Questions for the Experts about Clevo Laptops

[Apalacrypto]

@D2ultima @Dackzy 

 

Hi there,

 

(TL;DR: Why are they better?)

 

I've been lurking for a while, reading what I can, and trying to make some decisions on a gaming laptop. I ended up buying an MSI GS63VR, but returning it because the speaker sounded weird and the Killer-1535 kept dropping connection under load. I am trying to make a more informed purchase. I was (prior to reading this forum) considering another GS63VR Stealth or similar (thinking I might have just gotten a bad one, or the New Razer Blade Stealth. I have seen some very strong opinions against both, but in almost all cases, Sager or similar brand Clevo Laptops always seem to be recommended as being "just better."

 

I know enough to know what I don't know, and am willing to admit that, so I would like to know.

What makes them better, and so highly recommended? In parenthesis are the statements I have seen made which I would like more clarification on.

~Screen (Supposedly Clevo has better or at least similar quality screens. What is the difference?)

~Speaker (Being an audiophile, this is important to me. What makes the speaker better, or is it just knowledge of the brand used)

~Processor (Wouldn't this be the same in any laptop using this chip? i7-6700HQ)

~Graphics (I am looking for a GTX1060, but some threads indicated differences to how they configured?)

~Battery Life (Assuming a standard windows install, and similar hardware, how is the battery life optimized better in these?)

~Portability - (Looking for a 15" laptop because of the amount of travel I do. How much of a difference does the .28" make for a "bulky" feel?)

~Power Brick - (I can't seem to find an image anywhere, so I don't know how large the power brick is for these laptops)

 

~Any other reasons they are superior to mainstream name brands?

 

Thank You ahead of time for reading.

[Dackzy]

d2u can take this one, I am going to bed, but you are not going to get audiophile grade speakers in any laptop, from what I have heard the clevo speakers are pretty average for a laptop.

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

I ended up buying an MSI GS63VR, but returning it because the speaker sounded weird and the Killer-1535 kept dropping connection under load.

From what D2 has told me, the Killer 1535 works fine, without it's shitty software. Works fine with just Windows Update Drivers. I haven't used it myself, have always been on Intel 8260, but I'm trying it next laptop I get. 

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Screen (Supposedly Clevo has better or at least similar quality screens. What is the difference?)

Mostly the same shit. Clevo just chooses to use a very standard 1080p LG GSync screen. Some of the manufacturers like to play around and throw 120hz on things, but ends up being shit (MSI cough). By no means is this a great screen. It's just a very decent, very average screen with no cardinal flaws (which is more than most laptop screens).

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Speaker (Being an audiophile, this is important to me. What makes the speaker better, or is it just knowledge of the brand used)

Speakers are pretty average. At least they're front facing. The laptops that are recommended such as P650RS, P670RP6, P670RS all have a Sabre-DAC built in and those are pretty good. The P650RP6 does not have one. 

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Processor (Wouldn't this be the same in any laptop using this chip? i7-6700HQ)

Mostly just the cooling solution. Alot of laptops can't get the 6700HQ running at it's correct speed of 3.1ghz on 4 core turbo. Meanwhile on Clevo's you can pick up a 6820HK and OC it to 4.0ghz with generally no issue.

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Graphics (I am looking for a GTX1060, but some threads indicated differences to how they configured?)

15in. P650RP6.

17in. P670RP6

What do you mean by differently configured? Ofc they are. LOL.

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Battery Life (Assuming a standard windows install, and similar hardware, how is the battery life optimized better in these?)

I got 5.5 hours on my P650RG with heavy optimizations in software. You get about the same amount of the new ones too. Battery life is self-optimized. Do a fresh install and remove bloatware. And then go tuning clocks and profiles for "on-battery" profiles. Power saver, drives standby, what you want LOL. Windows is pretty fucking unoptimized. 

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Portability - (Looking for a 15" laptop because of the amount of travel I do. How much of a difference does the .28" make for a "bulky" feel?)

