*** Official Clevo P150EM / Sager NP9150 Owner's Lounge ***

So the intel 6300 is legit ? Or is the 6230 sufficient?

I won't be on campus too much but will be out and about quite often with my laptop in the backpack ready to bust out haha.

 

quick question

how big of difference will 7970m make over 670m
if im going to be playing like command and conquer generals 2 (uses same engine as BF3 not out yet though)

i mean i dont need to play everything on max settings medium -high would be fine so yes any help is appreciated

i really just need this to last me a good 2 years or so first 2 years of college would be nice

how many fps difference are we talking about here in medium-high settings

 

Just get the Atheros AR5BHB112 card with AR9380 chipset which is exactly the same as the Killer 1103 and can even run the same Killer drivers/utilities but is less than half the price:

AR5BHB112 | eBay

 

On BF3 High settings you can expect 25-30 FPS Lower than a 7970m. Still playable but at around 45 FPS compared to 72 of the 7970m. The difference is 35% less FPS than a 7970m.

Also thanks iaTa, this card works well in the P150EM I'm guessing? I'm down to buy it haha! <3


On Ultra the difference is 43% in FPS compared to the 7970m.
The 7970m with everything maxed even MSAA and Vsync etc. gets 35FPS. Turn on SMAA injector instead and you can hit 50FPS easily and get the same awesome visuals.

The 670m gets 43% less so you would be at about 20FPS maximum; with SMAA injector maybe 30 FPS. Still not high enough to have a smooth game as you'll get dips into the teens most likely.

If you are fine with running Medium/High settings then the 670m is fine; if you want a future proof laptop for the next 2-4 years the 7970m is well worth the extra few hundred as on average the increase is about 35-50% increase in FPS depending on the game. Crysis 2, Alan Wake, Batman Arkham all get 50% more FPS in Ultra with the 7970m. Skyrim, Diablo 3 and a few others get 40% more FPS.

It's a humungous leap in power for only an additional $200-300

 

It's the same card as the Killer 1103 so yeah should work well.

 

What is this SMAA injector you speak of? kinda like game booster?

 

ok lol i guess i can spare $200 for the upgrade

thanks

total price of my machine with all stuff i want and cash discount = $1487.99 not bad
this with matte screen, 7970m, 6300 wireless card + no OS (can add that myself)
should last me a long while

might add an msata later for OS if its worth it and price comes down

thanks everyone for all the help havent purchased a laptop in over 5 years so i was not up to date
now i just gotta wait till i get paid next week...

 

AMD Radeon HD 7970M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

If you want to compare it click the little compare button and you can see the 670m compared to it on benchmarks / games. Pretty helpful site.

But yes the upgrade is more than worth it; the bang for your buck is ridiculous!

 

placed my order last night and i chose glossy instead of matte screen. was that an good idea?

the laptop mostly will be indoor stick on the desk near the window with the blinds down

 

That's fine, if anything you can always buy a matte monitor since its just gona be sitting on a desk indoors.

I had to get matte because i'll be using the np9150 in the classroom for college, but I have a 25" HP glossy monitor at home that I can connect to play games at home.

By the way, which would be the best connection to use to connect to monitors? DVI or HDMI??? (for best performance, FPS...)

 

Just one thing to note about the 6300 wireless card... it doesn't have Bluetooth built in. That was the reason that I went with the 6235 as I use it with my mobile.

 

Calm down xD It's just to make sure that everything is ok with my graphics card... and if you got 7.3 with the 7970M, i think that 7.0 is ok for the 675M

Yes you are correct

Thanks for the tip

 

I have 7.2 with my NVIDIA GTX560M

 

I received my computer with the 7970M last week and it a monster. Great buy !

I just have one question. Is their a way to verify if the thermal compound was actually placed (correctly) ?

Cheers

 

Could someone do a ghost check for "A"+"D"+space?

Thanks

 

The only way to tell is by removing the heatsink from the CPU or GPU and checking that their is an even coating of paste on both the processor and the copper heatsink with no gaps. You need to be gental when removing the heatsink as the paste creates suction between the processor and heatsink when correctly applied. Some hair drier heating and gental side to side motion on the heatsink helps with braking the suction specially if the paste has been on for a while. Once seperated the compound will need to be replaced to ensure no air bubbles are trapped.

The paste coating should be as thin as possible when applied to ensure maximum conductivity and to make sure that it does not smear onto anywhere that it should not be. I usually use a credit card to smooth a thin coat over the raised flat section on the on the processor only.

