Ordered my first Clevo (W355STQ)

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a new laptop! ***Scroll down for the review***​

After heavy amounts of research I settled with the Clevo W355STQ from Best Gaming Computer | Best Gaming Laptop | Cheap Gaming Laptop Computers | Gaming Notebook | Pro-Star.com Initially I was going to buy something a little sleeker like the MSI GS70 Stealth or one of the new Gigabyte notebooks, but my wallet said no.

Link to Laptop

Reasons why I picked this laptop - 15.6in screen // pretty lightweight (6 lbs) // GTX 765M for mild gaming // decent 4hr battery life // backlit keyboard // room for storage expansion and raid.

Quick Spec Rundown

Screen - 15.6in 1080p Matte type with 95% color Gamut option (I do a lot of photo editiing)

CPU - i7 4700MQ quad core with HT (once again good for editing)

Ram - 12gb (4gbx3) It was only a $9 upgrade from the 8gb

HDD/SSD - It came with a free upgrade to a 1TB 7200rpm drive which I'll use for storage, it also has another drive bay that i'm going to toss a Samsung 840 250gb in for photo editing . I bought a crucial M500 240gb mSATA for the os.

GPU - GTX 765M no upgrade available here, it's fixed to the MB

OD - 6x Blu-Ray drive

wlan - Upgraded to the Intel 7260 which is AC, since my house is already setup for it.

Total price was - $1157 I think I got a pretty good deal, what do you think?

Full review will be posted here once I receive it! (should be early next week, maybe Wednesday?)

Review!

I have finally received my laptop and it’s time to review it.

First of all I would like to extend a huge thank you to the guys over at Prostar, you were wonderful to work with and I would definitely do business with you again!

Next is the packaging, sadly I forgot to snap pictures of the boxes but it was sent double boxed and the laptop was held in by styrofoam and even though it was sent from California to Japan there was no visible signs of damage at all, so thumbs up for packaging!

I opted not to do an unboxing video or pictures for the simple fact that Clevos all come with the same thing, Laptop, Battery, and Drivers Disk. It’s very minimal, but that’s one of the things that keeps cost down. I was however surprised to see that there was a Prostar badge on the top of the laptop, its not a bad thing I was just surprised to see it there. Also I like the fact that it comes with drivers for Windows 7 and 8 so you do not have to go hunting the web for proper drivers. (Another thumbs up)

Nice backlit keyboard.


Typical Stickers


Nice and subtle, doesn't scream gamer. I like that.


***I was going to add a lot more photos but apparently i'm limited to 6 per post. Sorry!***

Okay on the laptop itself and the build quality. I will be comparing this to my previous laptop which was a barebones MSI GE60 2012 model.
First things first, weight. This laptop weighs in at roughly 6lbs and that is slightly heavier then the MSI, but it feels MUCH more solid. The MSI had quite a bit chassis flex and display flex and honestly felt very cheap, the Clevo has virtually no chassis flex and minimal display flex when compared to the MSI. On another note, the power supply provided with the Clevo is also about half the height of the MSI and is marginally wider; it’s a small but welcome addition if you’re using a small laptop bag such as me.

Maintance Access- So before I even booted up I needed to install my mSATA and SSD so let’s talk about opening up the laptop. I knew the 3rd dimm slot and the mSATA were underneath the keyboard and I was kind of dreading that but luckily for me it was incredibly easy. The access hatches underneath the laptop are opened with only 4 screws and the keyboard is held on with 5 screws that can be accessed after pulling the top speaker grill off. All and all, very simple which is also good for cleaning since everything is accessed so easily.

Okay, now that everything is configured correctly let’s hope it boots……
It does! I use a spare USB stick to install windows 7 and ensure all of my drives are detected, they are. I also begin to look for dead pixels and there are none….phew.
Now the fun of installing drivers and updates, I used the provided CD for all of my basic drivers and download the latest nVidia drivers from the internet, everything looks good so far.
Fingerprint reader, BluRay, Webcam, Keyboard backlight, SD card reader, USB 3.0, all seem to be working correctly. Very happy about this because I absolutely hate RMA’s.

