P150SM-A questions: 95% gamut panel harware ID & 180W power supply insufficient

I recently upgraded from a Clevo P150HM with an AUO 95% gamut panel (AUO_B156HW01_V_4) to a Clevo P150SM-A with the following specifications:

• OS: Win7 x64
• CPU: i7-4810MQ
• GPU: NVIDIA 880M GTX
• RAM: 16GB DDR3
• HDD1: Crucial M500 240GB (mSATA)
• HDD2: Crucial MX100 512GB
• HDD3: Seagate 1TB Hybrid
• BIOS: Prema Mod 'P15xSMA_33_35_PM_v1'
• Usage: micro- & macro- photography as a scientist and gaming

After about 1 month of use I am overall very happy with the new laptop and keeping with the Clevo brand (especially after some Alienware m15x nightmares here and again here).

However despite some significant pre- and post-purchase research I still have the following questions for the NBR Clevo community:

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1) 95% gamut panel harware ID ?
I ordered a 95% gamut panel for the P150SM-A from LogicalBlueOne (Australia). The current panel feels much more grainy and dull when compared next to my Clevo P150HM with the 95% gamut AUO panel (also ordered in the past from LogicalBlueOne).

The hardware ID for the current P150SM-A panel is CMN15B1 which from the research that I could do, suggests that this is in-fact the default Clevo 'Chi Mei' 72% panel (EDIT: or even 60% gamut as posted here!) and not 95% gamut.

• Can anybody with a P150SM-A default panel (monitor) confirm the hardware ID for me please?
  • Is it 'AUO 10ED' as suggested here by laos?
  • Or a B156HTN01.0 AUO model as suggested here by Qwest?
• Is anybody able to provide any links/PDFs/general information on a CMN15B1 panel?
  • I was able find this thread suggesting that the manufacturer of the default Clevo panels was Chi Mei, but that's about it.
  • However even a PDF with the panels specification might not be much use if I could find it, as I'm unsure how to determine this information from the PDF on the AUO panel in my P150HM anyway. Hence my reason for asking here in the NBR forums

I have contacted the reseller LogicalBlueOne in regards to this issue but they are small operator and their customer service has always been a bit lax. Regardless, I would appreciate some supplementary information from these cumulative knowledge in these forums.

I'm also aware of some of the reasons why a high gamut panel may not be suitable for gaming anyway as discussed here. But I have found my previous AUO panel very useful for my scientific work.

I've also tried some other ways recommended online such as here to try and determine if the CMN15B1 is indeed 95% gamut. Indeed there may be more mundane options for the graininess such as this particular 95% gamut panel (if it is 95% gamut) just having a different matte and the lack of proper professional calibration.

But really to the point, I just believe in getting what I paid for i.e. 95% gamut panel option for the P150SM-A was $70.

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2) 180W power supply insufficient ?
I have read HTWingNut's very good reveiew on the P150SM-A here, in which he states:

I observed that during some more performance intense games that my monitor's brightness would annoying increase/decrease, also coinciding with Windows 7 flickering from A/C power to battery power, despite being on A/C power.

• Is this a symptom of the power from the laptop being too much for the 180W power supply as HTWingNut has mentioned?
• Although HTWingNut states the following, wouldn't the battery to A/C power switching result in decreased performance due to the (more than likely and preferred) differences between the A/C and battery power profiles (might be best to ask this in HTWingNut's review thread)?
  
• Has anybody upgraded their P150SM-A PSU?
  • I know meaker has made a general guide here but I'd like to hear if it actually provides any benefit, especially given that a change of this magnitude would certainly void the warranty. Even as a post-warranty hobby/tinker in the future.
• Can anybody recommended any tweaks/software/bios settings to prevent this power flux, even if it means voltage changes but still retains the performance?
  • My current GPU temps for high performance games are between 80degC to 90degC.

I have since ensured that both A/C and battery power profile brightness settings to at least alliviate some of this annoyance.
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Thanks in advance for any comments and suffering through any 'TLDR' moments!

 

The only 95% panel is the AUO, you have the wrong display if you ordered the 95% gamut display.

The brick should be fine for stock, you may have a faulty brick.

 

A 230W PSU ought to work for your machine, but if you are getting issues like that, I agree with Meaker that it is indeed likely a faulty brick.

Next, look up your screen on panelook.com. If you want to be certain, I suggest using HWiNFO64 and running it without "sensors-only" or "summary only" ticked. You should get to a screen that looks like this:

From here, you can find out exactly what the panel ID of your machine is (unless you're me, in which case nobody knows what the hell is in my bloody system) and you can cross-check with panelook and see how it works. If you got the wrong screen, I suggest you get that fixed lickety split.

 

I was using my old P150HM brick which has the same wattage but it might be getting old. I was under the impression that a power brick which contains a transformer would either work or not work, as opposed to a battery which would have progressively worse recharge and output. I'll need to test the new power brick that came with the P150SM-A under the same conditions to verify.

It would indeed seem that LogicalBlueOne have not bothered to check that the right panel was installed, given how much attention they have been given in the past by this company in the Whirlpool forums. Indeed they got it right with my first P150HM laptop.

What has really annoyed me is that despite sending them the hardware ID details (as also represented in the screenshot below) they weren't even able to verify if it was supposed to be the correct 95% gamut panel or not! Anyway... they have organized a courier to pick-up the laptop on Monday without any debate. So even though I will be not able to use it for 1 week whilst this correction is occurring, hopefully the problem will be resolved soon.



Thanks for the help Meaker and D2 Ultima!

 

Not a problem, luckily the job should not involve having to retest the entire machine and can be responsibly turned around quickly.