Sager NP8651 / Clevo P650SE with GTX 970m First Look

I'm kicking myself right now. I was looking at the P650SE but then i thought to myself that there could be no way a laptop that thin wouldnt have heating issues so i went with the bulkier P150SM. Inb4 i end up running 20c hotter than you.....WITH the laptop cooler.

 

Is the battery life as bad as Notebookcheck pointed out?

 

The SG is either 28mm or 29mm depending on source. In reality it is probably some where around 28.5mm and its being rounded. The other dimensions are the same for SE and SG.

 

If I could put an IPS panel and 980m 8GB on it, I would order it over the P35x

 

I just need the IPS to make it complete!

 

yep, all dimensions aside from the thickness are identical on SE/SG models. according to schenker/mysn the only difference is the back panel, which on the SG seems to be thicker. at least thats what their configurator states. there must be more to it though...

 

Holy s*** I just saw that 4K panel on gs60 is 48Hz.... I hope this is not the case with this laptop!

 

nope, the sharp 4K display is 60hz, whereas the samsung "4K" is 48hz looking forward to ocing that baby, lets see if i can hit 90hz like with my last panel

 

Nice!!! Thanks jaybee!!!

 

Cpu has one fan, gpu has two. Plus let me double check cpu and gpu speeds while gaming.

 

There are two possible 4k panels
A very nice Sharp panel (60 hz, RGB stripe, good contrast)
and a fairly awful Samsung panel (48 hz, half the pixels are white not RGB to pad the count, medium contrast)

Just make sure you check which your reseller is using and get the Sharp one.

The 3k Panasonic is good too.

 

You won't be overclocking a display in an Optimus enabled laptop jaybee.

HT do you have any way to check if it's possible to output more than 60Hz out of the mDP ports?

 

Yea gs60 is using Panasonic for 3K models. But I didn't know they would use the awful Samsung panel for 4K models...

 

Oh you were talking about the gs60 displays, guess I wasn't paying enough attention, I was talking about the myriad possible Clevo p650 screen options.

 

Nope you got it right, I was asking what are the chances that Clevo also went the cheap way (thank goodness they did not apparently )

 

Anyone else find it i little strange they would shave off 4mm to get the 970m version.. 4mm thinner??

I am in the hunt for something reliable and sturdy, so far it sounds good, but if i can choose i have to go with the one with least flex.. so it would then probably be down to P65x 980m or P670.. wich probably will get the same thickness or not?

 

p670sx will probably be about 3mm thicker than equivalent p650sx this is primarily because 17"panels are thicker than 15" panels.

 

Hey, thank you for the benchmarks and the review in total.

I was wondering, could you test the battery and see how long it lasts while doing: normal use vs. playing games?

I would very much appreciate it!

 

Yeah that 4cell is bugging me too.. But maybe a 8cell in the same format will come next year or something and it would be possible to swap it(hope)

4cell should last about 2 hours on wifi surfing..

 

And that is the reason i'm asking, 970m being 60c under load..

Why do anything to the 15" with 980 then?..

 

I have to concur ...

Those temps are just ridiculously good...

For comparison I just did the one Firestrike benchmark on a GS70 Stealth Pro (970m) and got nearly the same exact score ... (mine was 6568) ... but my temps hit 72C at the hottest point which I consider normal for a 24C ambient room ... but man ... I don't know what Clevo is putting in them things but it seems to be working very well.

Thanks for the data ...

 

And now i am starting to worry, HTWingNut being silent for so long, maybe did a repaste and got higher temps... Some kind of new Clevo superToxic incrediblePaste

Make some noise HTWingNut :hi2:

 

My noise is finishing up my review update of the NP9377 with GTX 980m SLI. That's gonna go out soon too. Gah, too much to do!

If only I could do this stuff for a living.

I'm installing updates, games, drivers, etc, and that takes a long time too. Not sure if I'll get much else done tonight.

 

And i think i am speaking for us all when i say i love you for it!!

Maybe you should link to a paypal donate button or something? i would gladly send you some cash for it

 

Do you guys recommend any portable laptop chargers? I'm just worried about the battery.

I don't know anything about them and if they are even compatible with the laptop...

 

Awesome review and unbelievable temp, thank you HTWingNut, you pushed me off the fence already, this will be my next laptop . btw, could you do a test of Prime95 + Furmark, just to compare with the review from NBC. I want to make sure that their high temp comes from the higher CPU and the high res screen.

 

30 pin edp and laptopscreen.com show the compatibles, so the screen can be swapped with ips by user or reseller sooner or later. The price is really competitive imo. The price was pretty amazing when I first saw the price few days ago.

 

aw crap, forgot about the switchable graphics....

 

It really does seem too good to be true doesn't it ? At this point i'm not cancelling my order and getting this because i keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. There is always a trade-off.

 

Temps put my P35X to shame, though mine has the 980M so not an apples-to-apples comparison.

