My M860TU by Invasion Labs

Glad owner of the M860TU from the 01/10, I also decided to make also a review. English is not my native language so don’t be surprised if there’re mistakes.

Reason of purchase
I have carried around a DELL Inspiron 9400 since 2 years. It was very hard to transport around because of the size and the weight so I was looking for a powerful 15’4” which allows me to play the latest games! After months of research I finally choose the M860TU.

Reseller
Invasion Labs is a French company which only make PCs customized with a design. The design they proposed are here and some examples.
Even if they are more expensive than the others resellers, they offer good and quality services. The default guaranty is 2 years.
The delivery date was respected and I found their advices good. However I was a little disappointed once I got my laptop because the laptop has a T9400 and 4 Go DDR3 and my order was P9500 and 2Go DDR3. These 2 systems are almost the same but I wanted the P9500 because of the 25W TDP so it can improve the battery life.

Specifications:
- 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050)
- Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2,53 GHz
- 2X2Go DDR3 1066 MHz Ram
- 9800M GTS 512 Mo
- Samsung HM320JI 320 Go 5400 Tr/min
- Windows XP Pro 32bits
- Wifi Gigabyte GN-WI01GT + BT

First impression

It’s beautiful, well built, solid and I like the design! I noticed some black dots on grey part of the design but it doesn’t matter I still like it.


The inside is great; I do like the black metallic brushed finish but not the shiny black plastic around the keyboard. I found useful the fact that you don’t need to press anything to open the screen. The display is just perfect I think 1900x1200 is too big resolution for the 15’4”. Everything was installed even the driver for the graphic card; I just needed to install my games and ready to go!


Heat
The big concern for future owners! A few users report that it can be very hot. I was so afraid that I bought the NC1000 in advance. Invasion Labs also modified the laptop for a better cooling system. All my following temps were used with the NC1000.



Temps in IDLE


After 1h with DMC4


After ½ hour of COD4

After 3hours I got
ACPI: 74c
cores1: 67c and 2: 65c
GPU: 70c
HD: 47c
The right palm rest is hot and it does bother me if I put my hand over there. But it’s the fingerprint reader which is the hottest!


After 45min with Crysis


I also tried to turn off the NC1000 but my laptop is still on it and I got the temps by watching 1 episode of prison break


As you can see, the best is to use a cooler and it becomes hot after gaming long time. But overall, I’m happy with my temps but I think the NC2000 could have got a better job.

Noise
It’s quieter than my Inspiron but it isn’t discrete I can still hear in IDLE. It makes as much noise as the NC1000 on minimum. What strange is the ventilator is always working. And when in gaming it’s very noisy more than the NC1000 on max but speakers are useful in this case
However the silent mode is the god bless! No sound at all very well mode!

Others components
- The keyboard is good, touchpad is reactive but the touchpad buttons are hard to press
- The sound is a little disappointed I had a better quality on my Inspiron. I found it annoying when the sound was on max because it is very high-pitched.
- Wifi works well! It detects my neighbours’ network!
- Webcam is fine but need lights around.
- Microphone is standard I have to speak loud.
- LED Indicators are in the wrong place, can’t see them if you’re typing and need to be face to them to know what they mean.

- The fingerprint works fine; but it recognizes easier my thumb than my forefinger.


Performances
With 3DMark06 I got 9231 by using the drivers 178.13 it’s what I expected for a 9800GTS.


- Trackmania Nations: 1650x1050, Quality: very high, antialiasing: none, Filtrage : trilinéaire
=> Average: 44,1 FPS

- DMC 4: 1650x1050, option High, V-Sync: yes, antialiasing: none
=> Scène1: 49,69 FPS
Scène2: 49,03 FPS
Scène3: 49,68 FPS
Scène4: 48,83 FPS

During the test I noticed a tiny dead pixel on the right bottom of the display. I tested with dead buddy pixel and it only appears only on the black and blue screen so it does not bother me as it well placed for a dead pixel.

HD Tune

I don’t see the difference between my HD 80Go 7200RPM and I found the Samsung quick. I’m happy that Invasion advices me this HD and not 320Go 7200RPM.

Battery
With around 90%, Wifi on, brightness on max, by surfing and watching some youtube video I got 1h30 before reaching 10%. I think if I would use the silent mode and brightness on minimum I could have 2hours or more. I would have more battery but for this kind of laptop it’s not so bad.

