Clevo P950ER Question

Hey guys - I'm pretty close to buying one of the new P950ER's from @Prostar Computer or @GenTechPC since they seem to have the best prices AND great consumer reviews (and yes, before any of the HIDevolution boys see this, I have looked there, but their prices are substantially higher). I have a few questions that I'm hoping somebody can answer before I pull the trigger:

1. What BIOS comes on the Clevo if I order from @Prostar Computer or @GenTechPC ? Are they one of the "Prema partners" that I've heard so much fanfare about on these forums? If not, what is the alternative BIOS that it comes flashed with? Also, does the "Microsoft® Windows 10 Home 64-bit with System Drivers Recovery on 16GB USB Flash Drive for $35" that I've seen on Prostar mean that it includes a license key, should I want to do a fresh install in the future?

2. On Prostar, the model isn't advertised as a Sager, so does that mean Prostar provides their own software for things like keyboard lighting and fan control...are there alternative programs out there to use if not?

I've gleaned whatever I can from Gentech's review of the P950HR at which was great to check on the build quality and teardown, but still wondering about software.

3. How often is it recommended to do thermal repasting? I'm going to get the best possible option available at purchase and then do a bit of undervolting after I receive to ensure the longevity of the device, but it is recommended to repaste CPU + GPU cooler contacts every ___ year?

4. How does a fellow NBR user go about requesting that member discount from one of the resellers that I've heard about?

Thanks in advance!

 

Good lord that has to be one of the loudest noetbooks I've ever heard. This is not even funny anymore. As usual, refresh with garbage software with different components, yay....


1.) BIOS is probably stock BIOS, you don't need Prema BIOS since you can't overclock anything anyways. So it's a waste unless you plan on something where you need the extra options. The drive is a recovery drive, meaning it's not a clean install, so it does have an activated windows on it. If you have an USB drive you can make the revcovery yourself.

2.) Barely bloatware if any at all, but you you can expect the software to be garbage anyways. Uninstalling soundblaster and replacing it with something that works would probably be the first thing you want to do, unless you use an USB headset then u can leave it on. If you have a headset with an actual audio jack, then ya. Find something that works.

3.) Thermal paste replacement is only needed if you have high temps. Sometimes you can get away with not repasting after 2 years, sometimes after 6 months. Just keep the temps in check.

4.) Just write direcly to a reseller.from NBR, that should get some discount for ya.

 

Ha, I know I know, but there are trade-offs in everything mate and the dollars make a difference. I'd have to spend another $300-500 on an MSI with the same specs.

The only model that comes close to Clevos bang for buck is the GE63 Raider (starting at around 2k)...so what would ~$400 more get me in in the end: 2 more heat pipes (but 1 less fan!) and some better software...possibly a better keyboard, but the Clevos look very similar to the Steelseries and have been surprisingly well-reviewed on the Prostar Consumer Review page. Furthermore, considering that I'll be using a wireless keyboard + mouse most of the time, that's kind of a moot point. Definitely better speakers on the MSI, but only a 720p webcam.

They both have 94% NTSC screens (with MSI claiming 100% Adobe RGB...which I've learned is a lesser spectrum than NTSC), but neither of them will likely hold a candle to a big IPS monitor that I need for design work...WHICH is easily afforded (among other things) if I save cash on the Clevo.

Worth mentioning - the Clevo is 100% aluminum and I can get it sans branding. The GE63 is still screaming "GAMER!" at the top of its lungs with the red + LEDs on the back of the screen. Not a deal-breaker, but the more stealth I can get something, the better. However, removing the bottom plate on the MSI did look like far less work considering no keyboard removal is necessary.

Though the GE63 did score higher on the benches (likely due to the 1070 instead of the 1070 Max-Q), the thermals look surprisingly similar, and the dB levels under load is around 60db for both. Gonna have to sleep on it once again and we'll see if anybody else want to weigh in in the meantime. Thanks for the reply!

 

Lol You're that guy.
You're exacly right. Save few bucks, get a far inferior experience.

