Mark experiences the pinnacle of portable gaming with the XMG P506
I’ve been hoping that the latest Skylake technology would filter down to Schenker, and here's proof it has arrived in the musclebound physique of XMG P506 (aka Clevo P651RE).
A bit like Dell’s website, Schenker’s allows you to specify exactly what goes in your P506 through an options process. Starting with a baseline cost of £952, you can then add all manner of exotic options till your current account or plastic can stand no more.
However, the basic ‘value’ model does come with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M (3GB GDDR5), an Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 8GB of RAM and a very high quality 15.6” 1080p IPS panel.
What you don’t get are any drives in that price or an operating system, either of which if missing could massively undermine the gaming potential of this hardware.
The review model contained a 256GB M.2 Samsung SM951 SSD, a HGST 1TB drive, a better 970M GPU and 6GB of memory. And it came with Windows 10 Pro Edition pre-installed and an Atheros ‘Killer Wireless’ adapter, bumping up its cost to £1,350 inclusive of VAT.
If that seems like plenty of money, our minds are synchronised, but I should qualify that price by stating that this is probably the best gaming experience I’ve had on a portable system.
Over the Christmas break, I used this to progress my tanker ambitions on World of Tanks, while avoiding those festive staples (Downton Abbey) on TV. With all the details set to ‘high’ and full 1080p resolution, the P506 cranked along at 70-85fps on most maps. While the fans don’t take long to kick on once you’re in 3D rendering mode, they do manage to stop the system from melting even if, like me, you play for hours on end.
Performance is great, and the screen is exceptionally clear, high contrast and devoid of viewing angle problems.
Once you’ve seen the size of the PSU then any notions that this system might run for any prolonged time on battery power will vaporise. You might get an hour or two if you're lucky, but realistically this system was designed to be mains supported.
The keyboard and touch panel is also well considered and sized, with sufficient room given for a full numeric panel and even a function key row.
There are also lots of USB ports, all 3.0, plus an SD card slot and a gigabit Ethernet port. The positioning of all these items is generally good, with the exception of one USB port that was regrettably placed on the rear, far too close to the power adapter connection.
For those that really wish to show off, there are also external display connections for three screens, with a single HDMI and two mini DP ports.
Those prepared to open their wallets unconditionally can mount dual SSDs, using RAID for even sillier drive performance. And they can have a 980M GPU with 8GB GDDR5, a second hard drive, 64GB of RAM, and even a Core i7-6820HK quad-core processor. However, a system specified like that could cost north of £3,000, depending on the level of restraint you might choose to exercise.
As tempting as that might be, I’m inclined to accept that this is a very tidy gaming platform, even at £1,350 (or possibly even less if you just stick to a single drive and some of the other default options).
The weaker points of this design aren’t numerous, but they do need to be mentioned. Sound is technically very good, being Sound Blaster X-Fi 5 spec, but the internal speakers don’t do it any favours.
I also wasn’t a fan of the trackpad, though thankfully I wasn’t trying to play games using it. For whatever reason, it had real trouble interpreting my double taps as left clicks.
But none of these are the real issue here. The biggest snag is that while this is easily portable, the battery life doesn’t really support any substantial gaming without mains power.
And for this sort of money, you could have a desktop system that would massively out-perform the P506. As much as I really enjoyed playing on it, the P506 can’t escape being a rather niche device for those who want to appear social, while just being in the same room. Mark Pickavance
Powerful gaming notebook with plenty of upgrade options.
Schenker XMG P506 (As Reviewed)
• Processor: Intel Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz (Intel Core i7).
• Graphics adapter: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M – 6144MB, Core: 924MHz.
• Video memory: 2500MHz, GDDR5, ForceWare 353.62, Optimus.
• Memory: 8GB (2 x 4 GB) SO-DIMM DDR4-RAM (2400MHz), two of four slots occupied, up to 64 GB.
• Display: 15.6" 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel, Samsung 156HL01-102 (SDC324C), IPS panel.
• Mainboard: Intel Sunrise Point HM170.
• Storage: Samsung SM951 MZHPV256HDGL m.2 PCIe, 256 GB SSD + HGST Travelstar 7K1000 1000 GB HDD.
• Available slots: 2x M.2 (Type 2280) with PCIe and NVMe support + 2 x 2.5".
• System weight: 2.66kg.
• Power supply weight: 598g.