AFTERSHOCK X11: Clevo W110ER Review - SMALLEST GAMING LAPTOP IN THE WORLD

How it Happened

Now earlier last week, I gave a preview on my new Laptop Aftershock X11 that I just received from the Good folks at Aftershock PC. These guys are the only ones that operate a custom laptop shop in Singapore. Now the review will be based on the many components and also their showroom and service. The Aftershock X11 is based on Clevo's W110ER barebone, the smallest laptop with a beefy Graphics card. It's very very similar to the Clevo W110ER that Elric Phares of Tech of Tomorrow got from AVA Direct. Cost generally doesn't matter because I got this laptop for free then I upgraded my parts. Would like to thank the Wee Brothers for conducting the giveaway!

Aftershock X11 / Clevo W110ER 11.6 Incher compared to the X17 / Clevo P370SM, the flagship 17'
This is taken at the showroom in FUNAN

Now before I carry on, the laptop Specs are as follows:

Intel Core i7 3630QM (2.1GHz, 3.1 GHz Turboboost)
8GB RAM at 1600MHz
250 GB Samsung 840 Solid State Drive.
2GB DDR3 nVidia GeForce GT 650M (835MHz Core Clock; Boosts to 950 at load, 900 MHz Memory. 384 CUDA Cores) - 314.07 Driver
Diamond IC Cooler.




Other Accessories that it goes with:
90W Power Brick
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Installation Disc
Clevo W110ER Utility Disc
LG Pouch for the Laptop.

There are not so much add-ons when it comes to accessories. However, whatever that is required is already provided and more or less already installed, including the Laptop utilities and the GT 650M GeForce Drivers. They should be however updated as soon as more updated versions are available.

Keyboard: The letters on each key are standard size and the keys themselves are however slightly smaller than standard (but not by much). It does take some getting used to but with practice, you can be pretty efficient with the keyboard without too much of a problem. The Function Key above the right arrow key is IMO, the best ideal location since it doesn't have a dedicated Page Up and Down Key. Despite the keyboard having some limitations, it is fully functional and the chiclet feel of the keyboard feels relatively easy to transition from a slightly larger keyboard of a similar layout. You can use an external keyboard, but the current layout is enough for the task at hand. 8/10.

Sound: Surprisingly, the speakers provide A LOT for such a small baby. May be on the soft side, I understand. However, nonetheless the integrated speakers work well and provides more than adequate sound quality. It even does give out slight bass there as well. Score HAS to be high considering the form factor. 9/10. Nice!

Heat: Even with the Diamond IC cooler, it does give out a fair amount of heat. It gets warm at times even at idling. Then again, it's the drawbacks of a form factor. As long as you have something to cool it down, then it should be fine. Still, I'm thankful for the Diamond IC Thermal Compound. 7/10.

Noise: It is completely silent at idling, seriously. You can hardly hear anything at all when the laptop is idling. A lot more so since I'm using an SSD in place of a Normal Hard Drive, so it does keep the noise level further down due to the lack of moving parts inside it. It does kick up a bit during loads but well within the acceptable range.  8.5/10.

Touchpad:  Again, considering the form factor-wise, the touchpad is more than adequate for your needs. The touchpad is responsive and you gotta love the nice clicky sound. If you're gaming though, you would probably use an external mouse anyway. Still it does feel alright, and not sticky and problematic. Ugh! Lenovo Y500, that touchpad was uber pain in the butt. 8/10.

Performance:  Most laptops of such size will operate on Low Voltage CPUs. However, the Core i7 3630QM is a full-fledged 45W Quad-core/8-Threaded CPU, with an option of going up to a 55W 3840QM or the 3940XM. The GT 650M DDR3 chip is essentially an OVERCLOCKED Desktop DDR3 GT 640 and it trades blows with the GTX 560M, the GPU that is extremely close in comparison in terms of performance. Trivia: there are rumors of a slightly under clocked version of the 650M and will be rebadged as the GT 740M.

