ChinNoobonic's Clevo W860CU Review

Clevo W860CU Review​

Version: 1.0
Status: Completed.
Last Updated: 22:58, 16 November 2009.

The W860CU is the latest 15-inch gaming notebook from Clevo, sporting the new Intel Core i7 mobile processor and Nvidia GTX 280M, making it the fastest and smallest laptop with a true quad core processor and GTX 280M.



Technical Specs

Retailer: RJTech
Order Date: 3 October 2009
Ship Date: 8 October 2009

Dimensions: Width – 14.75”, Height – 1.65” ~ 2”, Depth – 10”, Weight – 7.38 lbs.
Processor: Intel Core i7 820QM @ 1.73GHz -3.06GHz
Memory: 204-pin Super Talent 2GB DDR3 1333MHz (8GB Max)
HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 250GB 5400RPM
CD/DVD: 8x DVD R/RW DL
Screen: 15.6" Full HD LED LCD 1920 x 1080 (AUO10ED)
Graphic Card: GTX 280M 1GB GDDR3 MXM 3.0b
Keyboard: Full Sized Keyboard with Numeric Pad
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Ports: 4x USB, 1x eSATA, 1x HDMI, 1x DVI, 1x Firewire, 1x Ethernet, 1x Modem, 1x 7-in-1 Card Reader, Audio Out/Mic In/ Line In/ S/PDIF, 1x Express Card 54 Expansion Slot, 1x UMTS / HSPA 3.75G MiniCard module, 1x Kensington Lock
WIFI: Intel 5300 Half MiniCard
Bluetooth: 2.1
Battery: 42.18Wh Li-Polymer battery, 3800mAh
2.0MP Webcam and Fingerprint Reader

Build and Design

Overall Design



This is the second Clevo laptop I’ve owned and will have to say that I’m very impressed with the design. This laptop is built for gaming but looks laid back. It won’t catch you with lights or flashy designs like an Alienware or Asus, but hey I like that. The 15.6” form factor makes the laptop portable but the weight of 7.38lbs and the giant power brick of course may turn some people off. It is a desktop replacement not a desktop, anything is better than trying to lug around a giant tower where ever you need to go.

Display


Once you open the laptop, you are greeted with a beautiful, rich in colour 15.6” Full HD screen with a 2.0 MP camera above it. The display is made by AUO, model number AUO10ED. AUO is famous for making panels that don’t show colours well and have bad viewing angles. This display however, is beautiful and is the exception from AUO. I received mine with no dead or stuck pixels. Upgrading from the M860TU’s WSXGA+ screen, I can say that images and video look much sharper and text is legible even at 1080p. I am aware of the comments of 1080p on a 15.6” is not worth it, but the screen is beautiful and fits it quite well. I don’t see myself going for any resolution lower than this (Sorry M860TU). The glossy surface helps make the already good looking colours "pop" out at you more than they would on a matte display, as well as improving the looks of dark colours. Vertical viewing angles were very good, offering a broad sweet spot before colours started to invert if you tilted the screen forward or back. Horizontal viewing angles were excellent, keeping colours accurate, albeit slightly washed out, at very steep angles. Backlight intensity is bright enough to be perfectly readable in an office environment. Sunlight readability should be fine as long as you are in a spot of shade, where you don’t have the glare shining directly on the screen.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Touch Sensitive Controls



Below the screen is a full sized keyboard with number pad with chiclet design. Unfortunately, the keyboard isn’t backlit. It is very comfortable, easy to use, no keyboard flex that I can tell, and very well spaced. I have been playing with the keyboard for a few days now; writing notes, writing this review, and haven't noticed any issue with it.

Below the keyboard is the touchpad made by Sentelic, which is large and comfortable but is not the best. The multi-touch is wonderful and does what it is supposed to, but it conflicts with normal touchpad use. The buttons are also not stiff and are easy to use. They give an audible click when pressed. The fingerprint reader is a nice addition but has no real purpose being on the touchpad since it can’t be used as a middle mouse button as with my old Fujitsu S7210. This would be handy with opening tabs or even scrolling. You are better off using an USB mouse than using the touchpad.

The touch sensitive area includes buttons for the default email program, default web browser and silent mode. The buttons work as they should but leave visible fingerprints when pressed. Silent mode increased temperatures when pressed but works correctly once the sticker that blocks the CPU intake is removed. All users should remove that sticker as it drops CPU temperatures greatly.

