 Oct 22, 2015
EUROCOM M5 Pro Review
Since that time, if you wanted a top performance gaming notebook, there has only been one question: Do you want GTX 980M, or will GTX 970M suffice? Eurocom’s M5 Pro gives you the power to choose, though our review notebook goes the “more sensible, less extreme” route with a single 970M, and pairs it with a nice 4K Samsung PLS display for good measure.
Thankfully, the super-fine DPI of a 4K, 15.6-inch display means that running at non-native resolutions doesn’t result in the blurriness you would normally experience.
Eurocom covers both bases. You can control exactly what upgrades you want and which ones you feel like skipping; your M5 Pro can be configured with parts customized to your liking. Eurocom has plenty of options for the CPU, storage, LCD, Wi-Fi module, and RAM (up to 32GB!). The M5 Pro also includes a fingerprint reader and TPM 2.0 module as standard, which is useful for business types. You can even select among three GPU options: GTX 965M, 970M, or 980M, though the 980M uses a slightly thicker chassis to accommodate the increased cooling requirements.
You don’t buy a gaming laptop to run Office, and when it comes to gaming, the M5 Pro won’t disappoint. Our zero-point Alienware 14 is left sucking dust in all of the gaming tests, with the M5 Pro delivering more than twice the graphics performance. At 1080p, the M5 can handle nearly maxed-out settings in most games, and Nvidia’s GeForce Experience will happily provide any minor tweaks should those prove necessary.
Overall, the M5 Pro is a great gaming notebook, and the all-round experience remains good, even when we move on to other areas. The keyboard provides a pleasant typing experience, the touchpad eschews the clickpad trend in favor of two discrete buttons, and the speakers and display don’t get in the way. In short, the M5 Pro is a well-built notebook. That may not sound much like high praise, but it’s amazing how many laptops—even expensive offerings—manage to screw up one or more of those areas. |
 Aug 24, 2015
Do you want the GTX 980M, or will the 970M suffice? Eurocom’s M5 Pro gives you the power to choose, though our review notebook foes the “more sensible, less extreme” route with a single 970M, and pairs it with a nice 4K Samsung PLS display for good measure.
Thankfully, the super-fine DPU of a 4K, 15.6” display means that running at non-native resolution doesn’t result in the blurriness you would normally experience.
Eurocom covers both bases. You can control exactly what upgrades you want and which ones you feel like skipping: your M5 Pro can be configured with parts customized to your liking. Eurocom has plenty of options for the CPU, storage, LCD, Wi-Fi module, and RAM (up to 32 GB!). The M5 Pro also includes a fingerprint reader and TPM 2.0 module as standard which is useful for business types. You can even select among three GPU options: GTX (65M, 970M, or 980M though the 980M uses a slightly thicker chassis to accommodate the increased cooling requirements.
Our zero-point Alienware 14 is left sucking dust in all of the gaming tests, with the M5 Pro delivering more than twice the graphics performance. At 1080p, the M5 can handle nearly maxed-out settings in most games, and NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience will happily provide any minor tweaks should those prove necessary.
Overall, the M5 Pro is a great gaming notebook, and the all-round experience remains good, even when we move on to other areas. The keyboard provides a pleasant typing experience, the touchpad eschews the click pad trend in favor of two discrete buttons, and the speakers don’t get in the way. In short, the M5 Pro is a well-built notebook.
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 Jul 07, 2015
EUROCOM M5 Pro Workstation Notebook Upgrade: 960GB SSD + 16GB RAM
Eurocom M5 Pro Review: https://youtu.be/9xMDIcTW5g8
Full specs of our review model:
Intel Quad-Core i7 4720HQ (2.6-3.6GHz)
NVIDIA GTX 970M (3GB vRAM)
8GM RAM (1600MHz)
500GB 7200 RPM 2.5" Mechanical Drive
Windows 8.1 PRO
2K FHD IPS 1920 x 1080 (60Hz eDP interface LED Backlit)
4cells Polymer Battery (60WH)
Weight: M5 Pro (15.6") 2.6kg / 5.72lbs
Dimensions: WxDxH M5 Pro (GTX 970M): 385x271x25mm / 15.16x10.66x0.99-inch |
 May 31, 2015
My Experience with Eurocom (EUROCOM M5 Pro)
Laptop: 9/10
The laptop is really nice and powerful.
So I went on a quest to compare everything that was on the market so that I could find a laptop answering to all my criteria :
* Skilled at multimedia and office software
* Able to run properly CAO softwares like autocad, robot, inventor...
