P150EM vs P170EM

In a few weeks I will be ordering a laptop for school in the fall and I've narrowed my search down to the two Clevo models mentioned in the title. I've configured both machines how I plan to and would like some help in choosing which one to order.

P170EM: From what I've read, the P170EM will have better cooling, along with the aluminum piece near the trackpad. Also, 17.3" screen at 1920x1080 will be a lower pixel density than on the 15", but I'm not sure how much of a difference it will really be. Of course the main points here are size and cost. It's a $90 upgrade from 15" to 17" if I stick with the glossy screen (I believe $50 if I go with matte) and 2" could be significant size if I am already crammed for space on a desk or something. Lastly, I'll need a bigger (and probably more expensive) backpack for the 17" beast as opposed to 15".


P150EM: On this machine I would need to buy a USB DVD drive, which I included in the price. Both red prices I added to the pictures include RAM and a 1TB HDD I'll be adding to the machine. I already own an SSD I'll be transferring in. Additionally, the 15" laptop will be smaller, so have denser pixels on the screen while maintaining that nice 1920x1080 pixel count. One downside to the smaller size is just physically poorer heat management. I know both have dual-fan systems, but the same components in a smaller case are bound to have worse airflow, I'm pretty sure. That would be the main selling point for me.


In the end it comes down to price and usability. The 15" model saves me just short of $100, but will have poorer heat management as well as being confined to SATA 2 for my second hard drive. I know the 17" variant offers a RAID setup, so are both the primary and secondary hard drive bays on the P170EM SATA 3? So what does notebookreview think?

 

Actually the size differences are really not that great. This helped me:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/661109-clevo-p150em-versus-clevo-p170em-size-comparison-2.html

 

I think, come on, do you really need to start a thread on this? They are the 2 top sager models main difference being size.

On the cooling, no, you wont see a major difference whatsoever. To my knowledge, they use the same heatsinks and fans. Airflow in the case is really not something that affects cooling as much as on desktops, as long as the fans can intake air.

Yes I think you've clearly outlined the differences here... now what do you want us to tell you? Pixel density and all these things are not inherently better or worse, its up to you, your preference.

 

I get a lot of students that want the 15" because of obvious portability issues. But, yes, both machines are awesome and very similar.

 

With the 7970m running much cooler than the 675m, I doubt the P150EM will have any cooling related issues. The rest is just personal preference.

 

Ok thanks guys, that's really all I wanted to hear (read?), I will be going with the 15" then.

A mod can lock this up if they want, there's not much reason to keep it open.

 

This thread gave me a lot of confidence... I think I'm finally set on buying the P150EM as well.

 

Do that, you won't regret it

In my eyes, the P170EM is only useful is you another slot and need the ODD and you plan on overclocking

 

Yup...that was my thought process.

- 220W PSU
- Extra SATA3 bay
- Not much larger (and let's face it, the 15" is huge, anyway - may as well go big ).

 

Huh, I didn't know that.
Does that in turn mean that the P150EM will require less fan noise and thus be a quieter machine with a 7970m vs. a 675m?

Thoughts?

 

Not much, it runs cooler indeed

 

I probably should have left "much" out of my statement, as what constitutes "much" is subjective. Regardless, based on the info I've seen posted, the 7970m runs cooler than the 580m/675m. I have no idea how this will translate into real world differences between a P150EM with a 7970m vs. a 675m, but it's probably safe to say that the P150EM won't have any issues with the thermal output of the 7970m.

 

precisely! well said the 7970m is a overall winner here, unless you want CUDA and PhysX etc etc

 

If u watch the xoticpc preview of the NP9150, the fan on the gpu was updated and bigger