Ask the Resellers! Questions to Reseller Thread.

I would like to buy a new 17 inch Clevo with a 4k high gamut screen. However, I don't need some ridiculously fast gaming laptop, I want to use it for photo editing. What is the cheapest 17 inch Clevo that has such a display, OR what is the cheapest Clevo where the display can be replaced by a 4k high gamut display? The displays themselves are not very expensive,

 

Closest thing that comes to mind is the PB51RC: 4K, 100% NTSC, AMOLED - but it's a 15.6" screen and comes with a GTX 1660Ti.

 

The last "moderately fast" laptop with such a panel AUO B173ZAN01.0 (17.3" 4K with 100% sRGB, 88% AdobeRGB) was the PA71HP6 (SCHENKER COMPACT 17, 2018 model) with i7-8750H and GTX 1060. Is this already "ridiculously fast"?

It would be interesting to find out if this panel could be assembled into an N870EJ1 (XMG A707) with GTX 1050. If the LCD cable would fit, if the VBIOS would be able to drive the panel.

@grunnsat You could use an NVIDIA GPU for CUDA in Photoshop. What's the lowest level of GPU speed that you're looking for?

Cheers,
XMG|Tom

 

Let me explain the problem I'm facing.

I always use the raw images from my camera as input in Affinity Photo (an excellent replacement for Photoshop). I then work with settings like exposure, contrast, highlights/shadows etc. to get the best image. For that kind of work I would like to use a 4k high gamut display for the best control over what I'm trying to achieve. Unfortunately all notebook manufacturers seem to think that a 4k high gamut display should only be used in very expensive and fast high end notebooks. All these companies are focused on GAMING, and guess what, I'm not into gaming. I just want a good quality notebook with good connections, 32GB of memory, and a 4k high gamut display. No desktop processor or high end graphics, I don't need that. I'm sure there are many other customers who would like such a notebook, but Clevo and others just don't seem to understand that there is a market for such notebooks.

My present seven year old Clevo notebook has Intel HD4000 graphics on the CPU, and a Nvidia GTX 675M graphics card. With the Nvidia control panel I've set the Nvidia card to be the primary graphics card. It doesn't work, the control panel still tells me that the Intel HD4000 is the primary GPU. In fact I doubt if the Nvidia card has ever been used, I did not miss it. I suppose that even the GPU of some of today's high end mobile CPUs would be enough for me with a 4k display, But a notebook without a separate graphics card is impossible to get, you must have one installed.

 

Hi @grunnsat

understood. I think the manufacturers understand your demand, but that market (high price, low performance) is just relatively small and mostly occupied by Apple.

The technical hurdle is in the eDP connection of the internal display. Most UMA laptops (that's what we call laptops without dedicated graphics) only come with a 30-pin eDP-Port because that's the port all 1080p@60Hz displays have.

If you want to go 4K, you need a 40-pin eDP Port on the mainboard. This needs to be planned into the motherboard from the beginning. Since 40-pin is not down-compatible to 30-pin, you need to put both connectors on the mainboard. This wastes space and makes the mainboard slightly more expensive, even for customer who don't buy the 4K panel. This is a lot of additional effort with very little reward. You'll never know how many people in the end will actually take the 4K panel, which have been prohibitively expensive until recently. That 17.3" 4K panel with 100% AdobeRGB is currently still $240 more expensive in purchasing, compared to the 1080p panel.

Let's talk about your P170EM for a minute.

Has your P170EM never used the NVIDIA GPU? Easy to find out. It does not matter which GPU is "Primary" and what not. In the NVIDIA Control Center you can select for each application, which GPU it should be running on.
You can also double-check by using the NVIDIA GPU Actvitiy Monitor.

NVIDIA Control Panel -> Desktop -> Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area



Result:




Anyway... Affinity Photo apparantly does not use CUDA, indeed. Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom use it though.

Now back to your new purchase: I checked with our service team. The 4K panels are not compatible with the UMA laptops because of the aforementioned eDP connection issue.

We have exactly one unit left of PA71HP6 with this famous AUO B173ZAN01.0 panel with 100% sRGB.
When that is out, it will only continue to be available in the more hardcore P775TM chassis.
All the newer laptops don't support it. No panel vendor has bothered yet to build a 17.3" 4K panel with Narrow Bezel. And Narrow Bezel is all the rage now, so all of our new laptops have converted.

/edit Update: actually, on second look, AUO B173ZAN01.0 might be physically compatible with Narrow Bezel laptops. I will check with Clevo if they have any plan to support it in NH70, PB71 and P970. But that's a long shot and might take quite a while.

