Spoiling the new midrange models (1050Ti) party...

After some extensive googling I found information about the new Clevo midrange series. So I thought I spoil the announcement party... It looks like the previous midrange models (N150 and N170) will be replaced by totally new models, namely the N850HK1 (15") and the N870HK1 (17").

The N850HK1 (found here) looks identical to the recently announced Gigabyte Sabre 15:


This picture in the Spoiler Tag DOES NOT apply any longer, since it was an early model. I just leave it there, so it makes sense with what I wrote back then. The actual model features 2 separated heat pipes, which do not overlap anymore.

Spoiler: Spoiler

On another website I even found a picture of the insides in the comments section. Interesting cooling solution. The heatpipe arrangement looks similar to the Acer VX5 (Notebookcheck said in a preview of the Acer, that the machine kept quite silent under load. So despite the cooling solution looking minimalistic it might be better than expected).

The N870HK1 (found here) I haven't seen it before:


Both feature the latest 7700HQ and the GTX 1050 Ti. Both have no optical drive anymore (which is good). Both only require a 120W Adapter. A first price point can be found here which is approximately 1.249€ for the 15 incher and 1.309€ for the 17 incher.

Personal opinion:
Not my taste. They look too aggressive and edged, and also kinda... I don't know... cheap... and at the same time too pricey (especially if Dell Inspiron with 1050 Ti comes at 800-1000$). In comparison the P650/P670 look like masterpieces inside and outside. Therefore my biggest gripe is, that the 1050 Ti gtx does not come in the P650 chassis. Would have been perfect, even for the price above. Now I'm not sure what to buy, because going for the P650 means a 1060 gtx, which is overkill for my purpose, about 300€ more (and not to forget the 1kg heavy 200W power brick)...

Edit: I guess the cat is out of the bag, since PCSpecialist also lists them under: Optimus VIII 15.6 / Optimus VIII 17.3 for a more reasonable price around 1.000-1.100€.

 

According to the configuration they're also known as N850HJ (the J instead of K should mean 1050 instead of 1050 ti)

Anyway, for that price before Xmas you could even find 1060 laptops. Now they made what likely will be another mediocre model ("multimedia" clevo notebooks so far usually had not impressive screens, awful speakers, not great temps/noise) for a ridiculous price, while all major brands are announcing 1050 models for less than 1000 bucks.

Disappointing.

 

It's a bit early to be jumping to conclusions like that.

 

Any news about the 11" - 13" segment.

Traditionally Clevo has done nice things there with Alienware as the only competitor.

 

Do you know if the chassis is plastic?
What is the equivalent of the P650 on PC Specialist website?

 

My guess is full-plastic-jacket, but I honestly don't know. If it was metal, it would surely be mentioned on some of the reseller websites or in the specs as a "feature". I wish there was a P650/P670 equivalent, but haven't seen any on any Clevo reseller website yet. Not sure, if it's coming or not. Maybe some reseller can tell us?

@Alien69 yeah, the Clevo midrange series has always felt like an unloved step-child.

 

Looking at the moulding lines in those pictures...

 

Clevo has now updated the entertainment series on their website (only the 15 inchers for now). They also cleaned up most of the old entries, lol...looks kinda empty now. Interestingly they also show another 15" model, namely the N855 (again with 1050/Ti) http://www.clevo.com.tw/clevo_prodetail.asp?id=1003&lang=en



The shape looks similar to the N170 or P640. The impregnation on the cover panel reminds me of old Alienware laptops, though more subtle. Not a fan of the corner design, but I like it more than the N850. I wonder if the cooling solution looks as "Frankenstein" as in the N850... let's hope not.
Besides...why can't I enlarge the pictures on the Clevo website...?

 

I would care more how it performs than it looks cooling wise

 

Yeah, that's correct. And I really do wonder how the cooling / fan performs. But it doesn't change the impression of a Frankenstein patchwork. I'll try to explain why.

