Welcome to my 9th review in LTT forum (yes it's a laptop review again). I will be reviewing the Level51 Forge 15 Pro laptop. Main specs of the laptop are as below:
This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here.
Product page: https://www.level51pc.co/welcome/Productinner/forge-15-pro
External review from other parties: Jarrod'sTech
Intro
I have mixed feelings before reviewing this model since it's predecessor - MX-15 Pro (Clevo N850EP6) has mediocre cooling and OKish build quality. As a result, it's never a recommendation from me. However, this new NH58 chassis (same with NH50, NH55 and NH57) really exceed my expectations. Continue reading to find out why.
Part 1: Build quality, input devices
Build quality is quite good. The whole laptop is made of plastic - not surprising considering that it's priced quite low while the old model - N850 is also a full plastic build laptop.
The lid has brush finish on top of it. There is flex when the lid is twisted - rigidity could be better. Applying force on the middle of the lid results in some flex, but nothing worrying. The lid has minimal wobbling; however, you can't open the lid with 1 hand (the first 45 degrees tilt is tight). The hinge is a bit loose when opened over ~100 degree and when closed below ~40 degree. There are 2 dim blue LED strips on the lid.
The area surrounding the keyboard has brush finish. There is minimal flex when twisting the body - still it feels solid. The keyboard area has little flex when pressed down hard. The bottom chassis also has little flex - the closer to middle the more flex. Overall, the amount of flex is good for a plastic build.
The keyboard is a new, upgraded Clevo membrane keyboard. Typing is very pleasing - it has good actuation force (~55g?) and key travel (~2mm?). Keys are very clicky. Probably one of the best keyboard I've ever used in gaming laptops. You can set keyboard lighting via included software: Control Center. Note that it has only 1 zone lighting. The keyboard is easy to be replaced.
The touchpad is good enough from my perspective. It uses Precision driver and it's quite big - precision is OK-good but not top level. Due to plastic surface, the surface will become rough to be used if you have wet fingers. In normal usage, the surface is smooth. The touchpad layer feels thin when tapped hard on it. The dedicated L/R clicks have very shallow travel - feels a bit weird but the clicking feel is OK. The touchpad is slightly aligned to the right of spacebar to make it more centered.
Part 2: Display, Audio, Battery
The 15.6 inch display is a 144Hz IPS panel from LG – LGD05E8. Display feels smooth, it gets bright enough and colours are vibrant. Contrast is OK. It has thin bezels.
The 2 down firing speakers has good enough audio if tuned via Sound Blaster software.
There is a bit of bass and the volume can be quite loud. Overall, sound quality is quite balanced (mids could be better though)
I don’t have time to test the battery life, however you can expect 3-4 hrs of battery life from the 49Wh battery. Note that the battery is removable from outside.
Part 3: Cooling performance Update: Will retest with custom fan profile soon
The cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 2 shared on CPU+GPU (2 of them are not connected to both fans). There is only 1 exhaust vent for CPU and 2 exhaust vents for GPU. The fans are very powerful - I can feel the heat being push out even from ~50cm distance, especially for the CPU fan. There are intake vents for both fans (N850 has none) - the vents are quite small but sufficient.
Notes on all thermal testing:
Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. I didn't undervolt the GPU since it usually sits at frequency at low voltages (<0.8V), however you can try to undervolt it if you want. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result
CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core
Starting 75-76W, then drop to 45W (PL1). 86-88C, then drop to max 73C. 4GHz, then drop to 3.2-3.3GHz. 1150+cb
Starting 67-68W, then drop to 45W (PL1). 80C, then drop to max 71C. 4GHz (can sustain longer), then drop to 3.4GHz. 1200+cb
Starting ~40dBA, then drop to ~37dBA. Same fan speed after undervolted
CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 45W
2.8-2.9GHz, 74C
~3GHz, 74C
~38dBA for both
GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)
Clock speed fluctuates, +200MHz higher than boost clock (1200MHz)
Max 67C, ~80W
~43dBA
FPU (with undervolt) + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans
CPU: 84-85C, 3-3.1GHz, 45W
GPU: Max 74C, +200-600MHz, ~80W
No throttling under extreme load! (CPU power throttling due to PL1)
Uneven core temp recorded is 5C max. Yes tripod heatsink is gone - it really helps in uneven core temp issue.
There are 4 power profiles to choose from:
Quiet, Performance, Power saving, Entertainment
In short - just stick with entertainment (balanced) profile
The included power adapter is a 180W unit from Chicony and it's quite compact. Take note that temps will be a little higher when running dual channel memory.
Part 4: Miscellaneous
This laptop weights at 2.2kg and has 28mm thickness. Quite light I would say, partly due to the plastic build.
Ports (from back to front):
L: USB A 3, USB A 2, mic, headphone
R: Full sized SD card reader, mDP, USB A 3
Rear (L to R viewing from back): USB C, HDMI, LAN, power
Other settings in Control Center software besides power modes and led keyboard setting:
- Flexikey for Macros
- Fan speed control (2 points only, can drag anywhere to adjust fan speed and target temperature)
Default fan speed:
CPU: 40C 20%, 60C 46%, 80C 70%, 100C 100%
GPU: 48C 26%, 60C 50%, 80C 84%, 100C 100%
Fans do run while idling (cannot turn off) but it's very quiet. GPU fan is slightly louder.
Conclusion
Being the cheapest i7+2060+144Hz model out there*, you have to made some sacrifices like all plastic build and single zone keyboard back-lighting. However, the build quality is alright and the cooling is superb. Clevo engineers really worked hard on upgrading the cooling solution from what I heard. If you're hunting for a new 2060 gaming laptop but have limited budget, this is really an attractive choice. Definitely worth considering.
*NH58 in US and Malaysia, based on prices at the time of writing. Same applies to NH70.
Wen Sheng reacted to genexis_x in [REVIEW] Level51 Forge 15 Pro Laptop (i7-9750H, RTX 2060)
