Schenker XMG Ultra 17 (Clevo P775TM1-G) Laptop Review

The most basic version of the Ultra 17 is currently priced at 1699 Euros (~$2090). However, at this price customers are left with only a 500 GB HDD, 8 GB of RAM, and no included operating system. You will have to spend far more if you want our configuration, the L17-hwc, which is available at multiple online shops. With a price tag of 3500 Euros (~$4310), our configuration comes with a Core i7-8700, a GeForce GTX 1080, a UHD panel, 32 GB of RAM and a combination of a 500 GB SSD and a 2 TB HDD.

The chassis of the Ultra 17 is the P775TM1-G Barebone manufactured by Clevo, which is very similar to the already tested P775DM3-G used for the Guru Mars K. Thus, we will not go too deep into specifics such as the chassis, input devices and connectivity. That information can be found by following this link.

Overall, the panel is of high quality, though it should be noted that a resolution as high as UHD requires a potent GPU to match, which is why we recommend to at least go for a GTX 1070 in this case. The only weak point of the IPS based display is the high response time, which with 44 ms gray-to-gray is just average.

Considering its depth of over four centimeters (~1.57 in) and a weight of around 4.4 kilograms (~9.7 lb), the XMG Ultra 17 is one of the thickest and heaviest gaming notebooks currently on the market. This should not come as a surprise, since the 17 incher has been designed as a pure desktop replacement aimed at a stationary use case by providing ample power, ports and great upgrade options.

Our test configuration contains a Core i7-8700, which, while not offering a free multiplicator for overclocking, does support Hyper-threading with up to 12 threads in parallel. A 12 MB L3-Cache (6 MB @Core i7-7700HQ) is also quite impressive. Thanks to turbo boost, the frequency the processor operates at is increased during load as well.

Unfortunately, the Core i7-8700 cannot utilize its full turbo potential in the XMG Ultra 17, despite its massive cooling. In single-core applications, only 4.3 GHz instead of the theoretically possible 4.6 GHz is reached. The result is even worse when all cores are stressed: Instead of boosting to a constant 4.3 GHz, the frequency varies during Cinebench testing between 4.3 GHz and 3.2 GHz (= deactivated turbo), ending in inconsistent results.

If you use the results from a cold start as a basis, the Core i7-8700 passes the Core i7-7820HK found in the MSI GT75VR by about 54% in Cinebench R15 19. The gap to the Acer Predator 17 X overclocked to 4.3 GHz still ends up between 3% and 34%. Equally interesting is a comparison with its desktop predecessor, the Core i7-7700 (3.6-4.2 GHz, 8 MB Cache). In this scenario, the Core i7-8700 wins by between 7% and 36%. The fact that it cannot get a bigger lead in multi-core scenarios is, as hinted, connected to the limited turbo. The 1.5 times higher core count should actually lead to an increase in performance by around 50%.

Not surprisingly, the XMG Ultra 17 has excellent system performance. This leads to 5,976 points in PCMark 10 during our testing. Neither the Guru Mars K (5,856 points) nor the MSI GT75VR (5,211 points) can beat that. Thanks to the solid-state driver, Windows boots quickly and responds fast during usage. However, Schenker could improve the latency, which in our test device, as with other Clevo Barebones, is not perfect (this is possibly connected to drivers).

The 960 Evo from Samsung in particular provides great value for money. The reviewed 500 GB model offers both great sequential results and a high speed when dealing with small files. The 500 GB drives found in the Acer Predator 17 X (Toshiba) and Alienware 17 R4 (SK Hynix) are on average 20% behind. And that, despite the fact that the latter is also based on NVMe technology. Users who would like to fully utilize the storage potential that the Ultra 17 offers have access to one empty M.2-2280 slot and an empty 2.5-inch bay.

Core gamers, whose focus is on great graphical fidelity will require a GeForce GTX 1080 to fully benefit from the UHD resolution. Nvidia’s Pascal flagship contains 2,560 shader units and 8 GB of GDDR5X RAM, connected via a 256-Bit interface. While the CPU of the XMG Ultra 17 suffers from unstable turbo frequencies, the GPU can fully utilize its boost. 1,770 MHz during the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark show good clock speeds under load, which, according to GPU-Z may reach from 1,657 MHz to 1,847 MHz.

Our benchmark course shows that the GeForce GTX 1080 has, as is to be expected, good performance, though the desktop processor is not noticeable during GPU testing. Conventional notebooks with a mobile CPU can achieve similar results. An Advantage of the Ultra 17 though is its upgradability. Both CPU and GPU are not soldered down.

To see whether prolonged gaming sessions would cause problems for this 17-incher, we tested it with 60 minutes of “The Witcher 3” gameplay. The results leave us with mixed feelings. While the GeForce GTX 1080 does boost to a massive 1,720 MHz, it reaches a temperature of 90 °C (194 °F). Interestingly, the Core i7-8700 shows the opposite picture: Despite staying at acceptable temperatures, the turbo boost gets completely disabled.

The fact that 3,840x2,160 can strain and even overwhelm high-end chips is noticeable when looking at newer games. Demanding games such as “Final Fantasy XV” or “Kingdom Come Deliverance” on higher settings are able to bring even a GeForce GTX 1080 to its limit.

Aside from that, high to maximum settings are usually playable, though often only 40-60 FPS are attainable on UHD. For the GTX 1070 we recommend the WQHD panel, and if you want to get the GTX 1060, you should consider going with the Full HD display.

Even during light tasks or while opening programs, we have to criticize the system in this respect. The cooling has a tendency to randomly spin up, something a lot of users are going to find annoying. Updates and the booting process also tend to get the fans up to 40 dB(A). However, those inclined to optimize will be able to make manual adjustments via the preinstalled control center.

The chassis also stays fairly cool on the outside. A maximum of 41 °C (~106 °F) on the top and 51 °C (~124 °F) on the bottom after 60 minutes of “The Witcher 3” are good results. Furthermore, the hand rest stays cool under all circumstances and the device does not heat up that much while idling.

Comparison (Use checkboxes above!)

The combination of a desktop CPU, high-end GPU, a UHD display and no GPU switching results in a rather high energy consumption. 32-45 W while idling is something that only a few other gaming notebooks reach. The same goes for the 237 W in “The Witcher 3” and the 331 W under full load. Not surprisingly, the GTX 1080 variant comes packed with a massive 330 W power supply. 

Despite its massive capacity (82 Wh), the swappable Li-Ion battery is not suitable for mobile use. Even on the lowest brightness with only one open text file on display, the notebook reaches 0% after less than 3 hours. 2:22 hours of internet surfing via WLAN and 2:28 hours of HD video playback on medium brightness are not ideal either. The 3D performance also suffers by one third during battery operation (tested with “The Witcher 3”).