*** Official Clevo W230SS/Sager NP7338 Owner's Lounge ***

New W230SD coming, probably with 970M

 

It's a bit early to assume 970M there. Lets wait and see.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong but Prema clearly has that distinction on the download page of the W230SS. If you're right he needs to update the page to get rid of the confusion.

 

Hmmm. Other than likely a faster GPU, I don't see any difference in the specs between the W230SS and W230SD.

 

Of course. According to him the only difference between the FHD and QHD versions is the VBIOS. He mentioned that he's working on an update for Prema Mod based on the latest stock BIOS version (1.03.06), so we can assume he'll update the page as well.

 

Thanks for the clarification. If I understand the warnings correctly, it seems that flashing the wrong version likely results in bricking the box anyway.

 

Exactly. And that's precisely what happened to me a while ago, when I flashed the FHD version (even though I had an FHD screen) and ended up getting boot loops unless I disabled the dGPU, and bricked it soon afterwards.

So I'll be leaving this note here: for everyone flashing Prema Mod on a new motherboard with stock BIOS, please check your vBIOS version from the Nvidia Control Panel. Download the version for your screen type first, and open the file 'step2.bat' with Notepad, and if the vBIOS version number mentioned in the warning text matches with your current vBIOS (there will be 'OC' appended at the end), continue with the process of copying the files and then flashing. If not, download the other version and repeat the check. If it matches, go ahead and flash. If both don't match (not very likely, but possible), better contact Prema directly.

 

Can you clarify for me? I was expecting that premamod would give a big fatty warning if the vBios didnt match up. Does it not give a warning? If not I just got lucky when I picked FHD thinking my 1080p display was a good enough check.

 

Question for the WQHD display version of W230SS: Did you guys try scaling the resolution to 720p? Does it get blury, or it scales perfectly?

 

are u really sure about that i got my WQHD Clevo really early - and immediatly flashed the Prema mod. At this time there was only one (FHD?) Version available. It was at that time before bis mod was split in a FHD and another QHD/WQHD Version. Well it works fine for me so I did not update to 1.1 because the changes were not that important for me. My GPU runs fine even with core OC. I did not backup my stock BIOS - so i cannot check which VBios version the stock BIOS had.

 

I just did it on mine. It looks pretty crisp. I prefer 1080p though.

EDIT: My bad... I just read your post again. Mine is a 1080p (FHD) version, so I can't speak for the WQHD version.

 

Really wanted to get the SS some time soon but now seeing there could possibly be a refresh soon its put me off... any timeline known for the W230SD?

 

Mine looks a bit blurry too with 720p. 1600x900 looks much better for me on the WQHD. 1080p is a little tiny for my eyes.

 

Do you really have WQHD or do you have the 3200x1800 panel?
Because 720p should be the better option on WQHD, and 1600x900 the better option on the latter, in theory...

 

I suppose each have their reasons, but I'm curious why spend all that money for WQHD only to run it at 720p?

 

Perhaps I'm just losing my touch with my search capabilities, but I'm about ready to call BS on the W230SD. The model is nowhere to be found on Clevo's website and just a couple of pages pull up information about it. This thread and notebookcheck.pl.

 

I would run games at 720p. If scaling was perfect, it would give a very nice performance boost. Native resolution would be used for other activities.
And WQHD display has excellent black level, brightness, delta e and very high contrast ratio.

It hasn't been announced yet. Presumably, W230SD will come put in Q1 2015 and have 960m GPU, with I suppose 768 or (less likely) 896 CUDA Cores.

 

Thanks for filling me in on the reasoning behind running the WQHD on lower resolution

As for the W230SD, I'm not saying the model won't come out, but it hasn't been announced, there's a single graphic and some speculation on release date. The graphic could be done in Photoshop with relative ease. Of course this isn't news on the scale of bigfoot, but it just doesn't seem legit since there's no source on the info.

 

The graphic is very similar to the W230ST related one: Välkommen till GGS-Data - Bärbara och stationära datorer med Ubuntu och kvalité, MP3 och DVD-spelare !. Maybe it's some kind of a leak, maybe it's fake. But we can really expect the new W230 model next year. Propably with 960m GPU. Fake or not, there will be the a new model.