Overall I’m very happy with my purchase! Now on to benchmarking.

Benchmarking!

I’m going to start with some 3dMark tests and some HDD/SSD benchmarks. I will expand on my benchmarking when I have some more time.

3dMark 11 - 4784

3dMark Fire Strike - 2699


My old MSI was using a nVidia 650m with GDDR5 memory and scored around 2300-2500 on 3dMark 11 so this laptop is almost twice as fast. I’m a happy camper, but I may try overclocking the GPU a little.

Crystal Disk Mark, okay here is where my first issue is arising, I noticed that when my mSATA is in use its getting extremely hot (above 70c). Does anyone have any info on this? Is it normal or should I be concerned?

mSATA


Samsung 840 250GB


1TB 7200rpm


Speed wise all my drives are working fine and fast even the 1TB 7200rpm drive is pretty quick.

**I will be updating this as I complete more benchmarks!**

 

Decent deal. Enjoy your purchase.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I've been building desktops for awhile and This is the first powerful laptop I've bought. I'm pretty excited.

 

Why can't I find much on this when googling? Is this a sager based Clevo or something else?

 

Here you go, straight from the clevo website. http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo.asp?productid=481

 

I think the link you passed for pro-star doesn't allow me to buy that's why I am confused. Only to add accessories.

 

I noticed that, either they stopped selling it, or they have sold out. Sorry!

 

Just recently phased out by Clevo, you may have got one of the last ones.

 

Hmmm don't know how I feel about that. My machine was out of date before I even received it! lol

 

Sounds like a great laptop to me. Msata with 2 extra HDD ports. Plenty of CPU power and a decent GPU. Very conservative pricing also. Good work.

Edit - why is it discontinued? Seems like an up to date model for now, until the 8xxm gpu's come out. Is there a replacement model for this yet?

 

Thanks!

Funny thing is, this was the replacement for the W350ST....so maybe they are waiting for the new gpus.

 

I think the only upgrade between those two was the backlit keyboard.

 

The screen as well I think. On another note, I didn't get my laptop today. Maybe tomorrow? *crosses fingers*

 

Friday afternoon here and I have not received it yet Here's hoping for Monday.

 

Did you not get a tracking number upon shipping? Those usually show the delivery date.

 

I did, but this is coming to a military address so yeah delivery dates are more like inaccurate guesses.

 

Kind of understandable but annoying none the less, hope you get it soon

 

Yeah, I totally understand. I'm just itching to get my hands on it lol.

 

Monday the 24th here, still no sign of my laptop this waiting game kills me!

I know it's not ProStars fault.

 

Hmm, you may want to look into that, blaze. The tracking info shows acceptance on the 23rd (I'm not sure what "acceptance" entails on their end though). Here's to hoping you DO in fact have it by now.

 

Sadly we've already received our mail for the day and it did not arrive. I'm starting to get worried because normally Priority boxes arrive within a week.

 

I received my laptop and review is on 1st post! Please bear with me, I cant upload the pictures right now for some reason.

 

Congrats!! And good job keep the post up to date :thumbsup:

 

Thanks, and I will do my best to keep it up to date. I have photos to add too. I'll try to do that later after im off work.

 

Good review! Here's to hoping it treats you well for the long haul. The W355STQ is, personally, one of my favorite models.

 

Just released the BIOS Mod for it...unlocked GPU, RAM & CPU OC etc...(link in my signature)

ENJOY!

 

Thank you Prostar and Prema I was going to ask you if you would release one. Going to download now!

 

Nice that he integrated gpu clock unlocks too, much fun and value to be had from that bios

 

Yeah i'm using the bios and its awesome, thanks prema! But my dang msata is still overheating and then stops being recognized, I'm using my Samsung ssd until I find a fix.