Conclusion
Pros
- Well built, solid, nice design
- Powerful 15’4”
- Good screen: have reflection but I’m used to it with my Inspiron
- Good temps thanks to the modification of Invasion and to NC1000!
- Good performance with the 9800GTS the games
- A free nice mouse mat

Decent battery life, webcam, micro, touchpad.

Cons
- High temps without cooler. Become hot after gaming.
- T9400 instead of P9500
- « black dots » on the design
- shiny plastic around the keyboard it leaves fingerprints.
- 1 dead pixel almost hiden but still there
- Sound quality low
- Noisy if not on silent mode
- LED indicators in wrong place and touchpad button a little hard

In overall, I’m glad of the performance for everything even Invasion modified my order. It’s nice powerful 15’4” easy to carry around. It’s laptop for users who want a powerful 15’4”.
I only regret that I did not get the P9500, If I knew it I would have paid more. But still, Invasion is a good reseller for their advices and services.

I have some questions that I did not find on the forum:
- Why XP Pro only recognizes 2,5Go of Ram and not 3Go?
- Can anybody explain me my HD tune? The graph does not looks like the ones I saw on forums.
- What is the ACPI?? It’s always the hottest component!

Hope you enjoy reading and help you in your choice.

 

Looks like the new HDD venting makes a big difference. But it still doesn't solve the hot palmrest issue...weird.

 

There is not hot palmrest issue... It gets warm like ALL gaming laptops on the same category. And that's all there is to say about that... I've experienced both AW m15x and the M860TU and they are the same. There is not hot palmrest issue... but, that's just me!

Great review. Exactly as mine (including the cons). It's not perfect and it has some problems... But overall, it's a very good machine.

 

not a good purchase, a cpu that is 35 tdp instead 25w p series?
hd is 80gb 7200 rpm only 8mb cache, most 7200 rpm has 16mb cache.
also there is a dead pixel, ive never seen a dead pixel on any comp even though i buy 10+ laptops every year.

 

The hole in the back is great and the temperatures are just awesome. I don't understand why its hot for you...I mean, I have mine idling at 57 now and its barely warm...

 

ideling at 57 ? yikes O-O

Only time ive seen my HDD reach 58, was when i was gaming for 5 ish hours using silent mode.

 

Make sure your HDD isn't running in IDE mode (check device manager -> is the Controller/chipset listed as IDE or SATA?). It should be running SATA drivers and your BIOS should say AHCI/SATA mode - runs way cooler, and faster.

Setting fan to "Continuous" in BIOS helps with the fan noise - it will go for longer, softer 'on' sessions versus short revs up to max. Handy if it's running on a cooler anyway, and doesn't really need cooling.

You should also look into undervolting your T9400, as it's 10 Watts higher (35W instead of 25W for the P chips, not the best choice for the laptop unfortunately) and that would be contributing to overall increased heat levels in the case.

Is the NC1000 big enough for the notebook? My palm rest + fingerprint reader never get beyond "medium warm" with the cooler (NC2000) on max, during heavy gaming.

On the other hand, your idle temps are great! And tbh, those temps are low for Crysis

Edit: Oh and that's a beautiful case! It's rare to find a tasteful custom case

 

Since I don't speak French, how do I get one of these modded panels? Looks a lot better than just drilling a small hole.

 

good review, vey nice design as well

 

A very nice review, your command of English is better than most and easy to understand.

Congrats!

 

For me it's a good purchase as I'm glad with the performance. The dead pixel is very tiny and well placed so it does not bother me.
Maybe I exagerated for the hot palmrest issue but it's definitely warm while gaming. I'm just not used to it since I never experience something like that.

Do you mean this for the controller/chipset?


Thank for the advices I will check in the BIOS.

I don't want to undervolt because I think it will lost in performance.

The NC1000 is a little smaller than the M860TU but it's fine for me as I want to carry it arround also. I also thought that when the temps go beyond 70c for the GPU and ACPI it's not good but most of you said that my temps are great so I'm relieved now

I think that the modification helps a lot the cooling system. You can try to sent an email to ask them I'm sure they understand English. However, prepare yourself to pay because it's in France so you have to send and get it back.
But I also saw Killernotebook had modified the GPU cooling system without making a hole and they said it works well.

Thanks for your support! that was my first review and I hope it's not the last. I will make another one for the successor of my M860TU in a few years

 

You wont loose performance from undervolting. As long as the Mhz are the same it will perform the same. But at a lower power consumption.