Tongfang GK5NR-O, GK7NP-R (Ryzen 4000 mobile)

XMG has just announced that there will be 2 new AMD models from Tongfang - GK5NR-O, GK7NP/NR-R. These are based on the same chassis used for Intel based models (GK5MP/MR-O, GK7MP/MR-R)

GK5NRFO (1650Ti, boosted to 65W)
GK5NR0O (2060, boosted to 110W)
thin and light



GK7NPFR (1650Ti, boosted to 65W)
GK7NR0R (2060, boosted to 110W)


Too bad only 46Wh battery is available. @XMG is 63Wh battery upgrade possible in both models? Also, the storage section didn't mention 2.5 inch bay, is it available?

https://bestware.com/en/xmg-core-15-amd.html
https://bestware.com/en/xmg-core-17-amd.html

 

Sigh... A pity... no "whole red blood species".

 

They aren't competitive at this time, it would not be a popular option.

 

Why just a 2060 ? 4800H is CPU way to strong for this GPU, can't understand why manufacturer associate AMD with low cost PC, a slim version like the Tongfang GM7MP0P with 2070 Super and good Battery should work as a beast and for a lower price than an I7 10875H, the battery life is way superior with those Renoir CPU, the thermal too, Can't understand..

 

Battery life remains to be seen and thermals are just as hot as intel. In-fact, while intel pulls more wattage, these Ryzen 4K series run just as hot, if not hotter at the same wattage. The version that we're talking about here is pretty special. A 110w 2060 is pretty slick. However, when you have a GPU and CPU that share the same heatsink, Ryzen doesn't exactly look like it runs a cool as you'd think when it has to share its thermal solution with 110w versus the 90w it has been paired with.

I have one of these in-house right now. It's awesome

 

Battery life is around 8h with a 62wh so imagine with a 90+wh battery, I'm not sure if they run as hot, i see a lot of benchmark where Ryzen 4800h run about 70° in Cinebench or Rendering, when I7 10875H run around 90° with double of the TDP, there is no magic, 7nm against 14nm, if they run hotter its because manufacturer make low cost laptop with it, with less heat pipe etc, look at the ROG Zephyrus G15, less Heatpipe and obturated ariflow, so after all of that, that no point, why making cheap laptop ? why they can't get a 2070 Super ? it's non sense, if its saving cost mesure or thermal mesure, a 4600h should be as great with a 2070.

Sorry for asking Bob but when can we get our review of the new MAX17, can't wait

 

I’m not trying to make an argument for intel and I’ve expressed my joy for the 4800h numerous times. Ryzen 4K is showing signs of running just as hot under combined loads that it’ll often find itself in while pulling less wattage doing it. Let me explain.

Temps are far more interesting when you combine GPU loads. With Ryzen 4K I was first suspicious of this in March, testing the A15 as it was running 80c with moments near 100c while only pulling 26w (mid 30w spike here and there) when combined with an 80w GPU load.

Fast forward to early May and we’ve seen two versions of the G15, each one with and without its fans blocked. The G14 with its binned CPU and a measly 65w GPU to share heat with, plus the MSI Bravo. All of those have a GPU that pulls 90w or less. I’m seeing the same high temps, 90c and hotter, during combined load on the AMD chip. Something we’ve grown accustomed to with intel.

Add the higher wattage GPU like we have in this Tongfang chassis that isn’t as wattage neutered. It’s getting more CPU wattage during a combined load along with 110w 2060. I’m pretty sure it has a better cooler than most of what’s currently available featuring Ryzen 4K and its GPU hangs at its max temp of 86c along with its CPU into the 90’s with ease. This is of course gaming like we show in reviews for these gaming laptops. That’s a pretty fair and realistic test of thermal expectations.

Stephen from Own or Disown has tested the A15, G15 and G14 confirming the same temps.

Early on, my thoughts immediately went to “Wonder how hot Ryzen 4K will get when it has to share its cooler with a GPU that’s pulling near twice the wattage or more?” Because I badly want to see the 2070 or better paired with Ryzen 4k, but if temps are king, then prepare to be dissatisfied just in case.

