Nexoc M512 III (Clevo W650RB) (i3,940M) Notebook Review

A simple design, inexpensive though not cheap, but not that sturdy: that's how we could summarize the chassis. The base unit is easy to twist and protests with creaking sounds in the area of the optical drive. The gaps are small and the surfaces are either matte or feature a brushed metal look. We were able to loosen the display bezel by hand - that definitely shouldn't happen. The M512 III is easy to maintain and upgrade, which is typical for BTO barebones. Every omponent a user chooses during the build process can be swapped out at a later time. The WLAN module (M.2), SSD (M.2), hard drive (SATA) and RAM (2 slots) are all pluggable. Exceptions are the processor and the GPU, since both are soldered onto the motherboard. The battery is of course swappable.

Nexoc uses a Intel Wireless AC 7265 WLAN module which worked as expected during the review period. We checked the performance of the integrated card reader with our Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II reference SD card and recorded speeds of up to 87 MB/s when copying large data blocks (AS-SSD Read) and 68 MB/s  for average JPEGs (about 5 MB each). These are very good transfer rates.

The keyboard is very stiff and typing on it is not very satisfying. There's no flex whatsover, but the stroke is simply too hard with short key travel. The actuation itself is well defined but starts at the very beginning of the key stroke, which leads to an overall very wooden typing experience. We wouldn't want to use this keyboard for extented periods of time, particularly since the keys are flat without concave surface guiding the fingertips.

The touchpad is better, even though the two buttons should have more travel in our opinion. At least they remain quiet during clicks and are easy to depress. The pad is large and the slighty rough surface lets fingers glide easily.

The Innolux CMN15BA is a mainstream TN panel which in theory should feature quick response times, although it suffers from very weak viewing angle stability - particularely from the side. The non-glare Full-HD display features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and is - for a multimedia notebook - quite bright at 310 nits. The table below shows that the competitors sometimes don't even get close and remain clearly under 300 nits at times. Color accuracy is not that great either, which was to be expected given the high contrast ratio of 1233:1. The avarage DeltaE is 12 to 14; deally the values should remain under 3. The result is not only a distinctly bluish hue, but also color deviations that are visible to the naked eye (see the CALMAN screenshots below). The color profile linked in the box above should help somewhat - at least to correct the bluish hue.

The panel uses PWM (pulse width modulation) for all brightness levels except maimum.

The Intel Core i3 6100H looks like it might be a true entry-level processor and - at least according to the nomenclature - it is. The system isn't anemic by any means, however, as we can see in the following comparison.  With both an integrated HD Graphics 5300 and a dedicated Nvidia Geforce 940M (Optimus technology), the 15-inch notebook was designed for office work as well as entertainment and productivity. Nexoc increases the perceived speed with a Samsung SSD 850 EVO (250 GB) and a 1 TB Hitachi HTS7210 hard drive. The SSD houses the operating system, so fast response times are a given for this i3 system. 

The overal system performance, which we evaluate with the  PCMark 7 and PCMark 8 benchmark tests, is on par with other well-equipped consumer-level notebooks like the Acer Aspire E5-473G-59QT with 15 watt Core i5 processor. The XMG A706 with Core i7 and GTX 960M, on the other hand, is capable of 20 to 30 % better performance.

The Samsung SSD 850 EVO offers a capacity of 250 GB and allows for fast load as well as copy times. The SSD in the Schenker XMG A706 clearly trails the review notebook, as do the competitors with regular hard drives.

The noise level could theoretically approach zero, since the fan system is often not acitve at all during idle and even under load scenarios. Unfortunately, the 7200 RPM hard drive makes that impossible, as it registered at 34 dB on its own. Under full load, the fan spools up and the noise increases to up to 44 dB while playing games and 49 dB during the stress test. If required, the M512 III will get quite noisy to keep the chassis cool, although that's pretty unrealistic under normal circumstances.

The chassis doesn't get overly warm thanks to the capacity of the cooling system. Even when equipped with Core i7 CPU and GTX 950M GPU, the notebook remains cool at all times.

The loudspeakers sound tinny and music and games are hard to endure as a result. The two speakers, which are located at the front of the notebook, don't get very loud compared to other notebooks and struggle to fill even an average room.

Does a Skylake CPU consume less power? The 14 nm construction promises an increase in efficiency and consequently a lower power draw, but the M512 seems to be the exception. During idle, our notebook consumed between 13 and 19 watts, even when we removed the battery to prevent charging during the test run. The results are bewildering to say the least, as even the GTX powerhouses only need between 5 and 16 watts (XMG A706). We don't think that the i3 processor is the culprit - after all, even the first-generation M512 consumed lots of power in standby mode.

During load, the difference isn't quite as noticeable, although 15 watt systems like the Aspire E5-473G consume less power - especially the ones without dedicated graphics (ThinkPad Edge E550, for example).

The run times during the WLAN test show the realistic battery life while web surfing with reduced brightness (level 6 at 135 cd/m² in the middle). 249 minutes - a bit more than 4 hours - isn't that impressive when compared to the competitors.