Clevo Horize W246

[JebusJones]

Originally Posted by glenpinn

without looking at the LBO website, what is the next cheapest laptop they have that will play bluray properly.

i wanted one of these laptops as i already mentioned, and i thought the 1.3ghz single core cpu would not be up to the task, and decided not to buy one, but for me, i dont ever use bluray, all my files are on hdd in either 720p/1080p h264 mp4 with a few mkv, and several WMV ones thrown in, so that clevo should cope ok with these files, so maybe getting one just for a htpc for my files would have been ok afterall, cant complain about the cost, evenwithout win 7, and order it with just the dvd drive.

If you're happy just playing files from the HDD or a USB drive using WMP, MPC, VLC and Power DVD then the W246 would suit you fine - for the price it's awesome.

It's not brilliant at multitasking - even flicking between a couple fo web page tabs seems to task it, but it played any media a threw at it barring an actual blu-ray disc. The blu-ray rip to the HDD works fine - if Jack wanted to, he could take a vid of it playing Inception off my HDD (I ripped it to there and left it on there when I sent it for RMA) using PowerDVD.

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by JebusJones

It's not brilliant at multitasking - even flicking between a couple fo web page tabs seems to task it, but it played any media a threw at it barring an actual blu-ray disc.

yeah i had the feeling the cpu would not be the best especially for a 14" notebook, which is why i questioned Jack about its ability right at the beginning, because i had a netbook with a 1.3ghz single core cpu in it (cant remember what it was now) and it was pretty much hopeless, but that was an older single core cpu so i cant really compare them to be fair to the clevo cpu.

if that notebook had the C50 dual core cpu (even tho its only 1.0ghz) it might be a bit better, but then up goes the price.

what makes it more appealing price wise is that if you have your own win 7 license, its a bargain.

[JebusJones]

Hey guys, just thought I'd update you on what's going on.

I sent the laptop to LBO who identified it's an issue with the model, Clevo will be getting back to them with a fix though I'm not holding my breath.

I have the laptop back and it's again my HTPC but I must admit I'm pretty disappointed. Build-wsie it's a nice laptop, power-wise it ain't - I try and open 2 or 3 web sites in tabs in IE and the system grinds to a slow crawl. It plays all media files, occasional jumps but that could just be the files, but if you're doing anything else remotely system intensive at the same time then it just ain't gonna work.

It might be better with an SSD which I might try at a later date but the simple fact is I think the C30 processor is just way too light for a Windows 7 install. I've never install Linux but am tempted to maybe one day try that and XBMC to see if it performs better.

The $500 I paid for it (including Win7 & Blu-ray) could now buy me quite a decent laptop with no Blu-ray but it'd be an i5 and would have USB3, but either ay you live an learn.

LBO and Jack especially have been fantastic but the simple fact is this is an extremely low-end laptop that, whilst preforming tasks reasonably well, don't ever ask it to multitask or try and run anything more intensive than a simple media player - something like MediaPortal just destroys the system.

Such is life.

[NanoDuke]

Hence the adage "you get what you pay for".

In my mind <$500 for a laptop is just for emergency/student/netbook/grandparents market.

I can't wait for my P170EM to be built

I agree that Jack here is a great person to deal with. He's been very helpful with my inquiries this week, even on the weekend

[clonex]

These are going for $199 atm

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by JebusJones

Build-wsie it's a nice laptop, power-wise it ain't

yeah, im with you on this one, as i raised the issue about the C30 single core cpu with Jack earlier this year thinking it would be way too light for anything more than browsing, and running single apps, and even doubted its ability to run bluray.

i had a gateway netbook with a 1.3ghz single core cpu and it was hopeless with win 7 32bit, even XP home was finding it tough.

anyway, as i mentioned to Jack, if only it came with the C50 dual core cpu, but then again, the C50 is only 1ghz, so im not sure how that cpu would stack up either.

for $199 without win 7 its a steal for a 14" notebook, but no good if it cant cope very well.

Originally Posted by NanoDuke

I can't wait for my P170EM to be built

i would be keen to hear about what you spec'd up with your P170, and fill us in with how it goes when you get it, as i was keen to buy a clevo 17" or 18" model when the new IVY cpu range came out, but im not sure if the 18" model will still be available.

in the meantime i bought a dell inspiron 17R special edition for $1154 to try out for a while.

[NanoDuke]

Originally Posted by glenpinn

i would be keen to hear about what you spec'd up with your P170, and fill us in with how it goes when you get it, as i was keen to buy a clevo 17" or 18" model when the new IVY cpu range came out, but im not sure if the 18" model will still be available.

in the meantime i bought a dell inspiron 17R special edition for $1154 to try out for a while.