That said, this baby godzilla doesn't compromise power at all, no sir, not a bit. It was even able to take some of the latest games like Bioshock Infinite, Battlefield 3 and Diablo 3 in completely maxed out settings at playable levels. Continuous driver updates will make the GPU handle that even better overtime. Also, having an SSD does greatly help in Application performance. The Samsung 840 Write Speed is bottlenecked by the TLC Memory Flash it uses, but you'll still get an obvious boost over a normal hard drive at a more mainstream cost, so can't really complain. For all this hardware in a laptop smaller than the size of an A4 Sheet of paper or 2 of my hands, thoroughly deserves a 10/10 score. Benchmarks to follow.

I ran these games at the native resolution unless stated. Videos to follow. And this is what it can do at playable settings:
StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm - Ultra
Battlefield 3 - Ultra on 1366 x 768, Medium at Full HD
Borderlands 2 - Ultra on 1366 x 768, Medium at Full HD
Bioshock Infinite - Ultra at 1366 x 768
Torchlight 2 - Ultra
Crysis 3 - High with 4x AF, AA Disabled.
Dungeons and Dragons: Neverwinter - Medium High at Full HD

Samsung 840 (Non-Pro SSD Benched)

Aftershock X11 / Clevo W110ER Overview

Dungeons and Dragons: Neverwinter, 1080p Gameplay: Medium High

Bioshock Infinite at 1366 x 768: Ultra Settings

Crysis 3 Gameplay: 1366 x 768, Low to High Details 4x AF, No AA

Display: Although the Clevo W110ER comes with by default a Glossy Screen, AFTERSHOCK PC's X11 default screen is matte, so less glare, especially when you're outside. It's small (which marks scores a little bit) and takes getting used to.  But what impressed me though was the impressive density of 135 DPI which beats the density of much larger screens. 8/10.

Connectivity: The Aftershock X11 comes with decent connectivity. VGA, HDMI, 2 USB 3.0 Ports, 1 USB 2.0 Port, a Kensington Lock and a Card Reader. It doesn't have an Optical Disc Bay. Understandable, since the laptop is small and you have to cramp tonnes of already high-end hardware in it. Then again, this day and age, CDs are the thing of the past. And if you need to use a disc, just grab an external drive. They're cheap. 8/10.

Portability: Small and Light, Nuff' Said. 11.6 Inch and at 1.75 Kilos / 4 Pounds makes it lighter and more compact than most mainstream laptops. Despite other lighter laptops lighter than this, it's great as a second rig or main porta-rig. Rightly so, if you relocate from place to place like I often do from Bedroom to downstairs' living room where I can relax and work on a couch with a glass of Ice Lemon Tea. 9/10.

By the way, this is how tiny the Clevo W110ER Aftershock X11 compares to the following 2 Laptops:
- Acer Aspire 5742G, Core i7 2630QM, 6GB RAM, 1GB GT 540M, 14.1 Inch (Dad's Laptop).
- Aftershock Titan with Twin GTX 680M in SLI. (Funan Showroom)

Price: I can't really rate how expensive the laptop could have been. But what I do know is that the recommended configuration of the Aftershock X11 will cost around $1750 bucks. Not really for the meek of wallet especially due to the SSD which jacks the price a bit, but it's still nonetheless cheaper than the closest competitors Dell Alienware's M14 even without an SSD and Razer's whopping expensive blade. The Base Config comes at around $1170, but it comes with pretty much everything that you need for a pretty decent gaming experience. So no rating for price.

Ease of Upgrades: Maintenance and access to the system's components for further upgrades is absolute tool-less since there are no screws that hold in place. The Battery release catches also loosens the base cover, allowing you to open it and reveal the sick hardware from within. Majority of the components save the GPU can be swapped out and you can ask Joe and Marcus Wee to do it for you. With that sort of ease of opening the chassis, cleaning on the fly is easy with your can of compressed air on hand. That said however, just be careful not to open it too much with force or the clips that secure the panel to the laptop might fail on you.