First of all, it seems strange that the heatpipes have such a long way to go, and bend multiple times. They seem almost double the length in comparison to the heatpipes in the P650. Also it's only 1 heatpipe instead of 2 or 3 combined heatpipes. Can a single heatpipe cool enough? I have my doubts (especially when looking at that picture from the previous N150). Sure it will work somehow, but the question is at what noiselevel...

Next thing is, that both 15 inchers have 1 fan outlet on the back and 1 on the side. Hereby I wonder, why there is a fan outlet to the side. Especially the right side. This is exactly where the mousehand is placed. Whose "genius" idea was that? After all these years it should be known by any notebook manufacturer, that this is not good. Why didn't they put all fan outlets to the backside?

And then the strange motherboard layout... why didn't they make a layout like this from the N550RC.
I thought such a layout would be more of a "standard" by now:
- upper half: mainboard, fan outlets to the back
- lower half: battery, 2,5" SSD/HDD slot

Nope... they make a layout which looks totally mixed up.
Even worse, this layout only allows a small cramped space for the battery. This makes no sense. If they had chosen the more standardized layout, the battery had plenty of space (which would allow longerlasting batteries), both fan outlets would aim to the back, and even the heatpipe would be shorter. Gaaawd... it makes me... facepalm.

Another one: why do they build in 2 different types of fans (yeah the fan blades are different on each fan). Different fans mean different noise signatures, which means an additional annoyance factor. Why???

And another one: one of the heatpipes is close to the battery, the other one close to the HDD/SSD. Too much heat is neither good for HDD/SSD nor battery. A stupid solution caused again by the Franken-Layout. It wouldn't happen in the other layout.

Meanwhile I'm guessing that the N850 and N855 share identical motherboards. How else can both be available in multiple "configurations"? One can choose a random combination of 940MX/950M/1050/1050Ti/7100H/7300HQ/7700HQ. I doubt, Clevo gives each one a separate design. They just produce the same board with different configurations. Kinda fits to Frankenstein... do you prefer him with claws? Red glowing eyes? A hairy tail maybe?

No, seriously... the configuration options are nice at least.

Not everything is bad, and I might even be wrong in some aspects. For example, I welcome the removal of the annoying optical drive, less weight, possible easy maintenance, unobtrusive outer design, no obnoxious branding, possible RGB backlighted keyboard etc. And these are points which can make it a preferred choice in comparison to Asus GL553, MSI GP62, Dell Inspiron, Lenovo Legion, HP Omen, Acer VX5 etc. So I'd personally still prefer Frankenstein over a range of other laptops. Though not sure if I prefer Frankenstein over a P650x...

 

More pictures in a chinese forum:
N857HK1: http://www.tieba.com/p/4929110981?pn=1

The N857HK1 obviously has obnoxious red patterns all over it. That makes it not much of a choice over Asus with their orange lines and obnoxious "Republic of Gamers" text. Besides I'm not the only one turned off by the internal structure... quoting translation from the forum:

More pictures of the N850HK1 including a short review for a configuration with 7700HQ+1050Ti: https://kknews.cc/digital/6k3v9lm.html I took some guesses with Bing translation:

Temperatures seem to be okay-ish:
League of Legends: CPU 77°C, GPU: ??? not sure... there is some text about "slightly higher" so about 80°?
Overwatch: CPU 61°C, GPU: 60°C

A translation of the summary by Bing:

Almost as expected it seems to be noisy. Though not sure if this applies only to gaming or standard usage. And the thing about "roast" doesn't sound good. And the screen quality seems to lack as well. In all these aspects the P650 series seems to be much better. That last picture on the review with the facepalming bears... doesn't look very satisfying.

