The Clevo P870DM2 / Mythlogic Phobos 8716 Laptop Review: DTR With GTX 1080
by Brett Howse on October 27, 2016 2:00 PM ESTDisplay
Not too many years ago, gaming laptops were still shipping with TN displays on the large screen laptops. Luckily that’s no longer the case, and the Clevo P870DM2 / Mythlogic Phobos 8716 is available with two choices in display. The base model is a 1920x1080 IPS panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate. That’s great to see in a gaming laptop, and looking at the gaming results in the last section, this laptop can easily hit 120+ frames per second to keep up with that refresh rate. Mythlogic also offers a a 3840x2160 (UHD) AHVA panel with the more common 60 Hz refresh rate, but also includes G-SYNC. For those that want to meet somewhere in the middle, there is now a 2560x1440 AHVA 120 Hz panel option as well with G-SYNC.
The review unit has the lowest resolution panel, which is going to be the highest frame rate at the native resolution. The GTX 1080 in this review unit could likley handle at least the 2560x1440 though, and even the UHD would still give reasonable performance especially with G-SYNC.
To measure a display’s characteristics, we use an X-Rite i1Display Pro Colorimeter for brightness and contrast readings, and an X-Rite i1Pro2 Spectrophotometer for accuracy readings. SpectraCal CalMAN 5 Business with a custom workflow is the software used. Mythlogic shipped the device with an included ICC profile, but I found it actually was more accurate without the ICC profile, so the measurements below will be with it disabled.
Brightness and Contrast
333 nits is a decent brightness for a laptop like this, which is unlikely to get used outdoors very much. What is more impressive though is the excellent black levels, which gives a great contrast ratio over 1300:1. For those that like to use their computer in the dark, the display goes down to 16 nits, which isn’t the lowest measured, but should be adequate.
Grayscale
SpectraCal CalMAN 5 - Grayscale with included ICC Profile
SpectraCal CalMAN 5 - Grayscale with no ICC
The top image is the laptop with the included ICC profile enabled. It’s pretty clear how much it doesn’t help, and makes the grayscale have much higher errors, and the gamma is way too high. With the ICC disabled, the grayscale is fantastic at an average dE2000 of just 1.7. Gamma still has some issues, but overall it’s much better. I don’t provide ICC profiles of laptops I’ve reviewed because there’s no guarantee an ICC made on panel A will help panel B, and in this case, it makes it much worse. The white point is very good too, which is clear when you see how closely the red, green, and blue track at the different white levels. This is one of the best grayscales on any laptop tested.
Saturation
Unfortunately, the saturation results weren’t quite as good as the grayscale, but with an average dE2000 of 3.75, it is pretty good in a notebook of this caliber. There isn’t just a single color which is off pulling the scores up, with all of the colors having errors ever three at some point in the sweeps. Still, it’s a decent result for this type of laptop.
Gretag MacBeth
The GMB score is the worst of the bunch, but it’s still not too bad. 4.3 is definitely above the error levels under 3.0 that would be best, but the overall average is decent. The worst scores are the skin tones, and individual one color even has an error level over 8. Although better is always better, Mythlogic isn’t selling this notebook for color sensitive work, and if you are going to be doing that it would be best to get an external monitor. This is a pretty good result for a gaming notebook.
Overall, the 1920x1080 120 Hz display offers great out of the box white levels, with decent color accuracy. It could be better, but it’s far from the very blue displays seen a few years ago, and the higher refresh rate is going to be a benefit for gaming where movement can be very quick. The gaming I did on this notebook felt very smooth, which was also likely helped by the massive GPU available.
