer feedback (and having dealt with them myself now, can confirm they offer a great service, and respond to communication quickly), they promised they could delivery to the UK (from Germany) 3 days after I placed my order (and did).

Also they had the configuration I wanted (see my signature - though I bought it with just 4GB RAM, as the 16GB of 2133Mz Corsair Vengeance RAM wasn't available, so I had to get that myself), confirmed all P505 models came with the 180w (not 150w) power supply and they offered it in the bead-blasted matte back finish, which I prefer to the brushed effect on most Clevo P65xSE machines, and even the XMG laser-etched logo on the lid is quite nice and discrete. Lastly the use Arctic Silver MX-2 thermal compound as standard, which whilst perhaps not as good as the best (e.g. Gelid Extreme), still gives much better performance than stock thermal paste (and I can confirm I get good temps with my machine).

Where did you read that the Alienware 15 has a 6.5 hour battery life? 4.5 hours sounds more realistic, obviously much less if gaming, see battery life section in this review: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-15-Notebook-Review.136667.0.html and here: http://www.techspot.com/review/968-alienware-15/page5.html

Also I've read on the Alienware forums here that 3.5 to 4.5 hours sounds more the norm, so even though it has a larger battery than the Clevo P65xSE, it doesn't actually translate into significantly better battery life in the real world (and is a much fatter/heavier machine, so less mobile anyway).

 

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/alienware-15-2015
Average battery life is 6 hrs 18 min for IPS 1080p display model

 

To be fair, AW15 has a massive battery and is much thicker and heavier despite being full BGA as well

 

may be it is heavy and thick because they put copper heatsink and to provide better air ventilation.

 

P650:



AW15:

 

For having such similar hardware and layout it's amazing how different the design of each is

 

Buy from Sager... Their prices will be less then XMG... XMG price is much higher..

 

delete - wrong thread, sorry.

 

OMG! Alienware has no copper heatsink :O
In my hot country India, laptop gets hot really fast. Good air cooling management should be best in laptop for good gaming.

 

So what makes it so heavier than Sager?

 

Yeah it looks like the contact plate, heat pipes, and radiator fins are copper on the Alienware. Still pretty good but definitely less than Clevo.

It's thicker, for one.

 

Thicker and heavier materials most likely.

 

Well...those images kinda kill any lingering curiosity about and Alienware 15 inch mode. I'm wary of MSI too, though mostly because I dunno which models from them are good. And honestly I like that the Clevo's are built in such a way that I can easily upgrade the ram and hard drives and 2 msata or m.2 ssd drives (all depending on which of the two I'm considering that I decide to go with); without compromise to how well they cool and or any bump in price. I imagine most Clevo resellers can offer lower prices because the less modification-friendly laptop brands take more time and effort to do anything to.

Anyways, anyone know any good alternatives to Sager and its resellers for getting a good Clevo in the US? I'm just wondering what my options are.

 

Well for the same Clevo P650SX barebone, you've got eurocom, mythlogic, prostar, avadirect...to name a few.

 

However Sager is most likely to be cheapest... RJTEch will sell you a barebone but I wouldn't get 1 year warranty with these BGA machines..

 

Hi guys

So many of you now would have the P650SE. Are you happy with it? Why because I am tossing up with P650SE or P650SG or P750ZM. Is the extra money really worth it. I mainly play World of Tanks online..thats it ...possibly other online games, watching lots of movies, playing music and for work. Which one has better speakers? Will keep it for 3 years and move it on. All help is appreciated. I don't have a local supplier so I've never seen any of the laptops in the flesh. Most gaming will use the keyboard but with external mouse.

 

If you do World of Tanks type games 970m is more than adequate, and will give you a long life if you continue to play those kinds of games. But it can handle most new games with max details at 1080p no problem, and should for the next year or two, so it will have some longevity. Of course 980m will just give you that much more performance and longevity.

 

I can't compare to the P750ZM, but I'm loving the P650SE. I'm running Witcher 3 with Nvidia's optimized settings (High/Ultra with tweaks) and getting ~45 FPS. I can tweak it to medium/high and get 60 FPS with no problem, and it still looks ok, but 45 is still playable. Other older games play with maxed out settings without stressing the system in the slightest. The speakers are still laptop speakers, but are better than many other laptops I've seen.

 

Thanks for your thoughts...I ordered the SE today.....even managed to score 16GB Ram @ 1866 for free - woohoo. But in doing a search on ram speeds from 1600 to 1866 it seems it wont make any difference anyway in real terms when using the SE? something about the i7 ram access is set at 1600?

 

I think, but I'm not sure, that there's a way around that limit using Prema's BIOS.

 

You only need the Prema Bios to get around RAM speed limits if needing to support RAM above 1866Mhz - at least my stock XMG bios supported 1866Mhz RAM fine, but I needed to use the Prema Bios to run my 2133Mhz RAM at it's r ated speed.

 

I have a P651SE and love it, but the speakers are crap, my old 2008 Macbook Pro has much better speakers. Use headphones or plug into external speakers and you'll be fine.

 

I just got this laptop. But i've noticed something. On some windows applications the text shows a bit blurry while on most it shows clear. Its not really a big issue, you can still read it normally.
If you look at the picture, if you look at view in device manager the "w" has some haze in it while if you look at the "w" in the text at the top "most it shows clear", the "w" is a lot clearer. This happens in some windows.