When re-seating the heatsink gentally move it from side to side against the back of the processor to ensure that excess paste is displaced and that the heatsink is correctly seated. A very gental tug upwards should confirm correct seating as the heatsink should not come so easily off the processor. Then tighten down the heatsink.

 

what do you use bluetooth for
ive never used it so i dont think itll be a problem

 

I have the glossy screen and it is beautiful. You won't be disappointed.

 

Intel 6300 vs Bigfoot 1103 (pseudo-scientific "Pepsi Challenge"):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...1103-vs-intel-6300-speedtest-net-results.html

I haven't checked, but if the Intel card will run with the Killer software/driver, then I would like to see that test. My understanding is that a lot of the performance gains are a function of the DRIVER and whatnot as they probably do some tricks that come close to violating the 802.11n specs (like backoff timers more aggressive, etc). BUT, running each card with their included software DOES NOT appear to be the same.

Just $0.02.

 

Considering your environment is basically anti-glare itself, then yeah, glossy is awesome for you.

 

I have the glossy and I love it.

 

I use mine at work so the Matte finish was necessary but idid get the upgrade 95%color gamut matte and man i must say it is gorgeous!

So I got the alienware m17x speakers in the mail today and was wondering if anyone thinks I would have power draw issues if I added those speakers additionally to the onkyo ones inside the sager np9150. I was originally going to swap them but if I could have 4 speakers in at once that would be amazing! Anyone who is familiar with total power draw of this model please see my signature for specs and let me know if you think this is feasible. I am also well aware that modding will be necessary which I am completely fine with.

 

Will P150EM ever be sold with touchscreen and/or 3D?

 

is screen upgrade to 95% color gamut matte worth it?
i thought i was done deciding on everything but its so tempting
lol

also regarding 6300n vs killer 1103
1103 is a little better but idk if its worth the cost
also its on backorder on xoticpc right now so im not gonna bother
idk depends on how im feeling..

 

yes the 95% gamut screen is DEFINITELY worth it, you'll be blown away!

regarding the 6300 vs 1103.. well the 6300 has longer range, the 1103 handles latency and ping better, kinda up to you, as you shouldn't be disappointed with either

 

ok then ill go with 6300 then
and throw some of money i wouldve spent on 1103 at screen
thanks

 

you are most welcome mate, good luck with your awesome machine

 

I don't know why people are interested in gtx 670m or 675m machines but at the end of the day in 2012 gtx 670m or 675m is like buying a 9800m gtx in 2010 when an amd hd 5870 is out or the gtx 480m is about to come out takeaway the differencce of direct x.

If you want the most power hungry cards out on the market then the 670m or 675m are that single gpu wise, 7970m takes far less power and is double the performance of the 675m on games like max payne 3.

Google Translate

Its quite funny as a gtx 680m is going to be over twice as fast in games then a gtx 675m considering this.
GeForce GTX 680M benchmaked on MSI GT70 - Notebookcheck.net News

 

awesome!! i like the screen to be perfect and vibrant and looks like i wont go wrong with glossy screen.

p/s:i only use clear screen protector for my Galaxy S 3 and Asus Transformer Prime so the clarity will remain the same.

 

As people have told you numerous times in numerous threads, some people don't have your priorities or your schedule, myself included. I need a laptop before the 7970m is available. You speak condescendingly regarding perspectives or people that don't 100% align with your own view on things, and, obviously, nothing that's said will help you to see past your own conceptions.

Do you own a P150EM or are you even considering one? No? Why even post in this thread then besides taking pot shots at GPU owners?

 

I'm not to sure exactly what he was actually trying to say there to be honest, but I think that the condescending way in which he speaks is actually the online translator that I presume that he is using hence the link.

I was laughing at a french online translation that a mate had sent to an ebay seller in France the other day. The message had seemed friendly when he put it in the online translator in english but came over really blunt and commanding in French. My mate got such a rude french response back practically refusing him business! Lucky the French guy laughed when he realised that my mate was not trying to be rude!

 

Speak for yourself. I have the 670 and am quite happy with it, always trying to have the best new tech is liking climbing Jacks's beanstalk. I bought what I needed and remained on budget. As a desktop replacement I am plugged in 95% of the time, I could care less about any kind of power draw. That said, please feel free to continue to pound sand buddy.

 

LOL funny story! IMO, however, it's the mentality and not just the tone. It's basically like asking "Why would anyone do something that I personally don't agree with?" Well, it's obviously because people and situations differ. It's such a basic concept.

