AVADirect Clevo X7200: Six Cores, SSD RAID, and GTX 480M SLI Yields World's Fastest DTR Notebook
by Jarred Walton on October 7, 2010 12:30 AM ESTLCD Redux
The Clevo X7200 we received for testing uses the same HannStar Display HSD173PUW1 found in 17.3" notebooks like the W870CU, W880CU, and ASUS G73Jh. This is an older LCD using CCFL backlighting, but the good news is you get a great contrast ratio. The not so good news is that the maximum brightness isn't as high as the latest LED backlit displays. We ran the X7200 through our display tests just to confirm there's no major differences from previously tested LCDs (i.e. the G73Jh).
No surprises here: the G73Jh and X7200 results are extremely similar, and any differences we can chalk up to minor variations between panels. The G73 had slightly better color accuracy while the X7200 has a higher contrast ratio. Both have similar gamuts and maximum brightness. While the contrast ratio is lower, the Dell Precision M6500 is easily the best looking panel of this selection. Some will complain that high color gamut displays make images look oversaturated, but I'll take that over the undersaturated 58% gamuts any day of the week. Of course, the RGB LED panels also cost more, but since the X7200 is a premium product we'd appreciate it if Clevo added a truly premium display as opposed to using last year's offerings. (Note that the HannStar panel isn't listed on their site as a current product anymore, likely because it was discontinued a while back.)
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
38 Comments
View All Comments
Iketh - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
Very enjoyable read... thanks a bunch!!Sabresiberian - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
I'm not interested in a high-end rig that has to limit its own capabilities to keep from overloading itself. There is no point in paying the nose-bleed price for the extra power the SLI'd 480Ms have if they can't deliver more than the Crossfired Mobility Radeons.;)
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
Furmark is hardly a realistic example of power requirements. I consider it more of a test of whether or not a system will outright crash, or fail gracefully. I'd prefer to see the power brick limit things rather than shutting off and leaving you on battery power, though.5150Joker - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
The X7200 also shuts off during long gaming sessions that push both the CPU and GPU. The 480M SLi's are a major fail: They're very expensive, they run hot (as evidenced by your furmark results and confirmed on NBR) and they don't outperform Crossfire 5870s by much at all.marraco - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
The hard disk is a waste of weigth, money and energy.Once you have 500 Gb of SSD, just use an extenal HD for back up.
marvdmartian - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
That's no moon. It's a space station!nitrousoxide - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
Such thing should never appear in this universe...because it even overwhelmed the power of Alienware :)AVADirect - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
:)Harmattan - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
Sure, you can buy three similarly-powerful desktops for the price of this laptop. However, from years of owning both high-end desktops and laptops, there is nothing like having the versitility and compact efficiency of a DTR/gaming laptop. Just the amount of engineering, design and testing that goes into a top-end gaming laptop will forcibly make them much more expensive than a desktop (which is essencially a bunch of components bolted into a metal box.) On a simpler level, it's just amazing to think you can have something that is 5-10x more powerful than a gaming console in a self-contained 15lb package.
Would be very interesting to see a review of this DTR's closest competitor in brand and GPU, the m17x R2 with 5870 Crossfire.
kallogan - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
I'm idling at 25W with a P9600/ 9600MT/15,4" and two hard drives with max brightness. I'm looking for a mainstream laptop which can idle at 15W so 105W not for me ;)