Eluktronics MAX series Laptops

I will certainly complain today.

 

Once the Q-Key and iGPU are addressed and tested, I can proceed with buttoning up the review.

Normally this wouldn’t take so long but these laptops offer things that others are not, so test and tune is a process. Add Covid to the mix and solving problems takes longer than usual.

 

Yep understandable. I'm still actively working with them on the raid issue. Have 4 new nvme drives arriving today to test for them. I suspect it will yield the same results.

I sent them a message about the GPU draw.

Do you find the speakers are pretty quiet? I expected more volume out of them. Not that I really have a need for them but it's kinda lame.

 

Overall I’m happier with these speakers vs the previous MAX as they doubled their wattage, 2w vs 4w.

I have played DMC5 and Wreckfest for hours on Office mode with speakers at 38-42% and have enjoyed myself quite a bit. But I’ve been around some loud machines so this MAX 17 has been nice in this way for me.

 

I like how it’s the same when it’s on battery. Consistency is nice.

That’s not bad. In a normal room with some noise that shouldn’t be audible I would think?

Well my 2080 should be running at 80/90w so it should run cooler still. Though I have no idea what it runs at without eluktroboast on.

My unit is scheduled for Wednesday delivery. It’s at a UPS that’s about two hours away so maybe Tuesday. I’m gonna assume Monday is out since it’s a holiday. But, I’ll have mine very soon.

 

My fans rarely turn on in office mode after applying thermal Conductonaut to the CPU/GPU and Fujipoly thermal pads to the GPU VRAM, VRMS and wherever stock pads were applied previously. These mods in conjunction with turning my system by undervolting, adjusting clock speeds with throttlestop and adjusting elements of my power profile has made all the difference. I do want to note that my tests involve. general browsing with a mix of word processing, YouTube in the background as well.

 

Bob, thanks for all the work you do. Your Youtube videos and feedback are great. Eluktronics should be paying you! Quick question though, how does the Integrated MUX controller work on the new Max series laptop. Is it integrated into the bios? Based on your videos, I ordered a Max 17.

 

Yes it’s in the BIOS, where it should be

 

Care to share roughly how much performance we will gain by turning off the integrated graphics. That alone is welcome feature that all laptops should offer.

 

Well I nuked the drivers and reinstalled and they're much louder now so thats good. I am happy with them now.

 

Long shot but has anyone tried installing Linux on the new variants of the MAX/Vyper series? I know laptops can be a bit more sensitive than desktops about it, and I need to at least dual boot.

 

Yep works perfectly

 

Well thats great news! what distro are you using? might as well follow a success story, and I'm not overly wedded to any particular distro.

 

Video about comparison between 2080 Super Max Q 90w and 2070 Super Max P 115w
Notice that the 2080 Super is using liquid metal, and 2070 Super using stock thermal paste (Yes it's unfair, i don't understand)

 

He states in the comment section of that video that in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, there was only a 4fps difference between the RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2070 (non-Super). That's obviously not conclusive, but it has made me question whether paying extra for the Super is worth it.

 

The fact a 90W GPU is matching and slightly edging out a 115w GPU is still impressive. But I agree it would be nice to have both with the same paste.

But this gives my hope the 2080 max-q super in it’s 115W eluktroboast profile should always come out ahead of the 2070 super.

 

2070 Super is worth it, especialy if you want to play with RTX, it have more core, and in other comparison it's around 10% fps, but for 200$ yes you have to think to it twice

 

Which one you would prefer : i7-10875h refreshed 2070 mp and 144 gsync or i7-10750h refreshed 2070 mp and 240 Hz no g sync? Current options from Xmg both 17 inch laptops

 

Gsync ? on Tongfang laptop ? i'm not sure about that, i have 144hz one and it haven't gsync
144hz is fine, very good display, color, contrast, luminosity, input lag, very good
240hz should be as good, but not sure if it worth it, for the (200$?) difference, i take the more powerfull gpu, or more stockage and/or better ram

 

Yes Xmg offer 144 Hz with gsync on their pro 17 inch
https://www.xmg.gg/en/xmg-pro-17

Neo 17 got 240 Hz but no gsync
https://www.xmg.gg/en/xmg-neo-17

Pro version same spec €100 more

 

@Terreos Yes very impressive, i was septic about a big GPU restricted by power and thermals vs a less powerfull gpu but with more thermal capacity,
but i was wrong, it performe as well or higher, with less thermal output i think (But can't really judge it with the video)
but is 400$ more worth it ? only you portfolio can say it

Ps: i think it's already an elektroboost 2080 Super

 

It's not the same Laptop as Max 17 and it's not Tongfang from what i see
and i will go for the better CPU, 10875h is a beast
but it's difficult to compare, there are not the same chassis, two different laptop with different thermals

 

Xmg thermals are same as eluktronics its just eu reseller. Shame all import tax kills eluktronics value for Money so looking for alternatives.

