Hey, thanks for the add. Still haven't got my hands on the laptop though. 2 weeks feels like a lifetime.

This post has been edited by nyunyu: May 8 2018, 08:37 AM

No problem man. Some folks say waiting is the best part lol.

The longer you wait, the higher the excitement when you finally got it

how's the battery life of onyx?

4 hours tops with the current small battery. Probably around 5-6 hours with the upcoming big battery upgrade (which, unfortunately takes your HDD/2.5 inch slot).

Normal office usage or ???

Just took delivery of the laptop, getting used to the whole thing, but I discovered something which I really hope is a mistake on my side.

The SD card reader, I thought I was mistaken when I saw the driver install read 'USB 2.0', but turns it it really is running at USB 2.0 speed.

Can someone please verify that this is actually the case and there's no usb 3.0 version driver for it?

Normal office use, maybe only a little WIFI surfing.

Unfortunately, it ONLY runs at 2.0 speeds AFAIK. Haven't seen any 3.0 drivers either, so yeah, like the Gen 1 and Gen 2 MSI GS63, we have a slow ass internal card reader.

I think I clearly stated that edi on the Overall Impressions I posted on the NBR GK5CN thread, but not sure if I mentioned it here in LYN yet - but yeah it's gonna be put in under "cons" in my review for sure.

Oh and I've updated the S5X vs Onyx thing to reflect this.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 8 2018, 10:17 PM

Christ, I must have missed that overview or something.

Like, come on man, it's 2018, there's simply no excuse for a laptop to include a 2.0 reader, much less a gaming class one with a feature set that's marketed towards content creators as well.

Well, I can't answer for Illegear/TongFang, but that was EXACTLY what I told them (Illegear) when I tested the initial protos myself.

But at the same time I also knew not many internal changes could be done already between that point and full scale production (it was too close a time frame). Also, as all the other "alternatives" had glaring flaws of their own (some of which is worse for me in comparison), so I just decided to live with it and got myself one of those tiny Kingston 3.0 readers, relegating the internal reader to serve "emergency" duties only.

Anyway, on another point, XMG has posted Neo 15 disassembly videos already (and beat me to the punch), so I'm gonna add those to the FP, under "Videos" (as our units have zero differences in that aspect as far as I could see).

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 9 2018, 02:03 PM

Yep, I actually have one of those Kingston readers too, sigh, guess I'll have to deal with this for the time being.


My observations so far, a few quirks I feel i should point out, the USB 3.0 ports are only on the right side, so for those working portable storage most of the time would definitely be annoyed. That USB C port on the back..... not sure what sort of audience it's geared for, because having storage/hdds attached at the back where all the heat is blowing out is definitely a bad idea.

Also the keyboard has a weird learning curve to it, specifically, the key's actuation point is actually before the 'click' itself, with just a light press you'd be able to trigger the keys already, and it's causing me to type additional characters sometimes because I rest my fingers on the keys while I'm typing, I'm still able to overcome this by adjusting my typing style.

Finally I'm having intermittent issues where the laptop will slowly lock up, browser refuses to load pages, then the whole windows interface slowly stops responding until the mouse is the only thing you can move around (clicking on any buttons doesn't give a response). At this point CTRL-SHIFT-DEL and CTRL-ALT-DEL combinations all don't work anymore, and I'm pretty much left with waiting until the laptop finally BSODs with a CRITICAL_PROCESS _DIED message or force resetting the system.

Eiraku did you or maybe anyone else encounter such issues on your onyx?

For the keyboard actuation, it's probably just the nature of the beast (short throw mech keyboard), but I've installed Chatterfix (I'll put a link to in under "Drivers/BIOS/Other Useful Software" later) to deal with errant keystrokes. TBH though, now that I've gotten used to the KBB, there's considerably less errors in my typing, and most of the errors I do get is from lazily typing one-handed while lying down (and touching other keys accidentally in the process).

As for port placement, while I do have a bone to pick with the left-right choices, having ports at the back is actually a boon for me, at least for the A/V and power. Though like you, I would have preferred the Type-C to be at the side (the left one seems pretty bare TBH), but with your typical length cable IMO you can clear the vents pretty easily.

