W230ST - The 13" We've been waiting for!?

Full agree. I have been going back and forth with the Razer 14 and this. In the end, both weigh about the same and that matters to me more than the dimensions. The W230st has a lot more to offer other than thinness. Fine by me to game at 1366 x 768 or 1600 x 900 at high settings on the laptop screen. Only downside is when I plug it to a TV or monitor.

Quick question, are the new Crucial M5 SSDs any good? I've read reviews but would prefer someone's opinion of them. It's a toss up between this and the Samsung 840. Thanks.

 

I plan on running at 1280x720. With such a high pixel density you are not likely to notice any "jaggies" and even so 2xAA will likely take care of that with minimal FPS penalty.

 

Same I would rather run maximum 900p instead 1080p

unless it is a IPS PANEL

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/504639-13-1600-x-900-screen-vs-1920-x-1080-how-key.html

This thread here has a lot of people pointing out that 1920x1080 is not a very optimal experience with a 13" screen size. I'm at a small crossroads now where I'd prefer the 1080p screen for workspace, but 900p for gaming. I'd probably go with the 1080p setting anyway, simply because you always scale down your resolution but you can never scale up. It's not like I enjoy having money anyway ;p

 

...or native 1080p is absolutely fine depending on who you listen to in that thread

I guess the test is to just zoom out on some of your favourite webpages, like for me if I zoom out to 75% (15.6" 1080p) all the text is still perfectly readable, although it's a bit more jagged than it would be on the 13.3" and the simulated dpi value is more like 176dpi which is about 10 more than 13.3"@1080p. If you're using a 17" monitor you'd have to go to 73% zoom or something, but 75 will do.

 

It's all about quality of the screen for me. If the 1600x900 is a sharp, crisp, display I may consider it, otherwise usually the smaller 1080p screens are the cream of the crop. I'm hoping one of the resellers or builders will share them side by side with us (ahem, mythlogic )

 

What's the battery capacity in the w230st?

 

Any updated news whether this is coming out july or ?

 

do you guys know if its going to have an easy access to HD, ram and gpu just by taking the cover off like in w110er?

 

Keep an eye out at the first post here. I'm doing my best to keep it up to date with the latest information.

Battery is 62WHr.

Latest release date we know of is "End of July" which to me means after July 15.

It hasn't been confirmed but with Clevo it will likely be easily upgradeable.

 

I almost can't take the pressure anymore. I was this close to P177SM with a 770 and now the 13" portability has almost entirely seduced me. I would like to see a crude stop-motion film of one of these enthusiastically munching Mac Book Pros to classical music. In black and white.

 

i rather run 1080p without AA than 720p with AA, AA put too much stress on the GPU

 

1080p without AA will put more stress on the GPU than 720p with AA.

 

From Horize forum more FAQ of W230ST

1. When is the first shipment of Metabox W230ST arriving?
Answer: First shipment date is due on approximately 12th to 15th July.

2. How is the quality of the Keyboard?

Answer: The keyboard is a chiclet style, backlit keyboard. There is no numpad. The backlit keyboard illuminates in white and has a very nice rubberised, matte texture to it.
If anyone is familiar with the G series backlit keyboard from ASUS, it is near identical to those. There is no flex in the keyboard when typing, so it is very firm.
The keys provide a nice subtle click for feedback when pressed,
so overall a very impressive keyboard, on par with the best out there.

3. How is the quality of the Touchpad?

Answer: The touchpad is precise. There is no lag or delay, the far edges of the touchpad recognise input too.
The mouse buttons offer a nice click feedback when pressed, without sounding tinny, its more of a softer click.

4. How much noise do the fans generate and what are the system temperatures?

Answer: The W230ST features one central fan that cools both CPU and GPU (Please see photo link) http://www.metabox.com.au/downloads/W230ST_Base_Opened.jpg
Surprisingly, under idle conditions, when the GPU is not under load, the fan operates very quietly. In a normal office environment it would not be audible.
Under load, as expected the fans will spin up and produce a similar amount of noise to any laptop with this type of graphics power.
For those of you familiar with older generation Clevos, it is similar to the W350ET or W370ET when under load in noise audibility.

5. How many mSATA sockets does it have and total hard drive bays?

Answer: The W230ST features a total of two mSATA sockets and one regular 9.5mm hard drive bay.
You can configure a total of three separate storage drives which include the mSATA drives.

6. Is there an optical Drive Bay?

Answer: There are only external optical drive options. There are the external DVD or Blu-ray Combo drives as an option but Metabox will be adding an external Blu-ray Writer to their range soon.

7. How are the quality of the speakers?

Answer: Interestingly the speakers are loud and very audible, which is good for a laptop of this size.
But as one would expect with a 13.3" laptop the W230ST doesn't offer very good bass range.

