Nexoc G515 II (Clevo N150RD) Notebook Review

Because the notebook's case, connectivity features, input devices and speakers are all identical to that of the Schenker XMG A505, for more information on these subjects we direct readers to our review of the Schenker model.

Nexoc chose an IPS display from LG Philips, whose mediocre mean brightness of 232 cd/m² leaves much to be desired, especially given the notebook's high price. The Acer V 15 Nitro's panel does a lot better here, measuring an excellent 322 cd/m². For an IPS panel, the black value of 0.3 cd/m² is low, which fortunately yields a good contrast of 773:1. The XMG A505 is brighter and still manages to render black even darker, resulting in a fantastic contrast of 1235:1. The brightness distribution is 82% similar across the screen and suffices for a good score in that discipline. Subjectively, when the display image was entirely black, we noticed a little screen bleeding in various places around the panel frame -- but this was not evident in normal use.

Distributed across the 15.6-inch screen, the 1920x1080 pixels are ideal for a gamer. The resultant resolution of 141 ppi generates a beautifully crisp image from the normal distance of about a half-meter (~1.6 feet). Eagle eyes observing the screen at a nearer range might notice a little text pixelation. A different screen would hardly be sensible, and Nexoc has chosen not to offer any alternatives. Out of the three competitors, the Acer machine is the modern marvel in terms of pixel density: Thanks to its 3840x2160 pixels on a 15-inch monitor, it reaches an almost excessive 282 ppi. Some users have expressed that brightness control via pulse width modulation (PWM) can cause the screen to flicker, but according to our measurements, this did not occur.

The Intel Core i7-6700HQ (4x 2.6-3.5 GHz, Hyperthreading) is a very powerful quad-core processor with Hyperthreading from Intel's cutting-edge Skylake generation. Like Broadwell processors, the chip is fabricated using the 14 nm manufacturing process, and thanks to a variety of architectural improvements, its per-MHz performance is 5 to 10 percent better than that of its grandfather's generation (Haswell). Skylake replaces these two generations, and especially compared to Haswell chips manufactured at 22 nm, the new CPUs excel in the area of energy efficiency. Because the Skylake processors have the potential to remain at lower temperatures, they are often able to better utilize their turbo during long periods under full load. Though in its standard configuration the chip is primarily suited for use in larger notebooks, thanks to its reducible TDP (45 to 35 watts), theoretically it could find a place in smaller devices (with some loss of performance).

The base clock rate of 2.6 GHz can be increased to up to 3.1 GHz via turbo with all four cores under load. If it is a matter of only two threads, 3.3 GHz is the maximum possible frequency. The 47 watt i7-4720HQ (4x 2.6-3.6 GHz, Hyperthreading, Haswell, Clevo Barebone N150SD) with a slightly higher clock rate (also soldered) is comparable in terms of performance, though it requires more energy. If the Cinebench R15 multi-core benchmark is left running in a loop, the cores generally hold their 3.1 GHz clock rate, but sink to the base frequency time and again and reach temperatures of up to 90 °C (194 °F). The point is the processor is unable to take full advantage of its turbo. According to Cinebench R11.5 (multi-core), in other notebooks the Core i7-6700HQ computes 6 to 14 percent faster. The other Cinebench benchmarks show the CPU's performance precisely at the expected level.

Comprehensive commentary would not be profitable here either: We expressed our conclusion regarding the notebook's gaming performance at the beginning of this article, and once again refer the reader to our FAQ section for more details on this topic.

System Noise

In idle mode, our test device could do without active cooling, leaving the machine almost silent (except for the barely audible hard drive). Under a low level of load, the CPU fan turned slowly enough that from a normal distance, the ambient noise covered the sound generated by the device. About 20 seconds after we started Prime95, the fan geared up to high speed and made itself clearly audible.

After we activated FurMark as well, the GPU fan joined the chorus, which increased the noise volume without raising the decibels significantly. Unfortunately, under heavy load the system also produced an additional buzzing noise. Clevo appears to have improved the fan control, as the Nexoc's fans are somewhat less jumpy than their counterparts in the Schenker notebook. The Schenker's fans are louder overall and their rotational speed is more erratic. We deducted points from the Nexoc to account for the whirring DVD drive.

Both our test device and the Schenker XMG A505 are equipped with 62 Wh batteries, while the Acer Aspire Nitro has to get by with 10 Wh less. That fact alone partially explains why the Acer machine falls significantly behind its two competitors in our WLAN test (which is designed to simulate practical, everyday use). Because we measured the Schenker notebook's battery life using our old series of tests, the results are not directly comparable. However, the battery runtime test under load, the results of which are strongly influenced by the (identical) graphics card, shows that the i7-6700HQ is more frugal than the i7-4720HQ.