**OFFICIAL W765CUH/NP7652 Owners Lounge**

I am installing Adobe Premiere and Photoshop right now. I am going to render some videos that I have been taking so I can see performance.

As for multitasking, you will not have a problem having 30 browsers open. Core i5 is the successor to Core 2 Duo and those chips did that just fine. They aren't Celerons

 

Here are some benchmarks for you all. They are based on my hardware config with no optimizations to Windows 7 or overclocking.

HD Tune
Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive
http://www.intravising.com/NP7652/hd-tune-1.png

3DMark 06
http://www.intravising.com/NP7652/3dmark-1.png

Score: 3366

PCMark 05
http://www.intravising.com/NP7652/pcmark-1.png

Score: 6541

Windows Experience Index (WEI)
http://www.intravising.com/NP7652/wei-1.png
http://www.intravising.com/NP7652/wei-2.png

Score: 4.2

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4570.13885.0.html

Slightly below average for the 3DMark but within range, Sager(Clevo) isn't limiting it by any means.

 

Also remember that the 4570 in this notebook is using DDR2 which is a 600 MHz difference from the DDR3. I am told there is a noticable performance increase between the two so I am saddened that Clevo gave us the DDR2 version.

 

I have been running Prime95 the last 5 hours to really try and stress the CPU and test how well the temps are and Core #0 has peaked at 84c and Core #2 peaked at 89c. This is with Sager Thermal Compound. Also keep in mind out of everything I have done with my notebook for "real life" stuff the temps have only reached 74c/77c.

 

I see on your WEI screenprint it says 3.86GB usable memory out of 4GB. I recall something on Vista about that but thought it was fixed in Win7. Some type of bug in reporting the true amount?? I cant remember what the deal is. Or is there some type of actual limitation even though you are running 64bit.
Anyone have any ideas?

-K

 

The .14 is reserved for the OS. The OS itself can use more, but the .14 is the bare minimum that it wants to operate.

 

Thanks for all the quick answers! You've given me much to think about.

+1 Rep

 

Got it.
Thanks for all the info!

-K

 

Thank you. I guess they charge more b/c they install Linux on it. I was <EDIT: not> going to buy from them it is just nice to know that it is possible.

 

So afitzwater, after looking over your video review and some of the stuff that you've posted, do you think that you would buy the Sager again? To me, it seems like there are a lot of small little quirks about it, like the hinge being a bit loose below 30 degrees, maybe some specific things on the keyboard, and such. But are those just minor annoyances when compared with how you feel the machine runs for the money you put into it? I'm still on the fence, and suppose that once CeBit happens and more laptops are introduced, maybe the increased competition will make things even tougher.

 

why would somebody charge more to put a free OS on it?

 

One of the things I debated about doing in that video was should I point out some of the flaws or qualms I had with the unit or just do an overview. But I realized it was the best opportunity for people here to see the notebook problems instead of just reading about it. I almost regret it because I think people saw more bad than good.

It has it's flaws, and unfortunately, its a few more than I would like to see in a Clevo. Clevo has always been hailed as a quality manufacturer, but then again, so has Toyota.

But would I buy it again? Yes. Do I recommend you waiting for CeBIT to see what else hits the market? Definitely.

 

I can't think of a reason outside the fact there are no official Linux drivers for the hardware on Sager's site so it may take some time and effort to get it working with Linux.

 

Yes, they have to make it work under Linux, then test it with common applications.

 

It's incredibly difficult to judge whether to drop close to $1000 on a laptop using just a few pics and some text, so the video is a great help. Because if that is all the problems, then like I mentioned, those are just minor annoyances, like most everything may have. I like this one, as some of the others that I've tried out in person I find other flaws that, to me, aren't so minor. Asus's single click button is just friggen awful to me, and I won't do a Dell or HP after some bad experiences. I actually like Toshiba and maybe Lenovo, but I'm drawn to the Sager for the experience I had with an old Compal that I bought from Powernotebooks (and still runs fine after only one fan replacement).

To me, heat, comfort, reliability are all paramount, which is why I still want to go with the Sager. There are lots of i5 notebooks, but how many will still be running after 2 years, much less 4 or 5 (which is what I hope to get out of this one)?

 

Well, I am going to be honest. I am overall underwhelmed by the notebook. I said that I would still buy it, but not for the reasons you may think. I have to deal with Dell, HP and Toshiba at work, I do not want to deal with them outside of it. If I am going to have problems with a laptop I want to make sure I get decent customer support. Not to mention I feel that getting a quality sub-1000 laptop these days is a gamble no matter the manufacturer.

Under the hood, the notebook is getting the job done. I am pleased with the performance and the temperatures of the components. However, I am about to post a video regarding the heat which may seal the deal for you not wanting it. I can tolerate it but I find it necessary to inform everyone.

I am having a difficult time saying if I would recommend the notebook or not. It's not that it's garbage but rather are the notebooks in the same range by other manufacturers just as flawed or not. Is this the price we have to pay for affordability? If they are, again, I'd rather go with the best support available.

Besides, if you order through a Sager reseller you get a 30 day moneyback gaurantee. And trust me, I've used it and had no problems getting my money back hassle free.

 

A video of the thermal design and heat is now available:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUaU1RVb764

 

+1, 10char

 

You are right about the heat issue pushing me not to get it. I can't understand why they wouldn't have some sort of active fan pushing air out (I didn't notice one on the side) especially with multiple connections sitting right on top of the vent. Much less some more copper heatsink coverage for the board, or a better placement of the intake. If it were me, I would probably do what you said and return it, likely push for the MSI 1656 barebone built with a quad as that sounds like it has a better airflow design. But then again that's another $500...

 

It would be helpful for other owners of this notebook to chime in and tell us their thoughts. I don't want to sound like I am over exaggerating the flaws so if other owners disagree with what I have been posting it would be nice to hear from you.

I have a high standard for the Clevo name. I owned a NP5760 in the past which had no build or thermal issues. I know that many owners of the current high end notebooks seem satisfied, but this is my first experience with a low end system from Clevo. Regardless of its $900 price tag, I expect the same build quality and design as I would from their $2000 notebooks, but perhaps that's the wrong thing to be expecting.

 

I agree with you. There should be no difference in build quality or cooling design. The only difference in price should be due to the hardware components being used.

 

I haven't done much research for MSI, so forgive the ingorance.....but where can I look at/order MSI laptops? Do they have sites set up like I have seen for Sager (resellers like pctorque)?

 

Most of the Sager resellers also have MSI notebooks. Take a look at PowerNotebooks.com or XoticPC.com and you'll see some.

 

Thanks. I'm obviously going to check mine out to see how I like it....but if I find some of the same faults and decide to return it, do you have any suggestions for similiar notebooks in the same price range?

 

At this point, I'm not sure about the MSI barebones either, as it was previously tested with an old, non i7 quad in it by notebookcheck.net and they found it to heat up. Notebookreview (this website) also reviewed the MSI 15" and 17" barebones supplied by powernotebooks and they didn't suggest anything wrong with the heating, so the older quad core may have contributed a lot of the excess heat. That MSI ends up around $1200 to start, up to $1500 for some reasonable amount of ram, etc. There is the other i7 sager, however, at around $1500 from sager resellers, the NP8690, that others have suggested has no real downsides other than price. But that's $1500, not $900...

 

A video of the speakers and sound is now available:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0YK6ju-kEI

 

Thanks for the frank review, afitzwater. This heat issue is certainly an issue for me. Like most others, I would have thought that with lower grade hardware, heat would not be such a problem.


EDIT: Just another followup question about the heat issues. Afitzwater, your cpu is an i5 and even then, you said you're reaching nearly 80C temperature from regular use. If I were to upgrade to the i7-620M, can I expect temperatures to get even hotter?