Xmg chassis is 27.8 and 30 mm so a bit thicker and it is 17 inch so should expect better cooling. They offer refresh rtx series and 110w TDP on them with maxp version.

Around $2300 for those spec with 32 GB RAM and 500 GB NVMe

Eluktronics same spec would cost with import tax around $2800 need super 2070 for 240 Hz screen.

 

Wrong, it's not Tongfang, it's not same as Eluktronics, if you are in europe and want same as Eluktronics, go to PCspecialist https://www.pcspecialist.fr/ordinateurs-portables/vyper-17/
2000€ for 144hz with 2070 Super

You can't say XMG thermals are the same as Eluktronics because it depend about the Manufacturer,

Yes it's thicker and heavier, 1cm thicker and 1kg heavier to be exact, so it's not the same category

But it can be good, and can have better thermal solution due to that thickness, just search some test before buying, and found the true name of it like
Tongfang GM7MP0P

Keep in mind it's 110w vs 115w too

To go further, don't buy SSD and RAM on the store, you can get way better on other website, open the laptop and install on it, and don't choose Killer WIFI it's crap

Ps: 32gb is overkill, money should be spend on GPU, better RAM, display or more Storage

 

in addition to this, they are some differences between brand, for exemple in BIOS, Driver, Software and some aspect of the chassis, Eluktronics do a great job for thoses point

 

Thanks NomenAK for reply

I checked chassis of neo and it is actually Clevo PA71HS-G need to check review on this how it perform in thermals etc.

I will also check pcspecialist but regarding bios and drivers I can get pcspecialists and use eluktronics since it is same chassis or we got some restrictions?

 

I'm in the same situation, i already use Drivers and Control Center with no problem and i'm waiting for a BIOS,

PCspecialist seems to be not as good as Eluktronics regarding of After Sales Services, and finishes on the product,

But the laptop worked with no problem, just watch the forum, we have reported many little details like fan oscilating noise and touchpad loose

 

Well in true ups fashion mine just arrived. But I have to leave for work in literally twenty minutes. So I won’t be able to play with it till tomorrow morning. Nuts. . .

 

@Terreos what spec you ordered? Looking forward to some photos with benchmark gaming etc

 

2080 max-q super with the 240Hz screen. I have the base 16gb 2666 memory but I plan to update myself

 

Gaming Mode with Fan Boost

Beast Mode with Fan Boost

Now I’m off to work. I’ll test it more when I get home.

 

In late 2019 I bought a Clevo PB71 with a 2070 fully spec'd out. Combined with a stand and all the cooling options HIDEvolution had, I've been absolutely blown away by the thermals on it and am extremely happy with the purchase. A relative is looking into buying a laptop now and has asked me for help. Does anyone have any thoughts on the Max 17 vs the new Clevo PB71?

Here are the Clevo's specs for comparison

https://www.hidevolution.com/evoc-h...-17-3-fhd-144hz-i7-10875h-rtx-2070-super.html

 

They are not in the same category, the Max17 is like an Ultrabook, a light and thin gaming laptop, who packed an impressive amount of power, with great autonomy
The Clevo is heavy and Thick, not very transportable, at this point you must think about what he want before looking specs
the Max 17 with I7 10875h and 2070 super or higher is very powerful, and for a casual or enthusiast gamer enough
The clevo should be more powerful (quieter too) with the same spec, but how much ? It worth to sacrifice transportability and all day use ?