The Aftershock X11 / Clevo W110ER Setup in my living room.

If that's not enough, here's my 2nd Mode in my Bedroom.
Hartke KM60 Keyboard Amplifier, DIY Laptop cooler, Armageddon Aquila X-1 Mouse
And SteelSeries QCK Black MINI Mousepad.

SUMMARY: 
As with Aftershock X11's slogan, this machine is undoubtedly TINY but MIGHTY. Basically a netbook on  steroids. It's a gaming laptop mind you and you'll rarely find hardware like this in a tiny package. The laptop which used to fulfill this role was the long obsolete 2-kilo Alienware M11X with a GT 540M. Since it's pretty much in the tomb, the X11 has no real rivals when it comes to a high-end gaming system in a a lot more compelling portability as a LAN party system. The closest rival to that would be the current M14, more pricy and heavier, with even the base model priced more than a decked out X11. Even the fully decked out M14 doesn't even have a Dedicated SSD storage and NO USB 3.0 unless you get all this customed.

You'll have to content with heat emissions as most Clevo W110ER models are notorious for and also  sacrifice the Optical Drive bay. But as long as you maintain every now and again, gamers will always be assured that in such a form factor like this, you're never going to run out of power.

In all, it's safe to say that the Aftershock X11 is a great baseline Laptop for a big number of purposes, especially if you want something smaller to take with you everywhere.

PROS: Performance within Lightweight and compact size. Adequate Mainstream SSD which cuts down laptop noise in general. No real competitors.

CONS: Not so ideal screen quality despite being matte,  Heat Emissions. No internal Optical Drive (unless using external).

Average: 8.4/10 - Good!

Updates (A NEW POPE AND SG ARCHBISHOP!) and Preview: Aftershock X11 (Review to follow after Monday)

Heya all!

Well, these few months have been rather mixed and God has planned out things for me in a weird way. Well, it has been some trying times for me. But here are some of the updates.

1. ) The Vatican has elected a New Pope!

The globe has something to rejoice after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as a new Leader of the Catholic Church after Pope Benedict XVI's shock resignation at the end of February. Msgr Bergoglio has chosen the name Francis after the great Saint Francis of Assisi. He's the very first Pope originated from the Latin America, even outside of Europe and the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth! He was recently elected after a Conclave Election following the past couple days. That didn't take long.

2.) Singapore Archbishop Ordinated!

Catholics and Non-Catholics alike should also rejoice for the ordination of the Archbishop Co-adjutor Monsignor William Goh. He received his episcopal Consecration on 22nd February 2013 at the Singapore Expo. Genesis II Choir was honored to celebrate an event by Singing at the reception the next day! Below is the photograph of a fraction of the group alongside Msgr William Goh in the Straits Times on Sunday 23rd February.

Also, Rev. Donatien, Holy Family Church's Spiritual Director, happened to join and sing with us as well. He was practically with the choir the entire day, including driving fellow Genesians back to Holy Family Church, celebrating our usual mass that evening and joining us YET again for choir prac afterwards.

Genesis II Choir with Msgr William Goh (Left to Right)
Back:  Paul Anthony (Myself; Musician), Joanna Ortega (Conductor), Gabriel Ho, Duane Ang, Annabel Chang, Bryan David, Bryan Chang, Celestine Yeo, Rev. Donatien Davaine, Matthew Wong, Veronica Sng
Front: Nicole Verghese, Shu Ying Grace, Msgr William Goh, Sandrine Yap, Vanessa Natalie, Adeline Ng, Juliana Chia 

3.) Preview: AFTERSHOCK PC's AFTERSHOCK X11

Well my ASUS K42Jr or actually X42J has finally died down on me after the Motherboard failed because of the Graphics Core that blown itself out. Haven't find the time to repair and I didn't have money to replace. But fate intervened and Aftershock PC has randomly picked me as the winner of the X11 after their Titan has won them the Digital Life Editor's Choice for Gaming Laptop!