 

The i7 620M is not a quad core- only the i7's with the QM moniker are quad. The 620M is just a higher clocked i5 with 4Mb of cache instead of 3Mb, and draws 35W, so it should be similar to the i5's in terms of heat generation. You can get a i7 720QM or 820QM in the machine if you order it direct from Sager. But those are true quad cores, and draw 45W, with a corresponding increase in heat. Considering the kinda bass ackwards way they have the cooling (with no vent fans unlike the higher end Sagers or MSI with Quad cores) I'd be leery about putting that kind of extra heat generation in the machine since you already have the vid card putting out a good amount of heat.

 

Go with what phaet2112 is stating. A lot of the temp problems are from the thermal design of the unit. I could probably drop the temps a few degrees after applying AS5 instead of the stock thermal paste but it that will only go so far as thermal design sort of sucks.

In fact, I am not even sure if the bottom fan is a real intake fan. I put my hand over it and I feel no suction pressure at all. My guess is it's just spinning the air around inside and while most of it is going out the left vent, there is no way to control some of the vapors from going through the left side of the keyboard.

 

Between my forum posts and videos, I don't think I have much left to say about the NP7652. I have debated about doing a traditional review but I thought I would just summarize everything that I like and dislike about the unit.

I am not going to recommend for or against purchasing it. I tried to point out all of its flaws fairly and even after the fact I am deciding I can tolerate them enough to keep the notebook. I guess it's going to really depend on your sensitivity level for each of the flaws and if you think other manufacturers can produce a better quality build with similar hardware at a similar price.

Display

Like: It's LED backlit and very bright. The glossy surface does not have much glare unless there are lights shining directly into the screen from behind. The colors are rich, beautiful and vibrant. The side viewing angles are above average. To put it simple: I am in love with the display.

Dislike: Nothing

Chasis Design

Like: It looks clean and sleek. You wouldn't guess it had a lot of power under the hood from looking at it.

Dislike: I prefer to have most of my inputs and connectors in the rear of the notebook, leaving the optical drive and perhaps a single USB on the side. My desk is cluttered with cables when everything is plugged in. I knew this before purchasing it so I can't really hold it against the notebook. I also do not like the edge in front of the palm rests as it is not rounded off.

Build Quality

Like: Despite a few flaws, the overall quality is solid. Every part of the notebook is plastic but it doesn't feel cheap outside of the lid. The base seems rock hard. The hinges seem solid and are not noisey.

Dislike: The top of the lid is flimsey. You can push it in with little pressure. A little more resistance with the hinges would have been nice.

Thermal Design

Like: The components have managed to stay at respectable temperatures, even with the Sager Thermal Compound. I have ran Prime95 for 6 hours and temps only reached 89c. Real world temps from gaming have never exceeded 77c or 63c for office work.

Dislike: The air is being filtered through the left side of the notebook. This causes the far left side to get hotter than what I consider to be normal. And while the inputs may be shielded (I am not sure) I don't know if it is causing any harm to them. Also, the air being filtered through the left side causes heat to seep beneath the keys of the left side. It doesn't happen for general office type work, but if you stress the unit out and the fan has to be constantly on, you will definitely notice the heat over time.

Web Cam

Like: It has decent quality.

Dislike: Nothing

Keyboard

Like: The chiclet style gives extra spacing between the keys which imitates a desktop keyboard for spacing. MOST of the inner keys seem to be at tolerable noise levels.

Dislike: The overall keyboard is loud on the left and right sides. The space bar is loud and doesn't always register unless directly hit and it doesn't feel as solid as the other keys. The number pad is awkward because you only get three columns instead of four and you have to choose between having dedicated number keys or having HOME, END, PAGE UP/DOWN keys. I also have a clacky { key, but it is likely limited to my unit.

Touchpad

Like: The multi-gesture functions can be nice for using Google maps. The left and right mouse buttons are solid.

