P150EM (NP9150) Purchase, Review, and Benchmarks

I just pulled the trigger on a new P150EM from Prostar. This post is intended to discuss how and why I made this decision. Additionally I want to compare my Nvidia GTX 675m benchmarks against the 680m as that is, I think, the crucial decision when purchasing this model.

I had been a generally happy user of an Alienware m11x R2 for the last 2 years. My newest job requires far less travel, so what were advantages of an 11 inch gaming laptops have since become liabilities. While I’m keenly aware that desktops offer superior gaming from a cost/benefit standpoint, my lifestyle and living conditions dictate that my gaming is generally done from a laptop or not at all. I wasn’t looking for a desktop replacement laptop (i.e., 17+ inch), but I was looking for something reasonably portable and more capable than my m11x which narrowed my search to a 14-15 inch machine. My budget was $1,500.

I started my search with the Alienware m14x R2 but was immediately disappointed in the screen options (a poorly reviewed 720p or +$75 for a 900p) and the GPU (GT 650m). Additionally, Dell upgrades are overpriced so I was anticipating buying and installing aftermarket memory, a hard drive, and a wireless card. The machine I configured was $1,175 plus an anticipated $350 in aftermarket upgrades. I sat for a week with this configuration in my Dell cart, but never purchased because I just wasn’t sufficiently satisfied with this $1,500 setup.

It was at this time I stumbled upon the P150EM. After about a week of research and comparison shopping I determined my configuration:

15.6" 1920 x 1080 Full HD (16:9) LED Matte Type 95% NTSC Color Gamut Display
Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor, 2.4 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 3.4GHz)
12GB, PC3-12800/1600Mhz DDR3 - 2 x 4GB + 2 x 2GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M w/2GB GDDR5
256GB Crucial M4 SATA III Solid State Drive
8X Max. DVD±R/RW Writer/Reader
Intel Advance-N 6235 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth

The upgraded screen was a no-brainer for my needs (i.e., wants). I went with the “free upgrade” 675m that most resellers are offering. As I mentioned earlier, I think the GPU is the crucial decision, but for me it was ultimately a budget decision. With the 680m (+$500) clearly out of my price range, I may have considered reaching for 7970m (+250) but the driver issues that have been going on for months made it easier to ignore this GPU and stick to my budget. Plus, I generally prefer Nvidia.

Looking at the lineup as it stands today, I think I would have broken my budget a little for the 675mx (+$250) because its faster, updated technology that should run cooler at 28nm as opposed to my 40nm GPU. In any case, the 675m I got more that meets my current needs and from a relative perspective, is a massive upgrade from the 335m I was replacing.

I figured one of the great features of this model is the ability to upgrade the components. My thought was that whenever I require a GPU upgrade in the future, the card that meets my needs then will cost considerably less than the $500 incremental cost of a 680m today. Either that or I’ll be looking to upgrade the machine entirely. For fun I checked eBay and the current rate of a compatible 680m is $1,000, so we’ll see how my theory stands up.

I went with Prostar because, besides being rated 9.89 on resellerratings.com, my desired configuration came out the cheapest. Mythlogic was way more expensive than the other resellers, but XoticPC was very similar. My savings at Prostar as compared to XoticPC include:

$20 cheaper for the matte LED screen upgrade.
Cheapest price for memory upgrades. For $10 Prostar added two 2GB 1600MHz sticks.
$60 cheaper for a “prostargoogle” coupon code; I couldn’t find any codes for XoticPC

I also received an additional $39 discount by emailing Prostar and basically asking of they would throw in a Rush Delivery upgrade (ready to ship in 1 day for $39). They gave it to me and said that it could be applied to my order configuration however I chose. I elected to take it as a cash discount.

My cash total came to $1,369 and was delivered in exactly one week from CA to TX. So far so good for Prostar.