I'm heading down to their showroom on Monday to collect that baby and a photo-shoot. Just a quick summary on its specs with S$511 spent on Upgrades.

Ivy Bridge Core i5 3210 -->  i7 3630QM
Stock Cooler --> Diamond IC Thermal Compound
8 GB SODIMM Memory at Dual Channel 1600 MHz
2GB DDR3 nVidia GeForce GT 650M (Chip: 384 CUDA Cores. Clocks of Core: 835 MHz with 950 Boost, Memory: 900 MHz)
11.6' 1366 x 768
500GB Hitachi 2.5' HDD --> 250GB Samsung 840 SSD
1.3 MP Webcam
Weight: 1.75 Kilos (4 pounds)

Connectivity PortsFront: Card Reader
Left: LAN, VGA, HDMI, Headphone Jack, Microphone Jack, 2 USB 3.0
Right: Kensington Lock, 1 USB 2.0, AC Power in.

If you search through their product image, the X11 is essentially a rebranded Clevo W110ER. It is pretty much same as Elric Phares' W110ER that he got from AVADirect. Other brands also followed, Origin as the EON-11, Sager, Eurocom, Schenker as the A102 and of course Aftershock as the X11. It's practically the smallest notebook that you can get and possibly game on today's titles Including Crysis 3. Even it you crank the settings way down, within its native resolution it still looks good and still runs well on Medium Settings.

We'll see how this Netbook on Steroids fare after I collect it on Monday.
It's supposed to match the saying:

Tiny But Mighty

Were you there where Pinkies (PAP)....

Were you there when White Paper was passed on?
Were you there when White Paper was passed on?
Oh Bloody No! Often they want to make us Tremble, Tremble, Tremble....

Were you there when White Paper was passed on?

Were you there when C-O-Es are too HIGH?!
Were you there when C-O-Es are too HIGH?!
Oh Bloody No! Often they want to make us Tremble, Tremble, Tremble....

Were you there when C-O-Es are too HIGH?!

Were you there when PRC's stealing Jobs?
Were you there when PRC's stealing Jobs?
Oh Bloody No! Often they want to make us Tremble, Tremble, Tremble....
Were you there when PRC's stealing Jobs?

Were you there when MRTs Crash and Burn?
Were you there when MRTs Crash and Burn?
Oh Bloody No! Often they want to make us Tremble, Tremble, Tremble....
Were you there when MRTs Crash and Burn?

Were you there when locals must serve NS?
Whereas sons of Pinkies need not serve NS?
Oh Flipping No! They want to see us all to Tremble, Tremble, Tremble....
Were you there when locals must serve NS?

Were you there when our pay is far too low?

Were you there when our pay is far too low?
Where the money Goes?! All of it has gone to the Pinkies, Pinkies, Pinkies...

Were you there when our pay is far too low? 

Though I won't make it there at Hong Lim Park!
In Spirit, I'll support guys at Hong Lim Park! 

Rise, Singapore! It's time that we go against the Pinkies, Pinkies, Pinkies

Let us show the spirit at Hong Lim Park!


**Adapted from a Church Music: Were you There?**

ASUS & NVIDIA Gamer's Gathering cum Dinner / Event on 25th January 2013

Asus and NVidia paired together and held a small little community event in Ibis in Bencoolen Street which is a stone's throw away from Sim Lim Square. I happen to be the lucky one to actually be selected as one of the 100 Gamers invited for this small gathering there. The purpose of this one is for the guys to share and introduce the new Graphics Cards / Video Cards which incorporated the best of Asus and NVidia had to offer.

ASUS were up in arms with their non-reference GPU cooler in the form of the Direct CU II Cooler. The Direct CU II TOP cards are just factory overclocked versions of the card. I've been hearing this a lot especially from the likes of Elric Phares from Tech Of Tomorrow and Linus from Linus Tech Tips and NCIX. Whereas for nVidia, they introduced the Kepler 28nm architecture for their GeForce 600 series of GPUs. This architecture compared to the last generation Fermi Architecture is said to be more power efficient and combines better performance per watt.

