*** Official Clevo P650RG, P650RE3, P650RE6/Sager NP8658 and NP8657 Owner's Lounge ***

While I wait for my P651RE6 to arrive \o/ (from TuxedoComputers), I've been doing some research into smaller 90W power adapters. The FSP NB Lite Plus 90 http://fsp-europe.com/nb-lite-plus/ sounds pretty amazing (245g, and lots of safety features, ~€45). As far as I know, FSP make nice PSUs for desktop systems, so they seem like a reliable brand. There is a tear down of an earlier model which is very positive and this model also gets good reviews. Another option is the Cooler Master NA 90 which is about the same price (~€45), and only a bit heavier at 350g. There are plenty of cheaper adapters, and also much more expensive ones. Any opinions on these ones, or other recommendations? I'm not 100% sure if they even have compatible connections yet.

Naturally, this is for when I'm on the move and only have the iGPU enabled.

 

The general build quality in my opinion is good. Except for the lid, it's very sturdy - not much flexing or creaking anywhere, and no ugly panel gaps or anything like that. The screws that holds the bottom panel are tiny (and many), and I've already managed to lose one of them in the process of installing hardware. The lid is very thin, and flexes easily. It does not bother me much though; I'm not in the habit of ever touching the lid, except for closing it when it's about to go on a journey, and then opening it again. And I'm generally light-handed and careful with anything I own, so I don't see it as a worry. I haven't travelled with it yet, and haven't gotten around to buying a case for it yet - but it would probably be wise to choose a bag or case that has a padded, sturdy (or solid) lid of it's own, for that ease of mind.* I think you will find that this is a common litlle drawback with any powerful 15.6 inch gaming laptop that wants to be this thin and light though, I'm not sure if this one is any worse in that area than any of it's natural competitors. Just be gentle (and use both hands) when you open or close it, and it will be good.

* I have found one that looks to be just what the doctor ordered; a case made of very thick first class leather, with extra thick, strengthened and padded leather for the lid. It's expensive enough to make want to think about it while looking for alternatives, though.

 

I'm curious, is it something made specifically for this model, or is it something of a DIY where you would need to cut it to fit?

 

No no, it's a case/shoulder bag with a handle and a shoulder strap made with 15.6 inch laptops in mind. I found it in a local shop that specializes in suitcases and handbags etc. Luggage equipment. Can't remember the brand name though, it sounded italian. But both quality and price was definitely high end. That's why I'm looking for a cheaper alternative. Samsonite sells hard shell carrier cases for laptops of course, but they're just so darn ugly ....
Suggestions are welcomed.

 

So were you able to get the 950 Pro to work in this machine? I'm about to buy it but if it's going to have problems I might think twice...

 

Ditto, I'd also like to know. I have heard you just need to have Samsung's drivers handy when doing the Windows installation, but if there is a trick to it, I'd like to know.

 

Is there any way to get the clowns at Sager to give you a proper bios without ATA password hidden or taken out? This is a Skylake high end laptop and it certainly features that. How else will you get to use Samsung hardware encryption for the SSD? And don't say ****locker software solution. My Samsung SSD has it built in hardware and bios needs to let me set the drive password to use it. This isn't 2012, it is in the bios they just happen to remove it for users.

 

The techs currently servicing my laptop were able to get the 950 Pro initialized in Windows 10. However, I don't know if the same applies when clean installing Windows, I'll have to see when I get my laptop back.

They are also saying they can't reproduce the backlight bleed I complained about... Am I overreacting as to the quality of the screen? I took this screenshot just before shipping it out.

 

I just noticed a huge problem with my Sager 8658, brand new. If I am watching a movie and pause it to go do something. When I return the laptop is frozen, not even ctrl alt delete responds, needs hard reset. Any ideas? And it is using Intel integrated, I see no reason to eat battery watching a movie with nvidia 980M. Don't know if changing windows media player and kodi to nvidia 980m would help, but that is not the point. It is a brand new laptop and should not freeze with video on pause. Might have to do with going into sleep, screensaver, or hibernation, but the screen is still on and frozen, no screensaver, and no mouse movement or keys work to ctr/alt/del.
Well it looks like you can't change the default tv and media player to nvidia graphics anyways, but you can set movies to use old windows media player and that may work. This optimus tech and windows 10 need to get their **** together, completely frozen laptops is unnacceptable. I think it usually happens when going to screen saver, hibernate, or sleep, not sure.

 

Question to you.
Can someone with 15 inch G-sync version check display version here https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/brand/Clevo/ Is it LG, AUO or Samsung from preproduction models?

 

Not sure what you're asking for, but - yes, I have a 15.6 inch G-sync display in my P651RE6, and it's a LG Philips LP156WF6. Checked with HWiNFO64.