* Able to run the latest games
* Robust so that it lasts me as long as the macbook
* As thin as possible without jeopardizing the above
- Conclusion -
The customer service at Eurocom was top notch : reactive, polite, providing answers. Thanks a lot Mark, John and Pauline for all your help over the past month.
The product seems to be a very good one too. This will have to be confirmed over the use and the years.
I will definitely be purchasing from Eurocom again and I will be expecting this kind of customer service for the warranty. |
 May 02, 2015
EUROCOM M5 Pro Gaming Notebook Review | 970M, 4720HQ, 8GB video review
Full specs of our review model:
Intel Quad-Core i7 4720HQ (2.6-3.6GHz)
NVIDIA GTX 970M (3GB vRAM)
8GM RAM (1600MHz)
500GB 7200 RPM 2.5" Mechanical Drive
Windows 8.1 PRO
2K FHD IPS 1920 x 1080 (60Hz eDP interface LED Backlit)
4cells Polymer Battery (60WH)
Weight: M5 Pro (15.6") 2.6kg / 5.72lbs
Dimensions: WxDxH M5 Pro (GTX 970M): 385x271x25mm / 15.16x10.66x0.99-inch |
 Apr 21, 2015
Eurocom M5 Pro Review (GTX 980M)
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 Apr 16, 2015
You can have a top-of-the-line gaming computer in a surprisingly small form factor.
Configuration
Mine is configured with an i7 4720MQ @ 2.6Ghz, 8GB DDR3 1600 (1x8GB), 3k Samsung IPS, Nvidia GTX 980m 4GB, 480GB Crucial M500 SSD (installed myself), and a reasonably fast 2.5in HDD (also 500GB), more on that in a bit. In total this configuration costs $1997CAD, or $1813US; $2257CAD with SSD, or $2082US.
In the box, out comes the laptop, as well as a hefty instructions manual (and when I say hefty, I mean over 50 pages per language) and drivers/OS CDs. Included as well was a laptop shoulder bag. Not the greatest quality or the best looking, but at least it prevents you from going out and buying a bag to protect your new purchase, and it has plenty of room for both 15in and 17in models. The power adapter is to be expected, a massive near-two-pound brick to power the beast of a laptop. It does have a bright green LED to show if the adapter has power, and to drain residual power when it's unplugged (why don't more manufacturers do this???). I also ordered the Startech USB3.0 4-port hub, which I pulled out of the laptop bag. Less packaging, still protected. The packaging is more than adequate for medium to long range shipping, as long as the box isn't abused along the way.
It's a beautiful shell, absolutely beautiful. Nothing beats black brushed aluminium, nothing, except for the very plain and... plain Eurocom label.
Chassis
The shell itself feels very premium and solid all around without having too much weight or any noticeable flex if I hold onto it from any corner. The palm rest is, again, brushed black aluminium with a small indent down towards the keyboard. The only part that isn't aluminium is the backplate, it's full on plastic. While on the laptop, it looks good with the rest of the aluminium and doesn't make it look cheap. Take it off, and you can see some corners were cut, nothing major, just no paint on the underside. There are also far fewer vents than I expected, considering the hardware in this puppy, and more vents would help cool those high-end parts. At 1.13" thick (970m version is even thinner, at under 1"), it's not huge, but not small either. I don't want to say 'average' sized, as this is anything but large for a gaming laptop, but if you wanted to compare apples to oranges (Razer Blade 2014, for example), this isn't the smallest chassis you can get. One aspect of this shell was completely unexpected, the weight. I've owned "premium" gaming laptops before, and any time high end GPUs and CPUs we're involved, it would result in a chassis that's way over 4kg, essentially a desktop replacement. Granted, quite a bit of that weight is usually copper slabs and pipes to cool high end parts, but the unique GPU cooling design of this particular laptop as well as the non-modular CPU and GPU keeps this notebook well under 3kg (2.7kg with battery to be exact). With it's weight class dropped from a desktop replacement to a multimedia notebook, it's not a hassle to move around at all. I have this thing all over my house; kitchen when I'm cooking, bedroom for reddit and youtube, or basement plugged into the massive flatscreen and playing BF4 and Dark Souls.
Touch Pad
Lots of laptops nowadays have the clicky part under a single slab of material, making it rather difficult to use the touch pad effectively. So before I get into this, thank you, to whoever decided to use PHYSICAL BUTTONS for the track pad. This is a great touch pad. It picks up all of Win8.1 Multi-gestures 99% of the time without issue, which is more than I can say for any other laptop I've ever used. The plastic touch pad isn't slippery or tacky when your palms or fingers are damp, which is great. The included fingerprint reader isn't in the way (slapped firmly between the two mouse buttons), but I would have rather have it installed somewhere on the side of the keyboard, not a huge deal.