8. How easy is it to access the mSATA and hard drive bays?

Answer: The two mSATA sockets and one hard drive bay are accessed by removing one large panel on the base of the laptop. (Please see photo link) http://www.metabox.com.au/downloads/W230ST_Base_Opened.jpg

9. What is the battery life?

Answer: Initial tests have shown the W230ST battery to provide approximately 4 hours of battery life on "Power Saver" mode when on idle (In windows, no sleep).
Metabox are performing more tests to verify further results. The battery is the 6-cell battery for this model 62.16WH

10. Will Metabox be carrying a lower voltage processor since it is a smaller form factor?

Answer: Yes, the 4702MQ 37W processor has been introduced to the range for those wanting better battery performance. Now available as an optional upgrade

11. How is the build quality and what materials is the laptop made of?

Answer: The top cover of the W230ST is made of a black rubberised finish (Same finish found on the Prime P157SM etc).
The bezel trim surrounding the LED screen is made of a plastic matte dark silver paint and the dark silver paint continues through to the palm rest, touchpad and keyboard surrounds of the case. (Similar finish found on the Metabox Alpha W350ST and W370ST models)
The bottom of the laptop is made of very tough black plastic, which encases part of the sides of the laptop.
The laptop doesn't have any flex, its very rigid and even the 13.3" panel feels very solid when swivelling open and shut. (We have more pictures available on our W230ST page, click on the picture to enlarge) as well as in due time Metabox will have the model on their website.

12. Will Metabox be carrying Intel new generation Dual Band Wireless cards for W230ST?

Answer: Yes, Metabox have made all the 7260 wireless options available and now uploaded.

13. What is the size of the power adapter?

Answer: The power adapters exact measurements are 14.6 cm x 7.3 cm x 2.5 cm.
The weight is 0.40 Kg.

14. What is the maximum amount of memory?

Answer: The current maximum memory on the W230ST is 16GB memory.
Technical Specifications – http://www.metabox.com.au/downloads/Metabox_Prime_W230ST_Technical.pdf

15. Display is FHD, but any other details available? – gamut, colour accuracy etc

I have confirmed with Metabox that the 13.3" Panel is a Chi Mei Innolux N133HSE-EA1
Same type of IPS panel found in the ASUS Zenbook and a great review done by
notebook check which indicates that it has excellent colour reproduction.

Details are in the link below:
Review Asus Zenbook UX32VD Ultrabook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

FAQ for W230ST reports around 4hrs battery life http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2120032

ah same as what LightningPL posted

 

Yeah 4hrs on battery it's not so long but acceptable.

FHD matte Display as it is written is great, exactly that same was installed in Asus Zenbook, and what about HD+ ? Second thing are speakers, they are loud and audible but no bass. I think speakers are very similar with W110ER speakers.

 

zenbook ips panel is really good, I am definitely going to have to go for that now .

 

This site strangely says it's a tn panel, not ips.
led panel 13.3 inch 1920*1080 N133HSE-EA1, View led panel, CHIMEI Product Details from Shenzhen Richshine Electronics Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com

 

Its IPS here, Exact LCD Screen N133HSE EA1 for Asus Laptop LED WUXGA IPS 13 3" New Thin | eBay

 

so would that mean that w230st has an edp port? from what I understand this panel uses 30 pin edp interface.

 

Now that's one heckuva panel, I was worried I'd have to take a step down from the IPS panel in my W550EU but nope, beats it in every respect. Shame about the battery life though, I hope that gets better with driver and bios updates or heck an extended battery (the 8 cell extended was a typo, there's only 6 cell normal).

I guess now we see why sellers were saying "it's gonna be expensive", loads of top end goodies

 

AWESOME LightningPL!

Are you sure though that it's two mSATA as original leaked specs indicated one mSATA and a mPCI-e. They have the same interface, just wired differently.

 

I find the battery life is still one of clevos worrisome flaws, 4h while idling, thats not really good actually. They need to get better engineers 62wh/4 = 15.5w that it consumes on idle, thats supposed to be when on light load

its a very mobile system afterall, it needs battery life

 

What is the Power Supply Wattage?

And I know the W110ER started with a 4hr battery life, and updated EC and BIOS helped it a bit, out to 5 hours for me at least. Hopefully there was something not considered in the testing. Maybe as simple (and stupid) as not turning off the keyboard backlight. I did that once while running a battery test and then realized, oh $!%!@%.

 

HTWingNut yes I'm 100% sure that W230ST have 2x mSATA and mPCI-e. I will tell you more about W230ST today or tomorrow when I will have it in my hands.
I'll test this little beast deeply

 

Awesome. How did you manage to get ahold of one so soon?

Can you also check for ghosting. Visit this site: http://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/KeyboardGhostingDemo.mspx

And then check W+E + Z,X,C or space bar if they show or not.

Also Tab+Q + E,R,T,Y,U,I,O


THanks.

 

I've some connections to get it faster than normal order will proceed
For sure I'll test ghosting and any other high under load tests. I'll post more info later.