The Chassis



The whole laptop is made from thick plastic and feels very solid, although some areas like the LCD cover do flex. The matte look helps keep fingerprints to a minimum except for the touch sensitive area which is a fingerprint magnet. Even after a heavy week of use the notebook still looks very clean. If glossy notebooks drive you crazy, you would really love this finish.

Build quality is above average throughout most of the notebook, but there are a few areas that could be improved. The palm-rest flexes somewhat on the left side above the optical drive, and the display cover flexes enough to let ripples appear on the LCD under moderate pressure. The hinges however, are tight and don’t allow the screen to wobble. Fit and finish is very nice, with all panels coming together with even gaps and no distorted plastic bezels. Paint quality on the entire laptop is above average, with crisp lines and no uneven textures. The plastics used throughout the body and trim feel very solid and should hold up quite well over the life of the notebook.

Audio

The speakers on the laptop are average. They are loud but lack bass. This is the same with most laptop speakers. The audio when plugged in, is however low when compared to another notebook. Even after tweaking with the settings, the sound is still low. Drivers also do not fix this. I found that the stock drivers are much better than the updated ones.

Ports and Features



Port selection on the ClevoW860CU is very nice with four USB ports (one on either side of the system and two on the rear), one mini Firewire jack, SPDIF digital audio output, headphone/mic, Line In, one eSATA connection, DVI/HDMI output, as well as LAN and a modem. There is also a Kensington Lock port on the rear as well. The notebook also includes an Express Card 34/54 slot for expansion cards such as an external sound card, as well as an onboard multi-card reader. The webcam is great but images show up rather blurry in some situations. Image quality is also very dark and a light would be a good addition to it. The 3G slot is inoperable on my system. While trying to install the drivers, I got an error saying the device could not be found. There is obviously a slot for it, but it doesn’t seem to be working.

Bios



The Bios is very basic, giving the user no options to tweak the system. The lack of CPU overclocking options on this model is absent, even when paired with the 920XM, to keep demand for the W870CU. There is also no option to disable hyperthreading, as the pre-production model had this option. Both the overclocking and hyperthreading options were available on the pre-production model.

System Performance

My setup represents the options a basic user would select, hence the 320GB HDD and an extra 2GB of RAM was not installed. My ambient temperatures were also higher than most, being around 28*C~30*C. All tests were run using the default high performance profile by Windows 7. There was also no cooler used.



After looking at the specifications of the laptop on paper, now it’s time to see it in actual use. When it comes to the Windows Experience Rating of the laptop, it gets 5.5 out of 7.9. This is determined by the lowest subscore.
Performance with the Intel Core i7 820QM processor and NVIDIA GTX 280M graphics card was amazing. Day to day applications opened almost as soon as you clicked on the icon, boot and shutdown times were extremely fast, and above all else this machine can game like it’s going out of style. This notebook can handle nearly everything I throw at it, including Crysis.

Benchmarks

3DMark06


Resident Evil 5
All RE5 tests were done with 2xAA enabled.

Directx 9.0c


Directx 10.0


Crysis
Directx 9.0c


Directx 10.0


Flight Simulator 2004
Default Seattle Flight

Min FPS: 43
Max FPS: 62
Average FPS: 55.533

Flight Simulator X Acceleration
Default Friday Harbor Flight

Min FPS: 37
Max FPS: 55
Average FPS: 47.167

Battery



Battery life was not the best so you may need to be close to an outlet, but for a gaming notebook I couldn’t really ask for more. With Windows 7 set to the “Balanced” profile, screen at 60% brightness, and wireless enabled and active, the Clevo W860CU averaged 1 hour and 45 minutes before the system shut down. While a bigger battery could have been an option, it would add more weight to an already bulky 15.6” notebook.

Heat and Noise



Thermal performance of this notebook was excellent and very up to the task of keeping the system under cool under stress. When idling around typing or surfing the web the system fans operated at a near silent speed, as there was not much heat energy to expel from the system. The addition of silent mode made the fan noise almost non-existent. Although under load, the system fans are audible in a quiet room. The area near the vents is where most of the heat is felt. The palm-rest is fairly cool until the HDD gets to temps above 45*C. At this temperature, the palm-rest gets uncomfortably warm. While running the system, the highest HDD temperature noticed was 56*C. This was due to a virus scan and installation simultaneously. The most contributing factor to my HDD temperatures is the ambient temperature. Further testing shows that system has a HDD failsafe. This is triggered when HDD temperatures get above 55*C. At this point, the system beeps and the CAPS Lock and NUM Lock keys flashes and finally the system immediately shuts off. This gives you no chance to save information you had up. This can be a good and bad thing at the same time. It has happened several times while testing and installing applications. There was also no mention of this in the user manual.

