Are all the negative reviews about Clevo chassis true?

I keep swinging back and forth about the prospect of buying a Clevo because I get great specs for the money, then I read reviews and articles about its problems. Could anyone please confirm or refute the following claims?

- Clevos have a bad trackpad. It is inaccurate and has a texture that makes smooth motion difficult.

- Clevos are flimsy and have a build quality that is inferior to Asus and msi.

- Clevos have a poor quality keyboard that is uncomfortable to use.

References:

AnandTech | AVADirect Clevo P170EM: Has AMD
Review One K73-3N (Clevo P170SM) Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

its true that there have been lots of complaints concerning the touchpad, altho i think that most of those people are just reaaaaally nitpicky i mean cmon, its a friggin touchpad and it does its job, end of story with machines such as these ure gonna use an external mouse 99% of the time anyways. its like getting a ferrari for the horsepower (obviously) and then whining about the leather covering the steering wheel not being shiny enough
concerning the build quality, i can say from personal experience that the clevo i own is the sturdiest, most solidly built machine ive ever owned and i dont think ull find a lot of clevo users here saying otherwise
concerning the keyboard: ive already written my master thesis on that thing and it was fine. any questions?

cheers

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

What about audio? I use my laptop speakers all the time and I heard and was well known that the sound is tinny and lacks bass/depth.

 

You have to consider the reviewers. This is from a website that puts more emphasis on aesthetics and keyboards over anything else. They claim to be writers, though I think most of their articles beg to differ, more like nerd bloggers fapping to their iPhone.

Anyway, these machines do use plastic chassis. But I don't have any flex in the keyboard I use or from the chassis. I really don't understand what these reviewers do the notebooks. Maybe they get the fattest guy in the office and sit on them or something.

Put it this way, the most preferred notebooks at AnandTech are Apple 15" MacBook and the Razer Notebook. Then probably the slim Samsung midrange gaming machine and then the Alienware M17x R4. AnandTech has a very long history of trolling Clevo. Actually I doubt you'll find an article from AnandTech that doesn't spend half the article trolling Clevo notebooks because it's not thin, smooth, shiny aluminum or magnesium chassis with a chiclet keyboard made to attract housewives looking for a coffee table decoration.

My only gripe with Clevo is that their newer notebooks are fugly. I bought a Clevo last year because it was non-distinct, no flashy lights or logos etc. Now they have a glowing touchpad with obscene logo. Looks moronic. Touchpad works fine here, including multi-touch scrolling, zooming and gestures.

AnandTech also liked to troll Clevo for their keyboards. After review of an EM notebook from AnandTech, I created a mock thread here on NBR griping how bad the keyboard was. On average, NBR EM owners typed a 80+ WPM with 95% accuracy. Most much higher. So understand AnandTech notebook reviews are about as awesome as a plate of dung.

The only thing I like about AnandTech is occasionally they do interviews with AMD and other manufacturers. I like it when the actual PR or engineers talk.

If you care about sound, just buy yourself a nice pair of headphones. I'd suggest a pair of Audio Technica AD900x or Sennheiser HD598 for open air of Shure SRH840s for closed, maybe Beyerdynamic DT770 if you love bass.
- There is no laptop speaker in the world that will be even half as good sounding as nice headphones. You'll want a USB dongle soundcard also. In general those sound better than most onboard soundcards anyway. Though I read Asus may actually being using their C-Media chips on their notebooks instead of ty RealTek.

 

Yeah, I'll have to second Jaybee on this one. We do hear some people calling in and saying they've read reviews on these machines saying the build quality is subpar and the such. I'm all over the web every day and rarely do I come across anybody saying these things. I'd put build quality second to none in the laptops and I've owned just about every brand there is out there. They're just solid machines and built to last. I've played around on these machines quite a bit and didn't have an issue with the trackpad. I've also tested out quite a few of the keyboards for my customers and haven't come across one that I've had an issue with. When the previous gen were initially launched there were lots of issues, but after they did a keyboard revamp they almost universally disappeared.

You won't find anybody saying the audio quality is there, but that doesn't affect the overall quality of the machine. The audio does what it's intended to do in a laptop in my opinion, gives you an average audible speaker. I've never expected much out of laptop audio, including the HP Beats or the Dell XPS lineup, but when I compare the two to the Sager it's the lack of depth that is really something I notice. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but for the majority of the users of these machines the sound is adequate.

