Clevo X580 TBA at CES 2025 - 18", 4+4 drives and memory, 2xTB5

[1610ftw]

4 hours ago, win32asmguy said:

 

I agree about the fan curve issues. While the Zbook 15 G4 did not have this problem the Zbook Studio G3 definitely did and probably every generation going forward. Fan oscillation at idle speeds and in generally just annoying bursts of noise from day to day use. Of course tuning is also locked down so helping the situation by taming the CPU was not possible. I would even say the Precision models just have annoying fans, the only workstation that is a pleasure to use noise wise has been the Thinkpad P16 G2.

 

We dont really know how Arrow Lake HX will feel or work yet. It could be the case that the previous gen 14900HX / 13950HX may have a better experience for quite some time.

 

I think it started with the G5 generation which was the first chassis with the new more edgy design - very high build quality and great looks. I had a nice fan curve and undervolt for the Zbook 17 G5 and then came an update and HP destroyed it all - it is hard to not have very negative feelings about a company crippling their product like that.

 

From what I know all subsequent iterations of their flagship workstation have the same "works as intended" annoying fan cycling and undervolting is blocked, too. The only option that I have found to tame those CPUs a bit was to set lower power limits with Throttle Stop which helps them not to ramp the clocks to unsustainable levels but that is far from ideal. 

 

I forgot that my last Precision was the 7760 that by comparison had a very low powered CPU (ca. 130W max) which certainly helped.

 

The best workstation I have tested is the MSI CreatorPro X18 HX. It is quite magnificent with regard to fan noise and sustainable performance, too bad that it only comes with a monstrous price tag. 

 

I am mainly interested in the new generation of laptops for TB5 and to get more drives so if the CPUs are a sideway move that might be good enough for me. For people who do not need that this is probably a generation they can skip unless they finally want a proper 18" workstation that wasn't available before from Dell and HP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[win32asmguy]

On 3/24/2025 at 12:51 PM, 1610ftw said:

I think it started with the G5 generation which was the first chassis with the new more edgy design - very high build quality and great looks. I had a nice fan curve and undervolt for the Zbook 17 G5 and then came an update and HP destroyed it all - it is hard to not have very negative feelings about a company crippling their product like that.

 

From what I know all subsequent iterations of their flagship workstation have the same "works as intended" annoying fan cycling and undervolting is blocked, too. The only option that I have found to tame those CPUs a bit was to set lower power limits with Throttle Stop which helps them not to ramp the clocks to unsustainable levels but that is far from ideal. 

 

I forgot that my last Precision was the 7760 that by comparison had a very low powered CPU (ca. 130W max) which certainly helped.

 

The best workstation I have tested is the MSI CreatorPro X18 HX. It is quite magnificent with regard to fan noise and sustainable performance, too bad that it only comes with a monstrous price tag. 

 

I am mainly interested in the new generation of laptops for TB5 and to get more drives so if the CPUs are a sideway move that might be good enough for me. For people who do not need that this is probably a generation they can skip unless they finally want a proper 18" workstation that wasn't available before from Dell and HP.

 

Yeah that annoying fan oscillation was present on the Fury 16 G10. I suppose that we can adjust power limits but I do not think there is a way to adjust turbo ratios down other than dropping all the way to base clocks.

 

The CreatorPro X18 sounds really nice. It just needs more display options. If the HDMI port really can be driven by the iGPU that is a great feature and unique to its model. There is an open box model available here at a good reseller and its tempting to try testing it out.

[1610ftw]

Well you already had the Raider 18 HX so you know the lower part of the chassis minus the vapor chamber heat sink. CP X18 HX does have a nicer more professional looking lid and no more RGB annoyances as MSI (sadly for me) went for an all whitish keyboard.

 

It is still incomprehensible for me that despite being a workstation it only has two drive slots but for me it is the nicest laptop with that chassis due to the color combination and also a high quality nicely understated lid that fits a lot better in professional / non-gaming settings. So if there is an open box model out there that that may be worth a try.

 

Before you do that I would however check with @song_1118 who still uses it to inquire about the iGPU / HDMI port connection and in case that you plan to use it if iGPU mode is a viable option. I can remember that some Titan 18 users reported having to re-register their Windows when switching between iGPU and the two other modes which meant that I never even tried iGPU mode in the Raider 18 HX.