Yes. That's the difference between a Macbook Pro and a P650RS. It feels bulkier. There is nothing you can do. But it's not that much heavier. So carrying it is easy. 

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Power Brick - (I can't seem to find an image anywhere, so I don't know how large the power brick is for these laptops)

Google 230w AC adapter. 

 

1 hour ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Any other reasons they are superior to mainstream name brands?

-Price

-MUX switch (allows you to switch between Optimus and GSync, all other mainstream brands only use GSync so battery life is abyssal on everything else)

-Warranty flexibility (allows you to swap around drives, repaste, and stuff without breaking warranty. Asus you add a drive and you're fucked)

-Cooling system (allows you to OC things while other mainstream brands have things throttling to days)

 

https://lpc-digital.com/product/sager-np8152-special-clevo-p650rp6/?ex=1

^ this is what you're looking for

[Apalacrypto]

Thank you very much for the prompt and detailed responses. I have a good idea of what I will be purchasing now. Your assistance has been very valuable and informative.

[L0veless]

Clevos aren't magical laptops. Like Pendragon said they're average/decent in many ways.

 

What sets them apart imo is that contrary to many laptops nowadays, they allow you to use 100% of the components you're paying for. Your 6700HQ will have proper turbo speeds. Your 1060 will be properly cooled. You won't see any throttling. The components you pay for is what you get, regardless of the load.

 

I don't think I'd recommend a Clevo to the average user who games once a week and mostly uses his laptop for school, reddit and Netflix. But if you need the performances and don't mind the slightly bulky form factor (laptop + huge power brick) then they're probably one if not the best choice.

[Apalacrypto]

Yeah, I travel for work, and am on the road 3 weeks per month. I play MMO's, Overwatch, and some racing games. I don't get into the FPS's, hence no need for a 1070 or 1080, but I want the best I can get with a 1060, which should be more than what I really need.

[D2ultima]

2 hours ago, Apalacrypto said:

I ended up buying an MSI GS63VR, but returning it because the speaker sounded weird and the Killer-1535 kept dropping connection under load. I am trying to make a more informed purchase. I was (prior to reading this forum) considering another GS63VR Stealth or similar (thinking I might have just gotten a bad one, or the New Razer Blade Stealth. I have seen some very strong opinions against both, but in almost all cases, Sager or similar brand Clevo Laptops always seem to be recommended as being "just better."

 

~Any other reasons they are superior to mainstream name brands?

• Your killer card was cutting out because you were probably using the killer drivers. You shouldn't use killer drivers. Ever. You should use the basic drivers which you install through Device Manager, to cause no issues. When you do that, they perform properly and are better than intel's cards, but if you're not able to or comfortable doing this, then an intel wifi card and WLAN Optimizer with "disable background scan" and "streaming mode" enabled is the most problem-free way to go.
• There is no good reason to buy any Razer laptop, ever. Just getting that out of the way here.
• Clevo laptops focus on a few key features. With the exception of a couple edge cases in recent years, cooling is the primary concern, and ease of access to the parts/disassembly is the second concern. No other laptop manufacturer focuses on this. Reviewers pick apart the looks, or the feel of the machine, or even say how the screen hinge/etc twists more easily, but in normal operation/usage/carrying around it isn't any sort of detriment.
• Clevo laptops also have the ability to be unlocked with a custom system BIOS and video BIOS by a modder called Prema. Currently, the only way to get it is to use a Prema Partner shop, however an unlocked Clevo is more or less the best laptop on the market. Because the motherboards are generally built to extremely high standards (for example, the P870DM laptop was sold with a single 200W 980 or two 980Ms and a 6700K. Two 180W 980s from the P775DM1 were taken and put in with modified heatsinks and overclocked to the limit and benchmarked... FOUR 330W power bricks, yes I said four, were used to supply enough power for benchmarking while the system was fully overclocked; pulling nearly 900W from the wall... the motherboard had no issues running that power through to the components and it didn't break at all; most other laptops cannot do this) once you unlock the hardware and get the ability to tweak what you want and have proper control over the machine, the only real issue is whether or not Clevo's hotkey/control center software causes you any issues. And since it interfaces with the BIOS, a stable prema mod may even fix issues that may be present on unmodified systems.

