Just Ordered My First Clevo

Ended up going with HIDevolution because of Prema and the decent price on the UHD screen. At the time of ordering, XOTICPC had a sale on their UHD screen (+$175), which was non-G-Sync, but the option disappeared alltogether yesterday.

Specs (copy and pasted):
17.3" 3840x2160 IPS UHD (16:9) LED Antiglare Matte Type Display w/ NVIDIA G-Sync Technology
Unlocked and Overclockable 6th Generation Intel Core i7-6700K Quad Core Processor, 4.0 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 4.2GHz), 8MB Smart Cache
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5 - NVIDIA G-Sync Enabled w/ Unlocked Prema vBIOS
32GB (2 x 16GB) Dual Channel DDR4/2133MHz
Samsung SM951 OEM (non-retail) 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD
Intel® Wireless-AC 8260 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 4.2

Bit of a back story here:
Seems like just yesterday I got my first laptop back in 2007, which I believe was an HP Pavilion dv2500se or a similar model (I don't feel like digging through the garage to find it). Before then, I always had a desktop, but then the convenience of using laptops became too much to sacrifice for performance, not that my old desktops were really that good. Eventually I was given a Sony Vaio PCG-5L3L in 2009, which seems to have fallen into obscurity, insomuch that I can't find a single unit for sale online. Inadvertently following the two year trend, in 2011 or so, I upgraded to a Dell Inspiron 17, though what model I'm not sure, being that I gave it away in 2012 when I upgraded to an ASUS G75VW-BHI7N07. That one lasted until Christmas 2014, when I ended up buying an ASUS G751JT-CH71, which carried on up until May of this year.

Now, not too long ago, I bought an Alienware 17 R3 with their graphics amplifier; although no card, as I was holding out for a 1080ti. Long story short, the motherboard shorted out after a couple hours of running some benchmarks, it was pretty pathetic. Customer service was pretty hit and miss, so I decided to return the system for a refund. My aim was longevity--how ironic.

After browsing these forums, I decided go with the P870DM-G, because it has what I was initially attempting to get out of the Alienware and much more. I would've gotten a 980 for it, but I'm waiting to see what's going to happen with the 1080m and whatnot. So that about wraps it up, I have a lot of stories about the laptops I've owned (if anyone's interested), especially the ASUS units, but I hope the Clevo won't suffer any similar tales.

 

you won't be disappointed by HIDevolution rest assured. Their quality control and customer service are outstanding. My Eurocom Sky X9 (which is the same as your system) was also purchased from them before they became a Prema partner.

Regarding reliability, this stomps all over Alienware. I had an Alienware 18 which was replaced 3 times until I had enough and sold it. Yes their warranty is good, but when you have to use the warranty 3 times in 3 months it's not a great experience as I would be without a system each time a component failed. Touch wood, my laptop from HIDevolution is perfect with 0 backlight bleeding on the screen as well.

When you get your system, make sure to check out these 3 threads:

Clevo P870DM n00bie's guide

Clevo P870DM/DM-G Drivers Mirror

LG LP173WF4-SPF1 Spyder5Pro Calibration Profile

 

Good choice and good taste. Welcome to the Clevo community Hope you will be happy with the new beast. Socket hardware all the way..., Yeah it's nice You going with HID... I think bro @Phoenix will be happy

Edit.. LoL. He was here already!!

 

you are late to the party buddy

 

My damn slow internet, small phone for my old eyes and my very good English... Better luck next time

 

My internet is overclocked to 100 MBPS down / 10 MBPS up that's probably why I beat you.

 

The straw that broke the camel's back was Dell's awful BIOS releases. I figured it wasn't worth waking up one morning to found my motherboard bricked for seemingly no reason, even if the fix is somewhat easy. I find the whole proposition to be unreasonable, especially for $2,700. Why pay nearly the same price for a BGA laptop, roughly the same size with inferior specifications?

But anyway, I know about your purchases with them. Before choosing another notebook after I decided I was going to call up Dell and get a refund, I went through dozens and dozens of threads here. I read about how lackluster the stock Clevo BIOS is, who's partnered with Prema and also as far as your laptop getting ripped off; although eventually found. Based on everyone's opinions here (perhaps mainly from you first two posters, but also that Mr. Fox guy), I became convinced the P870DM-G--with Prema--would be the perfect notebook for me.

 

This is what pisses me off. People keep boasting about how great Dell's warranty and on-site support is which is true, but the question is, why go through all this and waiting for parts or a laptop replacement for a relatively still new laptop. Not very reliable for the large amount one has paid for it.

When I had my Alienware 18, I had my screen replaced 3 times after a few days due to backlight bleeding, then after a month, no boot due to motherboard failure, then a CPU failure, then Dell replaced the whole system with a brand new one with even upgraded specs. Great. but I had a lot of hassle and inconvenience being without a laptop for so long. With my current Clevo, never had any issues. The quality of Alienware products is pathetic for the price you pay. that's why they need an on-site next business day warranty, because they know how prone to failure their systems are.

