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MagyarIntel Core i9-12900H debut: Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P laptop review
Intel has finally responded to AMD's impressive mobile Zen 3 H-series with its 12th gen Alder Lake-H platform. Schenker and Uniwill Technology have provided for us one of the first laptops to carry the 12th gen Core i9-12900H based on the GM7AG8P chassis. Schenker have yet to publicly offer this exact configuration as of this writing, but retail options may come at a later date.
Our test unit comes with the aforementioned Core i9 CPU, new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU, DDR5-4800 RAM, and 1440p (QHD) IPS 165 Hz display. This review will focus on performance to show what users can expect out of the new Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU when compared to their respective last generation counterparts.
Please note that the Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P chassis is not the XMG Neo 17 or XMG Pro 17. It may, however, be considered for a future XMG model.
More Schenker reviews:
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86.9 % | 02/2022 | Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P i9-12900H, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU | 2.3 kg | 20 mm | 17.30" | 2560x1440 | |
| 87.4 % | 09/2021 | Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 2.6 kg | 27.45 mm | 17.30" | 2560x1440 | |
| 89 % | 09/2021 | Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 3.2 kg | 21.4 mm | 17.30" | 3840x2160 | |
| 89.4 % | 09/2021 | Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU | 2.8 kg | 19.9 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
| 86.2 % | 09/2021 | MSI GS76 Stealth 11UH i9-11900H, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 2.4 kg | 20 mm | 17.30" | 3840x2160 | |
| 87.8 % | 09/2021 | Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 2.3 kg | 19.81 mm | 17.30" | 2560x1440 |
Case — Typical Tongfang
Formerly known as Tongfang, Uniwill Technology utilizes similar materials and designs across many of its gaming laptops and mobile workstations. In this case, the GM7AG8P has a lot in common with the XMG Neo 17 and XMG Pro 17 in terms of features, rigidity, and texture even if their dimensions, appearances, and sizes are slightly different. Overall dimensions are nearly identical to the Razer Blade Pro 17 while weighing 500 grams less mostly due to the lack of a vapor chamber cooler for the GM7AG8P.
(March 1, 2022 update: We incorrectly stated that the chassis was mostly ABS plastic and have revised our caption to read magnesium alloy.)
Connectivity — Thunderbolt 4... Sometimes
Port options are essentially identical to the Schenker XMG Neo 17 but with a couple of important differences. The GM7AG8P uses a smaller MicroSD card reader, for example, while Thunderbolt 4 and external G-Sync/Adaptive Sync compatibility will only be enabled when running in MSHybrid mode.
SD Card Reader — MicroSD Only
The system integrates a MicroSD reader despite the large 17.3-inch form factor. Additionally, unlike most other MicroSD readers, the one on the GM7AG8P is not spring-loaded and a fully inserted card must also be inserted upside-down. Transfer rates are average as it takes around 15 seconds to move 1 GB of images from our UHS-II test card compared to half that on the latest Razer Blade 17.
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 (AV Pro V60) | |
| MSI GS76 Stealth 11UH (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E (AV Pro V60) | |
| Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 (AV Pro V60) | |
| Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P (AV Pro V60) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E (AV Pro V60) | |
| MSI GS76 Stealth 11UH (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 (AV Pro V60) | |
| Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S | |
| Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 (AV Pro V60) | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P (AV Pro V60) | |
Communication
Webcam
Camera quality is poor despite the 2 MP sensor. Images are grainier than expected even by the already low laptop webcam standards.
IR is built-in for Windows Hello support.
Maintenance
The bottom panel is secured by 10 Philips screws for easy servicing. Users have direct access to both M.2 2280 storage bays, both SODIMM slots, the main batteries, and the WLAN module.
Accessories and Warranty
There are no extras in the box other than the AC adapter and paperwork. XMG offers two-year warranty as standard.
Input Devices
Keyboard
The GM7AG8P uses traditional membrane-based keys more akin to the XMG Core 17 or XMG Pro 17 rather than the mechanical keys of the XMG Neo 17. Unlike the traditional keys on the XMG Core 17 or XMG Pro 17, however, the keys here are physically larger to be easier to type on. Key feedback is uniform with relatively quiet clatter between all keys, but we do wish that travel and feedback could have been firmer overall.
