Clevo P150HM Graphics

Hi,

I plan to order a Clevo P150HM (from Eurocom) and I'm looking for a little information about graphic cards of the notebook: I would like to know if I remove the MXM IIIB graphic card, will the notebook boot with Intel's Sandy Bridge integrated HD Graphics 3000 ?

I have read here: "The on-board graphics card, the HD Graphics 3000, always remains inactive because there is no automatic or manual GPU-switching technology in place here."

What does it means ? Does the integrated HD graphics blocked and/or unusable ? Or just switching is impossible (if no dedicated graphic card so the integrated will work) ?

Thanks for your help guys

 

I dont hink that its connected to the screen, and I dont know the motherboard type, but my guess is that its a QM67, so no swtiching without the use of a mux would be possible

 

I think that means the Intel video card isn't/can't be enabled. Like my Sony, it has an i5 520m, which has built in Intel graphics, but they are disabled by the bios.

Either way, you won't be able to use the Intel graphics.

 

Yes, that's the case, most likely. The integrated can't be utilized regardless of whether you remove the discrete or not. No physical connection to the LCD.

 

I'm reading that it's a HM65. Does it change something ?
In the case in want this PC and no other, I can still put a Radeon HD 5650 MXM IIIB for batery savings ?

 

If there is no physical connection than it wont change a thing, I would think that they would go for a QM67 since this is more of a performance chipset

if the 5650 can be found on mxmIIIb than yes, but you are going to buy a P150HM which is designed for gaming with a little mobility, why would you want that? I would either go for a smaller laptop with more punch than a 5650 (there are several 13'' and 14'' models with the AMD 6630m or even the 6750m) that gives you the battery life needed.

You do have to remember that while these things are upgradeable, in some sense, they arent that plug and play, you need to open the thing repaste the gpu and so forth, not to mention the wear that its going to be put on the components

 

The Specification page tell about a HM65...
Specifications Maybe a mistake ?

 

they may be right, but the QM is really a more performance orientated chipset.

The strange thing of adopting this chipset is that this is the only one with direct optimus support, since AMD uses a mux to change between the cards, hence the lenovo e420s and the vaio SB using the QM instead of the HM

I would seriously think about your priorities, there is also the m17x R3 that can use a 6970m and have a switchable gpu (only with the AMD options, no optimus support, thank god for that)

I for one value battery life and portability, the P150hm weights 6.98lbs (meaning 3.1 kg in the right way to measure things ) add the psu, and you've got a 4+kg machine, not portable in my book.

Im torn between a 1.75kg and a 1.8kg machine, this is portable. Add the psu at 300g (Im going to use the thermaltake thoughpower 95w slim that I have) and you got a pretty good package, see config in my sig. They wont game as well, but they are going to avoid me to carry the psu due to the 6 hours of battery life (for the vaio that is)

 

Thank you very much Mr MM for your help !

So I'm giving up the idea of the P150HM, just because of the graphics.
Maybe can you help me choosing another barebone ?
I am very thorough with my pc because it'll follow me the next seven or eight years [I'm actually on an old Inspiron 9100 that I tenderly name "my honey-tank": 6Kg ~ 13,2lbs (4,5Kg battery inside + 1,5Kg psu) ]
I'm loogink for :
- sandy bridge model (idealy i5-2520)
- 15" non-glare screen (I hate bright screens)
- 75Wh battery (actual lithium technology made the around 700gr ~ 1,9lbs)
- switchable graphic (idealy intel HD 3000 + Radeon 6850 or 6770/6750)
- around 1100€ (~1500$US)
- weight is not a problem (15" notebook with weight greater than 4kg doesn't exist nowadays and i'm used to my inspiron )

Does this notebook exist ?

 

What are your uses?

How much battery life do you want?


some I can get from the top of my mind are the lenovo w520 and the t520, there are some dell (freaking ugly) pro line that are good, I would also check when the elitebook w line appears, for now they only have the most basic gpus, which wouldnt met your needs and which are useless due to the SB igp.

btw that kind of battery is going to be hard to find on any 15''. You would be amazed but that is the usual fare for a 13'' and 14'' specially with the added slice battery that is the current trend right now.

 

dell xps 15? kinda close, but not barebones.. pretty sure screen options are glossy too.

but off the top of my head it has the sandy bridge proc you want, switchable graphics (has nvidia 540m w/ optimus i believe). and a large 9-cell 92whr battery option.

was going to go with an xps before i found sager machines

 

My uses ? Work on travel (an average of 5 or 6 hours of train or car in France), I work on catia through wine and recording HD videos of my work on catia for conferences, openoffice for reports, conferences on skype. That's all.

For the models, I've found the dell XPS 15 with 9 cells battery and Clevo W150HNM on Boutique Clevo en Europe (77Wh battery).
The clevo sounds good.

 

he wants durability, that kind of crap is out, the xps is too flimsy.

 

'Durability' is a snooty word, I just want a PC with a processor and a graphic part that I can use during 7 or 8 years and not changing laptop every 2 years.

My inspiron 9100 is a model for me. Ok it is more heavy than my dumbbell, ok the pentium 4 3,2GHz produce enough heat to survive in Siberia, ok even a Boing 747 produce less noise than his two fans but at his time, it was one of the best in his category. Now, his mono-core have a hard time (100% utilisation) in displaying youtube 720p video, 1080p is a dream. I can't see glow.mozilla.org smoothly. And the ATI radeon 9600 is coughing with catia. I don't speak about his max 1GB of RAM. Luckily I work on Ubuntu, Windows 7 or Vista don't even boot.

