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

So your assumption is wrong and it's not the culprit, or I'm missing something.

Arrrh so impatient to get my hands on this =)

 

No, you're not understanding what I'm saying. Even when not in use it's still getting some sort of charge or active some amount. It may or may not be the culprit but it's the only thing that makes sense for the wild variation in power consumption. There's no way to test it though without being able to completely disable it. If it were an MXM card you could just rip it out and test it that way. But since there's no way to truly turn it OFF you can't. Disabling it in BIOS or in device manager just results in a higher power consumption, so it's obviously not turned off.

 

Hey HTWingnut, I was worried about your low i7-3610m CB 10.5 score so I ran them through myself. I was able to coax the CPU in to full turbo by running the CB app on integrated with only intel tuboboost widget monitoring.

the best I can get 17000 which is close to yours but the weird thing is, on 32 bit the score was like 16000 which is way to close a difference.
Notebookcheck has the average score at 20000 so for the life of me I cant think of anything that will result in a 25% discrepancy since the Turbo Widget reported full 3.1ghz boost the whole time.

So I ran CB11.5 64bit and voila, 6.25 which is on par with the high end of Notebookcheck. I suspect CB 10.5 is giving artificially low scores on the W110er i7-3610m so its a caution to everyone who reads review scores.
6.25 is godly since I think thats what my i5-2500k could get at stock. even at 4.5ghz its 6.95

 

First off, I think I might have read your post incorrectly, bikerboy030, and was unduly rude. Sorry.

So, the ivy bridge dual core's come out (for Mythlogic and rjtech at least) and I think I'll take the plunge. I did want to ask beforehand: In anyone's opinion, is it worth getting the 2.5Ghz i5-3210 now instead of waiting to see if/when its faster siblings come out, especially since the sandy bridge i5-2450 can still be had for about $100 less?

Thanks!

 

xoticpc has ivy bridge dual cores available as well now. Just waiting on Malibal and that matte screen before pulling the trigger.

 

I think the faster ones are worth waiting for, I myself aim looking at replacing my i7-3610m with either an i7-3520m or an i5-3360m or heck even an i7-2640m if the turboboost while using GPU issue cant be fixed.
I think notebookcheck noticed that ivy bridges are more likely to hit and sustain turbo clocks compared to sandy though if you could get your hands on something like a 2620m or 2640m i wouldn't say no

 

HTWingNut, what webpages did you use for your battery test and what setting was the brightness at (in terms of "ticks" from the lowest or highest setting)?

I think I'm going to return my W110ER (or at least exchange for an i7 version) so I wanna confirm the battery life of the i5 version.

 

Not enough power for you?

 

CPU bottleneck in BF3 makes me sad.

And I'm still not sure whether I can stand the screen or not... I might just end up sticking with my DV6z and waiting until Haswell.

 

Anyone able to make a guide to replacing the glossy screen with a matte one?

 

Hmm, when sitting in university...
Power profile set to power saving. CPU locked to 1200. Wifi on.
I simply cant get past 2,5 hours max on battery. One hour more would be fine.

Also one other question regarding prime95.
When running prime95 the CPU should turbo?
Should the CPU then show constant turbo frequency in HWinfo64, or is it just jumping up and down between max freq and turbo freq like mine?

 

Did you open your Nvidia Control Panel, click 3D Settings, then Program Settings, find Battlefield 3 in the drop-down box, and turn on Threaded Optimization? Someone mentioned it will use all 4 physical cores in a quad and will use up to 6 hyperthreading.

Edit: Funny thing, I was reading this and noticed that the lower the resolution you go the more CPU the game takes. Go with an external monitor and higher resolution and you put more strain on the GPU and less on the CPU, that's just redonk.

 

Of course, it happens with older games too, the GFX requirement is so low that your CPU will determine the FPS. High res always stresses gfx cards more, simply more information on the screen to render.

 

Is it really that much of problem ? I also want to buy one with i5 SB, but now i am not sure Well i won't be playing BF3, but i want to play some other new games like Shogun2, D3, Skyrim and whatever comes out ...

 

I gave you a way. Please read again what I wrote, I understood you dude.
You need to get one thing though, it can't consume more and give you better battery life :

So if you're getting better battery life when GPU turned OFF (even if you think it's running full-freq) than when it's turned ON and idling, then your initial assumption is wrong and the notebook behavior is correct.

 

No, I'm not saying that it's *running* full power when it's idling or sleeping. It's *clocked* full speed, at 1.05V/835MHz, and whatever amps it draws in sleep state. If clocks were set to 135 and 0.87V in sleep mode then it would be consuming less power. It's not active and ready to render in 3D.

