Malibal Lotus / Clevo W860CU Results

OK, folks, took some time to document the arrival of the W860CU, below is my review. I'm not a huge gamer so I don't have very many games to test with, but if there are demos and such you'd like to see results for I'm happy to oblige, just provide me with a download link.

Malibal Lotus / Clevo W860CU

Purchase from : Malibal
Payment Method : PayPal eCheck
Shipping Method: UPS Ground
Total order time, processing and shipping : 15 days (Shipping 5.5 days) (original, defective laptop)
Total order time, processing and shipping : 6 days (overnight shipping, and free LCD upgrade). (Replacement laptop)


System as Tested

CPU - Intel Core i7 720QM (6MB L3 Cache - 1.6GHz)
Display - 1600x900 HD+ LED (note: Upgraded to 1920x1080 on replacement laptop)
RAM - 4GB PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 2 SO-DIMM
GPU - NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M 1GB GDDR3
HD - 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA-300
Optical Drive - 8X Multi DVD+/-R/RW RAM Dual-Layer Drive
WiFi - Internal 802.11A/B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card

Ordering Experience
I chose Malibal due to the lack of information on this site regarding their offerings, as well as their lower price. On most higher end models they seem to beat the competition by ~$10. Not much, but every penny counts. Ordering was done via the website and was easy, but not without issue. My choice in paying via PayPal eCheck was a bit convoluted, and I originally paid incorrectly. A quick on-line chat with their customer service people fixed the issue and my original payment was refunded immediately, and I was then sent an invoice via email to pay with an eCheck. Their website is easy to login and check the status of the order, and I was pleasently surprised to get an unsolicited email from Matthew, the day before shipping letting me know that the laptop was ready to go, and would be leaving the next time. Like clockwork, the next day I received my UPS tracking number and the order status was updated on their site.

Order Update

Since this result thread was posted, my original laptop from Malibal was determined to have a hardware problem causing random BSOD's and reboots. Quite frustrating! For full infromation on this you can read my resellerratings.com review (same user name) but let me hit the key points.

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* Contacted Malibal to report the problem at 11PM Wed evening.

* The responded to me agreeing that it was a hardware problem by 11:30PM.

* Malibal had already placed the order for my replacement from Clevo/Sager Thursday 9AM and let me know they'll upgrade my shipping to 2nd Day Air and would ship Monday.

* I received the RMA number for the original laptop by 5PM Thursday.

* Monday AM - Email from Malibal, backorder on my 1600x900 panel. They offer to upgrade me to 1920x1080 for FREE.

* Tuesday AM - Email from Malibal, Clevo/Sager has a small backorder but the laptop will ship this week.

* Wed PM - They have a lock on the laptop and since 2nd day air would be cutting it close, they upgrade me to overnight shipping for free.

* Thursday PM - Laptop ships

* Friday PM - Laptop arrives.
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So in summary, my original order was upgraded to a 1920x1080 panel and I received overnight shipping, all for free. All of the return hoopla, etc.. was resolved in under a week with absolutely no pushing or complaining on my end.

Amazing customer service and I'll be ordering my W870CU from Malibal shortly.

Unboxing / Laptop Photos


























Screen Comparison
(Note – If you’re looking for actual images, I’d recommend reading Chinnoobonic’s review, he has some very good ones in there!)

I originally placed my order for the 1600x900 panel, as the W86C0 is not going to be my primary laptop. My brief experience with the 1600x900 panel was that it was very good. The only comparison I can make is to the 1440x900 panel on my Dell Vostro 1500. The 1600x900 panel was very sharp and crisp. Brightness was good, and even at half power (when using the battery) it was bright enough to the point where I forgot it wasn’t at 100% brightness. The angles were decent, and reflections were not a problem. I should add that the lighting in my living room is pretty standard, and all ceiling mounted. I don’t have any standing lamps or anything, so that could contribute to the lack of reflections.

