Questions about the P150EM.

Hey all, I've been lurking this forum for quite a while after deciding my next gaming computer would be a laptop. I've been a Mac user for quite some time and the brand Clevo/Sager was completely new to me.

As a new customer, this has been a bit of a gong show with the refresh of the new laptops, and while a lot is still speculation, there are a few things clear already.

Anyways, I have a few questions for current owners.

1. I'm wondering if it's possible to use 2 external monitors and turning off the laptop screen on the current model? (assuming you can do the same with the new one). Does this depend on which video card I get?

2. Webcam. For someone who uses a webcam all the time, I haven't found a single video test with the included cam. Is it really bad? Can someone take some screenshots/videos of this?

3. I read the trackpad is pretty bad. Is it synaptics? Can it be tweaked?

4. Has anybody compared the speakers to a Macbook pro? I see the laptop has a small sub woofer, but still people say the audio quality is crap. Is this because of the speakers or the audio card?

5. I'm thinking about getting the laptop with a 500GB primary and an optical drive caddy. I have a brand new SSD I'm planning to use as primary and move the 500GB as secondary when it gets here. I find resellers SSDs are more expensive than other places. Is this a good or bad idea? Can anyone post a photo of the laptop with the caddy? I wonder how it looks like.

6. If the new one comes with a 670m, the 6990m will still be a better option, right?. I'm guessing the 675m will be about as fast as the 580m but will add around $300.

I know these are quite a few questions, but I'm just trying to make the most out of my budget, hehe.

Thanks!

 

Hello Ivansf,


1. Yes you can run two externals as long as your notebook screen is off. You would hook one to DVI and the other to HDMI. Any video card can handle this.

2. Webcam quality isnt the greatest with these models. Since you plan on using it often you'll want to get an external.

3. The touch pad is a basic touch pad. It will support scrolling but not multi gesture.

4. The speakers are considered average notebook speakers. They wont get you amazing sound while gaming or watching a movie but they do the job for daily use. Clevo/Sager focus more on the hardware performance then the sound. You can use headphones or external speakers to increase quality.

5. How you plan on installing your SSD/HDD is the right way to do it. When you have it installed by a reseller it does cost a tad more but its being done for you so factor in a little labor. Since you plan on doing it yourself it would probably cost less to purchase it separately and install it. The notebook will look exactly the same if you have a caddy or optical drive installed. The same bezel will be used so visually there is no difference.

6. Can't really comment on performance differences until the new cards are released and we can test them out..

No problem about the questions, there are alot of people on here the love helping out.

 

^ agree, however I might be the only one who actually likes the speakers.

 

I also don't find fault with the speakers or headphone output to my Aurvana headphones. But I'm not an audiophile either and they aren't bad if you have your expectations set at the level that laptop speakers usually fall at.

ivansf: If the sound quality is of the highest importance, people have had great results with external USB sound cards to run their headphones/external speakers from. The same goes for a higher quality webcam.

 

The trackpad is multi touch btw

 

Thanks for those replies...
Regarding the trackpad, while I don't use multitouch gestures a lot, I'm really used to two-finger scrolling. I wonder if that is supported.

 

yes it is
10char

 

sound is awesome! use the software , makes a big diff and invest in external speakers! my altec lansing is pretty damn good.
can i ask why you are using a trackpad? just buy a mouse
i always recommend hybrid drives if u are on a budget. $174 for 750gigs and 8gb flash ??? you cant beat that

 

The trackpad is of poor quality (or rather it's rough surface). I advise you to immediately buy a good mouse.

 

Personally I think the new speakers and the touch pad that are implemented in the up-coming models are better than the old ones. Perhaps not so superior as they are intended to be but still a bump up.

When talking about sound the new Texas Instruments firewire should do the trick for most sound engineers. As for performance, this may be the first time ever that I think the secondary features are more important than the slight performance difference you get. Only 660M/670M/675M are available at this point. The price of GTX 675M will surprise you, a lot.

 

In a good way, i suspect)

 

I hope that too!

Thanks for the comments everyone. I really hope we can see the new laptops in the next coming weeks and have one in my hands before the end of May.

 

So...2 external (dvi+hdmi or displayport) plus internal is not supported?

 

The 675M is $250 less than the 580M, according to malibal's P170EM configurator.