*** Official Clevo W230ST/Sager NP7330 Owner's Lounge ***

So with a little research it seems to be that every UK reseller is in the same boat with regards to availability, i.e. next week ish.

Anyway, I've now cancelled my PCS order and went for the P303 from mysn.co.uk ordered with 4702MQ and 7260-AC wifi and the basic spec on everything else as I already have some msata ssds and a 512gb sata ssd to go in. I talked to the live help and they were quite helpful along with a 'slight' discount to sweeten the deal.

 

^ PWNPC is also more expensive.. did you get news from pcs ?

 

Not really when you compare like for like, warranty etc.

I just didn't go with them in the end due to them not having the configuration I want.

 

Nikita PWNPC are already shipping there are a couple of guys here who have had theirs for a few weeks now, for some one like PCS to be dragging their feet like this is nothing short of a disgrace, i am really contemplating canceling my order, if i order from the us now i reckon i would get it before PCS start to ship

 

I wouldn't exactly call it a disgrace, if you don't have the parts then you cannot ship the laptop and unfortunately PCS don't have the parts (as yet). The same can be said both for PWNPCs and mysn who have told me that they will get more units in next week some time.

All UK resellers get their W230STs from the same UK distributor unless I'm mistaken so that will be what the hold up is along with the fact that the W230ST is proving to be a popular model.

 

Hi.

I have information from multiple retailers that they are waiting for delivery from manufacturer, there are no available body's in Europe (at least English/German speaking part). It also looks like they are not admitting it openly

I desperately need one before my vacation but it looks like I will be stuck with my old Mac :/

Best regards.

 

Reapola if all the resellers in the UK buy from the same Distributor then what would be the reason for PCS not to have got them yet an PWNPC who i believe to be a smaller operation have them in stock already?

 

They don't have them in stock, Scott said he should have more around the 24th August. I think you are confusing sales of the first batch which PWNPCs had which Petrov and Prema (amongst others) have either received or waiting to receive.

I asked PCS prior to ordering from them last week what screen etc they were receiving and they said the ones on the test bench are such and such. So that suggests they do have 'some' but maybe not enough to satisfy all the existing orders before the next batch comes in.

So in your case you can either wait on PCS some more since your original point of sale in July or cancel and take your chances somewhere else. Depends what you really want to do.

 

I got the unit today although it looks like I have to send it back for LCD replacement.





I have little issues with other aspects of the laptop. There appears to be drivers issues with Intel Chipset + VGA drivers, resulting BSOD. I don't know if it's just my case but I had to use Windows 8's stock chipset drives to avoid any further BSOD.





I have no rattling fan issue, but the general fan speed control is pretty erratic. The fan speed is either at low rpm or go bull blast when the load is slow. During mild gaming, the laptop manages to be actually quieter because the fan seems to spin at mild (not max) speed.

A minor issue I see with the exhaust vent is that the half of vent veers downwards, meaning on a flat surface, some of exhaust air obstacles its own air flow. This may be one of reasons for the erratic fan control. During low rpm mode, air might not be getting out fast enough and accumulated heat could be resulting momentary max blast from the fan.

No complaint about the keyboard. It's got good feedback and no flex.

 

this laptop just sounds like a problem. now i am confused.

 

The erratic fan or the screen issue? The former can be fixed by the likes of Prema and his custom bios and the latter is unfortunately the luck of the draw when it comes to laptops whether its dead pixels, backlight bleed or something else.

There has been a lot of positive posts in this thread (and the review) about the laptop but the main things that could be a problem are the

1. Screen - which can be rma'd
2. Heat - which can be mitigated by a bios, undervolting or a more judicious application of thermal paste
3. Fan profile - again by a bios, so be kind/donate to prema

All fixable imho

Colin

 

Highly unlikely. It's just an issue with the fan profile. The vent is blowing outwards and at an angle, not completely down. I doubt the suction coming in overpowers the suction going out, bringing in its own hot air. Even so it shouldn't burst like that. It's dependent on the CPU temperature solely.