 

Ok thanks

 

I'm having trouble with my wireless internet connection going down sporadically after the recent Windows 10 update. I have the Killer 1535. I tried reinstalling all drivers in order from the CD and checking for updates, but I've had more drops since then. Anyone else encountering this? Any solutions?

 

I installed the drivers from http://www.killernetworking.com/support/driver-downloads
and have not had any problems with the WLAN since then. You can even choose between the "full" Killer software bundle, or just the necessary drivers. I chose the latter.

 

Thanks, I will try that

 

Update on wifi issue: I believe it has to do more with Windows 10 Update 4, a.k.a. Version 1511. I've read other reports on the internet from users of other systems that report exactly the same behavior and error messages. Here's a link to a report of the problem on Microsoft's site. Vote "Me too" if you are affected by this update as well.

 

I remember getting the "a network protocol is missing" message at one point, but didn't know it was possibly related to a W10 update. But anyway; I don't have that problem now. Are you sure that you: Uninstalled the WLAN drivers, rebooted your machine, then installed the new driver?

 

Further investigation seems to implicate additional network filters such as those used by VPN clients and possibly the Killer bandwidth control filter. I definitely still suffered problems in the following configurations:

1. Cisco AnyConnect VPN only (no Killer software)
2. Cisco AnyConnect VPN w/ Killer Network Performance Suite (with or without the bandwidth control option enabled)
3. Killer Network Performance Suite (w or w/o bandwidth control) (No Cisco AnyConnect)

Currently running with no Cisco AnyConnect and no Killer Performance Suite, just the Killer drivers installed from INF. We'll see if that helps. Edit: Nope, just suffered another crash of the WLAN AutoConfig service, bringing the wifi connection down. This is with no Cisco AnyConnect VPN and no Killer Performance Suite, only the Killer drivers.

 

Another issue: ever since the Windows 10 update, if I have a secondary monitor plugged in when I restart Windows, the built-in monitor shows the Sager logo as normal, but once Windows starts, the lock screen and desktop appear only on the external monitor. I have to right-click the desktop and use Display Settings to change the Multiple Displays option from "Show only on 2" to "Extend these displays." I have to do this every time I restart. The built-in display automatically becomes the primary display once I do this. I want the default behavior to be to extend, not to use the external display only. Where can I change this? Prior to the upgrade, extending was the default. Not sure if it matters, but at the moment, the built-in display is only visible on the Intel graphics control panel, and the external display is only visible on the Nvidia control panel. Could the fact that they're not both on Intel graphics have anything to do with it? Can I even change which adapter is being used for the external HDMI monitor?

 

I am also using a VPN service (iVPN), but their client has seen 2 rapid updates in the last 2 weeks, and it doesn't seem to be any issues now. It did have issues right after I upgraded from Win7 to Win10 though, but that was before I got my new P651.
And I'm also using a secondary monitor, but it's plugged into one of the miniDP outputs, and I have no issues with that; the onboard screen I set as the main screen, and I extend to the secondary (outboard) monitor. Works as it should. But I'm using the "Discreet only" option in BIOS. Don't care about Optimus; care about G-sync. There are 3 places you can set monitor config; Windows, Nvidia control panel, and Intel display options. Maybe there's a conflict somewhere?

Edit: Checked with the HDMI output as well; it works fine.

 

I can only set the main monitor in Windows config, because each monitor only appears in their respective vendor control panel: the built-in one on the Intel control panel, and the external HDMI one on the Nvidia control panel. Each vendor control panel acts as if it is in single-display configuration. If I uninstall the Nvidia driver entirely, the HDMI port does not appear to function, so I guess it's an output of the Nvidia card. This is just so frustrating because it used to work without issues.

 

I'd be interested in knowing what you go with. Please keep me updated

 

Is Prostar's P650RE based on the same P650RE as NP8657-S? I'm confused because there's no suffix and there are 6 or 7 Clevo P650RE variations.

Link: http://www.pro-star.com/index.php?r=product/detail&model=P650RE

 

RE3 or RE6: Depends on how much RAM the GTX 970M is equipped with. RE3=3GB, RE6=6GB
RG: It comes with a GTX 980M. It's also slightly thicker than the RE models. 3 mm or so.
650 or 651: Differences in the external finish of the chassis. The 650 has the appearance of having a "brushed aluminium" surface and some chrome details at the back; the 651 does not. I believe... my 651 does not.

So that laptop from Prostar appears to be the "brushed aluminium" (or aluminum, for the yanks) model: whether it's the RE3 or the RE6 you can find out by looking at the amount of RAM the GTX 970M is equipped with; it seems to be the RE3, in this case.

By the way, there probably should be a RG4 or RG8 alternative as well; doesn't the GTX 980M come with either 4 or 8 GB memory?

And by the way 2: It isn't really brushed aluminium. It's the same plastic for both 650 and 651, the 650 is just treated to look like brushed aluminium. Isn't that right, guys?

