HTWingNut's Sager NP6110 / Clevo W110ER First Look & Review

I would go for it, seems pretty legit to me tbh.

Also, check the CPU and RAM (not so important as the CPU) make sure nothing is out of place et cetera

 

In case I was not clear they are leaked chips that are illegal to sell that were given to the oems in advance to test out their new models.

 

Yup, Quality Samples/Engineering Samples are not supposed to be sold to the general public.

this has been discussed in other threads as well.

 

Engineering samples are just that... engineering samples used for testing and development. No you're not supposed to sell them, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

 

From the tests I have seen the IB QS where actually running less hot than the final product...

We can`t do it with software (yet). It`s going to be part of the bios mod...

 

Are the 'engineering samples' (the ones that are for internal intel use only and do not even show up in cpu-z, as opposed to the 'quality samples' that show up in cpu-z and are sent to oems) reliable? They have an i5 ivy bridge engineering sample/8gb ram/no hdd for about 715$ I would much rather get this but i am fairly worried about the cpu. Of course the seller says its no problem but to me it seems kind of sketchy. I have not been able to find much information about these 'engineering sample' processors, and most of it is on the 'quality sample' which most people say are 100% fine.

 

I would go for the 3612QM QS !!!

The Notebook is Terrans Force based, right? Who is the re-seller?
Are you in HK, Shenzhen?

 

disregard, posted in other thread

 

It is Terrans Force. I am in dalian. No one sells clevo here so I have to buy it on taobao. If I get it I'll buy from 慕容蛛蛛 because 32 people have bought from him in the last month so i trust him more than others. Buying a laptop with an illegal cpu on taobao in china is kind of sketchy but nothing I can do about it.

Of course the 3612QM QS is better, and its almost surely also the better deal, but I really don't need it. An i3 would be fine with me. If there was the option of getting a 650m ddr5 + sandy bridge i3 id take that over a 3612qm + 650m ddr3 even at the same price point.

But I might go with the the lenovo y480m. I originally wanted a 14" since they are 'light enough' and 'small enough' for me. One just came out in china with a ddr5 650m. It is $945 with a i7 3610/4gb ram/750gb hdd. This is about the same price as the clevo (since the clevo does not come with a hdd, and adding 4gb ram to the lenovo is super cheap). The ddr5 650m is apparently 10-20% faster, the cpu is faster and legit, lenovo is a solid company, it has a cd drive and an msata slot so i can just get a small ssd for cheap rather than a 256gb ssd id need for the clevo since there is only room for one drive. Really the lenovo is probably the better way to go. The only thing holding me back at all is the stupid 768p screen. I have been asking around if anyone knows if i can swap it with an aftermarket 900p screen but no one seems to know. Even with the 768p screen i should probably just stick to the lenovo...

Oh but then i just now looked at the battery life of the y480m and its only 3h20m. Now I really don't know what to do. Why cant anyone just make a laptop that does not suck, I would be willing to pay a premium for it.

 

HTWingnut, have you found any good way to extend the battery life? For some reason i'm not getting the 4 hours that you reported at all. How did you test your battery life, so I can give a better number for my own?

 

Battery life is very sporadic from machine to machine for some reason.

Typical for me is about 3.5 hours.

My test was pretty straight forward:

- Set Power Profile to "Balanced" with LCD @ 40%, don't let LCD turn off (obviously), turn off hibernate or sleep, set critical battery level at 5% and to shutdown then (or hibernate if you have it enabled)
- Start up your browser of choice (which browser could actually affect power a bit too), I used Firefox
- Load up an add-in to refresh pages. I use "ReloadEvery". I set four pages like yahoo, nhl.com, notebookreview.com, msn.com, and had them refresh in 1, 1, 5, and 10 minute intervals in order of the tab.
- Make note of time you unplugged, double check the settings after you unplug, and let it run until it shuts down.

 

Any ideas on how to get SPDIF output from the W110ER? I read that it supports SPDIF from one of the analogue ports but I don't see it anywhere in the drivers / control panel.

Maybe over HDMI only?

 

Still would like to see some temp mods people wanted to do

 

I do have extra RAM heatsinks i can use but nothing to stick them on with, but all in all my temps are fine and I don't think it's needed yet.