Also no, the MSI notebooks have 100% sRGB and 77% AdobeRGB, this is considered on workstation level quality and is suited for designwork. This is a massive color range compared to clevos way inferior spectrum (83% and 55% respectively, the latter is a massive difference since Adobe RGB has a MUCH higher spectrum than sRGB) .

A good 60hz IPS panel which has enough color coverage to be considered a budget designerpanel usually starts from 500+ USD. And yes, the MSI is pretty close to that. Not only that but the panel is the panel with the fastest responsetimes and has 120hz refreshrate, so when you go for the external monitor solution you'll have inferior gaming experience, unless you plan on buying an extremely expensive monitor which has both good color coverage, high refreshrate and high responsetimes.

Also your solution is garbage because you would loose the ability to work on the go, whats the point of the notebook then? If you want a portable machine that needs to be plugged into a monitor etc. then buy a small formfactor desktop PC.

For all I care you can buy the Clevo, I'm not going to force you on anything, I'm merely making sure you understand what you're investing in. All I'm doing is putting facts on the table.

also one important fact you're completely forgetting, DB only tells you 1 side of the coin, the 60DB on the MSI notebook is FAR less annoying than on the 60DB on the clevo. The pitch on the Clevo is higher hence way more irritating to your ears.

Go compare the garbage cooling system on the clevo with its terrible fan profiles on 12:05 - 12:15 and compare with the amazing MSI 11:55 - 12:10. extremely different

NOTE the 7700HQ is vastly inferior to the coffelake on the MSI.

Again as you perfecly pointed out. Save few bucks, trade in for vastly inferior experience. What you decide in the end, I couldn't care less, I'm only interested in spreading information to people so that they can decide for their own, what they need. There are some that don't care about speakers, don't care about keyboard, don't care about noise or temps, they just want something that kinda works for the best price possible, they tend to grab a clevo. Most people however, do care about speakers, noiselevel, software, flexibility and such, sadly through missinformation they grab a clevo and are not really impressed.

 

The 1070MQ in the P950ER will outperform a 1060 by 25% instead of the usual 50% of a full 1070, mainly because the cooling system can't handle the heat that a full 1070 produces. Clevo ended up reduced the power limit on the GPU as a result, so the 1070 runs at ~1300mhz under load instead of the usual 1700+ mhz. It is not worth spending an extra $300 dollars for only 25% more performance. You'd be better off getting a Clevo P650HS-G (7th gen) from microcenter (they call it the Powerspec 1510) for $1300.

The fans are very loud under load, but you'd be using headphones so I don't think that would matter much. Recent BIOS/EC updates to the fan table have made the laptop silent when idle.

 

@LeiEn

1. We use the stock BIOS with our splash logo applied.
2. We purchase from Clevo directly. But we don't have any proprietary software. Most resellers use the Clevo stuff; there are no software alternatives I know of.
3. A good TIM should last you years. It's not a bad idea to repaste if you see a trend with temps creeping higher. Play it by ear/repaste on an as-needed basis.
4. We can't discuss pricing openly (forum rules) but you can PM us for an NBR discount.

You can also PM if you have questions.

 

You can't judge the noise of a machine through a video like that.

 

Hehe...the level of biased PC politics on the forums is hilarious...practically tribal. I don't personally pledge allegiance to any brand, so I'm just a neutral consumer who likes to weigh all the options. Though, you really must've been burned badly by your Clevo experience to inject so much venom into your perspective, but I appreciate your points.

RE: screens; if they're both advertising 94% NTSC, and I get the color calibration done, it should be pretty similar. Close enough to do design work anyhow. Refresh rate is 120hz on both, and at that similar price tier, the difference in cost surely isn't entirely based on screen quality. FWIW, I've never paid over $250 for a design monitor, and have been doing fine in terms of color fidelity for the past decade.

Regarding thermals, the MSI dissipates a little better, but nothing drastic - not enough to warrant hyperbolic adjectives to describe the difference, IMO. The Clevo is loaded with the 8750H, and that is a must for me as opposed to the GPU as @RampantGorilla suggested, but I do appreciate mentioning it since I was also looking at a few other MSI's that was had the 8750H + 1060 ( https://www.pro-star.com/ge63-raider-rgb-011.html), but that doesn't feel as (near) future proof, since I am hoping to play some VR titles on this for the next 2 years at least, and the YouTube vids seem to indicate that every core helps, and having double the CUDAs in the 1070s does see a noticeable spike in framerates where it really matters to keep that motion sickness away.

