Review: All New Xenom Phoenix – Most Affordable Geforce GTX970M Gaming Notebook

The need for gaming devices that have a high potability value is increasing. This forces many manufacturers to think hard to streamline the dimensions of their notebook products as much as possible without reducing performance as small as possible, even though they are currently competing to use a higher caste of hardware in a thinner barebones. Like what Xenom did through their All New Xenom Phoenix series.

Specifications of All New Xenom Phoenix

See.. With the new barebones, the specifications of the All New Xenom Phoenix have not decreased in quality. Although to pursue dimensions that are 36% slimmer, the Upgradeable CPU and GPU features have to give in. What is currently circulating is only Phoenix with GTX970M 3GB, but there are indications from the principal that there will also be an All New Xenom Phoenix with Geforce GTX980M.

As we informed you in the hands-on preview video, the All New Xenom Phoenix PX15 also uses a combination of SSD + HDD in its storage. But unlike the Phoenix X3 series, the SSD slot in this latest series already uses m2.SSD.

Upgrade Options

Outside of the CPU and GPU, the All New Xenom Phoenix still has a custom option for gaming notebook kings. Just say display options up to 4K, RAM up to 4 x 8GB, and storage up to 2 x HDD + 2 x m2.SSD. Count and count, you can still break through 50 million more, this custom All New Xenom Phoenix :D.

The use of single 8GB RAM is quite unfortunate to maximize system performance with dual channel technology. Like a simalakama fruit indeed, but in the end Xenom decided this in order to provide the most profitable upgrade option for the user. But the info that can be considered encouraging is, we managed to run a benchmark on the All New Xenom Phoenix using the standard 1.5V DDR3 RAM (Corsair Vengeance).

Design All New Xenom Phoenix

More slim — ANXP (All New Xenom Phoenix)

Dimensions and weight are the main selling points for products that carry the character of this firebird. As previously noted, the previous Xenom Phoenix weighed 3.62KG, which means 30.1% heavier than the All New Phoenix (why does Xenom call it 25%?). Also for dimensions, With a length of 414mm(ANXP 385mm), a width of 286mm(ANXP 271mm), and a thickness of about 45mm(ANXP 25mm), this new barebones means efficient from every part.

Aluminum Alloy Chassis

The decreased weight on the All New Xenom Phoenix cannot be separated from the role of new materials in its barebones. No longer dominated by ABS plastic, this latest series has used aluminum-alloy which is stronger but lighter. In addition, the aluminum alloy material is known to be very good at absorbing heat that cannot escape through the exhaust hole.

Workstation

There are quite a lot of simplifications in this area, especially the lightning effect which you can only find on backlit keyboards, and even then, only one color remains, white. All indicator LEDs have also been moved to the front panel. This takes a bit of getting used to until we memorize the order of each indicator.

The touchpad also looks simpler without a logo wings of god previously a blue background. The buttons on the touchpad have undergone a good functional change, you will no longer find loud and noisy buttons. The buttons are now very soft to press and don’t make a sound.

For All New Phoenix, Xenom too remove fingerprint feature. We have confirmed this to the principal of Xenom because the illustration on the Xenom web still uses an All New Phoenix photo with a fingerprint on the touchpad area.

Display

This panel is not a new type, it has been applied to xenomanding products from the X2 generation, such as the Hercules X2. It has a slightly better quality of pitch black compared to the Chi Mei N173HGE panel on the Phoenix X3 that we reviewed earlier. This is great for supporting the anti-glare coating. So, working outdoors or a room full of light, is not a problem for its users.

Audio System

The reduced chamber space and the absence of a sub-woofer like the previous version certainly make the sound output on the All New Xenm Phoenix not as good as its predecessor. In this version, Xenom only puts two 2 Watt by onkyo speakers on the audio hardware side, with software polish from the X-Fi MB3 creative sound blaster, as a result, we haven’t been able to enter the “kick” category in our opinion.

But if you are a true headset user, the quality of the pre-amps they label ANSP ™ 3D sound technology, will make the performance of your headphones or headsets reach the maximum point.

Programmable Macro Key

Instead, like the All New Xenom Shiva and All New Xenom Pegasus, this Phoenix series also gets the same Macro-based features. You can use this feature for game or graphic applications such as Photoshop which often requires many key combinations to access certain tools.

Ports And Connectivity

All New Xenom Phoenix Port and connectivity

Generally, dimensional efficiency has to sacrifice something that is sometimes needed. For the barebones changes to the All New Xenom Phoenix, there are two types of ports that are “retired”, standard display ports and firewire. The decision that may be the least evokes protests. Are there readers here who still use IEEE1394? For the display port, the current peripherals, which are all mini-sized, will not be a problem.

Unfortunately, the position of the display out port, both HDMI and two mini display ports, is not very good in terms of cable management, especially for those of you who always display images to an external screen. If you move backwards, swapping with e-SATA will definitely be an additional plus.

Cooling System

Surely what you are worried about is the same as what we are worried about. The dimensions are much thinner, making prejudice to the heat dissipation process a priority. Through the temperature test in the All New Xenom Phoenix review this time with a new configuration, namely 3 fans (1 for CPU + 2 for GPU) with separate heatpipe configurations, it was analyzed that the cooling system does produce noise which is slightly higher than the Phoenix X3, especially when the component is in full-load condition.

Performance

At first, we were quite surprised because the performance produced by the GTX970M 3GB on the All New Xenom Phoenix is equivalent to the 6GB version of the GTX970M on the previous Xenom Phoenix X3, which uses the MXM interface. However, after re-benchmarking, it turns out that the performance is only slightly different. Indeed, larger VRAM will be more useful when used for higher resolutions. You can see the percentage in the table above.

Li-Po Battery Performance

Of course, the battery is a point that is affected by dimensional shrinkage. In addition to its current location inside, to access it you need to unscrew all the bolts that lock the bottom case, the battery material has also adopted a polymer type which has the advantage of being easy to shape according to the chassis.

Smaller capacity, but better power management

The capacity has decreased by about 22% from 77Wh to 60Wh. Hmm.. still acceptable. So what you need to know is how good it is? will it also be 22% lower according to the capacity difference? Apparently, the results show the battery on the All New Xenom Phoenix is 29% superior to the Phoenix X3 version.

Conclusion

Yes, it seems that Xenom has done a very good job of streamlining the dimensions and weight of this latest Phoenix without sacrificing many negative things, except for a little extra db on the cooling system. With a price of 22 million, you can get the maximum performance of the Geforce GTX970M in barebones which is now much lighter and thinner.

Pros: