I finally got my V (i7-7y75) on Wednesday and here are my first impressions (hopefully not too many spoilers in here):
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Packaging: I also had the problem of a non-inflated bubble wrap, a box which was not used, a plastic wrap around all the components which seemed to have been spilled with red wine. Sad. Also, the V was just put into the box, without any protective layer. The display foil which should be on the display was on the back – could be because of the calibration.
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Case is very nice, keyboards fits superb, the edges feel nice with only some sharp edges on the USB ports. When the V is plugged in, you feel a prickle/tingle when you move your fingers around the back side. Had this with an HP Spectre x360 too, when using a non-grounded charger.
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Power Button: Feels weird. I often need to press it two or more times to get the V on
But it might be just me. -
Keyboard is pretty good however I don’t like the feeling when I press the keys. Sometimes, the Ctrl key hangs a little bit and then making strange sounds. The keys are in general quite loud. Without the tutorial in the community, you would never be able to set up your Bluetooth keyboard. But once it is set up, it is a real cool feature. Tip: Connect your Smartphone to it
The height of the pogo pins feels a little bit off, I guess the pins are the first components to break. I am also not a fan of the “oops!” key. -
Touchpad: Somehow it sometimes makes stuff I don’t want it to make… be it clicks or scrolls. Or not double clicking when I want it. It might help if touchpad would be ignored when you are touching the screen (with BT it is definitely not)
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Sounds: Some
It is my first passively-cooled laptop and I really love it! However, when it is plugged in for charging, the ports make a weird low noise. -
Display: Perfect. I see only a little display bleed on the bottom corner when the screen is completely black and the display on 100% brightness. Well, 100% brightness is too bright for me in any case.
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Color Calibration: Feels quite warm in my eyes – but I never had a color calibrated display before. It also is rated as “high boot impact” in the Task Manager (yes, there is a tiny program loading your calibration on every startup).
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Speakers: As in other reviews already stated, not that good. Bass is missing and they sound quite flat.
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Battery: Used it for more than 5 hours of installing Windows and benchmarking and 10% (1:05h with battery safer) are left. That’s really good in my eyes.
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Performance: Feels good. No problems so far, but I will try to reach its limits. The default setup seems to be a good mix between Thermal Limit, Power Limit and Current Limit.
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Benchmarks (average): Cinebench about 31fps OpenGL, 230 MultiCPU, 125 SingleCPU. Around 2900 in PCMark10. Intel XTU around 510. Averages stay the same when running with or without battery. Note: The max performance boot menu configuration actually decreased my scores.
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Pen: Has quite some sharp edges, runs out of the box and is really responsive.
Edit 14.12.17: Gaming & Benchmarks
So I’ve had the chance to have a little bit more time testing the V for gaming (by itself and an eGPU HP Omen Accelerator which I was able to lend from a friend). Unfortunately, my Sapphire Radeon R9 390X is not supported by the box, as it only 1x 6pin and 1x 8pin power connector inside (maximum of 300W) - the 390X takes a max of 375W and is barely fitting inside the cage. However, I found an older Radeon 5700 series which is not nearly as good, but gets the game running with the eGPU.
I tried the games with a secondary screen (1440p, extended mode) and the V screen. You have to note, that only by running the games on the secondary screen they were able to use the eGPU.
PCMark 10:
eGPU: Around 2570 points
V: Around 2600points
(These results are quite a drop from my first V measurements (around 2950 points). I think it is the Windows Insider Slow ring which is affecting this)
Cinebench:
eGPU: around 60fps
V: around 32fps
Multi CPU: around 225
Single CPU: around 125
Skyrim:
eGPU: 1440p, med details, 10fps
eGPU: 1440p, low details, 20-25fps
eGPU: 1080p, med details, 15-20fps
eGPU: 1080p, low details, 25-30fps, playable
V: 1440p, lowest details, 5-10fps
V: 1080p, lowest details, 10-15fps
Fallout 4:
eGPU: 1080p, med details, 15-20fps
eGPU: 1080p, low details, 25-30fps, playable
V: 1080p, lowest details, 10-15fps
Civilization V:
eGPU: 1440p, max details, 30+ fps, playable
V: 1440p, max details, 10fps
V: 1080p, max details, 15fps
V: 1440p, med details, 15fps
V: 1080p, med details, 20-25fps, playable
V: 1440p, low details, 60fps (but looks ugly), playable
V: 1440p, low-med details, 45fps, playable
V: 1440p, med-high details, 30fps, playable (and looks decent
Even when the fps look good, you really feel the mobile CPU is at max, and thus it is sometimes lagging. The Intel Extreme Tuning Utility which I ran on the second screen are either showing a thermal or power limit reached quite soon after starting the games (and thus the CPU is clocking down).
eGPU HP Omen Accelerator Considerations
The Omen box comes with 1USB-C, 4 USB3 ports, ethernet and a 2,5" hdd/ssd slot. It is thus actually everything I need (a headphone output for speakers would be a plus).
However, it is huge - looks like a desktop case - and is really loud. The 30cm TB3 cable is a joke (especially as the TB3 slot is at the back of the box…). Once TB3 is connected, it is starting and everything runs out of the box (some driver installations, etc).
The performance improvements - even with an old desktop GPU - are quite impressive, however I would never buy one. The box is too huge and too loud and thinking of the costs of all the components, I could easily buy a decent desktop PC which is smaller, more performant and without noise.
Benchmark Comparison to HP Spectre x360 i5-5200 2,2GHz 8GB Ram, SSD
PCMark10: 2400points
Cinebench: 22fps, MultiCPU 225, SingleCPU 70
I kind of like this, as the Spectre was the device which I wanted to get rid off - the V’s i7-7Y75 is a little better than i5-5200 which is around 3 years old. However, completely fanless 
Cheers!
, keeping our eye on them 
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