 

1. Native resolution for a nice 30" monitor
2. Can swap down to FHD, but cannot up FHD to WQHD (mismatching cable)
3. WQHD screen > QHD and FHD:

• LCD·model···············LQ133T1JW02·LTN133YL01·N133HSE-EA1·
• Resolution··············2560x1440···3200x1800··1920x1080···
• Brightness Average······298 cd/m²···339 cd/m²··297 cd/m²···
• Brightness Distribution·76%·········87 %·······91 %········
• Black···················0.19 cd/m²··0.54 cd/m²·0.32 cd/m²··
• Contrast················1663:1······685:1······956:1·······

Okay, 720p is a bit much ... but running the WQHD native on an external monitor or (quality) projector is perfect, while running solo on 1080p it still has the deeper blacks and higher contrast vis-à-vis the 1080p.

Still haven't gotten around to stripping the AG though, which would make it the same (glossy) model as this one:

• LCD·model···············LQ133T1JW14·
• Resolution··············2560x1440···
• Brightness Average······358 cd/m²···
• Brightness Distribution·71%·········
• Black···················0.20 cd/m²··
• Contrast················2138:1······

Turns out; calibration of the matte WQHD wasn't necessary, since factory calibration was done properly. Though once glossy, it's certainly necessary to redo.

 

Right, there's no doubt that the WQHD and QHD screens are better than FHD but they are also significantly more expensive. I'm a little confused though on your statement about running WQHD native on an external monitor. Unless I'm mistaken, external display resolutions are limited by the GPU and the external display's resolution and wouldn't be affected by the internal display (i.e., my FHD system should be able to run external displays with the same resolutions on the external display that the WQHD can as long as the display supports it.

 

Right, there's no difference for the external monitor.

I doubt if QHD+ screen is better than FullHD. The resolution is impressive, but it's too big for 13,3' screen. Black level and contrast are worse than FullHD panel can provide. And it's glossy, which makes it impossible to use outdoors. Moreover, it's a Pentile type display. So I'd choose between FullHD and WQHD ones. Both have very good colors, just WQHD has an impressive black level and contrast, but FullHD panel is one of the best 13,3' displays too. Both od them can't cover 100$ sRGB, though. But their Delta E is very good.
I'd only choose WQHD panel if it could perfectly scale to 720p or 900p. Gaming in WQHD is not for the 860m GPU, however it can provide decent framerates in some games on high settings, like Hitman Absolution or Bioshock Infinite.

 

double post.

 

I believe it is perfectly possible that a W230SD will be released next year. The cooling system on the W230ST (and by extension the W230SS) is actually engineered to dissipate 65W GPUs, the 860m actually falls far below that spec at 45W. The W230SS was released because the 860m just so happened to be compatible with the chassis with little modification and better performance than the 765m. The low power and heat were nice perks due to an overpowered cooling system.
The 960m (or perhaps even a 965M) will definitely be able to fill this 65W performance bracket that the 765M once occupied.

 

I think the 960m is a perfectly reasonable assumption for the next iteration of the W230Sx series. I would guess that those who are dreaming of 970M's are dreaming of sugar plum faries too. That would really screw with the excellent battery life/performance combination.

 

Well the link you posted is about running the WQHD/QHD+ panels in native resolution and use windows scaling features to get the Apps look "bigger". Most Applications (for Example Origin i use) don't support this yet and will look very very tiny. Thats why i do not use windows scaling features. I set my desktop size manually to 1600x900 and the panel gets 900p and sclaes this input resolution to native size - it looks really good and crisp on the WQHD. I play my games (Titanfall, XCom, Dead Island/Riptide) always in 1600x900 it looks really nice and has a good FPS boost compared to gaming on 1080p. Titanfall runs nearly constant with 60Hz. On 1080p it won't. Older games (Dead Island/Riptide) reach the 60Hz easily and the fans won't even turn to med/high rpms and stay at low rpms.

Will post some screenshots during this week.

 

How so? The 765m was a 75W TDP chip, the 970m apparently is a 65W TDP chip. battery life has little to do with the dedicated GPU in an Optimus notebook, that's the whole point of Optimus. It will use the integrated GPU on battery while the dedicated stays dormant. I would suspect a 970m would work fine in the W230Sx chassis and cooling system. It of course couldn't hurt with improvements, which will likely come about. The only reason it may not come about is because of additional power draw and more leads for 192-bit vRAM. But considering they've shoved the 870m in the Aorus x3 and Razer Blade 14, the 970m seems feasible and realistic even, although a redesign of the overall package may be in order.

 

Speaking of the 970M in a 13-inch chassis, there's now the P650, which is a 15-incher, and there's its 17-inch brother, codenamed by the Singapore reseller, Aftershock, as the S-17. I don't know its Clevo model name, but should be P-something. Is there a 13-inch version of the same?

 

Nope!

If the NVIDIA driver was installed on 82.07.27.00.0A (new) vBIOS, then certain driver versions require a reinstall if you install the Mod with FHD vBIOS afterwards, to avoid that I just suggested the QHD Mod as it uses the same vBIOS.