My replacement laptop came with the 1920x1080 screen. This screen is even better than the 1600x900. It seemed brighter and more white, if that makes sense. I had originally been concerned that 1920x1080 would be too small, but on 16:9 screen, it really isn’t for my usage. Now I’m 30, so keep that in mind, if you have reading glasses or bi-focals, it may be annoying to you. I did set the resolution down to 1620x900 to compare with the original panel from the laptop I sent back. Obviously it’s a *tad* more fuzzy, not being in its native resolution but it’s hardly noticeable.

Overall both screens were very good quality, and I’d be happy with them both. Having seen both, would I now pay the extra upgrade fee for the 1920? Absolutely. When I go back to my old Dell it’s like using a child’s computer, the difference is dramatic. However, I want to underscore that the 1600x900 is a good panel, and if you have no need for the higher resolution and plan on running at a max of 1600x900, then I wouldn’t recommend spending the extra money. If you’re concerned about 1920x1080 being too small, it isn’t. Windows 7 does a good job of scaling icons and text, and the 16:9 ratio really helps with that.


Idle Temperatures

Idle temperature was determined by letting the laptop boot up, and sit idle for approximately 5 minutes.

Ambient temperature was 70F, 20C.




Battery Life

I gave it the "plane" test, wi-fi was turned off, battery was charged to 100% and I let a DVD play until the PC turned itself off. Power settings were Windows 7 default, with the only changes made being that the screen would never turn off, nor would the laptop put itself to sleep. Obviously that's how you'd want it if you wanted to watch a full 2 hour movie and weren't hitting any keys or moving the mouse.

Total time for the "plane" test to go from 100% battery to Windows giving up the ghost : 58 minutes 12 seconds.

Better buy an air adapter if you watch a lot of movies on airplanes.

Benchmarks
Note, all benchmarks were performed with HT on.


WPrime





HDTune (500GB 7200RPM)



3DMark '06

Run at 1280x800 resolution, all defaults taken.



3DMark Vantage

Settings



Results



Furmark
Below is the benchmark result. Stability test was also run, with GPU temperature maxing out at 78C (1920x1080, MSAA = 16x, post processing enabled, and with extreme burning mode enabled.)




Fritz Benchmark

For those of you not aware of Fritz, it's a chess program. This benchmark compares performance of posititonal analysis as compared relative to the original test system, a P3 300MHz.




BarsWF

BarsWF isn't an actual benchmark, but is the fasted MD5/SHA-1 hash generator on the planet, and has CUDA support. It is a raw power test of the number crunching ability of the CPU+GPU (assuming it's an NVidia GPU) all in one, so if you're looking to compare pure speed vs pure speed between two laptops it's very useful in that respect. For comparison, I've included a screenshot of my Vostro 1500 (T5470 + 8400M GS).

Vostro 1500


W860CU

 

Good review, never heard about BarsWF before. Good benchmark tool.

 

Mediocre review. 5/10.

This should also go in the review section.

 

Great review. Any chance of doing a Vantage and/or 3dmark06 run?

 

I'm crying on the inside, SS..

 

No sarcasm this time, BrandonSi. This is a really shallow "review."

 

Yep! It's on the list, though the 3dmark '06 should be equivalent to most 280M's already measured, but we'll see what comes out of it. Friday afternoon I'll have time to post the scores up, unless someone else beats me to it. I don't think we've seen Vantage scores with the 720QM yet.

 

Luckily your approval means very little to me, so no harm, no foul. Anxiously awaiting your review!

 

I don't publish notebook reviews. But I do know what a good review looks like,.

 

Of course you do.

 

stock scores i wonder y :9 so low same spec as him except for an 320gb 7200rpm hard disk

 

I'll keep it short.

Let me put it this way. If you remove all of the image links in your "review," you will see that you really don't have much content that constitutes as a good review.

