Some questions about the p170sm/p177sm

I'm am really close to buying anew laptop, and the p170sm seems the way to go for me.

I have seen a lot of pcis of the p177sm, but not good ones of the p170sm. How thick is it really? Some pictures make it look flattering, and some make it look kinda thick, but are from really close angles.
I'm ok with a thick laptop, but I don't want anything stupid-thick. While it would be used mostly on a table, I still will be carrying it around every day, and I just want to know if it is manageable. Hard to explain I guess, I just would like a good picture maybe with something for size comparison. I have seen like 3 different thickness specs for this, and I can only assume some are including the feet, some are not? I really want to know how thick the base is not including the screen or feet, that would give me a much better idea of the level of behemoth I'm buying. Now you might be thinking why buy a 17.3 inch if you don't want it huge? Well for gaming a 15.6 inch would be great for me, but the primary use of this laptop will not be gaming. I am a web developer, and a college student still. I currently own a smaller laptop, and I find that for working, a bigger screen makes it more comfortable.

Weight is not much of an issue if it is truly 8 pounds, and neither is the power brick as that doesn't bother me one bit.

I heard from a few places it can randomly get loud without actually being under load. Is there any way to control the fans in this laptop, preferable through software that recognizes them? I am okay with it being loud while under high loads like gaming, but I do plan to a lot of work with this laptop as well (probably a lot more than gaming), as well as general web use , and I would like the ability to quiet it down manually if I want.

How is the sound? I hear some clevos have crappy sound. The speakers don't matter much to me, as long as they work. My concern is with the onboard audio itself. How does the headphone jack sound? Is there white noise? I am an audiophile, but I'll be fine with it as long as it is as good as run-of-the-mill laptop audio/integrated desktop audio, so I don't expect it to be hi-fi, but white noise or distorted sound is unacceptable. The complaints I've seen about the audio seemed to be from people that didn't turn that equalizer or whatever that software it is that "optimizes it" off. What would it sound like if I just got rid of that? That is usually the first thing I do, I don't like that kinda crap, like on the "beats" HPs. This is by far the most important thing as I listen to music while I work.

Upgrade-ability-
Will this be compatible with any future MXM 3.0 card within acceptable wattage limits, or is that limited by what the bios will recognize? If not could you mod the bios to accept the cards? I'm not very familiar with swappable laptop GPUs, so some enlightenment would be appreciated.
I will be getting this with a 770m, and plan to upgrade to a 780m a couple of years down the road, but was wondering if in the future I'd have different options, say an 8xxm

On who to buy from-
I never liked giving such large chunks of money to a small resller, which is why I'll likely use paypal as much as I hate it. I hear good things about LPC-Digital, and "Larry" In particular. What are your opinions? I have found tons of great reviews, and not a single bad one. What gives? Is that even possible? Is Larry a robot?

Also, if it does go out of warranty, will I be able to pay to get it fixed or order parts from anywhere?

Thank you all for your help, I'm pretty sure there was something else I wanted to ask, but I forget.

 

There are already bios released to allow acceptance of the incumbent 800 series of mobile cards.My P170SM has been completely quite when idle. The only time I hear the fans ever is if I'm gaming and turn on the switch (the only method of fan control you have is a keyboard shortcut to turn the fan on 100% for when gaming), or if some other task gets the CPU above ~55C. I believe the PREMA bios has an option for a bit quieter fan policy. The onboard audio is decent and usable, I've used my Sennheiser 595s & my ATH AD700s and the quality is acceptable. The only noise I hear is during boot up. I've never installed any software for it other than the basic drive for the audio. The two different heights you've seen were most likely because it is higher at the back than it is at the front. Review One K73-3N (Clevo P170SM) Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews This review has the most accurate photos I've found (I lack a camera to take my own for you)

I personally bought from gentechpc (GentechPC here at NBR) and they are always responsive to PMs here on the forum. They are mostly active in the MSI & ASUS subforums, but their service is amazing.

 

Thanks ! Great news about the 800 series, as I hear they were supposed to release that soon. I trust your word for the audio, those are some good headphones btw.
I saw the NotebookCheck review, though I didn't notice the pictures on the side panel before. Looks decent to me.
About the 800 series if I waited would the new notebooks with the 800 series be more pricey? Ex 770m @ 1260 usd now, 870m at higher price? If that's not the case I might wait a bit otherwise I'd be just fine with the 770m.
Does adding a custom Bios void their warranty given I don't brick it?

 

That 1260$ btw is only with the cash discount btw (i.e you don't use paypal but instead use a money order or direct bank transfer). It will most likely be higher with the refresh because most of the current models (P170SM) are on sale and have been since around christmas.However something you also need to consider is that a lot of resellers have pulled these models because Sager has notified them of low stock, because of the new GPUs coming mid next month.