Conclusion

Overall the W860CU is a great gaming notebook with tons of raw power, good looks, and great build quality. The GTX 280M and i7 820QM seem to be quite the pair and is currently the one of the fastest setups you can get for a laptop. To date this is the fastest 15.6” system for gaming, and is no doubt one of the best mobile gaming rigs on the market right now. I give this laptop my seal of approval.

Pros:
• Currently the fastest 15.6” gaming notebook due to the mobile i7 and GTX 280M
• Beautiful Full HD screen
• 15.6” form factor
• Cool laid back design
• Great cooling design

Cons:
• No CPU overclocking options or option to disable hyperthreading
• Low audio port volume
• Short battery life

 

(reserved space for more tests and benchmarks.)

Will be adding pictures soon.

Please refrain from quoting the original post as I will be constantly updating it.

 

Wow, a great thorough review and pretty much on the T as what I think about the laptop so far. Now looking forward for the pictures and benchmarks. Good job ChinNooBonic.

+1rep

 

where did u purchased your laptop from?

 

cant wait to get my unit for my ultra-detailed review.

I like the quickness of your review... very to the point.

 

"but works correctly once the sticker that blocks the CPU intake is removed'

I saw this mentioned somewhere else. Where is the sticker? I am not sure where to look on my laptop.

 

The sticker is actually a black cover that blocks the cpu vent on the inner side of the casing. Peel that off and you will have better ventilation.

 

I am truly impressed.
Great review so far and looking forward for more.
+ rep for sure bro

 

I like the review, although pretty pictures would be great! Things like where the palm-rest flexes, where the sticker is placed on the back or the limited BIOS (well I know you're adding it soon hehehe) . But then again it's a great article!

 

thanks for the quick review. it seems like from your impression, the HDD overheating is still somewhat of an issue with W860CU. i thought they fixed this problem with W860? because u r the first one (that im aware of) to report HDD overheating using W860CU. from your specs, i noticed that you are using a 5400RPM HDD, which should be cooler compared to a 7200RPM. now this does raise a bit of a concern on my part. this has been a common problem with the M860tu, and i really hope W860CU does not carry the same trend.

 

The hard drive doesn't really overheat in normal situations. I was just doing some extreme testing and came across it. My ambient temperatures also contribute to my HDD temperatures as well.

 

Purchased from RJTech. Added in original post.

 

Nice man! Thanks for taking the time to put all of that down!

 

Pics Added.

 

Nice photos, very thorough! That bios splash screen makes me laugh every time I see it. So terribly generic. Reminds me of those VTech laptops for kids.

 

You can change it on the M860TU do show a diagnostic screen instead... its sooo much cooler

 

ChinNoobonic,

Can you pretty please leave the hardware monitor running while you fire up and play a game for 15-30 min? I am curious to see the max GPU temps others hit while gaming, not just running a bench or stressing the CPU. Mine are too high. +1 rep for the quick review!

 

Great review, kinda makes me think twice about doing one myself :/

 

Can anyone provide a picture of this ? I have seen it mentioned before, and since I should be getting mine tomorrow, I really want to make sure that its off.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5516846&postcount=976

 

Will do when my friends and I start another session of COD4.

 

Thank you!

 

Crysis, 30 minutes. Ambient temp 20c, CPU (820) 72c, GPU 70c

Sticker still on the vent.

 

Great Review! I noticed your wallpaper on the 3DMark06 screen shot; where did you get it?

 

Why are your WEI Memory scores so abysmal?

 

Got it from deviantart. .

 

It's that way because of the slow HDD and RAM. The HDD is a 5400RPM model and the RAM has a CAS latency of 10.

 

That makes no sense. I score a 6.8 in RAM with 914mhz DDR2 CAS6.

The Asus G51J (which is the Asus equivalent of the 8690/Clevo 860) scores a 7.3 with DDR3 1066 RAM:



http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=427948

That means, even if the CAS latency increases from DDR2, the increased bandwidth is still measurably higher than my DDR2 914.

 

WEI makes no sense period.

 

As requested by jgs9455, my temps after a 2 hour free-for-all match on COD4.

 

I agree with you.

 

That's irrelevant, consistency means that something is wrong with his system or configuration.

And there you go, from a post you linked to yourself in the Owner's Lounge:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5403625&postcount=100

8690's should be scoring around 7.4 in RAM. If your system is not able to produce close to that number, it means something is amiss. Period.

 

That's exactly why WEI makes no sense.

 

Uh, no, whether or not it makes sense - it is consistent. If you get an outlier score, then it means a drivers, software, or hardware issue.