 

Not really. All laptops exhibit issues. What matters is whether those issues hinder usability of the machines. Now having said that, none of the issue I saw with W230ST would prevent me from using the machine. In other words, the issues are minor.

Now, I had to return MSI Haswell GE60 because the thing was a total failure in thermal design.

W230ST's screen is a lot nicer than Asus G750's. That's for sure. I am not a screen geek, but even I could tell the difference of quality.

Then, a BIOS update would correct the issue. I had the laptop which I've just sent it back to Pro-Star for screen replacement idle for an hour and the fan would go full blast from time to time. There is something wrong with the fan speed control.
I wish it had some sort of fan control in BIOS.

About heat,
the heat is not an issue. I expect the heat to reach near 100 in the worst case scenario. I have no problem with that as long as the heat does not reach me.

 

I don't know in US, but in europe if you don't take the dead-pixel warranty (which I'm starting to regret I didn't take), you can't return a screen for a few dead pixel. Not sure about other screen problems though..

I'm not sure Prema can do anything about the fan...
we might be dependant on clevo for this one, and they're not fast at releasing bios, even more bios that actually correct problems ^^
I sent them an email, asking for a new bios which corrects power draw / fan issues, along with an extended battery

 

My case wasn't few dead pixel. The screen was physically defect. Pro-Star issued RMA without a hassle.

 

Nikita i am assuming you ordered from PCS if so you can still add the dead pixel warranty if you log in an select amend order, seen as though they don't even have them in stock yet, it shouldn't be problem me thinks :thumbsup:

 

Yep they told me they *should* get some on 23th, so I still have some time to think twice about it ^^

 

So, after much research and finally pinning down what laptop to get, I've decided to go with the Clevo W230ST. However, I've identified an issue: the time it takes to build and quality test my machine! I've been so spoiled with getting things I order within two days, courtesy of Amazon Prime, that the 12-15 business day quote time to shipment is agonizing. Guess I'll keep lurking until I can have my own laptop to share experiences about...

 

Wait a minute Nikita they said to you the 23rd, i email them on Friday an they said to me that mine will be dispatched in 2-4 working days which by my reckoning this Wednesday or Thursday, so who are they lying to me or you i wonder?

 

Unless there's a component that he ordered that's on back order.

 

Not really HT, they keep changing the dispatch date on their product page, from the 8th to the 20th, they told me on Friday 2-4 working days, an they told Nikita that their stock will arrive on the 23rd too many inconsistencies , i don't know what to believe, maybe i am making a mountain of molehill

 

Maybe they're waiting for another batch for mine, I ordered long after you (on 2nd august).
Time will tell, it's just a computer

 

Looking to upgrade my machine from 8gb to 16gb? Does it matter if they are matched / same brand anymore?

It came with this:
CT102464BF160B.C16FED CYX 8GB 204p PC3-12800 CL11 16c 512x8 DDR3-1600 2Rx8 1.35V SODIMM NIB, Crucial

But the extra 8gb I bought was:
GR8GS16K5128-16-HP8H CYX 8GB 204p PC3-12800 CL11 16c 512x8 DDR3-1600 2Rx8 1.35V SODIMM PCB-D3S28F-F3, Hynix/Gigaram

Will dual channel performance be impacted?

 

It should be fine theoretically.

Personally, I would never mix ram like that.

 

Yeah, I was hoping to keep them the same. I actually ordered the same stick, but the bloody shop sent another stick and then followed up with an email. Was not impressed. I regret not ordering it with 16gb from the manufacturers, but they wanted extra $150 for just another 8gb. The bargain hunter in me, couldn't live with that..

That said both these sticks are low voltage and seem to be same timings setup. I'm just not sure if it's worth sending back the memory they sent. I don't think I'll be able to find this crucial memory anywhere.

 

For those who intend to buy the Intel 7260 AC card separately as I did, beware of the new M.2 form factor, I assume it won't fit in our w230

If so, that's perfectly fine as far as I know.

