Aftershock XG15-V2 gaming notebook

Aftershock makes custom gaming notebooks that are sold in Singapore. I used the XG15-V2 during my post-doctoral research years while not at my desk. This post has some of the specifications and my opinion about this notebook.

Technical Specifications

• Intel i7-4700MQ
• NVIDIA Geforce GTX 765M with 2GB VRAM
• 24GB RAM
• 750GB HDD
• 1920x1080 display

Pros

• Ubuntu 14.04 installed and works for the most part without any problems.
• The color gamut of the display is gorgeous. Its a joy to view colorful photos and webpages on it.

Cons

• Glossy display. Reflects everything like a mirror. This is quite distracting.
• Huge boxy chassis.
• Horrible trackpad. I disable it using Fn + F1 the moment I login and use a mouse instead.
• Even though this is an Optimus notebook, it cannot last long on battery.
• Fans keep running all the time.

Details

• Motherboard is listed in BIOS and by CPU-Z as w35xstq_370st. It is manufactured by Clevo.
• Actually this entire notebook is designed and sold around the world as Clevo W355ST. The motherboard is also referred to generically as W355ST. This can be seen in the sticker at the bottom of the notebook.
• BIOS is by American MegaTrends and is shown on bootup as Aptio 2.15.1236. However, Windows and CPU-Z list it as 4.6.5 (11/13/2013).

Use

• On bootup, you can access the BIOS screen by pressing F2 and the boot device menu by pressing F7.
• Webcam: The integrated webcam is off by default under Ubuntu. To use it it first needs to be turned on by pressing Fn + F10. You can then check if it’s working by using Cheese.