Meanwhile I have the MAX-17 here which has the same cooler as the MAX-15. Its 10875h runs hotter solo, no doubt, but 90c CPU under “Beast Mode” while dealing with a 2070 MaxP Super pulling above 115w (perhaps near 150w) and hasn’t gone over 81c yet after three weeks of abuse. Stock paste.

Now I can go on about how great the 4800h is, I have already and will continue to do so.

-Easy to work with
-Not as loud under solo CPU loads
-Scores 3k in CB 20 on battery

Let your mind wander on those three alone and no doubt it’s the step in the right direction for laptops.

 

Ohh ok interesting, thank you for sharing your experience, i understand what you say, i have hope for next generation of laptop, with Intel and AMD, it's a great step forward.

 

Honestly we see some brands offering max-q -80 sku gpus alongside intel cpus in thin and lights. They run hot, but usually they run a little better than their lower specced counterparts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same is possible here. I don’t know how I feel about these kinds of laptops, but there’s definitely a demand for them.

 

Why such a small battery :-(

This could have been a serious contender

 

May we expect a review?

 

Good stuff! Thanks for the review.
Eluktronics site lists it at 4.68 lbs, I imagine it's a typo, probably the 17' model's weight.
@B0B
- have you considered weighing laptops in the review, like Stephen does? OEM figures can be a bit misleading.
- Kind request. I know it is ungrateful to give recommendations, as each of ours use cases and preferences are different, but you are probably the only one who had both these models on hand, and actually used them.
So, if you would be ok with battery size, portability, performance, I/O and price on either model, which one do you feel gives you a better user experience, the RP-15 or MAX-17? Simply, which one of those two would you enjoy more having on your desk, for web surfing, Youtube, moderate gaming?
I'd love a 17' screen and can do with up to ~2.2kg, but the keyboard on RP-15 seems to be a solid improvement. I feel that 10 FPS more or less would be insignificant if the laptop feels good to use.
- You've had your hands on TUF A15. For gaming, would you prefer it's screen with freesync and ghosting, or the screen on this model?

 

I weigh these by hand but on a fitness scale. Not ideal to look at for a laptop review.

Both laptops are pretty different from each other. Just the size alone makes me have a stroke when trying to offer their comparison. Figure out the size you want first.

Poor colors aside, the A15 had horrible ghosting as mentioned in my review. II personally not willing to deal with that. While I don't have the tools to identify the exact GtG response time, it's easy for me to feel. Turns out I was right about it as well as the G14...43ms...yuck!

If I wasn't making YouTube videos the way I do, then i'd go with the Matrix (the MUX is a big deal for me). I'm too cheap otherwise and my main occupation has been so compromised that I don't need to take my laptop with me since my physical appointments are now over FaceTime. If money was no object and life was back to normal, then a decked out MAX-17 would be ideal.

 

So, now that we finally have a properly built 4000H laptop, I am looking forward to your future videos testing the ... out of that chip. I would personally love to see a full video of the iGPU performance. Like, disable the dGPU and Optimus and see if it can get anywhere near MX level of performance.
A laptop with 4800H and no discreet card could probably be made available for 500ish USD. Add a reasonable display and (almost) free Freesync, if it could do around 50 fps, there might be a huge market for such laptops.

 

Any chance you could provide us with the VBIOS?

 

Thanks @B0B for the great review, as usual. Very disappointed with the small battery, this would have been an instead buy from me otherwise. 3h is way too short, I need 6h.

 

For one it’s for the newer 2060 and secondly, you’re not going to get 110w flashing it to another 2060. It’s still a 90w vBIOS. EluktroBoost isn’t a vBIOS function. If it were, we’d be able to monitor wattage via software up to the GPUs maximum.

 

In all honesty I was just looking for a vBIOS that was capable of 90w that would run on a 2x miniDP Tongfang. Currently been having a really hard time finding a vBIOS that doesn't unfortunately just shut off my miniDP functionality.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up Bob.

