*** Official Clevo P640RE/Sager NP8640 Owner's Lounge ***

Polish Clevo reseller probably broke NDA but here comes reincarnation of W230Sx Series with 6700HQ and 970M in 14 inch flavor retaining 2kg weight.

Here is quick spec summary:

Processor
Intel® CoreTM i7-6700HQ processor (14nm, 2.6GHz, DDR4 2133MHz, 6MB Smart cache, TDP: 45W)

Chipset
Mobile Intel® HM170 Express Chipset

Screen
14.0” (35.56cm) QHD (2560x1440) / FHD (1920x1080) 16:9 panel, 3mm

RAM
Two banks SODIMM 260 pins
Max 32GB DDR4

GPU
NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 970M (N16E-GT)
- 3GB GDDR5 Video RAM
- PCIe x16
- Microsoft DirectX® 12
- NVIDIA PhysX®
- GeForce CUDA

Intel® HD Graphics 530
- Microsoft DirectX® 12 compatible

SSD/HDD
1 x 2.5" SATA III HDD/SSD max 7 mm
1 x M.2 SSD PCI-E gen. 3/4

Audio
High Definition Audio
S/PDIF digital output
Microphone
Inbuilt speakers 2W
SOUND BLASTER® X-FI® MB5
ANSPTM 3D sound technology on headphone output

I/O ports
4 x USB 3.0
2 x Mini Display port 1.2
1 x HDMI
1 x Speaker output S/PDIF combo jack
1 x Mic In
1 x RJ-45 LAN port
1 x DC-in jack

Card Reader
6-in-1 MMC / RSMMC / SD / mini SD / SDHC / SDXC

Slots
3x M.2:
WLAN Combo M.2 2230
SSD M.2 SATA / PCIe Gen3x4 (2280)
LTE or UMTS/HSPA+ Modem M.2 3042

Communication
10/100/1000Mb Base-TX Ethernet LAN
2.0M FHD video camera

Battery
PSU 180W AC, in 100~240V, 50~60Hz, DC output 19.5V, 9.23A
Inbuilt battery 45WH
~180 minutes with PowerSaving option enabled

Protection
Kensington® Lock
TPM 2.0

Dimension
W: 349 mm
D: 247 mm
H 25.4 mm

Weight
2 kg with battery
​

Unfortunately no pictures.

 

Wonder how it'll look, 1" thin and a 970M.

Razer blade killer anyone?

 

doubtful, clevo isnt really known for building machines incapable of cooling their components im betting on loooots and lots of copper inside

looking forward to first hands on reviews!

 

They just keep getting bigger. W110ER was 11.6". W230Sx was 13.3". Now this is 14". When does the buck stop?

 

@octiceps
I'd say its all about weight, just to fill all niches available, in +/- 2kg range we had only W230Sx from Clevo while competition had other, more powerful options like GS60 with 970M. Some people just want lightweight portable gaming machine and P65x was too much for them while 860/960M was not enough.

 

I think the machine has been following the maximum performance per watt curve which has shifted to the 970m.

 

Pretty sure 650M DDR3 and 765M didn't have the best perf/W in their respective generations

 

Was always hoping Clevo would replace the W230 series with a 14". I think as many have noticed, the weight and thickness seem to be more important than screen size. The w230 was great, but ultimately quite thick for it's time when it had to compete with the likes of the Razer and Gigabyte P34.

Only problem now, is the toss up between the P650RE-G for G-Sync or this and save a bit of weight.

The ~180 minutes battery quote is a bit worrying as that's worse than the W230SX :/

 

It will be nice to have some more option in that 14 inch size, as there really aren't a lot of models that are powerful in that size. The 970m and 32gb will be a welcome addition as well. There are people out there looking for as small as possible, while still packing a punch.

 

There are the Aorus X3 and Razer Blade which have had 970M for some time

 

They also run hot, especially the in the razer blade.

I'm sure the Clevo will run the 970M cooler than the competitors(hopefully).

 

Just as info: This is a new ID in the P6-class, there is no successor for the W230Sx models this year...also take the specks they posted with a grain of salt...

 

New ID = metal unibody w/o Razer levels of price gouging? One can wish, right?

 

Hope not... Clevo makes solid hardware for reasonable price so we should be fine... Unlike the Razer and Gigabyte

 

You'd rather not have a Razer Blade/MBP chassis with Clevo internals and pricing?

 

well, wed want clevo internals AND externals, i.e. a chassis that is able to house those internals and keep them cool although clevo has done their first impressive steps with an all metal chassis in the P6 series and according to prema theyre also integrating a mux switch for iGPU / dGPU in the skylake refresh!

 

With even more features depending on having dGPU or iGPU active there is great pressure to be able to get the best of both worlds now.

 

I'M HERE! THE SMALL LAPTOP LOVER IS HERE! AND THIS IS GREAT NEWS WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

But as @Prema said, I'd rather take this info with some salt. Waiting for late October/November for more info.

So far, though:

45 WHr battery with 180 mins of battery life? What? The W230SS has a 62 WHr battery that can go on for nearly 300 minutes. 27% less battery for 40% shorter battery life. That sucks.

GTX 970M, good, very good. I hope to see good cooling on Clevo's part and not get Razer Blade levels of heat (i.e. turn your laptop into lava). Do I see an Intel HD GPU? Does that mean no G-Sync? If so, then that's disappointing...

And of course, Intel has pulled off a genius move to get rid of sockets. Sigh... I don't like seeing that "HQ" instead of an "MQ".