 

I'll take a photo later, basically just stuck the heatsinks to the CPU heatsink. No biggie. Needs some airflow somehow. I'm looking to get a spare bottom panel so I can open it up a bit, and looking into a small USB fan or fan I can solder to a USB pad. Just a little bit of airflow should be sufficient.

 

There you go...

 

In spite of my hissy fit I found a seller on taobao today that will sell i7 3612qs/8gb ram/nohdd/use ic diamond 7 for $815. I think I will bite the bullet tomorrow. Assuming I get it I can do some tests with the 3612.

I noticed that there are conflicting reports about turbo boost being disabled on this laptop. What is going on with that? Does it throttle if it is too hot or is turbo boost actually disabled or is it something else entirely?

Also according to the seller there is a bios update 0303 for w110er that fixes the issues with the fans as well has improves memory heat management. This seems legit because I found a download link on the clevo site.

EDIT: Mediafire link
http://www.mediafire.com/?sg4v0r7xo3p1plg


Here is the blurb explaining the new bois
W110ER 最新0303bios出来了。改善了内存发热问题。同时改进了风扇转动频率，降低CPU待机温度。提醒：更新BIOS必须是DOS下更新，不然无法启动

 

interesting, but according to the date it was modified on May 08, which was a long time ago. How come Sager doesn't have it on their website?

regarding the turbo boost problem, ppl are saying that it will be disabled when the dedicated gpu is turned on maybe because of heat or power issues, I'm not sure. But when the laptop gets too hot, the cpu will be throttle for sure to reduce the heat.

 

As far as we can tell the CPU turbo option is Bios limited and has nothing to do with heat throttling.CPU temps are higher than normal only at idle and still fine when doing intensive work or gaming once the fans start kicking in.
Prema is working on a modified BIOS to fix this issue.
While I am a bit dissapointed that it's not working as it should( that's why I got one with IVB in the first place )
it does not hold back the performance in gaming in any way.
Every game I have tried on it is playable on the highest settings so far and only with the most demanding games do you have to lower the settings to med/high.

@HTWingNut
With the heat sinks in how much lower with the temps?

 

With the heatsinks installed, peak temps were only a few deg C lower. Idle temps the same. But I think if I can move some air over them it will help quite a bit. Plan on doing some testing soon.

 

Added heatsinks to GPU and CPU and temps are a bit lower.
Ran furmark for 10-11 minutes and didn't break 80c used to peak around 81c-82c.Same with Heaven Dx11 benchmark. For only a couple of bucks well worth it.

 

Yeah, and if you can find a way to get some air moving over those heatsinks, it should help quite a bit.

 

So about the matte screen you got from Mythlogic, would you say it's worth the $150 plus shipping to Canada for it?

 

Honestly, no. I like it because it's matte, no refletion. But otherwise overall specs are similar. If you want matte, it's either this or a protector. I ordered the other matte screen online for $60, which doesn't fit, and ended up breaking stock screen by accident so it was either stock screen or matte for me, and decided to just go for matte.

I should have saved myself some money and gotten stock screen again and bought a $20 protector but for whatever reason my mind wasn't willing to think clearly and just went ahead with the matte screen.

 

Cool, thanks for the advice, I'll probably just stick with the glossy then.

 

does it all still close back up after you've added those heatsinks, HTWingnut? Where did you get those from? Maybe I'll do the same thing... If you come up with a solution, let us know? I want to do something to decrease the temps, but I don't want to sacrifice it's portability to do so, so I still want to be able to close it back up. I'm open to getting a laptop cooler though. It's currently propped up on my desk by two big caps i found lying around haha

 

Yeah it closes up just fine. I had those heatsinks lying around. They're like these: Amazon.com: XBRdepot 1 Pack of 4 Premium Self-Stick Copper Heatsinks for XBOX 360 RAM ANA and Southbridge Cooling (4 individual PCS): Video Games

or these:

8 X Copper Heat Sink For DDR DDR2 DDR3 RAM Memory RHS03 | eBay

The one's from China or Hong Kong are cheap, and I think that's where I got mine, but can take weeks to arrive. They all come with a peel and stick adhesive on the bottom.

 

lol so basically what's happening here is that you're taking any sort of metal that you have, like these ram heatsinks, and just sticking it onto wherever u have space, to absorb more heat?