Not sure who "most of the people" are, but as mentioned, there's lots of happy Clevo owners posting reviews of Prostar and GenTech builds, so it kind of looks like the opposite to me, but if you have alternative proof of unhappy recipient who wish they'd gotten an MSI, I'm all eyes and ears. There's more than a few people who complain about MSI purchases as well on Amazon, so the road goes both ways - you're certainly paying for more marketing + advertising with an MSI purchase; all those flashy graphics and videos cost a lot to produce!

One thing worth mentioning as well is that a Prostar Clevo unit only costs $199 for an extended 3 year warranty, as opposed to the $350 for an MSI, and I'm not entirely sure you get the same licensed version of Windows, but I may be wrong about that.

Thanks for the response @Prostar Computer !

 

Yeah I've been burned so badly that I still have 2 clevo machines

There is a difference being biased and being realistic. Biased people make a bad experience and will hate a brand and never buy it again. Realistic people will not hate the brand but point them out.

Yeah no, the AUO B156HTN05.2 display which is the 120hz display clevo is using has 89% sRGB (Argyll) 58% AdobeRGB 1998, the contrast is MUCH worse. It has 360avg nits brightness which is quite good, however Contrast: 714:1 and (Black: 0.5 cd/m²) values are terrible.

VR in the next 2 years with a maxQ 1070? not gonna happen mate. I doubt even the 1080 will be able to play all VR titles in the next 2 years flawlessly.

Again, I'm simply providing facts, you're the guy who can choose, I don't care either way, as long you don't tell weird stories such as the clevo has a similairly good panel such as the MSI.

 

The current high refresh rate panels (144hz) are all the same as there is only one option out there.

 

Did any reseller here order the P950ER with 8850H from Clevo?

 

Well, forgive my newbness and allow me to reword my perception: "strong opinions" of certain aspects of the machines (based on facts and empirical knowledge) are very much appreciated, all around. As a longtime desktop user trying to transition into a mobile unit without breaking the bank (wishful thinking it seems), this has been a very enlightening past few weeks.

Furthermore, I wanna say thanks for calling those screen issues to my attention; I'd been naively presuming that the wide gamut TN panels equate to good color reproduction based on several sources I came across that essentially said "94% NTSC = 100% aRGB", which has sadly not been the case as you've mentioned and I've realized after digging around on notebookcheck for screen specs.

In the interest of the subject, and helping others who might be as in the dark as I am, here's a great collection of screen data across some major brands (the only Clevo unit being a highly customized Schenker, unfortunately) just to give an inkling of how much disparity there is across the board:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-Reviewed-By-Notebookcheck.120541.0.html

While it's hard to find display specs for some of the potential units I've been looking at, I must admit you are definitely right about some of the MSI screens; they do seem to hit that 75% aRGB threshold that I need to satisfy for design work. One such example that is still in the realm of mid-tier affordability is:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-G...-GTX-1070-Full-HD-Laptop-Review.258292.0.html

Which appears to be equipped with the same ChiMei (CMN1747) panel as the GT models.

In a perfect world, I could get my hands on one of the 4k AUO screens (AUO109B) with that high 80s aRGB rating, but as always, you gotta pay up for the good stuff, and with those desirable screens comes an undesirable price tag. 4k on a laptop is all a bit silly anyhow, especially given how microscopic that would make menu items in adobe...3k is a bit more rational.

SO. All that said, I'm much more aware of some very important factors and facts thanks to the communities here and on the sister site, and can make an much more informed decision.

And yes, a VR-ready laptop in my ideal price range for the next 2 years is just wishful thinking, but a man can dream. The double-edged blade of being a digital nomad is becoming apparent; one Swiss army knife machine that can do it all is more or less a mirage unless you've got very deep pockets...same as it ever was, but we're getting pretty damn close these days!

 

The Kaby Lake version of this laptop (P950HP6/HR) could barely handle a 45W i7 7700HQ @ 3.4GHz on all cores. An i7 8850H with its 6 core turbo ratio set to 4.3GHz would easily output over 90W of heat, something the cooling system cannot handle.