 

those pipe look so horrible :/

 

They do. But meanwhile I found out it's not the only Frankenstein around. For example the MSI GP62M has a horrible layout too: while its optical drive was removed, you can see they just put in the same motherboard as in the GE-series (which contains an optical drive). Now you got a huge empty space inside the laptop, just for nothing. It also has a ridiculous small space for the battery, and a bad position between the heat pipes. Besides the heatpipes are also very long, making multiple turns. Instead of making a new layout, using the free space reasonably, they just slammed together the same pile of... and threw it on the market again. In fact that's even worse than this Clevo N850. If I were forced to buy one of the two models, I'd take the lesser evil Clevo Frankenstein.

 

Styling can vary by region and by reseller don't forget.

 

True, I'm sure at least some resellers use subtle styling. Not so much the next one, but it shows pictures for the N855 model ( click for more).


There's an interesting detail in the description, which says "Shell material: Magnalium" (Wiki says, that's an aluminium alloy with magnesium and small amounts of nickel and tin). So no full plastic shell? Wonder if it's true. I assume the brighter parts are made of Magnalium and the black parts of plastic (similar to how the MSI-GE Series uses aluminum on the lid and top of the base). However, Clevo still writes "Painting" only on their own website...

Edit: investigating other products on the same page it seems that this specific material only applies to "ThunderRobot" products. Probably a gamer-specific brand, which can tax more because of it (and most likely only available in few countries).

 

According to the picture in the link, it seems the highest temp the GPU got is 50°C, with an average temp of 46°C, shown in the third picture with the graph. For Overwatch, the GPU average temp is 65°C, with the peak temp at 78°C.

 

Clevo seems to reboot their W650 series again with the W651KK1 and the 1050Ti http://www.clevo.com.tw/clevo_prodetail.asp?id=1010&lang=en
The advantage of these models is - iirc - that you only need to remove 2 screws and can access all inner components.

 

Pretty much. 2 screws and the panel slides off. RAM, CPU, GPU, HDD, m.2, and WLAN are all right there, as well as a few cables most other systems hide under the top case assembly.

Assuming they haven't changed this: This is one of the only designs from Clevo that has the DC jack seated in a harness independent of the main board. Very convenient on the rare occasion it needs replaced.

 

Btw. do you know if this W651KK1 still has an optical drive? There is nothing mentioned about a Caddy bay or ODD. In comparison the W650RZ1 (which is under "Mobility" section) still has it explicitely listed.

 

Wow, found a picture of the insides of the W650KK. Source: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4944464780 (man, I love this chinese website)

I guess my question about the CD drive is answered. There is none anymore (not that I needed one anyways). Vents are both to the sides. Heatpipes look better than in the N850. Shorter and less bent. And there is even a heatpipe pair (though I don't know if for CPU or GPU?). The heatpipes also look more "integrated" into the fan grill (while in the N850 they seem to be glued on top of the grill). Also the battery is farther away from the heatpipes and better placed. All this, and the less aggressive outer chassis (compared to the N850), combined with the easy maintenance (though I'm not sure it's still only 2 screws)... makes it definitely a candidate to keep the eyes on.

 

wow! LGA 1151 1050ti laptop?

 

did you notice a full desktop CPU in there?

 

If you look at the picture he posted today, you can see the retention arm under the heatsink for the CPU. So it is definitely socketed.

 

Nice. I didn't realize the CPU was socketed. But now I see the retention arm.

If they get it done in this notebook, why don't they do it in models like P650/P670? They are sometimes delivered in a 3cm chassis, so there's plenty of space. Considering the abysmal heat of the CPU compared to the GPU, we could choose then a lower end CPU instead of a high end. Sad, that the W650 model is a pure plastic bomb chassis... it's like the manufacturers never pair all good things with all good features. Always something sucky with something good.

Maybe my concern is negligible, because we can undervolt/underclock high end CPUs in the P650/P670 with XTU anyways. Or maybe not, because we usually pay 200$ more for an integrated high end CPU (e.g. 6700HQ), which we then need to undervolt/underclock unto a point where it has the same coolness and performance like e.g. 6300HQ, but would have been cheaper to buy in the first place... if it had a socketed CPU.