I honestly hope these aren't final specs.

 

the battery life specs are always a bit on the conservative side so lets wait and see real life user scenarios first

also, gsync with graphics switching is slowly becoming a thing, so it could very well have both!

 

Dunno what you're talking about. It's mostly plastic.

 

Wut? There's a Gsync P650RE now? No optimus? =O

WAIT. IS CLEVO PULLING A LEGACY ALIENWARE? ARE THEY IMPLEMENTING iGPU-only, dGPU-only AND optimus-/enduro-only STATES SELECTABLE IN THE BIOS?

IS CLEVO ACTUALLY FIGHTING FOR THE CROWN?

*swoons*

 

check again it only has a few plastic parts with mostly brushed aluminum

 

LOL why are you arguing with me? I'm literally typing on it right now. Only the lid and wrist rest are metal. Everything else--screen bezel, hinges, keyboard periphery, base & I/O shield, bottom cover, etc.--is plastic.

 

bottom cover is metal on SE and SA versions as for the rest: those are the few plastic parts i mentioned before sure, theyre many in quantity, but if u look at the actual surface of the machine theyre covering, its negligible thats why im arguing! look at your own machine!

 

Far from "all metal" though

 

The king is dead, long live the king!

 

This is why I say chassis design is always fun lots of interesting options.

 

Yes, the G-Sync variants should appear mid-October from what I hear.

 

wah! @D2 Ultima, i might have pulled a fast one there, just found the original quote from prema concerning this:

http://forum.techinferno.com/showthread.php?p=144404

depending on how one reads this, it can either mean that the new P6 series will have a physical mux or that it would be nice to have a physical mux, especially in machines like the new P6 series. asked prema about it, hope he can clear this up

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Prema is saying the new P6 series has a physical mux

 

Seems like he says that it'll be nice if it existed there.

Oh well. We can live without it though... though it really would be nice.

Unless @Prema wishes to comment on whether or not they will have one for certain =D

 

It's been confirmed. It's why the -RE models have G-Sync capability.

 

but isnt gsync with optimus an upcoming thing? or is that exactly BECAUSE the particular machines would then have a physical mux?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Uh no? G-Sync is proprietary to Nvidia.

 

so is optimus....?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

So? Optimus G-Sync would require Nvidia to work with Intel since the iGPU is controlling the display. That's not what's happening. With the mux, you either boot up in iGPU w/o G-Sync, or in dGPU w/ G-Sync.

 

yes, that it would@cooperation between nvidia & intel. doesnt make it impossible though. but you seem to be correct, that combo gsync/optimus was just including a mux and not intended for simoultaneous operation on one machine. interesting solution!

see ultima? u might be able to swoon, after all! confirmation by @Prema would still be nice tho

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

It's possible that the G-sync models will simply lack switchable graphics on the whole, though. Like how the AW17 R1 3D model used the eDP connector and disallowed switching to the iGPU and locked the iGPU off the board entirely.

 

No reason to do that here though because there's no 3D and it's still being marketed as a slim portable gaming notebook which means battery life needs to be decent unlike the DM

 

I guess so. Well, we'll see.

 

Intel confirmed they will support Adaptive Sync (eDP1.3 spec) which would also technically allow Nvidia Optimus and Mobile G-Sync to work together (keeping in mind Mobile G-Sync is basically Adaptive Sync). But it wasn't in time for Skylake. That being said, theoretically the Skylake chips already support edp1.3 so it may be able to be done in software somewhere down the line.

For the moment though, MUX is ok. In reality the dGPU is near worthless without the power pack plugged in at which point you pretty much know what you're doing. Reboot times are also in the region of 20 seconds as well.

 

I hope Eurocom picks this up.

Would be highly interested in upgrading my W230SS to a slightly larger size without compromising weight + it will fit in my backpack's laptop cutout.

I also hope that I can fit it with an i5 and a 965M to cut some costs.

 

I don't know if you will see an i5 version of it, as there wasn't any p650 models (that I know of) that had that as an option. But there was a version with 965m, so hopefully there might be a refresh of that model as well (p650sa).

 

Since a 965M is the same core with less ram chips around it then it's certainly possible.

As for the I5 it would be interesting if they had the new quad core i5s as an option.

 

Considering there is supposedly a quadcore i5 (finally) this gen, it may be offered.

 

If we do get G-Sync on the 640RE, that's going to be great. Hopefully they're seamlessly MUXed with the GPU entirely going to the screen when it is called, with the iGPU running ordinary tasks.It's probably going to be an Apple-esque solution.

 

Intel's mobile chipsets don't really work that way. If you're in dGPU only, the iGPU should be shut off. It'd act just like a P7xxDM

 

Perhaps I phrased it wrongly - I meant that instead of the dGPU being routed through the iGPU and then the iGPU being connected to the output, with the 'seamless MUX' both chipsets are connected to the screen, with software calls determining which GPU is in use. That's how Apple's switching GPU tech has worked for the past half decade or so that they've had integrated Intel HD on-chip switchable graphics.

 

Displays can't connect to two controllers, so you can't do that.

 

Well both chips being connected to the screen is how MUX works. But seamless? Maybe that's something impossible due to Windows' design. As far as I know, changing the output display requires a restart of the PC, and if the iGPU and dGPU are both connected and running, then one obviously must be powering the display; you can't really have both connected at once.

I know MUX systems require a restart to use the iGPU, but like I said: if you're in dGPU-only mode, the mobile chipsets disallow access to the iGPU.