 

Thank you for enlightening me.

Yes there is but I'm not really into games that would require the 980M. I only play DotA 2 and CS:GO because my friends ask me to. I just find this laptop the best for its price.

Btw, is the gpu upgradable?

 

GPU; not really. It's soldered on to the motherboard. These laptops are not really made for self-upgrading ( CPU or GPU) like other Clevo's of the past has been. I guess you could manage to mount a GTX 980M there yourself, but then maybe find that the cooling situation would not be sufficient. There's a reason why the RG models are that little bit thicker, after all.

But the GTX 970M is plenty enough to play almost any game with maxed settings, or close to maxed settings, at 1920x1080. The 3GB model will get into trouble sooner because there are a couple of the newest games that are very hungry for RAM... the latest Asassins's Creed game will probably fly better on the 6GB version than with the 3GB version, as an example. That's games ported (not terribly well) from PS or Xbox for ya.

But I'm playing The Witcher 3 on it now (the 6GB version), at 1920x1080 and with very few and small moderations of the graphics settings, so ... it's good for anything. Dota and CS will fly, maxed.

 

Turns out I'll be ordering from XoticPC. (My first choice but Prostar has free IC Diamond and 30day No Dead Pixel)

Tho I already ordered this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Laptop-Carb...P653RG-S-P653RE-S-P650RE-P650RG-/272037488514. I just hope it's worth the $30

 

If you have any questions, or if I can help in any way, just let me know!

I haven't seen that skin before. Let us know how that turns out when you get it on your system though.

 

Hey. How do I talk to you in private? I have some questions about an order I've made from XoticPC

Edit: Someone already email me

 

Upgradeable components belong to p750dm,p770dm,p775dm,p870dm familiy,there's other's but those are just the current skylake ones with and without gsync albeit with a slightly higher price tag

 

Bigger and heavier chassis too.

 

Hey guys, how is the on-board speaker quality? bass, clarity etc

Also, the best deal i could find for P650RG was on rjtech. ~1500 without SSD (have my own) & no RAM - 8GB on ebay for $40, if that helps anyone looking into buying this

 

As far as I'm aware, the surfaces on the screen backlid, palm rest and keyboard surround and the whole base plate, are aluminium, not plastic - they certainly feel metal on my XMG P505 (rebranded P651 SE).

The 980M models have a (thicker) plastic base plate, though

 

While I own the 17" model, there doesn't seem to be a thread, so I wanted to ask here, since the 15" model is so similar. Relative to my old machine (the P170SM-A), this one seems to take quite a bit longer to come out of sleep mode. The old one was perhaps 4-5s, but the new machine is closer to 10-12s. Certainly not a huge issue, but I'm curious if it's a normal or a sign of something else.

How long does your machine take to come out of sleep? Do you have it set to dgpu only or mshybrid?

On the upside, I haven't yet seen any of the other sleep related issues that have been mentioned in this thread (for example: distorted graphics).

 

Well, with my P651RE the wakeup from sleep is near instantaneous. Or it would be if I hadn't set Windows to ask for my password whenever it wakes up. I go with discreet only. Are you sure you are indeed talking about waking up from sleep and not from hibernation? If you haven't manually tweaked the settings in the power plan you're using, the machine is likely to go into hibernation if it's been sleeping for x amount of minutes .... I have turned all of that stuff off, as well as not allowing the SSD to turn itself completely off, even in sleep mode.

And by the way: I haven't noticed any funny business with the screen icons or anything like that either.

 

Ah, ok. It doesn't matter much, does it ... as far as I am concerned, it doesn't add or subtract any to/from the build quality or material quality as such, whatever it is. In fact, aluminium - specially if it's just a thin layer of it on top of plastic - might get scratches and deteriorate easier than if it is "just" quality plastic. It looks nice though, black brushed aluminium - whether it's real or fake - and I would have it if I could choose. Not convinced by the chrome at the back though. One notch too blingy for me.

 

Thanks for confirming that yours wakes much faster. I timed it getting home from work and it's actually closer to 20 seconds, which sure does seem like a resume from hibernate. I have turned hibernate off (powercfg /hibernate off via admin command prompt) and no hibernate file exists. Anyone have any experience with hibernate persisting in some other fashion?

Thanks for the tip about not letting the drive go to sleep, I did double check that and I've set it to never power down via the power plan settings.

 

The sandblasted finishes don't have chrome at the back, at least my XMG P505 doesn't - the fan surround etc. at the back is just black

 

So I have finally gotten my hands on a P650RG, in the form of a Eurocom Sky MX5. So far so good, it is a great laptop. I had no issues with installing a Samsung 950 Pro and setting up Windows 10. The Sharp 4K screen is clear and vibrant. One hitch however: I have no idea how to calibrate the display. Right now the colors looks a little washed-out and off compared to my XPS 15.

