The specs look interesting (though surprisingly you've not listed the ability to put a dGPU, which is something boutique vendors tend to be good at), but in this day and age the design of the laptop is frankly inexcusable. It looks cheap, boring and already dated before it's even arrived!
I'm not sure on what planet Clevo and co. are living, but if they don't wake up soon there won't be boutique vendors to speak of that'll sell their products. The offerings from vendors like Asus are getting really compelling.
This laptop misses its point since it consumes too much at idle, more than discrete gpu based laptop. While i love Clevo cause it allows easy upgrade of all components including cpusetc...they can do a lot better power consumption wise. It's they're first ultrabook like lap so they should improve on the next Haswell series.
Can you investigate into why it's consuming so much power? Is the CPU not throttling down when idle? Is the IPS display at fault? The normalized results show that it's consuming nearly twice the power of the other ultrabooks.
It is truly baffling that a laptop with standard components and an integrated graphics chip will consume so much power!
That's 3 users. And the bleed in the pictures he provides doesn't seem very substantial. If you watch a lot of dark movies, it may be a problem, but that kind of bleed will usually not be noticed in every day windows work and game.
That bleed looks bad, and if it's "within parameters" and not getting fixed then I think it's something that should be flagged up for prospective buyers.
When I first saw this, I said cool - an ultrabook with a discrete GPU. But alas, no discrete GPU and it weighs freaking 5 pounds. This sir or madam is not an ultrabook.
I've been using a Maingear branded Clevo W150hrm). Looks exactly like the one in the image. It's fast and the display is great. It's not super durable (a battery tab broke and something else broke loose inside the case that I haven't gotten around to fishing out yet) and there's no latch. My biggest gripe is that I still screw up typing on this thing all the time. Right shift, right control, and the arrows are all way too easy to mix up and make development typing a real trial. I miss my Dell keyboard so much. Also it doesn't include the lucidlogix software to let the embedded and nvidia gpus work together. At least it uses regular old phillips head screws.
Doesn't the ASUS UX51 cover the bases as far as good display, good graphics, lightweight, etc.? Plus, they often offer two-year comprehensive warranties on a lot of their laptops, so there's that. I know there's a bit of a price difference, and there may be some other things as well, but I'd look towards that direction rather than a "custom-built" ultrabook if I was still in the market.
I don't understand why the sony S15 isn't mentioned in the article. In my county, the S15 is cheaper than the equivalently specced clevo. (unless you opt for a quadcore option, because the quadcore is only available in the GT 640m 2GB model, which is an €170 upgrade).
What do you get for that? A vasly superior keyboard and touchpad. Much longer battery life, superior cooling, 300gr lower weight, and probably better build quality as well.
Clevo once again managed to create a system that is just surpassed by the competition in every possible way.
The thing with ultrabooks is, if I'm spending over 1K on a laptop I expect a dedicated GPU. I should be able to run, at a minimum, every modern game at 1600x900 with smooth frame rates. I don't expect the detail settings to be all the way up, but I don't want to run 720p. MAYBE this will become reality with haswell and the integrated GPU RAM; but honestly I'd rather have an Nvidia chip in there for MANY more reasons than just gaming performance.
I LOVE the Clevo design, I'm entirely happy with it the way it is. Except that keyboard. WHY didn't they use the same one they've been using on their newer 15.6" GTX660M laptops? That keyboard layout is great! This one is damn near useless because of that stupid offput 0 key. Hey laptop people, arrow keys are almost entirely useless, YOU CAN MAKE THEM SMALLER!
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Egg - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Looking at their configurator, it actually appears to be cheaper to get an mSATA version of the 840 Pro than the 2.5" one.Finally, logical pricing.
pastydave - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Now that you've mentioned it, I'm sure they will go correct the oversight.Friendly0Fire - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
The specs look interesting (though surprisingly you've not listed the ability to put a dGPU, which is something boutique vendors tend to be good at), but in this day and age the design of the laptop is frankly inexcusable. It looks cheap, boring and already dated before it's even arrived!I'm not sure on what planet Clevo and co. are living, but if they don't wake up soon there won't be boutique vendors to speak of that'll sell their products. The offerings from vendors like Asus are getting really compelling.