If you're interested in this PA71HP6 with i7-7700HQ and GTX 1060 (Stock SKU: 20104226), we can make you an offer.

Maybe you want to pick up Gaming at some point? I can recommend Dark Souls... runs great on GTX 1060.

Cheers
XMG|Tom

 

Hello, I want buy PB71RF-G (9gen, rtx2070).
It's available? On stock?

 

Actually those 4k panels are not that expensive. So 'normal' notebooks for home use with a 4k panel really don't have to be that more expensive, not even $100 more than a 'normal' home notebook, at least those are the prices I saw. They should be explicitly marketed as notebooks specifically meant for photo editing. How many people buy programs like Photoshop Elements, or Affinity Photo, or others, to edit the photos made with their digital cameras? Why can't they buy a Windows notebook for their hobby? Macs are expensive, and technically not very different from rather cheap Windows notebooks. In my view it is just the gaming blindness of producers and resellers that prevent them form seeing this market.

I learned from my reseller (BTO) that the N871EZ can be equipped with a 4k panel. The problem is that this notebook has a i5-8300H cpu or a i7-8750 cpu, and both have the UHD630 GPU. That UHD630 GPU is about 30% more powerful then my present HD4000 GPU, but it has 400% more pixels to support, not a good balance. So I asked if the i7-8559U cpu with the much more powerful Iris Plus Graphics 655 could be used, but alas the CPUs are soldered to the motherboard, and can not be replaced. As far as I know there is no Windows notebook with this CPU, only MAC notebooks and Intel mini PCs.

Yes, I get a similar result, so the Nvidia card is obviously being used. Rather silly that the Control Panel shows that the HD4000 is being used.

Yes, but full blown Photoshop is expensive. Intel has something similar as CUDA, and I once read a test between the both, and the Intel results were much better in quality. I suppose OpenCL could be used for programs like Photoshop to make them independent from specific graphics brands.

I think I would like a 100% Adobe RGB display, and these are available.

That would be nice to know!

I think I'll wait until I can get a 100% Adobe RGB (or better) display.

I'm retired, even a few decades ago when you could get games for a 80486 CPU, I failed to see the fun in playing games

Thanks very much for your reply, and I hope you will get the information from Clevo.

 

Of course. XMG PRO 17 (Mid 2019) is here to help: https://bestware.com/de/xmg-pro-17.html

Are they really sure about that? I will ask them directly.
That panel might fit and the connector of the mainboard might be mechanically compatible. But the pin-layout and IC drivers are still different.
These days, we have a seperate cable P/N for EVERY panel model name, even if they are all in 40-pin and mechanically identical.

Told you!

Where are they available? Do you have a panel model name?
Please also provide source for the "$100" price indication. We would like to know.

Have you tried VR?
Flight and Racing Simulators... Space Pirate Trainer...

Cheers,
XMG|Tom

 

Maybe with those new 4K OLEDs a manufacturer may take up this market again, but I'm recalling when MSI released a 4K GS60 with a 960M in it, and for a combination of reasons it didn't really take off and they killed it. But those reasons were more like "people doing that kind of work usually bought something else" and the "people who bought it did so with incorrect expectations about what it did and didn't like it" and not "manufacturer ignoring large and important market segment for that specific configuration".

 

Even when the hardware of the MSI was correct, if it wasn't marketed for what it could be used for (photography), then I'm not surprised people didn't buy it. Perhaps gamers looked at the display, thought that it would be great for gaming, and were disappointed. Have you ever seen a notebook marketed for use with Photoshop etc.\? I haven't.

 

Yes, I am. In fact I called them to ask if they has something of a notebook that I was looking for, and they pointed this one out to me. Here is the web site where you can configure it (they use their own type number of course):

https://bto.eu/product/v•book-17cl817/

It's in Dutch, but you will understand it.

That's wonderful, what a f**k up.

That was about a year ago, At the time I contacted a German supplier, and they offered the B173ZAN01.0, which is 100% Adobe RGB. Unfortunately they changed their business to offering foils on displays (anti-glare etc.), it seems they stepped out of repairing display business.

The price was less then $100 more than a 'normal' display, I was surprised by the low prices.
I just checked for the price of a B173ZAN01.0, and it is available for $156 at Amazon.

 

That's exactly the panel that is still being used in P775TM and which I referred to in my last post. Clevo is sourcing these panels directly from the factory with very high quality demand, but I'm sure they are making some margin on it.
Low prices for such panels on 3rd party sources (you cited $156 at Amazon) often come from leftover batches there were screened out for dead pixels. The higher the number of pixels in your panel, the higher your risk of having a dead one. It's not covered under warranty but still annoying.
At any rate, this is usually a relatively unstable way of sourcing for a mid-sized manufacturer like us.

