*** Official Clevo P150EM / Sager NP9150 Owner's Lounge ***

Unfortunately that is one of the downfalls of a Sager notebook. Very lackluster BIOS. Or at least accessible options. As we found on the NP6110, Prema was able to unlock a large number of configurable options that Sager just didn't program. It took Prema and I a little over a week or so of back and forth testing (he did programming, I did beta testing), 6 hours time difference to add the features. Imagine in the same office with someone even with validation testing would have taken less time.

Maybe if we can get Prema or svl7 to look at our BIOS they might be able to uncover something. But I doubt something like that was even included.

 

I love Creative Labs SoundBlaster stuff... I've had one of their cards in every PC that I've built over the last 20 years! Hooked up to a nice sounding HiFi they sound pretty amazing.

I believe that the USB ones are pretty good as well and yes you can use headphones in them.

Sound Blaster Play! External USB Sound Card | Creative Store (UK)
Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro External USB Sound Card | Creative Store (UK)
Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card | Creative Store (UK)

I approached Prema already. Was told the Bios was currently inaccessible due to a lock that Clevo inflicted on it! Am hoping he has more luck sometime soon though as coming from the Bios in my main PC to the one in this laptop I feel like an over pampered youngster in a padded room!

 

This article has a lot of useful info.

" If at all possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses. Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life..."

" A battery dwelling above 30°C (86°F) is considered elevated temperature and for most Li-ion, a voltage above 4.10V/cell is deemed as high voltage. Exposing the battery to high temperature and dwelling in a full state-of-charge for an extended time can be more stressful than cycling."

"Although a properly functioning Li-ion charger will terminate charge when the battery is full, some chargers apply a topping charge if the battery terminal voltage drops to a given level."

I know that Macbooks and other laptops have a mechanism to prevent the battery from becoming completely charged (~97%) and instead slow the current to a trickle, letting the battery hover around that level.

 

I wonder if any of you can help me with this issue I have with the webcam on my new P150EM. Initially I managed to get all the drivers installed, however a day or two ago the webcam stopped working. When I try and start BisonCam it said something like camera not connected. When I hit Fn+F10 it says it is turning off, but a message from windows comes up saying that the device is not recognised. I tried repairing the driver software, I tried downloading the latest version and using that, I also tried completely re-installing it. Nothing works. When I tried and install from the CD with the GUI interface, it says that you need to turn the camera on before installing - even though it is already on! I've also tried uninstalling all USB drivers, and restarting while taking the battery out.

I'm thinking that the cable that runs from the camera to the motherboard might have come loose - is there a way of taking the back of the screen to check this?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

Ah, that's a bit of a nuisance.

So can I simply format the HDD and start with a clean install on the other drive, or do I have to call Microsoft to deactivate and what not?

 

Yes, you can do that. I'm pretty sure you don't have to deactivate, since it's the same computer. Maybe ask whatever company you're buying the computer from? You can also shrink the size of the partition on the HDD to smaller than the size of the SSD, make a backup image, and restore it to the SSD. That way, you don't have to reinstall all the drivers. That's what I did.

 

You don't have to deactivate, just "...format the HDD and start with a clean install on the other drive"

 

Thanks, I guess reinstalling drivers wouldn't be that much of a problem, since I should get a CD with them and won't have to look for all of them online, but I just thought of something that might lead to imaging be the only choice anyway.

Will an external optical drive be recognized with no drivers installed?

 

Anyone has any idea? I have ran Memtest with no problems. I also tried swapping power bricks, but to no avail.

 

Hmmm... never have removed the keyboard before. I'd really like to get this tab key fixed. Is it hard to do this unplugging/replugging of cables? I'd like to try that before sending it in for a new keyboard.

If you have any videos or guides to link that'd help a lot. Thanks again!

 

I own this DAC/AMP combo (E17): FIIO-Amplifier

I'm sure any external soundcard from Creative would work, but im not very familiar with the models.

 

Fiio stuff is ok, creative stuff is generally considered junk. Check out the iBasso D6, that's the one I want to get.

