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Introduction
The Clevo N150SD is the entry-level 15” model from Clevo, replacing the older W355SS (which I reviewed here). It’s clearly taken some design cues from the Clevo P650SE/SG series, and shares the exact same keyboard.
This model was purchased from Eurocom. You can find images and the full list of specifications here. This model has now been replaced by the Shark 5 (Skylake model).
Specifications
Seeing as this is a BGA laptop (with the CPU and GPU being soldered directly to the motherboard) you have no options to customize those.
Intel Core i7-4720HQ
NVIDIA GTX 960M 2GB
8GB (2x4) DDR3 1600 RAM
500GB 7200rpm HDD
15.6” 1920x1080 LG IPS matte display panel
DVD-RW optical drive (can be swapped out for an extra 2.5” HDD/SDD bay)
Intel 7265 Stone Peak 2 wifi card (A/C/B/G/N) + Bluetooth 4.0
Style/build/design
This machine definitely looks the part. A muted stylish look that I definitely like, and much better than the older W355SS. In fact, I dare say I prefer this chassis to that of the Eurocom M5 Pro (Clevo P650SE) I had, though that’s obviously a matter of personal opinion. It’s clean-looking, the soft-touch plastic feels good, it is very light and easy to handle, yet still feels stiff/sturdy enough that I’m not worried about warping/damaging it.
The palm rests don’t attract smudges and fingerprints as easily as other machines do, which is a nice bonus. The display lid seems a tad bit sturdier than the P650SE, but still much flimsier than I’d like. Overall the design and build quality is just fine, especially considering the price, though you can often get an ASUS G551 on sale for about the same price, and that has a sexier, more stylish finish to it.
Screen
This is a nice screen man. All the recent 15” Eurocom machines I’ve had have come with the excellent AUO B156HAN0.2 panel, but this time I’ve gotten the LG LP156WF6-SPB1. It’s very bright, more so than the AUO. Viewing angles are nice, colours are vibrant, contrast is good. Calibrating it with a Sypder4Express, I get the following values.
sRGB:92%
AdobeRGB:71%
NTSC:69%
While it is a bit inferior to the good AUO I had been using, to the naked eye the difference is non-existent, and I appreciate the high levels of brightness.
Overall, this is an excellent display, especially at this price point. You’ll be hard pressed to find a comparably-specced/priced laptop with a display this good. It is definitely a selling point for this laptop. You also have the option of telling Eurocom which panel (AUO or LG) you’d prefer, so you can then choose between slightly better colour-space coverage or a brighter screen. Choice is good.
Here's a link to the ICC profile I used. Be aware that even if you have the exact same display panel, this may not produce good results, since each panel is different. It's possible this will make your display worse, in which case you can just delete it and revert to your default colour profile.
Keyboard/trackpad
No surprises here - it’s the exact same keyboard found on the Clevo P650SE/SG/RE/RG, and it works just fine. It has the same issues too - namely the keys feel just a bit flimsy, and sometimes a few of them can be loud. But spacing and size is good, it has a mostly full-sized num pad (none of this ¾ size num pad crap - I’m looking at you, Dell/ASUS/MSI), and I appreciate the good array of Fn combo keys. The travel is decent too, shallower than better keyboards like those found on the ASUS G751 or Alienware laptops, but deeper than other laptops like the Dell Inspiron line. I just wish the material the keys are made of (plastic) wasn’t quite as shiny/slick, but that’s just me.
The trackpad is smooth, fairly large, and I love those large dedicated buttons. No gaming laptop (or any laptop for that matter) should suffer the horror of integrated mouse buttons on the track pad. The fingerprint reader works pretty well, and is a nice feature on a laptop of this price. Trackpad performance is acceptable, though you probably want to use a mouse if you can.
Overall, it’s a very good keyboard at this price range, though you can find better.
Performance
Well, it’s a Core i7-4720HQ with a GTX 960M, so performance is about where you’d expect it to be.
3DMARK11
P5740
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10334754
3DMARK
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/8697545
Heat/noise
Ah, we now come to the Achilles Heel of the machine. Given that both the GPU and CPU each have their own dedicated heatsink/fan combo, I expected some pretty darn good thermals. I mean, the Clevo P650SE I reviewed runs the same CPU and a more powerful GPU (albeit with a larger cooling solution), so you’d think this would be a cool and quiet machine right? The answer is both yes and no.
When idle, the machine is practically silent and cool to the touch. Good stuff. However, when under load, things get ugly fast.
All testing done at an ambient temperature of around 22C, and all results are listed in degrees Celsius. These are max temps, and I was running a -75mV undervolt in XTU.
Intel XTU Stress test
CPU: 85C
Unigine Valley
GPU: 82
CPU: 70
3DMark11
CPU:81
GPU:80
3DMark
CPU:81
GPU:82
Diablo 3
CPU:74
GPU:74
The keyboard hit a max of 46C under load, near the Y key.
I’m not too sure what the problem is, as these results are just flat-out unacceptable for a machine with these specs and cooling solution. I mean, the Clevo W230SD with similar specs manages to cool its components better, yet that machine has a single heatsink/fan cooling both the CPU & GPU.
I did notice that most of the grilles in the bottom panel are purposefully sealed off, which is weird. Restricting airflow like that will obviously hurt the thermals. I’m wondering if I just have bad heatsinks, as Foxconn is known to sometimes make bad ones.
Speakers/sound
I have nothing much to say about the speakers - they’re about as good as you’d expect from a machine in this price range. Much better than previous Clevo models I tried (such as the older Shark 3/W355SS) but not as good as those found on machines such as the MSI GT72. You’ll still probably want to use a good pair of headphones for gaming, but you can watch youtube and music with the speakers.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to like about this machine. I personally like the styling, sleek and subdued. It is light, yet feels sturdy enough (though I would’ve liked a sturdier screen hinge). Good keyboard, good screen, and all for a very reasonable price. Performance is spot-on, and battery life is respectable.
Where things fall apart are with the thermals and noise. The machine is silent and cool to the touch when idle, but things heat up significantly under load, while getting loud. The CPU and GPU get much hotter than they should, which kills any hope of over-clocking the GPU. This is a shame, as the GTX 960M has been shown to overclock really well.
Maybe I’m just unlucky and got a bad CPU, GPU and defective heatsinks. But as it stands, I’m displeased, as the gaming experience suffers, and it’s annoying knowing smaller machines with the same specs but worse cooling solutions are cooler and quieter.
Beyond the thermal and noise issues my particular unit had (not sure if it's defective or if that’s just the way this machine is) it’s a solid buy for the money.
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The bottom cover really makes me crying
))) I mean they blocked all the airflows into the laptop.
Ramzay likes this. -
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Eurocom Shark 4 (Clevo N150SD) Quick Review
Discussion in 'Sager/Clevo Reviews & Owners' Lounges' started by Ramzay, Nov 20, 2015.