The i7 8750H has a 6 core multiplier set to 3.9GHz. At 45W, the laptop does about 3.1GHz on all 6 cores. I'd imagine with a bit of liquid metal, the cooling system could handle 55 or 60W and maybe reach that 3.9GHz all core turbo. If you were to make an unlocked BIOS for this laptop and allow the user to increase the CPU PL1 value, the user would see no difference in performance between an i7 8750H and a i7 8850H because of the cooling solution.

 

Take a look at the MSI GS65. It has a 97% Adobe RGB screen, an i7 8750H and a gtx 1060 ($1800) or gtx 1070 Max Q ($2100). The 1070 MQ version is not really worth it because it throttles under load meaning it ends up being only 25% faster than the 1060 model, when a full fat 1070 would be 50% faster.

 

The 8850 runs higher clocks at the same 45W TDP and is semi unlocked for 4 extra multis. It's just a better bin. Even the 9850HK is a 45W chip at stock clocks. In fact they all are:

https://blogs--images-forbes-com.cd...es/2018/04/intel-8thgen-laptop-1-1200x858.jpg

With stock firmware the old models also couldn't even hold their default Turbos,
but with EC throttle removed the 7700 ran just fine until about an all core 4Ghz before it hit the thermal wall.

This model, just like every other ODMs system, is also firmware limited even with a 7850H, so a Mod is coming either way, just would have gotten one myself but only with an unlocked CPU like the 8850H to play with it further.

In my eyes it would be the better and cheaper choice with its 4.7 Ghz OCed single core Turbo Max also for the 17" PA versions. The 9850HK would be going overboard and not bringing any gain over an overclocked 8850 in RL conditions except for the larger cache.

 

Yeah, that's a beautiful machine, and I'm happy to see MSI getting outside the red and black box, but knowing what I do now, it's hard to believe that claim, as it looks to feature that blazing fast 144hz TN (72% NTSC), which wouldn't SEEM to be able to hit such a high aRGB number...but the Dave2D review certainly seems to corroborate that. I'm going to search a bit n see if I can find some more detailed data to confirm, but feel free to share a link here if you have a source (and I'll do the same if I can find one). You'd figure MSI would pimp that fact out if it's true!

 

Really? Here's a screenshot of my i7 7700HQ (undervolted by -100 mV to 980 mV holding 3.4 GHz on all 4 cores while running AIDA64 for an hour. The ambient temperature was 25C, and with my reseller's stock paste (EK-Tim Ectotherm, performs like MX-2). If you look at the core temps, you'll see there isn't much thermal headroom for increasing PL1. The core temperature differentials are caused by the tripod heat sink design on the P950HP6.



Anyway, aside from that, is it possible to disable cores with a unlocked BIOS? If you disabled 4 cores on an i7 8750H you'd basically end up with a Kaby Lake U series processor and battery life would skyrocket. I can currently get about 5 hours out my P950HP6 with a few tweaks, disabling the extra cores would probably get it to 6 or 7 hours.

 

I have several:

 

CPU only tests don't show the problem. Once we activate the GPU as well it'll surpass the firmware powerwall and throttle the CPU no matter the temps.
Some more current firmware even check for presence of AIDA64 and then don't throttle the CPU even with GPU, BUT only in AIDA while throttling in anything else like games or benches.

Yes the Mod can disable HT and cores for additional power savings.

 

Someone rep Prema i repped him too soon from another gem of wisdom post and cant rep him again

 

This is true .. but only up to a certain point. See the below screenshot for me running FurMark + prime95 (FMA3, Blend preset) and the CPU does throttle but not below 3.0GHz. The GPU runs at around 1200mhz, but this seems to be down to furmark hitting the GPU really hard and causing it to power limit throttle. This cannot be fixed by a BIOS mod, but requires the use of Coolane's tool, I believe. This scenario of Furmark + prime95 is very unrealistic though. The closest example in the real world that I can think of where the you'd be running both the CPU and GPU at 100% is when you're playing the Amiens map in BF1. That map - along with Argonne Forest - seems to max both the CPU and GPU. This can easily be remedied by setting vsync to 61 fps, so you can maintain a smooth consistent frame rate.

