XMG Focus 15 (Clevo NP50HK) gaming laptop review: RTX 3050 Ti at its limits

The competitors include other 15-inch laptops with a graphics card of the upper mid-range or lower high-end such as the Dell XPS 15 9510, the Asus TUF F15 FX506HM, the Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH, and the Ryzen edition of the Alienware m15 R5. All these laptops are listed in our comparison charts.

The case, which is based on a Barebone from Clevo (NP50HK case), appears inconspicuous in almost every regard. Besides the design, which is kept rather simple, the rest of the aspects are also unspectacular. The 15-inch laptop mostly shows clean workmanship and a good stability, even though in some places, the plastic surfaces can be pressed in with use of some force. However, this never becomes an annoyance in practical operation. The hinges are also solid. Although the base unit also lifts up slightly when opening the lid, the display can still be opened with a single hand.

The highlight of the case is its low weight. 1.9 kg (~4.2 lb) is the lowest value in the test field, which is also shared by the Dell XPS 15. The RTX 3060 laptops bring between 2.3 and 2.5 kg (~5-5.5 lb) to the scale. The Focus 15 also scores with its slim build. The height of only 2.2 cm (~0.9 in) ensures a slim look and together with the moderate weight ensures good mobility.

Connections

Those who can make do without Thunderbolt should be satisfied with the connection equipment of the Focus 15. While the left side offers an opening for the Kensington Lock, two USB-A ports (1x 2.0, 1x 3.0), and two audio outputs for a microphone and headset, the right side presents a full-size card reader, one USB-C port (3.2 Gen2), an additional USB-A-Port (3.0), and an RJ45 port with a folding mechanism. Finally the connections for power and the display output (HDMI 2.0, Mini-DisplayPort 1.4) are located in  the back.

Since some of the connections are placed in the back and the USB ports are distributed well, there should be sufficient space for using an external mouse.

The built-in card reader supports the SD, SDHC, and SDXC card formats and offers a mediocre performance. During sequential reading and while transferring photos, you can expect around 80 to 90 MB/s. For comparison, the Dell XPS 15 cracks the 200-MB mark using our AV Pro 128 GB V60 reference card. All the other competitors do not offer a card reader.

Our test unit uses an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 as the communication module. In addition to WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, it also supports Bluetooth 5.1. In our range test (1m distance to the Netgear Nighthawk AX12 reference router), the Focus 15 achieves very good results with 1500 Mbit/s when sending and more than 1300 Mbit/s when receiving data. With these values, it achieves the first and third place in our test field, respectively.

As usual, you should not expect too much from the webcam. The image sharpness and color reproduction are rather limited.

The box includes a quick start manual, a driver DVD, a USB stick with software, and screws for the 2.5-inch slot. The power supply of the Focus 15 is a pleasantly light and compact 150-Watt model.

In order to access the insides, you have to first remove a total of 15 Philips screws from the bottom of the case. You can then lift off the bottom cover with only little use of force. As typical for Clevo cases, the maintenance options are very good. In addition to the battery, the WLAN module, and the working memory, you can also access the M.2 and the 2.5-inch slot. The cooling system consists of two fans, with several heat pipes running from each of them to the CPU and GPU (soldered in, so they cannot be replaced).

The basic warranty lasts for 2 years (6 months quick repair). At an additional cost, up to 3 years of quick repair are also available for the whole warranty period.

The touchpad is also impressive. About 12 x 7.3 cm (~4.7 x 2.9 in) are quite a lot for a 15-inch laptop. Following the current trend, this is a ClickPad without dedicated keys. With the smooth surface and good accuracy, mouse movements succeed very smoothly. However, the manufacturer should improve on the stability. Particularly the left and right edge of the pad can be pressed down more than usual. The same problem is also found in the 17-inch model, which will receive a review evaluation shortly.

The display consists of a classic IPS panel with a 1920x1080 pixel resolution and refresh rate of 144 Hz. 

Despite our test unit bringing an octa-core CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1-TB SSD, the XMG Focus 15 "only" settles in the mid-range. The GeForce RTX 3050 Ti is meant more for the occasional gamer who doesn't need to play every new game at maximum details and who doesn't pose particularly high demands on getting a future-proof device.

In the mobile gaming area, Intel's Core i7-11800H is currently one of the most successful processors. The 10-nm model contains 24 MB L3 cache and is able to operate on 16 threads simultaneously via Hyper Threading. Under load, the clock speed is between 2.3 and a maximum of 4.6 GHz.

In our Cinebench loop, the Focus 15 only turns out average. Even though the CPU performance remains fairly constant over a longer time period and ranges above that of the Dell XPS 15, the Core i7-11800H still achieves better benchmark results in other laptops (see the Asus TUF F15, for example). The Focus 15 also has a hard time in the comparison with laptops that are based on the Ryzen 7 5800H. However, since most 3D applications are limited by the GPU, gamers don't have to worry about any limitations when playing games.

Not the least due to the fast SSD, the 15-inch laptop ends up in first place in the system tests. 6478 points in PCMark 10 result in third place, with the Schenker laptop performing at eye level with the test configuration of the Alienware m15 R5.

Our test unit is equipped with a powerful Samsung SSD. The 1-TB version of the 970 Evo Plus surpasses the Solid State Drives in all the competing devices, be they from Micron, SK Hynix, or Toshiba. The M.2 drive offers a first-rate performance while reading as well as writing data.

In order to get a maximum graphics performance from the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, the manufacturer configured the Focus 15 with a TGP of 75 watts (incl. Dynamic Boost). With that, the 15-inch laptop moves significantly ahead of the Dell XPS 15, whose RTX 3050 Ti only gets 45 watts, which is only little more than half. This situation is also reflected in the benchmark runs, although the Focus 15 doesn't deliver twice the performance.

Despite its meager storage, the RTX 3050 Ti is fast enough to run most games smoothly in the native Full-HD resolution at high to maximum detail settings. Only in badly programmed and/or extremely demanding games such as "Crysis Remastered" does the DirectX-12 chip begin to stumble. While the Focus 15 is still ahead of the Dell XPS 15 here, it finishes significantly behind laptops that use the RTX 3060, which runs around 40% faster.

We evaluate how the graphics card behaves under longer 3D load, by running the role play "The Witcher 3" for about 60 minutes (FHD/Ultra). The result is that just like the CPU performance, that of the GPU also remains fairly constant.

As we already know from other Clevo Barebones, the fan control turns out to be very unfortunate, at least in Performance mode. Instead of allowing the 15-inch laptop to run constantly at a low noise level during idle operation or less demanding scenarios, the fans are either completely quiet or rev up quickly to very noticeable levels. Things then get really annoying with the Focus 15 under load. Noise levels between 56 and 58 dB(A) are not even reached by some RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 laptops. Gaming without headphones is no fun this way. With the exception of the Lenovo Legion 5, which becomes similarly loud during 3D operation, the competitors remain noticeably quieter during the test.