DIY manufacturers, also known as “board manufacturers”, are primarily known in the desktop DIY community, with brands like Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte being prominent. They not only release new notebooks every year but also dominate sales in desktop motherboards and graphics cards.
Recently, another board manufacturer has entered the notebook industry, which is – Colorful.
Perhaps due to the recent sell-out of desktop graphics cards, Colorful has launched a “national style gaming laptop” in collaboration with an ODM factory, inviting the famous craftsman from BilibiliLu Zhengyi to release a “Thunder God Wood Carving”, as a gift for the first 20 buyers.(It is estimated that it has already run out)
Putting aside these fancy peripherals, how does this computer perform?
Today, we will conduct a simple analysis:
Colorful Galaxy X15
Swipe left to see the ports
Left side of the body
Right side of the body
Back of the body
Its configuration is as follows:
i7-10870H processor
GTX1650Ti 4GB dedicated graphics card
16GB 2666MHz memory
512GB solid state drive
15.6-inch 1080p resolution 100%sRGB color gamut 144Hz refresh rate IPS screen
Thickness 22~23mm
Weight 1.92kg
Adapter weight 445g
Currently priced at 6799 yuan
Its pros and cons are as follows:
Pros!
1. Variety of ports available
2. The body is relatively lightweight
3. Many peripherals included(limited to the first 20 purchases)
Cons!
1. Memory frequency is relatively low, only 2666MHz
2. Southbridge temperature is a bit high
3. The original 120W adapter is insufficient
[Upgrade Suggestions]
This laptop is not difficult to disassemble; just remove the screws on the bottom to open the back cover.
Dual-channel 16GB DDR4 2666MHz memory can meet most usage needs. The memory frequency is low; if conditions allow, it is recommended to replace it with higher frequency memory.
The solid-state drive is a 512GB Western Digital SN530, supporting PCIe 3.0×4 and NVMe, and can be replaced if needed.
[Purchase Suggestions]
1. For those who have high requirements for body weight
2. For those who have high requirements for the variety of ports
3. Willing to replace the adapter themselves
The biggest feature of Colorful Galaxy X15 is the various peripheral gifts it offers, including a calendar, mouse pad, bookmark, notebook, and the limited edition Thunder God wood carving made by Lu Zhengyi, which is only available to the first 20 buyers. I estimate that it has already run out.
Regarding the screen, the actual measured color volume is 97%sRGB, color coverage is 95.5%sRGB, average △E is 1.46, and maximum △E is 3.31, with a maximum brightness of 400nit.
Regarding the ports, the Galaxy X15 has three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, one HDMI and one miniDP for video output, as well as an SD card reader and RJ45 Ethernet port, providing a rich variety.
Regarding noise, its full-load noise level is 53.5dB.
Regarding after-sales service, this laptop supports two years of free on-site repair for major components.
Among similar products, this after-sales specification is considered quite good. However, as the evaluation of after-sales service is complex, it will not be listed as an advantage for now.
Although Colorful positions it as a gaming laptop, I believe that with this configuration and weight, the Galaxy X15 is more like an all-purpose laptop. If it could be thinner and the screen quality improved, it could serve well as a creative design PC.
However, as a gaming laptop, its memory frequency is too low, the adapter power is insufficient, and with NVIDIA set to release the RTX3050 discrete graphics card soon to replace the GTX1650Ti, I would recommend that Colorful wait until the RTX3050 is released to introduce a new model.
[Final Thoughts from the Author]
The above images are actual disassembly shots of the Galaxy X15, featuring a combination of 4 heat pipes and dual fans. On the CPU side, there are dual fins and dual exhaust ports, with the southbridge exposed.
Room temperature 25℃
Reflectivity 1.00
BIOS version: 1.07.07TOYC1
Under full load, the CPU temperature peaks at 87℃, stabilizing at 66℃, with a power consumption of 25W and frequency maintained at 1.9GHz.
The graphics card temperature peaks at 69.5℃, with a power consumption of 50W and frequency at 1740MHz.
At the same time, the Galaxy X15 has a total power consumption wall, where the CPU is limited to around 25W during dual-load testing, but the adapter input power is 108W.
After removing the power consumption wall, the CPU power consumption increased to 32W, with a temperature of 69℃.
The Galaxy X15 uses the Blue Sky mold NP50. As a mid-range machine, its cooling capability is actually not bad, but the 120W adapter is insufficient during dual-load testing.
After trying a higher power adapter, the Galaxy X15 can maintain55W+50W with temperatures of 90℃ and 77℃ respectively, showing good performance. This cooling “margin” can be applied to either the CPU or the graphics card.
The surface temperature is shown in the above image, with the maximum temperature of the keyboard keycap being 41.7℃, the WASD key area around 31℃, and the arrow keys at 37.5℃. The left wrist rest temperature is 25.5℃.
Overall, the cooling foundation of the Galaxy X15 is acceptable. If it can be fine-tuned a bit more, the performance will be excellent.
However, this laptop should pay attention to the cooling of the southbridge, which reaches 80℃ under dual-load testing, and has about 60℃ during daily standby, with the southbridge heat significantly affecting the surface temperature of the keyboard.
In my opinion, the preparation work for the Galaxy X15’s market launch may have dragged on for too long, resulting in its release during this concentrated launch period of the RTX30 series, making it a bit awkward to release an old product from the GTX16 series.
However, according to the information Colorful provided me, the Galaxy X15 will later launch a high-end version withi7-11800H+RTX3060 model, when the 10nm H45 processor is paired with the hottest 3060 graphics card. If the price and performance tuning can be improved, along with a higher memory frequency, this laptop may catch the eye of gamers.