 

Lighting, - which panel did you go for?

 

FullHD 1920x1080 probably CHIMEI INNOLUX N133HSE-EA1 (to be confirmed).

 

I would REALLY like a ghosting test also. Thanks

 

for me it doesnt make sense to have 2 mobos, or actually have 1 msata and 1 mpcie (for sata express), since m.2 is physically different from msata, i.e. mpcie

so its either msata or m.2 all around or clevo doesnt make sense and would avoid you to use a raid setup

 

Looking forward to the testing. Any comments on the fan noise at load would be very helpful for me. Thanks LPL!

 

Please could you tell us the system's temp (particularly the cpu and gpu) under load? Does it get hot like the w11?

 

I'm curious as well. I'm afraid of that single fan... Acer went from 2 to 1 fan in the transition from the 3820 to the 3830 and screwed it up...

 

Same question about heat.

Also, is the graphics Optimus or the display is wired to discrete GPU or it is switchable in BIOS?

If it was Optimus or it is switchable to integrated GPU via BIOS, I would expect a much longer battery life in case of need.

 

It's Optimus, software switching only.

 

need to know if i can raid msaa slots else ill have to look for a 480gb and get maybe a 1tb in the main drive as storage.

 

Someone with an Asus G750JW overclocked his GTX 765M to a quite high memory clock.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4700HQ,ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. G750JW
2950 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M(1x) and Intel Core i7-4700HQ
Graphics Score 3137
Core Clock = ?MHz , Memory Clock = 3142MHz (1571MHz(100.5GB/s) vs 1000MHz(64GB/s) stock)

Stock GTX 765M Graphics Score = 24xx-25xx

Stock GTX 770M Graphics Score = 33xx

Closing on the GTX 770M. Not bad.

 

Hope the cooling on this system is good. Don't want it to be idling like the W110ER/NP6110 at stock

 

Sweet. Although I doubt you can overclock the W230ST with the limited power supply and the compacted size without overheating or throttling. But I have high hopes for its design, only time will tell if I'm right... or LightningPL.

 

nah, with calibre41's heatsink pimpin CNC abilities and meaker's talent at modding oversized psus for clevos we should be all set to OC the crap outta this sweet 13 incher add to that svl7 vbios and prema unlocked bios/EC and we can definitely stay positive

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

ps: damn, gotta love this community! :thumbup:

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I was just thinking the same thing, you guys all rock!

 

Hi Guys,

I just ordered a Pulse 14 for work, but this is the exact portability I needed without any sacrifice of specs. Any idea when any US resellers will start pre-orders? Or are there any international ones that ship to the US doing so already?

Thanks!

 

Derek you know what would make xoticpc even more awesome??

Taking my money from me and sending me one of these little monsters.

 

Feel free to send me whatever money you want!

 

OK I spent few hours with W230ST, here are my first impressions:

I can confirm that 13.3" Full HD display panel is a Chi Mei Innolux N133HSE-EA1 (same type of IPS panel found in the ASUS Zenbook), this display have great brightness, colours and very wide angles. More information about this display you can find in this review: Review Asus Zenbook UX32VD Ultrabook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Under IDLE and surfing web, fan is not spinning at all, practically with SSD it's inaudible. Temps are about 45-53C. But under heavy load fan is audible and quite a little noisy.

Keyboard is great, keys are very comfortable and does not bend during typing. Surface of every key is covered with soft rubber.There are also 2 levels of intensivity of white backlight.

External cover is coated with a soft rubber same material like cover in P370EM and P150EM also very good impressions. I like design of this little beast it's very stylish and has a soul of good piece of hardware.

 

Looks pretty sweet to me! Thanks for the write up

 

Also I can finally confirm 2xmSATA in RAID. I couldn't test this option because temporary I don't have 2xmSATA SSD modules but there is an option in BIOS to enable RAID mode.



Few pics from inside W230ST:



Few benchmarks 3DMark11:

Stock thermal paste and default core and memory GPU (797/2004):


After applying MX4 thermalpaste:


Overclocking GPU - Core 857Mhz Memory: 2554


Overclocking GPU - Core 882Mhz Memory: 2604 - detected few artifacts during benchmark


Battery should last for 4 hours during surfing over internet and easy works. I ran few games on battery and it's drain to 0% in approximatelly 85 minutes.

 

cool stuff, in notebook check the sound emissions of the w350et is maximum 49db under "unrealisitc load" mentioning the w370et as similar. but in that review it states its maximum to be 46db which i assume is meant as there "unrealsitic load" where i also had it at 40db load so which statement is more accurate? does software like furmark really stress system more so than gaming to create more noise?

lastly how is the mouse buttons. is it a loud click? like some of those ridiculosly loud clunky click buttons or a soft click ?

thanks. wish i had that bl keyboard now. had to sit up in the dark to type this