Dislike: The multi-gesture is poorly implemented. Sometimes I will only have one finger on the touchpad and it will kick in. The touchpad has a pebble surface which starts to numb my finger tips after ten minutes or so of constant use.

Battery Life

Likes: The battery life is sufficient for my needs. I get about 2 hours with 50% screen brightness and wifi turned on doing general office work. I get 2.5 hours with screen brightness at lowest with wifi turned off doing the same work.

Dislikes: Nothing, though lasting longer is always nice.

Speakers and Sound

Likes: Pretty good volume levels.

Dislikes: They are just average speakers with no bass. Music typically doesn't sound true to itself, kind of dulled out.

System Performance

Likes: It runs everything I have thrown at it, be it my games or applications such as Adobe Premiere CS3 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Dislikes: Nothing


I think this covers it. Let me know if I am missing something. I hope to hear from other owners still how they enjoy (or don't enjoy) the notebook.

 

I got my 7652 on the Feb 15th, replacing a cinder block I'd been using since 2005. I bought it from PCTorque.

So of course the first thing I noticed is the lighter weight, which I really liked. But the lighter weight didn't come across as cheap.

Most of what I saw pretty much mirrors the exellent review from Afitzwater, so I won't go into too much length.

I have to get used to the wider screen, but I like the extra room.

The BluRay drive worked well, although I did receive an ancient version of PowerDVD (version 5). I contacted PCT about that and they are sending me a newer version.

I especially like the feel of the keyboard, as others have said.

I've used the fingerprinter reader, and that works well.

I'm not a big gamer, actually not a gamer at all, so the shortcomings of the 4570 won't hurt me.

No dead pixels that I can see, display quality is great.

I like being able to turn off/on the wifi with a keystroke, but maybe that feature has been around a time, and I'm just so old I didn't know it.

The fan can get a little loud, but when it runs it doesn't run long. Of course I haven't really pushed it hard yet.

I ordered the system with W7, and got a restore CD, not a MS one. After much experimenting, I decided to go ahead and slick/repartition/reinstall Windows. No problems with drivers.

My WEI was 4.2, just as indicated in earlier posts.

I have the system now the way I want it.

To sum up my non-scientific review, I am quite pleased with this system, and it performs quite well, especially at this price point. Cheers!

 

I just have one more question. Im convinced this computer is a pretty good deal. But ive been hereing conflicting things about the radeon 4570. Will it be good enough to play star craft 2 when it comes out. Copy and paste this address to see the requirements.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...t-the-StarCraft-II-System-Requirements-UPDATE

I won't need to play it on high, but I definitley want to be able to play the game. Can the w765cuh handle it?

 

From the article:

But regardless, I am sure it can play it without a problem with at least reduced settings. I was actually expecting the worst after reading notebookcheck.net about this card but have been surprised.

If I get a beta invite I will let definitely let you know.

 

Thanks, i guess i didn't read the whole article.

 

I am considering this laptop, however, I am wondering two different things.

1) Has anyone been able to get ahold of the 9 cell battery yet? Being able to enhance the battery life on this would be nice since I would be taking it to class, and this could far surpass 2 hours with the 9 cell.

2) Falling back on the video card, I would love to know if this would be able to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the lowest settings with good framerates, preferably on native res. If I get this, it will be the 1600x900 resolution, however knowing how it might handle it on 1366x768 if nobody has 1600x900 would be nice. My guess is that this will run it, but I just don't know how well.

Thanks for any responses!

 

I've come across someone who owns an Acer 7535G ( or click here for specs) which is somewhat comparable to this laptop but with a slower CPU( vs i5 520, though that shows the 430 with 360 more points), DDR2 RAM, and no doubt some other things to slow it down in comparison to the W765CUH. But most importantly, for what I am interested in, it also has the Radeon HD 4570 512MB DDR2 video card.

The person who owns this laptop has been kind enough to post 21 Youtube videos (and they are recent, so possibly more coming) regarding the performance results of many of the more graphically demanding games to date. They list the settings at which the games were run, along with rough framerate results. (below the Youtube videos in the Info section).