Thanks for pointing it out, I will have another look.
Meanwhile, Computex starts tomorrow and I'm attending. I might not be super responsive in here until June 3.

Cheers,
XMG|Tom

 

I get that, but I saw many other companies offering this panel for prices up to around € 200.
If you order these panels from Clevo, then you can be sure that there is a hefty extra margin. Sometimes when you order components directly from the manufacturer, you can save up to 90% (real experience) in extreme cases.

Anyway, it would be nice if Clevo could come up with a list of all notebooks that can support this panel, even if they can't be ordered directly from Clevo.

I hope you have an interesting time on the Computex.

 

Not from MSI, though those P series models are implied that that's what they're for. Maybe they'll get one of those really nice new panels in those if there's enough interest.

 

I looked at the top model, the 17.3 inch P75. Unfortunately just a normal 1920 x 1080 display with 100% sRGB, not 100% Adobe RGB., let alone 4k

 

They seem pretty popular this time around, I'm hoping for some diversification in display options in newer models.

 

Perhaps Clevo will use the new Ice Lake U CPUs in new notebooks with 4k displays. It seems Intel is targeting the high-end versions of these CPUs to high-end notebooks. Perhaps not for gaming, but I really wonder hows many notebooks are actually used for gaming.

 

Who thought it was a good idea to have a 4K panel at 17" or less? Having to use scaling sux. I'd rather have a nice 1440p panel.

 

You could always go the workstation route, and get yourself something like a Dell Precision 7740: you can configure the graphics card, everything from no discrete card to a Quadro RTX 5000, no desktop CPU, and plenty of ports. Oh, and it has a 17" 4K 100% ARGB display.

As for @XMG's comment:

Dell has done precisely this with their Precision 7X30 series: they have a 40-to-30 pin eDP cable. My own motherboard has a 40-pin connector, but the display is a 1080p 60 Hz 6bpc one (LG LP156WF6), with a 30-pin port. I don't have the cable with me right now, but I can take a photo of it.

I think it can be done, just that manufacturers aren't willing to do so. Dell does, because it has the economies of scale that Clevo doesn't.

 

The point is that 4k displays are easily available with 100% Adobe RGB, or close to it. Rumour has it that there were (are?) 1920 x 1080 displays with 100% Adobe RGB, but try to find them, and then see if they fit in your notebook.

At the moment it seems that Clevo is producing about 500 different notebook chassis (perhaps a bit less, but not much), but nothing moderately priced for customers wanting to edit photographs, and needing a display that has 100% Adobe RGB or similar.

 

I think MSI was offering them in a lot of computers a couple generations ago. Can't remember the panel names though.

 

HP has 17 inch notebooks with Dreamcolor displays that offer 100% Adobe RGB. Now I just have to find out which types.

 

Hi fellow enthusiasts,

I'm a new comer to the Clevo team with a custom P775TM1-G that I received yesterday (9900k, 2080).
I was looking for a proper work-horse of a laptop and landed up here, much to my pleasant surprise; the thing is a beast!

So, my only question is regarding PCH temps...I was unable to find any straight answer: gaming/rendering loads result in 70-75 CPU/GPU temps (Celcius average), but the PCH shoots past that into the 90s!
I realize that it's passively cooled (if at all) as the temps take forever to come down, long after the other components have cooled off. During regular web browsing, the PCH is still hovering between 65-70.
Is this normal/anything to be worried about? The seller who assembled it and sold it to me has told me it's no problem, but I'd like to check with the panel of experts here.

Thanks!

 

Other than Xoticpc and HID, can anyone recommend another reputable reseller? Just curious about the options out there. I like customization options like copper cooling/backplate mods and so forth.

 

I also like GenTechPC, worked with them to rectify a few RMA cases. Good peeps.

 

Hi do any of the EU resellers have the p640re/rf or p640hj in stock?

 

what exactly you looking for ?>

 

Hi !
It looks like clevo pb50rf with i9-9980hk is available for european market with 240hz display only (so no g-sync here).

Is there any european clevo reseller who is planning to offer PB51RF-G (the one without those orange lines on both sides of the laptop) with both i9-9980hk and 144hz ips display ?

 

We offer i9-9980HK in XMG PRO 17 (PB71Rx-G) and in SCHENKER COMPACT 15 (PB51Rx without -G).
So - unfortunately not your dream configuration, but if you would consider to upgrade to 17.3", we'll come pretty close.