To stay on top of their game software-wise, ASUS released their GPU Tweak software which is in a nutshell a combo of an expanded tweaking of MSI Afterburner and Monitoring of GPU-Z. NVidia did their part by allowing GeForce Experience go Open Beta which allows you to get optimal settings for games by factoring your GPU and CPU. It only works with an nVidia GeForce based GPU, not AMD Radeon.

Following Photographs show some of the pictures that I took with my Samsung Galaxy S3.

Outside the TASTE Restaurant at Ibis

As always I always tend to turn up especially early for the every event there is. You might say I'm always kancheong but in truth I always value punctuality rather than getting late.

ASUS's mini ITX PC.

A Build that is perfect for the budget gamer and the space shy people. This packs an i5 3570 non-K processor, 8 Gig RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, a GTX 650 (Direct CU II), and an ITX board. All this is powered by a 520W 80+ Bronze CoolerMaster Power Supply and housed in the CoolerMaster Elite 120 ITX Case. But in truth you could easily power a GTX 660 Ti and a GTX 670 should you see fit. I would have loved to test it but no net connection lol. I did overclock the 650 a tiny bit. Peripharels come in the form of a CM Storm Quickfire TK and a Sentinal Advanced II Mouse and a SteelSeries Diablo III/Asus Mousepad.

The CM Line of products and peripherals which include the CM Storm Keyboards and various mice also from Cooler Master. I already own one of those Keyboards, just the tenkeyless and non-backlit version in the form of the CM Storm Quickfire Rapid. I will definitely recommend you guys to give CoolerMaster's range of keyboards a try if you hadn't done so yet.

 Best of Asus, Nvidia and CoolerMaster Build. This is pretty much decked out with an overclocking ready CPU (i5 3570K) although it's best to have an i7 3770K in there for the best, but i5s ain't too shabby. GTX 680, 16GB RAM, OCZ Vector 256GB SSD, P8Z77 Motherboard, AIO Water-cooling 120mm Radiator, what more you want?

Hugo from Taiwan explaining the features of the new 28nm Kepler process from nVidia. He does know his stuff, but I feel a lot better if the speaker can really speak fluent English like how Local Singaporean Teenagers and Youths do. Frankly, I know quite abit too much since I watched plenty of GTX 600 series videos on YouTube when they first rolled out the line of GPUs.

A Close-up shot of the best of Asus Build. You can see the Direct CU II nVidia GTX 680 quite clearly as well as the radiator and the motherboard.

One of the rigs setup there. I gotta tell ya, I was kinda sad about the build. Because you do have an overclocking ready i7 3770K on board, yet you have a really wimpy GT 640 in there. You could have done so much more if you put something like a GTX 660Ti or GTX 670 which is what I would have done. I did try playing BattleField 3 on this rig, and it was kinda struggling badly with textures at Ultra and the rest auto set to Medium. If you want that big performance, take a look at my PNY GTX 680 video here. And did I say my CPU is just an older i5 2500K?

 One of the freebies that came with the bag, the NVidia and ASUS Republic of Gamers Shirt, alongside the Intel Extreme Masters shirt I wore that night.

I managed to get this SteelSeries Diablo III / Asus Edition Qck MINI mousepad from Hugo for answering a question there. As you can see, the feel is very similar to my other SteelSeries Qck MINI black that I've been using for a little while now.

Thanks Hugo!

Here's my current complete gear:

No End of the world? CHEEBYE LAH!!!!!

Nuff' Said! LOL.

Want to Sell (WTS): Items.

Recently on Facebook, I posted some photographs on Selling stuff. So I'm extending this to my blog. So here are my Want To Sell items. Please note that this is for Singapore Only. Also for me to make a quick buck.

 WTS: Enermax Power Supply Unit 600W. 80+ Certified. Non Modular. Able to power up most Single GPU cards.

50 Bucks + 4 weeks personal warranty.

*NEEDS TO GO FAST.