Anyway, let us know when you get your taptop, we will be by your side with regards to any concern

 

I should rather used my OC'd P870 BGA KILLER BEAST... Then I think I would beat you in this posting competition

 

I was initially quoted for delivery on the 6th, but that was before I added the UHD display, which hampered the overall production time.

 

Good things come to those who wait

 

I do hope so...I seem to be the only one without a 'Phoenix' system...

@OP ENJOY your system!

 

How ironic, the master mind behind it all without a birdie Phoenix

 

@Prema

Sorry for the OT post but if you haven't watched it, I advice you to watch The Secret again or perhaps, re-watch it if you saw it long ago. Nothing comes close to the positive power of the mind + a little bit of prayers to God. Believe it, imagine it, feel it, and it will happen. I cannot tell you the wonders it has given me.

 

Thanks, I think I will considering how tediously slow my G751JT had become, alongside the fact I had to hold the charger in by hand and twist it at an uncomfortable angle with added pressure.

 

Don't forget, in the noobie's guide I posted above, it is vital to enable the Flexi Charger which limits the battery charging to 90% so it won't be overcharged and thus killing the battery in no time. You can email HIDevolution also to tell them to enable it for you in the Prema BIOS from the start. The recommended value is 80 start/90 stop:

 

Right. I was going to give them a ring in the morning about a few other things anyway, so I'll go ahead and note these things down too. Thanks.

 

I edited my post to show you the exact settings. Please save that image and email it to them.

 

Thanks Phoenix...DrMsAshley, I have added that request to your Production Order.

 

Great customer service and attention to detail as always. Glad to see HIDevolution is on the forums monitoring every tiny detail of their customers' orders.

My next laptop will be ordered from you as usual as soon as the new nVIDIA 1080 models are out.

 

All of your Prema Partner shops should chip in and give you one as a giift, seriously, Brother Prema. If they all gave a little it wouldn't take much of a sacrifice by any one of them to supply one at cost as a free gift for the multiple hundreds of hours you have given your time and talent to this one machine. Truth be told, your talent has single-handedly made the P870DM-G the world's sole remaining enthusiast-grade Über-Beast laptop. It's lonely at the top and this gladiator takes no prisoners. Without your talent to unleash the beast it would be something I view as a dud, and I would be officially done with high performance laptops. Hopefully, one of them reading this post will take the idea and run with it, and reach out to the others to make it happen, post-haste.

I know I speak for my friends that own one when I say that we treasure you and your talent immensely. With no intention of accidentally forgetting one of them--and I will probably forget to mention at least a dozen of them--and in no particular order of importance, @Phoenix, @Papusan, @j95, @ssj92, @GTVEVO, @TBoneSan, @bloodhawk, @Porter - to name just a few, I think it is safe to say that we all think you rock. As far as I know most, if not all of us, are Alienware converts, and that speaks volumes about you and what you have done for this monster laptop. Alienware snoozed and lost. At this point, all I can say is 'good riddance' LOL. BGA filth must die.

@DrMsAshley - perfect choice in systems. It will be everything a top-shelf Alienware should have been, and much more. @Ted@HIDevolution and @Donald@HIDevolution and @Zoltan@HIDevolution are heroes and so are the other Prema Mod partner shops.

@Donald@HIDevolution - glad you found a good home there at HIDevolution. You have been far too valuable to our industry, for too many years, to be left out of the picture. God bless you, Brother Donald.

 

@Prema and @unclewebb is the only reason to go with laptops. Without them the only choice is desktops!!!! God bless those two people!!!! + every resellers which support PREMA.

 

@Prema you pretty much single handedly rescued the enthusiasts laptop dream. When I discovered you don't have a machine I was truly saddened. Not to sound rude to the Clevo / Sager vendors' but the truth is non of them would have seen red cent from us hadn't it been for your efforts.
We're behind you all the way.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys!

 

You deserve all of them, Brother Prema. They're all true. We all owe you, and especially your PremaMod Partner shops. Without your talent we would all be screwed.

SO, what I am curious is whether or not PremaMod Partner Shops are actually doing something to give you one of these as a gift, and if so, whether there is a way your friends and fans can chip in to help bankroll it. So, if one of the Partner Shops is taking the lead on making this happen, please let us know how we can contribute.

Maybe I and/or @Phoenix need to reach out to @Ted@HIDevolution and see if he is willing to take the lead on trying to coordinate this with the partner shops.

 

I would wait for the next Cleco P870DM refresh with a 1080 GTX before pushing the blue button so @Prema gets the flagship which he deserves.

Just imagine, all this goodness and this guy doesn't even have this laptop in his hands, what if he DID have one? I think he can create a BIOS mod that will enable the laptop to wake up in the morning and cook its owner breakfast!

 

HIDevolution.com will be proud to provide Prema with a VR ready P870 with the latest high end nVIDIA GPU as soon as they are released (of course we cannot say exactly when due to the nVIDIA non-disclosure...but he will get the first one!). nVIDIA GTX xxxx, Intel® Core™ i7-6700K, 16GB DDR4/2133MHz, 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA III Hard Drive and OS of his choice.

If Notebookreview members want to chip in to provide upgrades to more, or faster RAM, and a PCIe NVMe SSD, or any other upgrade he might want, just work together and let us know the final specs.