 

I actually have never personally received a complaint against the trackpad design. The keyboard, as Derek mentioned, had some things that needed hashed out, but current models and the previous generation systems are equipped with keyboards that I'd say are on par with other high end laptops; this goes for build quality as well. Some are more in favor of other OEMs design, but as far as the construction of the machine, Clevos are very solid.

The audio is the only thing I can't fight for. Laptop speakers are laptop speakers, to be fair, though, and I agree with Derek in that not even the HP Beats really impressed me. If you're something of an audiophile, no set of laptop speakers/audio will please.

 

1. Not any worse than any other manufacturer. On a personal level i never use them, i'd rather pull my own teeth out.
2. Definitely not flimsy. Period.
3. From my years of experience using notebooks, what makes notebook keyboard uncomfortable is where your elbows sit in relation to the height of your chair/desk.

 

6 months into my first clevo (NP9170)

1 - the trackpad isn't poor, but it's placement and the fact that it is flush with the wristplate is a bit annoying. If you have fat hands like me, your thumb fat on your right hand can cause the cursor to jump around. You can go into Synaptics( i think that is what it is called) and adjust the sensitivity and active surface area to your liking.

2 - There is a brushed metal wristplate that is incredibly sturdy. I tend to push VERY heavy on the keyboard while playing games. No flex at all. However, the panel gaps do attract quite a bit of dust, debris, and detritus and there are some glossy parts (the bezel) that do pick up fingerprints.

3 - Sound is average. I am able to clearly hear teamates in DOTA, listen to movie from across my room (about 12 feet), enjoy music, etc. For a true adiophile, a $30-$50 external usb soundcard (DAC, whatever it is called) solves the issue.

4 - Keyboard is also completely acceptable. PLease note that I do not write professionally, compose novels, or anything else that would require long periods of typing, so I can't offer any insight as to how the experience is for those activities. What I can attest to is that I have not noticed any missed keystrokes or ghosting during gaming.

 

My experiences with the trackpad are minimal, as I use an external trackball, but it did the job the few times I had need to use it. I have a P170EM-series, and there is a definite horizontal texture to the touchpad surface (so it is smoother moving your fingers left/right than it is up/down). It is subtle, but it is there, and you can see it in some pictures that I left in my own review (I'm at work and don't have links handy but I know there are other pics out there that show it if you wanted to see it). I don't know if that carries over into the newer models or not.

I agree with many others here in the assessment that Clevos are not flimsy. They are very sturdy. They are not blessed with cutting-edge design, though, so if by "flimsy" you really mean "brick-like lines with definite 90's-styling elements" then I would agree with you. I myself like it, as I did not want a flashy or superthin MacBook Air or a lightup AlienWare lappy when I bought mine, and I like the unassuming look, but to each their own I suppose. It has held up very well through many hours of intense gameplay and LAN party use, so flimsy would not be a word I would use to describe mine.

The keyboard...well, I am not a keyboard afficionado, so i can't speak to how awesome or lacking-of-awesomeness the keyboard is, but it sometimes seems like luck of the draw to me. My own keyboard will sometimes miss L and H keystrokes, but I am never sure if it is because I am not typing correctly or pressing firmly enough. Others don't report any problems at all, so it is probably just an average keyboard. The WASD area is fine for gaming use and I have never had any issues in that regard. I also use a U3 cooler, and I like the typing angle it gives me, but maybe that is contributing to my lighter touches, who knows.

Sound is what you would expect from a laptop, which is to say, don't expect too much. Adequate is a good way to describe the sound quality, and if you want better sound, then definitely get yourself a good pair of headphones or external speakers. I use earbuds myself, as that is fine for my gaming, but don't expect that you will get amazing audio/sound experience from stock. The subwoofer works fine, too, for what it is.

Hope that helps!

Edit: Here is the link to my original review, and there are some pics in there of the keyboard and trackpad in case that helps any: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo-reviews-owners-lounges/675831-my-malibal-satori-p170em-review.html

 

I'm in the same boat.

The clevos are such a bargain price wise, but the reviews really put me off.
The supposedly high noise level (notebookcheck) is the biggest issue for me, especially noise at idle. (keyboard and sound can both be fixed using USB devices)

I'm planning on visiting a couple of resellers and doing a comparison between a P170SM and a MSI GT70 to hopefully finally make up my mind.

 

@irrelevant

The clevos do get loud on full load. Cooling seems to be great, but the price you pay is in decibels.

 

Could you please provide me with a link where you've written about the keyboard?