 

heres what i've done. please, stop me if it seems to dangerous

i found similar self stick heat sinks at a local tech store, and decided to play around on my old laptop before doing anything of the stort on the soon to arrive laptop.

basically stuck two of those copper shims on the bottom of the gpu, and had a bigger one, a flat, bigger copper shim under the gpu. also stuck another, somewhat smaller sicky copper thing on the shim, and, am too afriad to try my luck.

it does look like a giant cluster f*ck of copper, but, it looks pretty neat. I also borrowed my friends (i have no idea what its called), that looks like lines of sticking metal, thinly cut, that you heat up, and put the bottom tray cover through to open up more holes. pretty much all of the heat sink has air flowing through it now....

Still though, i'm too scared to boot it up, and class started so i cant just yet. Should be intersting to see how big of a difference it is.

 

Not any sort of metal... copper. One of the best and cheapest heat conductors there is. The added surface area improves cooling. General convection physics. The CPU is the component that heats the most, and has the largest available surface area, so best to put the heatsinks there. I have a few more heatsinks left, and may cut them in half so I can put them on the GPU, but I don't think it will matter much.

Did a similar thing on my DV6z: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...z-cooling-mod-thread-warning-lots-photos.html

Worked wonderfully.

 

when you say you put it on the cpu, from the pictures that I saw on your DV6z, you put them on the heatsinks themselves, right? have you seen similar results with this laptop? i don't think I want to cut the lid much like you did, but I like the drop in temp you got from bad company 2. how about this computer specifically?

 

Yes, I put it on the heatsink. I'm ordering a spare bottom panel that I can hack up and see how it does. Also investigating ordering a slim (10mm thick) fan that I can use with USB if needed, and have it attached to the bottom panel. Although to be honest, the temps really aren't that bad on this machine. With the DV6z I was exceeding 95C easily. That's not good. Here it never exceeds 90C except extreme benching conditions like with Prime95, and with gaming rarely 85C. But for the sake of because I can, I'll have fun with it I guess.

 

one more pipe not is more efficient than a lot of memory heltsink over cpu heltsink ?

like this for example that i made in gimp



BR

 

Technically yes, that might help. Good luck finding a heatpipe though. It's filled with a gas/fluid to assist with heat transfer. Also, how would you run the pipe through the fins? Not to mention the current fin configuration is designed for the current setup with two pipes and may not be any more efficient with three. The concept here is to provide more surface area for cooling as cheaply as possible. Just moving a little air across those add-on heatsink fins will improve cooling drastically. For $5-$10 it's a cheap solution to a few C cooler.

 

Maybe not is possible to a home made cooler solution like this. but if lot of people talk to clevo to enhace the cooler, and send ideas, why not try ?

and congratulations about your review and tests. It made my choose to this model

BR

 

So how is the resolution on this thing for gaming? I notice that the pixel density of 1366x768 on 11.6" is close to 1080p on a 17.3", but does it strain the eyes to game on such a small screen for extended periods? and does anyone at all who currently has one and has gamed extensively on it had any discomfort?

 

I've been gaming on my M11x for 2+ years now, same screen. I don't have a problem with it but my friend can't game on it. He uses an Alienware M17x with 1920x1200 res and he cannot look at mine for long periods. I would say go to a shop and find a small panel with 1366x768 res and try it out. Each person is different.

 

I believe no one will buy a 11.6¨ notebook to use it like a home game station!

it is a very mobile game machine for you play what ever you want.

for long game sections, you can plug it on a big screen and external gamer keyboard in home or use a desktop.

BR

[]'s

 

That's wrong thinking, I bought it to use while on my bed so I don't need to sit at my desktop, I'm buying it to game on for a few hours at a time, the poster above you also seems to use his 11.6" to game on. I just bought it because it will be light on my lap and easy to take with me should I need to bring it somewhere, and won't need to sit for extended periods at the desk.

 

As great as it sounds, Sager won't listen to a handful of users about an improved cooling solution. For one, I think there will be a BIOS fix or two to help with temps and fluctuating idle power. Secondly, the system was designed for a 35W CPU but Sager tested with 45W and seems to manage it well. Temps really aren't the biggest issue with this machine either. If they "fix" the CPU throttling when dedicated GPU is active then temps might be more of a concern, but as it stands there really aren't any temp issues.

