Clevo P150EM & 7970M Got it and luving it!

Guys i just wanted to make a quick post to share how much I am enjoying this new laptop. I purchased this laptop for gaming and work, as I am frequently out on business trips... here are my thoughts:

1) I absolutely LOVE the look of this machine, especially with all labeling removed. Compared to my MSI 780DX this looks soo much more professional, and is amazingly light and mobile considering the power under the hood.

2) I am blown away how amazing games play on this light portable laptop. This is a truly a mobile desktop replacement, and without a doubt is where the future is headed. At one point in my gaming career I would look at people who bought gaming laptops like they may be a tad retarded, as gaming laptops would only offer a fraction of the performance compared to a desktop. However now I am completely in the other camp, with laptops now being able to Max out every game out there and then some..... makes it very difficult to justify building a desktop PC.


The Negatives......

1) The 7970m driver support is absolute garbage..... Everyone is making statements such as "it will get better when AMD releases new drivers". However my advice to perspective buyers is to hold off purchasing a 7970m, I would recommend a 680M even with the steep price. Fact is my 7970m can not max out all games due to optimization issues, and in a lot of games has serious problems such as crashes. Really and truly I probably would be better off with a GTX 675m for the short term, as I know that card can run Max Payne 3 ULTRA without issues something my card has failed to do.


2) Enduro feature is complete garbage.... I have to set Max Performance for all my games in the control center...and still get issues with it every soo often. With all these extra burdern the battery life still sucks, so really what is the point here? I could care less how much juice my laptop sucks when its plugged in.

 

Glad you have a machine you enjoy. Like you I travel a lot so I need a machine I can lug around. My current one is a envy 173d.

I am looking forward to my new lappy. I disagree somewhat on the whole enduro issue. I like to use my laptop off the plug often and if I can get 2 or 3 hours unplugged I am happy. I could care less if I get 2 or 3 fps difference because of enduro if I get a extra hour of web surfing.

I know this is a gaming lap top and people expect max performance. However for me it is a gaming laptop/email machine/web surfer/video editor...ect.

 

That's just my concern. The batter life of this laptop is similar to my MSI 780DX... so I really question the value Enduro brings.

Thanks,
Hans

 

congrats Nick.
the drivers should of been supplied on a separate disk as they have to be loaded in a certain order or there could be conflicts.

 

Haha, 7970M drivers are coming soon (12.7) it should fix up a couple issues, but then again, AMD Drivers.

 

Gratz Nick11 on your new "toy".

Can you please share some benchmarks + temperatures (specially this last one?

Thank you,
Best Regards to all

 

if not the first batch of drivers, amd will release more, so i am pretty sure things will be just fine

 

I purchased my laptop from Malibal and did not receive a drivers disk... However my laptop opted out of a DVD-ROM which could be the reasoning for it not to be included.

Believe it or not I just threw in the same SSD I was using in my MSI 780DX, and was able to get most drivers updated to the correct ones.

I have yet to find or download the utility to play with my keyboard settings, the money I had installed for the MSI780DX doesnt seam to work with our laptops.

However I do love the back-lit keyboard but the standard color of blue is fine for me, I am really not too motivated to change the color scheme.

 

all the drivers are on malibals website nick

 

as stated by fenryr423..... click HERE

 

i felt the same way a few years ago to laptops in general. now that i less space around and a portable machine that i can take anywhere to stay connected, play games and watch movies...

 

good review.

out of interest how do you change the keyboard colours on linux? can it be done from the keyboard?

 

Congrats on your new toy. Like yourself, I've been extremely pleased with the P150EM/ 7970M package. It has been a wonderful time to buy a new laptop computer of late, with all the massive improvements that have occurred recently.

Ever since I was old enough to buy my own computers, I've only ever bought laptops. For me, it was crucial to have some form of portability for traveling (with price and performance a secondary concern). Up till recently there were significant compromises to be made on the area of price and performance versus a desktop computer.

I do not doubt, for even one second that even today, a desktop computer will still have better cooling, longevity, performance and price. However, going down the path of a laptop requires much less compromise than before.

Using green on the backlit keyboard is very nice, BTW, it's nice and bright.

 

Theres no 7970 driver on the malibal website.
Can anyone help me with this.

 

You need to go directly to the Sager website and download the drivers.

 

NICK11 in your first post, negative #1 you state you can not find drives. If you mean drivers then change that please as drives mean disk drives.

 

gratz with the purchase, how is the fan noise?

 

Ryan thanks that helped. Clevo's running great. Got 19345 on 3D mark vantage!

 

Software Upgrade

 

To Provide an update... I am still quite impressed with my P150EM however I am having some issues....

1) I have a weird Wireless issue were at times my card will not be detected and is unable to switch on... sometimes rebooting fixes this issue however other times it seams to magically fix itself over time.... currently have an open ticket with Malibal to determine a solution to this issue as it seams to be effecting at least one other on this forum....

2) I am totally unsatisfied with my 7970m for all the many reasons well known on this forum. AMD has stated that it is up to the notebook manufacturer to provide drivers, which to me is absolute horse . I am currently in talks with Malibal about sending my laptop in to get it replaced with a 680m.

Either way I will NEVER buy another AMD product again.


Other than this still VERY impressed with my machine. I love just about everything about it, especially how small and discreet it is for the power it is packing.

Would recommend a Malibal P150EM to anyone who is considering it, however I would NOT recommend purchasing a 7970m.... trust me the $300 is worth having a stable and supported product.

 

Would you really recommend Malibal? I mean, it's not impossible that you had a really big change of opinion concerning the company, but seeing your other thread makes this sound a lot like an attempt to rectify your past criticism of Malibal.

 

Yes I would, I was frustrated with the whole 7970m back-order situation. However Malibal has been more than helpful and they really built me a great machine aside from the few issues mentioned.

I also preferred the options Malibal had compared to Sager... for example not having to pay for a HDD as i already had a SSD.

Also my black P150EM with no decals looks awesome.

 

Well then I'm happy you had a good experience with them.