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hunti2k9#p/u/20/XuqhrIy1BTE

I literally just stumbled upon this while Googling, so I haven't had a look through them yet, but it looks like some useful information for anyone else who is curious about the graphical capabilities that the W765CUH might have. Just keep in mind that the W765CUH should actually out-perform the results that this user has, but nonetheless, achieve relatively close results, I would imagine.

*edit* Also note that it looks like many of these games aren't being run at lowest settings, but many options set to medium or high. Hit ...(more info) to view the game settings. A lot of the framerates he gets with those settings sound too good to be true with that system, but I guess that if afitzwater is running WoW on ultra in Shattrath with good framerates at 1366x768, then maybe it's not too good to be true!

In response to skibum157, Starcraft 2 will most definitely be playable on this laptop. With rather decent settings too, I would imagine (consider that a high FPS isn't required for good gameplay in an RTS, so high settings sound reasonable). Blizzard knows to make games that people on ALL computers can run (look at every other one of their titles), and so this laptop should far surpass minimum requirements. Starcraft 2 will have some nice eye candy, but the main focus of the game will be it's classic RTS gameplay, holding true to the original, so low system requirements are to be expected.

Besides, they're going to have to make it so that any Korean with any computer can play it. Seriously, I'm not just being prejudice!

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_national_sport_of_North_Korea

 

Thanks for th reasurrance. Ya your probaly righ about the Koreans!

 

Ok, I checked out those videos, and the 4570 looks pretty good, it could handle them all it seems. But does anyone think it could handle Supreme commander 2. The first one was pettydemanding. Here the recomended specs for the second one so far.
Intel Processor - Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
AMD Processor - Athlon II X2 245
Nvidia Graphics Card - Geforce 8800 GS
ATI Graphics Card - Radeon X1800 Series 256MB
RAM Memory - 2 GB
Hard Disk Space - 4.5 GB
Direct X - 9

I think the w765cuh has everything it says except mayby the graphics card. How much worse is he 4570 compared to the x1800.

 

afitzwater; absolutely stunning review!! I have followed your thread from the beginning and I watched the videos and found them to be very informative, short of actually having a unit in my hands. I had expected a bit better from Clevo, but considering this is their first iteration of I5/I7 series, and all with shortcomings (inclusive of 860/870 units), I can only expect that they will do better on the next generation. Good luck and thank you for your efforts.

 

Thanks, it's not much of a review but hopefully it will do. I've been away for a couple of weeks. My 7652 is still running strong. Did a 7652 with a DX11 card get announced at CeBIT?

 

What do people think about supreme commander 2. Will that run. I know that the first one had really steep requirements.Does anyone think that it will run on thi computer

 

Some Sager resellers mention the Clevo W765TUN base and some the Clevo W765CUH base. What is the difference?

 

By what I can see here the W765TUN uses an old chipset, does not support i series processors (i3, i5, i7), uses DDR2 instead of DDR3 and NVidia GPU. For me, W765TUN is not worth buying.

 

I was quite interested in this laptop but I must say the keyboard noise and thermal problems have put me off.

A note to the OP.. the youtube links in the original post don't work. Thanks for all the effort you've put in to reviewing the laptop!

 

Incorrect info on that page. If you navigate to the actual config page you will see the available options, i5 or i7 with DDR3 @ 1333.

-K

 

The W765TUN DOES use the old chipset and core2 processors, so if they are saying that it supports the i7 processors, then they are incorrect in calling it the TUN.

If you don't believe me look at the service manual in my sig.

 

My bad. I failed to notice TUN. I didn't know that was available.
The CUH model has the i5 & i7 processors.

-K

 

Man are they going to offer 9cell battery by any chance? this notebook is perfect for me minus the short battery life.

 

the system76 pangolin is the same machine with ubuntu pre-installed

http://www.system76.com