 

It should be consistent, but I wouldn't feel comfortable betting money on that. Why don't we find an app that specifically benchmarks memory performance and narrow it down that way?

Here we go, if you guys want to use it. Example results (mine Vista x64 - Dell Vostro 1500) below.

Download link - http://download.softpedia.com/dl/1d...80/software/system/info/san2009-15124-BQR.exe

Code:

SiSoftware Sandra


Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Samsung M4 70T5663QZ3-CF7 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Samsung M4 70T5663QZ3-CF7 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)


Benchmark Results
Aggregate Memory Performance : 3.84GB/s
Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth : 3.81GB/s
Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth : 3.87GB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Windows Experience Index
Current Chipset/Memory : 4.8
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Speed
Aggregate Memory Performance : 5.90MB/s/MHz
Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth : 5.86MB/s/MHz
Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth : 5.94MB/s/MHz
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Power
Chipset(s)/Memory Power : 13.39W
Aggregate Memory Performance : 293.58MB/s/W
Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth : 291.64MB/s/W
Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth : 295.59MB/s/W
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Capacity vs Power
Memory Capacity : 306MB/W
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth
Assignment : 3.75GB/s
Scaling : 3.71GB/s
Addition : 4GB/s
Triad : 3.88GB/s
Data Item Size : 16bytes
Buffering Used : Yes
Offset Displacement Used : Yes
Bandwidth Efficiency : 61.02%

Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth
Assignment : 3.78GB/s
Scaling : 3.77GB/s
Addition : 4GB/s
Triad : 4GB/s
Data Item Size : 16bytes
Buffering Used : Yes
Offset Displacement Used : Yes
Bandwidth Efficiency : 61.84%

Performance Test Status
Result ID : Intel Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Express Processor to DRAM Controller; 2x 2GB Samsung M4 70T5663QZ3-CF7 DDR2 SO-DIMM (666MHz) PC2-6400 (5-5-5-15 3-20-5-3)
Platform Compliance : x64
Total Memory : 4GB
Memory Used by Test : 2GB
NUMA Support : No
SMP (Multi-Processor) Benchmark : No
Total Test Threads : 1
Multi-Core Test : Yes
SMT (Multi-Threaded) Benchmark : No
Processor Affinity : P0C0T0
System Timer : 14.32MHz
Page Size : 4kB
Use Large Memory Pages : No

 

And that app is called SiSandra. It's a wonderful benchmarking app for memory. It will give you your exact results instead of a score.

 

Yep, found it, got it, ran it.

 

Very nice, thanks for the review Chin.

Did you happen to measure HDD temps before removing the CPU vent sticker?

 

HDD temps have not changed since removing the sticker. The HDD is under the battery and feels no effect of the airflow from the intake of the fans.

 

Those temps are cool.
Literally!
Great job

 

Thanks! Your temps confirm there was something wrong with my GPU/GPU cooling, replacement on the way.

 

Hey Chin.. no rush, but would you mind running a 3DMark at native 1920 when you have a second? I'll run one as well when my replacement arrives. I'm curious to see how much impact your CPU upgrade has over the stock 720QM, as 3DMark 06 shouldn't be that processor dependent.

 

My GPU temps are sth like 20°C higher than that with Furmark...

Is it normal that it is saying 275Mhz for GPU clock and 301 for memory

I used FurMark 1.7.0 800x600 with Xtreme Burning Mode and no AA



I even have sth like GPU downclocking/undervolting when it reaches 97°C...

 

nevermind, I wasn't clear on what you meant till you edited your post.

 

Something is wrong with your GPU NotebookChin...

When you run FurMark you should get 583@CPU and 995@Mem...

It seems that your GTX280M stays in 2D ("idle") mode when you run the torture test, so the temperatures are not relevant...

 

When my the temperature rises over 60°C, caps lock and shift lock keys are blinking then computer shuts off. I removed the sticker on the inner case, blocking the CPU fan but the problem is still there. The computer shuts down in heavy applications (games and Windows performance test). When I set the fan is slow mode, temperature will not grow over 45°C and the computer is working well but games are slow.

Will a BIOS update slow the problem? Is my computer defective? Thank you for your answer.

 

Hi
Can you please post wPrime benchmarks (32M & 1024M) for your laptop? I am currently debating whether to spend additional $545 to get the 920XM processor or just go with the 820QM processor.


Thanks

 

This is way too high. I'm running furmark, same settings GPU core 583, Shaders 1450, Memory 950 and max temp is 73c Ambient temp 20c

 

Sorry, I meant wPrime results.