Touchpad
The clickpad is nearly the same size as the one on the Blade Pro 17 (13.3 x 7.6 cm vs. 13 x 8 cm) but with a firmer and louder click when pressed. Gliding properties are smooth with little to no sticking even when moving the cursor at slower speeds.
Display — Fast and Colorful
Our GM7AG8P test unit is using the exact same BOE0977 display controller and NE173QHM-NY2 IPS panel as found on last year's Schenker XMG Neo 17 GM7TG8S. Thus, the viewing experience and display attributes between these two laptops are very similar including the 1440p native resolution, fast response times, ~1000:1 contrast ratio, 165 Hz refresh rate, and full sRGB coverage. Maximum brightness continues to be just under 400 nits as well.
Backlight bleeding on our particular test unit could be improved upon as shown by our image below. Though some bleeding is to be expected from IPS, our unit would exhibit more than we would like.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 86 %
Center on Battery: 387.1 cd/m²
Contrast: 1210:1 (Black: 0.32 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.32 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.2, calibrated: 1.67
ΔE Greyscale 6.6 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
70.7% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
97.8% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
68.9% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.24
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P BOE NE173QHM-NY2, IPS, 2560x1440, 17.30 | Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S BOE0977 (NE173QHM-NY2), IPS, 2560x1440, 17.30 | Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E AU Optronics B173ZAN, IPS, 3840x2160, 17.30 | Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 AU Optronics B173HAN05.4, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | MSI GS76 Stealth 11UH AUO B173ZAN06.1 (AUODE95), IPS, 3840x2160, 17.30 | Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 BOE NE173QHM-NY2, IPS, 2560x1440, 17.30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | -3% | 24% | 3% | -7% | 2% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 68.9 | 67.1 -3% | 88.3 28% | 71.7 4% | 63 -9% | 70.7 3% |
| sRGB Coverage | 97.8 | 96.3 -2% | 100 2% | 98.8 1% | 94.8 -3% | 99.4 2% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 70.7 | 68.6 -3% | 100 41% | 73.6 4% | 65 -8% | 71.7 1% |
| Response Times | 16% | 14% | 54% | 47% | 4% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 14.8 ? | 15.2 -3% | 14.4 ? 3% | 4.2 ? 72% | 8.8 ? 41% | 15.6 ? -5% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 13.6 ? | 8.8 35% | 10.4 ? 24% | 8.8 ? 35% | 6.4 ? 53% | 12 ? 12% |
| PWM Frequency | ||||||
| Screen | 18% | 11% | -9% | 22% | 9% | |
| Brightness middle | 387.1 | 396 2% | 438.7 13% | 323.3 -16% | 474 22% | 389.7 1% |
| Brightness | 361 | 366 1% | 435 20% | 315 -13% | 454 26% | 363 1% |
| Brightness Distribution | 86 | 82 -5% | 91 6% | 91 6% | 88 2% | 84 -2% |
| Black Level * | 0.32 | 0.45 -41% | 0.48 -50% | 0.33 -3% | 0.46 -44% | 0.47 -47% |
| Contrast | 1210 | 880 -27% | 914 -24% | 980 -19% | 1030 -15% | 829 -31% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.32 | 1.43 67% | 4.34 -0% | 4.59 -6% | 1.5 65% | 1.93 55% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 8.58 | 2.2 74% | 7.3 15% | 10.82 -26% | 5.59 35% | 6.84 20% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 1.67 | 1.34 20% | 0.72 57% | 1.4 16% | 0.86 49% | 1.31 22% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 6.6 | 1.8 73% | 2.4 64% | 7.9 -20% | 2.8 58% | 2.4 64% |
| Gamma | 2.24 98% | 2.4 92% | 2.09 105% | 2.28 96% | 2.158 102% | 2.12 104% |
| CCT | 6114 106% | 6489 100% | 6413 101% | 5941 109% | 6597 99% | 6658 98% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 10% /
13% | 16% /
14% | 16% /
3% | 21% /
19% | 5% /
7% |
* ... smaller is better
Grayscale is not well calibrated out of the box with its relatively high average deltaE value of 6.6 due to the warm color temperature of around 6100K. Once calibrated with our X-Rite colorimeter, both grayscale and ColorChecker would improve with final average deltaE values of only 1.1 and 1.67, respectively.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 13.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 7.6 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 6 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 26 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (22.3 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 14.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 8 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 6.8 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 20 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (35.1 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19046 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance — Extreme for the Size
Advanced Optimus (or Optimus 2.0) is not available meaning users will have to switch between discrete GPU and MSHybrid manually via BIOS. Additionally, keep in mind that the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU is set to 150 W TGP by default even though the Nvidia Control Panel states that it is capable of reaching up to 175 W. Users will have to manually set the GPU to 175 W via the included Control Center software instead.