In the first part, you talk about your experience with Malibal. Everyone wants to read about a reviewer's experience with a new company. Nothing wrong with that.

In the second part, you dump a column of non-thumbnailed pictures that is sure to make you friends with scrollwheel enthusiasts. The pics shows what comes in the box and what the notebook looks like from only select angles. You are missing the top and bottom shots as well as the chassis interior of the notebook.

In the third part, you throw a bunch of benchmarks at us, which would only capture the interest of a small niche of users. Remember that the vast majority of viewers reading your review are inactive users on NBR, non-registered lurkers on NBR, and people that just Googled for a review of the W860CU. You need to cater your review to persuade the readership as to why this notebook is good, or bad in which isn't the case. The major aspects that are absent from your review are things like first thoughts, build quality, aesthetics, ergonomics, UI devices such as the keyboard and trackpad, display and audio, noise, portability, etc. Not to mention that a good review should only be published after the user has spent a sufficient amount of one on one time with the notebook. In my book, that is usually about a week or two.

I can go on and on, but I really don't like to spoon feed people as they will learn better figuring out on their own how to compose a review that meets the basic qualities of a review. It doesn't have to be a long as say Gophn's review for example, although his is more of a hybrid "how to" guide as well as a thorough overall evaluation of a notebook that he was kindly given by Sager to review. But your review should atleast meet that level of expectation and quality, a KGB and NBR level of expectation and quality that would have readers saying "this review helped me answer a lot of my questions that I have about this notebook," rather than just share how much I am in love with Malibal and how goddamn fast this machine is on benchmarks. If the average reader does not connect and relate with the review, then they won't get anything out of it.

I don't blame you solely as lately I have been seeing this trend start to become more prevalent here on NBR. A lot of them are worse than yours, BrandonSi, but as a member of the KGB, we expect you to keep the level of quality high.

 

BrandonSi, I agree with soviet on a couple of points but in general I am glad to have as many reviews as possible especially since yours is one of the first.

The only thing I really missed in your review was fan noise, idle and under load.

thanks

 

I lol'd @ an "impressive" 3 runs of furmark. that equals 3 minutes with at least a few seconds to cool down between each, as you did the benchmark. Do the stability test, 20 minutes, 8X AA xtreme burn mode and max res. THEN 74C would be impressive. my "hot" G51 can do 74C @ 3 minutes..

 

If I can get my fan fixed, this machine will be perfect:

 

I've seen your results, and I'm not saying the machine isn't an amazing one- am just saying 3 minutes of furmark is lackluster.

 

Good stuff! I love the pics, and some actual figures to benchmark against with programs most don't ever list, so kudos for that.
On the shallow review, I know you're comparing him to Gophn, or someone like Anandtech, which isn't very fair, Gophn's a pro and has done tons of projects like that, and probably spent weeks on the 9280 review whereas a user who just received the 8690 does not have that kind of time. There are two types of reviews, short and sweet ( notebookcheck style ) or information overload ( Anandtech/Toms Hardware ). Some prefer reading 20 pages of in depth content...nothing wrong with that...but this review relates to the common buyer who might only want to know what he posted...I'm not a common buyer, but I can relate of course. Points are of course taken away for not listing the common benchmarks everyone can compare to, but give Brandon A for effort due to using benchmarks not listed by most which is a relief, 3dmark06 is a baseline for everything yes but it's one of hundreds that just happened to be mainstream. And uh yah, SS covered all angles on what to leave in or out. Furmark is similar temp wise for short burns I have found, I have run Furmark for 3 hours and have run it for 10 minutes and have gotten the same figures in the Clevo, never could break 72C. Always use extreme burn mode with the highest resolution and AA, then you can find the max temp. CPUs tend to be a little slower at reaching a max temp of course, and seem to need at least an hour to fully heat up.