You're an inspiration HT - can't wait to get my own first impressions video done!

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

I have been back and forth between this and the p35w but in the end I have opted for the clevo!
I would love the battery life of the p35 but in all honesty I mostly plug in anyway.

Things that swung me in the clevo direction are the 2x data and 2x m2 giving 4 drives, the 4 ram sockets and the twin fan on the 970m.

I ordered the 4710hq plus the 3k screen (it was only a £49 upgrade on PCS) I wanted the 1080p but the TN panel they are using is poor so I may just buy my own if I don't get on with the 3k.

 

HT, thanks for taking the time to do all of this. I have been following this notebook very closely for a while while I save my money. It will come down to battery, though.

If you could, when you get time, let us know what kind of battery times you get with various settings.

How are the speakers? I saw you said they're good, but what would you compare them to? Like the Alienware 17s?

Does the battery remove easily enough if I were to get an extra to keep in my backpack?

This is for anyone who may know: Is there any info anywhere about why the 980M version is thicker? Crossing my fingers for bigger battery.

Thanks!

 

It's an embedded battery.

 

I'm used to my Clevo W230SS, so it sounds worlds better than that, lol. But I had the MSI GT72 for a bit and it sounds about comparable. The Onkyo speakers used in Clevo laptops have been a bit lackluster in volume and quality. First impressions are that it is definitely louder and more crisp, and quality decent. I haven't done more than run a couple benches and played a round or two of BF4 though so far. Will be sure to crank out some tunes soon to check it out.

Look at video starting at about 8 minute mark. There's 4 screws holding it down internally. So no, you won't be able to easily swap it out. You'd have to remove the 14 bottom panel screws, then the 4 battery screws. Your better option is to get an external portable battery that can plug into the power port to recharge it.

I'll try to do a movie loop test today and check out how long it lasts.

 

That would be awesome. Do you suggest any specific portable chargers? They are really hard to find, at least for me.

 

Just search external laptop battery on Amazon... there's dozens of options.

 

I wasn't aware Intel HD Graphics supports 2 DP outs + eDP on the screen. Does this mean at least one of the external display ports is directly connected to the NVidia GPU?

 

@HTWingNut

When you do your review! Could you please tap the back panel with your knuckles or phone? To give us a feel on how thick it actually is!?

I don't really care, but i am slightly worried about the wents, getting dents and bumps very easily.. If you accidentally set it down on something.

And if you could put the edges of the cover in the video would be great!

 

I know this, but let's say I buy it and they release the 980M variant with a larger battery that might fit. I'd buy that battery pack in a heartbeat.

 

It would be great if someone could answer this question.

 

I'm still on the fence, but what you said sounds great so far, not so much caring about the M2 since by the time they're affordable I"ll probably be upgrading again lol. However the twin fans for cooling are sounding nice to me. IF XoticPC is getting this soon I hope to god they offer a 3k panel

This would be game breaking....

 

afaik the intel IGP does indeed support 3 displays in total, mySn states on their website that all display connections go through the IGP...

 

So if that is the case is the iGPU capable of outputting more than 60Hz via the mDP ports?

Meaker seems to think so but in my experience I've not found it to be possible.

The mySn wesbite does also state to check their FAQ section regarding 120Hz output but I've not been able to find any info about that.

 

I know the iGPU supports 3 active GPUs, just I've never heard of it being able to support 3 simultaneous DisplayPort conenctions. Which means really 1 of 3 things:
1) I'm wrong that the iGPU cannot support 3 DP connections
2) If you want to use both DP, one will borrow from the eDP of the screen and the only way to get 3 displays running will be with the 2 DPs and the HDMI
3) One or more of them does come off the NVidia GPU.

Really the only way for someone to find out for sure is to plug 2 things into the display ports, and check in Nvidia control panel what is connected to where.

 

Ran a battery life test, movie loop, 50% brightness, wi-fi off, keyboard backlight off, power saver mode, lasted 3hrs 32mins to 5% life and then shut down.

I don't understand that power draw though. The W230SS has about the same size battery and it can last well over 5 hours with the same test. The hardware isn't a whole lot different other than the LCD, and 970m should be irrelevant since it shuts off. Maybe a future BIOS update will help with power draw, but it seems Clevo and Sager don't worry too much about the laptop BIOS after they've shipped.

 

LCDs are the main draw of power at near idle levels.

 

I will have to test that theory and turn off the LCD and test.

 

Go for it, it's a huge difference

 

I would agree with the LCD. Once I plugged my W150ER (awful on battery) into an external monitor to do some work on (just Word etc) and forgot to plug the mains in, felt like I got at least an hour longer than normal with the LCD.

 

I just plugged in the laptop to a Kill-A-Watt and it was drawing about 16W at idle, and about 12-13W with LCD turned off. So only 4W at best when on or off and you're talking difference from one LCD to another, not on or off completely.