Keyboard
The keyboard is nicely laid out, if albeit cramped with some of the keys moved around (PrtScr, PgUp and PgDn moved to the top right). The back light is three-stage adjustable (off, min and max) with the min. settings good enough for nearly any lighting, while the max setting actually is too bright, and reflects off the screen at night time. Function buttons are laid out beginning at F1, all the way to PgDn at the top right corner. All the required functions are there, as well as some nice added touches (Camera, Airplane Mode, Screen Lock). Keyboard travel is good, but not the greatest I've used (SteelSeries in MSI GT series notebooks still have my top pick), but the tactile feedback is superb. There is also no heavy flexing on the keyboard if I press down near any of the corners, but it did flex a bit in the middle, but the amount of force required to do so will never be applied under normal typing/gaming conditions. I ditched my Microsoft SideWinder x4 keyboard and am now using the one on the laptop. All and all, I am happy that this keyboard doesn't suck.
Display
I've seen the light, and it's labelled as Samsung. I was extremely impressed by the colours, coming from TN panels, I should be. Out of the box, it looked a touch pink, and after a quick calibration within Intel's HD Graphics settings, it looks fantastic. Blacks are black, except for a touch of back light bleed near the bottom edge, and can't be noticed once you throw some colour onto the screen. Input lag is non-existent, and thought it would be an issue but real glad that it's not. I wish I had a calibration tool, but I am just an average joe :D The pixel density is insane, requiring me to be a few inches from the screen before I can see them individually. At normal viewing distance, it looks fantastic. If scaling wasn't horrendous in Win 8.1, the OS would also look fantastic. With Windows10 right around the corner (I haven't had the time to mess around with Win10 preview), hopefully the issue will be dealt with, as nearly any device using higher than 1440p or a non-standard aspect ratio (Surface Pro 3 is another culprit) suffer from this issue. Brightness at max is adequate, I can browse the net normally outside under full sun with little difficulty.
Upgradeability
Under the backplate, you'll find almost all of the parts you can upgrade (2 out of 4 RAM slots, both HDDs slots, Wifi/BT, and *drumroll* dual M.2 SATA SSD slots RAID compatible. I wish I could afford dual M.2s, and plow through 1GB/s read/write speeds, but the single SATAIII SSD will have to do (480MB/s read, 395MB/s write). To remove the backplate, simply take out all of the screws on the underside and pop it off from the front. It's super easy, compared to some other manufacturers that require a f**king 5 step process to get to the HDD. It's almost like they are encouraging you to do your own upgrades, yes, they make it THAT easy. The other two RAM slots I believe are located on the other side of the motherboard, and requires taking apart the entire laptop to access it. Unfortunately, this is the Eurocom P5 model, so the CPU and GPU are soldered directly to the board, and cannot be upgraded. On a bright note, you can easily pick up a base configuration (like I did) and drop your own parts in. The mark-up from Eurocom isn't as bad as some other retailers (Micron 120GB M.2 SSD is only an extra 120 bucks) but if you have the know-how, it's obviously cheaper to do your own upgrades.
On a normal day, I wouldn't bother benchmarking a 2.5in HDD, but even before I got my SSD, I did have Win8.1 installed on it, and it ran fairly smoothly. Sure, the odd seek time hiccup here and there, but that's to be expected of mechanical drive using technology we've had around for more than three decades now, and 500GB isn't nothing to write home about either. I'm used to seeing sub 100mb/s read/writes on 2.5in drives, or maybe I'm a little out of the loop, and mechanical drives nowadays are actually pretty fast. Read/writes are 120mb/s and up, random 4k read/writes are 46mb/s, not a whole lot to argue about really. This is a pretty spiffy drive considering it's form factor. The SSD in my system is the M500 Crucial 480GB SSD.
Connectivity Ports
You want ports? You got ports! 3 USB3.0, 1 USB 3.0/eSATA combo port, mic, headphones, DIGITAL AUDIO (there is a god, and his name is Bill Murray), DSD/MMC slot and standard SD slot, RJ45 LAN, HDMI and dual MiniDisplayPort for up to 3 external monitors + laptop screen. There are enough ports for most people, but 4 USBs would be bare minimum for some. The digital audio port is the cream of the crop here. Crystal clear audio hooked up to my 5.1 surround sound system never sounded so good.
