Schenker XMG Core 14 (Clevo NV40MB) laptop review: baby gamer

The Core 14's competitors include other gaming laptops with a power-efficient CPU and GTX 1650 Max-Q, such as the MSI Prestige 14, the Asus Zenbook 15, the MSI Prestige 15, and the LG Ultra 17. These notebooks appear in the comparison table below.

Schenker uses a barebones device from Clevo for the case. The NV40MB chassis is very simple and thus fits into any environment. While the lid is made of metal, the surfaces of the base are made of plastic. We would describe the stability as decent. The same applies to the hinges, which allow opening the screen with one hand (maximum opening angle about 140°).

One of the biggest highlights of the Core 14 is its light weight. 1.4 kg is extremely light for a gaming notebook, although the MSI Prestige 14 is another 100 g lighter. In addition, the dimensions are very small. With a base area of 32.5 x 22.5 cm (slim bezel design) and a height of just under 1.8 cm, the 14 incher is extremely comfortable to carry around and transport. The small power supply also helps. The 90-watt power supply measures just 12.5 x 5 x 3 cm and weighs just under 300 g.

Further praise is given for the modern interface equipment. Clevo provides the NV40MB barebones with a USB-C 4.0 Gen3x2 port that supports DisplayPort 1.4 and Thunderbolt 4. The remaining USB ports are either 3.2 Gen2 (Type-C) or 3.2 Gen1 (2x Type-A). An RJ45 port and a card reader are not expected for such compact devices. The range of interfaces is rounded off by an HDMI 2.0 port, an audio jack, and a slot for Kensington Locks. The port placement is a bit sub-optimal in our eyes, since some ports are placed quite far in front and - depending on the amount of peripheral cables - can thus restrict the movement range of a mouse.

The card reader delivers mediocre performance. 87 MB/s for sequential reads and 76 MB/s for transferring photos are similar to the Asus Zenbook 15 and the LG Ultra 17. MSI's Prestige series has much faster card readers.

There are no surprises in the WLAN test. Around 1,040 Mbps (receive) and 1,110 Mbps (transmit) from one meter away from the reference Netgear Nighthawk AX12 router translate to medium to good real-world performance. Schenker uses Intel's Wi-Fi 6 AX201 card as standard, which supports WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax and Bluetooth 5.

The webcam quality is rather modest, as is typical for notebooks. The image sharpness especially leaves a lot to be desired, as the lower of the two photos shows.

Schenker includes a quick start guide, a giant mouse pad, a USB stick with software, a driver DVD, and a cleaning cloth.

The bottom of the case is attached with a total of 14 Phillips screws. After removing the bottom panel, the components are easily accessible. Users can reach the battery, the M.2 slot, the two RAM slots, the wireless adapter, and the cooling system (which consists of two fans and several heat pipes). Since the CPU and GPU are soldered, upgrading these components is not possible.

The touchpad has a decent size of 12 x 7.3 cm. Thanks to the smooth surface and the resultant glide, it is very pleasant to use. There is also little to complain about in terms of precision and gesture support (zooming and scrolling with 2 fingers). The absence of dedicated mouse buttons is a matter of taste.

Schenker equips the Core 14 with a 120 Hz IPS-based display. The LM140LF-1F01 panel from Panda convinces with a low black value (0.27 cd/m²) and a more than solid contrast ratio (approx. 1,250:1).

In terms of performance, the Core 14 belongs to the mid-range. The CPU and GPU can currently render almost all 3D applications well. However, users would have to reach for a (thicker and heavier) device from the high-end segment for a better future-proofing.

The Core i5-1335G7 installed in the review system offers - similar to the i7-1165G7 - four cores, whereby up to eight threads are possible in parallel via Hyperthreading. The two Tiger Lake chips have a TDP of 28 watts, which just about qualifies them for the energy-saving range.

One of the biggest strengths compared to Intel's previous CPU generations is the significantly improved graphics unit. The Xe Graphics G7 does not have to hide behind AMD's competition. Since the Core 14 uses Nvidia's Optimus technology , the 14-incher can dynamically switch between the iGPU and the dedicated GeForce GPU.

But back to the CPU: The base clock of the Core i5-1135G7 is 2.4 GHz. Up to 4.2 GHz is theoretically achievable under load via Turbo Boost. Unfortunately, the Turbo utilization is not particularly good in the Core 14. As our Cinebench loop proves, the performance in entertainment mode (PL1 is limited to 15 watts) is not up to the rival devices that are still equipped with older Comet Lake CPUs. The situation improves considerably when the power mode is activated, but the Core 14 also gets noticeably louder. Buyers will have to choose between a poor CPU performance or very high noise.

There were no conspicuous issues in terms of system performance. With 4,737 points in PCMark 10, the Core 14 makes itself comfortable in the middle of the competition.

The mass storage of the test configuration is beyond reproach. The 500 GB version of the Samsung 980 Pro outperforms all other SSDs in the field - be it in CrystalDiskMark or in the AS-SSD benchmark. No matter if it is small files or large data blocks: The M.2 drive based on NVMe turns out to be as fast as an arrow. Unfortunately, those who want to expand the storage space have to remove the existing SSD. The chassis only contains a single M.2 slot.

The GeForce GTX 1650 is intended for casual gamers who do not necessarily have to play every new title with maximum details. The DirectX-12 capable Turing model offers 4 GB GDDR6 VRAM (128 bit interface) and a base clock of 1,380 MHz (more via GPU boost).

In contrast to the CPU, the GPU's Turbo utilization is much stronger, which can be seen very well in the benchmark results. In 3DMark, the Core 14 passes all rival devices, even though some opponents only have the Max-Q version.

We tested whether the performance is stable over a longer period of time with the role-playing game The Witcher 3 for about 60 minutes (Full-HD/Ultra). The frame rate remained very constant without drops or other issues.

While pure GPU benchmarks are hardly affected by the CPU's meager performance, the situation looks less rosy in everyday gaming. Games that are not completely limited in terms of graphics sometimes run much worse with the energy-saving CPU than with a standard processor (45 watts TDP). It is best to compare framerates on our GPU page.

Otherwise, the GTX 1650 usually has enough power for medium to high settings. Only extremely demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 require minimum details and/or a resolution reduction.

When using the entertainment mode, the Core 14 remains surprisingly quiet in idle mode. The two case fans are either completely off or only rotate at a very decent level. There are hardly any intermittent spikes. Under load, however, the cooling draws attention to itself. At 51 to 52 dB(A), the fans are very insistent and necessitate the use of headphones. At this volume, the Core 14 is louder than all rivals.

The word "mediocre" fits the speakers. As usual, the 2.0 system has weak bass. Overall, the sound quality is on par with the Asus Zenbook 15. We would recommend a headset or external speakers for more frequent or longer media consumption.

The power-saving CPU ensures low energy consumption when idle. 4 to 13 watts are very low by gaming standards. When the GTX 1650 is added under load, the Core 14 draws significantly more power from the socket, between 64 and 103 watts.

Thanks to the energy-saving components, the 14-incher lasts quite a while without a power supply. In our WLAN test with the display brightness set to medium, the 49 Wh battery only gave up after a good 7 hours. In the ideal case (very low to no load, minimum brightness), more than 12 hours are possible. However, the Asus Zenbook 15, the MSI Prestige 15 and the LG Ultra 17, which can accommodate a bigger battery due to the larger space, show that battery runtimes can be even better.