 

I have beef with Gophn's review as well, but that's another story. I just want BrandonSi to cover all of the basic aspects that any person, for example, the users in the "What Notebook Should I Buy" section can understand. If I invite 20 users in that section to read this review, you are going to hear the same basic questions popping up inquiring about the things that should have been covered first.

Second, this was a rush job put together while he was in a euphoric state of having such an incredible notebook. I see it happen a lot and it ends up with subpar reviews such as this. It's not fair for the reader and it's not fair for the standards of future reviews. I'm sure BrandonSi is busy like the rest of us, which is why I strongly suggested that he spends time with the notebook instead of writing up a few paragraphs and slapping a few pictures and benchmarks on it after a day or two of actually having the notebook. It's like opening a consumer guide and reading a review on a family car that only talks about the dealer it was bought from and how the engine performs. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be the first one out the door with a user review as long as it is done to a satisfactory quality. It is even more important that he should make this review polished because there are hardly any reviews out there published by users such as you and me that talks about the general aspects of the notebook yet.

You classifying yourself as not a common buyer just supports my premise even further. You are the minority out of the hundreds of people around the world that are looking for W860CU reviews. It is very important that the basics are covered before adding additional information for the enthusiast buyers. And each individual reader can cherry pick what parts to read each to his own. One might only want the down to earth outlook on the notebook. Another may want only the benchmarks. Another may want to read the basics of the notebook with some extra depth in portability. And another may just want the specs and the cost. The vast majority will still want to go through the basic aspects, and thus every reviewer should strive to include that in every review they publish. It's like studying for a midterm the day before you take it, and on the midterm you only answer the extra credit questions and leave the rest of the test blank.

In regards to Furmark, three minutes is too short. Even if his notebook does reach a relative equilibrium temperature after 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or three hours, he needs to show that the notebook can maintain that temperature for that amount of time. All notebooks are different and each one heats up differently on Furmark. For example, the Asus G series notebooks are like a rollercoaster on Furmark for many of it's users because of it's inefficient fan speed thresholds, and the real results of the session would only be visible after running the test after a good 15 minutes or so. The results of a Furmark run are more credible if done across a longer span on time instead of a mere three minutes. Anyone reading the benchmark results will be much more comfortable seeing 70*C after a 20 minute session compared to 70*C after a three minute session.

 

All good points made but there are some looking at the 8690 and information has been sorely lacking. A lot of the people that bought it have fallen off the face of the earth. It's good that review threads like this one were created, even if they are succinct. I was considering writing up a short review of my own initially but then I figured I'd wait a week or two until the excitement wore down so I could compose a balanced one.

 

The man took his time to write this review, maybe it's not the best review in the world but it's the first to be published here (correct me if I am wrong). I fail to see how criticising him so badly for what he has done will help the community besides the fact that fewer people are going to write reviews, not everyone has time to write in-depth reviews, I for example barely have no time to write any reviews. I know other users are going to write much more in-depth reviews, but there is no harm in having other shorter reviews like this one, especially when there is not much written yet.

 

The only parts that are present are finding out that Malibal is legit, and the benchmarks. Everything else is missing. Anyone can type up a good review in an hour more or less. It does not have to be long. Even just a few sentences for each aspect of the notebook bullet point style would be enough. The main point still stands that the review is missing the elementary factors that comprises a short and sweet review. If a major number of those key factors have not been covered, then it put the validity of whether his article is a "review" or not into question.

Yes, I understand everyone's implication that he did put in effort, but that effort is the pioneering showcase for every reader out there because this is one of the first user reviews published for this notebook. But really, if this were to be evaluated at the high school level, teachers would be saying the same thing. Where is the part about the keyboard? How good does the screen look? Is the palmrest warm? Like I said, things like these can be easily answered without going in-depth.

I know that people are going to say, "if you don't like the review, don't reply to it." I do agree, I am guilty in this principle of logic. But I needed to get the word out to preserve the level of quality in future reviews. I really dislike using BrandonSi as an example, but it just had to be done.