The reason his system bricked was simply that they gave him a faulty motherboard.

All Mods are tested thoroughly with beta tester before release. We have cross-flashed all vBIOS to all screen versions and the worst thing that can happen is an NVIDIA driver error with FHD vBIOS on QHD+ screen and only on a fresh installation.
That's why I decided to offer the newer vBIOS for the high res screens even though the FHD vBIOS is the better vRAM OCer, I will see to get it to work properly also with all QHD screens in a future update.

 

Ah, my bad then. I thought the vBIOS mismatch was the culprit in my system bricking. You're the expert, so gotta listen better.

I suppose you're working on an update, hope we get an official version with the iGPU VRAM adjustment setting (that pre-allocated DVMT thing) for hackintoshes.

Now, all I need to do is wait until I'm 18, and I can make a donation through PayPal.

 

Any news about new version biosmod for w230ss? I got the black screen -bug on boot. (gives picture only from hdmi).

 

The W230SS runs a Maxwell flavor 860M @ 45W TDP. The W230ST which also featured Optimus technology had much worse battery life. The difference? Power consumption of the dGPU. Should it make a difference? No, but somehow it made a significant difference. Would it be possible to release the W230SD with a 970M? Sure, but you're right that it would require a redesign, my bet is that there'd be battery life performance drop and it's almost certain that the system wouldn't have the $1,000 starting pricepoint. If they stuck a 960M in there then probably, but not a 970M

 

You're absolutely correct, but if you want to mirror lcd+projector it's better when you can do that 1:1, as it allows you to focus on the screen instead of the murky projection wall (no letterboxing).

Cannot help you with games as this is a work-only platform, but here's a few showing the gui/fonts:

• WQHD @ 1280x720
• WQHD @ 1600x900
• WQHD @ 1920x1080
• WQHD @ 2560x1440

Mostly use 1080p as it leaves plenty of real-estate. Cannot really say there's much difference quality-wise in either of those four, except that 720p is not very useful for most applications. Even 2-page browsing is impossible (which 900p isn't suited for either).

 

Simply use the QHD version for now...I am unable to continue work on any mods at the moment:

http://forum.techinferno.com/clevo/3119-[bios-mods]-prema-mod-latest-stock-bios-215.html#post112009

Those W230SD leaks came way to early, that model is scheduled for a March release and no there will be no GTX970M or even the GTX965M used in it.

 

Thanks Prema. I thought it all sounded a little fishy. Does Clevo publish any kind of a device roadmap or are advance release date schedulings all word of mouth?

 

Ha, ha, Nice. I like how you left out the GTX960M out of your response. Clever..

 

That's far enough out that anything could change.

 

Hey so I thought I would follow up on a question I had asked earlier. My NP8130 had that nasty design flaw of oils from your hands causing the paint on the wrist rest and touch pad to get shiny and I wanted to see about protecting my new NP7338 in case it had the same problem. Based on some advice I picked up a screen protector for a 15" screen and cut it to shape/size then applied it using double-sided tape. It didn't change the look all that much and it has stayed in place well. I'm pretty sure it will do a great job in preventing wear on the wrist rest and touchpad buttons. I didn't apply any to the touchpad because the screen protector I got wasn't for a touch screen so I didn't think it would work on the touch pad itself.

 

FUTURE CLEVO MODELS: What do YOU want?

Well, guys... Looks like Clevo wants our opinions on some new laptop models. Frankly, I'm quite fine with the W230SS, but there are a few things that I'd like Clevo to fix:

1. The front of the notebook is extremely sharp and is not comfortable for long periods of usage. Typing a several-thousand word document in MS Word gets very painful after a while.
2. The speakers are terrible (I think we have a big consensus here)
3. Improve the fan curve (and perhaps use asymmetrical fans à la Retina MacBook Pro)
4. Mini-DisplayPort?
5. Aluminium body like the P650/P651 series
6. Free rein over BIOS, without needing to mod (Maybe they can hire Prema )

That's all I have. What about you guys?

 

I posted my ideas there

I really like the W230SS, except modified:

- Perhaps a 14" model
- Move the USB ports to the rear end of the laptop (along the sides still), not the front, and preferably most on the left side, not the right, and a USB port or two on the rear side if possible
- Internal USB port, for mouse dongles primarily, get it out of the way
- Eliminate the 2.5" drive bay and make a four M.2 bay with a heatsink of some sort to cool those puppies down
- Better speakers and speaker placement. The P650SE actually has decent sounding speakers and decent quality, but probably just because they're on top!
- MUX dGPU! Dump Optimus. Make it a manual switch with a reboot if needed. They did this in the old Asus N10Jc 10" netbook, don't tell me they can't do it in a 13-14" notebook
- Even though I have used the VGA port, dump it, and go with 1x HDMI and 2x mDP
- Improve cooling: more heatpipes, higher clamping force, and improve parallel alignment with the CPU and GPU, especially on CPU.
- Configurable fan profile

 

About Optimus - what exactly is wrong with it?

