Clevo Horize W246

[glenpinn]

ok guys, im just after some feedback from anyone who might own, or have used one of these Clevo Horize W246 notebooks.

http://www.logicalblueone.com.au/sto...tebook-pc.html

these represent very good value for me (even without win 7) given i have many Win 7 family upgrade packs in my drawer and can use on one of these notebooks.

now, my intended purpose was to use one as a media player/net surfing machine (htpc) under my 50" plasma tv to play 720p and 1080p h264 files from, but i am still unsure about how well these notebooks will play these types of files.

i contacted Jack at LBO to ask him if he can verify it for me, but just wanted to ask the masses as well, just to be sure.

my asus EeePC 1201n netbook was supposed to be able to play 1080p content, and it wont, it stutters with both 720p and 1080p content, so im after something else to replace it with, that i can use both as a htpc, and as a laptop away from home if needed.

i was also a bit concerned about how good the 1.2ghz single core Amd CPU might be with video playback, and other applications.

any thoughts or advice appreciated.

[Narcoticx2]

Originally Posted by glenpinn

my asus EeePC 1201n netbook was supposed to be able to play 1080p content, and it wont, it stutters with both 720p and 1080p content, so im after something else to replace it with, that i can use both as a htpc, and as a laptop away from home if needed.

i was also a bit concerned about how good the 1.2ghz single core Amd CPU might be with video playback, and other applications.

any thoughts or advice appreciated.

What software are you using to play the 1080p files?

Your netbook should be fine to play 1080p by offloading the video processing to the graphics card. It won't be able to do any other fancy things but it certainly should achieve smooth playback. Try opening the files in Media Player Classic or with VLC media player...

The W246 is the same type of arrangement when it comes to HD video - the cpu will stutter when doing it but the graphics card will handle it fine. In this case though you should be able to get away without buying anything.

[glenpinn]

hi m8, all my HD files are 720p and 1080p h264 mov or m4v and some are WMV format, and play via VLC 1.1 or windows media player, but not tried any other player as i dont like media player classic, and i have always been happy with VLC as it seems to play everything very well.

another guy i know is selling his 1201N because he cant get it to run the same sort of files either.

im getting my toshiba m300 back from my mum to use as my htpc because it does play all my stuff perfectly via VLC but it is a 2.1ghz dual core and a 3650 ati graphics card.

i would get the clevo for myself and if it doesnt handle 1080p very well, i will give it to my sister and give her old dell d620 to my mum as she doesnt need anything fancy.

i will try media player classic tonight on the 1201n netbook and see how that goes.

cheers m8

[Narcoticx2]

Originally Posted by glenpinn

i will try media player classic tonight on the 1201n netbook and see how that goes.

cheers m8

Do that... as far as I know it automatically offloads the processing to the graphics unit, VLC might need some tweaking? Not sure but there are guides floating around so have a google or someone here can chime in with more specific instructions.

[Jack-LBO]

So YES, it does actually run 1080p h264 files perfectly. I have just tried 2x 1080p trailers that I got from the h264 website and it runs it in Windows Media Player (on battery too) at basically 59-60fps. I recorded it on a camcorder so the quality isn't the best, but you get the idea. Uploading to the youtubes now.

FYI: VLC plays it like a dog, MPC plays it like a dog. From what I can gather it is Narcoticx2 says, if you want to use other software you may need to tweak them somehow to work properly as it needs to offload the processing to the GPU.

[Jack-LBO]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmBAz...ature=youtu.be

There you go.

[glenpinn]

ok thx a lot guys, i appreciate the help and effort from you, and have just finished some testing on various file types on the asus 1201N netbook, with some good news for the most part.

firstly, i think my issues relate mostly to VLC player on this netbook, as i dont have issues playing these files in VLC on any other higher end laptop or desktop pc i have, but it still proves to me now just how bad VLC really is as a player given the testing i have now done.

i hated using MPC because i didnt know how to get it to open as the default player because it never seemed to appear in the "choose program" box, and i just installed it and realized i had to actually browse to the player in the install directory to get it to appear in the "choose program" box, after i did it once, it was there already.

i have several different file types all up, as i was getting movies from different sources, and they are as follows.

some 1280x720 WMV (play perfect in WMP and ok in MPC, worse playback in VLC)
several 1920x1080 WMV (as above )
a few 1280x720 h264 mp4 (plays smooth in WMP and MPC but is stuttery in VLC)
many 1440x1080 h264 mp4 (plays smooth in WMP and MPC but is stuttery in VLC)
many 1920x1080 h264 mov (plays smooth in WMP and MPC but is a very stuttery and locks up a lot in VLC)
a few 1440x1080 h264 mv4 (plays smooth in WMP and MPC but is stuttery in VLC)
and some Divx files as well (plays ok in all players)

the same results appear from both the internal hdd, and from a portable usb hdd.