WTS: Music Theory Books:
Basic Materials in Music Theory (bought for 23 SGD)
Harmonic Materials in Tonal Harmony (Bought for 35 SGD)

Letting go for 20 bucks for both. These ain't cheap. They already have formulae but it'll be best to learn and see for yourself and consult your music teacher.

 WTS: Razer Lycosa MIRROR Keyboard
Includes Manual, Certificate of Authenticity, Box.

Reason: Already going for the CoolerMaster CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Keyboard as my main keyboard now.

Letting go for 70 bucks. Negotiable + 4 weeks personal Warranty.

*NEEDS TO GO FAST!

 Following 2 pictures shows the box and contents after giving the keyboard a clean.

WTS: Engineering Mathematics by K.A. Stroud

Reason: Not using anymore after 1 Sem back in Poly. Still in good condition. Not written on it whatsoever.

Letting go for 20 bucks.

*NEEDS TO GO FAST!



WTS: Sun Zi Art of War: An Illustrated Translation with Asian Perspectives and Insights.

Bought for 30 bucks.

Letting go for 10 bucks. Still in Good Condition.

*NEEDS TO GO FAST!

This will also be linked from HardwareZone and VR-Zone.
Available deal times: Saturdays, 3:30pm at Paya Lebar MRT Station or Church of the Holy Family or I12 Katong Mall.
This Sunday Only: 12:30pm at Paya Lebar MRT Station or Katong Church or I12 Katong Mall.
Please PM me if keen or WhatsApp me at 92310618.

I'll add more stuff as more things come available for me to let go.

FARE HIKES ANNOUNCED AGAIN!!!! Fuck PAP again. THAT DOES IT!

I wanted to post on Facebook:

"Boy I can't wait until:
A) PAP is no longer the majority while the Opposition leads the parliament
or
B) I have the money (which I don't right now) to get away from this hell god forsaken rock.

Boy I really want to drag some of the words back in made by SMRT after they last raise the fares: No more raises for a considerable period. Seriously, this one really takes the cake. Screw em', really screw em'. Enough's enough! No more empty promises. Victory at the GE2011 to PAP is matter-of-fact, undeserved."



Which is indeed hell true as myself who supports the opposition but couldn't vote last year. This one comes after the Illegal strike saga. In the end, to cut the bloody long story short, EVERYBODY KENA SCREWED LAH!

I want to bring back some points that were explicitly made public by the SBS/SMRT/ all the bloody transport ruddy companies. Because after the last major fare hike, they say:

No more additional hikes for a considerable period. Hell, we only got fare raised earlier this year and now you want to fucking raise it yet again?! What is this?! You made COEs fucking soar so high that even the COEs themselves are more than double the price of a car! A SALOON DAMMIT! JUST A FREAKING SALOON MAN! Raise ERP and all that shit.... Boy, I really just can't think whatever else because the list is FREAKING ENDLESS! But here's the entire chart of what really REALLY pissed me off as of late.

- Raising Transport Fares way too frequently although it's announced that no more fares for considerable period.
- Brought in too much foreign talent. (It's a vast majority of the stupid ones, as for the smart ones, I'd no issues whatsoever).
- Providing more Job and Education opportunities for foreigners than locals. WHAT IS THIS NOTION?!
- The Longest Compulsory National Service Period and over such a meager 'pocket money', it's not worth wasting 2 precious years of my time.
- The Wage gap between the rich, the mainstream and the poor is just too freaking ridiculous!

But did it solve the prob? Evidently not.
Because you're making us all much more unhappy. PAY AND PAY INDEED. Seriously I have had enough for all this. I would have jolly well not vote for them, No way Jose. Seriously, victory doesn't deserve to go to you, PAPpies. Your methods simply will not work here. Do what WE, the people say, and yes, maybe you will get a bit of sympathy. But this has gone out of hand.

Just you wait, GE2016.

I, Grandmaster Paul Anthony will not rest until the general problems have been addressed and implemented, my way.

Signing out. God, am I really so angry.