 

Never use Furmark or the likes, it'll kill your GPU. Simply make a quick run of Firestrike and check the CPU graph to find the throttle limit under more RL load. A proper graph looks like this throughout all tests:

Spoiler

If we raise the TDP of the VBIOS on a system with stock BIOS/EC it will actually increase the CPU throttle even further as it increases the total combined load.
Same for overclocking the GPU. The higher you raise the GPU clocks the further the CPU clocks drop. Also a system with 1070 will of course reach the combined load limits earlier than a system with 1060.

 

It's getting late where I am, I'll install 3DMark tomorrow and post results.

 

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np7851-clevo-n857ep6.html

Just noticed this model has the 144hz IPS as well; what are the chances it is the same as the GS65 or AERO15x? They are both listed as having a '72% NTSC rating', same as the Clevo.

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/msi-gs65-stealth

If I can verify this, it's a done deal.

 

The 45W TDP is only true when running at base clockspeeds (aka 2.6ghz), turbo change this to a value more true to Gorillas statement.
Quote from intel site:

https://ark.intel.com/products/134899/Intel-Core-i7-8850H-Processor-9M-Cache-up-to-4_30-GHz

They have to change the firmware, if the system could barely handle the 7700HQ on turbo clocks due to firmware, then a much higher TDP CPU such as the I7 8850 would run absolutely pathethicly.

@RampantGorilla As Prema said, if you were to try and fix the GPU, then you would cause your CPU to run much much worse, since you have a limited amount if watts to play with.

@LeiEn It should be the same as in those gigabyte, MSI and Asus notebooks, however there was a guy who bought the IPS (on an Asus notebook I believe) panel and noticed that there was something going on with those panels. Something along the line of screen tearing due to the screen being to slow or similair. I'll try to find the thread again.

EDIT: Not screen tearing but on high refreshrate the games would be blurry when doing something.

Also you might wanna follow what Prema and Gorilla are posting, since this could end up being really dissapointing.

 

The statement was about the binning. All 3 CPUs are sharing the same 45W TDP, while running different clocks:


9850HK @ 2.9Ghz
8850H @ 2.6Ghz
8750H @ 2.2Ghz


So we can't say an 8850H would not have had any gain over 8750H while it uses less power to run the same clocks and so on...

Also though both generations share having firmware limiter, a 7700 system doesn't share the same firmware limits as the new models. Results from an old model are not directly applicable to the new ones.
The tests are just for himself to understand what the 7700 really did compared to what he thought it did on stock firmware.
The refresh model is reaching Stateside reseller this week, so we are going to see more stock firmware results soon...

 

Actually there are two 15.6" 144Hz panels right now, the IPS LGD05C0 and the AHVA B156HAN07.1

 

There are more versions, but at lest 3 are used on the more recent models:
b156han08.0 msi gs65
b156han07.1 zephyrus
LGD05C0 on aero15x

 

Always take these numbers with a grain of salt. I've tested countless CPU's and the numbers are only a rough esitmate. For instance I've recently tested an I7 - 3540M which is supposedly a 35W TDP CPU, overclocked it to 3.9ghz, upped amp to max, and wattage to max, yet it was impossible for me, even when using Prime95 to get over 32Watts. Thsi is very far beyond the rated 3.0ghz. Yes the better CPU's are binned better, not going to argue about that, but I question if the differences in performance per watts are actually that big, time will tell tho, I'm sure you're going to get your hands on some of these CPU's then you can test em out yourself

Can't wait to see those results. Usually clevo is extremely lazy so I wouldn't be suprised if this would need a massive patch.

EDIT:

Thankms for clearing that up. I've noticed that despite the similair color coverage the ASUS model does seem to have some issues with the blue color and that you can actually see every pixel if you look close enough, seems rather dissapointing.

 

Yes, higher binned chips can be very effective when OCed as they need less voltage:

http://valid.x86.fr/bnygnh

 

That Clevo has very poor cooling and runs extremely hot under load. As for whether the panel covers 97% of Adobe RGB, I'm sure @Tanner@XoticPC could answer this question.