 

I agree. Eluktronics has the RP-15 listed at 1150 USD for 2060/512Gb/16GB 3200MHz/no OS. That is excellent value (and let's hope it stays this way). Unfortunately, on preorder in EU, exact same configuration goes for 1450EUR/1560 USD, roughly 85EUR less than MAX-15 or 120EUR less than MAX-17, at same specs.
Are we starting to be charged for AMD hype?

 

.

Two things I know for sure. One, the 4800H is closer to the same price as the Intel 10th gen 8 core CPU than you’d think for Eluktronics. Second, this is a promo price as mentioned in the review description. But neither one of those things hurt to be told here and hopefully it’s good information for somebody.

 

Sure. I didn't mean for my post to come across salty. EU is EU, and many things don't make sense here, especially if you are trying to run a business.
As for folks in US who need a new laptop now, it doesn't get much better than this offer from Eluktronics. No-brainer.

 

I thought you had a great question and I wanted to address it

 

Production volume towards projected demand defines the final price. There are resellers whom're still skeptical on Ryzen or conservative on potential sales of Ryzen based products that also creates low production order... Hence pushing price up.
For competitive price on TongFang/Clevo build sets, wait for XMG release which base on such builds.

 

As much as I have huge respect for XMG, their enthusiasm, fantastic customer support and general attitude of providing good service for reasonable cost, unfortunately the price for RP-15 is from their site. But as stated already, Eluktronics is doing a promo, and EU is EU.

 

Hi guys, do you know if it was possible to swap bigger batteries (without official support) before on any Tongfang chassis based laptop?

I mean in RP-15 we have GK5CN-03-17-3S1P-0 (11.4V 4100 mAh/46.74 Wh)
13.05 V battery.
Here is something close on AliExpress: https://aliexpress.com/item/32964581821.html

In MAX-15 we have GKIDY-03-17-4S1P-0 (15.2V 4100 mAh/62.32 Wh)
17.4 V battery.
Here is something close on AliExpress: https://aliexpress.com/item/32967815926.html

Will Max 15 battery fit RP-15?
Maybe @B0B will be so kind to measure space for battery available in RP-15 and MAX-15 battery?

 

Here are Mechrevo (Tongfang house brand) variants, BTW (all in Chinese, use Google Translate):
Promo page: https://pro.jd.com/mall/active/2z94sVKiQMBBf1iCt5UuBQeR9yq2/index.html
17.3 variant: https://item.jd.com/100013206314.html
15.6 variant: https://item.jd.com/100007205053.html

 

I was told that the previous chassis’s batteries will not be compatible. Eluktronics and I straight away hoped that this wouldn’t be the case but sadly it is.

Last week we were told that there wasn’t going to be a bigger battery for these and that was basically final. They’re voting on this at the higher levels. This is beyond the NA market.

So my original commentary reflected this. But Eluktronics CEO won’t give up and asked me to remove the part where I state there will be NO battery upgrade option just in case.

Don’t expect anything to change but also know that effort is still being made.

 

Thank you, @B0B for your fast response, great reviews and efforts for the community!
So am I correct that Eluktronics tried to insert GK5CN-03-13-4S1P-0 battery (the one available at AliExpress I mentioned in my post) into RP-15 and were not successful?
There is just not enough space or different connector or some software incompatibility?

 

TF told Eluktronics that it wouldn’t work. Of course we’d eventually see if it physically would, but TF should know that so there’s little sense in lying.

The unit that was in my possession (till later today) was the only one in NA. Eluktronics took delivery of one unit to examine before production ramps up and it was sent to me.

With that said, I’m sure everyone will try to install a larger unit since there’s clearly physical room for it.

I’ll get some further photos up soon to showcase this.

 

Oh, I see. They will make a decent battery life (91Whr!) for another machine without dGPU:
No dGPU.
4600H/4800H configured to 54W.
91WHr battery.
100% sRGB
Type C charging.
Wifi 6 module.
16GB dual-channel DDR4-3200.