 

Yes, the new M.2 form factor (AKA NGFF) will not work with current Clevo laptops.

We are still stuck in the land of mPCIe and mSATA.

Clevo will probably come out with laptops that support NGFF next year, and we will all be left in the dust.

Damn, if only they finalized everything related to NGFF earlier.

 

The UK importer from which most of them buy gets his shipment "untill" 23rd...they just passed on that info and hoped for the best.

 

The model you want is

7260.HMWWB

Which is for the half height PCIe version that supports AC and BT 4.0 LE.

Ebuyer in the UK are now listing them for ~£17. linky

Very tempting to try and justify a new router to myself, although SWMBO might disagree given the cost of a an AC cable router is around £200.

 

The bane of technology.

 

Retail NGFF drives were supposed to come out but none came out. Something's wrong with mass adaptation of the format.

 

Thanks Prema but i want my baby lol, they keep on tagging us along an i keep getting excited every time an then gets disappointing when they don't deliver

 

That's not entirely true - MySN.co.uk is getting their stuff from Germany.

 

I bought my Sager NP7330 from XoticPC.

I came with:
- mSATA SSD Drive - Configuration Option: Non-RAID Storage
- mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 1 ): 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive ( Operating System – Drive C: )
- Primary Hard Drive: 1,000GB [1TB] 5400RPM [Serial-ATA II 3GB/s] (SKU - S5R353)

I had a windows 8 USB install drive so I opted not to buy it. However, I'm having problems trying to install windows 8.

The installation boots up, lets you select language and region, and allows you to click Install. However, after that, the error:

"A media driver your computer needs is missing. This could be a DVD, USB or Har Disk driver. If you have a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive with the driver on it, please insert it now.

Note: If the installation media for Windows is in the DVD drive or on a USB drive, you can safely remove it for this step.

with Browse, OK and Cancel"

The installation can't proceed past this point. Please help

 

Qwertytop, are you sata ports set up in RAID mode as seen in the bios?

If it is and you don't plan on using RAID then change it to AHCI and you should be good from there. If you intend on keeping RAID then you'll need the F6 driver from intel and you'll need to put that on the usb key too then point the windows install to its location on setup.

 

I think I had this happen on another computer I was trying to install Windows on. The culprit was my USB 3.0 drive and the USB 3.0 port I was using. Try to use the USB 2.0 slot on the left and/or use a USB 2.0 drive.

 

Can you try downloading a new Win8 ISO? I've seen a bunch of questions about this process on Stack Overflow / Superuser, and I think the bottom line is that if you have a legit WIn8 key, you can get the "upgrade assistant" from Microsoft, give it your key, and it will download an ISO for you.

The reason I suggest this is, an earlier poster suggested that recent Win8 disks/images have the proper drivers for the w230st's chipset, which means that at install time, Windows will be able to see the SSD. Older builds of Win8 require a driver (as you've seen).

Just as a data point, the Win8 DVD that Hawkforce sent me with my order did not need any drivers or anything, it just installed directly without any intervention on my part. ETA: This was installed using a USB2.0 DVD drive, so maybe the above post about 2.0 vs 3.0 is worth checking out too.

 

I am using a SanDisk Cruzer Blade, so its USB 2.0. I thought it was a USB 2 and 3 issue right from the start, so I ensured I'm using the USB 2 port (on the left). I'm going find another USB drive to give it another shot.

My ISO is downloaded from Dreamspark/MSDN AA, so the ISO is least likely to be the problem, but I'll re-download it just to try.

 

I don't know if setting up the USB drive as UEFI bootable and GPT partitioned applies to this situation or not, but if you haven't done so I would give it a shot. You can use Rufus to make a new win 8 install on your USB drive if you can get an ISO. Also make sure it is fat32 and that the option in the boot menu says UEFI.

Edit for clarity.

 

Though not a real solution, can always try upgrading to Windows 8 since it doesn't require any media, just a key. Though this method means you have Windows 7 or some prior OS installed when you purchased the machine.

