AFTERSHOCK PC Adds the 13-Inch XG13 (Clevo W230ST) to its Haswell Arsenal as the Successor to the Clevo W110ER / Aftershock X11

Been a while since I blogged here. However now, would be a perfect time especially for Mobile Gamers on the Go. Now the Ivy Bridge Clevo W110ER notebook has been out for a while where it fulfilled a niche of mobile gaming at its most compact form. It gained a reputation as a literal netbook on steroids because this was the first in the long while that a notebook for gaming and maximum portability has been released.

I have  currently one such example: Aftershock's incarnation of the Clevo W110ER: The Aftershock X11 which I won about 4 months ago. It's currently configured with a Core i7 3630QM CPU, 8GB RAM, nVidia GT 650M, Matte Screen and a Samsung 840 SSD. The rest is pretty standard as per the other Clevo W110ER.

Last Generation: Clevo W110ER / Aftershock X11

Little did I notice, with Haswell already released, the mobile gaming laptop niche has found a new successor. And Clevo has done it YET again with the Clevo W230ST. Like the W110ER it succeeds, this laptop almost has no direct competitor besides the likes of MSI GE40, Alienware's M14 series and Razer's new 14' Blade. These latter 2 laptops are 2 overpriced junkies at nearly 3K if going spec for spec. However gamers will be pleased to know that this wouldn't be the case with the 13' Laptop and it's also designed for the same role that the expensive laptops fill.

Now What gives?
The newer Aftershock XG13 (The Aftershock's Clevo W230ST) presents a few major updates to the table. Most notable are the much increased horsepower that it has got under the hood, including GTX-grade GPU (The smallest notebook that I've seen with one) and the newer Haswell CPUs, and lower temperatures while not sacrificing too much weight (In fact almost none).

Now this isn't a review per se because I don't have one to compare against the X11 which I have. And most specs are just speculation.

Aftershock would be the very few companies in the world to commence shipping of the Clevo W230ST. Aftershock PC has named their incarnation the XG13.

New Generation in Mobile Gaming: Clevo W230ST / Aftershock XG13

Features of W230ST

Weight: 2 Kilos

Now granted, the W230ST may be half a pound heavier than the 1.7 Kilo Clevo W110ER. But despite a larger screen and slightly bigger dimensions and a tonne of hardware, that weight increase is almost negligible; still acceptable. And at only 32mm thick, it's actually 5mm slimmer than the W110ER at 37mm. You can still fit it in an average sling bag you use for school. To me anything bigger than 14-15' is too big.

Haswell CPUs:

The Haswell Processing units have just hit the market and the new architecture brings about further enhancements to the Ivy Bridge. Currently as of the writing though, the lowest entry-level CPU is still a Quad Core i7 and it already packs quite a punch. The Core i7 4700MQ is still high in the tier of Notebook CPUs. Its Hyperthreading performance has been optimized for more consistent power in heavy threaded use as well as the boosted Integrated GPU and power consumption.

Intel HD 4600 Graphics.

When the dedicated GPU isn't needed the integrated HD 4600 takes over. And it has about 30% boost over the HD 4000 Graphics.

13.3 " FULL HD Display

It's very rare to find full HD displays this small. Most companies selling the W230ST would offer the option of 1366 x 768. However Aftershock's XG13's one is Full HD and matte, a feature so well loved for indoors and out. 1366 x 768 screens are more common in such a size and already decent as they are. At 13.3', it's practically the smallest screen with a HD 1920 x 1080p resolution and also the smallest being powered by an nVidia GeForce GTX 765M.

mSATA Storage: 2 in fact plus your 2.5' Drive Bay.

Now things get really exciting at this point. This is one of the crucial features that the Clevo W230ST has that the W110ER doesn't. The W110ER has only room for a single 2.5' drive and once you put one in, that's all you have and you can't expand. Having 1 SSD may be fast, but it's more expensive in terms of $/GB. Now Clevo has taken things further and cramped in not one, but TWO mSATA bays in addition to your 2.5' drive bay. So with it, you can whack in 2 mSATA SSDs in RAID 0 for crazy performance for your OS, and you can use a large capacity drive for large amounts of media. What's more is for the purposes of your key applications, you can rely on 2 small Capacity 64GB SSDs; 128GB which is more than enough and you'll have that money saved for a pretty good 2.5' drive like a Seagate Momentus XT. 2 x 128GB or even 2 x 256GB mSATA SSDs; though nice to have, but a real overkill at this point.

Embedded nVidia GTX 765M

Now using the GTX 765M is a huge step over the GT 650M. The GT 650M has 384 CUDA Cores running at 835 MHz and boost to 950MHz runs on 2GB of DDR3 RAM (Not GDDR3, I dunno why). However the GTX 765M kicks it up a tonne with double the CUDA cores (768), GDDR5 memory and a core clock speed that's still slightly more than the base clock of the GT 650M. It's essentially a cutdown GTX 650 Ti. The 765M doesn't have a boost clock, but who really gives it a shit if that's their aim of keeping temps optimal. And already more-than-double the power over the GT 650M, that justifies the reason that boost clock isn't really needed. Also, this notebook supports output of 2 more external displays for nVidia Surround (1 HDMI, VGA) that's if you can take the awkward screening sizes like how they did it with the X17. But it's been tested and it works, not the most elegant nVidia Surround though.

Other neat features:

Clevos still retain the flexibility of upgrades in the W230ST over the W110ER which is always nice to have. Now another few features that the W230ST (XG13) has over the W110ER (X11) are a backlit keyboard for a touch more bling, an additional USB 3.0 port and eSATA port.

Some minor cons remain.
Like the predecessor, the W230ST still completely emits an optical drive bay. However with the inclusion of a 3rd USB 3.0 port, at least you have more room to add one.

THE BOTTOMLINE

The Aftershock XG13 Clevo W230ST looks set to please the road warrior gamer once again with something that performs on par with the also-new X15S for considerably lower price point. Yeah dimensions are slightly bigger than the older X11, but for all things considered, that slight addition of weight is completely reasonable and justified.

SHOOTOUT TIME!!!!!

NOW At this point I would love to have the AFTERSHOCK boys to do a benchmark comparison for a recommend Spec XG 13 vs a recommended Spec X11 for games, applications.