 

Level51 made a short video about the laptop


(btw, its in Thai, won't be a big problem right?)

 

Yeap, they are using the low power CPUs with desktop socket, the i7,i5-7xxxT series. Thy are slightly less powerful than the laptop versions but they also consume less power 35W vs 45W.
Also the internal design looks very good, this will be a nice laptop. If they continue the same trend with the P series they will own the enthusiast market.

 

It should probably be noted, that the photo of the inside of the Clevo N850 (first post in this thread) might be wrong. Most newer photos show that the heaptpipes are *separated* - regardless of the configuration (7700hq/7300hq/1050ti/1050). No heatpipe bridge between cpu and gpu. Looks like a "yin yang" now, and easier to clean and repaste.

Opinions in the forums at tieba.baidu are still varying about the cooling... some show temperatures at 76°C, others up to 86°C, so not sure if good or not.

Also does anyone know if the fans can be controlled by the user?... a Clevo Control Center?

Besides, if someone is looking for a "lightweight" laptop... while the Clevo N850 has only 2.3kg - this only applies to the version with the 47wh battery. However it's often sold with a 62wh battery and then it's weight is approximately 2.4 - 2.5kg. That's not much different to a P650SE/RE, which weighs almost the same, has the same battery, and the same performance. Just for consideration.

 

got my hands on both n850hk1 and n870hk1 models. and i am really digging into them

the stock n870hk AAS LCD is awesome, i may even prefer it to LG IPS one

17.3" version also has metallic LCD backlid which is quite fancy.

the fans profiles are nice, not loud at all, temps stick at 65-68C after repasting with Gelid extreme,
almost silent in idle btw.

it does get quite hot in the middle of the keyboard, but WASD keys are quite cool.

 

i am interested in possibly getting n850hk or maybe p640... can you give us more info on how n850hk1 feels?

For people writing how it is small difference over p650 when you load n850 with large ssd - thing is that there is at least €300 difference, and i dont plan to game too much on it, basically it will be work laptop with 7700hq.

I want larger battery inside too... too bad 9560 is so freaking expensive.

 

Nice! I'm interested in the bigger brother too.
Could you also confirm if it is capable of a UHD screen? (the eDP connector thingy)

 

yes, UHD is an option with appropriate 40pin cable.

 

i'd say p870hk1 build is a bit over p850hk1(which is quite nice as well).

both feel solid and look really nice, both have same motherboard and same cooling system, with exception of n87 version to have a longer heat pipe for the GPU, also 17.3 version does seem to run a bit cooler.

there is a drawback in the air uptake construction as there are no air uptake under the fans, so with some modding the laptop could be much cooler as well.

also the built in speaker might benefit from some volume, but after installing SB cinema software it became more audible and crisp.

if you go for 15.6 - be sure to skip the TN LCD which they sell as default from factory as this is probably the most horrible FHD screen i have seen in years!

with some undervolting tweaking 1050ti boost itself to ~1800mhz and holds 8000mhz stock OC on the memory easily.

in case you get a barebone - be sure to take out all the HDD paddng or you might damage your HDD.

 

Someone testet here the Clevo N855 and while gaming with automated FanProfile he gets 46db and on maximum Fan Profile he gets 50db.

Andrew Van https://www.youtube.com/user/Eternal2007/videos testet the HP Omen and the Dell Inspiron 15 7000, and he got for the HP Omen max 47db and for the Dell Inspiron 48DB.

But as you guys already mentioned, the mainboard layout seems really chaotic. I think it is because they wanted a swapable battery, thats why they couldnt let the fans face to the back. If you ask me they should have ditched the swapable battery. The W650 seems for me to be a better one, but one question: It has a 65W CPU. I wonder if this mean extremily loud noises?

I think I'am going to buy a W650 or N850.