Performance-wise, I am downright impressed. Benching better than my desktop 770 (almost as powerful as a 780 desktop based on other reviews). The 4720HQ is a great pairing for this GPU, it doesn't hold it back in any game I throw at it. Under load, the GPU hits maximum 71C (ambient air temp 18C, tested with FurMark) and continues to turbo to it's near-max frequency. The CPU, on the other hand, turbos to 2.8Ghz across all cores and hits 88C (toasty! Tested with Prime95), then the frequency drops to 2.68Ghz at 72C consistently. I don't know if I should consider this "throttling", as it's still going up and beyond stock frequency and holding it there. Still a little warmer than I'd like it to be under max load, but under normal conditions, I'd never run this chip this hard. I did purchase a cooling pad afterwards, and it helped a bit, one or two Celsius across the board.
Performance
At idle, the GPU fans aren't even on, and the CPU fan whirls with barely a sound. Sometimes it ramps up when background processes are going under High Performance Power Setting, and when it does rev up under load, it makes more of a "whizz" than a "whoosh" and is mildly annoying. The GPU, on the other hand, is surrounded in copper with dual fans running against each other, pushing more air that I've ever felt in a gaming laptop of any size, and is the reason the GPU runs so cool. If the same cooling is used for the 970m and 965m, it would allow for some wicked overclocks, but a different backplate is used with those models to keep the thickness under 1", so the cooling solutions provided with those GPUs should be adequate for stock clocks. The fans themselves are quieter than the single fan for the CPU under nearly all conditions, and now I'm wondering why the same dual-fan tech wasn't used for the CPU (could have went for dual 50mm/40mm instead of a single 80mm to move more air) I did try and OC the GPU, but Nvidia locked out overclocking on some of their notebook GPUs (it is now obvious that I'm out of the loop) and decided to revert back to 344.75 drivers and attempt. Didn't get far, at +75Mhz core and +250Mhz memory, temps did become an issue, peaking above 82C. I decided to leave the GPU as-is as to not stress the living piss out of it, it's my new daily driver after all.
I'm rather impressed, mostly by the amount of power they were able to cram into a 15" Clevo shell. This GPU is an absolute beast, I mean, it effectively caught up to the previous generation Desktop parts in performance while drawing 1/4 of the power required to run those big desktop chips. Two generations ago, we'd be happy with 40-50% worth of desktop performance from out mobile GPUs, as my old 770m would struggle with games like BF4. Go back even further (my brother owned a 660m, and a friend owned a 670m) and games like BF4 were nearly out of the question, and those were all 1500+ dollar laptops. Although we haven't seen much (or anything, really...) in terms of new CPUs for these high-end notebooks, they are still more than adequate for even the biggest and baddest GPU. All this power in under 3kg. It's actually rather exciting, and the rest of the notebook fits the bill to house such a chip, with a few minor issues that don't really make a difference in terms of performance, but rather aesthetics. Sure, I would have rather had a plain black lid, or maybe a little white LED logo, but if I hated it that much, I'd throw a sticker on it.
Battery Life
Battery life was to be expected for a 4-cell Li-Ion, getting just under 2.5Hrs of Netflix (Internet Explorer 11 Desktop) under Power Saver mode and 35% brightness. Gaming, well, yeah... 45 minutes. That's it. Battery Boost bring that up to 1Hr 15 minutes, but at the cost of frame rates and in my opinion not worth it. Switching to the integrated graphics for less demanding games does give me about 1.5Hrs. Just plug it in to game, but, if you ever need to be away from a power source for a couple of hours, the battery is adequate.
Conclusion
With a myriad of USB ports, SD card readers, eSATA, triple monitor output with dual 4k support, and enough storage options, this laptop can replace a desktop (with the added bonus of using it anywhere). It has enough gaming power to run any game you throw at it on 1080p, with making adjustments as you scale up the resolution. Laptops still have a long ways to go before gaming on 4k or even 3k resolutions look reasonably good on today's AAA titles, but you could save some coin and opt for the 1080p screen and avoid all that hassle and just set it to max.
All and all, a powerful system with a beautiful shell. Runs cool, if not particularly quiet. Enough ports, storage and external monitor options to keep almost anyone happy. Scaling within Windows 8.1 sours the overall experience, especially when switching back and forth from a lower res dedicated monitor. With all the nice things I see in this notebook, it makes it easier to overlook the few tiny flaws (even if they are based on my own personal preference).
I rate 8.5/10
Pros: Powerful CPU and GPU, no bottlenecks. Gorgeous screen. Solid frame. Easy to upgrade/lots of upgrade options. Nicely laid out keyboard with good travel and tactile feedback. Wonderful trackpad. GPU runs cool, CPU never throttles. Very light and portable for the hardware it runs.