D2+ - $169 - Rechargeable battery, good amp/dac, support 16/48
D4 - $199 - 9v battery, slightly better amp, same dac, support 16/48
D6 - $269 - hi volt rechargeable battery, very good amp, very good dac, support 24/96
D7 - $179 - No battery, uses USB 5v, good amp, very good dac, support 24/192

They are all great and priced accordingly. I'd say dont worry about the D2 (go for the D7 instead) but the D4 is a good option and the D6 is obviously going to be great.

Also there is this:
D12 - $285 - includes optical/coax SPDIF inputs (D2-7 are USB only), good amp, good dac, rechargeable battery, support 16/48, would not suggest this unless you NEED SPDIF in

 

Well, I was using all the cores on full load. The same thing happens when folding.

Nope, HD4000 is the default unless you're running games or something else GPU intensive.

Apart from my keyboard, great. I haven't really used the 675m yet though.

But then you have to do all of the win7 SSD optimizations by hand.

 

I think most people would suggest you install windows new on a SSD because there are different things windows does for a HDD vs a SSD and no guarantee windows will make the change and in reality its not that much difference in time

 

Yes, this. Do a clean install. Windows 7 is SSD aware and will turn off defrag and set up all the other stuff to optimize the SSD and not treat it like a hard drive which may actually be detrimental to performance and your SSD even.

 

I am still having issues with my skyrim not loading properly, i am getting people saying they are running skyrim at 50-60 fps on ultra. I am only getting around 25-35 fps. My 7970m is clearly working or else it would only be at 4 or 5 fps like it was before. Might it be too many mods installed in game or I have stuff opened that are taking away from the gpu? If anybody could assist me that would be greatly appreciated! Like i said i have only had issues with this single game. Sorry forgot to add that i have the 7970m.

 

Do you guys download the lastest drivers from Intel and NVIDIA ?
I have ordered mine with gtx 680m.

Maybe these drivers?
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...sion=Windows 7 (64-bit)*&DownloadType=Drivers

 

Usually that's what people do.

Unless you want modified video drivers from laptopvideo2go, which usually fixes several problems

 

Thanks!
I see that CLEVO - Download have older drivers. Should I install them first before proceding with newer drivers?

 

Like what? Honestly win 7 is SSD optimized out of the box, when installed on an SSD. All those other "optimizations" either do nothing or actually SLOW THE COMPUTER DOWN.

 

Just download the latest Beta from nVidia. Worked great for me. Although LaptopNut had some issues, but he got a 680m that he updated in his P170HM.

Drivers | GeForce

Right. Install Windows 7 fresh and leave it be. Other than reducing pagefile size, turning off hibernation, reducing system restore size to save some space on the SSD, everything else, just leave it alone.

 

Exactly. (Although on a laptop, I leave hibernation file there, but you can turn it off if that's what you like)

 

While I will agree that *some* iBasso items are going to be better - the reason I recommended the Fiio is because he may not want to spend another $270 after forking over all the cash on a DAC or amp. I was trying to keep price somewhat reasonable and Fiio is great on a budget.

 

Hi, I was looking for a smaller power supply than the brick that comes with it, now I found one from dell that's 180W and quite slim acutally, Stroomvoeding : Europees 180W Wisselstroomadapter 1 m stroomkabel - Kit : Desktopaccessoires | Dell België

But I am not shure it will fit my p150em, anyone any ideas?
Also, if you know a different slim power adapter that's 180W, please feel free to tell me

 

Just make sure it's 19V and the tip will work with the 9150

 

Does the 9150 have the same connector as the P150EM? Also I can't find anywhere if it's 19V

 

€ 108.99 -Wow Dell is seriously trolling.

I would be epically interested by a smaller power supply.

 

Intel has a migration program and mangement utility that take care of transferring your entire existing install and adjusting the appropriate services on Windows (like prefetch) There's nothing else you need to do with them except run the utility with the HDD and SSD plugged in, then when you boot up with the SSD run the optimization software.