Exactly. If you can't afford the meager increase in electrical cost from running a 675m versus a 7970m, then you should probably skip the gaming laptop altogether.

Regardless, you're incorrect in your thinking and should have gone for the latest tech, even if what you have meets your needs. I mean, think of all the e-bragging you're missing out on!

 

On a different note has anyone thought about the programs/codecs/drivers to install beyond basic Windows
and drivers onto P150EM NP9150 to make them day to day functional?

Here are some that I have thought about for basic computer usage and media playback. I'm trying to get everything ready to go on when my good machine arrives in the next week.

Machine drivers and software as per Clevo P150EM

Virus scanner/Firewall - Mcafee

HDD/SDD Memmory cache - FancyCache

Media Player codec - DivX
Media Player codec - XVid
Media Player codec - AC3 Filter audio

Overclocking - AMD Overdrive

Webcam software
fingerprint software
Printer and Scanner software

Bittorrent - utorrent

Physx - Games
DirectX 9c - Games

Internet - Adobe Flash
Internet - Adobe Shockwave
Internet - Java

PDFs - Adobe Acrobat

Backup software - Nero 11 Platinum
Documents etc - Microsoft Office
Email - Live mail / outlook + (Setup)
Buring software - Nero 11 Platinum
Blueray and DVD player - PowerDVD
Pictures editing - Photoshop
CAD - AutoCAD
Browser - Firefox
VLC - General audio visual

Phone Software - Keis

eBay bid sniper - Bid-o-matic

... and of course games

Has anyone got any further sugestions for software, drivers and codecs that are worth adding to improve the machines speed and experience?

 

I turn off wimdows aero services and themes under services.msc. that seems to make it boot quicker. As far as software goes im using throttlestop and msi afterburner. Also anypme who is having audio issues with the built in speakers. Download the audio dri er suite from manufacturer. Night in day difference. Also i tested the alienware speakers last night and they are twice loud clear and full of fidelity compared to stock!

 

Hi,
Is Throttlestop for the CPU or GPU... I am looking at the possibilities of i7 gen 3 CPU clocking as previously I used SetFSB to start with my computer for my gen 1 i7 but am not sure it will work here?

Do you have a link to the Alienware speakers and how well do they fit. I was thinking about looking at some Pure speakers from my broken Pure DAB radio as they sound amazing but am yet to check the fit.

Does anyone know stock speakers power and ohms rating as well as height width and bezel dimensions please?

Sorry about the blunt response. Time to catch my train home for the day!

 

You won't be able to use throttlestop as it doesn't support Ivy Bridge and thus causing lots of bugs.. randomness might occur -btw its for the CPU

you won't be able to overclock the CPU anyways

 

If you CAN afford such a machine I wouldn't understand how a electrical bill would cease ones money lol, why the hell you invest in such a power drawing machine when one cant afford having it

 

Question regarding the SSD/ HDD in ODD bay in P150EM.

How much extra power does having the HDD in the ODD take?

How much does it shorten battery life?

Is there any way you can turn off the HDD that is in the ODD when not in use?

If not then I'm just going to sell the 500GB Hybrid Drive thats coming with mine as I already have a 256GB Crucial M4, and I'll use that money to go towards an mSata 256GB because I know that probably uses 1/3 the power of a normal HDD. [And is at least 3 times faster]

 

No extra power.

Not much (barely noticeable).

Also I don't think there's any official way to turn off a HDD, better off selling it as you said and getting a mSATA at some point

 

Yeah I might; especially considering I don't have 500GB of data anyways. 256GB will last me a while; when I get to 180GB or so I'll get a 256GB msata i guess. Thanks for the input! +rep

 

Windows power saving options will let you spin-down a mechanical HD, so you can just use that. Then it is essentially off when not used. This is actually the default configuration anyways.

 

Ok very cool! I may have to do that; not sure though now I'm just wondering if I'll end up needing the 256 SSD + 500GB hybrid HDD or If the 256GB SSD + 256GB Msata is enough.... Grrr -_-. Hahaha. Next year a 750GB SSD will probably be available for like $300-400 anyways at this rate -_-. Will just upgrade and give mine to my GF for her laptop; or sell to a friend for cheap.

 

forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/388625-diy-adding-ssd-hdd-storage-using-optical-bay-caddy.html

Use hdparm to disable your HDD when not in use. Instructions in above thread.