0about the CPU/GPU arrangement - I think they could shave off several millimetres by not placing the copper pipes one on top of the other, and consequently, rearranging the CPU and GPU. I'd really like it if the heatsink was moved to the rear of the laptop as well.

 

I'd be happy if clevo just used quality low power ICs and components with proper firmware tuning. It is very possible for something in the same class as the W230ss to have 15+hrs battery life considering the huge 62000mWh battery.
That and a decent touchpad.

 

I'd kinda like it if my W230SS turned into that little transformer that looks like einstein but acts like Jim Carrey. If that won't do then here are my other recommendations:

- Reverse the Fx keys and function keys so I don't have to press FN to change brightness, volume etc, but do have to press it to access F1, F2, etc.... or at least make that feature user accessable.
- Stop putting the mute button next to the sleep button.
- Multicolor illuminated backlight on the W230Sx series
- Stop putting green LED's on the front and blue LED's on the top (like the power button). Stick to one color scheme with your LED's (I like blue)
- Better Webcam. The one on my W230SS is way better than my previous one but still substandard.
- Yep, the speakers suck.
- Digital 1/8" audio output
- Fingerprint reader on the top of the notebook a la Dell Venue 11 Pro. DO NOT stick one between the mouse buttons. That's a stupid place for it.
- Not really a design suggestion, but offer a parts store on your website for people to order replacement parts.

 

What I would like for future models:

- better build quality
The W230SS especially has sucky build quality around the keyboard (at least on my model, there's a lot of gap around the bottom and top of the keyboard but it was gone when I redid it myself) and the screen is really bendy (even though it's quite thick). Also: aluminium or magnesium would be great!
- better screen quality
A lot of screens have backlight bleed or a yellowish tint
- I/O placed on the back of the laptop
Especially a USB port for the mouse and the video interfaces would be better if they were on the back
- more screen moveability
The screen can only open up to about 140 degrees. A full 180 degree opening would be nice.
- Better fan profiles and bios
As earlier pointed out, the fan profile simply is terrible. The bios also has no real options and almost requires the PREMA mod to be functional at all.
- More attention to the little details
A black PCB for the motherboard, for example.

 

Sorry my W230SS has a broken screen and mySN, the company I got it from while being in Europe, is unable to sent me a replacement atm, so it'll be a while before anything new can happen for this system, sorry.

 

Optimus isn't horrible, it's a good compromise for performance or battery life. But everything pumps through the Intel IGP with Optimus so you're limited to whatever display resolutions and screen refresh and number of monitors Intel supports not what nVidia supports. You have direct driver control over your Nvidia GPU as opposed to limited features with manual switchable graphics. The down side is that you have to reboot to switch GPU's but I don't see that as a huge issue for most people that want a portable gaming laptop.

 

For me for future systems I'd like to see:

Must Have:
1) Better speakers. (This i think is universal)
2) Flip the USB ports, have the single USB 2 on the right side, towards the back to support kb/m dongle

Nice To Have:
3) Fix the keyboard flex, it's not a deal breaker but it just feels chintzy
4) More range in the lid movement
5) More runtime on battery; 4.5 - 5 hours is good but if it could do 8 with an office style workload it would be amazing.

Pie In The Sky
6) Better heat management, it isn't bad as it stands and there's only so much that can be done in a 13" chassis, vent air out the back maybe, definitely a better fan management profile.
7) Shave 250g off the laptop, get it into that comfortably sub 2kg range

Other than that, just keep up with processor/gpu trends.

The W230 line is nice, it fits the portable but powerful niche incredibly well.

 

the 765m was 65W, plus it was also the fastest 128bit VRAM bus GPU solution for ultraportable laptops.
List of Nvidia graphics processing units - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The issue with the 970m is the 192bit memory bus which requires a much bigger motherboard footprint, Clevo seem to hate redesigning the motherboard so my guess is they'll more likely jump on the 960m or wait for the 965m with 128 bit VRAM buses.

 

It becomes a question of space and pcb layers required. It makes it a LOT more expensive.

 

I got my W230SS from repair last week , what permamod should I use if I have the FHD screen , can I just run the qhd verison ? from what I've read I should