 

Display issues like this are usually caused by the Windows scaling, which is usually set to 125% on these machines, you can change it to 100% for greater clarity, but then some things may be too small, considering the 1920x1080 screen res

 

plan on getting a new laptop soon and I'm very interested in this Sager NP8651. Is XoticPC the best seller for this product? I tried to contact Eurocom but since I'm shipping to a US address so they won't accept paying in CAD. The good thing about Eurocom is they have 7mm 1TB HDD, I asked XoticPC their HDD size was but haven't got any response yet. I want to fit another 2.5" SSD. It's cheaper than M.2 SSD isn't it? Found some good deal on Amazon. Does anyone use 7mm HDD and 2.5" SSD on this machine? 1 more thing tho, do you guys use keyboard cover? I tried to find some on amazon but no luck.

 

The 850 evo m.2 drives are very good value I have found and that does help leave the other slots free.

 

actually I just found a 500gb M.2 SSD at the same price as the 2.5" SSD so it doesn't matter now. Plus I heard if I stack HDD and SSD on top each other, there might be some heat issue. I'll save up until I have enough for the 500gb SSD and the laptop. Is 500gb too much tho? I need at least enough space for OS, Photoshop, DotA 2, League of Legends. Want to try some other games but don't know how much space it'd take. I have enough for the 256gb SSD now.

 

Wait and get the 512GB and be sorted, 256GB will start to feel cramped as you do more projects.

 

Hello all, I've narrowed my laptop choices down and I'm very tempted by the Sager NP8651 / Clevo P650SE. In particular, I want a 15" laptop for gaming, development and semi-portable web browsing/office use that's expandable/flexible from a RAM and HDD point of view, while still being as thin and practical from a battery perspective as possible.

I like that the NP8651 has quad DIMMs and some HDD flexibility, but I had a couple of questions:

- If I use a M.2 SM951 AND a 7200 1TB mass storage drive, will there still be room for further expansion? I thought I read that 9mm SATA drives use both bays, and a PCIe M.2 drive might use up all the PCIe lanes?
As a follow-up, how fast will the SM951 be in the Sager? i.e. does it run at full speed like the reviews, or is there any PCIe lane restrictions?

- How much of a compromise is the 980M over the 970M? I have read in a few reviews that the 980M puts out more heat than may be practical in this form factor? I am OK with a 970M, but am not sure if I will wish I had a 980M soon.

- I haven't read much about the 4K screen. I don't plan to use that in gaming (i.e. I'm fine with 1080p gaming on this size screen), but more for development. The extra real estate on the "3K screens" on MSI laptops is very nice for visual studio / eclipse and the adobe suite, and I wish it was an option here. Since it's not, how about the 4K screens? Will it have a big impact on non-gaming battery life?

- Finally, what are the competitors to this laptop (maybe this is the wrong place to ask) that have similar form factor / DIMM slots and HDD bays?

 

1) With those two, you would still have an M.2 Sata slot open as well as 2.5" drive slot, provided your 1TB HDD is 7mm in height (for the P650SE). Or you can have a single 9.5mm only. P650SG with the 980m can combine 2.5" SSDs/HDDs of 9.5mm height with one that is 7mm. To the best of my knowledge, a Gen2 PCIe M.2 x4 SSD drive like THIS should use all the interface lanes fully without restrictions or issue.

2) 980m is ~25-30% faster than the 970m. This system's cooling is designed smartly enough to handle a 980m well. 970m will run cooler but since the GPU is BGA, I'd say go for the 980m for the long-term.

3/4) 4K draws more power, so yes that'll mean less battery life. Compare the screen on THIS with THIS to get an idea of battery life impact. As for competitors look at this LIST. Note: In case you didn't know, the P650SE is #1 on that list also being called the XMG P505.

 

Plus with the 980M you get that extra gig of vram to go with that power.

 

I noticed a very odd problem on my keyboard recently. If I hold the W button for long time in game like running etc it does not release or stop for 2-3 secs. I noticed this on few games, I thought it's only game bug but when I tried it on a notepad long pressing W for long then release it does not stop writing W for about 2-3 secs. The keyboard button releases and still tactile for sure but the function writing for W does not instantly stop anymore even though I have released it already. It gets annoying in-game when running I always exceed where I should stop.

Did my keyboard just broke? It's been 6 months yet since I got this.
What should I do?

 

The dome may still be depressing even if the mechanism is working and feels tactile, so feel very closely for any differences. You could try a system restore onto a spare disk to see if you have installed something that is interfering.

 

I don't think that will work either. I tried it on DOS mode and safe mode but the same W key issue. :/ sigh

If this isn't a gaming notebook no one will ever notice and bother. It's not annoying when you're just using for office related task since the key works under normal condition and there's no holding the W key when you're just typing regularly but when gaming it's a different story. A W S D are primary keys when gaming, specially W where you often hold W to run and move forward and it becomes a terrible experience when in-game because you cannot stop where you want to.

 

Hey guys, I just got the laptop, and I gotta say I'm impressed. Pretty damn good, currently installing some games, can't wait to play. However, I was wondering, the screen feels a bit blurry compared to the rMbp I used to use before. I got an IPS Matte LCD, so is this expected? Any way I can calibrate the display? Thanks guys!

 

You should still get a sharp picture with and IPS and matte screen. It it mostly text that is blurry, if so you can adjust ClearType to see if that helps any.

 

How about the microphone? Everything works on my laptop except the microphone, I've tried EVERYTHING to fix it, but it won't seem to! Please help!

 

Having your speakers set to 5.1 or 2.1 etc will impact the function of the audio ports, have you made sure you are in 2 speaker mode in the audio driver panel?

 

You mean in realtek hd audio manager? Yeah the speaker is set to surround, not 5.1 or quadraphonic. Microphone still wont work .

 

What happens if you set it to stereo?

 

Sorry, I meant stereo, not surround

 

Does it register input when plugged in? Have you tried the microphone in another port?

 

When I plug in my earphones, which comes with a mic, realtek shows up asking what was plugged in, and I choose Mic In. However, even then, I can't talk at all! Please help me? And I'm trying to use the internal mic btw