Cons: CPU gets hot, CPU fan is annoying. Fingerprint reader does not work... for me... Sub-par battery life. 2/4 RAM slots are a pain to get to. Windows scaling issues, as per usual with hi-res screens.
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 Mar 26, 2015
Test Eurocom M5 Pro: Extra výkon v štíhlom tele
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 Jan 25, 2015
Quick Review: Eurocom M5 Pro
Great customer review of the EUROCOM M5 Pro.
Some great points by "Ramzay"
-If you're a student, they provide a 10% discount.
--Build and Style--
-this thing is downright sexy. Slim, with a good use of metal.
-I really like the fact that they put the power jack at the back of the laptop, and the HDMI port to the left. My opinion is you should have as few ports as possible on the right side of the laptop, so as not to interfere with your mouse.
-It is quite remarkable how efficiently the M5 Pro cools its components.
-That such a thin laptop manages to cool an i7 CPU and a GTX 970M so well while keeping the chassis relatively cool is a testament to good cooling design.
--Performance--
-Games run smoothly at high/ultra settings (the ones I play, anyway) and the machine doesn't tend to get too hot or loud.
--Eurocom Experience--
I personally had no issues dealing with them. They responded quickly (and often) to my email queries, and at one point I even got a phone call from their sales department to discuss various options and promotions.
-I ordered my machine on Friday afternoon, it shipped Monday evening and I received it at my door by UPS Tuesday evening. Quick turnaround time.
--Conclusion--
-In short, this is a fantastic laptop for the price, and the performance is just stellar, especially when compared to prior generations of thin gaming laptops.
-It's a gaming laptop ninja. |
 Jan 25, 2015
TEST: Splněný mobilní sen? Eurocom M5 Pro - Tenký a úžasně výkonný notebook v akci
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 Jan 14, 2015
Eurocom M5 Pro Review
Quick Take
The Eurocom M5 Pro excelled in our tests, earning our full recommendation and an Editors' Choice Award.
• Pros
o Very good overall quality
o Excellent gaming performance
o Effective cooling system
o Good keyboard and touchpad
o Plentiful port selection
The Eurocom M5 Pro made quite a name for itself with almost no downsides other than its pricey configuration. We gave it high marks for its quality construction, pleasing design, productive keyboard and touchpad, excellent gaming performance, and effective cooling system. The 4K display on our review unit has good picture quality though the resolution is too high to play most modern games.
This 15.6″ notebook is an upscale gaming unit packing the latest technology, including Nvidia’s GTX 970M graphics card and a 4K display. We especially enjoyed its great design, quality components, excellent overall performance, and 4K display
The black brushed aluminum palm rest and lid backing are eye catching while also providing a cool, solid feeling. The chassis corners are angled off to create a more engaging look. Even the little things received scrutiny – take for example the display lid’s center lip which makes it easy to open the display with one finger. The display hinge is stiff enough to minimize display wobble but still allows the lid to be opened one handed without having to hold the chassis down with the other.
Eurocom provides numerous display choices for the M5 Pro including the Samsung 4K display on our review unit, an upgrade over the base model’s full HD display. This 4K display has a glossy surface and uses IPS technology for limitless viewing angles – the picture quality remains constant regardless whether you’re looking at it straight on or from an angle as opposed to TN displays which wash out. Above all this display’s most endearing quality is what defines it as a 4K display: the 3840×2160 resolution. Full HD (1920×1080) was the highest up until the very recent availability of 4K displays in notebooks. |
 Dec 01, 2014
Eurocom M5 Pro Review (970M)
Pro :
+ Very good performance / price with GTX 970M and I7-4710HQ
+ GTX 970M + I7 pretty much runs all games on highest or almost highest settings totally smooth with high FPS rates
+ Very good bright 1080p AHVA display with high contrast, very good viewing angles and colors
+ Case, palm rests and keyboard surfaces do not get hot and bottom is kept cool mostly too
+ Lightweight compared to the others with 970M GPU at ~2.6kg
+ No GPU throttling and no to minor CPU throttling (down to 2.4-2.5GHZ, the least) under gaming
+ Nice slim looks with obvious thought invested into the looks, refining the angles. Looks really nice.
+ Eurocom's 10% off for students makes it the cheaper with IPS display
+ Keyboard is not perfect, but good enough and typing is easy on the fingers with almost perfect tactile feedback
+ Enough storage space - 2xSata and 2xM.2 ports easily accessed
+ Lots of connection port - 2xmini DP, eSata, 3xUSB 3.0, SIM, SPD/IF, HDMI
+ Quiet under light load
+ 4-4.5 hours of battery under light load |
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