XMG Focus 17 (Clevo NP70HK) laptop review: Mid-range gaming laptop equipped with the RTX 3050 Ti

Competitors include other 17-inchers with an upper mid-range or lower high-end graphics card, such as the Asus ROG Strix G17 G713QE, the Acer Nitro 5 AN517-53, the MSI Katana GF76 11UE, and the Asus TUF F17 FX706HM. All of these laptops appear in the tables as comparison devices.

Note: Since the case and connectivity are mostly identical to the 15-inch version, some text passages have been adapted from the review of the XMG Focus 15 and only modified slightly.

The chassis, which is based on a barebone from Clevo (NP70HK), looks very discreet in almost every respect. Besides the subtle design, the rest of the aspects are also rather unspectacular. The 17-incher has a clean finish and good stability for the most part, but the plastic surfaces flex a bit here and there when stronger pressure is applied, without this becoming bothersome in practice. The hinges also make a solid impression. Although the base unit wobbles a bit when the device is opened, the display can still be opened with one hand.

The weight of around 2.5 kg is average. The competition weighs between 2.5 and 2.7 kg. The Focus 17 has the lowest build height with 23.5 mm.

Ports

Users who can do without Thunderbolt should be satisfied with the Focus 17's connectivity. While a Kensington lock, two USB-A ports (1x 2.0, 1x 3.0), and two audio jacks for microphones and headsets are found on the left side, a full-fledged card reader, a USB-C port (3.2 Gen 2), another USB-A port (3.0), and an RJ45 port with a retractable mechanism are found on the right side. Finally, the power supply and image outputs (HDMI 2.0, Mini DisplayPort 1.4) are located on the back.

Since some interfaces are placed towards the rear, and the USB ports are nicely distributed, there should be enough elbowroom to use an external mouse.

The built-in card reader, which supports the SD, SDHC, and SDXC formats, provides a moderate performance. You can expect around 80 to 90 MB/s for sequential reading and photo transfers. Theoretically, our 128 GB AV Pro V60 reference card can reach over 200 MB/s. All other competitors have to make do without a card reader.

Our test device had an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 on board as wireless module, which supports Bluetooth 5.1 in addition to the WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax standard. When tested at a distance of 1 m from the Netgear Nighthawk AX12 reference router, the Focus 17 only performed moderately with just under 900 Mb/s when sending data. On the other hand, around 1,300 Mb/s is a good rate for receiving data.

As usual, you shouldn't expect too much from the webcam. The image sharpness and color reproduction are rather modest.

The contents included in the box are a quick-start guide, a DVD with drivers, a USB stick with software, and screws for the 2.5-inch slot. A pleasingly light and compact 150-watt model serves as the Focus 17's power adapter.

To access the interior, you have to remove a total of 15 screws from the bottom of the base unit. The bottom cover can then be taken off with very little effort. As is typical for Clevo, the maintenance options are impressive. Besides the battery, the WLAN module, and the RAM, the M.2 slot and the 2.5-inch slot can also be accessed. The cooling system consists of two fans, with several heat pipes running towards the CPU and GPU (both soldered and therefore not replaceable). 

The base warranty covers a two-year period (six months of quick repair). Up to three years with quick repair included over the entire period is available for an additional charge.

The touchpad is also impressive. 15 x 9 cm is a huge surface for a 17-inch laptop. Following the latest trend, this is a ClickPad without dedicated buttons. The sleek surface and good precision provide for a very smooth experience with the mouse. On the other hand, the manufacturer needs to improve in terms of stability. The mouse replacement can be pressed in excessively at the left and right edges in particular. The same problem affects the 15-inch counterpart too.

A traditional IPS panel with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a frequency of 144 Hz takes care of image reproduction.

Despite the octa-core CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD that our review sample comes with, the XMG Focus 17 "only" falls into the mid-range. The GeForce RTX 3050 Ti is rather intended for casual gamers who don't need to play every new title at maximum details, and who don't expect the system to be particularly future-proof.

The Intel Core i7-11800H is currently one of the most competitive processors in the mobile gaming sector. The 10 nm model has 24 MB of L3 cache and can process up to 16 threads in parallel using Hyper-Threading. The clock rates under load range from 2.3 GHz to a maximum of 4.6 GHz.

The Focus 17 positioned itself comfortably between the MSI Katana GF76 (11800H as well) and the Asus TUF F17 (11900H) in our Cinebench loop. Here, the CPU performance remained quite stable over a prolonged period of time. Nevertheless, the Focus 17 has a hard time against laptops based on the Ryzen 7 5800H. Since most 3D applications depend on the GPU, users don't need to worry about any problems when gaming.

Thanks in no small part to the fast SSD, the 17-incher comes out on top in the system tests. 6,556 points in PCMark 10 put it in second place, just behind the Asus TUF F17.

Our test device was powered by a high-performance Samsung SSD. The 1 TB version of the 970 Evo Plus overtakes most competing SSDs. The M.2 drive provides a first-class performance for both reading and writing.

To get as much graphics performance out of the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti as possible, the manufacturer provides the Focus 17 with a TGP of 75 watts (incl. Dynamic Boost).

However, the poor amount of video memory proves to be problematic. 4 GB is no longer up to date for a mid-range GPU. In 2021, at least 6 GB of VRAM should be included. New games, such as Deathloop, already require more than 4 GB when running in Full HD - even at minimum settings. Nvidia is being too frugal here, unnecessarily limiting the GPU's future-proofing. You shouldn't expect a high ray-tracing performance from the RTX 3050 Ti, either. The result in 3DMark's Port Royal test, for example, is terrible compared to the RTX 3060, which is often found in similarly priced laptops. 

Despite the limited memory, the RTX 3050 Ti is fast enough to run most games smoothly in the native Full HD resolution with high to maximum details. Only poorly optimized and/or extremely demanding games, such as Crysis Remastered, make the DirectX 12 chip struggle. The Focus 17 is clearly behind laptops with the RTX 3060 here as well. The latter performs about 30% to 40% faster.

We examined how the graphics card behaves under prolonged 3D load for a good 60 minutes with the role-playing game The Witcher 3 (Full HD/Ultra). Result: Similar to the CPU performance, the GPU performance also remained quite constant.

As we're used to from Clevo barebones, the fan control turned out to be very poor - at least in Performance Mode. Instead of letting the 17-inch device run constantly at a decent level in idle and non-demanding scenarios, the fans are often either as quiet as a mouse, or they immediately rev up and become clearly audible. The Focus 17 gets really annoying under load. Even some RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 laptops are able to stay below 54 to 58 dB(A). This makes gaming unenjoyable without headphones. The contenders were often noticeably quieter in the test.