 

Did you try checking if the SATA ports are set to RAID or AHCI?

 

More updates:

1. Its set to AHCI.
2. I've enabled UEFI boot for USB.
3. I've change the primary boot drive to USB
4. I'm using a USB 2.0 SanDisk Cruzer Blade at the left USB 2.0 port.
5. I've re-downloaded the ISO and reburned it onto the USB.

As a result, the resolution seems to be correct now, but the same error occurs. I tried calling Sager/XOTicPC support but they don't do OS support.
I'm not keen on the Windows 7 then upgrade option. I suspect that might run into the same problem too anyhow.

What I'm working on now is to copy the drivers from the install disk and then plugging it back in, not sure if that would work.

 

Do we have any owner's of the Mythlogic version of the W230st's? We want to know how the temps are with the 4702mq without the need to repaste with everything stock sitting at a flat table, no cooler and no rubber props stands, and if it is running cooler than the 4700mq when running 3dmark11 or several minutes of benchmarking/gaming?

Does the mythlogic version of w230st have the same rattling sound of the fans that some of the Sager w230st users including myself are experiencing?

Does the mythlogic version have better fan control than the sager one?

Does the mythlogic version have reports of screen bruising, dead pixels, and severe backlight ips bleed?

Does the mythlogic version have that same external speaker issue like on sager w230st where there is an interference/hissing sound coming out of the speakers?



Only for Mythlogic owner's that currently has their machine pls. Thanks

 

Anyone know where I can get Win 7 drivers. I only got shipped the Win 8 CD. thanks

 

I'm uploading them now. It'll take a while since it's ~2 GB. I'll let you know when it's done. Should be 2-3 hours.

Edit: Upload done. Link on the next page or https://mega.co.nz/#!DRxhQIgD!ea3TVlxUoENQ6ZrdgggbVwjCtQYpWyh1PM035ZaP0Dg

 

- I didn't have the 4702MQ or 4700MQ
- I did not hear any rattling sounds from the fans
- I don't think Mythlogic's fan control is actually better than Sager's. They claimed it would be, but the fan still bursts out of nowhere. I've never used a Sager for comparison though.
- My screen did not have bruising or dead pixels, but there was backlight bleed. I would not say it was severe.
- I didn't hear any interference/hissing from the external speakers. However, I did hear interference/hissing through my headphones when a certain USB slot was in usage.

 

hi there. I'm getting my w230st tomorrow and wanted to ask what are best stable nvidia drivers (with or without modified inf) , also could someone explain how does turbo boost work and what impact on performance does changing in power options cpu to 99% do ? Any good undervolting CPU and overclocking GPU out there? Thanks

 

I have a machine purchased from LPC-Digital that came with both sets of drivers: Windows 7 and Windows 8 (originally bought with Windows 7, but the drivers were subpar. Upgrading to Windows 8 gave everything a boost upward).

I can give you the drivers I was given. From the sound of it, I thought it was Chipset drivers as that would include all your related problems...

 

Yesterday I received my laptop and managed to install Windows 8 Pro on it. Today I tried to install many drivers and ran into a BIG problem. I couldn't get NVDIA graphics card driver installed. I tried to download the installation from NVIDIA, and it said it could not find the graphics card on my laptop. I went ahead and used CPUZ, and it showed that I don't have the NVIDIA graphics card. I call XoticPC tech support, and they said I should write an RMA to them. I did. I am still waiting for their response. I'm not sure if I have to pay anything for the returning.

It seems like my first experience with both Sager and XoticPC is not good.

 

You're doing it wrong (don't worry I did the same thing). You can't use the Nvidia driver's from Nvidia's site because they won't work.

First step is to go to Intel's site and download the drivers for the HD 4600 Gen 4 video card drivers.
Second step is to either use the Nvidia drivers off of the CD or go to CLEVO - Download and download the Clevo version of the Nvidia drivers.