Now, that's the basics. Clevo isn't perfect by any means. Their fault is in software, rather than hardware design/choice, which makes it easier to fix, but they really aren't perfect. In this case, we're picking them for being the best of the available options, not that they are without fault.

 

2 hours ago, Apalacrypto said:

~Screen (Supposedly Clevo has better or at least similar quality screens. What is the difference?)

~Speaker (Being an audiophile, this is important to me. What makes the speaker better, or is it just knowledge of the brand used)

~Processor (Wouldn't this be the same in any laptop using this chip? i7-6700HQ)

~Graphics (I am looking for a GTX1060, but some threads indicated differences to how they configured?)

~Battery Life (Assuming a standard windows install, and similar hardware, how is the battery life optimized better in these?)

~Portability - (Looking for a 15" laptop because of the amount of travel I do. How much of a difference does the .28" make for a "bulky" feel?)

~Power Brick - (I can't seem to find an image anywhere, so I don't know how large the power brick is for these laptops)

• Screens are somewhat universal. LG, Chi Mei, Samsung, Sharp, AUO and Panasonic are the general screen makers for laptop panels (there are most certainly more, but too rare to be cared about). LG, Chi Mei and AUO are most common. Some screens are better than others; Clevo generally doesn't use some of the relatively lower-quality screens I'd say, but this isn't exactly THAT much of a selling point. Currently, the 17" models are basically all compatible with 120Hz screens, which is great. ASUS and Alienware haven't shown desire to use 120Hz panels that I've seen (might've missed something), which somewhat knocks them out of the ranking for desire.
• Knowledge of brand used. MSI used to have the best speakers; I don't know how the current speaker setup etc is, or whose is best. Sorry.
• Yes and no. Clevo offers desktop CPUs in their higher end models; the i7-6700K is selectable. Since 6820HKs are badly binned and slow by default, a stock 6700K versus a 6820HK almost entirely pushes the 6700K as the better CPU... and it's cheaper too. As for the models like the P650Rx and P670Rx, there's little real difference except the CPU cooling. For the price, the Clevo's CPU cooling is the best. But the GT73VR and such has better CPU cooling on their mobile CPUs, however since their price is competing with the desktop CPU using machines from Clevo, there is literally zero point to taking them.
• Mobile Pascal is... a bit different. Since boost clocks are HEAVILY depended on for the performance, but the base clocks are low, people can put lower thermal throttle points (mid 80s for the most parts) and claim it's not "throttling" because it isn't below base clocks, or something. And sometimes like in the Razer, it just sits at 93c constantly and barely works, but because it doesn't shut down and still "performs", reviewers tend to say it's fine. Nobody tests with an OSD enabled, or anything to that effect. Many people testing 1060s say it works fine but then it's within 5% of a 980M... except that it should be easily 30% faster. Clevo's Pascal GPUs all perform great, and Prema Partner shops will give you a custom stable vBIOS as well when they're released.
• Battery life on the P6xxRx models is good because while it has a small battery, it has the ability to use Optimus. It can also use dGPU mode to game properly, which other laptops cannot do. The desktop CPU using laptops don't have this option, unfortunately (it's only unfortunate now because in the past iGPUs limited the screens one could attach; now that isn't the case).
• Couldn't tell you, sorry.
• 230W brick for 1070 laptops, and for 6820HK and 1060 laptops. 200W for 6700HQ and 1060 laptop.

Also, further to this, here's an in-depth comment I made explaining all the ups and downs of each manufacturer. https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/668791-new-razer-blade-2016-gtx-1060/#comment-8628901 It's a long, but good, read.