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/Olrak29_/status/1262416181434040321

 

Here is side by side comparison of Mechrevo 15.6 version with ASUS TUF A15 (in Chinese):
https://post.m.smzdm.com/p/av7zx6zm/
Here is some video with same thing as well:
https://h5.m.jd.com/dev/3pbY8ZuCx4M...8ZuCx4ML99uttZKLHC2QcAMn/live.html?id=1168821

 

Looks similar to Mag 15u, probably the same chassis

 

It looks like they will also want to make another "thin" model with 4800H:
S2 Air:
Aluminum-magnesium alloy
Weight 1.13 kg and thickness 16.8 mm
AMD Ryzen R7 4800H with 45W TDP
Ethernet, MicroSD card slot
3 x USB-A interfaces and 1x USB-C
Source and pictures can be seen at (in Chinese): https://m.ithome.com/html/486765.htm

 

base on the keyboard layout... in comparison to the earlier model CODE1 u've shared, this "S2" seems like a smaller screen sized variant. Ehh... 14inch maybe?​

 

Here is a statement from XMG rep in XMG official sub-Reddit regarding battery capacity:
We hear the feedback on battery capacity but the ODM has concerns. Lithium-Polymer is expensive and has long lead-times at the supplier's side. We do try to lobby for larger batteries in future revisions but right now I wouldn't get my hope up. Me personally, I'm totally fine with 46Wh - but I guess I'm a bit old-school and just refuse to buy into this 'all-day battery life' convenience craze. Just get a 2nd charger and stash it wherever you do your computing. If you need longer battery life, XMG FUSION 15 has got you covered.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/XMG_gg/com...s_basically_the_european_eluktronics/fr1ciuu/

 

Ah, it’s definitely a Covid19 supply chain thing.

I’ll be waiting to see if someone on this forum can put a bigger battery. Contrary to what xmg is saying, it seems like that would be pretty simple.

 

So, now... XMG Core is Eluktronik Matrx, right?

 

Yes

 

Couldn't deny on that... Currently the first waves of the Renoir based systems made by TongFang, Clevo comes with mediocre GPU as well as battery sizes. The OEMs like MSI, Asus, Lenovo are doing the same... I guess we'll hv to wait till 3rd¼ until the major five pushes out the better configurations of medium lvl power and graphics package.

 

I conferred with Eluktronics again on this and it seems the 4-cell from the current max and or mech series does fit inside without any issue. However, they can’t order it from the factory this way because it wasn’t a part of the fcc or safety regulations during its design and certification so that means they’d have to ship in 4-cell batteries on their own. This would in turn require a much larger cost to acquire the battery and technically not be covered by the FCC.

He said If the 3-cell works, than the 4-cell isn’t going to cause an issue though, the 4-cell carries the same design as the 3 aside from an additional cell added to the pack in this case.

Eluktronics has two other concerns. The low supply of 4 cell batteries and the 3 cell batteries getting disposed of wrong.

So while this is much better news than we had previously, it could get a little messy with supply and waste.

 

Ouch... Regulations from the US side of regulating body...
With this information, buyers may wait and see if fatter batts may get offered in other regions under different regulations with different badges.

 

Thank you so much for that, @B0B . Am I correct that it means this bigger battery will fit 15 inch model?

 

Any ideas on the release date? Notebookcheck talks about Q3 / Q4 which seems a bit late to the party...

 

Unfortunately COVID-19 is still a DJ on this party. All other brands using Ryzen 4000 are suffering as well. So I think it won't be late.

 

Pre-order in China starting June
Source: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4503769499101892

 

Does anyone know why we don't have the 4900H laptops? It seems like there's only 4800H and 4900HS skus in the wild.

 

It's exclusive for ASUS till Q3 2020. Source: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/35985-amd-ryzen-4900h-4900hs-laptops/
Same as use of RTX2070 and RTX2080 exclusive for Intel

 

Thank you, @B0B !
Now this laptop is going to be a champ:

 

That's really great, 62W battery is way more attractive!