Testing Conditions
We set our unit to the default BIOS and Control Center settings prior to running any performance benchmarks below albeit with the Turbo power profile active. We highly recommend users become familiar with Control Center as important features are toggled here.
Processor — Noticeable Gen-to-Gen Improvements
Raw CPU performance is only about 9 percent slower than the Core i9-12900HK as found on the new MSI GE76. When compared to the last generation Core i9-11900H that the Core i9-12900H directly replaces, users can expect a single-thread and multi-thread performance uptick of about 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively. This boost is enough to propel the new Intel CPU above the Ryzen 7 5800H and Ryzen 9 5900HX which are some of the fastest mobile Zen 3 CPUs.
Additional details on the Alder Lake platform can be found on our overview here.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
| AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S | |
| Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 | |
| Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 | |
| Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E | |
| AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
System Performance
PCMark scores are some of the highest in our database essentially rivaling the Schenker XMG Ultra 17 equipped with the desktop Core i9-11900K.
| PCMark 10 Score | 7883 points | |
Help | ||
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| MSI GE76 Raider | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| Schenker XMG Pro 17 (Late 2021, RTX 3080) | |
| Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| MSI GE76 Raider | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| Schenker XMG Pro 17 (Late 2021, RTX 3080) | |
| Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| MSI GE76 Raider | |
| Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 | |
| Schenker XMG Pro 17 (Late 2021, RTX 3080) | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| MSI GE76 Raider | |
| Schenker XMG Pro 17 (Late 2021, RTX 3080) | |
| Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 | |
| Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 | |
| Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
LatencyMon shows minor DPC issues when opening multiple tabs on our homepage. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is smooth but not perfect as we're able to record 14 dropped frames during our minute-long video test.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S | |
| Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E | |
| MSI GS76 Stealth 11UH | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 | |
| Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices — 2x M.2 PCIe4 x4 NVMe SSDs
The 512 GB Samsung PM9A1 drive offers sequential read and writes rates of up to 6900 MB/s and 5000 MB/s, respectively. We're able to reach close to the maximum speeds when running DiskSpd in a loop, but performance would eventually fall off a cliff to "only" 3200 MB/s towards the end of our test as shown by the graph below. The results suggest that the drive is unable to maintain maximum performance for extended periods potentially due to temperature limitations.
| Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
| Maingear Vector Pro MG-VCP17 | |
| Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S | |
| MSI GS76 Stealth 11UH | |
| Schenker Uniwill Technology GM7AG8P | |
| Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 | |
| Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E | |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance — A Bit Better than the Mobile GeForce RTX 3080
Much like how the desktop GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is about 10 percent faster than the desktop GeForce RTX 3080, the laptop GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is only about 10 percent faster than the laptop GeForce RTX 3080. Expect performance to be most similar to the desktop GeForce RTX 3070 which is a perfect fit for the native QHD 165 Hz display.
Running on MSHybrid mode instead of dGPU mode would result in a 1.2 percent lower Time Spy GPU score (12176 vs. 12020 points) to show that the performance drop when switching to MSHybrid is almost negligible.
When setting the GPU to 175 W via Control Center, our Time Spy graphics score would increase to 12714 points for a performance boost of only 4 to 5 percent.