 

Isnt that the one where they for unknown reasons added a heatpipe from the GPU to the CPU so that the CPU would suddenly act as a heatsink?

also it literally states in the advertisement:
144Hz 5ms, 72% NTSC IPS Display

@Prema: I never played with those haswell CPUs with modded microcode so I don't really know if it's that much better binned than for instance a 4810MQ. Do you have something to compare it with?

 

This is a 4702MQ overclocked from stock 2.9Ghz 4-core Turbo to 3.6Ghz:

http://hwbot.org/submission/3168619_prema_xtu_core_i7_4702mq_903_marks

All it needed was an overvolt of 45mV (still below the stock voltage of a 4710MQ) to overclock up to a 1Ghz over its stock clocks.
(Mind this is also in a 13" Clevo not designed for overclocking).

 

I'm really not familiar with the lower end haswell CPU's but doesn't that just mean that the voltage on stock clocks is extremely high? I mean 1.3volts for 3.9ghz seems extremely high to me. I might be ignorant here as I've never worked with lower end haswell ones so I don't know about voltages on those models.

 

I edited my post to include that info:

With the 45mV overvolt the 4702MQ was still running below the default voltage of a 4710MQ, but achieving a stable overclock of up to 1Ghz on all 4 cores over its own stock clocks.

EDIT:

That XTU bench run was not run at 1.3v.
It was just a 45mV overvolt over stock:



It would also have run with less voltage, but points where higher with more voltage.

Only that 4.5Ghz was at 1.3v:

http://hwbot.org/submission/3168328_prema_cpu_frequency_core_i7_4702mq_4502.17_mhz

These 37W TDP 4702MQ chips can also run their default clocks with very little voltage:

http://valid.x86.fr/9y1j3w

 

Hold on I'll test that. A customer dropped in a P170SM with a 4710MQ, I'll test it.

 

Intel do tend to be very conservative with stock voltages yes.

 

The GS65 and AERO15X display (AUO B156HAN08.0) is listed with same NTSC coverage, and as I've recently learned, is not an indicator of aRGB values. Some reviewers have said brightness and contrast on the 65 could be improved, but that's neither here nor there.

Word on the street is the Clevo display is a LG, LP156WFG-SPF2

And the p950 is this one:
http://www.panelook.com/N156HHE-GA1_Innolux_15.6_LCM_parameter_33306.html

 

I wonder why people buy Clevo, when MSI is superior in every aspect? Why does Clevo even exist when MSI just kicks its ass?

 

I know you are being facetious, but here are some valid reasons I can think of:

• Clevo is less expensive
• MSI has way more flashy gamer esque industrial design
• MSI has tons of bloatware
• They are opposed to BGA

 

I think the days of flashy gamer laptops are over. More and more people are opting for the stealth look.

Anyone remember Alienware back in the day. Candy blue laptops and Green bodies and ****. My god, I paid 3700$ for one back in 2007


Now that was back in the day!

 

Yeah yeah, I get it...the MSI love is real on here, but when shopping around, it's hard to ignore something that appears to have the same hardware for a big discount. However, I've been a careful consumer for a long time now, so weighing all the options and finding out why a particular device is cheaper (or more expensive) than the competition is an important part of the process, and is often a means to learn a lot along the way to the end. I've got nothing against MSI - I like a lot of their offerings, just trying to shave costs down where I can if possible.

RE: Display specs - the 144hz IPS display on the Clevo in question is indeed the same as the Aero 15X, which has decent sRGB values, but surprisingly average Adobe RGB (around 60%). Same goes for the Zephyrus M which is features the AUO B156HAN07.1 (AUO71ED), so it looks like the MSI GS65 is the only one that has that has that coveted AUO b156han08.0.

It's funny that the new 8th gen chips debuted in laptops right around the time I'm thinking about moving to a mobile unit, because it would've been a whole lot easier to survey the field if all these shiny new ponies weren't prancing around trying to entice my wallet, BUT that has made anything with a 7th gen chip a bit cheaper, so the ol' double-edged blade strikes again.