 

Count me in as well.!

 

Just ask Prema what he wants for upgrades, let me know, and I will price them for you. Then when you have gathered the funds, just let me know and I can give you payment instructions.

We should probably do this in private Conversations.

 

@Mr. Fox

IMO, I suggest creating a thread dedicated to the mastermind Prema for funds collection towards maximizing the specs of this amazing gift from HIDevolution.

This just comes to show how great of a company they are and how they show support and appreciation towards the one person that made all this possible and made them turn from a reseller to a systems builder and the best one for that matter as noone even comes close to the specifications and configuration options they have.

If everyone chips in with even a small amount of donation we can sup up his gift in no time.

 

Man, this kind of community spirit is precisely why I like NBR! Such things also more or less cemented my choice of next laptop being a Sager/Clevo (from Aftershock)

Have a Paypal link or something so that we can help chip in?

I am not sure if this is overstepping any boundaries, but I did a quick search on such crowdfunding services that can help but didn't come up much; most are either for entrepreneurial projects (e.g. Indiegogogo, Kickstarter) or have country restrictions (e.g. GoFundMe, which does not allow Singapore or PayPal).

Looks like the good ol' "Paypal to someone who is very reliable (or even direct to HIDEvolution?)" method is the only viable method here...

 

You can count me in, too. Combined with the generous assistance of PremaMod partners, if each of us chips in a little it will go a long way. I recommend asking the NBR Clevo Moderator team if such a thread is permitted. It may not be kosher and we want to follow the rules. If it can't be here was can do something through @Prema's web page or maybe @Donald@HIDevolution or @Ted@HIDevolution can set something up through PayPal were we can contribute to the Prema Phoenix fund.

 

I do not recommend getting Mythlogic or Eurocom involved unless the purpose is to have them contribute.

I would also recommend appointing a 'Manager' to communicate and coordinate with me using my email address in my signature. That way all contributors can be informed on how to make payments privately, and not on the public board.

You people are amazing! HIDevolution.com really appreciates your willingness to contribute to this most worthy cause. Ah yes, the spirit of Notebookreview...I bow to it!

 

Yes, having them contribute is what I had in mind. As all PremaMod partner shops ultimately benefit from the "Prema Advantage" I think it would be good and fitting if all can help with the cost of his reward. This goes back a long way in time, especially where end users are concerned. My P570WM (don't have it now) and my P750ZM would also be of no value to me with the stock Clevo BIOS. I literally would not want to own either of them or the P870DM-G if I had to rely on the stock firmware. So, our appreciation from @Prema as customers spans many generations of Clevo beast machines.

I would nominate Brother @Phoenix as the "manager" of the social media communications for the project. He's passionate, intelligent and organized.

 

I second the motion.

 

Count me in as well!

Would it be more suitable, if someone would provide a PayPal-Addi where we can put our donations in? Or we just donate to Prema directly and he may then configure it as he likes it?

 

Stay tuned while @Phoenix and @Donald@HIDevolution collaborate on the matter.

 

Yes, count me in as well. I Remember in 2012 when Prema sent me a modded bios for P150HM to unlock a ES chip that been gimped by clevos bios, it went on steroids after that! Been running his modded (v)bios one way or another ever since. Make a Prema P870DM PayPal account for this purpose!

 

Of course I will be into this... Prema deserve everything good!! Why should the master of firmvare be without a top Class Clevo? Only he can make this beast run and make nice bencmarks. You can't depend only on decent performing hardware. You need also top end firmvare!!!

 

I will post a new thread about this in 4 hours , stay tuned

 

Slight OT: Will this BIOS work too for a P170HM?

 

IIRC every Prema Bios is for personal use only. So even if it would be compatible, it should be Prema you should ask.

 

in theory yes, since crossflashing of firmwares was indeed possible on the HM series i myself used the P170HM bios to unlock cpu overclocking via xtu on my P150HM

Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10

 

Bios are specific to the machine, meaning you'd have to get a modded bios specific to the p170hm! Don't flash firmware for other equipment! It is like putting a PCM/ECM of a 2016 Lexus in a 2012 Cadillac. You will have problems and the machine likely won't run if you do!

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

If using a bios within the hm series, with the motherboard practically the same, it works (p150/170hm). If you flashed the bios of a p7xxxm/p870dm on the p150hm, you will likely screw something up. ..

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

Prema Gift Donations Thread

 

Good point there, didn't realise that bit

Wow, so both ways are possible

I am using a NP8170, hopefully this should be fine

 

So long as it is the right bios for the clevo model, you'll be fine. I didn't realize you were talking the Sager/clevo cross flash issues of yester year. What would cause the issue is flashing the bios without the correct ec, thereby bricking the machine. The solution was to flash both together without the reboot in between, if memory serves. But I don't remember if that is still an issue, i.e. sager using a modified bios/ec which makes that necessary still. ..

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

Oh ya, the EC... Now that sounds tricky

 

It's not that hard. Just few people used to do it and many resellers prefer to do it themselves.

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Getting the correct files and understanding the exact effects seem tough though