When you read all of this in a few hours, BrandonSi, I want you to know that this is for everyone, including myself. I have nothing personal against you. The goal of the KGB is to help improve each of it's members and those around. We all learn from our lackluster and our shortcomings, except for Heathkidd. This is me doing my part for the community regardless of how most of you see me as the antagonist.

 

Gentlemen, gentlemen.. Relax. This review represented things I would have been interested to see, that would've helped me make up my mind on the 8690. Do I care what the max temp is for 12 hours worth of Furkmark? No, not really. Do I care what the chiclet keys feel like, or how much flex is in the left exhaust vent? Again, no, I don't.

I wanted to know about CPU/GPU speed (Fritz, BarsWF, Wprime, etc..) and see some real photos not taken by a pro photographer, and that's what I provided. This was not an attempt to create a professional review, or even a detailed one. I did not announce that I was writing a review, nor did I solicit input from anyone because I know I don't have the time to make this perfect or complete. No review is going to satisfy everyone 100%, and even someone will complain about a review as detailed as Gophn's D900F review.

That being said, I will add the 3DMark06 and Vantage Scores on Friday afternoon.

In summary, if the review helped, great! If it didn't, best of luck finding the info you're looking for!

 

I do not see where BrandonSi implied that this thread was to be construed as a review. The thread is simply titled 'Malibal Lotus / Clevo W860Cu Results' and is exactly that: a compilation of benches/results of the machine.

If you would like to see any more, please request that of the OP, but he did not oblige himself to provide a review.

Duane

 

First line.

 

Guys, please stop arguing over the review/result/post/etc. It is what is. If you have a problem with it, or are not satisfied by the post, the problem is on your end, and you're welcome to create a new review that meets your requirements.

I've committed to getting Vantage and 3DM06 added to the review Friday, if there are any other benchmarks or photos you'd like, let me know and I'll see what I can do about getting them in there as well.

 

Don't take it personal, you should be glad. Your review is good so far, and here everyone will tell you what to add. So just add these If they are not satisfied, and tell you why, then it is a great opportunity to make a better review. But of course a 12 hours stress-test is ok to not do

Just keep adding benchmarks and info on what people said was missing and it'll be an awesome review. (if you have the time of course)

 

Nope, not antagonistic, just a little arrogant.

 

Cool; looking forward to 3dmark06. How's the battery life with the 720QM?

 

Good question, I haven't really tested it. I did some of the benchmarks and checked that the battery got charged to 100%, then pulled the cable and let it sit to discharge, but didn't time it. I was watching TV and doing some other things and came back to it and it was off, and that was about 2 hours later, so rough estimate 1:40-2:00 hours. Not terribly impressive, but I didn't buy it for the battery life.

I'm going to blow away the HD tomorrow, re-install XP then 7. While I'm installing the drivers I'll do it without the AC power and see how low it goes, and how quickly.

 

I guess so. I woke up this morning a bit surprised at what I saw in my own posts. I have to admit now that I was under the influence, haha. Having a little drinky while working on a final paper and posting on NBR is not a good combination. But then again, after reading through the thread again, I am guilty of incurring an attitude of self-reliance rather than antagonism or arrogance. I used it properly, surprisingly, though I do regret that I should have approached the criticism on a lighter note. I should have talked to BrandonSi in PM before spilling my thoughts into the thread. Definately an example of impatience on my part.

Nevertheless, I still do think that all articles that are written with the intent of reviewing a notebook should include the basics whether the author cares about it or not. It's simply for the sake of maintaining the NBR definition of a notebook review at the very minimum level. But by me reigning civilized havoc on this thread last night has moved a lot of users to think over the reviews they will be publishing in the near future. Think of it as me sacrificing for the improvement of others.

Now I need to take the time and reply to the wave of PM's that bombarded my inbox. Most of them are related to my posts here last night and some of them are from mods too.