 

In the event another designer stumbles across this thread, here some Photoshop benches I happened upon. TLDR SPOILER: There really isn't that much difference across the latest gen hardware in terms of Photoshop use, but probably a totally different story for rendering applications. Just keep in mind all the benches are on desktop units, so scores will obviously not be indicative of notebook performance. I have to say, I'm kind of amazed how similar the scores are across 10-series GPUs and 4 v 6 core chips...I think I really WANT the latest tech, but am realizing how little I actually need an 8th series chip or anything beyond a 1060.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php?tag=Photoshop

 

There are also people who like to shine a very wrong light on clevo notebooks, after doing a lot of modding and frankly ridicolous things to a notebook they start showcasing how the ntoebook runs at 4.7ghz with okish temps, without really pointing out how much they actually did to the notebook until it could reach that state, which makes lots of people believe they get that performance on stock so they go ahead to buy it only to realize they are not even close or have to do the same thins which would basicially take all the portability away.

Clevo exists for the same reason Apple does, people simply don't care.

 

But when you finish tweaking it, it performs better than anything else in laptop land bar none (talking about the LGA/MXM units).

Clevo couldn't be more different from Apple. Clevo is for people who like to work on their own computers and the potential is there, if not fully realized in default form. Apple is for grandmas and people who don't know or care, and will always be subpar no matter what you do.

 

No, both products are the same in a sense where they both are terrible out of the box. In terms of a guy who literally does nothing else but browse the web and watch netflix on his notebook, an apple macbook does crush your notebook for instance (superior screen and speakers, it's not even close). Also I doubt your notebook would perform better than a GT 73VR with a 1080 in terms of gaming. I wanted to do that test a long time ago but apparently nobody buys a clevo for gaming and those who did had pretty bad results.

 

If someone doesn't want to or can't do any basic modding themselves they can just purchase from a boutique brand like @Donald@HIDevolution and have everything done for them to run and hold 4.7Ghz+ right out of the box...

Every LGA Clevo they send out is build and tested to perform that way right out of the box including the cooling...that's why we started working with Partner as just having the right firmware is only one step in optimizing and making the best out of Clevo's solid hardware...

 

The highest aRGB coverage (in the FHD category) is probably attained by the 120Hz 94% NTSC TN screen from chi mei (innoloux) and has ~ 77% aRGB coverage and 100%sRGB.

The ~ high aRGB gamut doesn't necessarily mean that it would be better for editing (amateur to semi-pro level) than... lets say a good (IPS or similar) 72% NTSC panel ~ 60% aRGB (the display technology, the uniformity, the clarity, type of coating, pre-calibration, the max improvement after calibration... are all important aspects).

There are also differences (some quite large) between the same display models (for eg. the n173hhe-g32 is one of the most common screens on the mid and high end MSI models, but if you compare the notebookcheck reviews for those models, you'll find some noticeable differences, mostly on: brightness lvl and uniformity, contrast, color accuracy).

The lp156wfg-spf2 (144Hz) is one of the screen options for the p950. The n156hhe-ga1 is the TN 120hz version with 94% NTSC.

The b156han08.0 has a 72% NTSC coverage and most probably ~60% aRGB. The different readings from YT reviews are probably due to different equipment used for measuring (either that or they meant to display the sRGB value).

The aero 15x has two 144hz display options, one from LG the other from AUO (probably the b156han08.0), but you have a guarantee (x-rite pantone certification) that you'll get a display with high color accuracy (regardless of panel model).

Msi also advertises a high color accuracy (with true color 2) for their units.

 

So what's considered the best 144Hz 15" FHD screen model atm?

 

Some of the AUO models tend to have deeper blacks and better CR, but apart from that (considering ~similar coverage in NTSC, aRGB, sRGB), it really depends on the overall panel quality after it exits the factory (that is if the panel doesn't have some noticeable drawbacks like: the visible pixels for the b156han07.1 or a verry thick antiglare coating that would impact image clarity or banding issues, blurriness, etc).

For eg. the HP doesn't have a single panel model (or brand) for their units with dreamcolor displays, instead they select the highest quality (that have the best potential) from a range of panels (something similar to intels's CPU binning).

I can't really say which one is better from the current 144hz models, I think we need more feedback.