 

Yeah, I've seen a lot of instances where WEI will rank a weaker GPU ahead of a higher ranking one.

Aren't you not supposed to remove the heatsink to check the paste as that creates air bubbles?

I thought you were trying M14x..? Anyway, keep us updated as this looks interesting.

He's just bashing the 670m/675m owners because he didn't bother investing in the best GPU when he bought his laptop.






Anyway, I've had my P150EM for a few days now and I love it, although I'm still getting used to having a laptop that's not at the bottom of the barrel. C++ compile times using Codeblocks and the included GNU C++ compiler are around 5% of what they were on my thinkpad, and the HD4000 on battery is getting around 520FPS on the most intensive project that I could handle on my thinkpad (it was getting 30-15FPS) when it was plugged in. I tried using the 675m to see what it would get (plugged in) but it won't go above idle 2d clocks. The keyboard is fun to play with, but I wish it could do orange.
I tested my battery a bit and with screen brightness 100%, wifi and bluetooth on, keyboard lights on, iGPU, and working on blender models that would have taxed my old thinkpad it took about 1.75 hours to get down to 50% remaining.
This was something that I couldn't get a clear answer on before I bought my P150EM, but it does have the rubberized finish (it's on the keyboard and trackpad too) and it doesn't bug me at all.
Regarding temps, I haven't gotten to use the 675m yet so I have no idea how that does, but my CPU idle temps are typically between 45C and 50C, sometimes as low as 40C. But, for some reason core#3 is operating consistently 10C below my other cores, on idle yesterday it once dipped down to 29C. The fans still don't bug me, they're usually completely off (or so much quieter than the keyboard that I can't hear them) if I'm using the iGPU and all of my cores are below 55C. Once I get above that, they come on for a minute or so until everything is back below 45C.
Regarding keyboard layout: fortunately you can disable the sleep key, whatever clevo employee put it between the mute and volume keys should be fired. The second \ key is getting a little on my nerves though, if I have my hand far enough to the right to hit the space bar then I usually bump the touchpad which causes my cursor to jump and messes up whatever I'm doing, so I have to turn it off every time I want to type something. It seems to be a fairly good touchpad, though.
Now, when I unboxed it, there was a bunch of unadvertised stuff inside that was cool nonetheless, I got a case, a mousepad, and a DVD case. The DVD case is sort of strange because I didn't get a DVD drive, but I've been able to put all of those to good use.
One more thing, I really like Mythlogic's branding on the back.

 

Great to hear you are enjoying your laptop. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you

Also everyone gets a DVD holder, even if you don't get a drive

 

Considering getting an NP9150 for college, I have 3 questions though...

I was reading earlier posts of people complaining about fan noise, but then others said that was before ivy bridge processors and Radeon 7970m were out and that it would be much quieter when those were in the machine. Can anyone confirm that it is quieter with these 2? (i'd like to take it into a library or something without disturbing anyone)

Also, is this laptop decently portable? I don't mind carrying around a bit heavier laptop (considering the amount of power it provides) , but i plan on carrying it with me (probably in backpack) every time i go to class.

Finally, how's the battery life?

 

Feel free to read HellRazor's quote concerning noise http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/668536-p170em-w7970-arrived-australia-few-questions-3.html
quick answer, you can use it in a library with no problems.

A 15-inch laptop is perfect for college, I would recommend that over the 17-inch. It shouldn't take up any more room on your desk than an open binder or book.

Battery life is decent, if you keep wifi and bluetooth off, keep the display at medium or even a higher brightness and don't use the discreet graphics you can expect at least 3 hours on battery I would say.

 

thanks for the help.

 

Actually there is something you could do for me, I'm having a problem where my laptop shuts down if I leave it in sleep mode (plugged in, of course) for more than a few hours. I've messed with power settings but couldn't find anything to account for this. Is it a known problem, or am I just overlooking something?

1)From my experience, the fan noise was fearmongering as it was only an issue before anyone actually got the P150EM, ivy or not. I talked about my fans a few posts back.
2)Yes, if you don't mind heavy then it's very portable. A bit chunky, but portable nonetheless. It's actually thinner than I expected it to be. Excluding the part for the heatsinks on the bottom, it's about the same thickness as my mom's HP G61. The only thing to worry about is the power brick.
3)Good. You should be able to get 3-4 hours with the iGPU and everything else on, and you might be able to get 5 if you turn off wifi, bluetooth, the keyboard lights, and set the screen brightness to zero.