If you buy an Intel SSD:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19324

 

I didnt mean to come off as knocking Fiio so much, they are definitely some good products. I also would say that some of the cheaper iBasso products would be great.

 

Well, I'm going to call xotic tomorrow morning, but I think I got a bad one. The keyboard, display, etc all work great, but one of my audio jacks on the right has the red light inside it always on, and, more importantly, my GPU keeps going past 100C, which is WAY to hot: hot enough to cause some pretty obvious glitches in DX;HR. I'll let you guys know what they say...

 

it's supposed to do that. temperature is a legitimate concern though. that's hot. what are you using to measure temps?

and my question for the thread--where have people bought a hard drive caddy for the ODD bay aside from the resellers? looking for the cheapest solution possible.

 

Where did you get that quote from? He never said that, and that post is totally unrelated to what you're talking about. Assuming you meant to quote me, he was trying to install win7 on a HDD and image it to the SSD which would cause windows to not automatically adjust all of the SSD settings like it does when you install directly to the SSD.

 

Turn off Antialiasing and turn on FXAA under advanced options. Secondly, turn Anisotropic to 8 or 12. Thats what i do and it runs beautifully on ultra with 7970m and high res mods among others.

 

hello

i have not np9150 but maybe buy that what is the Pros and Cons of the laptop?

what's the maximum Battery life (with 7970m gpu) of the laptop amd minimum Battery life ?

is 7970m on the laptop act as 7970m on m17x r4 ? (if you can please give me result of 3dmark11 Performance (and standard stetting and latest driver) with stock clock )

Thank you

i apologize for number of my questions .

 

well in 3dmark i think alienware and sager perform the same in 3dmark11, 5600-5800 with a 7970 depending on the CPU. Batterylife, i find good, i couldnt really test it until it was empty, but i was using wifi with full brightness for over 2 hours and ther was still 60% left.
gameplay is a different story, alienware is the clear winner because they can disable enduro and on clevo/sager you cant

the big con atm is that the 7970 like i said, only runs with enduro (AMDs battery saving driver software) and enduro causes lots of problems in Battlefield 3 Multiplayer sessions, so if you plan on playing bf3 MP i suggest the nvidia 680m...

 

Thank you

but there isn't anyway for disabling Enduro ? (software problem ? )

how about driver ? could that problem solve by driver in future ?

no BF3 MultiPlayer isn't very important for me , Metro 2033 is more important for me .

what is your suggest for me ?

is 7970m enough to run almost all games with highest detail on p150em ?

Thank you

 

erm no enduro cant be disabled, its all in the hardware, there is a nice thread explaining it all, but i cant find it now.
Basically the Intel GPU is always running and outputs the video signal and the 7970 only computes graphics and "passes" them onto the intel hd 4000

on alienwares you can disable enduro because there is a hardware "switch"(called: mux), which enables the 7970m do do all the work including video output.

I think Metro 2033 works fine, but im not 100% sure, i think atm only bf3 mp is affected by enduro
keep in mind that metro 2033 is very demanding. According to HTWingnuts review, you can get 40fps with high setttings (not very high) but with a 680M, so expect a bit lower fps

edit: i totally forgot this: yes a driver update can solve this problem, like nvidias optimus(like enduro just for nvidia), BUT it took them over a year to get to solid performance

 

Yes as people have been talking about in this (and other) thread(s), AMD has not released proper drivers for the 7970M. Dell, being a big company, has developed good drivers for it but Clevo, I imagine, is a smaller company. It has not been able to develop a perfect driver yet.

But it is expected that they will reveal a new and improved driver soon. However, it is a small risk.

Different people will tell you different things, but the 680M is the "solid, reliable" option. But on games that Enduro does not negatively effect, the 7970M will blast through them on the highest of settings.

 

doesnt AMD make the drivers themselves?