 

This is off topic, but my original question has been answered and there is just one other thing I'm wondering about. Does the P170SM have the same trackpad as the P177SM? I know the latter's trackpad is more sunken down, but are both trackpads the same size and glazed over with the same material?

 

I'd like to hijack your thread a little if you don't mind, as I have a related question:

How is the cooling on most Clevo laptops? Is it sufficient enough that a 780m with the 4700mq won't thermal throttle during heavy gaming, or is that a problem that could be met during long sessions?

 

The cooling has been upgraded in the latest series so no problem

 

I've owned a slew of Clevo models (and AWs, MSIs, Asus, Sagers) over the years and they are not by any means badly-built machines. They definitely don't have the slick design of AWs or Asus (of which I'd venture to say some models are less "sturdy" than Clevos), but they are good, solid machines. In fact, I'd say Clevo's desktop CPU models e.g. x7200 are the some sturdiest laptops out there.

The only real problem I've had with a Clevo trackpad was on the p180hm which was flush with the rest of the system. In any case, who uses the trackpad often on gaming laptops anyways? I always thought Clevo's chiclet keyboards were pretty solid, even with the odd key placement.

 

Coming from my Asus G73, I'd have to the say the chassis is more solid than the Asus. The Asus creaks and and isn't as tightly put together than my Sager. In fact, the moment I took my Sager out of the box, I noticed the build quality right away. BUT, I can lift my Sager at the front corners and twist the laptop and you'll see it flex, not good. It does go to work with me everyday and when I travel, so it has held up well so far.

As for the track pad, well, it does its job. Gestures for going back and forth when browsing as well as scrolling are useful and the texture doesn't get in the way for me.

Keyboard is very mediocre to me. It has actually started to act up recently, some keys starting to stick (no, nothing ever spilled) or not respond to light touches. In fact in BF3, I wanted to revive a player but kept strafing right, well, my bad. But those keys are around the areas of the keyboard most used when gaming I'll admit, the Asus keyboard was much more pleasant to use....better feel to me and can type faster on it.

If you're in the market for a Clevo, for the money, it's hard to beat.

What other manufacturers are you looking into?

 

had been looking at the G750JX but with a $1900 price tag I think I'll get the equally specced NP8270-S for $1600

 

didnt write "about" the keyboard but rather wrote my 120 page master thesis "on" that keyboard and didnt have any troubles thats what i meant i doubt ud want a link to that though

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

yes the build quality and materials feel cheap. it is not as solid as thinkpad. the left and right click buttoms do their job, but feel cheap. yes nothing is wrong with my sager, np9170, but i feel cheap using it. and for audio....my HTC ONE tiny speakers are much much better than the rubbish on this machine. yes nothing is wrong the sepakers sound and you can hear they sound, but just cheap.
yes corolla and benz both can run at 150km/h, but corolla just feel cheap.

nothing wrong, just CHEAP.

 

^^ Nice jaybee83!

About the cooling questions from earlier, when my fans spin up they do get fairly loud, nothing horrendous but you definitely hear them. I usually don't notice when I'm gaming though, because of the earbuds, so moot point for me.

I don't know what upgrades have been done cooling-wise on the new models, but mine has done fairly well and it is a hot setup (power-wise). My temps with OC hover in the mid to high 90C range, which is not stellar by any means but it runs like a champ for hours of gameplay with no problems. Keypad doesn't even get warm, but that is likely just the U3 cooler doing its job. I may decide to do a repaste at some point if it ever starts to bother me.

 

I own a P150HM. It has served me well since January 2012.

The build is well above average, at least much better than the Dell Inspiron/ studio 1737 I owned.Overall, the build is solid, the hinges are really sturdy.
Maintenance and upgrade is so easy.

But to be honest, the build is not fantastic when compared to my Thinkpad x200 or HP Probook 4330s, but of course those are business grade laptops.
Keyboard is comfortable to type on, flex is minimal, but again, I still prefer typing on the Thinkpad and Probook. Touchpad is average but functional.
Speakers are not great but above average and acceptable. The loudness is adequate too.

However, there is some degree of flex at the right palm rest where the DVD drive is located underneath.
There's also a noise when I place my hand on the right palm rest to type on the keyboard (almost sounds like a door hinge without WD40 but not as loud of course,
it's noticeable and quite annoying). A little bit of the rubberized coating peeled of on the edge of the lid as well.
Webcam and microphone quality is not up to par.

Nonetheless, I love my machine and it definitely doesn't feel cheap to me, but the flaws may turn off some people.