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Yeah portability isn't a big deal here so I'm leaning towards the Clevo

 

If it's not, search for thoses heavy laptop with desktop CPU, they are impressive, and pretty interesting for enthusiastic
Clevo made some of those

Ps: with the MaxP design of Tongfang laptop (max17) you can get pretty much the same performance as the Clevo i'm sure, so think twice about it, and look test and review

For people who think about 2070 vs 2070 Super

 

I don't see the components being too different between the two laptops, so I think it depends mostly on your relative's use case, i.e. how much of a degree of portability do they require? The Max-17 is very light and thin for a 2070 max p laptop, plus it has a good sized battery. That Clevo on the other hand is pretty chunky, and although not quite the heaviest 17 inch laptop out there, it's still veering towards desktop replacement territory (as opposed to fairly portable gaming laptop)

As for thermals, early reports are that the Max 17 is very good in that regard. But I suspect the thicker Clevo would be better.

 

The Max 17 doesn't have gsync like the clevo though, correct? Since I'd be opting for the 2070 super it looks like that comes with a 240 hz screen on the max 17 so maybe thats a fair trade off?

 

Personally I have the 144hz one, and i'ts very fine, Vsync enabled, low input lag, no problem,
yes I would love to have Gsync but from past experience I always have problem with some game like Sea of Thieves with it so
I don't know for the Clevo but the Max 17 have a very good display, both 144hz and 240hz, 100% RGB, good contrast, good luminosity

 

how is the fan noise?

 

Fine, there is a little oscillating noise that occurs some time (it's seems to be a problem with early batch)
I play in office mod, you can play with speaker but for gaming mod I recommend headphones
They're 3 mode, office, gaming, beast
They change CPU power and Fan curve

 

What would be some comparables to the Max 17? The GS75?

 

In terms of weight, yeah. However the GS75 only offers Max-Q GPUs. I don't think there's anything comparable to the Max 17 when it comes to the combination of power/weight/thinness.

 

So a +175 to the core is showing promising results. I’ll keep you all posted as I play with it more. I haven’t touched the memory clock yet. And this is with the stock thermal paste too. So no liquid metal magic going on in my machine.

 

Speaker sound very well after a DDU uninstall of previous driver, update and reinstall of THX Spatial Audio
(PCspecialist driver and software are bad in majority, most are very old and incompatible)

and very impressive @Terreos

 

+175 core
+800 memory
This thing is absurd. I’ve never had a laptop overclock this well. Not sure if it’s game stable yet, but for testing benchmarks it’s a real champ. It has definitely left all of those Razer blade pro users in the dust by a safe margin.

Honestly this is a pretty complete package machine. My two biggest complaints are the magnesium alloy build and the keyboard lighting. It just doesn’t match the all metal builds of the other big manufacturers out there. It’s not bad, just noticeable. And lighting on the keyboard is very uneven. The worst I’ve ever seen. But they are bright enough to use in a lit room. So I won’t knock on that too much.

Performance and cooling though is stellar. Very surprised. Hopefully it’s just as impressive once I start playing some games on it.

 

Honestly the lighting of the keyboard is good enough, I come from a red only very bad lighting on HP Omen so..
Hmm the finish is good also, look at the GS66, a fingerprint keeper, but the backplate don't match with the rest
I don't try to overclock yet, I'm interested about flashing the bios of the GPU to undervolt a little and unlock power consumption

 

Oh good lord if we’re comparing it to the HP Omen keyboard lights then this is amazing. But Razer, Alienware, and Msi all have very bright keyboards. But I agree it’s useable. I just set it to green and left it. It’s fine for my needs. And that’s a fair point since aluminum does have fingerprints all over it in minutes of opening it. I have the free dbrand skin on mine. But, I wish the bottom panel had the same finish as the top and the keyboard deck. You have a 2070 Super model yes? I’d be curious to see how close it would be to mine if you over clock it.

I want to upgrade the ram to 2933Mhz and see if that changes anything. Jarrods tech on YouTube shows that these new CPUs seem to benefit from the faster memory. Not sure if it’s possible, but I’d like to try and hit 22K on the fire strike.

 

I'm running some benchmark at this time lol
You have debrand skin on bottom ?

 

No just the top. You can’t buy it from dbrand, you can have it included if you bought it from Eluktronics. Not sure if other re-sellers offer it.

@B0B you should see if the Eluktronics folks would be willing to work with dbrand to see if they would offer selling a full kit for this machine. Atleast a bottom skin also.

 

I didn't understand, so you bottom plate is naked like me ? If It is, you can see it's not the same finish as the rest
Benchmark result have to wait for tomorrow, but first try 20k cpu 120w gpu +160 +700

Your's is Eluktroboost ? Mine if from pcspecialist and it's not, from what I can see in BOB video, the difference is hudge