Could anybody recommend any free utilities for performing monitor calibration? Thanks!

 

I think you should start with trying to find a ICC profile that's already calibrated for that particular display within a identical or similar system, download it, and install it correctly. If you're still not happy ... you really should try to borrow a proper calibration tool. Failing that, here's a website providing test screens and patterns to use when adjusting pc displays. That's not calibrating though, just adjusting.

By the way, what is the full name/model of your display?

 

Great, thanks! Where would I find ICC profiles for displays? Here is the display in my laptop:

15.6-inch (39.6cm); 4K QFHD 3840x2160; IPS; Glossy; 1000:1; NTSC 72%; sRGB 100%; eDP; SHARP IGZO LQ156D1JX01B

 

Well, you can do a search for it ... or ask for it in these or other forums. Maybe someone has calibrated theirs already and are willing to share it.

Also, www.notebookcheck.net provides (for download) their calibrated profiles whenever they review a laptop. You can find them in the small information box in the display section of their laptop reviews. I don't think they have reviewed the P650 or 651RG yet, but they may have reviewed other laptops that have the same display - if so, you can use that ICC (or ICM) profile until you get the proper one.

Now, beware that every display is a little different, even if it's supposed to be identical, and that every system that the display is a part of is also subtly different from the next otherwise identical system. The only way you can acheive a near accurate calibration is to do it yourself, on your machine, with proper equipment. These downloaded ICC profiles can only offer a decent approximation, at best. But chances are that they will do a better job than you trying to adjust your screen with just using your eyes and some test screens. Personally I wouldn't bother with elaborate test screens and patterns and just using eyesight as guidance, but if you do, I think using the onboard Windows calibration is all you need to tweak greyscale, gamma and contrast. Colours is of course highly subjective. What proper calibration equipment find to be accurate, may look bland and washed out to many people. They are used to looking at over-saturated pc screens and TV's, and have a biased opinion of what is "correct". Proper calibration equipment never lie though.

I'm using a downloaded ICC profile for my display at the moment, one that I found on notebookcheck.net, and subjectively I think it has improved my colours, greyscale and gamma quite a bit. No way to know for sure though until I calibrate properly myself. I think it looks better now, but I may just be kidding myself.

Edit: It looks like that Sharp display is the same that sits in the P651SE that notebookcheck.net has reviewed. That means you can use the ICC profile provided in that review. ( Schenker XMG P505). In the small "information" box where they review the display.

Then be sure that you install it properly. If you're not sure, this will help you.

 

That's fantastic, thanks! I thought I remembered seeing a review on their that used the same display! I'll try this out when I get home.

Edit: I installed the ICC profile, and the display looks much better now. Thanks again!

 

So, after a whopping three presses, it appears that the power button on my laptop has broken It is still functional, but it is obvious that some plastic piece on the inside has broken, as the button now sinks deeply into the chassis at a weird angle. Has anybody ever run into a similar issue before? How easy would it be to fix this on my own?

 

I am going to be ordering the P650RE3 sometime this week. I'm hung up on the screen options. The distributor I'm going through has 2 FHD options:

15.6" 1920 x 1080 Full HD (16:9) LED Backlit Matte Type Display
15.6" 1920x1080 IPS FHD (16:9) LED Matte Type Display with NVIDIA G-Sync Technology [ add $80.00]

Does anyone have experience with the non-IPS screen? I'm finding it hard to justify the $80 upgrade with my limited knowledge on this subject. I would appreciate if anyone could shed some light on this for me.

 

Somewhat related to the question above; how is the light bleed on these current displays? I'd be looking at the LG FHD or Samsung QFHD, both IPS/G-Sync.

 

Light bleed: With my LG IPS G-sync screen in my P651RE, there is visible (modest) light bleed when I view a black screen. Is the light bleed visible when viewing anything else but a solid black screen? No. Do I view solid black screens often? No, hardly ever. Does this light bleed bother me? No, not at all. That's my input on that subject.

TN vs. IPS: No, I haven't seen that particular TN screen. But if it's like most TN screens, it's ... rather bland, in my opinion. Only the most anal of gamers with a "response" fetish would prefer a TN screen these days. Not worth the 80 dollars spared. Much like a SSD owner will never go back to having just a spinning drive as his/hers main drive, I'll never have a TN screen ever again. They're obsolete.

 

Most TN panels in notebooks don't switch fast enough (at 60hz) to take advantage of the better pixel times anyway.

 

What's the best thermal compound for NP8657?

 

Hi guys I wanted to know if for any model of these laptops:
1) Are two m.2 at x4 are supported or only 1st at x4 and 2nd at x2
2) Has anyone even tested a m.2 ssd at x4 speeds? Or do you have a link to someone who tested it?

Thx for your help.