My brief impressions about the P150EM:
The keyboard is not that bad. This may be relativistic, but the keyboard is mechanically very similar to my old Alienware, so I’m used to it. Besides the Alienware necessarily had a more compact keyboard with smaller buttons to fit the space. Moving to a full size keyboard with a number pad makes the keyboard of P150EM on of my favorite things. I also don’t do enough typing to generate strong opinions on keyboards. Personally, I’ve never used a laptop keyboard I preferred to a basic standalone keyboard.

I love the screen both for the increased size from what I’m used to and the vividness. It looks great and I don’t have any of the weird screen issues that have been popping up in the forums. I’m kind of wishing I had elected to get the glossy upgrade instead of the matte since the spot I spend 99% of my time while on the computer has no glare at any time day or night, but second-guessing myself is always a part of making any big purchase for me. I’m curious if I could sit next to someone with a stock screen and notice the difference enough to justify the $70?

After my work upgraded to SSDs, I’ve become spoiled and coming home to a HDD was bothersome. The 256 Crucial M4 seemed like the best value and enough space for the operating system and a good assortment of applications. It meets expectations so far.

Time for benchmarks. I’m not intending to overclock my computer yet because I don’t need to and because things already run slightly warm in my machine. My benchmarks compare my machine’s stock numbers to the average 675m at Notebookcheck.com and to the stock settings of HTWingNut terrific review of his P150EM with the 680m and slightly slower CPU (i7-3610).
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...clevo-p150em-review-lots-680m-benchmarks.html

Benchmank / Me / Notebookcheck / HTWingNut (HT)
3D Mark 11 / 3,535 / 3,558 / 6,141
3D Mark Vantage / 15,149 / 14,955 / 21,824
3D Mark 06 / 20,731 / 20,188 / 22,023
Unigine Heaven (FPS) / 44 / 68 / 53
PC Mark Vantage / 16,564 / 13,934 / 16,136
Cinebench R11.5 (CPU) / 6.2 / N/A / 6.2
Cinebench R11.5 (OpenGL) / 45 / 43 / 43
My overall max GPU temp was 82C while using 3D Mark Vantage compared to 76C for HT to run this application.
My overall max CPU temp was 89C using Prime95 compared to 84C for HT.

All in all it runs a bit hotter that than I’d like, but I’m working with the stock thermal paste and it never maxed out the fans. In fact, the fans noise was not that bad during the entire benchmarking process. About on par with my m11x during benchmarking which by the way maxed out with a score of 8,272 on 3D Mark 06 using a marginally unstable CPU and GPU overclock. Using equally weighted GPU benchmarks, HT’s 680m was on average 45% faster than my 675m. My i7-3630’s average CPU benchmarks were about 2% faster than HT’s i7-3610. HT’s machine ran about 6C cooler.

 

Very nice, I agree about the keyboard, its ok.

And nice to hear about the SSD also nice to hear that you got the newest i7 3630

Also very nice temps, do take some pics please I love pics

 

nice review. should be moved to the Reseller feedback forum. i also just ordered a 9150/150em from Pro-Star and chose them for their price, options and cheap, fast shipping to Canada.

i placed my order on 11/25 (my bday present for myself!) and was told that my laptop would ship on the 3rd but received notification later on that it has been shipped yesterday (27th) and should be at my door today (28th). i chose the priority Fedex 2day shipping and am quite pleased to see that i can get my new toy to me in less than a week from ordering to another country! and with the holiday season looming, i think that's impressive

i'll try to make a new thread in the Reseller's section with details once i get and play around with this thing!

 

Holy crap, man. Exactly same situation as you here. I have an M11x R2 waiting to be retired when my P150EM from Prostar comes on monday. I was able to get the GTX 680M for $1419 non-cash($1376 cash). Being in CA, though, tax kind of soured the deal for me.

Anyways, it's interesting to hear your transition from the R2 to the P150EM.

 

Wow, how did you get it for 1419?

 

The starting price was $100 less, and then it took $100 off after adding to cart, and then I used a $60 off coupon code.