Finally, the lock-ups is the one I'm rather curious about as I'm getting no such thing at all. Through benchmarks, games, stress tests - zero lock-up or BSODs. It sounds like a memory error though TBH, you might wanna get that checked.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 9 2018, 03:09 PM

Faced these freezing/BSODs when I was testing out undervolts, you may
Want to decrease your UV if you are undervolting. Otherwise you can try running a memtest?

Yeah, hence "curious". I'm even UVed and I haven't gone through any of those things. So my first thought (if he hasn't UVed) is understandably the RAM.

gunzerdude Try downloading Memtest86 and running it if possible. You're gonna need a free USB stick to install and boot it from though.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 9 2018, 06:59 PM

Has anyone calibrated the Onyx screen and have Adobe RGB and SRGB scores available?

This post has been edited by Snappy_Darko: May 9 2018, 07:13 PM

Nope, haven't gone into UV or any of the sort yet, is just regular usage where I'm multitasking with chrome open, couple tabs, downloading stuff, configuring my programs etc. Besides the characteristics that I mentioned, I can't reproduce this scenario at will, plus it plays games just fine (an hour of Witcher 3 maxed out, although boy does the metal part beside the fan/power buttons get hot).

I'm wondering if the issue comes down to errant drivers for the GPU, from what I've been searching online so far that describes the dGPU switching on and off unnecessarily and causing the computer to eventually lockup. (Google 'Optimus stutter critical process died')

Sure I'll run a memtest, in the meantime here's my configuration:

i7-8750H
1050ti
8gb Ram
480gb nvme ssd
Kryonaut thermal paste

Hmm, larger battery cancelled?

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbe8d5m-ASQ...525864586189719

This post has been edited by Snappy_Darko: May 9 2018, 07:33 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

Bad news for folks looking for an extended runtime for sure, if true.

However, until Illegear announces the same, we're still not sure if this applies to just XMG or to the entire GK5CN release though. We'll need to wait until somebody confirms this.

As for calibration, my screen was calibrated from the factory, or you can use the ICC files provided from NBC's Aero 15/15x v7 review for a rough calibration because the panel is the same exact one.

Hence, the sRGB figures should also be around the same: around 90% sRGB and 59% aRGB (source: https://goo.gl/K5MAUA).

gunzerdude I've heard of Optimus driver problems causing stutters before, but never crashes. Hence why I didn't suggest you look at the drivers.

And I went through the same initial configuration steps as you, though the difference here is I didn't use Chrome (I'm more a Waterfox kind of guy). So, might be a long shot but it might be... Chrome?

Well, as for the drivers you're gonna need to wait for the new BIOS to be able to upgrade the Nvidia drivers anyway, the current one has the Nvidia driver IDs a bit messed up so you're gonna have to INF edit to install any newer drivers in the meanwhile.

Oh, and yeah my power metal strip gets hot too, though my IR thermometer tells me it's actually only reaching 50c, as per my previous measurements.

If 50c feels like that, I wonder how the 60-70c that some other laptops get to feels like.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 9 2018, 11:31 PM

Morning to a new age!

Obvious celebration aside, did 4 passes of memtest without issues, the laptop doesnt seem to have trouble under load, rather just with normal usage situations.

Although, as I'm testing, I've turned off PCIE link state power management for the power profiles and I haven't experienced any crashes in one whole night of using the laptop actively. (Fingers crossed)


I seriously hope the battery capacity cancellation is just on XMG's side tho, would be a waste to just leave that 2.5 gap underutilized.

This post has been edited by gunzerdude: May 10 2018, 09:02 AM

I still can't believe it but yeah, new age indeed!

Hmm, at least it's NOT the memory, and we can cross that out. Next on, drivers, as you said, or Chrome.

And yeah, it feels a bit of a waste, even though I have a 2TB SSHD in there so the extended cell isn't entirely a priority for me ATM. Still, hopefully Illegear pulls through even if it needs to be delayed or something.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 10 2018, 05:31 PM