 

Yah I knew about the cash discount.

 

I just checked LPC-Digital and it seems they are out of stock until mid-march as well.

 

Really? I saw other said that but i didn't see it on LPC

 

If you look at the monitor upgrade, for both the stock monitor&the upgrade monitor it says: ETA Mid-March.

 

oh....wel ok. That sucks. Thanks for your help anyway

 

I bought my P170SM from LPC. I think the 170 & 177 are the same weight and thickness, just some bling differences.

The fan doesn't get loud unless the dGPU is activated, like when gaming. But loud is subjective...

The sound is OK, but no real bass. Kind of like a stereo clock radio. I have heard worse, and I have heard better. I do have the optimizer off. I mostly game with wireless headphones though, to keep noise down for others in my house.

It looks like the Nvidia 8 series will work in the laptop, but until they come out it is hard to tell. As you know some of the gpus are being refreshed now, so just wait a couple weeks.

I like LPC.

 

Clock radio? Are your referring to the integrated speakers? Or the headphone jack?

 

I have a P370SM, and one thing I'll say about the speakers is that I thought there was something wrong with my speakers at first, since loud seemed to be louder from the right side. Turns out that's due to the subwoofer being placed on the extreme right in the P370SM. Took me a week to get used to, and I still get the occasional "why does the sound seem unbalanced" moment.

 

I wondered about that when I saw that "subwoofer" in the pictures. I'm still really concerned about the headphones more than anything, the only thing I ever use speakers for is for the occasional "here, look at this" and when me and my SO occasionally watch movies, but shes got a laptop with pretty good speakers so that doesn't matter this would probably be too big for that anyway.

If the speakers are really THAT bad, I guess I could replace them with something better, depending on the type of connector on these speakers, meaning if I can find something else with the same connector and snip the cord from it instead of destroying the original speakers. (Id want to throw them back in if I sent it in for warranty.) I have had success with swapping speakers before, and it was quiet easy to do with a little research to find speakers that will fit, or use foam if they are smaller.
Bad speakers wont make disappoint me much, but a bad headphone jack will.

 

The problem is could the drivers handle it? Can you find ones that fit? Don't rely on replacing them.

 

I won't, but yes and yes. This is all on the hardware level, most laptops have just regular speakers with two wires, the only issue you'll really run into is
A. Not enough power to drive larger speakers to a satisfactory level
B. Too much power, which could just distort or blow out new speakers if you turn volume up.
Most laptops speakers are flat and tiny, as well as cheap and I guarantee I could find something to fit nice. Like I said I've done this before with a different laptop with very nice results. Unless the speakers are soldered which I highly doubt it's quite easy.

 

Well if you do have success then post it on here as it could be quite interesting.

 

Yes, I meant the built in speakers are not bassy. I haven't used the headphone jack. If I get a chance, I will try my Grados on it. But I am not sure if I can find the 1/8 adaptor, and I have other things I need to take care of first.

 

The actual Onkyo speakers on the P370SM are decent, it's the subwoofer that throws things off. Although I will say once you plug in headphones, the bass actually starts to come through. Another option is to disconnect the subwoofer from the mobo, since the power supply is right under the wifi card. I might actually give this a try sometime later.

I know people have complained about hearing static when plugged in, and I too have noticed that during the first 2 weeks of use. However the static mysteriously went away afterwards so I'm happy. (fingers crossed it never comes back)

 

Well if I am really unhappy with them and I do I certainly will.

That sure worries me cause I consider any headphone jack that puts out static/white noise broken. I'd bet that would make a difference if you unplugged it. If you do share the result.

Please do I would love that.

One question - is this the p170sm/p177sm motherboard?
I THINK I found a picture of the p170sm/p177sm motherboard. One peculiar thing I notice if this in indeed the motherboard, that the audio jacks are not on there, meaning they are connected by a cable. If this is NOT a ribbon cable, it may help to add your own shielding to the cable if white noise is present, as if the cable is not shielded quiet right it could be picking up interference from elsewhere, like electromagnetic interference from the fans, or crosstalk could be present.

 

As I said before, I've only ever heard any static when cold booting. Once the system is in the OS (and I've used both *nix and windows) there is no sign of static on my system.

 

I definitely hope my it'll be the same in my case. I just worry a lot, especially since it'll be my first clevo.

 

That's the sounds drivers kicking in and applying filtering to the output.

 

OK, tried the headphone jack on my P170SM. I had no problems, no static, no distortion, plenty of bass. I used my Grado SR-60's, and listened to Lorde Royals, sounded great. My hearing is not like a twenty year olds though...

I have no complaints for the headphone jack.

 

That is good to hear, thank you.

 

Yes, it was good to hear.