AKA: Clevo NS50MU
Specs under test:
i5-1135G7
8GB Corsair 2666MHz
(Integrated Xe Graphics)
1TB INTEL® 665p M.2
Paid: £740
I wanted a "life companion" type of laptop. I already have a gaming rig and a work laptop. I need this for handling emails on the go, light work here and there and generally a bit of everything.
In terms of raw performance, the Clevo is fine. I do watch (="listen to") quite a bit of FHD videos, while handling all sorts of browser applications. It handles a large workload just fine.
I wouldn't go for the 16GB ram... That's for gaming and this laptop is just not fit for that purpose in essence.
Definitely some quirks from this being an "exotic" manufacturer:
~ Keyboard looks weird (although I got used to that).
~ When open, the screen covers quite a bit of the exhaust.
~ Cooling wise, the fan is not as quiet as my Dell and isn't as "clever". It definitely feels like with a bit of tweaking, a better fan and let the screen fold out and not behind the body (to let the exhaust stay open) - it would have better cooling and noise performance.
~ I also didn't buy "that M$ operating system", I opted for Ubuntu 20. It overall works fine, with tolerable losses: keyboard lighting cannot be controlled, fan profiles cannot be controlled, sleep mode still uses some battery.
~ Wifi was a bit unreliable. This is now better but I still don't trust it fully. I would not take this laptop to a job interview, yet...
I hope that with time and effort, I can fix those software quirks and I even hope more that Clevo/Ubuntu play along and integrate those into the packages so it all works out of the box!
~ Screen is actually quite good! Again, I wished it folded out and not behind the body... They tried to save a few 'mm' of size but it doesn't work so well: the screen, when open, turns into the stand and while opening, this transition can scratch a wood desk.
Also, it doesn't stand well on the screen.
~ Body wise: It's actually pretty rigid! Not as solid as an XPS but certainly good enough for moving around, even if you hold at the corner.
~ Sound is OK... Some things sound fine but most things sound really tinny. I don't expect, from a laptop, to produce music-quality sound. For conferencing or listening to instructions or podcasts, etc... They do the job.
~ Would be nice if the camera section on the monitor was a bit wider too, so that I could fit a physical shutter. I don't trust any manufacturer with the software camera control - who knows what they are recording of me!
At the price I paid, I can't really knock it... Comparable Dells start at £1200 and still not quite as strong as this one.
~ One annoying thing is the USB-C charging. This is enabled by the Thunderbold-4 port but has compatibility issues.
My charger, power bank and cables are SUPERB and rated 100w. They charge everything.
However, the Clevo will only accept my USB-C charger and not the power bank. Even the charger, doesn't always work, I assume the wattage is limited and perhaps if the laptop is demanding more power, the TB4 port is limited wattage and does not charge, in high-power usage (again, this is my conjecture)
~ Would be nice if they kept the physical trackpad buttons. This was the main reason I got interested in Clevo laptops. No idea who thinks those trackpad-only inputs work - they kinda work... But not if you are trying to be productive and accurate.
I hope real trackpad buttons are coming back on the next model!
~ Another minor gripe is that the ports, probably to reduce the laptop size, are rather shallow. Plugs will stick out of the sockets. Works fine but doesn't look great and maybe less firm connection.
Specs under test:
i5-1135G7
8GB Corsair 2666MHz
(Integrated Xe Graphics)
1TB INTEL® 665p M.2
Paid: £740
I wanted a "life companion" type of laptop. I already have a gaming rig and a work laptop. I need this for handling emails on the go, light work here and there and generally a bit of everything.
In terms of raw performance, the Clevo is fine. I do watch (="listen to") quite a bit of FHD videos, while handling all sorts of browser applications. It handles a large workload just fine.
I wouldn't go for the 16GB ram... That's for gaming and this laptop is just not fit for that purpose in essence.
Definitely some quirks from this being an "exotic" manufacturer:
~ Keyboard looks weird (although I got used to that).
~ When open, the screen covers quite a bit of the exhaust.
~ Cooling wise, the fan is not as quiet as my Dell and isn't as "clever". It definitely feels like with a bit of tweaking, a better fan and let the screen fold out and not behind the body (to let the exhaust stay open) - it would have better cooling and noise performance.
~ I also didn't buy "that M$ operating system", I opted for Ubuntu 20. It overall works fine, with tolerable losses: keyboard lighting cannot be controlled, fan profiles cannot be controlled, sleep mode still uses some battery.
~ Wifi was a bit unreliable. This is now better but I still don't trust it fully. I would not take this laptop to a job interview, yet...
I hope that with time and effort, I can fix those software quirks and I even hope more that Clevo/Ubuntu play along and integrate those into the packages so it all works out of the box!
~ Screen is actually quite good! Again, I wished it folded out and not behind the body... They tried to save a few 'mm' of size but it doesn't work so well: the screen, when open, turns into the stand and while opening, this transition can scratch a wood desk.
Also, it doesn't stand well on the screen.
~ Body wise: It's actually pretty rigid! Not as solid as an XPS but certainly good enough for moving around, even if you hold at the corner.
~ Sound is OK... Some things sound fine but most things sound really tinny. I don't expect, from a laptop, to produce music-quality sound. For conferencing or listening to instructions or podcasts, etc... They do the job.
~ Would be nice if the camera section on the monitor was a bit wider too, so that I could fit a physical shutter. I don't trust any manufacturer with the software camera control - who knows what they are recording of me!
At the price I paid, I can't really knock it... Comparable Dells start at £1200 and still not quite as strong as this one.
~ One annoying thing is the USB-C charging. This is enabled by the Thunderbold-4 port but has compatibility issues.
My charger, power bank and cables are SUPERB and rated 100w. They charge everything.
However, the Clevo will only accept my USB-C charger and not the power bank. Even the charger, doesn't always work, I assume the wattage is limited and perhaps if the laptop is demanding more power, the TB4 port is limited wattage and does not charge, in high-power usage (again, this is my conjecture)
~ Would be nice if they kept the physical trackpad buttons. This was the main reason I got interested in Clevo laptops. No idea who thinks those trackpad-only inputs work - they kinda work... But not if you are trying to be productive and accurate.
I hope real trackpad buttons are coming back on the next model!
~ Another minor gripe is that the ports, probably to reduce the laptop size, are rather shallow. Plugs will stick out of the sockets. Works fine but doesn't look great and maybe less firm connection.