 

thank you

i have almsot read somewhere new dell driver doesn't act as good as new 12.7 beta amd driver in performance ( fps performance ) .

i think it's better we want from AMD to solve Enduro problem or problems.

if amd doesn't solve that in future ( or near future ) i guess it's better we should want from sager to allow us disable Enduro .

is my opinion bad ?

thank you

 

well we cant disable enduro in the 9150/9170 because of the hardware, it has to me modified and i dont think it can be done by sager, also lots of people have already purchased a system so they cant disable it. All we can hope for are better drivers

 

I'm curious... I travel by train and the onboard power outlets drop out every now and then when the train is coasting... what happends if the 7970 is fired up when this happens. Does enduro keep the 7970 active on battery or do we get fireworks and a nice blue screen?

 

Clevo is smaller but they are still a huge company. They are a $1.6B company. There's no reason for not properly supporting their GPU's. I also think it was a bad choice to pipe the dedicated GPU through the HD 4000. Even Sager could do some of their own driver modifications to improve performance, but they don't do anything.

Hopefully AMD pulls through with improving Enduro support especially for a game as popular as BF3.

No, performance will drop considerably. Not sure if it will switch to HD 4000 or if it will just run at a slower P state, which is more likely the case. Just unplug your machine while in game and see what happens.

 

Just out of curiosity what is the max temperature that the HD7970 is rated for?

Also what is the latest non-blue screening driver that can be installed... given that I use the driver only and keep the Clevo Catalyst Control Centre?

Do I download the full Catalyst controll centre and extract the drivers?

Thanks

 

hello

if we don't select for example 60 Day No Dead Pixel Warranty (On any screen)then what happens ?

have anybody dead pixels ?

what's the difference between these displays :

1-Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Anti-Glare Screen w/ 95% NTSC Color Gamut

2-LED Backlit Wide screen Super Clear Matte Type Screen

Thank you

 

Yes, the one from dell is pretty expensive, but it's an elektronic adapter which makes it smaller. Igo makes adapters to, but they are only 90W max msi had a 180W small adapter but I can't find it anymore. If I use 3Dmark and IntelBurn test, my laptop pulls 190W. So 90W isn't an option.

 

I can't comment on the dead pixels as A) I haven't received my laptop yet and B) i paid for the 60 day no dead pixel guarantee, but as for your other question:

NTSC Color Gamut is the full range of colors that the human eye is capable of seeing. Thus 95% gamut means that the screen is capable of displaying 95% of the colors that the human eye can see. If I remember correctly, the standard "LED Backlit Wide Screen Super Clear Matte-Type Screen" has a gamut of 66% (though anyone else feel free to correct me). Regardless of the specific number, it lies in the range of a quality television. The 95% gamut screen is a much higher quality screen though two things have been pointed out by other users on this forum regarding the 95% screen:

1) While it provides a more vivid picture and saturated colors, it's main target are professional users doing art design, who need the colors on their screen to accurately reflect what they will be outputting onto paper.

2) In order to really get your money's worth, you need the 95% gamut monitor to be calibrated.

That being said, I don't do professional art-work, and I got the higher quality screen anyway just because I want my games to look as beautiful as possible. I also paid for professional calibration.

Anyone with more hands-on experience than me is welcome to correct me on anything here, as I am mostly regurgitating what i have read on here, as well as in my own research on the subject.

 

I found a couple of Hewlet Packard 180W 19v 9.5a laptop power supplies and whipped the ends off and re-soldered new tips... That way I'm happy that the power supply units are of a reasonable qulity and won't destroy my laptop. It was far cheaper than sourcing either Clevo or other expensive units. I paid £16 per unit and about £1.50 per tip.

I'm going to try to get away with a 150W PSU for the car and see how it goes... am usre that for general use and charging it will be fine.

 

I don't have any dead pixels, none that are noticeable anyway. As for your second question, poster above me pretty much summed it up. It's more accurate colors, although apparently, it's bad for gaming or something. I'd say it's almost strictly towards professional artwork, but it does make the screen look pretty

 

I didn't take out the warranty as I installed the 95% gamut matte screen myself and have had no dead pixels yet.

Surfice it to say that after seeing the standard gloss screen and the 95% gamut matte screen I think the matte 95% screen is far nicer. Colours are far more realistic with greater depth and vibrance and the display is brighter.