Horize P170EM Clevo Gaming Laptop
Intel Ivy Bridge Processor : Intel Ivy Bridge i7-3610QM 2.3-3.3Ghz Turbo
Graphics Card : AMD 7970M 2GB Graphics Card GDDR5 [Pre-Order 30th May]
IC Diamond Paste : IC Diamond 24 Carat on CPU+GPU
Memory : 16GB 1600Mhz RAM
Hard Disk 1 : Intel 120GB 520 Series SSD 550/500 Mbs Read/Write
Hard Disk 2 : 750GB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive
Optical Drive : DVD+/-RW Dual Layer DVD Burner
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Wireless Card : Bigfoot Killer N 1103 Wireless Card (No Bluetooth)
LCD Display : Standard 1920x1080 Matte Display
Warranty : 1 Year RTB Warranty + 90 Day 100% Pixel Guarantee
Additional Power Supply : 220 Watt Genuine Power Supply
Additional Battery : 8 Cell Battery

Up-specced items in bold above.

This is aimed to be a desktop replacement for me since I live in a small mining donga. My computer hutch *just* fits my two 24" monitors if I put them on a slant to each other

After some intial launch delays with the 7970m GPUs my lappy should be shipped out today.

[JebusJones]

It's a nicely built laptop but way too uderpowered to do much of anything, better off spending the $200 on something with more grunt.

[clonex]

Surely something like this would be better than spending $120 odd bucks on one of those WD TV live thingos?

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by clonex

Surely something like this would be better than spending $120 odd bucks on one of those WD TV live thingos?

both devices have a place, all depends on your particular needs.

i used to use a WD media player on my 50" plasma but even these sometimes run into a few issues and can be annoying, then i started using my toshiba M300 laptop via hdmi because we could surf the net, amongst other things, but then i discovered the tv had a built in media player 3 weeks ago (via usb) and it has i built in media interface that lets me play any type of video video and music files, including full HD content, so no more need for any other device, plays everything from a 2.5" portable hdd via usb.

most of the good HD tv's these days have this feature, so a laptop or pc as a htpc to me becomes kind of redundant, and surfing the net on a 50" plasma isnt that good anyway.

[JebusJones]

Originally Posted by clonex

Surely something like this would be better than spending $120 odd bucks on one of those WD TV live thingos?

The only reason I use it rather than my old WD player (the model before the Live) is that I wanted it to also be a Blu-ray player, use it to download files/torrents and to be able to play every single codec under the sun. I also like the idea of having media libraries with programs like XBMC or MediPortal.

It's just unfortunate that I jumped the gun a little and didn't realise that this can't play modern blu-rays nor can it run MediaPortal (this is Win7 installed anyway).

Caveat Emptor.

(having said that, LBO have been great with their service throughout, it was my mistake to make).

[Narcoticx2]

Was just having a read of the review of this thing on notebookreview forums...

Did anyone else notice the motherboard? There's a model out there with 2x mini pci-e connectors (one for 3g), 2x ram slots and a C-50 processor (yep, check the clevo website!). Noticed there's a possible hybrid GPU arrangement or something too since there's a spot for a chip and some ram to be soldered on.

Something like that at the current W246 price of $199 would be an instant sell, even if the slots weren't populated.

I'm currently wondering whether something like this would be an ideal cheapie always on fileserver for xbmc. No processing duties, and additional hard drives via mpci-e slot. Unfortunately the wifi would have nowhere to go :\

Hopefully something like this but slightly more customisability will arise. Or jack will need to move stock faster and drop the price even more.

[Jack-LBO]

Of course, Clevo has over 300 models of notebooks actually. There are many different types and IDs. When we originally got these, the C-50 was available, but the price was a bit higher and we would never reach that mark. In fact $199 is below cost by quite a bit.

I doubt we will get more of these in or anything similar. Next time it will probably be a different CPU at a higher price. Unfortunately.

[Narcoticx2]

Originally Posted by Jack-LBO

Of course, Clevo has over 300 models of notebooks actually. There are many different types and IDs. When we originally got these, the C-50 was available, but the price was a bit higher and we would never reach that mark. In fact $199 is below cost by quite a bit.

I doubt we will get more of these in or anything similar. Next time it will probably be a different CPU at a higher price. Unfortunately.

How much more was the C-50 over the C-30? Just curiosity mostly. Looking at the Clevo website, there are heaps of models I wish Horize would pick up (not that I'd be buying all of them).

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by Narcoticx2

How much more was the C-50 over the C-30? Just curiosity mostly. Looking at the Clevo website, there are heaps of models I wish Horize would pick up (not that I'd be buying all of them).

hi, i originally wanted one of these clevo models when they were $299 but i was not convinced the C-30 single core cpu was any good at multi tasking, and seems i was pretty spot on based on the review by JebusJones from his own personal experiences with them.

i did ask Jack the same thing about the C-50 dual core cpu being available in this model, but alas, no it wasnt, and if it was, i would definately had bought one back then.