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ZeDestructor - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
You should give it a go in current versions of VMware.. I hear decent things about it...chezfromage - Thursday, October 27, 2016 - link
As it turns out, I fit into this machine's target market (I'm paralyzed from a spinal cord injury, so I need a laptop, but I also do programming and rendering, so I need an overpowered monstrosity), and I just got the Sager version of this laptop (NP9873) a few weeks ago. First of all, I chose some higher-end specs than the reviewed device: 4K display; dual 1080s; a 512 GB 950 Pro primary SSD (plus another SSD and two HDDs); and the Intel 8260 wireless option. It has the same 6700k. The machine truly is a monster - with the dual 1080s, everything I've thrown at it so far runs 60+ fps set to 4K and ultra settings, albeit sometimes dropping down to FXAA on extremely demanding games (huge difference vs. MSAA on XCOM 2, for example). That low-ish number for Civ 6 as cited in the article has been fixed with an NVidia driver update, btw.Regarding stuff mentioned in the article and other comments, yes, the included control center and overclocking software is Clevo-developed and is the same on my Sager. It works well and lets you tweak values on the fly... Not that you really want to that much. Adjusting the core multipliers even just to 4.4ghz makes the fans kick in at full blast, which is insanely loud. Also, yes, the dual power adapter requirement is inconvenient but mildly hilarious; don't pretend this machine is particularly portable, although it's much easier than carting around a desktop with the same specs, which I think is the point.
Elsewhere, yup, the keyboard's a bummer, but the touchpad is surprisingly good! I can't physically perform most gestures (SCI hand paralysis), but one- and finger functions work flawlessly, and while the L/R buttons aren't the best, at least they're there.
Anyway, that's my experience with the dual-GPU option, if anyone was wondering. Any questions? Did I forget anything?
Edit: The 512GB 950 Pro is indeed way faster than the 256GB model - even with AES encryption via Veracrypt, it still benches at 2600r/1600w.
kmmatney - Thursday, October 27, 2016 - link
I've been using a 17" laptop for the last 10 years, and am a big fan of the DTR, but this is ridiculous. This should be a new category called GRR (Gaming Rig Replacement). I've had no trouble toting my laptops around, but mine are more in the 7-8 pound range. The Dell Alienware systems are good mix of gaming and portability IMO, but even a $500 Dell Inspiron can be a DTR these days,tagi123 - Friday, October 28, 2016 - link
It sure is ugly - as are all these 1080 laptops..s.yu - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
I would love a review of the Blade Pro from Anandtech.Laststop311 - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
Such a narrow niche for a product like this. I mean really. speccing this thing out nice you are going to hit 3500-4000. You can simply get an awesome performing 20-25 poundish mid atx desktop and spend 2500 dollars and have a much easier time upgrading it and cleaning it and throw the remaining 1500 into a very very nice ultrabook with 10+ battery hours and all the performance ud ever need for on the go lap use. At least I think the majority of people would rather spend their money that way.Laststop311 - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
I can't be a hater tho I actually did use to own an alienware m18xr2 fully specced out with the gtx 880m sli. But this was when i went to a lot of LAN gaming parties and I still had to lug around my 22" high refresh gaming monitor and mechanical keyboard and mouse along with it.That's when I realized why am I bothering trying to be portable with a DTR. Nowadays you can build mini-itx systems that weigh only a bit more than this system with internal power supplies and much easier maintenance for much less money. Infact the ncase m1 mini-itx case only weighs 6 pounds before you add components. a Mini itx mobo can be had for 1.25 pounds an m2 ssd + 2.5" ssd barely adds any weight. a decent air cooler and fan in under a pound. You could easily build a mini-itx ncase m1 build for LESS weight than this laptop not counting the monitor keyboard and mouse you would have to lug around but if you were going somewhere that already had monitors you could actually carry less weight building a full fledged mini itx pc that will be way easier to clean and upgrade and way cheaper.
Laststop311 - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
oh did i mention the cooling will be quieter and better on the itx system as wellspeculatrix - Sunday, November 6, 2016 - link
It seem to have HUGE fans.It occurs to me that they should make the fans blow downwards, and then you can ride it like a hoverboard.
bennyg - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
It's the Dodge Ram of laptops. Impractical. Thirsty. Expensive. Hideous. But ohmahgerd the powah. The catch 22 is that while it's built for overclocking it has so much power compared to normal laptops it is completely unnecessary! Maybe in 3 years time when it's superceded that will become useful. Unlike a Ram, which would have fallen to pieces by then. The amazing thing is that with desktop class components it still gets 2 hours life away from the wall plug!