 

Is it compatible with true UHD screens? The LG and Samsung ones are PenTile not-true-UHD, and I'm a bit disappointed to see some of these models still using those ones (Eluktronics N850HK1 4K model uses one).

The true 4K panels are made by Sharp, and now BOE. Sharp uses a narrower-pitch 40-pin connector for all (or most?) of their panels (and also it seems different mounting configurations), and I don't know if the BOE 4K panel (Spectre x360 2017) is even available in a variant not glued to a front glass panel.

 

i think you should only consider Db comparison when done under same conditions: same environment, same person testing, same equipment etc.

from my personal experiense n85/87 series is not what you can call loud at all! even with max fan profile. it's for sure not louder than p17/p15/p37 series was.

 

I am interested in the N850HK1 model, I heard a lot about overheating and throttling, is so bad the cooling system?

Edit: I will buy this model, I was thinking of making some small holes in the chassis, right where the coolers are. But I really do not want to deal with this because it reduces the life time, should I buy it?

 

Gaming loads should be no issue at all.

 

Sounds good, I'll buy it anyway, for that price and the hardware inside.

Just wondering because I read in Clevo's Razer Blade / Aero 14 answer

That worried me a little

 

Pre-prod samples can have all sorts of issues and the power consumption of the 1050ti should not be miles from the 1050.

 

Post edited - stay tuned for update soon!

 

Thank you, it is very useful information.

I have one more doubt if you can satisfy me. I'm in a difficult situation but I'm going to buy it because I will not have another chance (or wait a year again). The redesign of the cooling system will be all completely or only the heatpipes? If it were the heatpipes only, for the next year I would buy the them separately, otherwise I would do some cooling mods.

 

There's no redesign of the chassis for the HK1 due.

 

@XMG Do you know what Clevo was thinking when they designed this cooling system? It really looks horrendous overall:
1. Long, small, bent heatpipes
2. Small fans (-> high pitch noises)
3. no ventilation vents under the fans
4. one fan points to the right where your hand sits

If you ask me its 3 Steps backwards comparing with the last model (XMG A506/A516), where both fans were pointing to the back and each fan was connected to two short heatsinks. And if you say on the HK1 model the CPU throttels: Why shouldn't the CPU also throttle on HJ1 (with nvidia 1050)? The heatpipes are completely seperated, I dont know why a slower GPU should have any (big) influence into the cooling of the CPU. Will the HJ1 also get a new HS/HP design?

In my opinion Clevo designed the cooling system heavily around the removable battery. I donk think this was a good choice. If you compare the cooling system to the Acer VX15 for example http://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_P1030532_cddb284fd7.jpg , the N850 cooling system looks in comparison like a bad joke to be honest.

I will wait however and see how they change the cooling system but I doubt Clevo can make much of a difference, the mainboard layout is just too screwed up because of the placement of the battery. I dont think there is any space for a bigger fan and additional heatpipes.

 

when i made that Valley run with some OC with MSI afterburner - my temp did not reach above 72C

on the CPU with XTU stress test - after 30minutes - it was 78-80C fluctuating .

 

definetly not the issue, especially consider how much overvolted Pascal cards are

 

Wow seriously that is awesome, thanks for the info.

 

i do had to lap 2 CPU heatsinks from the last 15pcs of HK1 models i have sold, cause it they were going over the 85C mark close to 90.

really curious to see that cooling improvement Clevo made at the end of the month! another heatpipe would really o the magic for the CPU at least.

 

Sorry, to be a little clearer, then the 15 "model will suffer from overheating?
So Valley's and XTU's results are from another model ?

 

thats from n870hk - n85/87 have the same cooling on CPU. but n870hk1 has a longer GPU pipe.

to answer your question - N85 runs just a bit more hot, around + 1C due to smaller casing.

to be honest - i am always more comfortable with CPU not reaching 80C under XTU stress, but thats just me.