Conficio - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
I take boring design and quality at reasonable price over hip and trash any day!zenonu - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Has HTC has shown with the One, and Apple with its numerous laptops, you can have build quality along with a more interesting design.Thorburn - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
As far as I'm aware Intel haven't changed the Ultrabook specifications to allow 35W or 45W chips even in above 14" and above.IntelUser2000 - Sunday, May 26, 2013 - link
Yea it isn't. It doesn't even meet the 21mm spec, as the thickest point is at 25mm.Their site seems to call it based on simple search engine queries, but its a mistake.
tunaman - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Nice review. Reasonable price for such an excellent notebook. Check for Laptop Exterior Accessories for this notebook. http://goo.gl/WKNp5Conficio - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
SAPM!!!Conficio - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Sorry I'm so frustrated I can't even type. SPAM!hfm - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
At least we have you patrolling... good work.kallogan - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
This laptop misses its point since it consumes too much at idle, more than discrete gpu based laptop. While i love Clevo cause it allows easy upgrade of all components including cpusetc...they can do a lot better power consumption wise. It's they're first ultrabook like lap so they should improve on the next Haswell series.CadentOrange - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Can you investigate into why it's consuming so much power? Is the CPU not throttling down when idle? Is the IPS display at fault? The normalized results show that it's consuming nearly twice the power of the other ultrabooks.It is truly baffling that a laptop with standard components and an integrated graphics chip will consume so much power!
Flunk - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Clearly you've never used the current model XPS 15. It's the worst notebook I've ever owned, ask Jarred Walton for details.Wilko1337 - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
PCSpecialist also sells custom laptops with the Clevo W550EU frame (marketed as the 15.6" UltraNote).Quite a few users have had problems with the display's backlight bleed show here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.p...
Regard this and the review FWIW
Death666Angel - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
That's 3 users. And the bleed in the pictures he provides doesn't seem very substantial. If you watch a lot of dark movies, it may be a problem, but that kind of bleed will usually not be noticed in every day windows work and game.CadentOrange - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
That bleed looks bad, and if it's "within parameters" and not getting fixed then I think it's something that should be flagged up for prospective buyers.Conficio - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
SPAM!pastydave - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
When I first saw this, I said cool - an ultrabook with a discrete GPU. But alas, no discrete GPU and it weighs freaking 5 pounds. This sir or madam is not an ultrabook.bitterman0 - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Exactly. Ultrabooks are 3lbs, maybe 3.5lbs on the outside. For crying out loud, my 2006 ThinkPad T41 is 5lbs!Flying Goat - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Yea, I thought the same. Currently, the ASUS Zenbook (http://www.anandtech.com/show/6923/asus-zenbook-ux... is the only system I'm aware of that's really light and has a discrete GPU.SanLouBlues - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
I've been using a Maingear branded Clevo W150hrm). Looks exactly like the one in the image. It's fast and the display is great. It's not super durable (a battery tab broke and something else broke loose inside the case that I haven't gotten around to fishing out yet) and there's no latch. My biggest gripe is that I still screw up typing on this thing all the time. Right shift, right control, and the arrows are all way too easy to mix up and make development typing a real trial. I miss my Dell keyboard so much. Also it doesn't include the lucidlogix software to let the embedded and nvidia gpus work together. At least it uses regular old phillips head screws.Electromikey - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Doesn't the ASUS UX51 cover the bases as far as good display, good graphics, lightweight, etc.? Plus, they often offer two-year comprehensive warranties on a lot of their laptops, so there's that. I know there's a bit of a price difference, and there may be some other things as well, but I'd look towards that direction rather than a "custom-built" ultrabook if I was still in the market.Darkstone - Saturday, May 25, 2013 - link
I don't understand why the sony S15 isn't mentioned in the article. In my county, the S15 is cheaper than the equivalently specced clevo. (unless you opt for a quadcore option, because the quadcore is only available in the GT 640m 2GB model, which is an €170 upgrade).What do you get for that? A vasly superior keyboard and touchpad. Much longer battery life, superior cooling, 300gr lower weight, and probably better build quality as well.
Clevo once again managed to create a system that is just surpassed by the competition in every possible way.
Hrel - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
The thing with ultrabooks is, if I'm spending over 1K on a laptop I expect a dedicated GPU. I should be able to run, at a minimum, every modern game at 1600x900 with smooth frame rates. I don't expect the detail settings to be all the way up, but I don't want to run 720p. MAYBE this will become reality with haswell and the integrated GPU RAM; but honestly I'd rather have an Nvidia chip in there for MANY more reasons than just gaming performance.Hrel - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
I LOVE the Clevo design, I'm entirely happy with it the way it is. Except that keyboard. WHY didn't they use the same one they've been using on their newer 15.6" GTX660M laptops? That keyboard layout is great! This one is damn near useless because of that stupid offput 0 key. Hey laptop people, arrow keys are almost entirely useless, YOU CAN MAKE THEM SMALLER!