MPC and WMP seem to be about as good as each other playing these types of files on this netbook, but clearly VLC is a bit of a dog on this netbook with all these files, so at least now i can pretty well play them all using either WMP or MPC (VLC is fine on any other machine i have in my home playing these files, but clearly is the worst player out of the 3 for sure)

im still going to grab one of those clevo laptops for my sister so my mum can have her d620, and i get my m300 back to use as htpc in the master bedroom.

Originally Posted by Jack-LBO

FYI: VLC plays it like a dog, MPC plays it like a dog

ok well i have not done any tweaking of the 3 media players, and im not going to because it seems WMP and MPC both play my files pretty well, and like you, found VLC was also a dog with your file, and with mine.

i might download a trailer like the one you got for testing and try it.

EDIT: ok i downloaded a couple of the 1080p MP4 files from this site and VLC is a dog with all of them, however, as per my own files, WMP and MPC are sweet.

http://www.h264info.com/clips.html

can i ask what MPC was actually doing with the playback of the trailers you had, as it seems to play ok using WMP according to your youtube video.

those trailers i got play perfectly with MPC and WMP on the asus netbook so i would be a bit surprised if MPC wont play them very well on the clevo.

did they play ok using WMP ???

[cheddo7]

Hey Glenpinn,

When I had my 1201n, I purchased CoreAVC and ran 1080p fine running through the nVidia gpu hardware acceleration. Costs about $10.

But a laptop doesn't make a very good htpc, I recommend you join us htpc nerds and build a dedicated mini or micro htpc box!

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by cheddo7

Hey Glenpinn,

When I had my 1201n, I purchased CoreAVC and ran 1080p fine running through the nVidia gpu hardware acceleration. Costs about $10.

But a laptop doesn't make a very good htpc, I recommend you join us htpc nerds and build a dedicated mini or micro htpc box!

i had no idea you buy CoreAVC ???

and on the htpc, why isnt a laptop any good for a htpc, i know heaps who use them, and more and more users are doing it, because you get the ability to use the laptop away from the tv as well as use it with the tv.

i had a dedicated htpc 2 years ago, and although it was ok, i dont see the point in it when a decent spec laptop does it just as good as any dedicated, home or factory built pc.

i was using my toshiba m300 for several months till i had to give it to my mum to use, and it was perfect, and although this time round i did think of building another htpc, i finally decided to put the notebooks back to some good use, and now i cleared up the playback issues with the 1201n (thx to VLC being a bitch) i now have it back under the 50" plasma playing great.


Click to view full size!

Click to view full size!

im going to order the clevo all the same for my sister so my mum can have her d620.

cheers

EDIT: i assume this is what you bought ???

http://corecodec.com/products/coreavc

i did notice WMP wont play MKV files, not that i have many, i personally dont like mkv as a container.

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by Jack-LBO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmBAz...ature=youtu.be

There you go.

Hi Jack, did you notice what the CPU usage was like during the video playback ???

i am still looking for more benching results for the C-30 cpu compared to other low powered cpu's out there, as i am curious about its performance given it is only a single core cpu.

[Jack-LBO]

I'll take a look monday, but I can't imagine it will be pretty

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by Jack-LBO

I'll take a look monday, but I can't imagine it will be pretty

ok well once i have that, ill have a clearer picture on how the cpu is compared to other low power ones.

its not a big issue what the cpu usage is like while playing those types of files, given the notebook wont be used for anything else whilst playing them.

my concern is how well it handles windows 7 and other applications in normal every day use, compared to the Intel Atom D330 1.6ghz dual core sitting in my 1201n netbook, if its not as good as that then i may have to pass.

as has been mentioned previously, those clevo notebooks could have had an option for the C-50 dual core at least, but then again the price will not be where it is now with the C-30 cpu.

[Jack-LBO]

To be honest, I doubt it will be near the Intel Atom CPU mentioned. But I will find out anyway. Unfortunately the CPU is BGA, so it cannot be changed.

[JebusJones]

My Dell XPS-M1330 as my HTPC is dying a slow and painful death, so I've been looking for an HTPC laptop to replace it, wanted to spend under $500.

Have been searching on various cheap notebook sites, even looking ups econd hand ones, then I thought - hey, my gaming laptop is frickin' awesome, why don't I see if LBO have a cheap laptop I can use as my HTPC?

And lo and behold I find that the W246 has lowered in price, so much so that I can even add a blu-ray player to it and keep it under $500.

I have one question through - Jack-LBO - are there any plans on releasing this model, or similar, int he next month or two with USB 3.0 ports? I'd be willing to deal with the Dell a little longer if this was the case (and even raise my budget slightly).

Either way, I reckon it'll be an LBO laptop I buy to replace the Dell as I have had such a great experience buying my other one (see sig).

[Jack-LBO]

Hey no unfortunately there won't be any model like this one with USB 3.0. I think the technology is too expensive and I doubt the bus speed will be fast enough to transfer at USB 3.0 rates anyway. May I ask why you require this?