Cheers,
XMG|Tom

 

Thank you for your reply, but i've already looked at your options before.

As far as i know, PB51RF-G with i9-9980hk and 144hz display is currently available only through eurocom (rx15) and metabox (prime-v).

Do you know if clevo has imposed any kind of market restriction to this specific model ?

According to your experience, do you think clevo will ever allow any european reseller to inquire for just 1 unit with desidered specs ?

 

There is no market restriction on such an issue. The minimum order quantity in Clevo is at least 5 units - so buying only 1 unit for you won't be possible for typical European resellers.

I'll highlight this again to our PM team to see if we have interest in adopting this configuration but I can't promise anything yet.

Cheers,
XMG|Tom

 

It's all down to what each reseller thinks is worth ordering a quantity of.

 

Unlikely, you pretty much have to go with someone who already carries that version.

 

@GenTechPC Hi, I'm looking to buy the Clevo PB71RF-G, however I am wondering if you guys do different keyboard layout. I would like a German Keyboard layout. I am currently in the US, I know I could buy that laptop from XMG since they give option to configure the keyboard to have the German Keyboard layout, but then I have to wait till Christmas when I would be flying back to Europe. It would be nice if I could order the laptop now from you guys. Thanks!

 

Can do special order but will take time, you can PM me for details.

 

Is it possible to order anywhere clevo laptop with 9850hk CPU and 1660 ti GPU (preferably PB71 model)?

 

No. Clevo does not offer such a combination. Due to consideration of material control and spare part provisioning, they can only provide a certain number of mainboard variations and since both CPU and GPU are sitting on the same board, they are tied together. // Tom

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

 

@XMG
Hi !

Any news about PB51RF-G with i9-9980hk and 144hz display ?

 

Sorry, but after checking with the team, it is very unlikely that we will phase-in additional variations of PB51 at this point. We already have too many variations and overall, the 17" is selling much better than the 15".

For 15", thin & light is all the rage now.

Please take a look at our XMG PRO 17 with Core i9-9980HK.

Cheers,
XMG|Tom

 

A)- Could you please tell me what are stock PL1, PL2 and turbo time limit values on i9-9980hk for your 'PRO 17' ?

Important thing: can they be changed ? (see this post as example: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...0-owners-thread.820539/page-202#post-10883267)

I mean if i click "ok" to confirm my new modified values, when i reopen that section will i see them or stock values will be brought back once again due to clevo bios limitation ?
If the latter is the case, do you offer any kind of unlocked bios feature to use full cpu power ?

B)- Could it be possible to know what 17.3" FHD IPS 144hz display are you currently offering with 'PRO 17' ?
I mean brand and panel model.

C)- Do you replace stock thermal paste on both cpu and gpu with a quality one like thermal grizzly kryonaut ?

 

Is PB71RF compatibile with 3000 Mhz RAM?

 

It will run, but at a lower frequency.

 

What does that mean in detail? Will it run with 2666 Mhz?

 

Yes. The 9750H supports up to DDR4-2666. You can install higher frequency RAM but it will only run it at 2666

 

So this unit's BIOS doesn't support XMP.

 

@XMG
Any help ?

 

@XMG
Do you offer PB51 or fusion 15 with english USA keyboard layout? I mean, ANSI english, not ISO. Thanks

 

@XMG
Any help ?

 

What is the simplest Clevo notebook that can be equipped with a 4k display?

I want to do photo editing with a high quality 100% AdobeRGB display. For some completely unknown reason 1920 x 1080 displays do not have 100% AdobeRGB gamut, only 4k displays have it.

Even the simplest Intel mobile processor can support a 4k display, but all those moronic notebook manufacturers will only put 4k displays in notebooks that almost need a 3-phase power connector. Extremely powerful and expensive gaming notebooks. Guess what, I'm retired and not interested in gaming. But I would like to edit the pictures I take with my digital camera, and I have invested in software for that kind of work. Normal notebooks displays have a horrible colour reproduction, but it seems notebook manufacturers have no idea.

 

Let me add a few notes.

I know many people who own a notebook, but none of them is into gaming. And yet I can't read any review of a notebook or a graphics card, and it's all about gaming.

There are also several web sites publishing reviews for the best notebooks for photography. Wouldn't it be great if there would be a 17 inch Clevo notebook for that purpose? Since photo editing software is usually single threaded, you don't need some 6 core monster CPU. In fact, a CPU with a very high single threaded performance would be better. And you don't need an extremely fast graphics card either. It's all so very simple if you think of it.

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-laptops-for-photographers