I would much rather see them offer some control over fan speeds, and offer a 9-cell battery that would offer more battery life, plus prop up the machine more for better cooling. Not to mention adding additional cooling slots on the bottom panel.

 

I'm not very picky about screen size either. I have a 22" monitor and a 16.1" laptop. It's usually no difference to me which one I use and the laptop is 1366x768. The only time it makes difference is when I'm doing work with lots of tabs/windows, but the laptop is still sufficient. I had a 10.1" netbook too and I loved the size... the resolution was bad though.

 

Other great improvenment if have is a backlight keyboard option. it will be cool if exist!

BR

 

It won't on this version, unless there's a really easy and clean way to get power to the backlit keyboard and can be made with the same thickness as stock keyboard which is unlikely. I don't like that they didn't offer a backlit keyboard for this machine. It's really disappointing.

 

Ey Htwingnut, I come from a Vostro 1320 with a Core 2 duo and 4500mhd. Im planning on getting this laptop from xotip but i have a few questions.

1.- Is it Worth to Upgrade From Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge??? i mean is 100 bucks, and from what i have read ivy bridge is hot, my vostro overheats and stops when playing league of legends so i dont really want this problem!.

2.- Is there a Good Cooler that fits this laptop? the cpu and gpu vent is in a weird position. (if not i will try to make one myself)

3.- Will i see a big gap of performance from my vostro 1320 to the np6110?

thx for the review it really helped me alot btw.

 

i went from a sandy bridge i5 m14x, sold it, for the sager np 6110 ivy i7, the left vent does get hot but certainly not unbearable..... and this is me using it as a LAPTOP since i dont have my desk anymore, i just play on bed.

2. idk but ive seen people suggest several coolers on this thread

3. YES YES YES YES YES... we are talking like 3 generation technology gap. gaming wise this thing is noticeably better than my m14x by running bf3.

 

hahaha thx its just that i live in a real hot place sometimes reaching 102 farenheit or more so i was thinking if if should just stick with the Dual core Sandy Bridge. I cant wait to get my hands on a New tech Lappy im not that hardcore gamer but i would really like to play batman, league of legends and some casual games of steam.

 

Do you really think a "protector" can do a good job ?
I believe none can stand aside to a real matte screen..

Anyway, now that you've got the right screen, would you please let us know the reference ? I think it's B116XW03 V.1 (beware, seems there are glossy and matte finish) but I'd rather prefer to be sure before ordering (here: New A+ 11.6 LCD Laptop Screen Display Panels LP116WH2(TL)(N1) fits B116XW03 V.2 | eBay, thanks.

 

First of all, just wondering why xoticpc. Nothing wrong with them, but give lpc-digital a try. They seem to offer best pricing.

1. If your gaming requires a quad core, yes, Ivy Bridge is the way to go. User R3d bought one with a Sandy Bridge i5 and it still runs as hot as the Ivy Bridge quad though.

2. Take your pick of coolers. There were several mentioned earlier in this thread or the Clevo W110ER thread. I tried the Notepal U2 which I already owned, and to be honest, it didn't help much more than just propping up the back end of the notebook. I think if you were able to open up the bottom of the notebook a little for some airflow, it might help. But the U2 has two fans that you can adjust in any location.

3. It will be WORLD's faster than the Vostro 1320. It will be like going from a Ford Focus to a Ferrari. The CPU will be at least twice as fast, and the GPU, well, let's just say it's 1080p high detail capable on most games. Heck the integrated HD 4000 is twice as fast as the 9300m in the Vostro 1320

B116XW03 v.1 is it in Matte. I believe the V.0 and V.2 only come in glossy. If you can get the protector on the screen without bubbles, it looks almost as good as a standard matte screen, and in hindsight, I should have saved the money and just did it. It'd be worth the hassle, even if I had to do it twice to get it right, save me $100+

 

Hey !

I was thinking about adding a tiny fan directly inside the lappy, but i don't know how to power it(3,5V,maybe using Y connector to the existing 3 pins connector?) or something like this.Also if it's possible does the magnetic interference won't be an issue? I know it's a bit messy, but the fan is only 17x17mm and provide substancial airflow...gotta dig it..maybe.

 

If done I would love details please, this thread has motivated me to do modifications of my own, and would gladly take anything that would improve the laptop.

Also, it seems to be... Fun.