Clevo P170EM Touchpad Question & GPU Choice

Hi guys,

Please can you help,

I am about to buy a Clevo P170EM, I was going to go with the P150EM, but reviews said that the touchpad is quite small on that model, I have problems with my hands, so I need a touchpad and the bigger the better...is the touchpad on the P170EM responsive?


Also, I am primarily buying the laptop for intensive Photo editing and some light video editing, so I need to make a choice between 3 GPUs,

Fully speced with 3740qm and 16gb ram, etc, the 675 mx brings the price in at £1658.00
AMD 7970m £1689.00
Nvdia 680m £1883.00

My max budget is around £2000, if I can save cash then that's great.


I wont be doing any gaming, so would the 680m be overkill for my needs?

Also, I have heard the 7970m has had issues in the past, but I have read on forums that they have now been resolved, is this correct? I really do not want to be troubleshooting GPU issues. So if it is now stable, would the 7970m be a good choice for Photoshop/Lightroom, etc?

What kind of performance difference would there be if I dropped the CPU to 3630qm and get the 680m, for £1792? (£91 less)...or the other 2 GPUs?


What do you guys suggest?


Thank you.

 

I would check to see what kind of cards the programs you will be using prefer. Some programs prefer Nvidia/AMD and some prefer professional cards vs consumer gaming cards.

If you buy from a reseller, you can typically negotiate some sort of discount. Some offer a discount if pay via bank wire or cash, some offer a discount for being on NBR, etc. Keep in mind resellers need to make a living too, but it doesnt hurt to shop around.

I'd recommend from personal experience to shell out the 30 or 40 quid for the no dead pixel guaranty. You can usually return most orders no questions asked for 30 days or so, but you usually have to pay the shipping costs, so it evens out. Not sure what the reseller list is for the UK, but you can find it via searching the forum.

 

Touchpads on the Clevos are all pretty comparable. The touchpad on the P170EM is just as responsive as the touchpad on the P150EM from what I've seen.

In playing Devil's Advocate, you could say that either card would be "overkill" for photo editing and light video editing, though neither card will disappoint. It depends on how intense the video editing would be I suppose and what program you would be running, but to be fair, I'm confident either card - or even a model or two lower - would perform without a hitch in either application.

Yes and no, regarding the "issues". The problem was largely in relation to Enduro - which has improved drastically in recent driver revisions, but is still a work in progress, as is any driver software. NVidia is the leader in performance and stability - but if you were to not have a Optimus/Enduro enabled machine, then the 7970m is a better value and performs nearly equally as well as the 680m!

Depends on whether the programs you will be running are more CPU dependent or graphics dependent. Before you buy, look into their requirements and what sort of graphics they recommend - as Ajfountains pointed out, some programs are written to better utilize particular GPUs/chipsets.

But to be fair, the 3630qm is one heck of a processor still. I don't think the difference would even be noticeable if you downgraded the CPU.

I hope that helps!

 

I would only get the NP9170 if it had a full keyboard or you could get a full keyboard for it/. hate seeing squashed keyboards on 17inch laptops. no reason for it.

just my 2 cents, as also just going through the process of ordering a NP9150


also

Touchpads don't look that much different to me, what are the size differences?

 

Thank you for all your help.

Please forgive me for more questions, I really want to get this build right for my purposes.


I'm going to be using Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4; apparently Photoshop can utilise the GPU aswell as the CPU.


It looks like the 675MX would be the best choice for me, with regards to price and stability.
Yet clearly for value for money with performance the 7970m would be the best choice.
However, would the card issues affect these two programs? (I wont be doing any gaming.)


Is the 7970m Enduro issue a problem for the Clevo P150EM? (I think it is an Enduro enabled machine?) I have been hoping that the latest Drivers have sorted out most of the issues now?


I could get the 680m, however I am unsure whether I'd be wasting up to £200, if I went for it over the 7970m or 675mx , considering I am not a Pro photographer, pro video editor or a gamer. What are your opinions?


Thanks.

 

Keeping in mind you can always upgrade the GPU down the line (and even switch from AMD to Nvidia ) I would say go for the 675mx. I am of the opinion that if you are not entirely 100% sure you need the best graphics card, then you probably don't. Same opinion with the processor. This latest generation of processors and graphics are so powerful that unless you are in the 1% of super crazy power users, you'll probably never even notice the benefit of the extra muscle.

 

ive not used photoshop since cs3 so im not sure if cs6 is more power hungry. my main video editing is done with cyberlink power director and this breazes through rendering so in my honest opinion (if you decide on nvidia that is) is the 675 will be ample of power for you.

which cpu was you talking about. there is now a 3632QM or the next is 3740QM
as far as i know the 3630QM cannot be overclocked but the 3740QM can be but as you wont be gaming then you wont really need that high end processor.

as youve not mentioned it are you also going to get a SSD

as far as i can tell the keyboards are almost identical. attached pic is my P150 which also has full numeric keys. the trackpad is almost the same but the mouse keys are slightly different on the 17"

hope that helps a bit.

 

No problem! I'll do my best to answer your questions.

Enduro is a problem for any machine that utilizes it still, unfortunately. But it has made considerable gains in stability and compatibility. I agree that the 7970m is a good value, as well though, so the biggest factor in play for you is probably not so much value to performance ratio, but cost to compatibility (or lack thereof).

Although it's just a hunch, I can almost guarantee that if you were to ask Adobe which card would be best, they would point you to NVidia. AMD is really more popular among the gamers for it's value; NVidia has far more market penetration and fewer compatibility/driver issues as well, and because of that, a lot of programmers tend to build their code to better suit NVidia hardware.

If you're just going with enthusiast-type work, then I honestly would say that the 675mx is worth the most consideration. If you have the extra money, and would like to be more up to date, and/or have something more capable for the future, go with the 7970m for budget. If you REALLY have the extra money, 680m it is; you will not be disappointed with it.

 

Since you are not gaming, I won't recommend anything beyond the stock GPU that comes with the notebook. At this point, I'm assuming the stock base GPU is going to be the 675m.

As far as video editing, unless it is 3D graphic, isn't that more CPU dependent than GPU?

I will recommend putting money into a SSD rather than CPU/GPU.

 

I would go for one of the lower models with a soldered GPU in the 660M class if you want a machine with plenty of CPU power support, it's not worth getting a machine that makes sacrifices for a powerful GPU if you are not going to use it.