movies/video

Hi, I was wondering if owners of these notebooks could comment on watching movies or video. Without the typical screens from HP, Sony, Dell, Lenovo etc. and no LED backlight, how is video/screen quality on the Clevo/Sager notebooks?

I'm mostly asking about the M860TU series.

Is this laptop mostly for gaming? I read on the notebookcheck review site that the display quality isn't the best and not comparable to Dell and Apple screens.

Comments?

I do like the specs you get and the customization options on these notebooks which is why I'm asking about the screen.

Should I stay with considering Dell, Sony, Lenovo notebooks or include the Clevo clone?

 

The M860TU is marketed as a gaming notebook as it has top shelf hardware under the hood. For whatever purpose you have for your laptop, whether it be gaming, CAD, number crunching, it is what you make of it. But for the most part the majority of M860TU users would say gaming.

I have reread the Deviltech M860TU review from notebookcheck. The evaluation model they reviewed had the glossy WSXGA and the only aspects that they reported to be average was the brightness and the viewing angle. However, the contrast seemed to get their thumbs up.

Do keep in mind that their take on the M860TU's WSXGA screen is subjective; they even say it's their "subjective impression." In my mind, I'd say "subjective to what?" They do not make any comparison to other displays anywhere in the review, meaning that they did not get an Apple/Dell/Lenovo/etc laptop and put them next to the M860TU. If notebookcheck doesn't make that comparison, they lose credibility on their opinion of the display.

We do not know who manufactured the panel Deviltech puts in their M860TU. It could be an LG or a Samsung or something else with each manufacturers panel being different in quality from one another.

I am sure the screens on Clevo's are quality, maybe not on the level of Sony, but enjoyable.

It would be a wise choice to include the Clevo in your list. If you don't mind me asking, what Dell/Sony/Lenovo/etc models are you looking at in particular.

 

I do video editing on this laptop. Is that enough video/movie watching for your tastes?

In my opinion, its great. The only thing is it doesn't have an insane 5 hour battery life like other 15" (and weaker) models.

 

Yeah, I just watched some 720p movies (letting the graphic card do all the work through DXVA) and it looked terrific on this screen.

I've only had one laptop before (Zepto 6515WD) which also had a glossy screen and I definitely think this one is better. It's not as reflective as the Zepto screen,

 

Thanks for the input and info!

There's probably too many models I'm looking at, still. Anyway, here they are:

Lenovo Thinkpad T500 or T400 (not sure because T400 has best LED WXGA+ screen while T500 doesn't offer that configuration but has DisplayPort which T400 doesn't)
T400 – WXGA+ W/LED (1440x900)
T500 - WXGA W/LED (1280x800)

Sony Vaio VGN-Z590 (smaller form factor, 13.3”) but lacks Intel wifi 5300 – instead has 5100 which is said to be inferior to even previous generation agn 4965 or at least no better
VGN-Z590 – WXGA+ W/LED (1600x900)

Dell Studio XPS 13 (1340) – 13.3” HD WXGA LED is best LED screen available to this notebook (Dell wifi card 1515 half mini-card is best wifi card available – Intel wifi 5300 card not available!)
Studio XPS 13 - WXGA W/LED (1280x800)?

Dell Studio XPS 16 (1640) – 16” HD W/LED (1366x 768) or RGBLED (1920x1080) – offers Intel 5300 which is good! - ATI Radeon M86XT – 512 MB may be problematic mobile GPU in Linux? - notebook is receiving initial reviews of perhaps not being the best design in terms of heat?

Dell Precision M2400 – 14.1” WXGA+ LED (1440x900) (only DDR2 RAM, wanted DDR3)

Dell Precision M4400 – 15.4” WXGA+ AG LED (1440x900) – same issues as M2400 – probably too expensive, too

Dell Latitude E6500 – same/similar screen specs as Precision series – again, only DDR2 RAM

Bottom Line: Sony Vaio VGN-Z590 has best specs except lacks Intel wifi 5300

Dell Studio XPS 16 is 2nd but a bit large and maybe heavy? But, RGBLED screen might be decent and overall, has good specs. Possible drawback and con: reports of heating problems

Lenovo Thinkpads have decent specs but screen quality might not be as good as others and Thinkpads being 'business' machines usually lack a digital video interface

Sager/Clevo M860TU - How would you say the Clevo compares? ????

 

How is the brightness on the M860TU? Contrast? The quality of the blacks?

Is the screen like LCD monitor screens?

 

Is there a way to quantify these things (with a test app or something) or do we only have my subjective opinion to go on?

Right now I'm working on a 19" LCD screen (bought back in 2005/2006) and the quality isn't as crisp and clear as on the laptop. This is very noticable. However, I'm using the DVI-VGA adapter that came with my purchase so I'm not sure what effect that has on image quality.

Yesterday I hooked it up through HDMI to a Sony 720p HD set and was very pleased with the quality. Fellt super crisp so I watched a movie and played Oblivion for a while

Quality of blacks feels very good, and so does contrast and brightness, although I haven't played around in full brightness on this thing yet. I wish I could give you some objective measurements but not sure how.

 

Sorry for the slight sidetrack but can I ask you which software you use that supports DXVA and if you would recommend it. Seem to be very limited options for it at the moment...

 

Sure, I used Media Player Classic - Home Cinema Edition. Once I realized I had to turn off the Matroska filter it worked flawlessly, even with subtitles. No extra codecs needed. Processor load hovers around 5-6% throughout the movie

However, this is the only software with DXVA support I've tried. Since it worked to my satisfaction I havent bothered looking at any alternatives. I would recommend it.

 

Comparing the laptop's screen to an LCD monitor is useful and relevant! I watch movies on LCD monitors so saying the laptop screen's quality picture is better does mean something to me. Thanks.

But, when you hook it up to a TV, that doesn't mean anything significant as far as I know. I mean, that is an entirely different situation and not related. It would be useful if I was going to do that and you never know, I might someday but I am comparing the laptop screen, period.

It would be good if the screen is better or as good as the best lcd monitors on the market because if I can watch movies on these, then the laptop's screen will be fine and it allows me to consider the Clevos with confidence but makes it even more confusing by adding further options!

 

It's the only freeware one I know of but haven't yet tried it (talking desktop here.) Recently bought myself a HD3650 AGP but not installed it, which I'm planning on early next week with a fresh XP install. Was hoping it was MPC-HC as didn't know how well it worked. The only other one I know of is PowerDVD and you have to pay for that. Will be giving it a try soon and hopefully it will make my system capable of playing 1080P

 

You need *special* permission to sidetrack and I only have the authority to grant it.

Kidding...