So I hope a Core i5-2520 / nVidia GT 540 / 4GB RAM / 1080p mat screen will last at least 7 or 8 years !
For information, look at my 7 years old 71WH 1 kilogram DELL battery: always 80% of capacity (but only 2h30 hours of life). So laptop care, I know what it means

I can't stand seeing the waste of tech material (phones, smartphones, laptops, desktops) everyday... Manufacturers forced this waste on us, making everything death programmed. So choosing 'THE' good laptop for me in order to not waste is my way to fight this "new shi**y way of being". I will sell my inspiron like 100$ (it costs me 2900$ in 2004) or give it to some moneyless because it has still three or four years to go !!

 

I would go for the t520, the catia is going to benefit from the pro gpu.

you also have to remember that laptops from that time are different from the ones we have. Thats why there is only the pro line as an available line.

the xps is plagued with inconsistencies not based on the hardware itself, but the chassis and the malfunctions as well. I dont vouch for it in any kind of way.

I have a lenovo that is from 2006 and is still rocking, but it wont meet my needs now. So I traded for more power in 2009 and that laptop is too heavy and too flimsy, chassis flex, there are some indications of fan failure and hardware failure.

It actually makes me wonder how you can run catia at any acceptable levels with that machine. I ran statistical programs and it made my laptop beg me to stop, I run 2 VM and its asking me if i hate it, and so forth.

 

Do you think there is some spare bay-battery like this lenovo ones ?

 

the t420 uses now a slice battery and this is good for 24 hours of work. The t520 I think still uses the bay battery.

I actually vouch more for the t420 than the t520, mainly because of the battery life, since the specs are the same, minus the slice battery.

most enterprise class pcs now offer at least 6 hours of battery life on the standard 6 54ish wh battery, there is the x220 that offers 30 hours of battery life.

You have to remember that the power consumption of todays notebooks are much less than what they used to be, the 71wh battery that you have can last 8 hours on i7 2820qm, which is a quadcore cpu with 8 possible threads of processing power.

The dell enterprise class still offer the bay battery.

However there is a terrible surprise for you, linux dont have optimus support, which is basically a nvidia gpu that switches off automatically when it isnt needed, the concept is good and the implementation is terrible, they have terrible drivers that sometimes get the things right, but dont trust on it to be off when you are web browsing. So the surprise comes in the form of a nvs4200 that equips every enterprise class notebook that I saw with the SB chip, I havent seen any firepro.

So you could wait for the hp w series workstation or just give up linux and live a happy life with a nvidia chip

 

does linux support the manual switching of the graphics cards like the m17x r3 has?

 

nope optimus is done by the drivers and how the gpu is connected to the screen, basically when you have the nvidia gpu on, the intel would be on too. Since that there is no connection between the 2 with the nvidia cards, the AMD is the only option for a gpu switch since it uses a mux.

I would go inevitably with the 6970m since it costs a little more than the gtx 460m and can still kick the hell out of it, even a gtx 460m sli will get the teeth pulled with the sheer power of the 6970m

 

Just a comment from a realistic point of view. I just hate for people to make purchases with high expectations only to be let down.

If you're expecting gaming or any kind of 3D modeling, no single card GPU laptop will get you 7 to 8 years. Heck no dual GPU laptop will get you there. Even without gaming or strong 3D graphics, getting 7 to 8 years is rare.

Here's an example of an Alienware from 2003:

Retro Fun: Alienware Area-51m Gaming Laptop, 2003 | Best Gaming Laptop

"For a mere $2,659 you could be the proud owner of this state of the art portable gaming system with a Pentium 4 processor, 512MB RAM, built-in floppy drive, 40GB hard drive, and last but not least an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 GPU (3DMark 03 score around 1,000)."


Today, a netbook is as powerful if not moreso that that Alienware, but at 10% the cost. Expecting 3-4 years is reasonable, but beyond that when others are carrying around the same power in their pocket for the cost of a few nice dinners out, as you are in a 10 lbs. beast, it just kind of makes the outlook of that long term a little less realistic. You're better off buying to get what you need for the next few years and re-evaluate after that.

 

True, true...
What else can I say...
Just to add that my ATI Radeon 9600 still do good job on modeling (on windows xp). So wishing that catia and solidworks will not add 3D and 120Hz display in the next few years

 

Desktop world is a little different, but not by much. I have a couple desktops that are 6-7 years old and actually are more than adequate for what they need to do. Laptops on the other hand, are already significantly slower than any desktop components of the same generation, so they're already "aged" by like 1-2 years anyhow.

Good luck finding a machine, and I think the Sager / Clevo laptops are awesome quality and should last you quite a while. Especially if you go with an MXM slot it will give you options for upgrading down the road, but then again, less likely to have a great battery life.

 

Well a highend machine today might not be quite so "aged" but its usually true (I'm talking HD6970 crossfire or GTX485M here with a 2920XM and a pair of SSDs).

 

and all my 7-8 laptops are serving very well, even the aged lenovo N100 with U7700 1.33Ghz duo core is happy with general office task.