The Eurocom Sky X7C (Clevo P775TM1-G) Gaming Laptop Review: True Desktop Replacement

Final Words

If you need absolute portable performance, look no further than the Eurocom Sky X7C. The latest generation of the Clevo based Desktop Replacement notebook from Eurocom offers fantastic performance compared to any other notebook around. 17.3-inch gaming notebooks tend to be desk-bound anyway, so this machine just goes all the way and becomes a small form factor desktop with a display and keyboard integrated.

What has perhaps been the most impressive in terms of performance is just how much quicker this notebook is than the last desktop class notebook we tested, which featured an at-the-time very speedy Core i7-6700K. Although Intel has been stuck with their Skylake architecture for much too long, the latest generation Coffee Lake processors are dramatically faster, partially based on the extra cores at play, and partially due to the much higher frequencies offered with the refinement to 14 nm over the last couple of years.

It is likely no surprise that this Eurocom Sky X7C walks all over the competition in terms of CPU performance thanks to the Core i9-9900K. If you want even more performance, Eurocom will assist by delidding and providing a wide-range of options for thermal paste and other tweaks. The included software makes it easy to tweak the CPU performance as well, and you can overclock if you’re into that sort of thing. The notebook seems to be able to handle the extra power demands of a desktop CPU without any real issues, other than the added noise. There was no thermal throttling detected under load at all.

The RTX 2080 continues to be the quickest GPU available in a notebook, and thanks to the extra CPU grunt it pulls its lead even further in games that were CPU bound, such as Far Cry 5. In GPU bound games, performance is about the same, as expected. It’s possible NVIDIA will offer the Super range in notebooks at some point in the future, but it does seem unlikely with the extra power draw the Super cards require, so for the foreseeable future, the RTX 2080 will likely rule the roost.

One of the biggest benefits of choosing a notebook such as this is the customization available. Most notebooks come in one of several different configurations, and what you see is what you get, but Eurocom offers a massive number of options to configure the notebook exactly as you need it, whether for absolute performance, or to fit in a budget.

Going into this review, there weren’t going to be a lot of surprises in terms of the notebook design and construction. We’ve seen Clevo based notebooks in the past, and the thick plastic exterior, the average keyboard and trackpad, and the somewhat plain design are all part and parcel of the experience, and this latest generation offered no surprises there. There were some nice new design tweaks though, such as the speakers being available on the rear hinge, allowing them to be used when the notebook is closed, but compared to the all-aluminum chassis of most of the big gaming laptop manufacturers, and things like the per-key RGB SteelSeries keyboards that MSI employs, the Clevo-based unit can’t measure up. However where it surpasses those devices is not only in outright performance, but performance per dollar as well.

If there was one major disappointment with the Eurocom Sky X7C, it was the 2560x1440 120 Hz TN display, but this was a conscious choice to see how it stacks up against the impressive 1920x1080 144 Hz IPS we’ve seen in a couple of other notebooks already. Clearly the latter panel is a better choice, especially with G-SYNC, and the RTX 2080 can game at 1920x1080 with framerates to keep the 144 Hz panel going nicely. If you do want a higher resolution for desktop applications, Eurocom also offers a 3840x2160 60 Hz IPS which would fit that bill, but if you’ve not had a chance to game on a high-refresh display, it really is a great experience especially when you have the hardware to power it.

Overall, Eurocom offers a great package in the Sky X7C. It offers the most performance possible in a single GPU notebook, at a price well below most of the competition. It is completely function over form, and it fills that job perfectly. As an owner, you also get the benefit of a lot of expandability and upgradability that you don’t get with a typical notebook, from not only the hard drives and memory, but also being able to change the CPU, and even the GPU, although not quite as easily, since you’d have to get a compatible MXM3 card, but they are available. If you laugh in the face of aluminum laptops, shun the thin and light crowd, and just want absolute performance, definitely check this model out. You won’t be disappointed.