 

On my old laptop i used a sidebar gadget GPU Observer, reading out temperature of the graphics card.
I got used to it so i intalled it also on the w110er.

Funny thing is, if I close the gadget it seems the estimated power draw level shown by battery bar is approx 5mw lower compared to using the gadget.
Does reading out a sensor forces the GPU to use more power?

 

Interesting thing on threaded optimization will give that a go. And regarding using more CPU, it sounds like it's just bottlenecked by either the CPU or GPU. Lower resolutions the GPU is less of a bottleneck.

If you open the gadget it will "activate" the GPU which in turn will consume more power. That's what Optimus is about. It turns on the GPU when triggered and off when not in use.

 

So best thing, never use a GPU gadget?

 

Pretty much, at least not on battery, or unless you're running a game, then the GPU will be active anyhow.

 

That makes me really think, that there is need for optimized bios / optimus drivers to squeeze out some more batterylifetime.

 

Hi!

This seems to be the best place to ask, so here goes:

I'm looking to buy the W110er myself, the only thing holding me back is the lack of matte screen in the European market. I try to avoid ordering from USA/Canada because of shipping costs and VAT. (I live in Finland.)

Can anyone confirm if it is possible to change the screen oneself? The matte panel used on EUROCOM W110ER Monster 1.0 can be found on ebay for way under 100€...

 

If you can find the B116XW03 v.1 it will match perfectly. Simple and quick to do.

 

Ok, here's the start of my fan mod. Took a 60mm x 10mm thick 5v fan, made a USB to 3-pin adapter from spare parts (for now), plugged in and here's temp results:

Idle:




At Prime95 load:




After 20 minute BF3 session:



Open spoiler tag to see images of the mod.

fan
Bottom of panel with fan attached.


Other side of panel (inside):


Inside side view:


Outside side view:


Loose cable plugged into USB (for now)



What I did:

(1) Drilled holes for fan, using fan as template
(2) Cut clearance hole for fan using dremel
(3) Sliced clearance on corner of fan to slide over bottom panel at top, and cut off half of bottom screw hole locations. This way it would sit up inside the bottom panel by a few mm to reduce external protrusion.

This mod requires the laptop to be propped up. However, I can easily remove the bottom panel and replace it with stock one if needed in a few seconds. It is definitely loud. Used this fan: These are Specialty 5 Volt Fans. Not for use on Standard computer 12V Power supply. (16.1 CFM).

My next steps are to get a manual voltage regulator so I can adjust fan speed. Problem is finding a 5V fan controller when most are 12V. I also want to get a USB pass through connector of some kind so that it isn't consuming a USB port all the time.

 

Thanks for the fast reply!

Do you happen to know if this screen has better image quality compared to the original? And are there any other panels that could fit?

Oh, and one more thing. Can anyone recommend a good carrying case for W110ER.

 

or you buy a foil...in germany the foil coast 11€..
Laptop Displayschutzfolie Matt Entspiegelung 11,6 zoll | eBay

maybe if it fits good, you wouldn't see a different (but in your budget )

best regards

 

I'm an advocate for matte protectors and in hindsight should have just gone that route. They are a major PITA to install but if you get it right they look remarkably as good as a true matte screen.

 

I guess I'll give the matte protector a go first, since it won't be that big of a financial loss if I fail the installation.

How do you like the image quality of the stock panel? According to some reviews it's quite bad. :O

I'm also wondering whether changing the panel would fix that too.

 

the image quality is ok.
You need too look direct on the screen, than you have no problems.

If you look from above or a too low, you see that the quality decrease.
But this is normal for LCD-Screens, i think.
The only thing is the glossy screen.
You have problems (like on every glossy screen) with refelctions, so a foil would be good.

 

The viewing angles are horrific and shouldn't be considered "normal" by any means. Problem is we have limited choice with it being an LVDS screen and 11.6", there's really no quality screens that we can use.

 

That looks interesting, and its quite a bit of a temp drop at idle too. Would be interesting to see if you'd be able to clean it up a bit, and, somehow hide those wires. I'd like to do something like this as well...

 

Nice mods, do you think any retailer would give you a spare bottom plate (maybe sell you one) to mod with so if you screw that one up, you got one more?

 

LPC-Digital sold me the spare plate that I hacked up. PM him if you're interested.

Definitely going to try and clean it up a bit. Looking for a way to permanently prop the back side too with enough clearance for fan.

 

Nice, how much was that?

 

Okay guys. I am in the market for a new laptop, and I am pretty much in love with the NP6110. I have read through the past 69 pages of posts and really like the majority of what I have read.

I am on LPC Digital to price build options, and I see that the Ivy Bridge dual cores are available. I am an avid gamer, but I have a desktop that handles most of my gaming needs. The 6110 would be my "I'm too tired to play in a chair, so time to crawl in bed" and my "I can't bring that 40lb desktop with me anywhere" computer. My current list of games I'm playing is pretty much the Batman games, Dota 2, Deus Ex, and some Skyrim.

So my real question is, since I am not nearly as worried about render quality as I am playable framerate and tolerable battery life, is the i5 going to satisfy my demands? Or would it be worth it to shell out an extra $100 and go with the i7? Since the i5 is a 35w CPU vs the 45w i7, how much extra battery life could it really add?

Also, I can't find the answer anywhere: how large is the keyboard? My Acer Aspire One 10.1" netbook is 93% of the size of a full keyboard; how does the Sager relate?

Sorry for the long winded post; I am pretty excited about getting a laptop seeing as my only mobile options are that poopy netbook and an archaic D820.

Thanks for any responses!

 

If you can spring for the extra $100 I'd say go for the quad core. The dual core sandy bridge at least haven't been running cooler, nor give much better battery life. No idea on Ivy Bridge dual cores yet though.

Otherwise the dual core should be more than satisfactory. Nice thing is, it's easy to upgrade the CPU.

 

I COULD stretch the i7, but I can't really justify it if the dual core will work well enough. About what would the cost be if I decided to upgrade later down the road? How does Intel do with socket compatibility? If I will be able to drop in the next gen quad core in a year or two, then I will probably just rock the i5 for now.

I am not terribly concerned about the heat, since most of my mobile gaming will probably be Dota 2. Games like Batman and Deus Ex aren't really the type of game I want to fire up and play for 30min; I feel like they deserve a longer commitment than that.

Besides, doesn't SOMEBODY need to get one with the Ivy Bridge i5 and test battery life and benchmarks?

 

I ordered with the dual core and will upgrade to the quad if I decide I need it. After hearing HTWingNut's experience with trying to game on the hd4000, I decided the benefits of increased graphics power in ivy bridge isn't worth waiting for.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

 

For me, the viewing angel is "normal", because my last 2 Notebooks habd nearly the same viewing angel...

But if you want a good display, like the Dell 17R....you wouldn't get it at this moment in this maschine...

 

Could someone please upload touchpad drivers ?
Clevo ftp is down since at least yesterday, and I just got mine.
Battery seems defective btw, at first charge (turned off) it never went to green, then it couldn't hold the charge for long, and now it won't charge well at all, I hope I can get another one without shipping the defective one :'(

 

How does the screen compare to the M11x R3? If it's the same, then I am fine with it. If it's worse, I may cancel my order.

 

I'd say same or better. It doesn't have the full edge to edge glossy cover like the M11x.

 

quick question guys.....would it make sense buying a barebones from rj at this link Clevo W110ER, 11.6" Barebone Laptop, Switchable nVidia GT 650M 2GB/Intel GMA HD GPU, Optimus Technology..if i already have a 500gb drive and ram (8gb 1333mhz)- would the 1333mhz be fine ??? ...also what processor can i buy from ebay...maybe a second gen sandy bridge i7 ...what would be the average price ....finally do you think it makes sense to buy a barebones for 500$????? (screen+gpu) - no cpu/ram/hdd

 

If you're comfortable with installing a CPU and correctly applying thermal paste then I'd say go for it. Though it seems the price of new i3-2330m or i5-2450m on eBay is the same as what RJTech is charging but they will install it for free. Used prices are less but you're taking a gamble. IC-D paste is probably a good idea. I thought about doing the same thing, but I'm going to wait a bit to see if they release a 13" or 14".

1333MHz RAM is fine. The higher clocked RAM (1600 & 1866MHz) would give you a slightly higher frame-rate while gaming on the integrated HD 4000(Ivy)/3000(Sandy), but 1333MHz is fine if you're trying to save money. You could always upgrade later if you felt the need to.

 

Cool! I actually didn't even realize that the m11x has the full screen glossy cover.

 

I take it with Prema's BIOS mod, we should be easily able to OC the RAM from 1600Mhz to 1866Mhz?

 

Thanks mate ....my intention is to pull the ram of MBP and put it in this ...and get 4gb ram on my MBP ...cause that i use mostly for school stuff

 

Easily in BIOS if your RAM will tolerate it.

 

Excellent, mine has shipped and should be here next week, Can't wait to mess with it.

 

Great update you've done on the OP HT!! well done, sadly I've got no more rep left.. I'll add some afterwards, once again, thanks